Welcome to If Then, the show about how technology is changing our lives and our future.

I'm Aaron Mack.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to our last episode of If Then. We're coming to you from Slate to Future Tense,

a partnership between Slate, Arizona State University, and New America.

We're recording this on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 8th. On today's show, we'll talk to

Daniel Lee, a prominent coach and commentator in the competitive Super Smash Bros. scene.

We'll discuss how the community has grown and what it takes to be a professional Super Smash Bros.

Player. After the interview, my colleague Shannon Paulus and our new host, Lizzie O'Lear, community has grown, and what it takes to be a professional Super Smash Bros player.

After the interview, my colleague Shannon Paulus and our new host, Lizzie O'Leary, will join me for Don't Close My Tabs, where we'll talk about the best things we saw on the web this

week. That's all coming up on if then.

The video game news outlet Polygon recently published an expansive oral history following the community around the Nintendo game Super Smash Bros.

It's a fighting game similar to Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter, featuring characters from the Nintendo Universe, including Mario, Zelda, Pikachu, and Donkey Kong.

The aim is to knock your competitors off the stage.

Nintendo's come out with four versions of Super Smash Bros. over 20 years, and a worldwide community

has formed around the franchise. The Polygon piece traces how small local tournaments

began to spring up in basements and libraries in places like Southern California and Osaka.

There are now professional Smash Bros players who earn hundreds of thousands of dollars per year,

playing in tournaments attended by thousands of people.

Competitions have even been broadcast on ESPN.

Today we're talking to Daniel Lee, who spoke for the Polygon piece.

Daniel was a commentator and a coach for a player named Mango,

who is regarded as one of the five best players in the history of Smash Bros.

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