How Super Smash Bros. Melee’s esports community keeps the fighter relevant 15 years after release

Fans can keep a game relevant as long as they want.

Daniel Lee, the editor in chief of Melee It On Me, spoke at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today about the grassroots community dedicated to the Super Smash Bros. fighting game series. Once going by the tag Takofints, Lee was formerly a competitive player in Melee. Now he runs Melee It On Me, an online community and podcast dedicated to the series. Super Smash Bros. Melee originally came out in 2001, and it still has an active tournament scene. It sold over 7.09 million copies. Although two new Smash games have come out since, many players stayed with Melee. They prefer it for its faster, combo-based combat. It’s tournament scene is just about as big as the one for the newest Smash Bros. game, the Wii U version. Most fighting games, like Street Fighter or Tekken, quickly become overshadowed by their sequels.