Top 50 Best Melee Players of ALL-TIME, #50-1 Showcase! 

Hugs talking about himself in the 3rd person gets me LOL. "I know a lot about this player." "He beat chillindude in his first ever match with him, and that's just the start of this guy's career"

I totally agree with those old-school players being ranked WAY too high. M2K should have been 4th, leffen 5th, pp 6th. Ken could still be top 10 but like, M2K being top 5 for over a decade beats ken imo.

silentwolf put out a video a couple years back talking about how he'd pretty much fixed his hand issues, but he wanted to focus on speedrunning and didn't have any plans to return to melee at that time. Assuming his hand issues haven't come back since then, there is still a possibility of him coming back to the game sometime if he finds the motivation.

"S2J was perennially top 25, then perennially top 15, then perennially top 10, then perennially top 5." Hugo, I hate to break it to you, but I don't think you know what the word "perennial" means.

WAIT, a Top 100 Skill List actually sounds like a hilarious video idea.

A chess-like title for elite Melee players actually sounds dope, and it'd be cool to figure out where the "godgamer" threshold is.

Love to see Wizzy already being the greatest Falcon of all-time and you know he's only reaching higher⭐️

Incorrect about Mango being #2 whenever Armada was 1 since Hbox was often 2 behind him. But would be interesting if there’s any vids really diving into what the tournament result breakdown is between Armada Mango.

The skill seeding vs results seeding is hilarious 😂

38:00 I love that we're still talking about the hugs diss track 5 years later lol, it makes me very happy

I think you’re one of the most qualified for this

I’ve been waiting for this! Didn’t even wanna know the list w/o this analysis.

how can people say "oh yeah, he was one of the best for three years, but then he didnt really play for the next decade" and think that means that person is one of the best of ALL time. like, sure, best of an era, but this is the ALL TIME list. you almost by definition have to have been good in MULTIPLE eras.

Since it’s the greatest of all time and not the best of all time, it’s so interesting to see where people put oldschool players like Ken and Azen. Just like a Pele or Maradona, they were undisputed in their era, but if they played today they would be throughly outclassed. How far should we acknowledge their accomplishment in the context of the time? It’s so subjective and cool to think about. I’d probably rate the old school players a bit lower than this list, but that’s just from my limited casual viewer perspective

Take a shot every time Hugo says "perennial"

I think its kinda weird to have Ken over m2k and leff because of his peaks but then have mango over armada for longevity Not that I don't think mangos the goat but its just inconsistent

We as a community need to get over the doc nostalgia. The further we get from the release of the doc the more obvious it is the game has evolved solo much and gotten more difficult. I don't think anyone pre 2008 should even be considered above top 15 at this point

I disagree with Hugs on Wizzy’s achievement being the best smash achievement. Mew2king was the best At two smash games twice (2008 Melee and Brawl, and again in 2013 Project M and Brawl). After he lost in Genesis 2 about hours later M2K won Genesis 2 in Brawl in the same day.Mew2king is unquestionably the most dominant smash player by being the most Successful in Smash in various games rather than just one specific game while being top 6 in melee for 15 years.

Armada should’ve been first. #1 in 2011-2012, first half of 2013, 2015-2016, first half of 2017 and wouldve been #1 in 2018 miom rankings if he didn’t retire before the year fully finished. Also was #2 ranked in 2009, 2013, 2017-2018. Never lost to someone outside of top 6 for 8 years. He was also mangos and hbox’s kyrptonite before he retired. Had a winning record vs everyone. Basically was top 2 for 10 years straight as well 2009-2018 Lmaoo literally goat 🐐 shit.

I enjoy hearing melee stories, great vid

Yoooo I really needed this video right now. Thanks HugS.

hugs gonna have to redo this whole video soon with how melee has been moving and the rate these players have been evolving their game/claiming titles

1:01:40 Did you mean it the other way around? Armada's had years at number 1 where Mango was as low as 4th, but Armada was top 2 in the world every year of his career.

purposely didn't look it up because I wanted to see this feature motion picture

The year is 20🥕🥕. Zain has fallen. Mango has fallen. Leffen has visa issues or he would compete. There is only one player on the top. Sfat has won.

I enjoyed this video, but does anyone else notice how Hugs says that 80% of the players in the top 50 got robbed and should be higher? How does that work when there are only 5-10 players that should be placed lower.

