The Case for Interest in Japanese Melee

Its pretty indisputable that the U.S. is the most active and largest scene for SSBM in the world. In some regions you can find a tournament every single day of the week. Europe is a close second, then probably Canada, and lastly with regions like Australia, South and Central America, and Japan falling farther behind. Despite their lower viewership and support, they have amazing top players that sometimes make appearances at the major tournaments held in the U.S.

aMSa playing against Mew2King at EVO 2013. Photo courtesy of Karaface.

Any fan of SSBM or just even competitive Smash Bros. in general knows about aMSa, the Red Yoshi. His eccentric personality and methodical style paired with a character that previous to his arrival was completely absent with regards to tournament appearances made him an immediate fan favorite. That was back at EVO 2013. Three years later at The Big House 6, one of the most prestigious tournament series in the world of SSBM, a successor to the legacy of great Japanese Melee players made his arrival in a way very similar to aMSa. Excitable, explosive, and full of personality, Rudolph, The Sphinx, was an instant fan favorite.

Rudolph in his famous You < Me shirt after his set against Druggedfox. Photo courtesy of VGBootcamp.

The later to be ranked #1 player in Japan took down Druggedfox (#23) 2 — 0 and took Ice (#13) to his limits, but ultimately fell to him 2–1 and was sent to the loser’s bracket. aMSa’s performance at EVO 2013 was impressive because of his character. By most standards Yoshi was not considered a good character, but he was unique. That gave aMSa a flair that many mid-low tier mains have a very hard time finding.

Rudolph didn’t have that going for him. He played Marth that tournament (he plays Fox as well), which is an extremely good but common character. Most Marths have a very hard time differentiating themselves from the others. It’s hard to not look like Mew2King when his style is comprised of all the good stuff Marth players are supposed to do. Call Rudolph’s play sub-optimal, call it sloppy, call it gimmicky or whatever you want, but he differentiated himself from all the other Marth’s in that tournament, and that’s what made his performance so exciting and memorable. You don’t become the best player in an entire country by using gimmicks, and to assume so would be a disservice to the rich history of the level of play in Japan.

We have aMSa, we have Rudolph, and if you pay any attention to the Japanese scene you would also know of players like Shippu, Gucci, Koutonori, Tapioca, and the reason everyone in Japan has a Fox secondary, Jiggilypuff player K.F.

Even though newly exposed melee fans are enamored with the stories of Captain Jack, Ken’s trip to Japan, and Bombsoldier, Japanese Melee hasn’t grown at the same rate that American Melee has. Compare that to Japanese Smash 4, where 9 of their top 50 players are from Japan. The age of the game, the number of players, and the barrier of entry all play a part in that, but I don’t think that the Japanese scene is to blame for their low foreign interest.

European Melee had the same issue just a few years ago. Players like Armada and Leffen were known, but the scene itself did not have much outside interest. That is very different nowadays. Lots of people were hype about BEAST 7. A DK player took a game off of The Moon, Armada’s up-tilt combo on Leffen in grand finals, from the beginning to the end, there was excitement and interest from all over the world.

Japan has amazing players, new and old, proven and unproven, explosive and aggressive, methodical and precise and character loyalists and triple mains. So this is a case for them. Lets extend that same excitement about melee from any other country to Japan as well.