EastPointPictures announced today that its new Super Smash Bros. Melee documentary, Metagame, will premiere on Twitch from December 11 through December 13.
Metagame is an eight-part documentary that chronicles the history of the Super Smash Bros. Melee esports scene. The documentary will focus on the Five Gods era, which is an era where five legendary Melee players dominated the game for an extended period of time. During this era, the gods were the only players in the world to win a tournament when at least one of them was attending. The five gods are made up of Jason 'Mew2King' Zimmerman, Joseph 'Mang0' Marquez, Adam 'Armada' Lindgren, Kevin 'PPMD' Nanney, and Juan 'Hungrybox' Debiedma. The documentary will also cover William 'Leffen' Hjelte, the first player to beat every god in a tournament setting.
Super Smash Bros. Melee has a rich competitive history. The early history of Melee was covered in another EastPointPictures documentary back in 2013, The Smash Brothers Documentary. Metagame looks to pick up where the previous film left off, and is due to follow Melee from 2008 through 2015. It will focus on events such as the game's return to EVO and its meteoric rise in the esports world, as well as legendary tournaments such as APEX 2015.
This announcement comes at an interesting time for Melee. Last week, Nintendo announced that it was shutting down The Big House, one of the biggest Super Smash Bros. events of the year due to Melee using emulators combined with the mod, Slippi, for online play. It is a decision that has elicited outrage in the community, leading to the #FreeMelee movement. The shutdown of The Big House was not the first time that Nintendo has interfered with Melee. In 2013, Nintendo tried to shut down the stream of EVO over broadcasting rights. The company backed down after backlash from the community.
Metagame premieres its first three episodes on Twitch on December 11 at 2pm PT. The next three episodes air on December 12 at 2pm PT, while the documentary's final two episodes will air on December 13 at the same time once again. The Five Gods era is one of the most exciting times in the history of Super Smash Bros. Melee, and will be interesting to explore in a documentary format.
Source: Metagame