Normally, if you hit the credit range in a game, you zone out or lie back and take it easy, but not in Smash Bros.. The battlefield franchise is known for having a mini-game at the end of its singles. campaign where players have the task of zapping each name before it disappears from the screen. This is such an iconic part of the series that you would think someone would have scored the highest score in the most respected entry of the franchise, Super Smash Bros. Melee, but no.
Until 2021, absolutely no one managed to get all 190 names in the Melee order. But then a man named Nathaniel Bandy posed a challenge to the community: The first person to collect each credit will win $ 3000 from Bandy’s own pocket. The run had to be done on real hardware and recorded so that viewers could see the actual input on the controller. The deadline would be March 31, also known as Memorial Day, where some Nintendo games disappear at random.
More than a week later, someone – Martin Zarate – was finally good for it. Zarate told Polygon via Twitter that it took about 50 hours to do, with practice for individual sections clocking in at about a dozen hours each.
“The most challenging part is the voice actors, they come in different directions and there is no room for error,” he said. “After you get the hardest part of the credits, you stay composed and beat the rest.”
According to Zarate, it probably took a long time before anyone did it because there was no incentive attached to it. The last known record took place more than a decade ago, in 2007, when a player managed to reach 182 of the series. But Zarate also realizes that this is a challenging task.
“You had to learn a different style of control, the pattern and executive input very difficult to remember,” he said.
According to him, the money goes to his studies – Zarate gets a degree in parks and natural resources, hoping to become a ranger.
For now, the Melee community celebrates its achievements. As top Melee player Mew2King wrote in the comments for the YouTube video: “Wait for real ???”