20Xx

2013Catchphrase / copypasta / community in-jokeclassic

Also known as: The 20XX Prophecy

20Xx is a 2013 Super Smash Bros. Melee copypasta from commentator Toph about a future where Fox perfection and port priority would dominate competitive tournaments indefinitely.

20XX is a meme and inside joke from the Super Smash Bros. Melee competitive community describing a hypothetical future where every player has perfected the character Fox, and tournament winners are decided entirely by port priority. Borrowed from the Mega Man franchise's ambiguous future date setting, the term took hold in late 2013 after commentator Toph described the concept during a major tournament. It spawned a copypasta, a widely used ROM hack training tool, and an indie roguelite video game.

smash bros memescopypasta memescompetitive gaming behavior memesesports memesrom hack memes

Overview

In competitive Melee, Fox is widely considered the strongest character thanks to his speed, combo potential, and versatile special moves, especially his reflector (known as "shine"). The 20XX concept takes this to its logical extreme: if the metagame advances far enough, every top player will main Fox, execute at TAS (tool-assisted speedrun) levels of precision, and the only variable left will be which controller port each player uses3. Port priority in Melee determines who wins certain tied interactions, making it the final tiebreaker in a world of perfect play.

The joke works on multiple levels. It's part genuine anxiety about Fox's dominance warping the meta, part absurdist humor about competitive optimization, and part affectionate ribbing of the Melee community's obsession with frame data and technical execution5.

The term "20XX" comes from the Mega Man video game franchise, where games are set in an unspecified year written as "20XX" to keep the near-future setting deliberately vague3. Capcom used this convention across multiple Mega Man titles starting in the late 1980s4.

The leap to Smash Bros. happened at the Big House 3 tournament in October 2013. During commentary, Kris "Toph" Alexander laid out the 20XX scenario, describing a future where Melee's metagame had been solved and Fox was the only viable character3. The concept clicked immediately with the competitive community.

On November 18, 2013, Redditor SpankThatDill posted "Can someone explain the 20XX reference to me?" to the r/smashbros subreddit3. Redditor Nannose replied with what became the defining copypasta:

> "The year is 20XX. Everyone plays Fox at TAS levels of perfection. Because of this, the winner of a match depends solely on port priority. The RPS metagame has evolved to ridiculous levels due to it being the only remaining factor to decide matches."5

This copypasta became the standard shorthand for the concept and spread rapidly through Smash community forums, Twitch chat, and social media.

Origin & Background

Platform
Smash Bros. tournament commentary (Big House 3), Reddit (viral spread)
Key People
Kris "Toph" Alexander, Nannose
Date
2013

The term "20XX" comes from the Mega Man video game franchise, where games are set in an unspecified year written as "20XX" to keep the near-future setting deliberately vague. Capcom used this convention across multiple Mega Man titles starting in the late 1980s.

The leap to Smash Bros. happened at the Big House 3 tournament in October 2013. During commentary, Kris "Toph" Alexander laid out the 20XX scenario, describing a future where Melee's metagame had been solved and Fox was the only viable character. The concept clicked immediately with the competitive community.

On November 18, 2013, Redditor SpankThatDill posted "Can someone explain the 20XX reference to me?" to the r/smashbros subreddit. Redditor Nannose replied with what became the defining copypasta:

> "The year is 20XX. Everyone plays Fox at TAS levels of perfection. Because of this, the winner of a match depends solely on port priority. The RPS metagame has evolved to ridiculous levels due to it being the only remaining factor to decide matches."

This copypasta became the standard shorthand for the concept and spread rapidly through Smash community forums, Twitch chat, and social media.

How It Spread

After the copypasta solidified the joke in late 2013, 20XX moved beyond a niche reference into a core piece of Melee community identity. Players would invoke it whenever Fox dominated tournament brackets or when technical play reached new heights.

On March 29, 2014, Smash Boards user achilles1515 released the "20XX Melee Training Hack Pack," a ROM hack designed to help players practice advanced techniques and simulate the hypothetical 20XX scenario. The mod became one of the most important training tools in competitive Melee history, with updates continuing through version 5.0.2 in January 2023. It added features like UCF (Universal Controller Fix), custom stages, SD Remix character balance changes, and Turbo Mode.

