Nintendo is celebrating the anniversary of one of its most cherished titles of all time, so why do people seem to be angry in response?
There’s a very good reason why debate began to spark on Twitter Friday following the official Nintendo of America account posting a picture of the original Super Smash Bros. Melee box art from its Nintendo GameCube release.
To those not familiar with the goings on in the gaming community, it may seem like an innocuous, if not positive post, to see the company put the spotlight on one of its celebrated titles, with Nintendo captioning the photo: “20 years ago today, Super Smash Bros. Melee released on the Nintendo GameCube in North America!”
However, there’s subtext to this that’s worth explaining.
You see, for various reasons that come down mostly to the particulars surrounding the game’s finely tuned, fast pace, and well-balanced gameplay, many fans of the franchise consider it to be the absolute pinnacle of the entire series, despite being only the second installment. Thus, a thriving eSports scene is still going on today, where players compete for prizes in massive competition.
While it may seem all well and good from a developer’s standpoint that there are so many people that still love the game so much, things began to go south with the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and the tumult that it brought. During that time, a huge Melee tournament huge called The Big House was canceled due to COVID-19 crowd-gathering restrictions. They later announced an online version of the tournament, but it was later shut down due to Nintendo’s controversial decision to send organizers a cease and desist letter, citing piracy concerns over the use of emulation. The company made a similar cease and desist letter earlier this year to another Melee-hosting tournament, Riptide, which caused them to cancel their planned Project+ events.
It was plain to see on Twitter that many fans weren’t so quick to forget the company’s controversial and fairly recent actions.
However, one Twitter user defended the game company, saying their recent decision to partner with Panda for an officially licensed Melee tournament is proof Nintendo may be changing their ways for the better.
At least one person found it baffling to see Nintendo even acknowledge the title all these years later.