Esports | Super Smash Bros. Melee | Hungrybox — The Two 3-2 Finals at Mandalay Bay

On July 17, 2016, Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma and Adam “Armada” Lindgren played the Super Smash Bros. Melee Grand Final of Evo 2016 inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Hungrybox arrived from the losers’ bracket; Armada held the winners’ side and therefore needed to be defeated in two sets before the title could change hands.

Evo was a community-run, open-entry fighting-game tournament rather than a Nintendo-operated championship. Its first two days used the Las Vegas Convention Center, but the Sunday finals moved to Mandalay Bay’s 12,000-seat arena, making the decisive match safe to anchor here instead of at the earlier venue.

The competition used the North American NTSC 1.02 release of Super Smash Bros. Melee on Nintendo GameCube hardware. Each game began with four stocks per player and an eight-minute limit, items were disabled, and the winners’, losers’, and grand-final sets were first to three game wins.

A stock is one fighter’s life: losing all four loses the game, while a set score counts games rather than stocks. Because Evo used double elimination, Hungrybox’s earlier bracket loss meant his first best-of-five victory over undefeated Armada would only reset the bracket; he then had to win another best-of-five.

Hungrybox used Jigglypuff and Armada used Fox throughout the two final sets. In the fifth game of the first set, Hungrybox recovered from a full-stock deficit, completed the 3–2 win, and erased Armada’s remaining tournament life.

The reset set also reached a fifth game. On Pokémon Stadium, Hungrybox finished the last exchange with one stock remaining, won the second set 3–2, and secured first place; Armada finished second.

The result gave Hungrybox his first Evo singles championship after earlier runner-up and third-place finishes. Its consequence came from the bracket structure as much as the score: the title required ten games against the winners-side finalist, with both first-to-three sets reaching their final possible game.

The pin marks the arena known in 2016 as Mandalay Bay Events Center, now Michelob ULTRA Arena, at 3950 South Las Vegas Boulevard. The cover shows the Mandalay Bay resort complex in 2010, not the match or a tournament graphic.

Primary evidence: Evo’s official grand-final recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeX8SlPzlXI

Independent report: ESPN, “True grit and glory: A new Melee king is crowned at Evo”: https://www.espn.com/gaming/story/_/id/17097781/hungrybox-new-golden-legacy-evo

Rules and results cross-check: https://www.ssbwiki.com/Tournament:EVO_2016

Venue: https://mandalaybay.mgmresorts.com/en/entertainment/michelob-ultra-arena.html

Photo: “MandalayBay2010.JPG” by Kris1123, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MandalayBay2010.JPG