Super Smash Bros. Melee in competitive play: Difference between revisions

==The "Golden Age" (2004-2008)==

The '''Golden Age''' of ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' kicked off with Major League Gaming's addition of the game to its largest tournaments, such as [[MLG New York 2004]]. Following large public interest in these early events, MLG began expanding its presence in the ''Melee'' scene, featuring the Nintendo game at more and more of its big events. {{Sm|Ken}}, {{Sm|Azen}}, {{Sm|ChuDat}}, {{Sm|Isai}}, {{Sm|PC Chris}}, and {{Sm|KoreanDJ}} competed with a rising star in the form of {{Sm|Mew2King}} for the top spots at MLG tournaments in 2005 and 2006; Ken was notably dubbed the "King of Smash" for his incredibly consistent level of dominance at these events. Major League Gaming's professional sponsorship resulted in large prize pools compared to the number of competitors (PC Chris won $10,000 for his victory at [[MLG Las Vegas 2006]]), creating a solid foundation for the nation's top players and the competitive community as a whole.

==The "Dark Age" and the era of "The Five Gods" (2008-2013)==

After Nintendo released its [[Super Smash Bros. Brawl|newest]] ''Smash Bros.'' game in March 2008, ''Melee'' players questioned the survivability of their game as much of the community moved on to the new title. These fears turned out to be true, as 2008, commonly known as the '''Dark Age''' of ''Melee'', became completely dominated by the ''Brawl'' scene; not a single ''Melee'' major was held for around a year, and the few small tournaments held registered paltry attendance numbers compared to those of just the year before. The ''Melee'' scene remained stagnant until {{sm|Alukard}} held [[Revival of Melee]] in Nanuet, New York, in March 2009. This tournament was the first American event to feature ''Melee''{{'}}s best players from across the country (such as {{sm|Mew2King}}, {{sm|Mango}}, {{sm|PC Chris}}, and {{sm|Azen}}) since [[Pound 3]] in February 2008, and was the beginning of a gradual revival in tournament attendance back to pre-''Brawl'' levels. The renewed surge in attendance was aided by the fact that many ''Melee'' players disliked the slower, less combo-oriented gameplay of ''Brawl'' and returned to the former game shortly after its release. While [[EVO]] and [[Major League Gaming]] added ''Brawl'' to their major tournaments, the ''Melee'' community held on through a strong grassroots presence. ''Melee'' players' desires to remain a strong presence in the ''Smash'' scene led to the hosting of bigger and bigger tournaments, including [[GENESIS]] and [[Pound 4]], and ''Melee'' was able to maintain tournament numbers similar to those of ''Brawl'', even though the 2008 game attracted more newer ''Smash'' players than its predecessor.

==The "Platinum Age" (2013-2018)==

The era of ''Melee'' after 2013 became known as the '''Platinum Age''', characterized by an unprecedented, explosive spike in attendance numbers, and another transition from a largely grassroots scene to an increased connection and involvement with the rest of the eSports community. After EVO's announcement of a donation drive to feature an eighth title at the world's largest fighting game tournament, [[Melee It On Me]] and other groups organized efforts that raised nearly $95,000, allowing ''Melee'' to become the final featured game at EVO. Hosted from July 12th-14th, 2013, EVO drew a staggering 709 entrants, becoming the largest ''Melee'' tournament of all time. The tournament surpassed [[Pound 4]], the previous record holder, by twice as many entrants, and was the third largest game at EVO, even though it had not been featured in the series since 2007.  

While The Five Gods had continued to dominate ''Melee'' majors in the new era, notably featuring {{Sm|Mango}}'s two wins at EVO 2013 and 2014, {{Sm|Leffen}} and {{Sm|Plup}} had emerged as true challengers to them, and are the only two players who have defeated all five in a tournament set. Following his rise in 2014, Leffen won [[B.E.A.S.T 5]], marking the first non-God victory at a major with at least two in attendance since 2008; he won his first American major, [[CEO 2015]], that same year, with three of the gods present. He also won [[Get On My Level 2016]], defeating four gods all in a row without dropping a set. Plup became the second player after Leffen to win a major with two or more gods in attendance, taking [[DreamHack Atlanta 2017]] over Hungrybox and Mew2King; he then won [[GENESIS 5]], winning over Mango and Armada, and double eliminating Hungrybox.

Moreover, the ''Melee'' metagame has seen a major shift towards {{SSBM|Fox}}, the current undisputed best character in the game, sitting at the #1 spot on the [[tier]] list. Fox's incredible speed, mobility, combo ability, and KO power has given him a major increase in popularity far above the rest of the top tiers. Many former mains of other characters have picked up Fox as a main, attempting to improve their results by playing a more tournament-viable character. Most notably, Armada picked up the character to complement his {{SSBM|Peach}}, while {{Sm|Hax}} switched over completely from {{SSBM|Captain Falcon}}.

In February 2019, it was revealed that {{Trn|EVO}}, the tournament series responsible for ''Melee''{{'}}s rise in popularity in 2013, would not feature the game in its [[Tournament:EVO 2019|next incarnation]], instead relegating it to a side event. While arguably inevitable, this announcement drew some concern from the ''Melee'' fanbase, for it could possibly compel other fighting game tournaments to drop the game as well and thus lead to its eventual demise. Observers remarked, however, that worry over the exclusion of ''Melee'' from larger tournaments would do more damage to its popularity than the exclusion itself. ''Melee'' remained strong throughout the year even with the noticeable decline in interest thanks to the release of ''Ultimate'' and the reduced prominence of the Five Gods.

{{main|COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on competitive Smash}}

{{main|2020 Super Smash Bros. sexual misconduct allegations}}

Going into 2020, ''Melee'' retained its stature from the previous year. The {{Trn|Smash World Tour 2020}} circuit, with tournaments for both ''Ultimate'' and ''Melee'', was established to provide players with a large, formalized prize pool across several major tournaments.

With the increased attention to Project Slippi, however, came concerns that Nintendo would soon go after it and cancel events running it. On November 19th, 2020, the team behind The Big House, a series which saw tournaments sponsored by Nintendo, announced that Nintendo had sent them a {{Iw|wikipedia|cease and desist}} letter over their use of Slippi for {{Trn|The Big House Online}}, the online replacement to the cancelled 10th installment of the tournament. This sparked outrage amongst the community and the hashtag "#FreeMelee" began trending on [[Twitter]] within minutes.

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, online events continued with both minor and major hiccups including but not limited to Nintendo barring tournaments due to the use of Slippi. During this time period, Zain and Mango were widely considered to be the best players in North America, with them both taking numerous sets off each other at tournaments such as the {{Trn|Summit Champions League}}. This era saw the rise and decline of many players, most notably n0ne's rise to a likely top 10 spot, and Hungrybox's sub-par performance.  

==See also==

*[[The Smash Brothers]] - documentary about seven of the greatest players before the era of the gods, with Mew2King and Mango being part of both groups

*[[Tournament rulesets (SSBM)]]

*[[Super Smash Bros. 64 in competitive play]]