[52][53][54][9][1][8] ESPN stated in 2016: "There is no question that Juan 'Hungrybox' Debiedma is the most polarizing figure in the realm of Super Smash Bros. Melee. Hungrybox AMA EVO 2016 Melee Champion Smash. [57] This upset part of the fans, who believed that, as SFAT was not actually being coached, he should have won by disqualification. He himself took part of the tournament, finishing in 25th place. "[53] In another article in 2019, they stated that he "has been the recipient of a significant amount of hate throughout his career. Hungrybox has also competed in Super Smash Bros. games subsequent to Melee, including Project M and Ultimate professional tournaments. [39][40], Starting in March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic caused the Smash community to either cancel events or move them online. [26][27][28], 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. [11][29] At Evo 2018, Hungrybox lost to Armada in the Losers Semifinals and ranked 4th. In the Grand Finals, Hungrybox won two consecutive best of five sets, both with a score of 32, to win Evo for the first time in his career. His mom is very supportive of his career. [1], DeBiedma was abandoned by his father Juan Daniel when he was 15 years old; the last time they saw each other was when Juan Daniel dropped him to the venue for the Brawl tournament Fast 1 on July 20, 2008, after which Juan Daniel returned to Argentina, and they never met again. He joined Team Liquid in January 2015 after becoming recognized as one of the top Super Smash Bros Melee players in the world. Hungrybox is a professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player for Team Liquid. Hungrybox has won several major Melee Singles tournaments, including Apex 2010, MLG World Finals 2015, EVO 2016, The Big House 7 (2017), The Big House 8 (2018), GENESIS 6 (2019), and 2017, 2018, and 2020 editions of Smash Summit. 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. [72] He also is present in another documentary about the competitive Smash scene called Metagame. See how Liquid Hbox's favorite sandwiches are made, and order the Hungrybox combo yourself - a 4 pack catered sub box fit for a true Smash God, and make sure to order it Mike's Way!Find your favorite sub at: https://twitter.com/jerseymikes https://www.jerseymikes.com/Watch streams at: http://twitch.tv/hungryboxSocial Media: http://twitter.com/LiquidHbox http://instagram.com/liquidhboxFollow and subscribe to keep up to date on all of my content. [14] On April 17 of the following year, he left CLASH Tournaments and joined Team Curse. [63], DeBiedma's early Melee career was documented in an episode of the 2013 documentary series The Smash Brothers. After a moment of incredulousness, an infuriated Hungrybox picked up the crab and shouted at the crowd, asking the person who threw it to reveal themselves and "show some respect." Juan Manuel DeBiedma (/dbidm/;[3] born June 21, 1993), better known by his alias Hungrybox, is an Argentine-American professional Super Smash Bros. player and streamer. Ultimate, and he has been a member of Team Liquid since 2015. [11], 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. I qui", "CEO 4-Peat Champion. [54] The crab incident became viral and was relayed by a variety of media outlets, quickly becoming a meme within the Smash community. 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. '", later making fun of the incident by eating a crab during a live stream. 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. On July 3rd, 2022, Hungrybox won the Canadian international tournament Get On My Level 2022, marking his first career victory at a major tournament in two and a half years since his last major win at Smash Summit 9 in February 2020. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. [31] He went on to win more Super Majors, including Pound 2019, Low Tier City 7, CEO 2019, Shine 2019, and Mainstage. Its all a matter of how dedicated you are. After that he got a Gameboy Advance SP, on which he would play many of the Mario and Kirby titles. His first console was a Gameboy Advance. [8], While competing professionally in Melee, DeBiedma continued to be a full-time student, graduating Freedom High School in 2011, and the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 2015; after getting his degree, he relocated from Jacksonville, Florida to Buford, Georgia, and then again to Demopolis, Alabama, in order to find work that could still allow him to continue his full-time Super Smash Bros. [2], 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. [8][11], In 2009 at a local Tampa 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. "Smash Summit 3: Mew2King Learns how to pronounce Hbox Last Name", "Meet Hungrybox, the Unkillable Demon Jigglypuff", "Interview with SSBM Player Juan "Hungrybox" of Team Curse", "xQc is taking on Hungrybox's Super Smash Bros. challenge", "Hungrybox triumphs twice in a single weekend", "I got 25th out of around 400(?) The move has