Hungrybox Talks About What’s Next For His Career In ‘Smash Bros.’

Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma is the number one Super Smash Bros. Melee player in the world. The GameCube multiplayer fighting game has an active and vibrant eSports community that has managed to keep the game alive 20 years after its initial release. Before the 2020 pandemic, tournaments with hundreds of spectators cheering were common and the game managed to be a regular part of the rotation at the EVO fighting game tournament in the mid-2010s. Throughout that period, DeBiedma and his use of the character Jigglypuff rocketed him up the rankings to eventually become the most dominant player in the game.

In-person tournaments became more difficult to attend during the pandemic and a lot of players like DeBiedma were forced to move to online tournaments. This created less of an emphasis on tournaments because Melee was never meant to be an online game, but an in-person head-to-head experience. As a result, some players have felt that it just isn’t the same. However, with less of an emphasis on tournaments, DeBiedma used this opportunity to focus on other aspects of his career. He is now a regular streamer on Twitch, posts videos on his YouTube channel, and became a partial owner of his eSports sponsor, Team Liquid.

With his new role as a partial owner of Liquid, DeBiedma now gets to attend events like a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony for a partnership between the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Los Angeles and Team Liquid to use eSports as an avenue for elevating STEM education in underserved communities. After the event, we got to speak with DeBiedma over the phone about not only his own experiences with the Boys & Girls Club, but his career as a content creator and how he one day wants to host a tournament to encourage children to get into eSports themselves.

You were at an event today encouraging STEM education and eSports, is it ever wild to think about your start in eSports compared to the opportunities today?

Yeah. I mean, it’s just cool to see eSports constantly bridging more gaps, especially among this age group and demographic. I went through the public school system myself in Orlando, Florida. I went to college to study engineering, and a lot of times, things were integrated, right? Even though I went to the Boys & Girls Club while in middle school I also attended tournaments and Smash clubs in college. And I think a lot of those facets of integrating both communities, and both aspects of my life, were rooted in the Boys & Girls Club that I grew up with for sure. It’s a very important thing for me and I’m really glad that this opportunity is here and as present as they are, because both of them are really important for the kids in this area.

So you’re a partial owner for a Team Liquid. What’s that been like? I think you’ve been partial for a year now, right?

I think, give or take. It’s been very good. I’m really happy that I can work more closely alongside the heads of Liquid and help with their planning. Of course, (CEO of Team Liquid) Steve (Arhancet) has obviously been someone who’s believed in me for a very long time and picked me up to Curse Esports back before it was even Liquid. That’s to give you an idea of how long he’s sort of believed in the vision that I had in Smash Bros, and my talent as a player, and I guess through that time I’ve grown into being someone who can have really good input for this team. And so it was just an opportunity that I’m really happy to have. It’s been good and given me an opportunity to, even today at the Boys & Girls Club, to do some really cool things. I was one of the speakers there and I’m just really happy my voice gets to be heard in a lot more avenues than just the corner of Smash, I suppose.

That’s one thing that has been really interesting with your career. You’ve kind of managed to grow beyond, I don’t want to call Melee niche because I don’t think Melee is as niche as people say it is. But eSports in general is still kind of a niche thing, and there you are standing next to Aerial Powers.

And that’s the important part I feel. There are a lot of communities and a lot of people who have talent in so many variants of things. And this is just one more way that it showcases that avenue. There’s talent of all kinds that should be appreciated, and I guess Smash Bros. and just gaming was the one thing that I grew up doing and was good at. There are still just so many more opportunities, and I think that’s the thing everyone should focus on. Never get down about yourself. Always look at the big picture and what you can do from those opportunities.

You’ve had a really long and prosperous Smash Bros. career. Do you ever think about what your future may look like beyond competitions?

I’m a content creator now. I still compete, but I really love making streams and videos and just entertainment for all audiences. It’s been something that over the pandemic I really grew into, and has really risen to prominence in my life. And that’s basically my full-time day-to-day job right now, which is being a live streamer.

People around the world love Smash. It’s really easy to watch, really easy to get into, and it’s not complicated. I think I feel comfortable in front of a camera. I feel comfortable competing under pressure. So those two things got married pretty well and I can see myself doing that for at least another few years.

What has it been like getting a chance to focus more on the creator aspect of your career? You were always kind of dabbling in it, but now you’ve had the opportunity to make it your primary focus.

I mean, I never thought I could really do it. I thought I was mainly going to be known as a competitor, but we were all at home during the pandemic. It really gave me a chance to showcase my personality a bit more, and I wear my emotions on my sleeve. If I win a really close match, I’m gonna yell really loud. If I lose a really close match, I’m probably going to scream really loud also. But it’s that sort of emotive release that a lot of people gain stimulus or find entertainment from. And it’s just naturally how I’ve always been in front or not in front of a camera. I’m a competitive guy and I have the most fun possible when I’m really involved in something, be it a short little video or a very long three-hour bracket run. Either of those can be something really entertaining as long as you know how to really immerse yourself into it and be part of the narrative

I’ll get you out on this one. In terms of Melee, what else would you like to accomplish?

I’d love to be just the biggest content creator I can be. I think I have thankfully managed to, in the world of Ultimate and in Melee, be one of the biggest streamers on Twitch, where there’s the biggest platform for it. So I’m really thankful and blessed that we were able to do that, and so I want to continue growing in that. Maybe do some more variety streams and see what other avenues I can use the way I approach games and my competitive nature. Maybe speedrunning. Maybe I go into some other games that are popular. It’s a good time to experiment right now, and I’m going to see what works and what doesn’t work.

And maybe I also want to help with the initiative of helping younger kids, sort of fall in love with eSports like I did. I always had a dream of running a nationwide you tournament for Smash, or whatever game they want to play. But one that has a bracket one that can be all in good fun and, really, for the spirit of competition. I want to see who really are the most talented people out there and I think Liquid is a really, really good organization to head start that. So that’s one thing I wanted to do, we’ll see what happens in the future, but I definitely have visions on how I want to integrate myself more into that space.