Hungrybox

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Hungrybox
upright={{{upright}}}
Hungrybox on July 29, 2017 at Get On My Level 2017
Current team
TeamTeam Liquid
Games
Personal information
NameJuan DeBiedma
Nickname(s)
  • Hbox
Born (1993-06-21) June 21, 1993 (age 28)[1]
Argentina[2]
NationalityArgentinian and American
Career information
Games
Playing career2007–present
Team history
2013–2014CLASH Tournaments
2014–2015Team Curse
2015–presentTeam Liquid
Career highlights and awards
  • Apex champion (2010)
  • 2× The Big House champion (2017, 2018)
  • 6× CEO champion (2010, 2011, 2016–2019)
  • 5× DreamHack champion (2015, 2017, 2017, 2018, 2019)
  • EVO champion (2016)
  • Genesis champion (2019)
  • MLG champion (2015)
  • 3× Smash Summit champion (2017, 2018, 2020)
  • 2× Get On My Level champion (2015, 2018)
Twitch information
Channel
Years active2012–present
Followers336,874
Total views8,5 million
Follower and view counts updated as of August 2021.
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2010–present
GenreGaming
Subscribers418,000[3]
Total views64+ million[3]
Updated: August 2021

Juan Manuel DeBiedma (born June 21, 1993), better known by his gamer tag Hungrybox, is an Argentine-American professional Super Smash Bros. player, streamer, YouTuber, and esports commentator.[4] Recognized as one of the best and most successful Super Smash Bros. Melee players in of all time, he is considered one of the "Five Gods of Melee" along with Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Joseph "Mango" Marquez, and Kevin "PPMD" Nanney, and is regarded as the best Jigglypuff player in Melee history. Active since 2007 and ranked as the best Melee player in the world since 2017,[note 1] he has been a member of Team Liquid since 2015, and is currently also active on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Hungrybox has won several major Melee Singles tournaments, including Apex 2010, MLG World Finals 2015, Evo 2016, The Big House 7 (2017), The Big House 8 (2018), GENESIS 6 (2019), and the 2017, 2018, and 2020 editions of Smash Summit. He has been ranked one of the top five Melee players in the world every year since formal rankings began in 2013, and placed first a record three consecutive times from 2017 to 2019. Despite his "God" status, he is also one of the most polarizing figures in the Melee community, in part due to the unpopularity among some players of his defensive, counterattack-centric playstyle.

Born in Argentina, DeBiedma grew up in Orlando, Florida, and became a U.S. citizen in 2017. Known for competing exclusively with Jigglypuff, even in case of unfavorable character match-ups, Hungrybox also competed in Super Smash Bros. games subsequent to Melee, including Project M and Ultimate professional tournaments.[5][6] Although primarily known as a Singles player, he also has an extensive career in Melee Doubles, and partnered up with a variety of other players, most notably Mew2King and Justin "Plup" McGrath, both of whom he won major Doubles tournaments with; he has been managed by his lifelong best friend Luis "Crunch" Rosias for the entirety of his career. In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to the offline Melee community becoming de facto inactive, and Hungrybox suffered a large drop in performance following the full switch to online tournaments using a fan-made Melee mod; expressing his overall dissatisfaction with online Melee competition, he has since focused on his eponymous Twitch and YouTube channels, updating daily videos mostly focused on playing Ultimate online tournaments. He currently has over 336,000 followers on Twitch, and 430,000 subscribers on YouTube.

Early life[]

Juan Manuel DeBiedma was born in Argentina on June 21, 1993, from Juan Daniel Debiedma, a diplomat for Argentina, and Lucia Violante, a flight attendant.[2][7][1] He has two older brothers, Gaston, the oldest, and Fermin.[8] In the mid-1990s, DeBiedma's family moved to Orlando, Florida, after which Violante became a real estate agent.[2][1]

DeBiedma played piano and sung a capella while growing up.[1] He discovered video games at a young age, particularly enjoying the Super Mario Advance series, and started playing Melee when he was little, when the stepson of one of his father's co-workers introduced him to the game.[1] He would also often play Super Smash Bros. Brawl with Fermin.[8] DeBiedma and his lifelong best friend and future manager, Luis "Crunch" Rosias, met in fifth grade in Orlando, and would often play Melee together.[7] He originally used Ness as his main character, but switched to Jigglypuff after realizing the effectiveness of the Rest move.[8]

His eventual "Hungrybox" name came from middle school, after he failed to forge his mother's signature, producing something resembling a drawing instead. He kept on re-creating the drawing when bored in class, eventually resulting in a "hungry box" character resembling a box with eyes and a jagged mouth.[1]

DeBiedma was abandoned by his father Juan Daniel when he was 15 years old; the last time they saw each other was when Juan Daniel dropped him to the venue for the Brawl tournament Fast 1 on July 20, 2008, after which Juan Daniel returned to Argentina, and they never met again.[7][1] DeBiedma described his father as "an opportunist, who always searched for the next get-rich-quick scheme, but often at the expense of leaving his family and losing their savings", stating that he once cost his family half a million dollars; when leaving, he also took all of the money saved from Violante's work as real estate agent, leading her to sell the family house and raise the three children on her own.[7]

Esports career[]

Early career (2007–2013)[]

DeBiedma discovered the Super Smash Bros. competitive scene around 2006–2007, and started to perform at small local tournaments in 2007.[9][2] In July 2008, he volunteered to host several players at his parents' home for the upcoming 122-player Brawl tournament named Fast 1. He himself took part of the tournament, finishing in 25th place.[7][10]

In 2009 at a local Tampa tournament, Twilight Showdown 6, he placed 3rd for the first time in any tournament, earning $27.50, his first prize money; he recognizes this as the first moment he considered becoming professional.[2] After finishing in 7th place at Revival of Melee on March 7, Hungrybox placed 3rd at GENESIS for Melee on July 11, his first high placement at a major Melee tournament, while placing 97th on Brawl the following day.[10] Hungrybox won his first-ever tournament at Revival of Melee 2 on November 21, 2009.[10] He then went on to place in high positions repeatedly on tournaments, with Apex 2010 on August 8 marking his first win in a major tournament.[10]

