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The highest earning Melee players of all time
What does the Smash rich list look like 15 years after the game first launched? Find out here.
The biggest names in Smash Melee earn a lot
© Nintendo
Editor’s Note: This article was updated July 2017.
With well over 10 years of competitive play Super Smash Bros. Melee is one of the oldest eSports out there, and has seen many top players come and go. Unfortunately for those that left the scene a few years back, prize pools and viewership numbers have skyrocketed over the last few years. Now playing Melee full time is a viable option for quite a few players, and some have even made more than six figures.
10. Kevin 'PPMD' Nanney: $36,991.00
PPMD took most of last year off, meaning he could have been a lot higher on this list if he had competed in more events, but with $36,991.00 to his name we’re sure he isn’t complaining. Winning Apex in 2015 and 2014 gave him a ton of cash, with the second win bringing in a massive $7,228, while other tournament wins increase that value further. Having resigned from Evil Geniuses, PPMD is set to return this year so expect him to rise through the list.
9. Justin 'Plup' McGrath: $40,294.95
Plup slips into number nine on the list but after his impressive 2016 you can see why. Plup was so good last year that he came in sixth in our SSBMRank, beating out some names that are yet to show up on this list. Third at EVO 2016 netted him his second biggest payday ever with $2,372, which is just behind him taking fourth at the first Smash Summit back in 2015 ($2,469.68). Strong results at all the Smash Summits and other large events such as DreamHack, including a recent win in Atlanta, along with a win at Shine in 2016 give Plup a total of $40,294.95 earnt from Melee.
8. Weston 'Westballz' Dennis: $45,672.11
2016 wasn’t Westballz best year, hence him only popping up at number eight in our SSBMRank, but playing a lot of tournaments and a strong 2015 sees him take eighth on our earners list. In what is somewhat of an anomaly for this list, only four of his 10 largest payouts came in 2016, although wins at Rewired and Emerald City 2 gave him $1,400 and $1,210 respectively. His biggest payout was back at DreamHack London where he grabbed a cool $5,000.
7. Zachary 'SFAT' Cordoni: $48,222.39
Like many in this list, the majority of SFAT’s winnings have come in the last two years. In fact over 87 percent of his total winnings came in 2015 and 2016, with a singles win at Emerald City III and doubles wins with Kevin 'PewPewU' Toy at Big House 6 and the UGC Smash Open adding significant amounts to his total. SFAT’s seven largest single event winnings came in 2016, which netted him seventh place in our SSBMRank. 2017 has seen a few wins here and there though for much smaller prize pots.
6. Ken 'Ken' Hoang: $53,264.10
Barring some kind of miraculous return, Ken will one day drop off the bottom of this list, but it will probably take a few years yet. He hasn’t won more than $210 in a single calendar year since 2007, but his dominance at the start of Melee’s life and the massive prize pools MLG offered at the time mean he remains a top earner. Ken has a massive 23 tournaments where he won $1,000 or more and he grabbed $5,000 at Evo 2007, MLG Las Vegas 2006 and MLG New York 2005, each of which he won.
5. William 'Leffen' Hjelte: $81,969.14
Of course 2015 was when Leffen really made some cash, earning more than $36,000 playing Melee. This included wins at Super Smash Con, which brought in $5,734.80, the HTC Throwdown, which netted $5,544 and CEO, which brought in $4,698. With the visa issues finally over, you can expect Leffen to get to work on making his way up this list, something he has already shown in 2017 with major cashes at the Smash Summit Spring in Singles, Doubles and Crews categories.
4. Joseph 'Mango' Marquez: $135,599.17
Mango is the first of the players to hit over $100,000 in prize money, meaning he has a big buffer before he has to worry about Leffen overtaking him. In both 2014 and 2015 he made over $20,000 and last year he won a massive $47,361.50. We’ve just over halfway through 2017 and the money keeps rolling in, with $3,408 from Genesis 4, $3,324 from Royal Flush and $2,856 from Evo 2017. His biggest payday came from his win at The Big House 6 last year, which was also a key factor in him making it to number three in our SSBMRank.
3. Jason 'Mew2King' Zimmerman: $155,475.39
Mew2King is the most financially successful overall Smash player of all time, but thanks to his ability to play all the Smash games well, he only sits at number three in the Melee list. Amazingly he has never had a single tournament payout more than $5,000, with his biggest paycheque coming in at $4,116.13 after placing third at the first Smash Summit. Last year was his most financially successful ever (although he only made it to number four in our SSBMRank) after bringing in $53,852.18. He might be disappointed with his Evo performance, but 2017 has been a solid year so far with big wins at the Smash Summit Spring, CEO Dreamland and MomoCon 2017.
2. Juan 'Hungrybox' Debiedma: $178,753.75
Hungrybox is a man that can pull out the wins in massive tournaments. Last year alone he won two events worth more than $10,000, with his EVO win bringing in $14,232 and his Battle of the Five Gods win giving him $13,000. Add in a combined $17,500 from DreamHack Winter 2015 and 2016 and you can see why he has done so well financially. The train has continued rolling in 2017 with ten first place finishes and multiple cashes at events such as Smash Summit Spring, DreamHack Austin and Evo 2017 that have earned him close to $30,000.
1. Adam 'Armada' Lindgren: $240,958.11
Topping the list with a massive $240,958.11 is the current best player in the world, according to our SSBMRank, Adam 'Armada' Lindgren. 2015 and 2016 are where he really grew his total, bringing in $72,793.44 and $83,003.77 respectively. Looking at his results in 2017 so far and it’s almost an entire column of golds. Amazingly, Armada has already made over $50,000 in 2017 thanks to his Genesis 4 singles and doubles wins, his Spring Smash Summit singles and doubles wins, and an unsurprising victory at Evo 2017. If this number doesn't continue to grow massively in 2017 we will be very surprised.
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