The Revival Of Hungrybox

By E. Schoop

Before all the early 2016 dominance, some of you documentary whippersnappers might not know this, but Hungrybox was written off as a threat to ever win a major with all the Gods present. I know, that’s impossible to believe. But on the real, the platinum age has been good to the Jigglypuff posterchild. Up until about Norcal Regionals 2013, Hbox was branded as a choker, a player who had been figured out by the likes of Armada, Mango, PPMD, and even Mew2King on several occasions. He of course had the exalted Godhood status, rarely to never being beaten by non-gods, but it was so hard to see him with a losing record to all his peers sans M2K. One could see how it’d be reasonable to say he couldn’t, faltering with real career and adulthood in front of him.



So to see the resurgence of Florida’s #1 is nothing short of amazing. In an era where Fox is king, the work Hungrybox has done to redefine the matchup is a testament to the flexibility of Melee. Him and Captain Crunch working together to craft combos and tactics is akin to a tennis player and his coach going over drills, which shows how esports the game has become. It’s bizarre how people expect Hbox to beat Mango every time they meet up when over the course of 2009-2014 Hungrybox only beat him 5 times. The reversal of fortunes between these two is nothing short of ludicrous, and I imagine they’ll both switch positions over the course of the year as Mango figures out just what will propel him to 1st.



It’s also wild how much Hungrybox has changed his game over the course of his career. The vitriol he received from many for being a campier puff in the days of ROM2, Genesis, and Apex 2010 has been quelled, replaced by an uneasiness whenever he’s on stream due to how simple he makes every matchup look for Puff. The turnaround of his mechanics from defense to aggression is astonishing, considering how tough it is for Puff to get in consistently, and his refined punish game and complex mix-ups show the extent he’s gone to be able to win in this Fox-centric meta. Every time he pops off, it’s for that disappointed or saddened younger self that couldn’t quite beat Mango or Armada, and really, what’s the harm in that?



People have been saying that at no point during Pound did it feel as though Hbox wasn’t going to win, and to some extent that’s the inverse of his entire career. He didn’t have the championing of say a Mango or an Armada during their reigns since his debut major victory at Apex 2010, and it’s wild that in 2016 Hungrybox has once again become a force when many didn’t think he’d get this far. Hate him if you must, but this iteration of Juan Debiedma is garnering everyone’s respect for an important singular reason; he’s doing the impossible with Jigglypuff.