For the following years, Hungrybox remained one of the top Melee players, and established himself as the best Jigglypuff player in the world. Results in major tournaments included placing 2nd at both Apex 2012 and The Big House 3 in 2013.[10] He won both the Singles and Doubles tournaments at CEO 2010 (with ChuDat in Doubles), and then again at CEO 2011 (with Linguini in Doubles).[citation needed] In parallel, he continued to compete on Brawl, to lesser success, and on the Brawl mod Project M, winning several minor tournaments.[10]

Early "Five Gods" Era (2013–2017)[]

In 2013, Evo, the most prominent fighting game event worldwide, announced Melee as part of the Evo 2013 line-up, after the game had only previously been featured at Evo 2007.[11] The event is considered the full beginning of the "Era of the Five Gods" (or "Platinum" Era), which marked a surge in prominence and popularity for the Melee competitive scene, and its near-total domination by five players: Hungrybox, Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Joseph "Mango" Marquez, and Kevin "PPMD" Nanney, with every Melee tournament ranked Supermajor (the highest rating for a Smash tournament) or Major (the second-highest) for several consecutive years being won by one of the Gods, and them rarely losing to anyone but another God.[11][12] At Evo 2013, Hungrybox finished in 3rd place, losing to Wobblez in the Losers Finals after a controversial finish; in parallel, he took part in a Melee Doubles Evo side-event, teaming up with Mew2King to win the tournament.[10]

On July 3, 2013, Hungrybox was picked up by team CLASH Tournaments alongside fellow Super Smash Bros. player Aziz "Hax" Al-Yami.[13] On April 17 of the following year, he left CLASH Tournaments and joined Team Curse.[14] On January 6, 2015, Team Curse merged with Team Liquid, leading Hungrybox to be picked up by Team Liquid along with his teammate Kashan "Chillin" Khan, joining other Smash Bros. players Ken Hoang and Daniel "KoreanDJ" Jung.[15]

In 2014, Hungrybox placed top three in nine Melee tournaments, including a victory at Fight Pitt V.[16] At Evo 2014, he reached the Grand Finals for the first time, losing to Mango and finishing in 2nd place; he once again won the Doubles side-event, this time teaming up with Justin "Plup" McGrath.[17]

In 2015, Hungrybox won the Melee Singles tournament at Paragon, defeating Mew2King in the Grand Finals.[18] At Evo 2015 in July, he finished in 2nd place, losing to Armada in the Grand Finals; the following month, he announced that he would be becoming less active in competitive Smash, as he began his career as an engineer.[8] At Paragon Los Angeles, his next tournament after Evo, he finished 3rd in Melee after being eliminated by Mew2King with a score of 2–3.[19][20] In parallel to his Melee career, he competed on the newly released Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U to little success; at Paragon Los Angeles in 2015, the largest Project M tournament in history, Hungrybox finished 4th after being defeated by Mew2King 3–1.[10]

DreamHack Winter 2015 from November 26 to November 29, 2015 marked Hungrybox' first time winning both the Singles and Doubles tournaments at a Super Major event, winning Singles by defeating Armada 3–1 in the second set of Grand Finals after losing 3–0 in the first set, and Doubles by teaming up with Axe to defeat DaJuan Shroomed McDaniel and McCain "MacD" LaVelle 3–1 in the grand finals. His win in the Singles tournament earned him $10,000, his first five-figure payout; he broke into tears into his post-match interview.[10][1] In early 2016, Hungrybox won two additional singles Super Major tournaments, Pound and CEO 2016.[10]

On July 17, 2016, Hungrybox participated in the Evo 2016 Melee tournament. Reaching the Winners Semifinals, but was sent to the Losers Bracket after losing to Plup; he was able to defeat all three of his Losers Bracket matches against Johnny "S2J" Kim, Mango, and Plup, to reach the Grand Finals for the third consecutive year, against Armada for a second consecutive time. In the Grand Finals, Hungrybox won two consecutive best of five sets, both with a score of 3–2, to win Evo for the first time in his career.[21][22]

The following October, Hungrybox competed at The Big House 6, where he placed 5th, losing to Armada in the Losers Quarter-Finals; although he had been juggling his entire e-sports career with full studies and/or working, Hungrybox, disappointed by his performance, decided to quit his job as process engineer for WestRock to become a full-time professional player for the first time.[23][24]

In early 2017, Hungrybox was ranked as the second best Melee player of 2016, behind Armada, after already achieving the same rank the previous year (also behind Armada); Redbull, who partnered up with SSBMRank to announce the results, claimed that despite Armada placing higher, "This has been the year of Hungrybox [...] Hungrybox's biggest victory came after The Big House 6, when he took the plunge and quit his job in pursuit of a full-time Smash career. Now fully committed to the game he loves, a Hungrybox that maintains his legendary clutch factor and continues to optimize his play to never-before-seen heights just might be unstoppable in 2017."[24]

Domination of Melee (2017–2020)[]

In 2017, Hungrybox won the most tournaments he had in his entire career, with a total of 26 wins over the year, including the Supermajor tournament The Big House 7, and four Super Major tournaments: Shine 2017, DreamHack Austin 2017, DreamHack Denver 2017, and Smash Summit 5; for the latter, he set a new record for most money won in a single Melee tournament, receiving $29,315.30 as prize money.[25][26][27] His most notable loss that year was at Evo 2017, where he finished 3rd after losing to Mango in the Losers Finals.[10] In January 2017, he competed at GENESIS 4 despite suffering a broken index finger, forcing him to spend a month preparing for the tournament using new controller settings that would not require him to use his index finger; he ultimately finished in 4th place, losing to Mango in the Losers Semifinals.[28]

Hungrybox was ultimately ranked as the number 1 Melee player of 2017 for the first time in his career, dethroning Armada, who had held the spot for two consecutive years.[29][7]

