Game-Changers: The Elite
by Kishprime
To be in this category of player, you essentially had to be a player who revolutionized the game in some way and won multiple national tournaments (or, in some cases, were far enough ahead of the competition to realistically be in contention). I believe these are the only eight players who fully fit that description.
1. Ken – Ken took a character that few expected to be great and won for years. He demonstrated his ability to win regional tournaments with other characters, including Sheik and Fox, but never left his main, Marth, for the highest levels of competition. He played a very non-flashy style, yet was nearly perfect at reacting to opportunities and capitalizing - finishing every combo in devastating fashion. His long record of dominance only began to falter near the end of MLG Melee, when competition reached its peak and his interest began to wane. Thanks to the infusion of cash from the MLG era, his prize winnings are unmatched with the possible exception of PC Chris.
2. PC Chris – While his was not the first excellent Falco, he was the first to demonstrate an elite, tournament-winning Falco in the MLG era. His victory at MLG New York was the first to break up the KAI string of dominance from the prior few years and allowed the second generation of Smashers to begin challenging for titles. He had many memorable sets with Ken and Mew2King, and bridged the gap from the original greats to the second generation, winning many of the tournaments among both groups simultaneously. His signature accomplishments were winning both the opening and closing MLG events of the most competitive year in Smash history, 2006, when the prizes and quantity of players were at their highest. He continued to dominate well into 2007, plowing through one of the most difficult brackets in history at 0C3 for first and taking second at FCD.
3. Azen – Azen perfected his knowledge of the game by playing as many characters as possible. He often selected his characters before the tournament and played them straight through, regardless of the consequences. Because of this, he made some fairly dramatic statements with a number of different characters, but made the most noise with his unique take on Marth. Azen arguably knew matchups as well as anyone in Smash history, but seemed to love dittos most of all, regarding them as the true measure of player skill. My own suspicion is that this is what drove him to pick up Marth following his early losses to Ken with Sheik. His list of accomplishments does not well represent his true skill, since he often used tournaments, even major ones (FC3 comes to mind), as training grounds for his lesser characters. Following a brief retirement, Azen came back to take first place at the MLG Playoffs in 2006 when nearly every player on this list was competing at a very high level.
4. Mew2King – From his early compilations of raw numbers to his displays of technical excellence in the later MLG era, he was a game-changer in many ways, but most importantly by his ability to take his technical brilliance and win tournaments. Many players over the years have become known for their technical perfection, but strangely that does not usually translate into tournament wins. M2K was the exception. He set the bar for Fox play and pushed both Marth and Sheik extremely far. His speed and precision revolutionized what was possible for all three characters. It could be argued that he was the best player in Melee from late 2007 through the beginning of Brawl.
5. Chu Dat – Chu showed a versatility that neared Azen’s, but his stardom surrounds his use of the Ice Climbers to a more successful degree than anyone before or since, winning second place for a year or more in every national tournament he played in. If not for Ken, would likely have also won himself several national tournaments during this span. As it is, he won countless regional tournaments and was still able to snag a few MLG titles as well.
6. Recipherus – His career was brief, but very meaningful in the era that he played. He retired after traveling to different regions of the country and winning multiple tournaments in the earliest days of Smash. His Sheik was the original incarnation that drove her to the top of the first few tier lists. He was one of the first to consistently incorporate l-canceling into his game, and won several major tournaments before Ken took over the title, including the big-money FFA tournament in Seattle that awarded $5,000. His group was the first to travel the country in search of additional competition. From what I understand, after his 2nd place finish at TG5 he retired to focus on his chess game, though he did return briefly to place well at TG6.
7. KoreanDJ – In his exceptional but short career, KDJ did everything but win a major national tournament, downing almost every member of the list above him at least once. The closest he came to winning one was earning 2nd place at the final MLG-operated event, MLG Nationals 2006. After winning the MLG-sponsored Long Island, NY tournament, he stepped out of Smash and only returned a couple times later to enter tournaments for fun. If he’d played longer, I believe he would have been much higher on this list.
8. Isai – Brought his perfection of Smash 64 into Melee and highlighted one of the most technical characters in the game. His command of the small skills and mindgames separated him from the pack for years until, frankly, he didn’t care to keep getting better. At different points in his career, he played at least 4 characters well enough to be a Top 3 player, though his association with Falcon drove both of their images into legend status. It could certainly be argued that he was the best teams player in the history of the game, with his unique combination of raw skill and teamwork. Other than Ken, he also won major teams tournaments with other players, including Recipherus and Captain Jack.
