Super Smash Bros. Melee: No more hidden bosses: 4 Melee talents on the rise in the Slippi era – InvenGlobal

Source: Nintendo

No one can hide on rollback.

This was Zane Epengu Bhansalis commentary during Haxs Nightclub Season 2 Episode 2 the first large online Melee tournament of 2021. In the idle moment between sets, he and Aziz Hax$ Al-Yami mused about how the rollback era of Melee was an all-new one for hidden bosses.

Hax$ likened Slippi to the tech-skill IRS coming to audit your regions favorite up and comer to see if they were really all that. Prior to Slippi implementing rollback netcode, Melees online play wasnt robust enough for top players to take it seriously. In turn, online results didnt prove much.

However, traveling to a major Melee event is costly, walling unsponsored regional bosses off of the big stage. With rollback implemented and the competition at least close enough to what it once was, the travel john is now gone. In this bold new world of Melee, everyone (except Europeans) have a chance to tweet about beating top 10 players.

In truth, the bold new world probably favors the usurpers. Mang0, Zain, Hungrybox theyre all used to the cadence of offline competition, the hum of CRT setups, the rhythm of crowd noise, the many irritants of travel, all that jazz. Regional bosses are normally used to none of that jazz.

But this article isnt about overcoming cold hands, early morning pools, and venue food. Its about the usurpers.Specifically, its about four players you should watch, not only because theyre on the rise but because theyre entertaining and interesting.

Ive tried to highlight players that havent been on Melees player rankings and dont have too large a following. Ive also tried to break down specifically what makes the player potent and unique.

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The data doesnt exist yet, but the Nordic countries have to be up there when it comes to top esports players per capita. In Melee, Sweden obviously comes to mind first, but right now Finland not only has a strong community but also Europes strongest Puff.

Solobattle currently tops Finlands PR and has a strong case to make for being a top 100 player in the rollback era. While some think of Solobattle as an aggressive Puff, hes more scrappy. Like most Puffs, Solobattle will circle and ledge camp some, especially with a lead. However, he actively seeks trades, stray hits, and bizarre scramble scenarios where his opponent falls off guard and into a tech chase scenario.

That tech chase is where Solobattle thrives. Playing much more off reaction, Solobattle seems to have a flowchart worked out based on what scramble option hit, where his opponent landed, and what tech option they chose. Given that Puff dies early on stages not named Dreamland, this is a high-risk style to run. Even if the rest lands, enough trades can put Puff in a vulnerable position/

However, Solobattles style makes it so he can easily equalize the game, steal the momentum, and fluster the opponent. To top it all of, Solobattle loves Yoshis Island, sometimes opting to go there instead of Dreamland. Though odd at first glance, the close quarters on Yoshis Island increase both his openings and his rewards.

In the rollback era, Solobattle became one of Europes top competitors. He has a great record against Trif (though he has a big matchup advantage). Hes increasingly matching his bracket demon Professor Pro and hes consistently beating in-region threats like Levingy. And his record with up-and-comers like Pipsqueak is pretty even too.

Though hes yet to crack Leffen, its clear his style has even more room for optimization. There are moments where the flowchart isnt fully built out or where his execution is just that tiny bit off. A scenario that looks fantastic in one second turns into a disaster the next. Such is the nature of Puff.

Solobattle leans into that nature so much that he often exemplifies it. Take his Summit set against Professor Pro, where he attempted a waveland, falling up air, rest at 0 percent. Fox had slightly too little damage to be knocked down and the whiff turned the momentum back into Professor Pros favor.

Some people struggle to see the spirit of Melee in the floaties, but Solobattle shows it well in the high risk, high reward battles he creates. Hes a player to look for if youre tuning into an EU event and feel lost outside of EUs big names. Disregard any region or character bias you may have, and hes a player to watch for his talent alone.

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No list of hype players is complete without a Falcon player.

When I watch Puff upthrow-rest a Marth after eating 17 straight fairs in neutral, I am irate. When I watch a Falcon down throw-knee a Marth after eating 21 straight fairs in neutral, I am elated. I watch I Killed Mufasa on repeat until I pass out of fatigue.

All jokes aside, Falcon embodies the constant give-and-take that germinates from Melees high octane engine. Most things combo Falcon, Falcon combos most things, and combos are exciting to most people. Especially if those combos come from Sufyan Android 0 Hassan.

You might guess Android 0s region just from his play. He carries the creative and stylish legacy of SoCal players like S2J and has landed plenty of impressive hard-read combos in bracket. However, these combos are only the entry point into Android 0s game.

The core is movement.

According to Jeremy Squid Deutsch, one of the first techniques Android 0 mastered was the Hax dash,which allows Falcon to get up and then refresh ledge invincibility before it runs out. In his earlier sets, Android 0 would spam this option along with ledge cancels.