Yes Azen is ranked to high but I bet you didn’t know that Azen was the last non God to win a major tournament before Leffen in 2015.

great vid hugo

Ken was terrified to play M2K when he came into the scene even though he didn't say it coming from the doc. Seeing Ken placed over M2K is complete cringe

Take a shot every time Hugo says perennial

Zain was on Winners Side GF on that three 2nd placings at supermajors... T.T

1 Mang0 (finally surpassing Armada with last years results) 2 Armada 3 Hbox (whenever he wins a supermajor/gets ranked top 3 again I think he goes above Armada) 4 Mew2King of course 5 Leffen 6 PPMD (did it in a more challenging era + had longevity comparable to that of Ken, with less dominant fashion but again, more challenging era) 7 KEN (one of those days he'll be out of top 10 guys) 8 Zain (dominance in the most challenging era so far until Mang0's recent performance, less longevity than all above and some below him but still) 9 Plup (of course Plup) 10 ChuDat (truly passing the test of time, winning a major in both 2005 and 2017, being a threat for top players all this time) 11 Axe 12 Wizzrobe 13 SFAT (all 11-13 are debatable) 15 Azen (doing great for a short period of time) 14 S2J (always doing good/very good AND doing great for a short period of time in a more challenging era)

i get choked up when these players get talked about.. plup , axe, amsa, zain, mang0, armada

I like how hugs says about 40 of the top 50 should've been ranked higher. Like where are you gonna put them?

This video is perennial top 10

Ken over M2k is the most egregious of the choices

The skill ranking part kills me, I can’t believe it was like that lmaooo

oooooo, THIS IS THE PERFECT CONTENT for you dawg

Chudat is top 10 in my heart. Also, our top 3 players all time are so much higher than the rest, it is wild to me. Absolute gods.

I still can't believe hugo charged mang 25 bucks for a ride from mike haze's house. he was stuck there a whole week!

There should be a melee hall of fame

Nice one old man hugs

I’m honored to be in the presence of god gamer hugs

agree with your points. fyi they dont call each other grandmaster in chess.

Nice 👍🏾

Nice fade

Why is no one talking about dashizwiz not being ranked?

Yeah, I'm with this. The Ken worship is like saying George Mikan is your GOAT. Nobody says it. Everyone picks Jordan/Lebron/Kareem, a player that dominated an era of the game that was developed and tough. And, the disparity is even WIDER in something like Melee, where the growth is allowed to be exponential because there isn't a cap on how many people can enter an EVO or a Genesis. Melee went from like a several hundred player nation-wide community to a multi-thousand person international scene.

God Gamer or Melee Grand Master, which one sounds better?

I don't think it would be too hard to create some form of Melee title. Maybe ranking in just one linear list is just the wrong approach. After all, there's no sense of "gap". We're trying too hard to quantify something that can't be scored in a way everyone will agree with. The fact that Armada and Mango are so close in the rankings that it was decided by a single point, I think that proves that there is no single GOAT after all. There are several. That's why we even came up with the term "the 5 gods", because there just isn't an undisputed best. The main problem with adopting titles, however is that we get called pretentious by other communities. I say worth, with 20 years under our belt we've earned the right to be pretentious

its interesting how culturally diverse the top melee list is, just the top 10 has: costa rica, sweden, argentina, chinese, german, palestine, scotland

I fully agree that PC Chris, Korean DJ, Isai, Ken, Azen are all ranked too high. Zain would utterly fuck all of them up, for any of their versions.

You havent played against #24

peaks longevity eras yes but must consider impact and influence players at #1 specifically no matter how short like kdj should weigh heavier than longevity/eras b/c #1 player specifically drives whole scene + meta think about it, if sfat was missing from melee story, story would feel very similar if in alt universe ken never played melee, melee story entirely different

I feel like we lend too much to era difficulty. I know that difficulty ultimately makes consistency in an era more impressive, but these old school players could only compete in the scene that existed, there was no alternative for them. What's more, is that running with faster people makes you faster. If Ken was the best at his time (ie. there was nobody better than him to help him improve), then he could not have become better. It feels like we're ultimately judging Ken for the faults of his scene not for his own faults.

My list would pretty much be: 1-6 The Five gods plus leffen (leffen above ppmd) 7-10 Axe, s2j, wizzrobe, sfat in no particular order 11-20 All the badasses who've been whooping the game since 2011ish (plup, westballz, and friends) 21-50 Big name sidekicks (luigi players, ganon players, ect.) 51-100 pretty much everyone of note who weren't big enough to make top 50 101 Chillindude

has zain beat axe? isnt his record like 1-20ish

@14:56 mEU2king

I think HBox is the goat but he just had different life priorities. This honestly I think happens a lot like Ken or whoever who reached the top and just said "yeah I don't have that drive anymore" I get it. What's the point of climbing Mt. Everest and than sitting there for 10 years and kicking anyone else who climbs that high in the face. So to me HBox, Armada, Ken I have mores respect that they hit the top and started looking at other life journeys and not just the summit they already reached.

Not gonna lie Zain at 9 is outrageous. To put him above Plup? No. In no world. Maybe in a few years, but right now? In what world! Outrageous!