Honorable Mentions:
Drephen – Drephen brought simplicity back to the game during an extremely complex era, utilizing Sheik’s grabs, jabs, and downsmashes almost to a fault. Yet his style proved effective, and he was excellent for a very long time, longer than most Smashers play the game. Despite occasional major tournament wins, he remained mired in the middle of the Midwest’s Big 5 (Drephen plus Dope, Darkrain, Tink, and Vidjogamer split Midwest regional titles for the majority of the MLG era and beyond) for most of his career. He defeated PC Chris to take an East Coast tournament, and took out Bombsoldier at 0C3. While Darkrain comes close, I’d have to give the title of Midwest’s best to Drephen, by the slimmest of hairs.
Chillindude – I can’t really cite a lot of tournament placings when describing why Chillindude829 makes my list, yet I can’t take him off. He was only 13 when he was at his best in singles and he could not travel very much, which is part of the reason for that. During the first few years of competitive Smash, he was arguably the East Coast’s next best player to Azen until Chu Dat surpassed him, and he shocked the country with his win over Ken at Game Over. He had an amazing crew battle in the finals of Gettin’ Schooled 2 against top players, which he recaps himself during BACH’s montage of the event. Azen and Chillin made for an amazing team for many years, becoming the first team to knock off Ken and Isai. Most important of all, he’s got a great name. He was an elite player in the earliest days and, like Isai, remained an elite teams player for long past his singles prime. Still, he couldn’t quite stay elite in singles once competition picked up, remaining only an excellent player. No shame in that.
Sastopher – His placings at the major tournaments from 2004-2005 are astonishing to note (Eliminated Ken for 4th – TG6, 2nd – MELEE-FC3). It’s difficult to understand how most players have never heard of the best Peach in United States Smash history. Nevertheless, his career was limited in his ability and desire to travel, and his high placings did not come during the MLG heyday. He’s close to the list above, but doesn’t have a quality+quantity of tournament results to quite push him over the top.
Darkrain – I’ll give some credit to Big D since he recently summed it up well, so I’ll paraphrase him. Isai may be synonymous with Falcon for most people, but Darkrain created the modern Falcon. His relentless studies of combos and follow-ups led him to take the character in a much different direction than Isai took him. Where Isai dominated with precision control and mindgames, Darkrain dominated with deeper game knowledge about the character and perfect timing. Similar to Drephen, he too remained mired in the Midwest’s Big 5 during regional tournaments, but he always stood out at major and national tournaments, often placing in the Top 5 over many years.
There are other players that I think made major contributions and were huge innovators in the game: DA Dave, Wes, King, and Forward to name just a few. I’m sure there are others that I’m forgetting. However, the list above is a pretty comprehensive look at the best, most influential players in 6 years of Melee history.
by Kishprime
To be in this category of player, you essentially had to be a player who revolutionized the game in some way and won multiple national tournaments (or, in some cases, were far enough ahead of the competition to realistically be in contention). I believe these are the only eight players who fully fit that description.
1. Ken – Ken took a character that few expected to be great and won for years. He demonstrated his ability to win regional tournaments with other characters, including Sheik and Fox, but never left his main, Marth, for the highest levels of competition. He played a very non-flashy style, yet was nearly perfect at reacting to opportunities and capitalizing - finishing every combo in devastating fashion. His long record of dominance only began to falter near the end of MLG Melee, when competition reached its peak and his interest began to wane. Thanks to the infusion of cash from the MLG era, his prize winnings are unmatched with the possible exception of PC Chris.
2. PC Chris – While his was not the first excellent Falco, he was the first to demonstrate an elite, tournament-winning Falco in the MLG era. His victory at MLG New York was the first to break up the KAI string of dominance from the prior few years and allowed the second generation of Smashers to begin challenging for titles. He had many memorable sets with Ken and Mew2King, and bridged the gap from the original greats to the second generation, winning many of the tournaments among both groups simultaneously. His signature accomplishments were winning both the opening and closing MLG events of the most competitive year in Smash history, 2006, when the prizes and quantity of players were at their highest. He continued to dominate well into 2007, plowing through one of the most difficult brackets in history at 0C3 for first and taking second at FCD.
3. Azen – Azen perfected his knowledge of the game by playing as many characters as possible. He often selected his characters before the tournament and played them straight through, regardless of the consequences. Because of this, he made some fairly dramatic statements with a number of different characters, but made the most noise with his unique take on Marth. Azen arguably knew matchups as well as anyone in Smash history, but seemed to love dittos most of all, regarding them as the true measure of player skill. My own suspicion is that this is what drove him to pick up Marth following his early losses to Ken with Sheik. His list of accomplishments does not well represent his true skill, since he often used tournaments, even major ones (FC3 comes to mind), as training grounds for his lesser characters. Following a brief retirement, Azen came back to take first place at the MLG Playoffs in 2006 when nearly every player on this list was competing at a very high level.