On November 25, 2014, an unrelated indie game titled "20XX" launched on Steam's Early Access program. Developed by Batterystaple Games, it was a Mega Man X-inspired roguelite platformer that borrowed the name from the same Mega Man convention. The game reached full release on August 16, 2017, and later came to PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One in July 2018.

On March 25, 2015, YouTuber Dan Salvato uploaded a trailer for the "20XX: Tournament Edition" game mod, a separate project focused specifically on competitive rulesets.

Urban Dictionary entries further documented the meme's reach, with definitions describing 20XX as "the year when something becomes completely optimized due to being so far into the future". The term's meaning had generalized beyond Melee to describe any scenario of total competitive optimization.

How to Use This Meme

The 20XX meme works in a few common formats:

The copypasta: Drop the full "The year is 20XX..." pasta in Twitch chat, Reddit threads, or Discord servers, typically when a Fox player dominates a tournament or pulls off an insane technical play. Some players swap in different characters or games for comedic effect ("The year is 20XX. Everyone plays Steve in Ultimate...").

As shorthand: Simply saying "20XX" or "we're approaching 20XX" when technical play or Fox dominance reaches new levels. Works as commentary during tournaments or in post-match discussions.

Adapted format: The copypasta template is flexible. Replace Fox with any dominant strategy, port priority with any arbitrary tiebreaker, and Melee with any competitive context. The core structure ("The year is 20XX. Everyone does [optimal thing]. Because of this, the winner depends solely on [absurd factor]") applies to any game or competitive scene.

Cultural Impact

The 20XX concept shaped how the Melee community talked about game balance and the meta for over a decade. It gave players a shared vocabulary for discussing Fox's dominance, the tension between character diversity and optimal play, and the philosophical question of what happens when a competitive game is "solved."

The 20XX Hack Pack became arguably the single most important community-made training tool in Melee history. By letting players practice advanced techniques, toggle UCF, and access debug features, it raised the overall skill floor of the competitive scene. The mod went through years of updates, with version 5.0 in November 2021 adding a redesigned code library, new game modes like Super Shine Bros. and Turbo Mode, 80 custom stages, and 40 new character costumes.

The indie game "20XX" by developer Chris King drew directly from the same Mega Man naming convention and the broader cultural recognition of the term. King built the game out of frustration that Capcom had stopped making enough Mega Man titles, and the project went through Steam Early Access before full release. Nintendo Life and Nintendo World Report both gave it favorable coverage, praising its addictive gameplay loop. A sequel, 30XX, launched in early access in February 2021 and fully released on August 9, 2023.

Fun Facts

The 20XX Hack Pack's v5.0 update increased Flipper item duration from 8 seconds to a full minute, with developer achilles1515 adding the note: "Don't look at me like that... Some people like items!"

Developer Chris King built the 20XX indie game because he believed it was his "last chance to do such a risky thing as game development" before settling down with a family, as he was in his late 20s at the time.

The hardest part of developing the 20XX indie game wasn't the procedural level generation or the Mega Man-inspired game feel. It was debugging the online co-op netcode.

Dan Salvato, who created 20XX: Tournament Edition, later gained wider fame as the developer of Doki Doki Literature Club.

Derivatives & Variations

20XX Melee Training Hack Pack

— A comprehensive ROM hack for competitive Melee training, first released in March 2014 by achilles1515 with updates through 2023. Includes UCF, custom stages, SD Remix, and debug tools[2].

20XX: Tournament Edition

— A separate mod focused on standardized competitive rulesets, announced by Dan Salvato in March 2015[3].

20XX (video game)

— A roguelite platformer inspired by Mega Man X, developed by Batterystaple Games. Released fully in August 2017 on Steam, with console ports in 2018[4].

30XX

— Sequel to the 20XX indie game, released in full on August 9, 2023[4].

General optimization copypasta template

— The format spread beyond Melee, with players in other fighting game communities adapting the pasta for their own dominant characters and strategies[5].