In 2018, Hungrybox continued to consistently rank high on tournaments, winning a total of 18, including three Supermajors: Shine 2017, CEO 2018, and The Big House 8.[10][30] At Evo 2018, Hungrybox was sent to the Losers Bracket after losing to William "Leffen" Hjelte in the Winners's 3rd Round, ultimately losing to Armada in the Losers Semifinals and ranking 4th. Even in defeat, Hungrybox consistently performed well, never ranking less than in 4th place at any tournament during the year.[30] In total, only nine players succeeded at winning a set against Hungrybox during the year. Conversely, Hungrybox also won sets against all them during the year, with the exception of Armada, who, while largely seen as the best Melee player besides Hungrybox, decided to retire from Singles Melee in September 2018; now without his most prominent rival, Hungrybox would go on to score five consecutive tournaments wins at the end of the year, including the Singles tournament at Smash Summit 7 on November 15.[30][31]

On February 7, 2019, he was ranked as the previous year's best player for the second consecutive year, with Redbull stating: "Some may have doubted it, and others even wished it not to be true, but this titan of Melee left no room for debate. He won, and he won prolifically."[30]

In February 2019, Hungrybox won GENESIS 6, his first GENESIS win after participating in all five previous editions of the Singles Melee tournament.[32] He went on to win more Super Majors, including Pound 2019, Low Tier City 7, CEO 2019, Shine 2019, and Mainstage.[32][1]

Following the release the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in December 2018, Hunbrybox started entering Ultimate tournaments as part of events in which he was also competing as a Melee player; his Ultimate endeavors were less successful. In his first Ultimate tournament, the 385-entrant Ultimatum on December 29, he finished in 65th place.[33] At GENESIS 6, the biggest Ultimate tournament at that point with 2105 entrants, Hungrybox placed 193rd in Singles, and 257th in Doubles with Kashan "Chillindude" Khan.[34] His best Ultimate ranking for 2019 was at Mango's Birthday Bash, where he finished in 7th place; in addition, he performed as a Melee player, finishing 2nd in both singles and Doubles tournaments (teaming up with Zain for the latter).[35]

On January 24, 2020, Hungrybox was ranked as the previous years' number 1 Melee player, becoming the first to do so three consecutive years, although Redbull claimed that he hadn't been as dominant as the previous year, stating that "the competition for 2019’s number one rank has been the most hotly contested in recent memory."[36][32]

COVID-19 impact and focus on content creation and Ultimate (2020–present)[]

Hungrybox's 2020 year on Melee started successfully, with January seeing him win GatorLAN Spring 2020, before finishing 2nd at GENESIS 7 after losing to Zain in the Singles Grand Finals, while teaming up with him to rank 5th in Doubles.[37][38][39] He went on to win Smash Summit 9 in February in a highly dominating performance, defeating five top players without losing a single game: Aziz "Hax" Al-Yami, Plup, Masaya "aMSa" Chikamoto, Shephard "Fiction" Lima, and longtime rival Mango.[37] At CEO Dreamland, he won both the Singles tournament, and the Doubles tournament with Kilmer "mayb" Varela.[40]

He also continued to compete in Ultimate, ranking 257th in the 1699-entrant Singles tournament at GENESIS 7, 97th in the 1280-entrant Frostbite 2020, while ranking 65th in Singles and 49th in Doubles (with Alex Jebailey) at CEO Dreamland.[39][41][42] On March 5, he won his first-ever Ultimate tournament by finishing 1st at a small event in his hometown of Orlando, the 23-entrants Juicy Smash Night 142.[43]

However, from March onwards, the COVID-19 pandemic eventually caused the Smash community to either cancel all of its upcoming events, or turn them into online events. Due to Melee not having an online mode, the Melee community became de facto inactive, apart from tournaments using a fan-made online mod of Melee; many top players in the Smash community – Melee or otherwise – experienced significantly lesser results due to the full switch to online events.[44][45] This was also the case for Hungrybox, who, having little to no experience in Melee online tournaments, failed to win any for the rest of the year, despite finishing 2nd at both Pound Online and Frame Perfect Series 2: ONLINE.[46][47] Notably, he achieved his worst Melee placement in 13 years in July at LACS 2, finishing 13th; this was his first time placing lower than 9th place since his very early career in 2007, and his first time placing lower than 7th place since 2014.[9] The following November at Perfect Series 3: ONLINE on November 3, he finished in 17th place.[47] In July 2020, Hungrybox stated: "I think no matter how hard I try can't bring myself to the same level of dedication or be as invested as I was in [offline] tournaments", also stating on Twitter that performing Melee online only made him feel stressed when he lost, and "neutral" when he won, stating: "Melee's not making me happy for the first time in a long time."[48][9]

During the pandemic, Hungrybox started to focus heavily on his Twitch channel created in May 2012, and on his YouTube channel created in August 2010, focusing primarily on playing online Ultimate tournaments.[49][50] He streamed almost daily during the entire pandemic, including literally every single day from July 26 to October 22, while eventually starting to publish daily videos on his YouTube channel.[51] This led both channels to rapidly grow, with his number of Twitch followers going from 137,000 in January 2020 to 247,000 by the end of the year, and his weekly YouTube views going from 130,000 in January 2020 to a million by the end of the year.[49][52] Dot Esport calling him "the single biggest Super Smash Bros. Ultimate streamer in the world", pointing out that "his community showed him support and essentially forced him to plan a vacation for himself" on October 23, due to him suffering from overwork.[51]

On August 30, 2019, after competing in online Ultimate tournaments nearly every day for 150 days, Hungrybox won a 77-entrant tournament, The Salad Online 13, marking his first win of a professional online Ultimate tournament.[53][54] He also kept on competing in Melee online, albeit not as often, to continued mixed results; he won several minor tournaments, including the 89-entrants East Coast Fridays 136 on November 14, the 35-entrants Bristahood Brawl on November 18, and the 270-entrants Galint Melee Open, which took place from January 9 to January 11, 2021.[55][56][57]