a very small range, making it hard to connect, and, regardless of whether it successfully hits or not, leaves Jigglypuff asleep and completely vulnerable for three seconds afterwards; as such, failure to connect with "Rest", or failure to knock the opponent far enough to kill them, can result in massive damage inflicted on Jigglypuff, or, if damage is already high, in an instant kill; sometimes, Jigglypuff does not wake up fast enough to avoid getting attacked even if the opponent did lose their stock, leaving Hungrybox little room for mistakes during a game. [9] DeBiedma and his lifelong best friend and future manager, Luis "Crunch" Rosias, met in fifth grade in Orlando, and would often play Melee together. [15] On January 6, 2015, Team Curse merged with Team Liquid, leading Hungrybox to be picked up by Team Liquid along with his teammate Kashan "Chillin" Khan, joining other Smash Bros. players Ken Hoang and Daniel "KoreanDJ" Jung. [2][59][60][8] 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, in order to pursue a full-time eSports career. Towards the end of his contract with WestRock, he decided to attempt a fulltime career as a gamer under a new contract with Team Liquid. He occasionally streams on other days and for longer hours. [2] After finishing in 7th place at Revival of Melee on March 7, Hungrybox placed 3rd at GENESIS for Melee on July 11, his first high placement at a major Melee tournament, while placing 97th on Brawl the following day. Born in Argentina, DeBiedma grew up in Orlando, Florida, and became a U.S. citizen in 2017. 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. [11], 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 31 in the second set of Grand Finals after losing 30 in the first set, and Doubles by teaming up with Axe to defeat DaJuan "Shroomed" McDaniel and McCain "MacD" LaVelle 31 in the grand finals. [45], At Riptide on September 1012, 2021, Hungrybox took third place in the singles tournament after losing to iBDW in Winners Finals and to Plup in Losers Finals. Player Calls Out Nintendo For "Not Putting Resources Into The Scene", "Hungrybox wins Super Smash Bros. Melee Singles at Smash Summit 9", "Zain vs Hungrybox - GRAND FINALS: Top 8 Melee Singles - Genesis 7 Marth vs Puff", "Zain wins Super Smash Bros. Melee Singles at Pound Online", "iBDW wins Smash Melee Singles at Frame Perfect Series 3: Online", "Yesterday was huge. After graduating from college in 2015, he started working at WestRock. career. If you haven't watched some of the #SmashSummit 11 VODs yet you're missing out Congratula", "Mango wins Smash Summit 11, takes biggest prize pool in Melee history", "World's Best Jigglypuff Player Makes Opponent Give Up in Smash Tourney", "Spectator throws dead crab at Hungrybox following victory at Pound", "Fan assaults top Smash Bros. player with crab at tournament", "DreamHack Austin Super Smash Bros. Melee Tournament Champion Wins In The Most Pathetic Way Possible", "FGC fan throws dead crab at Hungrybox after Pound 2019 final", "Yellow Card Ruling On Melee Coaching Stirs Controversy", "Super Smash Pro - Interview with Juan "Hungrybox" DeBiedma", "I did it. [11], For the following years, Hungrybox remained one of the top Melee players, and established himself as the best Jigglypuff player in the world. [8] He originally used Ness as his main character, but switched to Jigglypuff after realizing the effectiveness of the "Rest" move. [43][44] 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. I lost once again to Manny and I feel Puff has a", "Here's looking at you, kid: The saga of Hungrybox", "Full history of hungrybox's performances amongst all leagues", "Fighting Game Fans Raise over $225,000 for Breast Cancer Research. ", "Hungrybox Joins Team Curse Super Smash Brothers", "NuckleDu, Hungrybox, and Chillindude join Team Liquid via merger with Curse", "Hungrybox finds redemption at Fight Pitt V", "Who Will Be Crowned Greatest Smash Player Alive at EVO 2014? [61][8] 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. Why would you throw this at me? [33] 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). [4] 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, and is regarded as the greatest Jigglypuff player in Melee history. The first time I made it out of pools at a local, I used the "hungrybox" tag and then it just stuck.'. [8][1], DeBiedma discovered the Super Smash Bros. competitive scene around 20062007 and started to perform at small local tournaments in 2007. [57][11], 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 at Hungrybox, barely missing him. Never stop moving towards your goals!!! [11], 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. [24][8] In March 2018, however, the decline of his mental health in 2017 following his break-up lead him to take a regular job once again at ServiceNow in Florida, due to feeling that the Melee community's perception also weighed heavily on him. 1 Melee player in the world. [62] On August 15, 2017, DeBiedma became a U.S. He has been part of their team ever since. Afterward, ChuDat refused to shake Hungrybox's hand. 