Frequently Asked Questions

20Xx

2013Catchphrase / copypasta / community in-jokeclassic

Also known as: The 20XX Prophecy

20Xx is a 2013 Super Smash Bros. Melee copypasta from commentator Toph about a future where Fox perfection and port priority would dominate competitive tournaments indefinitely.

20XX is a meme and inside joke from the Super Smash Bros. Melee competitive community describing a hypothetical future where every player has perfected the character Fox, and tournament winners are decided entirely by port priority. Borrowed from the Mega Man franchise's ambiguous future date setting, the term took hold in late 2013 after commentator Toph described the concept during a major tournament. It spawned a copypasta, a widely used ROM hack training tool, and an indie roguelite video game.

smash bros memes copypasta memes competitive gaming behavior memes esports memes rom hack memes

Overview

In competitive Melee, Fox is widely considered the strongest character thanks to his speed, combo potential, and versatile special moves, especially his reflector (known as "shine"). The 20XX concept takes this to its logical extreme: if the metagame advances far enough, every top player will main Fox, execute at TAS (tool-assisted speedrun) levels of precision, and the only variable left will be which controller port each player uses. Port priority in Melee determines who wins certain tied interactions, making it the final tiebreaker in a world of perfect play.

The joke works on multiple levels. It's part genuine anxiety about Fox's dominance warping the meta, part absurdist humor about competitive optimization, and part affectionate ribbing of the Melee community's obsession with frame data and technical execution.

The term "20XX" comes from the Mega Man video game franchise, where games are set in an unspecified year written as "20XX" to keep the near-future setting deliberately vague. Capcom used this convention across multiple Mega Man titles starting in the late 1980s.

The leap to Smash Bros. happened at the Big House 3 tournament in October 2013. During commentary, Kris "Toph" Alexander laid out the 20XX scenario, describing a future where Melee's metagame had been solved and Fox was the only viable character. The concept clicked immediately with the competitive community.

On November 18, 2013, Redditor SpankThatDill posted "Can someone explain the 20XX reference to me?" to the r/smashbros subreddit. Redditor Nannose replied with what became the defining copypasta:

> "The year is 20XX. Everyone plays Fox at TAS levels of perfection. Because of this, the winner of a match depends solely on port priority. The RPS metagame has evolved to ridiculous levels due to it being the only remaining factor to decide matches."

This copypasta became the standard shorthand for the concept and spread rapidly through Smash community forums, Twitch chat, and social media.

Origin & Background

Platform
Smash Bros. tournament commentary (Big House 3), Reddit (viral spread)
Key People
Kris "Toph" Alexander, Nannose
Date
2013

The term "20XX" comes from the Mega Man video game franchise, where games are set in an unspecified year written as "20XX" to keep the near-future setting deliberately vague. Capcom used this convention across multiple Mega Man titles starting in the late 1980s.

The leap to Smash Bros. happened at the Big House 3 tournament in October 2013. During commentary, Kris "Toph" Alexander laid out the 20XX scenario, describing a future where Melee's metagame had been solved and Fox was the only viable character. The concept clicked immediately with the competitive community.

On November 18, 2013, Redditor SpankThatDill posted "Can someone explain the 20XX reference to me?" to the r/smashbros subreddit. Redditor Nannose replied with what became the defining copypasta:

> "The year is 20XX. Everyone plays Fox at TAS levels of perfection. Because of this, the winner of a match depends solely on port priority. The RPS metagame has evolved to ridiculous levels due to it being the only remaining factor to decide matches."

This copypasta became the standard shorthand for the concept and spread rapidly through Smash community forums, Twitch chat, and social media.

How It Spread

After the copypasta solidified the joke in late 2013, 20XX moved beyond a niche reference into a core piece of Melee community identity. Players would invoke it whenever Fox dominated tournament brackets or when technical play reached new heights.

On March 29, 2014, Smash Boards user achilles1515 released the "20XX Melee Training Hack Pack," a ROM hack designed to help players practice advanced techniques and simulate the hypothetical 20XX scenario. The mod became one of the most important training tools in competitive Melee history, with updates continuing through version 5.0.2 in January 2023. It added features like UCF (Universal Controller Fix), custom stages, SD Remix character balance changes, and Turbo Mode.

