The Smash Brothers
The Smash Brothers is a 9-episode documentary series produced by Travis "Samox" Beauchamp. The series was released in October 2013, shortly after what was then the largest Melee tournament of all time: EVO 2013. The series focuses on seven professional smashers who were active in the 2003-2013 period, labelled by the documentary as the greatest Melee players of all time: Azen, Isai, Ken, PC Chris, KoreanDJ, Mew2King, and Mango. The documentary additionally describes the origins, growth and metagame of the Melee competitive scene, and community efforts to keep the scene thriving into later generations of video game consoles, beyond the discontinuation of the GameCube. The series thus covers the "Golden Era of Smash" (2003-2006), which is told over six episodes, with the remaining three episodes detailing the community's history between 2007 and EVO 2013. This history is told through primary sources, particularly video footage and photographs from the period, as well as interviews of several members of the Smash community who were active at the time. The entire series is available for free on YouTube, including a remastered version released in November 2013. It has been credited with a surge in Melee's popularity since its release, with some members of the community labeling the incoming generation of players as "Doc Kids". ContentsEpisodes[edit]
Production[edit]The documentary was produced over two years[1] for a total budget of $12,000. Around $7,000 was driven by community donations, including $4,000 through a Kickstarter campaign.[2]. Smashers interviewed[edit]Other Episodes[edit]Metagame[edit]Main article: Metagame (documentary)
Metagame is a documentary series follow-up that covers the "Five Gods of Melee," funded with a Kickstarter of $34,583.[3] On November 23rd, 2020, a trailer released, along with the announcement that the series would premiere on Twitch on December 11th-13th, 2020.[4] Episodes 1-3 aired on December 11th at 2-5 p.m. PT, Episodes 4-6 aired on December 12th at 2-5 p.m. PT, and Episodes 7-8 aired on December 13th at 2-4 p.m. PT. 'Doc Kids'[edit]Doc Kids are the new generation of players who, as Tafokints put it, "basically represent people who got into the game after Aug 2013 in light of the Smash Documentary". With the end of the documentary based around EVO 2013, the tournament marked the dawn of a new age in Melee. The media interest in the event as well as the documentary helped draw in members to the Melee community almost exponentially. Fiction theorized that - given 3 years of directed effort - a player could reach 'top-100' status. This has been proven by several players who began playing post-documentary, namely;
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