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-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 instant high knockback on opponents. [54][56] Hungrybox then apologized on Twitter for losing his temper, later stating: "I was just so disappointed. [9], His eventual "Hungrybox" name came from middle school, after he failed to forge his mother's signature, producing something resembling a drawing instead. He chose is college degree because he loved Season 4 of Breaking Bad. [41][42] He achieved his worst Melee placement in 13 years in July at LACS 2, finishing 13th. [24][25], 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 March 2018, he returned to working fulltime in March 2018 because he felt that he needed a break from the pressure and criticism that he was experiencing as a professional eSports competitor. [55] Bleeding Cool reported the event with the headline "DreamHack Austin Champion Wins In The Most Pathetic Way Possible". I looked down and Im like 'who threw this? According to his Reddit AMA, Forged my mom's signature when I was in 5th grade for a permission slip LOL. [48][49][2][1], Hungrybox claimed in 2013 that he "got good using gimmicks" and that his hands were not fast enough for technical skill. 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. Mango, Leffen, Hungrybox, Mew2King, Westballz", "Hungrybox Takes His Biggest Melee Win at Evo 2016", "True grit and glory: A new Melee king is crowned at Evo", "Smash "nicolas cage" Hungrybox quits job to pursue esports full-time", "Hungrybox victorious at DreamHack Austin", "Evo: An oral history of Super Smash Bros. Melee", "Leading Smash Bros. Nowadays theres resources like Netplay, Online play. [12] 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, and Kevin "PPMD" Nanney, 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". Argentinian-American professional esports player, Hungrybox on July 29, 2017 at Get On My Level 2017, Return to in-person competition (2021present). Smash Wins! Hungrybox failed to win any for the rest of the year. [38], He won his first Ultimate tournament by finishing 1st in The Salad Online 13's Ultimate Singles bracket. [11] 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. [16], In 2014, Hungrybox placed top three in nine Melee tournaments, including a victory at Fight Pitt V.[17] 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. I feel like you cant really be good in Melee, or any Smash game, unless you have proper and consistent practice against other good players. He has been ranked one of the top five 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. He also has a cat. Hungrybox is a professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player for Team Liquid. [1] He discovered video games at a young age, particularly enjoying the Super Mario Advance 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. [9][8] 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. [2] In 2014, he stated: "In my playstyle, I'm a greedy novel editor". citizen. See how Liquid Hbox's favorite sandwiches . 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 as punishment for their actions. [2][8][1] He has two older brothers, Gaston, the oldest, and Fermin. [51][25], 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. Follower and view counts updated as of September 2022. [31][1], Following the release of Super Smash Bros. Juan Manuel DeBiedma was born in Argentina on June 21, 1993, from Juan Daniel Debiedma, a diplomat for Argentina, and Lucia Violante, a flight attendant. people at Smash Conference United. [22][23], The following October, Hungrybox competed at The Big House 6, 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. [50] Liking Melee for its "unorthodox value", he claimed in 2014 that he disliked traditional head-to-head fighting game. According to Esportsearnings, he has won over $345,000 USD from various tournaments over the years. [18], In 2015, Hungrybox won the Melee Singles tournament at Paragon, defeating Mew2King in the Grand Finals. He and Plup also won the doubles tournament. [29][30], In February 2019, Hungrybox won GENESIS 6, his first GENESIS win after participating in all five previous editions of the Singles Melee tournament. [34], Hungrybox won GatorLAN Spring 2020, before finishing 2nd at GENESIS 7 after losing to Zain in the Singles Grand Finals, while teaming up with him to rank 5th in Doubles. [11] He won both the Singles and Doubles tournaments at CEO 2010 (with ChuDat in Doubles), and then again at CEO 2011 (with Linguini in Doubles). Recognized as one of the greatest and most successful Super Smash Bros. Melee players of all time, he is one of the "Five Gods" of Melee along with Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Joseph . [56], Hungrybox's match against Zac "SFAT" Cordoni in the Losers Semifinals at Evo 2017 attracted controversy after Hungrybox called