Hello, everyone! Pikachu942 and I are happy to present the next part of our Top 100 Melee players of all-time. In our last post, we uncovered the the players ranked 81-90. Today, we’ll be going over the players ranked 71-80. Here’s a brief FAQ on our project:

What is the Smash History Top 100 Melee Players of All-Time project?

It’s a ranking of the top 100 Melee singles players of all-time, determined by both members of the Smash History research and editorial series team: Edwin Budding (myself) and Pikachu942. The project is also an expansion of what I wrote in 2016, but with even more research, having taken us half a year to prepare on its own.

How did you guys determine the Top 100?

In order to rank players, we collected a list of every player ranked within the Top 25 of SSBMRank, mentioned within RetroSSBMRank and every player who placed in the top eight of a supermajor since Game Over in 2004, what we consider the start of competitive Melee as we know it today.

After creating this initial list, we added more notable names that we felt were “outlier” players whose results and rankings may not accurately reflect their playing impact on the Melee scene, such as international players.

What did you take into account when ranking players?

The four key factors we looked at and tried our best to stay consistent to were the following:

How well did a player perform at the biggest majors of their era?

How consistent was this player during their active years of competing?

How long did their playing career last?

If this player never existed, how much does their absence impact the metagame, large major results or the greater scene in Melee history?

I’ve never heard of you or Pikachu! What makes you guys think you’re qualified to determine Melee’s best players above anyone else?

Because until someone else helps write over 300 pages of Melee history on a personal website for free, we feel like we’re about as qualified as anyone can reasonably be.

EDITOR’S NOTE: As an update to the previous note on Japanese players whose names I don’t have, I learned from Captain Jack that gamertags for many old-school Japanese smashers are secretive about their time in smash. He declined to tell me Thunders’ full name – therefore, for the rest of the series, you’ll notice that for a few players, I do not have their real names, due to what he said were different cultural expectations in Japan surrounding tags. Also, in today’s edition, I have written all the blurbs.

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80. Kevin “Husband” Dassing

5th at MLG New York 2004

5th at Cataclysm 3

5th at MLG Atlanta 2005

9th at Gettin’ Schooled 2

9th at MLG Long Island 2007

The Marth main half of the Newlyweds, Husband was the best non-Azen Marth on the East Coast. Due to his heavy practice against Wife, Husband notoriously gained a reputation as the Peach-slayer.

Husband also consistently attended several MLG tournaments. He used to travel several hours to attend regional tourneys in places like Orlando, Nashville, Philadelphia and more within the span of months. In an era where fewer players regularly traveled, Husband stood out as one of the scene’s most dedicated pros.

79. Savath “KrazyJones” San

5th at MELEE-FC3

7th at MLG New York 2005

7th at Gettin’ Schooled 2

13th at MLG DC 2005

17th at Cataclysm 3

KrazyJones is a trailblazer for the New England scene. Hailing from the Fall River crew from Massachussetts alongside players like UnknownForce and Hayato, the old-school Peach main often showed up at nationals in surprisingly dominating fashion.

His placing at FC3 doesn’t come close to reflecting the legacy of his run in the tournament’s final bracket. He had last game sets with Chillin, Ken, Oro, KM, Undisput3d, DieSuperFly and ChuDat, only losing to Ken and ChuDat. When discussing all-time greats from New England, KrazyJones certainly earned his place among his region’s Mount Olympus.

78. Adrian “Caveman” Sanchez

3rd at MOAST 3

5th at MELEE-FC3

9th at MLG New York Opener 2006

9th at MLG Dallas 2006

9th at MLG New York 2005

Before the rise of Dr. Mario players like Bob$ and Shroomed, Caveman represented the character on a national level like no one else. Among the best smashers within Texas, he was one of the few people to actually stay competitive against Ken and Isai at MOAST 3. He even beat Azen at FC3, the most stacked American tournament of the year.

Caveman’s legacy partially comes from doubles, in which he teamed with his fellow Crystal City smasher Rob$ to place at top eights across several majors of the MLG era. Most notably was their second place at Gettin’ Schooled 2, which featured finishing higher than teams like Chillin/NEO, KrazyJones/Hayato and even Azen/Wes.

77. Matthew “Tope” Jewell

7th at ChuDatz Final Biweekly

9th at Pound 4

13th at GENESIS

13th at APEX 2012

13th at Zenith 2013

The post-Brawl era saw Sheik with multiple top-level representatives across a variety of regions. Alongside names like Mew2King, KirbyKaze, Amsah and Lucien came Tope, known for his deadly tech chasing ability and status as one of MDVA’s best players. This was during a time when most of its previous greats had quit competing in Melee tournaments.

