I've played fighting games longer than I've played Smash (
This is my SRK account if you want proof or something) and I can tell you that Melee is actually one of the deepest and hardest fighting games you could ever play at the top level.
Between wavedashing, wavelanding, dash dancing, pivots, SHFFLing, edge cancelling, shield stopping, shield dropping, shortening, on so on, half the depth and skill of the game is just in the movement alone. It's like you're playing a fighting game but you're also speedrunning Super Mario 64 at the same time. Compare this to Street Fighter where you have fixed walk speeds and jump angles. Total opposite ends of the spectrum really.
The other thing really, really super unique about Melee is that are no fixed combos - instead it greatly emphasises on-the-fly ingenuity to consider which move is going to give you the best combination of damage, positioning, follow-up potential or possibly a direct kill, all while anticipating and playing around your opponent's escape options. Although the pure number of attacks is less than most 6 button fighting games, it's more than made up for by the fact that many moves have greatly different properties depending on the frame and part of the hitbox you connect with. Dudes like PewPewU in particular are geniuses when it comes to this stuff.
Who the fuck would ever think a weird backwards hit of a forward air at this percent would combo perfectly into a forward smash like this? This is like a complete dimension of skill in itself that straight up doesn't exist in other fighting games. The most you'll really have to do is decide whether you want to prioritise damage, stun, corner carry or meter usage, but no matter what there's going to be an optimal combo that you'll have already memorised beforehand. You never have to work creatively with the mechanics on the fly.
Melee is so deep and hard that even after it's been out for 14 years, the highest level of competition is still about playing the game as much as it is about playing the player. There was this dude named Hax who believed everyone was playing sub-optimally, that everyone could be moving faster and punishing harder, that aspiring for borderline TAS level perfection was the next big thing, and that he was going to be the one to do it. Which he kind of did, until he gave himself severe tendonitis/carpal tunnel and had to retire until he had surgery and his hands could recover.
But anyway, I think we've derailed the thread long enough. Let's go back to talking about Mike Ross's eSports reign.