his coach, Luis "Crunch" Rosias, over for advice in between games, which was as a violation of the event's "No Coaching After Pools" rule; as the discussion between Hungrybox and Crunch was ongoing, Gordon "G$" Connell, a friend of SFAT, approached and mocked the other two by mimicking a coach-like discussion with SFAT. Life's too short to not do what makes", "20 years later, it's official: I am now a US Citizen. [54][8], In the Grand Finals of DreamHack Austin 2017 in which he faced Daniel "ChuDat" Rodriguez in several highly contested games described by ESPN as "high-level spectacle", Hungrybox won the final game, and therefore the tournament, by camping and avoiding contact with ChuDat's Ice Climbers until the clock ran out, giving Hungrybox the win due to his statistical advantage in stocks and damage ratio. [11][1] In early 2016, Hungrybox won two additional singles Super Major tournaments, Pound and CEO 2016. I ended up drawing a doodle out of her signature and that became the "hungry box" you see on my t-shirts and such. His father passed away in 2015. [11], On July 3, 2013, Hungrybox was picked up by team CLASH Tournaments alongside fellow Super Smash Bros. player Aziz "Hax" Al-Yami. [6][7] 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, 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. [42], 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. [48][9][52] 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 a bad character; he has also been accused of hurting the community, with some alleging that his playstyle was driving viewers away. This means that he should be earning a minimum of $3,675 USD per month. "5 Gods" vs "3 Underdogs", "EVO 2015: Recapping the final day of competition", "Paragon LA 2015 results feat. Currently ranked #1 in SSBM and the largest Smash Ultimate streamer, Hbox shares . A sandwich speedrun, head to head blind taste test, and much more in Hungrybox's very own Jersey Mike's challenge. Juan Manuel DeBiedma (/ d b i d m /; born June 21, 1993), better known by his alias Hungrybox, is an Argentine-American professional Super Smash Bros. player and streamer. [2][1], DeBiedma played piano and sang a capella while growing up. ", "All nominees for QTCinderella's Streamer Awards", "Esports Awards 2022 winners: Pansy wins Esports Play By Play Caster of the Year, as Riot and Loud also receive several honours", "The Smash Bros. community: An oral history", "Watch the Super Smash Bros. Melee Metagame documentary here", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hungrybox&oldid=1147029608, University of Florida College of Engineering alumni, People with acquired American citizenship, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. When they were around 14 years old, they decided to attempt competing in a LAN tournament at a local mall and have been competing in Melee tournaments ever since. Hungryboxs older brothers introduced him to video games when he was a toddler. This is prior to receiving further revenue income from tiered subscriptions, tips, sponsorships, Twitch cheer bit donations, merchandise sales, advertisements, team salary, casting fees and tournament winnings. [73] 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.[74][75]. [citation needed] In parallel, he continued to compete on Brawl, to lesser success, and on the Brawl mod Project M, winning several minor tournaments. Results in major tournaments included placing 2nd at both Apex 2012 and The Big House 3 in 2013. [11] Hungrybox won his first-ever tournament at Revival of Melee 2 on November 21, 2009. [9] At Paragon Los Angeles, his next tournament after Evo, he finished 3rd in Melee after being eliminated by Mew2King with a score of 23. Click the bell next to the subscribe button to receive instant notifications on all uploads! [54][52], After abandoning his family to return in Argentina in 2008, Hungrybox's father Juan Daniel passed away from a heart attack in late 2015, 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. [46] Hungrybox and four of his fellow Team Liquid members became co-owners of the team in December.[47]. [20][21] 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 31. [12][13] 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. He is also an active competitor in Super Smash Bros. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The Doubles tournament was a side-event organized by Evo in parallel to the event, but not technically part of the event itself. He and his coach, Luis, became friends in fifth grade while being partnered for a school project and discovering that they both enjoyed Super Smash Bros. Melee. [35] At CEO Dreamland, he won both the Singles tournament, and the Doubles tournament with Kilmer "mayb" Varela. Ultimate 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. [8], 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, who is often considered the best character in the game, and has a notoriously favorable matchup against Hungrybox's character, Jigglypuff.