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Juan Manuel DeBiedma (; born June 21, 1993), better known by his alias Hungrybox, is an Argentine–American
professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...
'' Super Smash Bros.'' player, streamer, tournament organizer and commentator. Recognized as one of the greatest and most successful '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'' players of all time, he is one of the "Five Gods of ''Melee''" along with Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Joseph "Mang0" Marquez, and
Kevin "PPMD" Nanney Prediction by partial matching (PPM) is an adaptive statistical data compression technique based on context modeling and prediction. PPM models use a set of previous symbols in the uncompressed symbol stream to predict the next symbol in the stre ...
, and is regarded as the greatest Jigglypuff player in history. He is also an active competitor in ''
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeeding ' ...
'', and has been a member of
Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. They signed their first professional players with the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty''. In 2012, Team Liquid acq ...
since 2015, becoming its co-owner in December 2021. He is currently ranked as the 7th best ''Melee'' player in the world for 2024. Hungrybox has won over forty major ''Melee'' Singles tournaments between 2009 and 2025, including editions of
Apex The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics) A-Bomb Abomination Absorbing Man Abraxas Abyss Abyss is the name of two characters appearing in Ameri ...
, The Big House,
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
,
DreamHack DreamHack is a Swedish ESL Gaming brand specializing in esports tournaments and other gaming conventions; at its root, a massive LAN party and computer festival, recognized by ''Guiness World Records'' and Twin Galaxies as being the world's l ...
, EVO,
GENESIS Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
, the MLG National Championship, and Smash Summit. He has been ranked one of the top ten ''Melee'' players in the world every year since formal rankings began in 2013, achieving the top rank a record three consecutive times from 2017 to 2019; retroactive rankings establish him as a top ten player in the world every year since 2009, and rank him number one for 2010. A 2021 list compiled by PGstats ranked DeBiedma as the third-greatest ''Melee'' player of all time after Mang0 and Armada. Despite his "God" status, he is considered one of the most polarizing figures in the ''Melee'' community, in part due to the unpopularity of his defensive,
counterattack A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in "Military exercise, war games". The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, while the specific objecti ...
-centric playstyle among part of the community. Born in
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
, DeBiedma grew up in
Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
, and became a
U.S. citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Consti ...
in 2017. Hungrybox has also competed in ''Super Smash Bros.'' games subsequent to ''Melee'', and won both '' Project M'' and ''Ultimate'' tournaments. Although primarily known as a Singles player, he also has an extensive career in ''Melee'' Doubles, and partnered up with a variety of other players, most notably Mew2King and
Justin "Plup" McGrath Justin McGrath, better known as Plup, is an American professional ''Super Smash Bros.'' player from Orlando, Florida. McGrath is considered to be one of the best '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'' players in the world, having been ranked as one of ...
, both of whom he won major Doubles tournaments with; he has been managed by his lifelong best friend Luis "Crunch" Rosias for the entirety of his career. He also regularly acts as commentator, and is the creator of the mostly-online The Box series of ''Super Smash Bros.'' tournaments created in 2020, which include ''Coinbox'', the largest online ''Ultimate'' tournament series.


Early life

Juan Manuel DeBiedma was born in
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
on June 21, 1993, to Juan Daniel Debiedma, a
diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...
for Argentina, and Lucia Violante, a
flight attendant A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...
. He has two older brothers, Gaston, the oldest, and Fermin. In the mid-1990s, DeBiedma's family moved to
Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
, after which Violante became a real estate agent. DeBiedma played piano and sang
a capella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...
while growing up. He discovered video games at a young age, particularly enjoying the ''
Super Mario Advance ''Super Mario Advance'' is a series of video game ports for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance: * '' Super Mario Advance'', a 2001 port of '' Super Mario Bros. 2'' and '' Mario Bros.'' * '' Super Mario Advance 2'', a 2001 port of ''Super Mario World ...
'' series, and started playing ''Melee'' when he was little after the stepson of one of his father's co-workers introduced him to the game. He would also often play ''
Super Smash Bros. Brawl ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' is a 2008 crossover fighting game developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The third installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series and the successor to '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'', it wa ...
'' with Fermin. DeBiedma and his lifelong best friend and future manager, Luis "Crunch" Rosias, met in fifth grade in Orlando, and would often play ''Melee'' together. He originally used Ness as his main character, but switched to Jigglypuff after realizing the effectiveness of the "Rest" move. His eventual nickname, "Hungrybox", came from middle school after he failed to forge his mother's signature, producing a drawing instead. He kept on recreating the drawing when bored in class, eventually resulting in a "hungry box" character resembling a box with eyes and a jagged mouth. DeBiedma was abandoned by his father Juan Daniel when he was 15 years old; they last saw each other July 20, 2008, when Juan Daniel dropped him off at the venue for the ''Brawl'' tournament Fast 1 before flying back to Argentina.


