New York has given rise to many up-and-comers in the competitive Melee scene and now boasts some of the game's top competitors. Competitors the likes of Rishi, La Luna, and even 2Saint have stolen the spotlight of success over the past few years and shocked audiences with phenomenal tournament wins and placements.

One Long Island native however is looking to make an even bigger name for himself among Melee's greatest in the world. Rosario "Darktooth" Fuschetto has demonstrated complete dominance of his competition in Long Island and looks to climb even higher than 88th best in the world in the coming seasons of Melee. We got the chance to catch up with Darktooth and hear about his plans for the future, as well as his outlook on the game.

So Darktooth, what was your very first personal memory with Melee?

Darktooth: If we’re thinking all the way back to its release in 2001, I can recall playing with my older brother and his friends when I was 5. Since we are 8 years apart, there weren’t a lot of things we could do for fun together besides video games, so we’d always play the new games that he’d bring home. I remember playing free-for-alls on Temple with him, wearing the black Young Link costume and getting last every game. It was so much fun.

You’ve vocalized your love of competition on Twitter in the past… What sparked your drive to compete in Melee rather than just enjoy it as a hobby?

Darktooth: I think that I’m a pretty competitive person, in a healthy way. Not in a “if you play me in a game I’ll try my best to destroy your soul” kind of way, but when I like something and want to be better at it, I seriously want to be better at it. What once was a fun game to play with friends after school turned into a heated race to see who could be better than the other.

As a fan of Melee, would you say that the drive to win and the competitive edge, or the overarching hype/rowdiness/excitement of the Melee scene keep your interested peaked in the game? What pulls you more in as a fan?

Darktooth: The crowd is amazing! How can someone not love the excitement of the crowd when things are getting tense in a really important match? I think there’s so many answers to this question... The drive to win and continuing to win is obviously a fun and rewarding feeling, but the best feeling to have while competing is to win with the support of your fans/friends/family. It’s an enormous amount of fun to follow your favorite player tournament after tournament and to learn and cheer for them.

You’ve been playing Fox for as long as I can remember. What made you decide to go with the leader of the Star Fox Team in your Competitive Melee career?

Darktooth: Fox was actually my third love; I was really a Captain Falcon main when I truly started back in 2013, with inspiration by SilentSpectre. Half way through the year, after being inspired by PPMD, I realized that Falco was my true calling as a Melee player. However, once I saw Mango’s Fox and how you can be so free-form with combos and mixups, I decided to make my final switch to Fox in mid-2014. A lot of my friends called me lame for playing the best character in the game, but to me, playing well with Fox just felt so, so good.

What’s your opinion on highly debated matchups such as Fox vs. Puff and Fox vs. Marth?

Darktooth: Fox vs Puff has been a matchup I’ve held my head high about for years, even back when I was a nobody. From watching a million and a half Mango/HBox VODs, I felt like I truly understood the win conditions on either side and played to those conditions pretty well. In late 2017/early 2018, I found myself struggling with the matchup, losing to some in-region Puffs like 2saint, 42nd, and BIGKID. I just think I was overcomplicating it, and just needed to tidy up some of what I was doing in the neutral to not fall into traps. I personally think it’s 60/40 Fox favor and not a clean winning matchup in the slightest.

Fox vs Marth is interesting... I wouldn’t say I’m very good at the matchup, but I also wouldn’t say I’m bad at it either. There’s a chance that it’s a true 50/50 matchup, with new developments in slide-off DI and follow-ups after SDI being used more often, but there’s no way Fox loses the matchup. Fox doesn’t lose any matchups - He’s the best character in the game!

In the coming years, do you think we’re approaching an era of Fox domination, or floaty meta?

Darktooth: It’s funny - Our scene has been dominated by two floaties for the past 3 or 4 years, and no one really makes note of how strong they were until Hbox became #1. Armada was #1 in the world with the hardest floaty to play! However, I think that we’re not really approaching any sort of dominant character meta. This year has been crazy for Melee, with everyone winning big tournaments with different characters. I’d be more worried about the Marths that are being born with Zain’s rise!

How do you personally deal with the pressure of last stock situations? What’s your mentality like in these moments?

Darktooth: I’ve been respected on my last stock for years now. People used to always say that I made the most 3 stock to 1 comebacks of any player, and I’m happy to say that it’s still true to this day! I think a lot of it comes down to breathing and not tilting your game plan. People like to go for too safe plays that will cause you do take trade damage and eventually lose, or for too risky plays that will put you in an unfavorable position. I keep my slow, methodical game plan throughout my last stock and start to recognize when my opponent is thinking “Oh god, I’m gonna lose 3 stocks to 1.” That’s when you really turn up the heat.