Return to offline Melee (2021-present)[]

From July 15 to July 18, 2021, Hungrybox took part in the Melee Major tournament Smash Summit 11, the first offline Super Smash Bros. Major in North America since Frostbite in February 2020. At the end of the three-day singles tournament, he took third place, losing to Zain in winners finals and then to eventual tournament winner Mang0 in losers finals.[58][59] He and Plup also took 2nd place in a special single-elimination doubles tournament where players could only pick each character once per set, losing to Mang0 and SFAT in the finals.[58] Mang0's first place prize in the singles tournament of $46,700 surpassed the all-time record of $29,315 Hungrybox had earned for winning Smash Summit 5 in 2017.[60]

At Riptide on September 10-12, 2021, Hungrybox took third place in the singles tournament after losing to iBDW in Winners Finals and to Plup in Losers Finals. He and Plup also won the doubles tournament.[61]

Style and public image[]

Playstyle[]

Largely credited with elevating the Melee community's perception of Jigglypuff's viability in competition and setting the standard of how to play the character, Hungrybox relies heavily on a defensive, counterattack-centric playstyle revolving around avoiding his opponent until he finds an opportunity to attack and capitalize on their mistakes; it is considered a "high risk high reward" playstyle, as Hungrybox's usual goal is to eventually hit his opponent with Rest, a move unique to Jigglypuff which inflicts instant high knockback on opponents. The move has a very small range, making it hard to connect, and, regardless of whether it successfully hits or not, leaves Jigglypuff asleep and completely vulnerable for a long time afterwards; as such, failure to connect with Rest, or failure to knock the opponent far enough to kill them, can result in massive damage inflicted on Jigglypuff, or, if damage is already high, in an instant kill; sometimes, Jigglypuff does not wake up fast enough to avoid getting attacked even if the opponent did lose their stock, leaving Hungrybox little room for mistakes during a game.[62][63][2][1]

In addition to Rest, Hungrybox relies on Jigglypuff's back-air attack, which he uses to inflict damage on opponents, but also to edge-guard them.[8] In 2019, he started using Jigglypuff's Sing move, which makes opponents fall asleep, more frequently and more efficiently, before finishing them off with smash attacks, relying less on Rest than before.[64] Regardless of which game he competed in, Hungrybox has played exclusively Jigglypuff in almost every tournament he took part of, with the most notable exceptions being a few Project M tournaments in which he alternated Jigglypuff with Captain Olimar and Mario.[10]

Redbull.com referred to Hungrybox as the "antithesis" of Melee, stating: "[in Melee], just about everyone accepts the fact that more speed equates to better performance. Everyone, that is, except Hungrybox. Juan 'Hungrybox' Debiedma is an exception to most every rule within the Melee community."[8]

Hungrybox claimed in 2013 that he "got good using gimmicks" and that his hands were not fast enough for technical skill.[65] Liking Melee for its "unorthodox value", he claimed in 2014 that he disliked traditional head-to-head fighting games, stating "they [require] a huge button input to do each combo. In Melee, every character shares roughly the same input for their 30 or so moves – it’s up to you to decide how to merge them together."[2] In 2014, he stated: "In my playstyle, I’m a greedy novel editor – I’ll catch every last mistake or typo you make, and punish you harshly for it. My entire style is based on [Jigglypuff]'s ability to get early kills or 'gimps' via Rest, her high-risk One-hit KO move, and her great aerial game. I like to believe that when I'm playing well, I have every last option covered – and the opponent ALWAYS gets caught." He considered his biggest weaknesses to be his impatience, and his inability to accept critique.[2]

Hungrybox is considered particularly effective against Peach players; he has never lost against Peach in an offline tournament.[9] His first time losing to a Peach player happened at LACS 2 on July 26, 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic had forced offline tournaments to be cancelled, or converted to online; Arjun "lloD" Malhotra defeated him, although Hungrybox remains undefeated by a Peach player offline.[9]

Hungrybox has earned the nickname "Clutchbox" due to his frequent clutch performances, pulling off comebacks when in difficult positions, particularly when in the middle of losing sets or after being sent to a Losers Bracket.[66][24]

Public perception[]

Hungrybox is unanimously seen as one of the best players in Melee history, as well as the best Jigglypuff player in the game's history.[62][8][67] However, he has remained a polarizing figure for Melee fans and players all throughout his career, with part of the community criticizing his playstyle as annoying and too slow and Jigglypuff as a bad character; he has also been accused of hurting the community, with some alleging that his playstyle was driving viewers away.[67][68][69][8][1][7] ESPN stated in 2016: 'There is no question that Juan 'Hungrybox' Debiedma is the most polarizing figure in the realm of Super Smash Bros. Melee. Ten years deep as a competitor, he's seen fans discount him, his performances and his character selection, some even believing that he's killing the game with each set."[68] In another article in 2019, they stated that he "has been the recipient of a significant amount of hate throughout his career."[67]

In 2015, Redbull.com stated that "In many ways, Hungrybox is the opposite of what someone would come to expect from a top Melee player – something he's well aware of. [...] This anti-Jigglypuff mentality is commonplace in the modern era."[8] In 2020, Esports Talk stated that Hungrybox "isn't a mean one. He just plays Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff is safe and solid and isn't flashy or exciting. He's not viewed highly by many viewers/players because of this approach. [...] He's seen a great deal of grief and abuse in streams and on social media for years, and that has to compound into some negative, upsetting emotions."[48]