Esports career


Early career (2007–2013)

DeBiedma discovered the ''Super Smash Bros.'' competitive scene sometime between 2006–2007 and started to perform at small local tournaments in 2007. In July 2008, he volunteered to host several players at his parents' home for the upcoming 122-player ''Brawl'' tournament named Fast 1. He himself took part of the tournament, finishing in 25th place. In 2009 at a local
Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
tournament, Twilight Showdown 6, he placed 3rd for the first time in any tournament, earning $27.50, his first prize money; he recognizes this as the first moment he considered becoming professional. After finishing in 7th place at Revival of Melee on March 7, Hungrybox placed 3rd at
GENESIS Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
for ''Melee'' on July 11, his first high placement at a major ''Melee'' tournament, while placing 97th on ''Brawl'' the following day. Hungrybox won his first-ever tournament at Revival of Melee 2 on November 21, 2009. He then went on to place in high positions repeatedly on tournaments, with Apex 2010 on August 8 marking his first win in a major tournament. For the following years, Hungrybox remained one of the top ''Melee'' players, and established himself as the best Jigglypuff player in the world. Results in major tournaments included placing 2nd at both Apex 2012 and The Big House 3 in 2013. He won both the Singles and Doubles tournaments at CEO 2010 (with ChuDat in Doubles), and then again at CEO 2011 (with Linguini in Doubles). In parallel, he continued to compete on ''Brawl'', to lesser success, and on the ''Brawl'' mod '' Project M'', winning several minor tournaments.


Early "Five Gods" Era (2013–2017)

