Conor ODonnell
The Smash Brothers Melee community took a big hit recently with Nintendo shutting down The Big House tournament. With COVID-19 halting in person tournaments, tournament organizers have had to innovate new online only structures. Smash Melee, being a GameCube game from 2001, does not have online play which prompted the community to create their own net play. The Melee community has started the FreeMelee hashtag in response.
It breaks my heart to hear this. The Big House has consistently been one of my favorite events every year. #FreeMelee #Nintendo https://t.co/MrHZxoRrf3
— SAMOX (@_samox_) November 19, 2020
The Smash community received some redeeming news in the meantime. Metagame, an eight-part documentary series, now has a release date! The long-awaited series is a follow up to director Travis Beauchamp’s (aka @_samox_ on Twitter) Smash Brothers YouTube documentary series. The significance this series had on Melee and Esports in general cannot be understated.
Did you know @_samox_‘s original Smash Bros documentary is considered the #1 esport doc of all time by @DotEsports ? Some great works and holiday viewing on this list: https://t.co/dxXVpMqxbP
— metagamedoc (@metagamedoc) November 25, 2020
Most other Esports documentaries focus on a single competition or an individual. Smash Brothers chronicles the growth—and somewhat downfall—of Melee, while highlighting key rivalries that pushed the game to new heights. The documentary helped elevate Melee from an old party game with a cult following into one of the top Esports games.
As Melee competition intensified with the success of Smash Brothers, new stories were born. Beauchamp was at the ready to continue the journey into the new age of the Melee Gods. Metagame follows the five gods of Melee: Mew2King, Mango (who was featured in the original Smash Brothers series), Armada, PPMD, and HungryBox. Then came the god slayer: Leffen. From 2009 to 2019, these six players utterly dominated the game of Melee.
How dominant were the Smash Gods? Since 2009 they accounted for 86% of Major Melee title victories. #MetaGame pic.twitter.com/gX8vv48Bt5
— metagamedoc (@metagamedoc) November 24, 2020
Metagame debuts exclusively on Twitch on December 11-13. Beauchamp has come a long way to finish this film. With this amount of expectation, with all the legal headaches, and even Beauchamp contracting COVID-19 in September of 2020, finishing this series is an achievement to be celebrated.