Hungrybox also attracted criticism for his tendency to loudly and flashily celebrate his wins, which some considered disrespectful to his defeated opponents. Addressing the criticisms, he stated in 2015: "I tend to be emotional when I play and/or when I interact with people. Perhaps sometimes I say too many things and it comes across in a really bad way. I was raised with the idea that I should always be very proud of my accomplishments. I loved sharing what I had done, or my success on an exam, or who I had beaten at a local tournament. I was dumb for realizing that I had been accidentally bragging a lot. As idiotic as it sounds, I didn't realize it. [...] More than anything else in the world, I want to just get along with everyone. But it's so fragile now. The image that people have of me, especially people on the West Coast, is literally awful. And there's not much I can do to fix it. I would love to sit down and talk to every person who thinks wrongly of me. Try to understand their point of view and then share mine. But I feel like it's far too late."[8] He also said in 2018: "The negative parts of [my] personality – the pop-offs, they're not exaggerated, maybe as a person I am overly cathartic, but that's how I am – it's seen by people and it tips them off the wrong way. Maybe certain things I said, maybe certain ways I act, which mind you the entire time, I had zero idea that I was ticking people off the wrong way. I was either completely oblivious or ignorant to it, one of those two, but I definitely was."[7]

According to Hungrybox, the Melee community's partial rejection of his playstyle started very early in his career, claiming that "people didn't like that at all" when he started placing high in local tournaments in 2008.[8] He stated: "There’s a huge stigma against Puff. I've had Florida crowds cheer against me at nationals. It's the fact that no one really likes giving Puff credit. You can't really combo her... and she seems easier to play. Puff is a weird character altogether. She has five jumps so she doesn't have to worry about being gimped or dying suddenly out of nowhere. You have to play patiently to beat her."[8]

Juan DeBiedma Twitter
@hungrybox

Fuck this community man. All you guys ever do is look for ways to give me shit over any tiny thing. All 12 years of me playing Melee has been full of it.

I’m literally mocked by my peers, my competitors, and community figureheads on a daily basis.

Like what’s the point anymore

August 13, 2018[70]

He has admitted to suffering from the way part of the community treats him, also stating that the community's perception of him was a factor in him starting to drink excessively in 2017 and resuming having a day job despite being the No. 1 Melee player in the world, stating: "Playing Smash only and streaming, I did not feel fulfilled. Maybe if I was a different player or if I was someone was less polarizing, maybe it might be different. I know how people see me a lot of time, I know what people say and write about me. Having to read that over and over every single day as trying to be this full-time gamer and build my brand, it got me. It started to mess with my head a lot. I was very close to getting therapy. I chose not to, probably because I got the job, but if I continued doing [esports] full time, I was very close to getting therapy for it. I hated seeing people having a warped perception of me, misunderstanding of me."[69][7] He stated in 2018: "If it wasn't so necessary for my career, to build my brand, to stay in touch with my fans and the world, I would take a one-year break from Twitter and Facebook. I desperately need it. I think it's caused a lot of mental damage that I didn't need. I was not prepared in any way to handle it. It's my own fault."[7] In July 2020, he admitted that he was considering permanently retiring from playing Melee, due to the community's perception of him.[48]

In the Grand Finals of DreamHack Austin 2017 in which he faced Daniel "ChuDat" Rodriguez in several highly contested games described by ESPN as "high-level spectacle", Hungrybox won the final game, and therefore the tournament, by camping and avoiding contact with ChuDat's Ice Climbers until the clock ran out, giving Hungrybox the win due to his statistical advantage in stocks and damage ratio. Afterwards, ChuDat refused to shake Hungrybox's hand.[71] Bleeding Cool reported the event with the headline "DreamHack Austin Champion Wins In The Most Pathetic Way Possible", stating: "Hungrybox already had to earn his first kill and was having a hard time with the second, so he chose to do one of the biggest jerk moves you can as a gamer: run out the clock. [...] He kept dodging him for the final two minutes of the match while everyone on Twitch and in the arena started booing the living hell out of him."[71] Super Smash Bros. player and YouTuber Sky Williams defended Hungrybox's play at DreamHack, stating that "fighting isn't always what proves a player is better. Timing somebody out isn't always free either, it's backfired big time. Nobody likes it, it's pretty boring, but especially [for] a fragile character like [Jigglypuff] it's a very viable option. [...] The clock is a win condition, but it's not simple. It's not easy. One wrong move can cost you the game."[72] In April 2018, Hungrybox claimed on Twitter that a stranger attracted his attention while he was shopping at Walmart earlier during the day, before saying "Fuck you and your family Hungrybox", as well as "some other stuff about (him]".[73] He stated: "It’s one thing to be the salty warrior behind a screen or on twitch chat. But I was just buying groceries and minding my business and someone took the time to shout at me and let me know he hates me to my face in public with other people listening. [...] I shouldn't have to feel weird walking around in public doing my day to day errands. I get it. I get that people hate me for what I do. Just please mind your own business if you see me in person. I'll gladly sign your stuff or take a photo. Just don't harass someone for their job. It makes me second guess all this stuff I’ve been working for.[74]

After Hungrybox won his Winners Semifinals match against Kevin "PewPewU" Toy at GENESIS 6's Melee Singles tournament on February 3, 2019, the crowd loudly chanted "Fuck H-Box"; the event commentators remarked: "They’re doing the chant but they're doing it so he can hear it. You’ve got to respect him as a competitor. No one else does it with Jigglypuff like that. That’s not easy." After the event, Hungrybox, who went on to win the tournament, tweeted "Those chants almost broke me."[72][75][67] Several other Smash players criticized the crowd for their reaction, including Justin "Plup" McGrath; even William "Leffen" Peter Hjelte, who had frequently voiced his dislike of Hungrybox, tweeted: "I don't like Hbox or Puff but seriously crowds need to be respectful. Get it together."[72]

Controversial tournament events[]

