Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma has always lived in the shadows. He lived in the shadow of his father, who never supported him. He lived in the shadow of the Smash community, who turned him into a villain. He lived in the shadow of other players, who were always just ahead of him both in terms of gameplay and tournament placings. But through it all, he never gave up on being the best and proving everyone wrong. He never gave up on himself, or on Smash. This is his story. Hungrybox was born on June 21, 1993 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. But he didn’t stay there for long. He was the youngest of three brothers, and his parents, Juan Daniel and Lucia, lived a somewhat charmed life in their home country. But much of that came crashing down in 1994, when Argentina was hit by a recession after Mexico devalued its peso. Banks collapsing and investors pulling out of the country’s developing business, the Debiedma family made their way to Orlando, Florida in search of a brighter future. Much of the family fit in fine, but Juan Daniel didn’t. By all accounts, he didn’t love the change in lifestyle, and that triggered his temper. Juan Daniel grew angrier, and became obsessed with money. He spent money, ran out of money, then went back to Argentina to try it all over again. By 2009, he was ready to leave his family again, this time for the last time. "For most kids, even for me there definitely was a lot of rough stuff. But honestly, when he left for the very last time, it was just me my brothers and my mom, it was like the biggest relief in the world. It was just like, I can go home. And I can do my homework now without the sounds of huge yelling in the background. I can like just chill and know I don't have to worry about anything anymore." "It was a lot more ton of focus on just me." Without Juan Daniel in their life, the young Debiedma brothers were supported by their mother, Lucia, who Hungrybox credits with just about everything. "I definitely spent a lot more time with my mom. Because I didn't want her to be lonely I guess. And From that I guess we have built a really strong mother son relationship. So like we're really close today." "People say they're dealt different hands in life, somje kids are born with a silver spoon in their mouth Some kids are born being an heir to huge fortune or royalty. I was born with the best mom in the world so like I owe her everything." As his home life became a little more stable, Hbox began to explore the world of competitive Melee. And his first tournament, a monthly at Gigabits LAN center in Florida, inspired him to make his Jigglypuff into the best in the world. "My first real tournament was Gigabits 2007. Near UCF, it was a LAN centre." "And they had a first official legit tournament with 2 out of 3s, a bracket system, low tier tournaments. Man the rush, I still remember to this day the rush of walking in the rush of seeing top players compete It's unlike anything else, it's such an amazing experience for me. I was hooked from the first day I walked in." Hungrybox placed ninth there, an impressive result for his first real tournament, but it just inspired him to grind. "I was playing every day with my friends. There was this group of players called WATO (What Are The Odds) in the Orlando area, and they kind of took me in as their underling and taught me all the matchups and I played with them every day and I would host them at my house. My parents house, every friday we'd have these things called "box fests" In my you know, cramped bedroom that the AC was not working so it was like 80 degrees in there It was just funny cause, those moments are really what molded my understanding of matchups. In those early days, Melee’s competitive scene was disorganised and scattered. Hungrybox wasn’t part of Melee’s first golden age, when the game was played on MLG’s circuit and players like Ken, PC Chris and Isai ruled the scene. Instead, he rose to prominence in the dark ages of Melee. And while he made his national debut at Revival of Melee, Hungrybox credits GENESIS as the tournament that jump started his pro career. Genesis was the biggest Melee tournament at the time, and it attracted America’s finest. Most eyes were on Mang0, who was considered one of the best Melee players in the world at the time, and Armada, Europe’s top Smasher who came to make a name for himself in NA. But flying under everyone’s radar was Hungrybox, who tore through the bracket, losing only to Mang0. Later that year, Hungrybox attended Revival of Melee 2 and finally made his name truly known. (Gameplay) Following a slew of second place finishes, Apex 2010 the following year marked his next national victory. But he wasn’t consistently dominating the competition when it counted. In fact, he didn’t see another major first place finish again until 2013. (Casting) Hungrybox learned Melee on Jigglypuff, who, at first glance, doesn’t exactly seem like one of the game’s more potent characters. Jigglypuff has been in Smash since the franchise’s inception, but was put in the game as something of a joke. She’s slow, doesn’t do much damage, and most of her special moves have severe downsides if you miss them. But Hungrybox was drawn to her. As a kid, his hobby was trying to beat everything in Melee’s single player modes, and as he futilely tried to beat All-Star mode without dying, he discovered Puff’s Rest move. "I was pushing like 20 trophies or whatever, one of them was beating all-star mode on very hard without dying, or