In 2013, Evo, the most prominent fighting game event worldwide, announced ''Melee'' as part of the Evo 2013 line-up, after the game had only previously been featured at Evo 2007. The event is considered the full beginning of the "Era of the Five Gods" (or "Platinum" Era), which marked a surge in prominence and popularity for the ''Melee'' competitive scene, and its near-total domination by five players: Hungrybox, Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman,
Joseph "Mango" Marquez Joseph Manuel Marquez, (born December 10, 1991) known by his gamertag Mango (stylized MaNg0 or Mang0), is an American professional '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'' player and streamer from Norwalk, California. Known for his aggressive, high-risk pl ...
, and
Kevin "PPMD" Nanney Prediction by partial matching (PPM) is an adaptive statistical data compression technique based on context modeling and prediction. PPM models use a set of previous symbols in the uncompressed symbol stream to predict the next symbol in the stre ...
, with every ''Melee'' tournament ranked Supermajor (the highest rating for a ''Smash'' tournament) or Major (the second-highest) for several consecutive years being won by one of the "Gods", and them rarely losing to anyone but another "God". At Evo 2013, Hungrybox finished in 3rd place, losing to Wobblez in the losers finals after a controversial finish; in parallel, he took part in a ''Melee'' Doubles Evo side-event, teaming up with Mew2King to win the tournament. On July 3, 2013, Hungrybox was picked up by team CLASH Tournaments alongside fellow ''Super Smash Bros.'' player Aziz "Hax" Al-Yami. On April 17 of the following year, he left CLASH Tournaments and joined
Team Curse Team Curse, also known as Curse eSports, was a North American esports organization sponsored by Curse, Inc. and based in Los Angeles. Formed as a ''League of Legends'' team in 2010 by Steve "LiQuiD112" Arhancet, it was acquired by Curse Inc. ...
. On January 6, 2015, Team Curse merged with
Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. They signed their first professional players with the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty''. In 2012, Team Liquid acq ...
, leading Hungrybox to be picked up by Team Liquid along with his teammate Kashan "Chillin" Khan, joining other ''Smash Bros.'' players
Ken Hoang Ken Hoang (born October 10, 1985), also known as Kenny, SephirothKen, or Liquid`Ken, is an American professional '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'' player and television personality. Hoang was widely considered the most dominant ''Melee'' player in ...
and Daniel "KoreanDJ" Jung. In 2014, Hungrybox placed top three in nine ''Melee'' tournaments, including a victory at Fight Pitt V. At Evo 2014, he reached the Grand Finals for the first time, losing to Mango and finishing in 2nd place; he once again won the Doubles side-event, this time teaming up with
Justin "Plup" McGrath Justin McGrath, better known as Plup, is an American professional ''Super Smash Bros.'' player from Orlando, Florida. McGrath is considered to be one of the best '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'' players in the world, having been ranked as one of ...
. In 2015, Hungrybox won the ''Melee'' Singles tournament at Paragon, defeating Mew2King in the Grand Finals. At Evo 2015 in July, he finished in 2nd place, losing to Armada in the Grand Finals; the following month, he announced that he would be becoming less active in competitive ''Smash'', as he began his career as an engineer. At Paragon Los Angeles, his next tournament after Evo, he finished 3rd in ''Melee'' after being eliminated by Mew2King with a score of 2–3. In parallel to his ''Melee'' career, he competed on the newly released ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS'' and ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'' to little success; at Paragon Los Angeles in 2015, the largest ''Project M'' tournament in history, Hungrybox finished 4th after being defeated by Mew2King 3–1. DreamHack Winter 2015 from November 26 to November 29, 2015, marked Hungrybox' first time winning both the Singles and Doubles tournaments at a Super Major event, winning Singles by defeating Armada 3–1 in the second set of Grand Finals after losing 3–0 in the first set, and Doubles by teaming up with Axe to defeat DaJuan "Shroomed" McDaniel and McCain "MacD" LaVelle 3–1 in the grand finals. His win in the Singles tournament earned him $10,000, his first five-figure payout; he broke into tears during his post-match interview. In early 2016, Hungrybox won two additional singles Super Major tournaments, Pound and CEO 2016. On July 17, 2016, Hungrybox participated in the Evo 2016 ''Melee'' tournament and reached the Grand Finals for the third consecutive year, against Armada for a second consecutive time. In the Grand Finals, Hungrybox won two consecutive best-of-five sets, both with a score of 3–2, to win Evo for the first time in his career. The following October, Hungrybox competed at
The Big House 6 The Big House was an annual ''Super Smash Bros.'' tournament series held in Michigan, with the first event taking place in 2011. It is considered one of the largest and most prestigious ''Smash Bros.'' tournament series alongside Genesis (tourname ...
, where he placed 5th, losing to Armada in the losers quarter-finals; although he had been juggling his entire e-sports career with full studies and/or working, Hungrybox, disappointed by his performance, decided to quit his job as process engineer for WestRock to become a full-time professional player for the first time.


Domination of ''Melee'' (2017–2020)

In 2017, Hungrybox won multiple tournaments, including the Supermajor tournament The Big House 7, and four Super Major tournaments: Shine 2017, DreamHack Austin 2017, DreamHack Denver 2017, and Smash Summit 5; for the latter, he set a new record for most money won in a single ''Melee'' tournament, receiving $29,315.30 as prize money. In 2018, Hungrybox continued to consistently rank high on tournaments, winning a total of 18, including three Supermajors: Shine 2017, CEO 2018, and The Big House 8. At Evo 2018, Hungrybox lost to Armada in the losers semifinals and ranked 4th. Hungrybox would go on to score five consecutive tournaments wins at the end of the year, including the Singles tournament at Smash Summit 7 on November 15. In February 2019, Hungrybox won GENESIS 6, his first
GENESIS Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
win after participating in all five previous editions of the Singles ''Melee'' tournament. He went on to win more Majors, including Pound 2019, Low Tier City 7, CEO 2019, Shine 2019, and Mainstage. Following the release of ''
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeeding ' ...
'' in December 2018, Hungrybox started entering ''Ultimate'' tournaments as part of events in which he was also competing as a ''Melee'' player; his ''Ultimate'' endeavors were less successful. In his first ''Ultimate'' tournament, the 385-entrant ''Ultimatum'' on December 29, he finished in 65th place. At GENESIS 6, the biggest ''Ultimate'' tournament at that point with 2105 entrants, Hungrybox placed 193rd in Singles, and 257th in Doubles with Kashan "Chillindude" Khan. His best ''Ultimate'' ranking for 2019 was at Mango's Birthday Bash, where he finished in 7th place; in addition, he performed as a ''Melee'' player, finishing 2nd in both singles and Doubles tournaments (teaming up with Zain for the latter).