During Evo 2013, Hungrybox's first participation to Evo, the biggest fighting game event in the world, he faced Robert "Wobbles" Wright in the Losers Finals, in a best out of 3 set. After the two were tied with 1 game each, Wobbles won game 3, winning the match and eliminating Hungrybox from the tournament; however, the two players, believing that the set was best out of 5, started to prepare for a game 4, leading Evo founder Tom Cannon to interrupt them and announce that the match was already over. In 2020, Hungrybox explained that an unspecified Evo official had stated "clearly and plainly" in an official statement that all Finals (Grand Finals, Winners Finals and Losers Finals) would be played best out of 5, and claimed that he had never been warned that the stipulation had later been changed. He stated: "I felt cheated. I felt ashamed. This was the biggest moment of the Smash career at this point, [...] I usually take a lot more risks in the middle of a set than at the end of a set, because I feel like I have a chance to do so; had I known it would have been the last game, [my playstyle] would have been much, much more different, which again, could have made a much different outcome."[76] He also claimed that after confronting the Evo official who had made the original statement right after the match, Mr. Wizard answered by saying "Well you should have asked. We changed it."[76]

Hungrybox's match against Zac "SFAT" Cordoni in the Losers Semifinals at Evo 2017 attracted controversy after Hungrybox called his coach, Luis "Crunch" Rosias, over for advice, which, as a violation of the event's "No Coaching After Pools" rule, should have earned SFAT a win by disqualification; however, as the discussion between Hungrybox and Crunch was ongoing, Gordon "G$" Connell, a friend of SFAT, approached and mocked the other two by mimicking a coach-like discussion with SFAT. As the result, Evo considered that both players had violated the rule, and let the match's original result, a win for Hungrybox, stand; both players nevertheless received a yellow card as punishment for their actions.[77] This upset part of the fans, who believed that, as SFAT was not actually being coached, he should have won by disqualification. Others pointed out that, according to the official Evo ruleset, if such an incident is not reported at the time it took place, then it is ignored, and that, as neither Hungrybox nor SFAT reported the other, neither should have been carded in the first place.[78] Hungrybox eventually lost the following round, the Losers Finals, against Mango, finishing 3rd in the tournament while SFAT placed 4th as the result of his loss.[77][10] In 2020, Hungrybox claimed that both he and Crunch had asked an Evo official if coaching was legal for this set beforehand, due to a discrepancy in official announcements making the situation unclear, and had been told that it was.[76]

One of the most infamous moments in Melee history took place in April 2019 at Pound 2019, when, after Hungrybox won the Melee Singles tournament by defeating Mango in the Grand Finals, a member in the crowd, presumably upset by his win, threw a dead crab at Hungrybox, barely missing him. After a moment of incredulousness, an infuriated Hungrybox picked up the crab and shouted at the crowd, asking the person who threw it to reveal themselves and "show some respect." The individual in question was later identified and ejected from the building, with a Pound official announcing that they had been permanently banned from future Pound events, and that their name would be privately disclosed to other Smash tournament organizers.[69][79][28][73][80][48] Hungrybox then apologized on Twitter for losing his temper, later stating: "I was just so disappointed. I looked down and I’m like 'who threw this? Why would you throw this at me?'", later making fun of the incident by eating a crab during a live stream.[69][81] The crab incident became viral and was relayed by a variety of media outlets, quickly becoming a meme within the Smash community.[80][28][69][67] Reflecting on the event in 2020 and recognizing it as the most bizarre moment of his tournament career, Hungrybox stated: "That was definitely a turning point, I think, for everyone in the community. We all realized something in that moment, that there always are gonna be fandoms and opposing factions [in professional competition]. Having intense love for your player and wanting him to win, like [in this case] Mango, is one thing, but having intense hate for another player is actually toxic and not what Smash is there for."[28]

Personal life[]

After abandoning his family to return in Argentina in 2008, Hungrybox's father Juan Daniel passed away from a heart attack in late 2015, shortly before Hungrybox won both the Singles and Doubles Melee tournaments at DreamHack Winter 2015, earning his first five-figure payout and marking his first time winning both Singles and Doubles at a Super Major tournament; in a post-win interview, he broke into tears and opened about his father's lack of support, stating: "I know it's personal stuff, but [my father] told me: you'll never be the best. You'll be good, but you'll never be the best. [If someone] counted you out. If they said you couldn't do something, then just do it. Do it for you. Do it for the people that matter, the people that still are here. And do it for yourself."[7][1] He expanded upon that moment in 2019 as part of a documentary by Dexerto, stating "I really was there wishing he could see me. Just to tell him 'if you were wrong about this, maybe you were wrong about other stuff too'".[82] According to Hungrybox, his mother, Lucia Violante, was conversely very supportive.[7]

Hungrybox's lifelong best friend and manager is Luis "Crunch" Rosias, whom Hungrybox credits with training him and helping him develop his skills at Melee, most notably in how to win against Fox, who is often considered the best character in the game, and has a notoriously favorable matchup against Hungrybox's character, Jigglypuff.[7]

He previously dated a woman named Amanda for several years, until the two split up in August 2017. He recognizes the aftermath of the break-up, which was coupled with frequent criticism from the Melee community, as one of the worst periods of his life, during which he excessively drank alcohol, and strained relationships with family and friends, stating: "The only thing keeping me happy was Melee. It wasn't even to be the best anymore. I just kind of told Liquid to send me to as many events as possible, as many as possible, please. They sent me eight weekends in a row, from GTX to what I can't even name anymore. GTX, Apollo, DreamHack Denver, Smash Summit, Too Hot to Handle, Big House 7. All of those events, I won them in a row, in easily the highlight of my career. I got the No. 1 rank without even trying to do so. I simply went and played each match as a way of [passing] the seconds in the day – if that makes sense – to give me something to do, to keep me away from thinking about something else."[7]

While competing professionally in Melee, DeBiedma continued to be a full-time student, graduating Freedom High School in 2011, and the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 2015; after getting his degree, he relocated from Jacksonville, Florida to Buford, Georgia, and then again to Demopolis, Alabama, in order to find work that could still allow him to continue his full-time Super Smash Bros. career.[2][83][84][7] In 2015, he began working as a process engineer for WestRock, but quit his job the following year after underperforming at The Big House 6, in order to pursue a full-time eSports career, while calling it "the biggest risk I've ever taken in my entire life", he also stated that "I don't need a lot of things in my life"; he took the decision after his bosses told him he could only go to either The Big House 6 or Smash Summit 2, and not both.[23][7] In March 2018, however, the decline of his mental health in 2017 following his break-up lead him to take a regular job once again at ServiceNow in Florida, due to feeling that the Melee community's perception also weighed heavily on him.[85][7] In June 2019, after winning CEO for the fourth time, he announced that he would be leaving the workforce to pursue eSports full-time once again.[86] On August 15, 2017, DeBiedma became a U.S. citizen.[87]