4. Mew2King – From his early compilations of raw numbers to his displays of technical excellence in the later MLG era, he was a game-changer in many ways, but most importantly by his ability to take his technical brilliance and win tournaments. Many players over the years have become known for their technical perfection, but strangely that does not usually translate into tournament wins. M2K was the exception. He set the bar for Fox play and pushed both Marth and Sheik extremely far. His speed and precision revolutionized what was possible for all three characters. It could be argued that he was the best player in Melee from late 2007 through the beginning of Brawl.
5. Chu Dat – Chu showed a versatility that neared Azen’s, but his stardom surrounds his use of the Ice Climbers to a more successful degree than anyone before or since, winning second place for a year or more in every national tournament he played in. If not for Ken, would likely have also won himself several national tournaments during this span. As it is, he won countless regional tournaments and was still able to snag a few MLG titles as well.
6. Recipherus – His career was brief, but very meaningful in the era that he played. He retired after traveling to different regions of the country and winning multiple tournaments in the earliest days of Smash. His Sheik was the original incarnation that drove her to the top of the first few tier lists. He was one of the first to consistently incorporate l-canceling into his game, and won several major tournaments before Ken took over the title, including the big-money FFA tournament in Seattle that awarded $5,000. His group was the first to travel the country in search of additional competition. From what I understand, after his 2nd place finish at TG5 he retired to focus on his chess game, though he did return briefly to place well at TG6.
7. KoreanDJ – In his exceptional but short career, KDJ did everything but win a major national tournament, downing almost every member of the list above him at least once. The closest he came to winning one was earning 2nd place at the final MLG-operated event, MLG Nationals 2006. After winning the MLG-sponsored Long Island, NY tournament, he stepped out of Smash and only returned a couple times later to enter tournaments for fun. If he’d played longer, I believe he would have been much higher on this list.
8. Isai – Brought his perfection of Smash 64 into Melee and highlighted one of the most technical characters in the game. His command of the small skills and mindgames separated him from the pack for years until, frankly, he didn’t care to keep getting better. At different points in his career, he played at least 4 characters well enough to be a Top 3 player, though his association with Falcon drove both of their images into legend status. It could certainly be argued that he was the best teams player in the history of the game, with his unique combination of raw skill and teamwork. Other than Ken, he also won major teams tournaments with other players, including Recipherus and Captain Jack.
Honorable Mentions:
Drephen – Drephen brought simplicity back to the game during an extremely complex era, utilizing Sheik’s grabs, jabs, and downsmashes almost to a fault. Yet his style proved effective, and he was excellent for a very long time, longer than most Smashers play the game. Despite occasional major tournament wins, he remained mired in the middle of the Midwest’s Big 5 (Drephen plus Dope, Darkrain, Tink, and Vidjogamer split Midwest regional titles for the majority of the MLG era and beyond) for most of his career. He defeated PC Chris to take an East Coast tournament, and took out Bombsoldier at 0C3. While Darkrain comes close, I’d have to give the title of Midwest’s best to Drephen, by the slimmest of hairs.
Chillindude – I can’t really cite a lot of tournament placings when describing why Chillindude829 makes my list, yet I can’t take him off. He was only 13 when he was at his best in singles and he could not travel very much, which is part of the reason for that. During the first few years of competitive Smash, he was arguably the East Coast’s next best player to Azen until Chu Dat surpassed him, and he shocked the country with his win over Ken at Game Over. He had an amazing crew battle in the finals of Gettin’ Schooled 2 against top players, which he recaps himself during BACH’s montage of the event. Azen and Chillin made for an amazing team for many years, becoming the first team to knock off Ken and Isai. Most important of all, he’s got a great name. He was an elite player in the earliest days and, like Isai, remained an elite teams player for long past his singles prime. Still, he couldn’t quite stay elite in singles once competition picked up, remaining only an excellent player. No shame in that.
Sastopher – His placings at the major tournaments from 2004-2005 are astonishing to note (Eliminated Ken for 4th – TG6, 2nd – MELEE-FC3). It’s difficult to understand how most players have never heard of the best Peach in United States Smash history. Nevertheless, his career was limited in his ability and desire to travel, and his high placings did not come during the MLG heyday. He’s close to the list above, but doesn’t have a quality+quantity of tournament results to quite push him over the top.
Darkrain – I’ll give some credit to Big D since he recently summed it up well, so I’ll paraphrase him. Isai may be synonymous with Falcon for most people, but Darkrain created the modern Falcon. His relentless studies of combos and follow-ups led him to take the character in a much different direction than Isai took him. Where Isai dominated with precision control and mindgames, Darkrain dominated with deeper game knowledge about the character and perfect timing. Similar to Drephen, he too remained mired in the Midwest’s Big 5 during regional tournaments, but he always stood out at major and national tournaments, often placing in the Top 5 over many years.
There are other players that I think made major contributions and were huge innovators in the game: DA Dave, Wes, King, and Forward to name just a few. I’m sure there are others that I’m forgetting. However, the list above is a pretty comprehensive look at the best, most influential players in 6 years of Melee history.