On November 25, 2014, an unrelated indie game titled "20XX" launched on Steam's Early Access program. Developed by Batterystaple Games, it was a Mega Man X-inspired roguelite platformer that borrowed the name from the same Mega Man convention. The game reached full release on August 16, 2017, and later came to PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One in July 2018.

On March 25, 2015, YouTuber Dan Salvato uploaded a trailer for the "20XX: Tournament Edition" game mod, a separate project focused specifically on competitive rulesets.

Urban Dictionary entries further documented the meme's reach, with definitions describing 20XX as "the year when something becomes completely optimized due to being so far into the future". The term's meaning had generalized beyond Melee to describe any scenario of total competitive optimization.

How to Use This Meme

The 20XX meme works in a few common formats:

The copypasta: Drop the full "The year is 20XX..." pasta in Twitch chat, Reddit threads, or Discord servers, typically when a Fox player dominates a tournament or pulls off an insane technical play. Some players swap in different characters or games for comedic effect ("The year is 20XX. Everyone plays Steve in Ultimate...").

As shorthand: Simply saying "20XX" or "we're approaching 20XX" when technical play or Fox dominance reaches new levels. Works as commentary during tournaments or in post-match discussions.

Adapted format: The copypasta template is flexible. Replace Fox with any dominant strategy, port priority with any arbitrary tiebreaker, and Melee with any competitive context. The core structure ("The year is 20XX. Everyone does [optimal thing]. Because of this, the winner depends solely on [absurd factor]") applies to any game or competitive scene.

Cultural Impact

The 20XX concept shaped how the Melee community talked about game balance and the meta for over a decade. It gave players a shared vocabulary for discussing Fox's dominance, the tension between character diversity and optimal play, and the philosophical question of what happens when a competitive game is "solved."

The 20XX Hack Pack became arguably the single most important community-made training tool in Melee history. By letting players practice advanced techniques, toggle UCF, and access debug features, it raised the overall skill floor of the competitive scene. The mod went through years of updates, with version 5.0 in November 2021 adding a redesigned code library, new game modes like Super Shine Bros. and Turbo Mode, 80 custom stages, and 40 new character costumes.

The indie game "20XX" by developer Chris King drew directly from the same Mega Man naming convention and the broader cultural recognition of the term. King built the game out of frustration that Capcom had stopped making enough Mega Man titles, and the project went through Steam Early Access before full release. Nintendo Life and Nintendo World Report both gave it favorable coverage, praising its addictive gameplay loop. A sequel, 30XX, launched in early access in February 2021 and fully released on August 9, 2023.

Fun Facts

The 20XX Hack Pack's v5.0 update increased Flipper item duration from 8 seconds to a full minute, with developer achilles1515 adding the note: "Don't look at me like that... Some people like items!"

Developer Chris King built the 20XX indie game because he believed it was his "last chance to do such a risky thing as game development" before settling down with a family, as he was in his late 20s at the time.

The hardest part of developing the 20XX indie game wasn't the procedural level generation or the Mega Man-inspired game feel. It was debugging the online co-op netcode.

Dan Salvato, who created 20XX: Tournament Edition, later gained wider fame as the developer of Doki Doki Literature Club.

Derivatives & Variations

20XX Melee Training Hack Pack

— A comprehensive ROM hack for competitive Melee training, first released in March 2014 by achilles1515 with updates through 2023. Includes UCF, custom stages, SD Remix, and debug tools[2].

20XX: Tournament Edition

— A separate mod focused on standardized competitive rulesets, announced by Dan Salvato in March 2015[3].

20XX (video game)

— A roguelite platformer inspired by Mega Man X, developed by Batterystaple Games. Released fully in August 2017 on Steam, with console ports in 2018[4].

30XX

— Sequel to the 20XX indie game, released in full on August 9, 2023[4].

General optimization copypasta template

— The format spread beyond Melee, with players in other fighting game communities adapting the pasta for their own dominant characters and strategies[5].

Frequently Asked Questions