Notable tournament placings[]

Offline tournament Online tournament

Super Smash Bros Melee[]

Tournament[88] Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Revival of Melee March 7–8, 2009 7th 4th Colbol
GENESIS July 10–12, 2009 3rd 13th Hax
Revival of Melee 2 November 21–22, 2009 1st 4th Cactuar
Pound 4 January 16–18, 2010 2nd 17th Uuaa
CEO 2010[citation needed] June 5–6, 2010 1st 1st ChuDat
Apex 2010 August 6–8, 2010 1st 4th Hax
Revival of Melee 3 November 20–21, 2010 5th 2nd Hax
Pound V February 19–21, 2011 3rd 3rd Hax
CEO 2011[citation needed] June 10–12, 2011 1st 1st Linguini
GENESIS 2 July 15–17, 2011 4th 2nd Hax
Apex 2012 January 6–8, 2012 2nd 2nd Plup
Zenith 2012 May 26–27, 2012 4th 3rd Hax
IMPULSE June 30-July 1, 2012 3rd 2nd Kage
MELEE-FC10R Legacy August 12–14, 2012 2nd 2nd Chillin
The Big House 2 October 6–7, 2012 2nd 2nd Chillin
Apex 2013 January 11–13, 2013 5th 2nd Plup
Zenith 2013 June 1–2, 2013 2nd 2nd DoH
Evo 2013[note 2] July 12–14, 2013 3rd 1st Mew2King
The Big House 3 October 12–13, 2013 2nd 1st Mew2King
Revival of Melee 6 November 16–17, 2013 2nd 1st Mew2King
Apex 2014 January 17–19, 2014 5th 3rd Plup
Shuffle V February 22–23, 2014 2nd 1st Mew2King
Revival of Melee 7 March 8–9, 2014 3rd 2nd Darc
CEO 2014 Prologue March 28–29, 2014 1st — —
Get On My Level 2014 May 10–11, 2014 2nd 1st Mew2King
Pat's House 2 May 24–25, 2014 2nd 1st Mew2King
MLG Anaheim 2014 June 20–22, 2014 7th 5th Plup
CEO 2014 June 27–29, 2014 3rd 2nd Plup
Evo 2014[note 2] July 11–13, 2014 2nd 1st Plup
Smash the Record August 22–25, 2014 1st 1st Plup
Tipped Off 10 September 20–21, 2014 1st 1st Plup
The Big House 4 October 4–5, 2014 9th 2nd Plup
Fight Pitt V November 1–2, 2014 1st 1st Colbol
Forte 2 December 20–21, 2014 1st 2nd Arc
Paragon 2015 January 17–18, 2015 1st 1st Plup
Apex 2015 January 30-February 1, 2015 5th 1st Mew2King
Bad Moon Rising March 14–15, 2015 1st 1st DoH
MVG Sandstorm April 18–19, 2015 4th 3rd Silly Kyle
Press Start May 9–10, 2015 4th 1st Mew2King
Get On My Level 2015 May 30–31, 2015 1st 1st Hax
CEO 2015 June 26–28, 2015 5th 2nd Leffen
Evo 2015[note 2] July 17–19, 2015 2nd 3rd Plup
Paragon Los Angeles September 5–6, 2015 3rd — —
MLG World Finals 2015 October 16–18, 2015 1st — —
DreamHack Winter 2015[1] November 26–28, 2015 1st 1st Axe
GENESIS 3 January 15–17, 2016 3rd 4th Axe
PAX Arena January 29–31, 2016 1st 2nd Mew2King
Battle of the Five Gods March 17–19, 2016 1st — —
Pound 6 April 2–3, 2016 1st — —
Smash Summit 2 April 21–24, 2016 2nd 2nd Plup
Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo April 29-May 1, 2016 1st 2nd Leffen
DreamHack Austin 2016 May 6–8, 2016 2nd — —
Get On My Level 2016 May 20–22, 2016 3rd 3rd Leffen
Smash'N'Splash 2 June 11–12, 2016 1st 5th Wobbles
Low Tier City 4 June 18–19, 2016 1st 2nd ESAM
CEO 2016 June 24–25, 2016 1st 1st Mew2King
WTFox 2 July 1–3, 2016 5th 4th Iori
Evo 2016[note 2] July 15–17, 2016 1st 2nd Mew2King
Super Smash Con 2016 August 11–14, 2016 2nd — —
Shine 2016 August 26–28, 2016 4th — —
The Big House 6 October 7–9, 2016 5th 5th Mew2King
Canada Cup 2016 October 28–30, 2016 2nd — —
Smash Summit 3 November 3–6, 2016 2nd 5th Plup
UGC Open[89][90] December 2–4, 2016 3rd 4th Mew2King
Don't Park On The Grass December 17–18, 2016 2nd 3rd Swedish Delight
GENESIS 4[28] January 20–22, 2017 4th 5th Mew2King
Smash Summit Spring 2017 March 2–5, 2017 2nd 5th Axe
Smash Rivalries April 8–9, 2017 1st 2nd Mew2King
Smash 'N' Splash 3 June 2–4, 2017 1st 7th Professor Pro
CEO 2017 June 16–18, 2017 1st — —
Game Tyrant Expo 2017 June 2–4, 2017 1st 4th Chudat
The Big House 7 October 6–8, 2017 1st 4th Chudat
Smash Summit 5 Nov 2–5, 2017 1st 5th Wizzrobe
Smash Summit 6 May 3–6, 2018 4th 4th 2Saint
Smash 'N' Splash 4 June 1–3, 2018 2nd — —
CEO 2018[citation needed] June 29-July 1, 2017 1st 2nd mayb
Evo 2018 August 3–5, 2018 4th — —
Super Smash Con 2018 August 9–12, 2018 3rd 3rd Mew2King
Shine 2018 August 24–26, 2018 2nd 4th Chudat
DreamHack Montreal 2018 September 7–9, 2018 1st — —
The Big House 8 October 5–7, 2018 1st 2nd Chudat
Canada Cup 2018 October 26–28, 2018 1st — —
Game Tyrant Expo 2018 November 2–4, 2018 1st — —
Smash Summit 7[31][91] November 15, 2018 1st 2nd Bananas
Smash Conference United[34] January 5, 2019 1st — —
Overlords of Orlando[92] April 13, 2019 1st — —
Pound 2019[1][69][79] April 19–21, 2019 1st 3rd Chudat
Smash Summit 8 June 15, 2019 5th 3rd iBDW
CEO 2019[citation needed] June 28–30, 2019 1st — —
DreamHack Montreal 2019[93] September 6–8, 2018 1st — —
The Big House 9 October 4–6, 2019 5th — —
EGLX 2019: Rising Stars October 20, 2019 1st 1st Mew2King
Mango's Birthday Bash[35] December 7–8, 2019 2nd 2nd Zain
GatorLAN Spring 2020[37] January 11–12, 2020 1st — —
GENESIS 7[37][39] January 26, 2020 2nd 5th Zain
Smash Summit 9[37] February 13–16, 2020 1st — —
CEO Dreamland[40] March 13–15, 2020 1st 1st mayb
Pound Online[46] April 24–26, 2020 2nd — —
LACS 2[9] July 26, 2020 13th — —
Perfect Series 2: ONLINE[47] September 19, 2020 2nd — —
Perfect Series 3: ONLINE[47] November 3, 2020 17th — —
East Coast Fridays[55] November 14, 2020 1st — —
Bristahood Brawl 3[56] November 18, 2020 1st — —
Smash Summit 10[94] November 19–22, 2020 7th — —
Galint Melee Open[55] January 9–11, 2021 1st — —
Smash Summit 11[58] July 15-18, 2021 3rd 2nd Plup
September 10-12, 2021 1st 2nd Plup[61]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl[]

