The Rise of Super Smash Bros. Melee Player Esports
By
Will Brown
Contributor Updated: 11 November 2024
Will Brown Contributor
William Brown is a Content Writer with strong expertise in US and global gambling industry trends. Having covered the local sports betting market since the repeal of PASPA in 2018, William approaches his gambling guides with passion and diligence. He is a keen player of online slots, blackjack, and a regular sports bettor.
Since 2001, Super Smash Bros. Melee has been a fan favorite game among Nintendo players, beloved for its intense fighting style and cast of colorful characters. More than 20 years later, the game continues to be popular among eSports crowds, with the modern professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player competing in front of sizable and passionate audiences. In this guide, we have looked at the enduring popularity of the game and its rise as an eSport.
Intro to the Super Smash Bros. Melee Rankings
To kick off this guide, we’ve provided some background information on the Super Smash Bros. Melee (SSBM) video game and its eSports fandom. From there, we’ve listed some of the current player rankings, as well as shared information about some star historical players.
For those interested in watching the competitions, we’ve discussed the top SSBM tournaments, before diving into how the game is played and its general mechanics. To round out the article, we’ve discussed some challenges faced by the game’s expansion and the community.
- About Super Smash Bros. Melee
- SSBM Player Rankings
- Top SSBM Tournaments
- How its Played
- Challenges to Growth
About Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee was released in 2001 for the Nintendo GameCube. The platform is a sequel to the 1999 game released for the Nintendo 64, and features 25 player characters from various Nintendo franchises. These include Pokemon, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, and more.
All Super Smash Bros. Melee player characters have unique skills that add to the depth and complexity of the fighting mechanics. The fast-paced gameplay initially made it popular for casual players, but it has since endured as a thriving eSport due to the high skill ceiling and advanced fighting techniques.
Super Smash Bros. Melee player techniques such as wavedashing, L-canceling, and dash dancing, weren’t intended by the developers but were able to be manipulated to add extra speed and strategy. Despite the fact that several more games have been released in the franchise, Melee has maintained a dedicated community and a prominent position in modern competitive tournaments.
The Super Smash Bros. Melee Player Rankings
The competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee player rankings are released annually by SSBM Rank. Due to the underground nature of the sport, this is a community-run ranking list. For some time, the rankings were completed under the MPGR (Melee Panda Global Rankings), but this has since been discontinued since the pandemic.
In the most recent rankings, a panel of 21 people including top players, tournament organizers, and analysts rank ballot-eligible players on their tournament results. The top 10 players for 2024 are, in ascending order, Zain, Cody Schwab, Mang0, aMSa, Kmook, Hungrybox, moky, Wizzrobe, Soonsay, and Trif.
Competitors tend to be known for favoring certain Super Smash Bros. Melee player characters. Interestingly, a vast majority of the top-ranked players hail from the USA. Historically, the Melee competitive scene was dominated by a group of players known as the “Five Gods”, with Joseph “Mang0” Marquez and Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma among them.
These players helped to bring the competitive scene to the forefront in the 2010s. In the last five years, a new generation of players including the top-ranked Zain Naghmi have continued to hold the torch for the eSport, proving that the Super Smash Bros. Melee rankings are accessible to players born after the game’s release.
Major Super Smash Bros. Melee Tournaments
The competitive Melee scene is built around a circuit of major tournaments that attract the top-ranked players from around the world. While they may not offer the same prize pools or draw the audiences that some of the other events at eSports sportsbooks offer, these events showcase the highest level of play.
Most Melee tournaments are held using a double elimination format. These are typically best-of-3 games in the early bracket and best-of-5 for the later stages of the bracket. Each tournament will outline a competitive ruleset that highlights neutral stages and any item bans that are considered unfair.
The amount of lives, or “stock”, tends to be limited to four per player, with games having an 8-minute time limit. The players that have dominated the Super Smash Bros. Melee rankings tend to favor top-tier characters such as Fox, Falco, Marth, Sheik, and Jigglypuff due to certain attributes.
The chosen characters and their matchup dynamics will have a significant impact on the gameplay style, so understanding these is crucial for both players and spectators. The following are some of the top tournaments for professional SSBM eSports:
Supernova (Super Smash Con)
Supernova is the largest Super Smash Bros. convention in the world and is held annually in Virginia. Here, there are major tournaments for all SSB’s games, with the Melee tournament attracting some of the biggest stars. It offers a hefty prize pool and has been home to numerous iconic matches since it was launched in 2015.
The Big House
Started in 2011, The Big House has grown to become one of the most prestigious Melee tournaments. The tournament hosts a high level of competition with a community-focused atmosphere with exciting side events. It has been crucial in shaping the competitive landscape and is the last prestigious SSBM event in the calendar year.
Genesis
The Genesis Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament began in 2009 and is known for offering one of the largest prize pools for the eSports community. The tournament has stacked brackets and attracts international attendance, with some of the most memorable moments in competitive Melee history held here.
GOML (Get On My Level)
Canada’s GOML Melee events have been the location of many standout performances and shocking upsets, becoming an iconic event in the development of the eSport in the 2010s. Its status being an arena where an unknown Super Smash Bros. Melee player can become a legend has endured into the 2020s.
How Its Played
The primary goal for the Super Smash Bros. Melee player is to knock opponents off a platform rather than deplete their health bar. Rather than use a traditional health system, Melee operates on percentage points. The more a character takes damage, the higher the percentage increases, making them more vulnerable to being thrown off the stage.
Characters can run and jump, as well as execute a number of ground and aerial attacks. The game’s advanced movement mechanics like wavedashing and dash dancing add more complexity to the movements. Players can make precise movements that are integral to positioning and spacing in combat.
There are two types of attacks in Melee: standard moves (the A button) and special moves (using the B button). Both can be performed both on the ground and in the air, and different directional inputs will result in varying attacks based on the character. Characters can also use shields in defense or grab opponents to throw them.
Another important element is recovery, which refers to how a character can return to the stage if they’ve been knocked off. Through a combination of jumps and special moves recovery is possible, though opponents can prevent this by “edge-guarding”. Despite its age, Melee is often favored for these advanced techniques.
Wavedashing, for example, involves air-dodging diagonally into the ground to create a sliding movement, while L-canceling reduces lag after landing from an aerial attack. Dash dancing allows players to alternate dashes to confuse their opponents, with the technique often seen by the best of the Super Smash Bros. player rankings.
Challenges Faced by the Super Smash Bros. Melee Community
One of the biggest challenges that Melee faces is the fact that the game and console are now 20 years old. While some have found a way to play Super Smash Bros. Melee online through emulators or other technology, rapid and wide adoption is difficult due to the inaccessibility of the game.
Instead, modern players may prefer to play SSB Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch. Another challenge can be seen in Nintendo’s recently updated guidelines, which have declared that tournaments featuring their games can only have 200 competitors. This is miniscule considering some SSBM tournaments have thousands of competitors.
It remains to be seen whether tournaments will listen to this advice or ignore it. As for betting on the activity, it is unlikely that the game will reach the mainstream due to the lack of Super Smash Bros. Melee rankings from an official organization.