so I thought. I tried doing it, kept losing kept losing, I'm like, " which character in this game can restore HP?" I'm like, "Wait a minute Jigglypuff can do that, because she has rest. I'm pretty sure in Pokemon that restores HP." And I remember I used it for the first time, and it's just this useless f*cking move. Does 0%. You're just stuck there. I'm like, "she's the worst character in the game." An hour later, I'll tell this to everyone. Had this not happened I wouldn't be here today. I was walking down the hall to the bathroom, I turned to the right, my brother's room. He happened to be playing Smash 64, and right as I look, he landed a rest with puff in that game. And I looked at it and I was like "Woah, how'd you do that?" He's like "Yeah she just has it, down b." That changed everything, I would have never known, I would have never know what that move did." In his earliest days of competition, Mang0 made his name on Jigglypuff and innovated much of her early playstyle. But by the time Hungrybox was rising to prominence in the early 2010s, Jigglypuff’s star was fading. Fox and Falco’s dominance in that era of Melee was a nightmare for ‘Puff players, who died very quickly to their powerful upwards KO moves and had difficulty dealing with projectiles. But Hungrybox persevered. Playing Jigglypuff runs contrary to just about everything a casual spectator knows about Melee. She’s not fast, her combos tend to be rather short, and she’s extremely floaty, making her easier to kill. But she’s not without her strengths. That Rest kill that Hungrybox learned about as a kid is at the very center of what makes Puff so powerful. but until she finds the hit, you have to play extremely patiently, working to get your opening. That level of patience has grown to define Hungrybox. "I would say Hungrybox has very very good patience." "Yup." "He has a gamestyle, and he's never forfeiting that gamestyle." "At any cost pretty much." "He's not going for risky stuff, he's going for whatever he thinks is the most practical option a lot of times." "You kinda know what he's going to do but what he's doing is very safe so it's like ugh. You see it coming but it's like I can't really do much about it right now So it's all about picking your spots with him. And him he's kind of more of an annoying player just the way he plays. And if you start getting annoyed by it that's when he starts shining, that's when he gets in your head." Already known as one of the best in the world, Hungrybox, finally pulled out of his slump in 2013 and won the NorCal Regionals, beating Mango in the Grand Finals. (Casting) He followed that up with a shocking third place finish at Evo 2013, which will go down in history as one of Melee’s most stacked tournaments ever. There he beat SFAT (Casting) Leffen. (Casting) And Mew2King. (Casting) In fact, Hbox only lost to Wobbles and Mango, the two players who faced off in the Grand Finals. Hbox continued to display strong form for the next few years, placing second at the Big House 3 (Casting) Third at CEO 2014 (Casting) Second at Evo 2014 (Casting) And finally, first place at Paragon Orlando 2015. (Casting) (Casting) There is something of a gap between Juan Debiedma and Hungrybox. Throughout 2015 Hungrybox was arrogant, brash, and cocksure. He knew he was one of the best, and he wasn’t afraid to play the heel to a crowd full of haters. (Crowd boos) The patient playstyle that Hungrybox developed to make the most of Jigglypuff’s strong kill option and her slow, floaty movement meant walling opponents out. Which meant playing slow games that often had long periods of movement with no real action. Which meant people weren’t exactly rushing to watch Hungrybox play. But the community’s animosity spread further than that. Hungrybox’s slow playstyle, combined with his over-the-top heel persona led to plenty of hate from the Smash community. And as the hatred grew, it began to make Hungrybox question if he should continue playing. But, like all things in his life, his mom found a solution. "I wanted to quit a lot of times, especially when I was like in that weird transition phase when I was trying to figure out who I am. Between the ages of 18 and 21 I was like, "Man, so many people hate me. Why am I doing this if people hate me I'm not getting any satisfaction from this" And I was really gonna quit. But I think Luis and my mom talked me out of it." Hungrybox didn’t just rub the community the wrong way at times, he also tended to turn some pros against him as well. Hungrybox and Mango have clashed several times in-game, but after Mango’s Evo 2013, win, their rivalry spilled out into the internet, where the two traded barbs on Reddit. But it’s his relationship with Leffen that has remained somewhat heated. "All your sh*t talking, get f*cked Leffen. I don't care, who ended up winning Leffen. Where are you now? Where are you now?" "I wanna kick that guy's a**." "I would be lying if I you know, didn't really wanna f*cking beat his a**." "And I want to make sure that when I do it, he remembers what happened to him at Summit." "Last time he talked sh*t. And got blown up." (Casting) Hungrybox spent much of 2015 without a significant win after Paragon Orlando. He was winning smaller events, but when there was more than one other god in attendance, Hungrybox was taking second, third, even fifth. But he finally rounded the corner on the last stretch on his road to the top, when he won DreamHack Winter 2015. (Casting) And after his victory, he broke down. His father, who had