We’ve known for years that former United States president Barack Obama is the closest thing we’ve had thus far to a gamer in the White House. But recently, we got a critical piece of information about his gamer profile: Obama is a Captain Falcon main in Super Smash Bros.
This news comes thanks to Smash Bros. community organizer Cody Daniels, who met Obama in 2015 through the Make-a-Wish foundation. The two played some friendly rounds of Super Smash Bros. 64, Daniels’ game of choice, and Obama signed a Smash Bros. 64 cartridge for him and took a photo.
For larger context, @CodyDaniels88 had the opportunity to play with Obama at the White House as part of a Make-A-Wish opportunity. Part of his experiences included meeting the former President, playing some friendly 64 matches, and getting a signed copy of a N64 cartridge and a… pic.twitter.com/oo7NVhIkly
— Tafo (@tafokints) August 3, 2023
Then last week, Daniels appeared on Hustler Casino’s Max Pain Monday poker stream alongside competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee player Daniel ‘Tafokints’ Lee to raise money for Make-a-Wish. The two bantered about Smash several times during the stream, and at one point, Daniels was asked about his rounds of Smash Bros. with the former president. The section where Daniels explains his Smash Bros. bout with the former president starts at the timestamp linked here.
Daniels explains that while he “took it easy” on Obama and played as Ness (Daniels typically plays Fox and Pikachu), Obama “wasn’t as bad as you would think” at the game. He invited the others at the table to guess who Obama played as, and eventually revealed that Obama picked F-Zero’s Captain Falcon.
Okay, sure, I buy that. Captain Falcon kind of gives off patriotic, superhero vibes.
It’s unclear precisely how much Smash Bros. experience Obama was bringing into that match. He did notably bring a Nintendo Wii with him to the White House (which he used primarily for Wii Sports), and presided during the first-ever White House game jam and a livestreamed gaming marathon to promote Obamacare.
We’ve reached out to PR for the former president to ask if he has played Tears of the Kingdom yet, but did not receive a reply in time for publication.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.