COVID-19 and ''Ultimate'' (2020–2021)

Hungrybox won GatorLAN Spring 2020, before finishing 2nd at
GENESIS 7 Noach (, ) is the second weekly Torah portion (, ''parashah'') in the annual Judaism, Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Book of Genesis, Genesis 6:9–11:32. The parashah tells the stories of the Genesis flood narrative, Flood and N ...
after losing to Zain in the Singles Grand Finals, while teaming up with him to rank 5th in Doubles. He went on to win Smash Summit 9 in February. At CEO Dreamland, he won both the Singles tournament, and the Doubles tournament with Kilmer "mayb" Varela. He won his first ''Ultimate'' tournament by finishing 1st in The Salad Online 13's Ultimate Singles bracket. Starting in March 2020 the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
caused the ''Smash'' community to either cancel events or move them online. Due to ''Melee'' not having an online mode, the ''Melee'' community became '' de facto'' inactive, apart from tournaments using a fan-made online mod of ''Melee''. Hungrybox failed to win any for the rest of the year. He achieved his worst ''Melee'' placement in 13 years in July at LACS 2, finishing 13th. The following November at Perfect Series 3: ONLINE on November 3, he finished in 17th place.


Return to in-person competition and organizer (2021–present)

From July 15 to July 18, 2021, Hungrybox took part in the ''Melee'' Major tournament Smash Summit 11, the first offline ''Super Smash Bros.'' Major in North America since Frostbite in February 2020. At the end of the three-day singles tournament, he took third place, losing to Zain in the winner's finals and then to eventual tournament winner Mang0 in the loser's finals. He and Plup also took 2nd place in a special single-elimination doubles tournament where players could only pick each character once per set, losing to Mang0 and SFAT in the finals. Mang0's first-place prize in the singles tournament of $46,700 surpassed the all-time record of $29,315 Hungrybox had earned for winning Smash Summit 5 in 2017. At Riptide on September 10–12, 2021, Hungrybox took third place in the singles tournament after losing to iBDW in Winners Finals and to Plup in losers finals. He and Plup also won the doubles tournament.Riptide results
/ref> Hungrybox and four of his fellow Team Liquid members became co-owners of the team in December. On July 3, 2022, Hungrybox won Get On My Level 2022 in Canada, marking his first Singles major won in two and a half years since his last major win at Smash Summit 9 in February 2020; he would later score his second major win of that year at Riptide in September in the United States. He would ultimately be ranked 5th in the world for ''Melee'' in 2022 (the first official yearly rankings since 2019's due to COVID-2019), officially losing his rank as top player in the world and receiving his lowest ''Melee'' ranking since 2014. OrionRank (a group with rankings larger than UltRank, the main ranking entity for ''Ultimate'', which is limited to 100 players) also ranked him the 199th ''Ultimate'' player in North America for 2022.OrionRanks North America 2022
/ref> On February 16, 2025, Hungrybox won the eleventh installment of annual tournament
GENESIS Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
, which is seen as "one of the most prestigious international tournaments in the fighting game scene." This was his first time winning a major since Riptide 2022.


Style and public image


Playstyle

Largely credited with elevating the ''Melee'' community's perception of Jigglypuff's viability in competition and setting the standard of how to play the character, Hungrybox relies heavily on a defensive,
counterattack A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in "Military exercise, war games". The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, while the specific objecti ...
-centric playstyle revolving around avoiding his opponent until he finds an opportunity to attack and capitalize on their mistakes; it is considered a "high-risk high-reward" playstyle, as Hungrybox's usual goal is to eventually hit his opponent with "Rest", a move unique to Jigglypuff which inflicts abnormally high knockback on opponents and is able to take the opponent's stock at much lower damage percentages than other moves of its responsiveness. The move has a very small range, making it hard to land without setting up a combo that finishes with it and, regardless of whether it successfully hits or not, it leaves Jigglypuff asleep and completely vulnerable to enemy attack for three seconds afterwards; as such, failure to hit the opponent via "Rest" can result in drawbacks such as massive damage inflicted on Jigglypuff via combos or, if damage is already high, in an instant kill, since Jigglypuff is the second lightest character in the game and is prone to losing stocks quickly as a result. Even if the move is successful and takes a stock, Jigglypuff might not wake up fast enough to avoid getting attacked and potentially killed in return upon her foe respawning, leaving Hungrybox little room for mistakes during a game. Hungrybox claimed in 2013 that he "got good using gimmicks" and that his hands were not fast enough for technical skill. Liking ''Melee'' for its "unorthodox value", he claimed in 2014 that he disliked traditional head-to-head
fighting games The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...
. In 2014, he stated: "In my playstyle, I'm a greedy novel editor — I'll catch every last mistake or typo you make, and punish you harshly for it." Hungrybox has earned the nickname "Clutchbox" due to his frequent clutch performances, pulling off comebacks when in difficult positions, particularly when in the middle of losing sets or after being sent to a losers bracket.


