Starting off, could you give a brief introduction of what you do for the Smash community?

Wynton Smith, but most people know me as prog of the Melee It On Me podcast (@meleeitonme). I'm mostly a commentator, but I guess that ended up making me one of the faces of the scene.

Starting last year, Riot Games began sponsoring professional players for participating in the LCS to help them make a living, a tradition existing for a long time in Korea.   With SSBM being such a high skill cap title, do you think financial stability is keeping the game from seeing its true skill ceiling? Do you think without proper infrastructure we might never see it and have to settle for wondering "what if" due to lack of drive?

I think more so that the true skill level isn't being reached because...well...we're human. If you look at our modern masters, 13 years after release and compare them to TAS videos, it really shows how much further the game can go. Smash DI-ing every hit, ledge cancelling/autocancelling, not to even mention frame perfection. 

Smash has never been about financial gain, it's been about having something to prove. If it was about finance, top players wouldn't battle so hard for 4 figures at our biggest events of the year. Drive has always been there, however, with EVO's return, MLG's presence, and now people knowing that major eSports organizations are scouting top players, I'd say that people will continue to push their own games further, and by proxy, Melee as a whole.

The recent news of KDJ and Ken joining Team Liquid was exciting and a massive shock to both smash fans and avid TL followers.  To most, these two have been in the dark for quite awhile.  Do you think the two have the natural talent to get back into the scene and challenge today's top competitors or do you feel this is more of a PR move and the two might be too rusty with their mechanics to play "catch-up" with current top competitors who have been constantly and actively training?

Ken did fairly well at EVO, making it out of pools and into the main bracket. KDJ also did well at APEX. These two know what it takes to be the best. I think they both can recover and reach the pinnacle again if they have the time, which hopefully their signings with Team Liquid will afford them. They've got the know how, they've got the will, its about getting the rust off, because the fingers do fade. 

Armada from APEX 2013 (January) to EVO 2013 (July) was a stark change, you could see it wasn't what we were used to from him, and that was only 6 months. KDJ already is reaching back toward the brass ring again, nearly defeating M2K recently, but Ken...he's got a harder road. However, they both have phenomenal scenes to get reacquainted in, and I think that with time, we can see them both in top 8.

While there are avenues of online play, most practicing comes from local play, which could be inhibiting to a player's growth if the correct level of competition isn't nearby to locally suit them.  For this reason, the Smash community used to form circles to play with one another.  With Smash's resurgance, do you think that, similar to other up and coming eSports, we'll see gaming houses as a possibility for Smashers aspiring to be the best they can be?

I doubt we'll see gaming houses. It'd take a sizable team for that to happen in Melee.

On the topic of local play, many would argue that Smash is such a close knit community because of the lack of anonymity due to not having in-game interraction from total strangers. Would you agree this is the case, and do you think that an official type of online play would be damaging to the "niche" and wonderful atmosphere amidst Smashers?

Official online play would definitely have hurt the familial aspect. We are closer to arcades than other scenes because it was all face to face interaction. We've been...dare I say fortunate not to have stellar online play. We got to know each other not just as rivals, but as friends, in person.

A worry and constant topic of discussion from players within the Dota and League of Legends scene about a weak point of Smash is lack of international play. Rarely do North American players find the opportunity to play cross region opponents such as the Japanese or Europeans (with the exception of CT|EMP Armada and a few others.)  Is there any way we can remedy that or is that just something we'll have to deal with?  Do you think this issue would theoretically resolve itself with higher prize purses or sponsors to handle travel?

Sponsors certainly help. It's tough, there are fantastic Smash scenes throughout Europe, in Japan, Saudi Arabia, but because of the lack of sponsors, the amount of money that these players (mostly still students and such) have to say makes it difficult. There are fan favorites everywhere that we'd love to see prove themselves in the states, and they haven't had that opportunity.

At the same time, its kind of a beautiful thing as well. As a scene, we predate a lot of media outlets for gaming, and well, before the internet really took off. We've seen styles, techniques appear in different regions, separate from one another, and that's something that largely can't be replicated anymore. However, yeah, we'd all, as fans, love to see these various scenes represented under one roof and it appears extremely unlikely.