Every european on the list except maybe zgetto is underrated imo Kindoff annoying european tourney results and legacies aren't taken seriously for this and only seem to care about US tourneys

Hugs put like 30 people in Top 10

"perennial"

well… hugs86 is MY #1

Plup over zain all time Change my mind Plup’s had far more longevity and successes I feel And they aren’t even counting online tournaments Maybe after a few years zain could but currently no way zain is over

I don't think that it makes sense to look at the past through the lens of the present. Yes, Ken left before an era that would have challenged him, but the same could be said of Armada. Does that mean that Armada should be rated lower? Absolutely not! Legacy is extremely important. Being inactive should not disqualify a player from being ranked highly. Similarly, being active shouldn't bump you up the list. Respect the legacy, respect the eras of dominance.

39:46

Ken being 4th is just not right. And also armada is 1 for me.

Yeah, SFAT deserves much better. At one point in time Shroomed, KirbyKaze, Fly Amanita, Hax, Westballz were so good they were called gatekeepers, because just under the 5 gods status... SFAT was always the second gatekeeper. And then he stayed in this position after 2015, just outside of gods+Leffen, and then outside of top6 with Plup's rise. In the most modern era, he's still there. At this very moment, when I think best of the best, there are the usual suspects: Mang0, Zain, Plup, Leffen, iBDW, Wizzrobe, Hbox. And then gatekeepers like SFAT, S2J, Axe and aMSa. SFAT deserves top 15, no question

Reading CrimsonBlurs comments in twitch chat gave me brain damage.

wizzy top 3 rn

Where’s hanky panky? Where’s Aklo?

I heard darkrain lost to snex in a tournament.

Where’s Mitchell Tang, the greatest player in the world?

manu wasn't the 6th best player, he was the best 6th player haha

Top 50: Melee Grand Masters Top 10: Melee Gods Top 1: Melee GOAT

Armada at #2 is the most insane thing i have ever seen, people are way too biased

Lucky shoulda been top 10 easy. I still think of him as a top 10 player, obvs he's not quite there still but goddamn

Ibdw and kdj are definitely too high. You're high thinking sfat over ken, who ran an era.

Armada should have been over mang0

Putting Ken above Plup is a joke tbh. I respect the past but Plup's results in the hardest melee meta ever are better than Ken dominating in the easiest meta. Chudat should be above Ken too tbh

#justiceforchu

Plup over Zain. M2K over Ken.

Wobbles way too low with a 2nd at evo and 4th at battle of the five gods

Anyone who thinks mang0 is above Armada is clearly smoking crack. Mang0 had more than 400-500days without winning a tournament while attending multiple a month. Armada was consistently dominant and had to come from Sweden, stay in the US and when he went back, didn’t have training partners or good tournaments locally, had to keep going back and forth. If COVID and Ultimate didn’t happen I don’t think Hungrybox falls off and he’s easily number 2 all time possibly number 1 if he kept dominating til now. Think PPMD should be above m2k and Leffen around there, I think all those guys are equal just like mango hbox and armada are equal. You guys act like mango winning summit is like winning the 20tournamenfs that didn’t take place before that because of Covid canceling them all. It feels you guys are weighing it like that.

Okay this list is insane. There’s no way in hell Mango is ranked above Armada and HBox. Just look at their win records from their time playing. During the god era and even during the modern one, HBox won 9 more majors than Mango with 28 between 2008 and 2018 and is still winning more than him today with 6 major wins since 2019 started to mango’s 3. Armada is a whole other story. From 2008-2018, Armada won 18 majors to Mango’s 19 all while entering less tournaments, and he never had a bad tournament. Armada was insanely consistent for his entire career and spent more time at the top than Mango did. The argument here should be HBox vs Armada for #1. Mango isn’t even in the discussion.

I just feel like Hugs is missing the point of the list. The list is ranking greatness, and eras aren’t really a factor in that. It doesn’t matter when he played, Ken was the best player in the world for 3 straight years, and it’s absurd to put anyone without a period as world number 1 above him. I certainly don’t think he’s number 4 due to how short his career is, but outside the top 10 is just a bad take. It’s hard to make it past top 15 without major wins, and I think that’s fine. Sfat is amazing, but he’s never had a breakthrough, and that has to be held against him in this conversation.

I disagree with Zain over Plup.

Bro Ken didn’t have any resources at all to become the undisputed nr. 1 in the world, «harder era» doesnt matter in terms off in game technique, its basically all about rising above the rest of the field. Ken did what armada and mango basically couldnt do. Stay the nr 1 for 4 years.

1

#24 is ranked too high

Mew2king=GOAT of Smash Mango=GOAT of Melee

Without the doc no one would remember ken

Johny was robbed

Rankings based off "Skill" #1. M2K (duh) #2. Leffen #3. Hax$ #4. Westballz #5. Sfat #6 Isai #7 IBDW #8 Plup #9 Ben #10 PPMD #11 Armada #12 Mang0 (Someone else can figure out how to fit in Amsa, Axe, & wizzrobe this is just a joke list)

This list wasn't even that good