Public perception

Hungrybox is unanimously seen as one of the best players in ''Melee'' history, as well as the best Jigglypuff player in the game's history. However, he has remained a polarizing figure for ''Melee'' fans and players all throughout his career, with part of the community criticizing his playstyle as annoying and too slow and Jigglypuff as an unpleasing character to watch; he has also been accused of hurting the community, with some alleging that his playstyle was driving viewers away. ''
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
'' stated in 2016: "There is no question that Juan 'Hungrybox' Debiedma is the most polarizing figure in the realm of ''Super Smash Bros. Melee''. Ten years deep as a competitor, he's seen fans discount him, his performances, and his character selection, some even believing that he's killing the game with each set." In another article in 2019, they stated that he "has been the recipient of a significant amount of hate throughout his career." Hungrybox also attracted criticism for his tendency to loudly and flashily celebrate his wins (called "pop-offs" within the community), which some considered disrespectful to his defeated opponents. According to Hungrybox, the ''Melee'' community's partial rejection of his playstyle started very early in his career, claiming that "people didn't like that at all" when he started placing high in local tournaments in 2008. He has admitted to suffering from the way part of the community treats him, also stating that the community's perception of him was a factor in him starting to drink excessively in 2017 and resuming having a day job despite being the No. 1 ''Melee'' player in the world. In the Grand Finals of DreamHack Austin 2017 in which he faced Daniel "ChuDat" Rodriguez in several highly contested games described by ''
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
'' as "high-level spectacle", Hungrybox won the final game, and therefore the tournament, by
camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...
and avoiding contact with ChuDat's
Ice Climber is a 1985 Platformer, platform video game developed and published by Nintendo. It was released for both the arcade Nintendo VS. System, VS. System and the Famicom / Nintendo Entertainment System console. The main protagonists, Popo and Nana, col ...
s until the clock ran out, giving Hungrybox the win due to his statistical advantage in stocks and damage ratio. ''
Bleeding Cool ''Bleeding Cool'' is an Internet news site, focusing on comics, television, film, board games, and video games. Owned by Avatar Press, it was launched by Rich Johnston in 2009. Avatar Press also publishes an associated magazine, also called ''B ...
'' reported the event with the headline "DreamHack Austin Champion Wins In The Most Pathetic Way Possible". In April 2018, Hungrybox claimed on Twitter that a stranger attracted his attention while he was shopping at
Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...
earlier during the day, before saying "Fuck you and your family Hungrybox", as well as "some other stuff about im.


Controversial tournament events

Hungrybox's match against Zac "SFAT" Cordoni in the losers semifinals at
Evo 2017 The 2017 Evolution Championship Series (commonly referred to as Evo 2017) was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 14–16 that was part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various fighti ...
attracted controversy after Hungrybox called his coach, Luis "Crunch" Rosias, over for advice in between games, which was as a violation of the event's "No Coaching After Pools" rule; as the discussion between Hungrybox and Crunch was ongoing, Gordon "G$" Connell, a friend of SFAT, approached and mocked the other two by mimicking a coach-like discussion with SFAT. As the result, Evo considered that both players had violated the rule, and let the match's original result, a win for Hungrybox, stand; both players nevertheless received a
yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative co ...
as punishment for their actions. This upset part of the fans, who believed that, as SFAT was not actually being coached, he should have won by disqualification. Others pointed out that, according to the official Evo ruleset, if such an incident is not reported at the time it took place, then it is ignored, and that, as neither Hungrybox nor SFAT reported the other, neither should have been carded in the first place. Hungrybox eventually lost the following round, the losers finals, against Mango, finishing 3rd in the tournament while SFAT placed 4th as the result of his loss. One of the most infamous moments in ''Melee'' history took place in April 2019 at Pound 2019, when, after Hungrybox won the ''Melee'' Singles tournament by defeating Mango in the Grand Finals, a member in the crowd, presumably upset by his win, threw a dead
crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...
at Hungrybox, barely missing him. After a moment of incredulousness, an infuriated Hungrybox picked up the crab and shouted at the crowd, demanding to know who threw it and to "show some respect.", questioning if they knew how hard he works. The individual in question was later identified and ejected from the building, with a Pound official announcing that they had been permanently banned from future Pound events and that their name would be privately disclosed to other ''Smash'' tournament organizers. Hungrybox then apologized on Twitter for losing his temper, later stating: "I was just so disappointed. I looked down and I’m like 'who threw this? Why would you throw this at me?, later making fun of the incident by eating a crab during a live stream. The crab incident became viral and was relayed by a variety of media outlets, quickly becoming a
meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...
within the ''Smash'' community.


