The Smash Brothers

The Smash Brothers is a 2013 nine-part documentary series written and directed by Travis 'Samox' Beauchamp.[1] The documentary series examines the history of the competitive Super Smash Bros. community, in particular the game Super Smash Bros. Melee and seven of the most dominant players throughout its history up to that point: Christopher "Azen" McMullen, Joel "Isai" Alvarado, Ken "Ken" Hoang, Christopher "PC Chris" Szygiel, Daniel "KoreanDJ" Jung, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, and Joseph "Mango" Marquez. The film also features extensive commentary from other community figures including Chris "Wife" Fabiszak, Wynton "Prog" Smith, Kashan "Chillindude" Khan, Antoine "Wes" Lewis-Hall, Daniel "ChuDat" Rodriguez, Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma, and Lillian "Milktea" Chen. The series was crowdfunded through Kickstarter,[2] receiving US $8,910. The series had a total budget of US $12,000.[3] The series has received a combined total of over 4 million views on YouTube.[4]

For the video game series, see Super Smash Bros.
The Smash Brothers
Poster for the film depicting the players profiled in the series.
Directed byTravis Beauchamp
Screenplay byTravis Beauchamp
Music by
  • Huw Williams
  • Kevin Kelbach
  • Travis Beauchamp
Production
company
East Point Pictures
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Overview

The documentary is split into nine parts in chronological order, with each part except the first and the last profiling a notable Melee player.

Episode Title Summary
Part 1 Show Me Your Moves Introduction to the documentary and overview of competitive Melee.
Part 2 No Johns Follows the career of Christopher "Azen" McMullen.
Part 3 Don't Get Hit Follows the career of Joel "Isai" Alvarado.
Part 4 The King of Smash Follows the career of Ken "Ken" Hoang.
Part 5 Revolution Follows the career of Chris "PC Chris" Szygiel.
Part 6 Paper Cuts Follows the career of Daniel "KoreanDJ" Jung.
Part 7 The Robot Follows the career of Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman.
Part 8 The Natural Follows the career of Joseph "Mango" Marquez.
Part 9 Game! Describes the EVO 2013 fundraiser, Nintendo's subsequent decision to block the tournament from streaming, and the eventual overruling and successful participation of Melee.

Development

Beauchamp played Smash Bros. from an early age, and was inspired to create the documentary series after learning about the lives of professional players.[3][4] The pilot episode was shot in the summer of 2011.[5] The documentary took over two years to make. Beauchamp quit his job to work on it full-time.[6] He was able to interview all of the players he profiled in the series except for Azen.[7]

Reception and legacy

The documentary series was well received by fans and game critics alike who praised its high production value, unusual for most fan films.[8][9][10]

The documentary has been credited with leading to a renewed interest in competitive Melee tournaments.[11] Due to the success of the series, Samox has announced a spin-off documentary called Metagame, set to expand on the stories of Swedish smasher, Adam "Armada" Lindgren, America's Kevin "PPMD" Nanney, and others,[12] which was expected to be released in spring of 2018.[13][14] As of June 2019, editing and production of Metagame had been completed and Samox had started the legal process of approving the documentary for Netflix.[15] The documentary premiered on a Twitch livestream from December 11-13, 2020.[16]

References
  1. Travis Beauchamp (2013-10-11). "Documentary". East Point Pictures. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  2. Travis Beauchamp (2011-09-01). "The Smash Brothers Series - Production". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  3. "-samox- comments on Hello all, Samox here - creator of The Smash Brothers documentary mini-series - AMA!". reddit.
  4. "-samox- comments on Hello all, Samox here - creator of The Smash Brothers documentary mini-series - AMA!". reddit.
  5. "-samox- comments on Hello all, Samox here - creator of The Smash Brothers documentary mini-series - AMA!". reddit.
  6. "-samox- comments on Hello all, Samox here - creator of The Smash Brothers documentary mini-series - AMA!". reddit.
  7. "-samox- comments on Hello all, Samox here - creator of The Smash Brothers documentary mini-series - AMA!". reddit.
  8. Patrick Howell O'Neill (2013-10-17). "'The Smash Brothers' might be the best eSports documentary of all time". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  9. Hernandez, Patricia (2013-10-16). "A Fascinating Look At The World's Best Super Smash Bros. Players". Kotaku. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  10. Landon Robinson (2013-10-15). "This Super Smash Bros. Melee Documentary Rocks". insidegamingdaily.com. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  11. Magdaleno, Alex (4 May 2014). "How a YouTube Documentary Gave New Life to a Nintendo Classic". Mashable. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  12. Schreier, Jason (April 18, 2014). "Telling The Story Of The Best Smash Bros. Players Around". Kotaku. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  13. "Travis "Samox" Beauchamp Unveils a Big Format Change to Upcoming Super Smash Bros. Melee Documentary "Metagame"". Shoryuken. 2016-07-30. Retrieved 2016-12-21.
  14. Beauchamp, Travis. "The Smash Brothers: Armada". Kickstarter. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  15. MetaEndGame, retrieved 2020-01-16
  16. https://twitter.com/metagamedoc/status/1330905270201974789. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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