told him he’d never amount to anything and left his family behind was gone, and Hungrybox was finally on his way to the top. "D1, I've wanted this for so long. And you know my dad just passed away. It was my biological dad and we I know this is personal stuff but he told me, "You'll never be the best, you'll be good but you'll never be the best" So I hope he sees me now." Despite a small slip at Genesis 3, 2016 was a banner year for Hbox. First at Battle of the Five Gods, Pound 2016, EGLX and CEO 2016 put Hungrybox in the conversation for the best player in the world. And then came Evo. All through 2016, there was really only one person who could challenge Hungrybox: Armada. Armada was Europe’s best, and by most accounts, the greatest Melee player in the world. But Hungrybox was learning how to beat him, thanks in part to his coach, Crunch. Crunch was a longtime friend, and was even one of the people that got him into competitive Melee. "We thought we were hot sh*t. We thought we could like beat anyone and we were like Yeah we beat all of our friends, we're great at this game. We watched like tournament videos, we're like "You know what these guys are good but we can probably be as good as them." So that's kinda where it all started." But Crunch was also the analytical mind behind Hungrybox’s success. He helped him put together the strategies he needed to bring down players like Armada. He was also the guy who helped Hbox translate that patience he learned from his family life to his playstyle. "Well here in person like right before a match it's all about mentality and warming up making sure that all the stuff we worked on is fresh that he's ready to go into the match. Outside of that it's really like going into the lab like figuring out new strategies making sure everything's really really clean. And going over his opponents and analyzing the matches to make sure we have a good strategy going into the matches." If DreamHack Winter was a coming out party for Hbox’s optimal playstyle, then Evo was where he showed off exactly how optimal it was. (Casting) "It's like we're back to 2015 with almost every grand finals is Armada Hungrybox." "Here we are we're gonna see them duke it out one more time." Hbox drew first blood, taking the first two games back-to-back. But Armada struck back with two games of his own with everything on the line, Hungrybox clutched it out to reset the bracket with the Rest heard around the world. (Casting) This time the two traded games back and forth But Hungrybox closed it out. (Casting) The emotion of winning the biggest Melee tournament ever, with all eyes on him, overwhelmed him. He fell to the floor and cried. He was finally the best. A few months after Evo 2016, Hungrybox quit his full-time job to focus on Smash. "I've quit my job at Westrock. I've quit my job at Westrock. And I'm gonna play Melee for the next few years. I'm gonna travel around the world, and I'm gonna visit all of my fans at tournaments For years, Hungrybox had been balancing Smash and school, and then Smash and his engineering job. But after years of waiting, Smash was finally big enough to support him the way he needed. Once again, his patience was rewarded. Armada and Hungrybox went back and forth for the rest of the year, even agreeing that the winner of Smash Summit 3 would be the best player in the world. (Casting) But 2017 was when Hbox shined. First at DreamHack Austin (Casting) CEO 2017, (Casting) And perhaps most notably, Smash Summit 5, where he broke Armada’s 4-Summit streak. (Casting) All that together finally put Hungrybox on top. He moved from second to first in the world rankings, pushing Armada off the top for the first time since 2015. And he’s remained strong, attending a tournament nearly every week in 2018, and either winning or getting close every time. He’s finally made it out of the shadow of Jigglypuff, of Armada, of the community that loves to hate him. His patience has finally paid off. Thanks for watching. If you want more great content just like this, be sure to hit the subscribe button.
Is that actually Hbox's mom?
Aww, it's pretty sweet to see his mom supporting him so much.
YOU ARE SO SUPPORTIVE, YOU ARE THE BEST MOTHER SOMEONE COULD ASK FOR
That description though:
" He lived in the shadow of his father, who never supported him. He lived in the shadow of the Smash community, who turned him into a villain. He lived in the shadow of other players, who were always just ahead of him both in terms of gameplay and tournament placings.
But through it all, he never gave up on being the best and proving everyone wrong. He never gave up on himself, or on Smash. "
Fr tho, this is pretty wholesome
You're a cool person, Mrs. Hungrybox...though this does dispel the myth that he was raised by Jigglypuffs in the wilderness.
now we know why hbox is so successful. he has a mom like this. much love hmom.
As a casual but avid Smash 4 player (played every smash game growing up with my older sister) who started watching Melee shortly after watching the Smash Doc The Smash Brothers a few years back, it's been astounding seeing how Hbox has transitioned from being what seemed to me like an afterthought/newcomer in the Smash Doc to now one of the perennial top players in the Melee community.
I haven't been following the progress of the new doc by Samox, Metagame, so I wonder if someone could let me know when is it due to come out? Thanks in advance!
I love these videos. The Leffen and Armada ones are great too if you see them in your recommended videos.