A lot has been said and written about the most recent major, Pound 2016. The innovative approach of the mono-character crew battles, Japan taking first place in the US in Smash 4, and  Hbox’s growing dominance continue to grow the smash scene.

There was one particular decision though, a revolutionary idea in my opinion, that will strengthen the efforts for a true global community of our game: Spanish commentary on the secondary stream.

As the founder of Smash en Español, I spent energy into growing our Latin American scene into the spotlight and this came as an answer to my prayers. We have asked for this for a while because, well, it simply made sense. Our region has thousands of players and enthusiasts that flock to Twitch for every tournament. We live vicariously behind our screens feeding off the plays, the emotions and the overall hype of events most of us will probably never have a chance to attend. Streaming is a wonderful tool that helps us break the barriers of borders, visas and expenses.

We love us some Smash south of the border.

For most Latin American viewers, the analysis and commentary goes right over our heads, drowned along the Dreamland theme and the crowd’s cheers as background noise. We recognize the people behind the mic of course, and we clearly know the meaning of “DESTRUCTION!” when D1 screams at the top of his lungs, but the analysis, the strategy, and everything else is essentially lost.

Enter Michael “Nintendude” Brancato and his brilliant  idea of bringing Spanish commentary to Pound. He announced DJNintendo as the first commentator, who tweeted out looking for a co-host. N0ne agreed shortly after and this is how our flashy Dominican / Nicaraguan duo is born, who happened to be terribly good at first impressions. DJ and N0ne are both obviously very good at Melee, knowledgeable of the mechanics, mind games and player history, but they kept a solid flow going in between sets with stories, bits of info, random trivia and of course jokes and puns. Even though it was their first time commentating in Spanish, they delivered the play by plays thoroughly, explained player’s decisions and their analysis was spot on.  There wasn’t a large announcement about the Top 8 Spanish stream on  VGBootcamp’s secondary stream, so it was a huge surprise for most people. In a few minutes Twitch chat had turned into Twitch fiesta with many non-Spanish speakers hanging out as well. By the way, memes and copypasta apparently taste the same in every language.

I mean, just look a these papis.

All in all Nintendude’s experiment was a success, and we as a region are very grateful for the opportunity to involve ourselves deeper into an event. I urge all TO’s and streamers to seriously consider expanding your audience if you can. Smash is growing at a fast pace, and catering to a broader section of your audience will only benefit your events, ad the community as a whole.

The cornerstone has been set.