It Took Almost 20 Years To Beat This Super Smash Bros. Challenge

The end credits for the Super Smash Bros. games have always taken an interesting approach. Rather than featuring the kinds of mascot-on-mascot fights that the series is known for, the credits take the form of various arcade-style shooters. Players are encouraged to blast away at the names of the people who made the game. Now, the credits sequence of the highest-selling GameCube game has become the site of an impressive new video game record.

In late January, YouTuber Nathaniel Bandy uploaded a video describing the allure of these various credits sequences, with the Super Smash Bros. Melee credits being of particular interest. In that credit sequence, the names of the people involved fly around wildly, almost too quick for any player to land more than a few hits. The video ended with Bandy making a surprising promise: anyone who managed to hit and destroy all 190 of Melee's credits would receive a reward of $3,000.

According to Redditor Meester_Tweester, the only person that has ever come close to eliminating all of the credits was a player who managed to destroy 182 credits back in 2007. However, it only took a little over a week for this record to be smashed. On Feb. 2, a player calling themselves Porky Zarate uploaded a video in which they hit every last one of the Melee credits, completing Nathaniel Bandy's challenge.

Polygon caught up with Porky Zarate, whose real name is Martin Zarate, and asked him about this spectacular feat of Smash Bros. precision. As Zarate pointed out, the trickiest part of mastering the credits of Melee is the fact that nothing else in the game plays quite like it. The shoot-em-up sequence is a far cry from the fighting mechanics of the rest of the game. Zarate remarked, "You had to learn a different control style, memorize the pattern and executive very difficult inputs [to win]."

Not only that, but the names don't just float across the screen like a typical end credits scroll. The Super Smash Bros. Melee credits are constantly changing patterns, much like enemy ships in an arcade shooter. Zarate told Polygon that there was one series of credits that gave him a particularly difficult time. "The most challenging part would be the voice actors, they come in all different directions and there is no room for error. After you get the hardest part of the credits, you gonna stay composed and hit the rest," Zarate explained.

While there's a chance that another player out there has managed to obliterate the entire credit roll of Super Smash Bros. Melee, Zarate is the first person to get video of it, and therefore win Bandy's prize. Zarate says that he intends to put the money towards his college tuition.