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| Ken Hoang | |
|---|---|
 At theSurvivor finale showing, atCBS Studios,Los Angeles, California, December 14, 2008 | |
| Personal information | |
| Name | Ken Hoang |
| Nicknames |
|
| Born | (1985-10-10)October 10, 1985 (age 40)[1] |
| Career information | |
| Games | Super Smash Bros. Melee Project M |
| Playing career | 2003–2018 |
| Team history | |
| 2014-2018 | Team Liquid |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| (16 majors won) | |
Ken Hoang (born October 10, 1985), also known asKenny,SephirothKen, orLiquid`Ken, is an American professionalSuper Smash Bros. Melee player and television personality. Hoang was widely considered the most dominantMelee player in the world during the early years of the game's competitive scene in the early to mid-2000s. Hoang primarily playsMarth inMelee and is credited for pioneering several gameplay techniques integral to the game's competitive play, including the "dash dancing" movement technique and the "Ken Combo", an effective Marthcombo for which he is the namesake.[2] Hoang's dominance in the game earned him the nickname "The King of Smash".[2]
Hoang was the 2004–2005 national champion ofMajor League Gaming, the 2007 international champion ofEvolution Championship Series (EVO) World Finals,[3][4] and was the highest rankedSuper Smash Bros. Melee player in the United States, having also defeated reputable players from around the globe, including topJapanese players.
Hoang possesses the highest major tournament win-to-loss ratio of anySuper Smash Bros. Melee player from 2003 to 2007.[5] He received minor television coverage inMTV'sTrue Life: I'm a Professional Gamer.[6] Hoang retired in 2007, however he returned to theMelee scene in 2012, competing sporadically since. In 2014 he and fellowMelee veteran Daniel "KoreanDJ" Jung joinedTeam Liquid as the team's firstSmash Bros. players.[7] A 2021 list compiled by PGstats ranked Hoang as the fourth-greatestMelee player of all time.[8]
Hoang was a contestant onSurvivor: Gabon, which aired in the fall of 2008. He finished in fifth-place and was the sixth member of the jury.
Hoang started playingSuper Smash Bros. when it was released for theNintendo 64, but never competed in an organized tournament for the game, due to a lack of a widespread competitive scene at the time. WhenSuper Smash Bros. Melee was released for theGameCube, Ken initially did not enjoy it, but the game grew on him after a period of a few months.[citation needed] By the time he attended his first tournament, he already built up a reputation in his town as the bestSmash player. This tournament differed from most laterSuper Smash Bros. Melee tournaments in that matches were free-for-all matches between four players rather than a 1 vs 1 match. The other players teamed up against Hoang to eliminate him.[9]
In 2003, he competed in his first major tournament, part of the Tournament Go (TG) series, one of the first majorMelee tournament series.[10] In this, the fourth installment of the tournament series, Hoang won the singles (1 vs 1) tournament and lost in the doubles (2 vs 2) tournament to the winners of the first two TG tournaments.[9][11]
Seven months later, in August 2003, Hoang attended and won TG5. This was the first tournament where he partnered with Joel "Isai" Alvarado (otherwise known as "Malva00") for doubles in a team known as El Chocolate Diablo. Their victory in the doubles tournament started a2+1⁄2-year winning streak. They won every doubles tournament they entered until MLG Chicago in July 2006, where they were defeated by Azen and Chillindude829 in the finals and received second place. However, they reclaimed their title later that year in August at MLG Orlando where they defeated Azen and Chillindude829 6–3 in the finals.[12]
For the next two years, he continued to win nearly every competition he entered. The worst loss he ever garnered in his competitive career was in August 2004 at TG6 where he placed 9th out of approximately 128 competitors. He traveled to Japan several times and defeated top players such as Aniki, Captain Jack, Masashi, Bombsoldier, Korius, and Mikael in the summer of 2005 and 2006.[13]
Ken retired from competitive play in 2008. Although retired, he was regarded as one of the top players long after his departure from the tournament scene.[3] In September 2006, Ken was nominated in "The Dangerous Five" as one of "The World's Most Dangerous Gamers" byElectronic Gaming Monthly, in which he was called "The Duper" for his fast, smart, and aggressive play.[14]
Hoang returned to the game in 2012 after a five-year hiatus and placed 33rd in Kings of Cali. He has since attended several additional tournaments, includingEVO 2013, where he placed 49th out of 696 participants, then the Smash tournament with the largest number of entrants in history.
In 2013, Hoang's career was profiled in the documentary seriesThe Smash Brothers.[2][15] At the end of the year, Ken was ranked in the final spot at 100th inMelee it on Me's 2013 SSBMRank listing of the bestMelee players.[16]
On March 18, 2014,Team Liquid announced that Hoang and KDJ would be joining their newSuper Smash Bros. team.[17] Ken rose to 58th in the 2014 SSBMRank.[18]
AtApex 2015 Ken finished 81st. At Apex he also played PC Chris in a Salty Suite exhibition match and lost 3–2.[19]
AtEVO 2015 Ken finished 13th, his highest placing at a major since Super Champ Combo in 2007.
In August 2008 it was announced that Hoang would be appearing onSurvivor: Gabon, on the American television networkCBS.[1][20] He stated that he believed he was the underdog but hoped that it would garner him popular support.[1]
Hoang was chosen to join the Fang tribe in the first episode when Danny "GC" Brown picked him. Fang was weaker than the opposing Kota tribe in challenges, losing five of the first six immunity challenges, and Hoang was in danger of elimination several times during the pre-merge stage of the game. He formed an early bond with fellow Fang castaway Michelle Chase,[21] who ended up being the first person voted off. During the second Tribal Council, he was a target for elimination by Gillian Larson, but was spared as the rest of the tribe saw Larson as the weaker player. Hoang won the firstimmunity challenge for Fang, in which his puzzle-solving skills were pitted against physics teacherBob Crowley of the Kota tribe. Though Kota was in the lead at the end of the first section of the challenge, which allowed Crowley a head start in solving his puzzle, Hoang solved the puzzle first and saved his tribe from Tribal Council.
Hoang made the merge and was in the merged tribe, named Nobag, a name that he coined himself.[22] He wanted to seem like a weaker player, when in reality, he was the mastermind of some of the most important votes. He was the fifth-place finisher, and sixth member of the jury. In the Final Tribal Council, he voted for Susie Smith, who placed second behind Crowley, in the vote for Sole Survivor.[23]
Hoang was born on October 10, 1985.[1] Hoang's family isVietnamese.[2] Ken attendedCalifornia State University, Long Beach, where he completed aBachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration.[24] He credits his earnings from playingSuper Smash Bros Melee for financing him throughcollege.[citation needed]