What’s your most comfortable matchup, and why?

Darktooth: Ice Climbers! I think the main reason why I’m so good at the matchup is that when I first started playing and training, I would play against lvl 1/3/5/7/9 CPUs for hours on end, and just work on comboing them to death. If you ask any ICs that’s played me, you’d know that they’re not allowed to have their Nana for long... and they have to work to keep her! If Wobbling wasn’t in the game, ICs would drop to below like Mario on the tier list until their meta would develop further.

What’s one piece of advice you can give other aspiring Fox mains that they need to hear?

Darktooth: Stop working on your shield pressure and focus on getting full control of your character. Connect your brain to your Fox’s feet, and you need to be able to get him where he needs to be in scenarios. It’s so frustrating to play a Fox that is so solid with minor tech skill bits but will get shield grabbed or gimped at 20% every stock.

How did you discover, and how does it feel to have contributed a new discovery of tech into the game with Shine Mining?

Darktooth: Shine Mines were a random discovery that I made while playing around with the hitbox display in the 20XX Hack pack. I noticed when doing a shine while dropping through a platform that there was a quick hitbox somewhere else on the stage, so I did some frame by frame analysis to see what was going on. It was so cool - I posted it to Reddit, someone immediately contacted me to get the technique coined and labeled by me, and suddenly I had a piece of tech named by myself in my favorite game.

Who, in your opinion was your toughest victory?

Darktooth: Amsah! We had the most grueling set at Smash Con 2018, where I was down 0-1, brought it back to game 3, and was down 3 stocks to 1 after getting gimped really quickly. I could hear all of my friends behind me start to get somber and start to doubt that I was going to win the set, but I kept myself focused and remembered what I needed to do to win... and that spawned the craziest comeback I’ve ever done and a waterfall of emotions shortly after winning. Amsah is so, so good. I still can’t believe I did that.

What’s one mechanic of Melee you LOVE?

Darktooth: Edge-cancelling! So underrated.

What’s one mechanic of Melee you HATE?

Darktooth: Shino-stalling and/or Wobbling.

As a spectator of Melee, what’s your favorite moment in its competitive history?

Darktooth: I was fortunate enough to watch Apex 2014 live as my first national and got to watch the beauty that was Mango vs Leffen... when the crowd starting singing the National Anthem as Mango started to combo Leffen to death and bring it to game 5, and when the legendary 4 stock happened. Nothing will beat that memory.

Who is your favorite player, and why?

Darktooth: If you couldn’t guess by now, it’s Mango! His playstyle, charisma, attitude, and everything is a big inspiration to me even past Melee. His Fox is truly out of this world, and his Falco is so clean and smart. It does things that you didn’t even know were possible, and the interactions he has are so small that you can’t even pick up on everything while he’s playing. True GOAT.

What’s your best Super Mario 64 Speed run time?

Darktooth: My 16 Star PB is 20:05! Never was able to get sub 20. Grad school stopped the grind!

What’s your favorite non-tournament-legal stage?

Darktooth: Mushroom Kingdom II. There’s a minigame called Tenkaichi that is so fun to play with friends, and that’s the stage that you play it on. If you know what this minigame is, please play it with me at majors! It’s so much fun!

What kind of controller layout do you use? (What button to L-cancel, jump, claw?, etc.)

Darktooth: I jump with X, L-cancel with R, shine OoS with X->DownB, and multishine with B->X->B->X. People always thought that was so weird, but it’s comfy for me.

How would you arrange the best five characters in today’s Melee meta?

Darktooth: Fox > Falco = Marth > Puff >> Sheik

Who do you think is the absolute worst character in Melee and why?

Darktooth: Have you ever played Bowser?

Are you looking forward to Smash Ultimate?

Darktooth: I am beyond excited! I aim to go fully competitive with Ultimate when it drops in December... People don’t think that a top Melee player could be a top Ultimate player, but they’re gonna see. They’re not ready!

How long do you plan on pursuing Melee, and how high do you think you can get ranked in Melee?

Darktooth: Melee is more than just a competitive game to me; it’s my identity. I don’t think I can truly ever stop playing melee. Competing in Melee may have to stop once I start my career as a school teacher, but I don’t think I’ll ever stop playing the game with other people. If I really give it my all next year, I truly think I can be top 30, maybe even higher. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

Where can the readers follow you to keep up with everything Darktooth?

Darktooth: Follow me on Twitter, @DarktoothVG. I was streaming for a bit at my Twitch page but got so swamped with school that I had to stop. You can follow me on Twitch at twitch.tv/DarktoothVG to see if and when I go live.

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