Android 0s weird, frenetic style answers a question which few ever thought to ask: What if Captain Falcon was a bit more like Luigi? This is especially true in the earlier sets Ive watched, including my personal favorite: Android 0 vs Niconics.

This set pays homage to the idea that Melee always has more to show you. In it, Niconics plays a more orthodox Falcon. He just wants to hit Android 0 with some cool combos and tech chase. Meanwhile, Android 0 plays a Falcon that is coated in vegetable oil and he really wants to kill Niconico using a hard read, a special move, or both.

Android 0 slips around the stage getting weird combos and conversions while Scar and Toph question why he didnt just use knee there every thirty seconds. The set is close but for some reason, it never felt like Android 0 was in danger of losing.

Fast forward almost a year after that match and Android 0 has seriously improved! In November he had a number of strong placings and wins over players like Azel, Bones, Kodorin, KJH, bobby big ballz, Kalamazhu, and Ginger.

Because his movement is so clean, hes somewhat a reaction-based Falcon in the school of Wizzrobe. He tech chases very efficiently and gets a lot of percent off a single grab. Unlike Wizzrobe and more like most Falcons, he wants to style on his opponents.

Hell opt for reads more often and hell add difficult extra steps to a kill to make it look cooler. Where Wizzrobe will crouch and stare at his opponent like a computer waiting for input, Android 0 will dance around in advantage as though a forbidden Gamecube controller cursed his hands and he has to move his joystick every 10 frames.

This style makes Android 0 a blast to watch. Melees movement is one of its core tenets and Android 0 clearly has a love for it. To top it off, hes pretty new to the scene and fastly improving, so it feels like theres much more movement to come.

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Bones represents another kind of rising star that doesnt get the attention they deserve: the veteran who hits a breakthrough.

Bones has been around for a while but 2020 is easily his best year. He has wins over Golden, Ben, LSD, bobby big ballz, Ryobeat, Aklo, Gahtzu, Rishi, Llod, Magi, Ginger, and more. These wins came throughout the year as well, offline, on less legitimate delay, and on more legitimate rollback.

As a veteran, Bones' style is knowledgeable, patient, and balanced. He doesnt struggle playing aggressively or defensively as Falco. His conversions can vary wildly from using odd hitboxes or rare glitches to literally just five lasers and an f-smash.

In the way that change is exciting, Bones is too. It feels hard to know exactly what to expect going into his matches. Perhaps because he often takes a risk on an early getup shine or maybe out of raw luck his sets often go back and forth with both sides getting highlights.

Few sets show it better than his 3-2 win over Ginger at LACS 2. These 5 games fly by in under 12 minutes, both Falcos maintaining a relentless pace coupled with fantastic punishes and creative conversions. However, the real star of the set is the laser.

Arguably the best projectile in the game, Falcos laser isnt only potent for controlling space but for creating follow-ups. Very few Falcos have the laser down as well as Ginger and Bones, so the set is an absolute shootout where many other Bones sets are just a shooting gallery. His laser usage is very lethal and very smart, leading to sharpshooter edgeguards and surprising punishes.

Bones is a player you can expect to see around and a player youll want to watch. His Falco has its own unique cadence and only seems to be improving.

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Unless you were tuned into upstate New Yorks Melee scene, you probably didnt know about Jake Jmook DiRado Arvonio until he made his huge run at Haxs Nightclub earlier this month. He earned 5th place by beating Zains surprisingly solid Fox, Aklo, Magi, bobby big ballz, and Bones.

If you are a part of Melees New York scene, then this boss probably wasnt hidden. You could see him coming in the locals upstate, where Jmook quietly became king. As far back as 2016, he was notable, beating iBDW as the future top Fox player was leveling up.

In 2018, you had to fear the name if you were a pro going to upstate New York. He took Alvaro Trif Garcia Moral to game 5 and clean sweeped La Luna.

Jmook made all of these upsets using a very technical, fast, and creative Sheik, which is especially great right now. In the rollback era, Sheik has entered a mini-dark age, with Mew2king retiring and Plup taking a mental health break. While players like Shroomed, Captain Faceroll, and Ben still showing up, the character is far from abandoned but also isnt breaking into a ton of top 8s.

Jmook understands the ins-and-outs of his character very well and seems to know how much extra space Melees tech can afford him. Many of his creative extensions come from simply applying a tech where you wouldnt expect it. In that 2018 3-0, you can see it when he slips from the platform, nairs La Luna, then boost grabs to give Sheik a Marth-esque grab range.

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Super Smash Bros. Melee: No more hidden bosses: 4 Melee talents on the rise in the Slippi era - InvenGlobal