Pound 2022 reverses decision to run Melee on monitors

The Pound 2022 tournament organizers announced Thursday that they no longer plan to run the Super Smash Bros. Melee bracket on monitors, as opposed to cathode ray tube televisions. This decision came after widespread criticism following their Wednesday announcement that they would run the bracket on monitors.

An Update on Monitor Melee at Pound.

Read: https://t.co/PcEwlYh4M7 pic.twitter.com/g3a2j9nv8K

— * POUND * (@pound_series) April 14, 2022

Although prominent locals like New York’s The Nightclub have made monitors more commonplace in the Melee community, many players still object to playing on them. Since the 2001 Smash title was designed to be played on CRTs, playing on monitors can cause lag without the use of lag reduction codes.

Additionally, many registered attendees objected to the Pound 2022 TOs’ decision to announce the switch to monitors for Melee so close to the actual event. Refund requests for Pound closed on April 1, meaning players who would normally drop out over the use of monitors didn’t have the chance to.

“Bro what… I would have just not attended,” top player Shephard “Fiction” Lima tweeted following the announcement of the switch to monitors. “Literally avoided [Low Tier City] last time because it was still on monitors. You really had to sucker people into going before announcing this?”

Bro what….I would have just not attended. Maybe make it clear next time????? WTF

dont announce this like its some hype thing. Literally avoided LTC last time because it was still on monitors. You really had to sucker people into going before announcing this???? https://t.co/9JYqlAGWy5

— Fiction | 69% Apparel (@FictionIRL) April 13, 2022

Pound 2022 ditches monitors for Melee

According to their statement, the Pound TOs wanted to nail down the logistics before announcing their switch to monitors. In doing so, they said they failed to consider the impact of making such a last-minute announcement.

“Although we had no intention of bait and switching anyone with our recent announcement of Monitor Melee, it’s pretty clear we missed the mark,” the statement said.

In light of the backlash, the Pound TOs announced that they would instead run the entire Melee bracket on CRTs. They additionally confirmed that there would still be some monitor setups at the venue that players could use for friendlies.

The Pound TOs had also received criticism for announcing that there would be 48 Melee setups, a seemingly small number for a tournament with nearly 300 entrants. In their recent statement, they clarified that these setups would be specifically for the bracket. Meanwhile, an additional 32 setups will be available for friendlies.