There are many video games that are iconic stages in the competitive scene: Street Fighter, CS:GO, and League of Legends, to name a few. One classic, however, will always be remembered in the fighting game scene. On February 26 of this year, the Evolution Championship Series, otherwise known as Evo, revealed the lineup for the 2019 event. While Super Smash Bros. Ultimate made it in, its older and more popular relative did not. I am referring to Super Smash Bros. Melee, a game that has stood the test of time.

Melee was released on December 3, 2001 for the Nintendo Gamecube. It has been the biggest, and almost the sole, Smash game in fighting game tournaments for almost two decades; not even Brawl or Smash for Wii U and 3DS could come close to it. Melee has been a part of Evo since 2007, and has been included for seven years. Evo 2018 marked the game’s sixth admission in a row. Melee has such a following that it was the tournament’s biggest and most popular event, breaking Evo’s Twitch viewership records. So why is it not in attendance?

While the exact reason is unknown, there are several explanations. Some rumors say that it could be the work of Nintendo’s very own Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of the entire Super Smash Bros. series. Despite its insane popularity, Mr. Sakurai was never pleased with how his second creation had turned out, deeming that it was “too technical” in an interview with The Washington Post last year. However, the most likely reason as to why Melee is missing is because of two reasons. Firstly, ever since Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was released, the Melee community has went dormant. This then leads into the second reason, which also involves the newest title. Many of the best players and even the competitive scene of the game has flocked to Ultimate, something that has never happened with any other Smash game. The community is notorious within the entire Smash community for being diehard fans, seeing that every game is unworthy when compared to Melee; they could be seen as “Melee purists”, if you will.

With the very surprising popularity of Ultimate in the diehard Melee community leaving the classic powerhouse inactive, it is easy to see why the game was dropped in favor of the newer title. This doesn’t mean the end of the game, however, as there is a very real possibility that it could show it in other major fighting game tournaments this year. What I can guarantee is that this Evo is history in the making for Smash Bros.