Personal life

After abandoning his family and returning to Argentina in 2008, Hungrybox's father Juan Daniel passed away from a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
in late 2015. This was shortly before Hungrybox won both the Singles and Doubles ''Melee'' tournaments at DreamHack Winter 2015, earning his first five-figure payout and marking his first time winning both Singles and Doubles at a Super Major tournament; in a post-win interview, he broke into tears and opened about his father's lack of support. Conversely, Hungrybox credits his mother Lucia Violante for being consistently supportive since the beginning. Hungrybox's lifelong best friend and manager is Luis "Crunch" Rosias, whom Hungrybox credits with training him and helping him develop his skills at ''Melee'', most notably in how to win against
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
, who is often considered the best character in the game, and has a notoriously favorable matchup against Hungrybox's character, Jigglypuff. While competing professionally in ''Melee'', DeBiedma continued to be a full-time student, graduating Freedom High School in 2011, and the
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...
with a bachelor's degree in
chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...
in 2015; after getting his degree, he relocated from
Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
to
Buford, Georgia Buford is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Gwinnett and Hall County, Georgia, Hall counties in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,144. Most of th ...
, and then again to
Demopolis, Alabama Demopolis is the largest city in Marengo County, Alabama, Marengo County, in west-central Alabama. The population was 7,162 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city lies at the confluence of the Black Warrior River and Tombigbee ...
, in order to find work that could still allow him to continue his full-time ''Super Smash Bros.'' career. In 2015, he began working as a process engineer for WestRock, but quit his job the following year after underperforming at
The Big House 6 The Big House was an annual ''Super Smash Bros.'' tournament series held in Michigan, with the first event taking place in 2011. It is considered one of the largest and most prestigious ''Smash Bros.'' tournament series alongside Genesis (tourname ...
, in order to pursue a full-time eSports career. In March 2018, however, the decline of his mental health in 2017 following a break-up led him to take a regular job once again at ServiceNow in Florida; his feeling that the ''Melee'' community's perception of him was deteriorating also weighed heavily on him and was a factor in this decision. In June 2019, after winning CEO for the fourth time, he announced that he would be leaving the workforce to pursue eSports full-time once again. On August 15, 2017, DeBiedma became a U.S. citizen.


Awards and nominations


Notable tournament placings

''Only Majors and Supermajors are listed.''


''Super Smash Bros. Melee''


''Project M''


''Super Smash Bros. Brawl''


''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U''


''Super Smash Bros. for 3DS''


''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate''


Media

DeBiedma's early ''Melee'' career was documented in an episode of the 2013 documentary series '' The Smash Brothers''. He also is present in another documentary about the competitive ''Smash'' scene called ''Metagame''. Hungrybox has been a vocal advocate for the competitive ''Super Smash Bros.'' scene, praising the technological advancements created for ''Melee'', and criticizing Nintendo for their lack of support towards the community. On January 26, 2020, YouTuber EmpLemon uploaded a video entitled "there will Never Ever be another Melee player like HungryBox" detailing key moments in Juan's career and his impact on the Melee community.


Notes


References


External links

* {{authority control 1993 births Living people American esports players Super Smash Bros. Melee players People from Gainesville, Florida People from Orlando, Florida American people of Argentine descent American chemical engineers University of Florida College of Engineering alumni Team Liquid players Team Curse players Team Razer players Naturalized citizens of the United States Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players Super Smash Bros. for Wii U players Project M players