Tope is also rumored to be the last Sheik to have ever defeated ChuDat across a full set in tournament, though no one remembers the exact date or tourney. When combined with his victory over PPMD in Genesis 2 pools, it’s clear that Tope could hang with the best players of his time.

76. Shepard “Fiction” Lima

7th at APEX 2014

7th at CEO 2014

7th at Kings of Cali 4

13th at EVO 2014

13th at MLG Anaheim 2014

The long-time Brawl aficionado broke out in early 2014, now playing Melee. Fiction rose up the ranks in SoCal, the world’s best region, and even defeated Mew2King multiple times. A year later, after persistent hand problems began to affect his ability to compete with Fox, Fiction took a set with Marth over Mango at a local tournament.

His fundamental-heavy, patient and zoning style has garnered him much success across his smash career. Over the last year, he’s slowly returned to being far more active at local tournaments, playing Fox again and even holding wins over Crush and Westballz. It might be a surprise for many to see him claw his way back into the national spotlight, but you know what people say – the truth is often stranger than fiction.

75. Timothy “Eggm” Cody

9th at APEX 2010

9th at Revival of Melee 2

9th at Zenith 2012

9th at Revival of Melee 3

13th at Pound 3

Eggm’s contributions to the Fox and Falco metagame often get overlooked, but they’re as important as the other top spacie players of the post-Brawl era. He practically invented modern defense for spacie mains, implementing movement and shines out-of-shield in ways that none of his contemporaries did. His YouTube channel is still a valuable educational resource for both Fox and Falco players.

As part of a region that included players like Mew2King, Hax, Jman and Scar, Eggm consistently proved himself at nationals and local tournaments alike, building a brand as one of New Jersey’s best players. His longevity and dedication to playing is remarkable, particularly because the New Jersey spacie main innovated and competed during an era where Melee’s survival wasn’t guaranteed.

74. Eddie “Eddie” Howells



5th at MLG Los Angeles 2005

5th at EVO World 2007

13th at MLG Anaheim 2006

13th at MLG Dallas 2006

13th at MLG Chicago 2006

A longtime giant of Midwest Melee, Eddie is arguably the region’s first great player in the post-items age of Melee. The Chicago Ganondorf main (and Fox secondary) made national waves even before the start of competitive Melee as we know it today, defeating Ken in a money match held before Tournament Go 5.

Eventually taking the reins of Chicago from his Marth main brother Eduardo, Eddie became his city’s greatest smasher and a Midwest legend of his own, winning several events within the region. He also won MLG Orlando 2005, a smaller major that still featured talent like Oro, Husband and the Dutch Fox MrSilver in attendance. Eddie is still occasionally active today in his local scene, but his decade-plus resume and status as a sage of the Midwest remains as impressive as ever.

73. Wayne “Tink” Gralewski

4th at MLG New York Opener 2006

7th at MELEE-FC6

9th at MLG Anaheim 2006

9th at MLG Chicago 2006

11th at MLG New York Playoffs 2006

Tink was a member of the “Midwest Five,” a group of players that dominated the Midwest from 2005 to the end of the MLG Era. The Indiana-based Marth/Fox player also left a legacy that transcended his impact on his local scene.

During his prime, Tink defeated players like Azen and Isai, while also boasting victories over people like Eddie and Rob$. With a couple of supermajor performances and top-level wins on his resume, Tink is among the greatest Midwest players ever.

72. “Mikael”

5th at Jack Garden Tournament

33rd at Super Champ Combo

Before the age of Armada, another international Peach dominated his competition. Cited by Armada as one of the Swede’s biggest influences as a player, Mikael is also one of Japan’s greatest players of all-time, having additionally been called a “god” of his national scene by Captain Jack. He frequently won local tournaments in East Japan and became its best player shortly before Brawl came out.

Mikael moved faster than other Peach players, extended punishes in creative ways and he also infamously bragged before the Jack Garden Tournament that he was going to defeat Ken. His lack of notable results in the United States somewhat dampens his legacy, but he nonetheless remains one of the greatest international players of all-time.

71. Michael “Mike G” Gray

5th at MOAST 3

7th at MLG Atlanta 2005

9th at Game Over

25th at Tournament Go 6

25th at MLG Orlando 2006

Often referred to as the godfather of Peach, Mike G represented Deadly Alliance in the early MLG era. Notably, Mike G finished second at mid-2004’s Smash 4 Cash, among a field that also included players like Isai, Wes, Mild, Chillin, NEO, Dave, KrazyJones and Matt Deezie.

A little over a month later, Mike G finished second at MLG Atlanta 2004, just under Azen. As the United States’ first notable Peach player, Mike G was an easy choice to make Melee’s Top 100.

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Thank you for reading, everybody. We’ll be back with 61-70, coming soon!