there will Never Ever be another Melee player like Hungrybox

The YouTube thumbnail for "there will Never Ever be another Melee player like Hungrybox."

there will Never Ever be another Melee player like Hungrybox, commonly known as the Hungrybox Documentary, is a video essay produced by EmpLemon. Part of EmpLemon's "Never Ever" series, the video centers on professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player Hungrybox, his journey to rank #1 in competitive Melee, and his relationship with the rest of the Melee community. It was released on January 26th, 2020 (coinciding with the top eight of GENESIS 7 Melee singles).

The video has become one of the most well-known pieces of Smash-related media, with over 9 million views on YouTube as of September 17th, 2023, and has been credited with bringing many new players and spectators into the competitive Melee and Smash scenes as a whole. It has received praise for its narration, editing, and explanation of the competitive Melee scene to newer audiences, but has received criticism regarding the details of its portrayal of the Melee community.

Synopsis

The video opens with footage from Pound 2019, retelling Hungrybox's run to first place at the event, as well as the "crab incident" (after a spectator threw a crab at Hungrybox following his victory over Mang0 in grand finals). It then transitions to a summarized history of the competitive Melee scene, including its beginnings during the MLG era, its isolation from the rest of the fighting game community, the split of the Melee and Brawl scenes in 2008, and the rise of the Five Gods, along with Jigglypuff's competitive viability and its unpopularity with spectators of Melee. With a particular focus on Hungrybox, the video also describes his rise as a top player, from his early status as the weakest of the Five Gods, his rivalries with other top players (including Mang0 and Armada), his adoption of Crunch as his coach, his EVO 2016 win, his rise to contention for the best player of the world starting in 2016, and his persona and reputation as the "villain" of competitive Melee. It additionally details many aspects of Hungrybox's personal life, including his emigration from Argentina, his difficult family relations, his performance as an elite player while simultaneously earning a college degree and working as a full-time engineer, and footage from an clip where Hungrybox discusses the possibility of quitting Melee due to reception from the community.

The last segment goes into more depth surrounding Hungrybox's reception within the Melee community, arguing that Hungrybox's unpopularity has extended far beyond his status as the best player in the world. EmpLemon argues that Hungrybox's negative reputation is largely due to his usage of a slow and defensive character in Jigglypuff, and that his dominance has generated positive viewership for the Melee scene, contrary to the belief of many community members. He adds that Melee community members are placing an unfair level of scrutiny on his personal actions, despite being willing to overlook these flaws for other top competitors, such as Leffen. Finally, EmpLemon ends the video arguing that "Hungrybox is Melee;" although his character and playstyle represent the opposite of the fast-paced gameplay that many idolize about Melee, he claims that the Melee community's treatment of Hungrybox represents how Nintendo, casual players, the fighting game community, and other parties have isolated the competitive Melee scene and refused to support or respect it.

Reception

Following the video's release, it was widely circulated on social media, being posted to the r/smashbros and r/ssbm subreddits shortly after its publication. Hungrybox himself later commented on the YouTube video, and broadcasted a live commentary of the video with EmpLemon on his stream. Other prominent Melee community members (including Armada, 2saint, ZeRo, HugS, and moky) also released their own reactions to the original video.

The video received criticism from within the Melee scene for its portrayal of certain community members, despite EmpLemon's unfamiliarity with the Melee community himself. In particular, many criticized EmpLemon for describing Mang0 as having "fallen" from God status and incapable of winning a major, despite having won multiple supermajors in 2019 and been ranked 3rd on the MPGR 2019; they argued that the portrayal of Hungrybox as "the last of the Gods" was thus incorrect.

Legacy

The video has become one of the most popular Melee videos on YouTube, and has been credited with spreading competitive Melee to wider audiences, much like Samox's "The Smash Brothers," released in 2013, with many community members acknowledging that the video was their first introduction to the scene.

It has also inspired similarly themed videos centered on other Smash players, such as "There Will Never EVER be Another Melee Player like aMSa," released in 2022.