In most eSports, there's constant patches that address balance issues.  While this occasionally can be healthy for the game, It also eliminates the possibility for people to find creative powers and invent their own shift in the current popular and strong meta.  Do you feel that SSBM could use some tweaks if the game were able to be tweaked officially for tournaments or do you prefer it now where the adaptation of the community is a lot more "natural"?

As a follow-up, what about your views on the current balance of the game where champions like Fox have consistently been top tier? Is it okay to have characters that are strictly better than others or do you think at the highest level of play this issue really doesn't exist?

Eh, that is one of the biggest issues. We have NTSC 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and PAL, all with slight changes from one version to the next. Although PAL is the most recent version, because of the prominence of the American scene, NTSC is the tournament standard for many majors. Then arguments over 1.0 vs 1.2, etc., standardization is a huge issue, in short. 

I think Smash is like any other game, especially when compared to League, in time, certain characters don't fare as well in the metagame, however, it doesn't mean that they are necessarily not viable. Yoshi will never do well at a major, and well, aMSa (a Japanese player who has been in the scene for about 14 months now) gets top 32 with him at EVO (at his very first major) and then follows it up with 9th at APEX. People will always complain about balance and such, however, it's about the caliber of the player, not just the caliber of the character. EVO top 8 had 8 different characters. Sometimes, we do see an abundance of Fox, but that's also the draw of the bracket and who plays better on that day. We don't have seasons at this point, it all boils down to who is the best on that given day.

MIOM|Mango after a much needed victory at EVO 2013.  Image: Polygon
 

Have you thought about what might happen to SSBM if it grows and the new Wii U smash is released?  Do you feel any worry that it may segregate the community and split the talent pool of competitive smashers?

The Melee community saw it not too long ago with Brawl. We know what to expect. However, a lot of competitive players are concerned about tournament logistics (bluetooth causing interference with different setups, transitioning to new monitors, the controller itself). A lot of people in Melee are ready to see what Smash 4 offers, but there is even more new blood looking to take those spots if they should leave.

Who's your personal favorite player and why? What about the player with the best storyline? Additionally, list a good starting point to draw other eSports fans into SSBM.  (Any particular videos, site resources you'd recommend to people wanting an "in.")

Of all time, my favorite player has to be either KDJ or PC Chris. I of course have to love my home town hero in PC, but KDJ's style and the way he does the utmost is something I've always loved as a fan and as a player. However, currently, I'm a fan of both MIOM|Mango and CT|EMP Armada, the yin and yang stylistically and one of the best rivalries the game will ever see. The best storyline for player has to go to either Dr. PeePee (Having no semblance of a local scene and rising to be top 5 in the world on everyone's list) or Armada (proving that the international scene was truly a threat for the first time since Japan in 2006-2007 from the first time he stepped on US soil).

If you want to get into Smash, the first place I recommend is The Smash Brothers Documentary. We're an old community with a story to tell and it seems like we've filling up pages as fast as ever. 

Of course, Smashboards.com is our hub and has been since day one, and don't hesitate to look on Youtube with groups such as VideoGameBootCamp and Clash Tournaments to see some of our recent events, then go back to Omnigamer's channel to see how far we've come.

Lastly, SSBM has everything a game needs to be a top competitive title, but often falls short until recently in the public awareness department.  What can we, the community, do to help raise awareness for Smash and get more people involved in the excitement?  (Perhaps create a donation portal for Gamecube controllers and CRT monitors? :P)

That's a good question. We're slowly seeing our streams get more time on the front page of twitch, but let people know reddit.com/r/smashbros has a lot of traffic for new players, finding out when events and streams are, etc. But the most important thing is don't be afraid to give it a shot. You said yesterday it is deceptively basic and then you find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Thank you so much for doing this interview.  Is there any last words you'd like to say before we close this out?

I'd like to thank you for the opportunity, everyone who likes the Smash series in general, and of course, the guys at Melee it on me. I'd also like to thank 64, Brawl, and PM communities as well.


You can follow Wynton "Progducto" Smith on Twitter and his work at Melee it on Me.  If you'd like to see my work, feel free to follow me at my Twitter to follow more of my eSports interviews and content as well. All images are property of their respective owners.