Tournament[95] Date 1v1 placement
GENESIS[10] July 15–17, 2011 97th

Project M[]

Tournament[95] Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Zenith 2012 May 26–27, 2012 1st — —
MELEE-FC10R Legacy August 12–14, 2012 1st 2nd Kage
Zenith 2013 June 1–2, 2013 2nd — —
The Big House 3 October 12–13, 2013 7th 1st Mew2King
Apex 2014 January 17–19, 2014 25th — —
Shuffle V February 22–23, 2014 2nd 3rd Nintendude
CEO 2014 Prologue March 28–29, 2014 5th — —
CEO 2014 June 27–29, 2014 9th 4th Armada
Tipped Off 10 September 20–21, 2014 9th 3rd Mew2King
The Big House 4 October 4–5, 2014 13th — —
Forte 2 December 20–21, 2014 1st — —
Paragon 2015 January 17–18, 2015 3rd — —
Paragon Los Angeles September 5–6, 2015 4th 1st-6th Oracle
Smash'N'Splash 2 June 11–12, 2016 33rd 5th Westballz
Low Tier City 4 June 18–19, 2016 — 5th MrLz
WTFox 2 July 1–3, 2016 1st 1st Mew2King

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[]

Tournament[96] Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Super Smash Bros. Invitational June 10, 2014 2nd — —
CEO 2015 June 26–28, 2015 97th 3rd ZeRo
FC Smash 15XR: Return July 4–5, 2015 17th 2nd ZeRo
WTFox 2 July 1–3, 2016 25th — —

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS[]

Tournament[97] Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Tipped Off 10 September 20–21, 2014 3rd — —
Fight Pitt V November 1–2, 2014 4th — —

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]

Tournament[96] Date 1v1 placement 2v2 placement Partner
Ultimatum[33] December 29, 2018 65th — —
Smash Conference United[34] January 5, 2019 25th 17th Crunch
GENESIS 6[34][72][75] February 1, 2019 193rd 257th Chillindude
Frostbite 2019[98][99][100] February 23–24, 2019 193rd — —
Overlords of Orlando[92] April 13, 2019 17th — —
DreamHack Montreal 2019[93] September 7–8, 2020 25th — —
Mango's Birthday Bash[35] December 7–8, 2019 7th — —
GENESIS 7[39] January 24–26, 2020 257th — —
Frostbite 2020[41][42] February 21–23, 2020 257th — —
Juicy Smash Night 142[43] March 5, 2020 1st — —
CEO Dreamland[40] March 13–15, 2020 65rd 49th Jebailey
Final Floof[101] March 21, 2020 9th — —
Rev It Up: 2020 Series WiFi Major[102] May 24–25, 2020 257th — —
The Online Olympus[103] May 31-June 1, 2020 97th — —
The Salad Online 13[54] August 31, 2020 1st — —
ULTIMATE 32[104] November 14–15, 2020 113th — —

Media[]

DeBiedma's early Melee career was documented in an episode of the 2013 documentary series The Smash Brothers.[105] He also is present in another documentary about the competitive Smash scene called Metagame.[106] Hungrybox has been a vocal advocate for the competitive Super Smash Bros. scene, praising the technological advancements created for Melee, and criticizing Nintendo for their lack of support towards the community.[107][108]

Notes[]

  1. ^ No rankings took place for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic leading to the offline Melee community becoming de facto inactive from March onwards. Therefore, Hungrybox is still technically ranked first in the world as of 2021, despite no top player having been determined for the previous year.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d The Doubles tournament was a side-event organized by Evo in parallel to the event, but not technically part of the event itself.

References[]

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