MkLeo dishes on next Smash game, being “less motivated” & why he’ll never play Steve

Smash Ultimate star Leonardo ‘MkLeo’ Lopez Perez has promised that he won’t be retiring from Smash anytime soon, shutting up haters and more in an exclusive interview.

Luminosity Gaming’s MkLeo has been the greatest Smash player for two games straight, dominating Smash 4 and emerging as by far the most decorated competitor in Ultimate’s history.

Earlier this year, Leo left T1 and joined Luminosity Gaming alongside former rival Gavin ‘Tweek’ Dempsey to enter a new chapter in his career.

We had a chance to speak with the Smash GOAT ahead of Luminosity Makes Moves Miami and delved into numerous topics including his future, the best moment of his career, his character pool, and more.

You’ve been with Luminosity now for a few months now. How do you like working with them so far and how have they supported you?

“Luminosity has felt like family I always wanted and needed, everything they do for the game is amazing. The content is awesome. I couldn’t be happier with Luminosity. They’ve been treating me great.”

You’ve left a lasting legacy in Smash and that legacy is ongoing. What would you say is your defining moment as a pro player?

“I feel like there are two. I feel like EVO 2019 is the first thing that comes to everybody’s mind, but if we’re talking about every single tournament I had, it was definitely Smash Factor 4 when I beat Mr R. I’m saying it right now, if I didn’t beat Mr R that day, I don’t think I’d be sitting right here doing this interview.”

You referenced Smash 4. How would you say you compare up against ZeRo in his prime in that game? Would you say you’ve surpassed him at his peak?

“I’m by far better than he was. I can name fifteen players that are already better than ZeRo.”

One of the things that has always impressed me about you is your mindset. You never seem to get tilted and remain focused. Is that something you’ve always been able to do or is it something you learned?

“I would just play friendlies with my family like my brother, cousin, sister. I used to get so mad, I used to insult them. But I feel like the experience of them not really getting mad, but explaining why I shouldn’t be insulting my brother and my cousin over a game taught me a lot about like, how I should treat myself, everybody and the game itself when I lose. So I think I’m a very chill guy. I like to chill, I’m vibing.”

Are you still battling an ear issue or has that been taken care of medically?

“I don’t think that’s something that will ever change. I think I will have to live like this my entire life. It hasn’t been a problem for now. Like ever since I started taking planes and nothing happened and the doctor said that I’m able to take planes it’s fine.”

People on Twitter/X seem to always criticize your fighter choice and believe they know better than you, like not picking Marth to go against Mario? What do you have to say about that and have you ever considered picking Steve to just shut the critics up?

“I’m personally not a fan of Minecraft and don’t like Steve that much. If I ever want to shut down everyone’s mouth again I’ll do it my way.

You give an example here, which is really interesting. I do agree I should go Marth against Mario. I don’t know what I was doing going Joker. I mean, when I see stuff like that, I think it has to do a lot with my personality, but to be honest, I never cared about anything on Twitter.

Like when people insult me and stuff like that. I’m like ‘okay’ I don’t even know what to think. There are some things that I see that are constructive. Like, for example, if I see like to play Marth against Mario, I’ll be like, yeah, ‘damn right’ and I don’t know he did it. So it’s really funny that I’m this bad or inconsistent with my character choices, but I’ll be honest, I don’t think I care about what’s on Twitter.”

You started hosting GOAT Talk. Are you trying to do more content creation in the future?

“Definitely. Now that I’ve been starting GOAT Talk I’ve been having a lot of fun interviewing the players, even though I don’t like saying it that way. I prefer saying just talking, because there are literally GOATs talking!

I think it’s really fun getting to know players. I always said it myself, despite being the player that I am right now, I’m still a fan, right? There are still some players that in my opinion have lot of interesting things that I might not have done before or understand just because the game works differently for everybody. For me, like it’s a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to doing more content. I really want to take Goat Talk to something big.”

You had a really dominant 2022, one of the best years of your whole career, but in 2023, the results haven’t been quite as consistent. You’ve already established yourself as the best, but is there anything that’s changed for you personally and are people correct to say you feel less motivated?

“That’s an interesting topic because I’ve thought about this quite a few times. I’m 22 years old. I think I said it on Twitter once. There are so many things didn’t do from like 14 to 22 simply because I was focusing on this game. I was having my entire life and mind in this game. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing. And that’s probably the reason why I accomplished these things. But as for now, my life has changed a lot. I’m a different person from what I was two or three years ago. So, I do feel less motivated, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m not gonna lie. I think that’s the best time of my life. I couldn’t ask for something better.”

Why would you say you’re less motivated? Is it because you’ve accomplished so much or because Nintendo is no longer releasing patches?

“I don’t wanna give too much detailed information, but I won a decent amount of money playing this game. I already accomplished the things I wanted. My family/me, we’ve started a way to make money out of Smash. I do like doing other things. I’m into physics, I’m into fashion, into beauty. There are more things to focus on in life. I’ve been playing this game for so long. I’ve wanted to do other things. But like I said, that’s not a bad thing. I feel very happy.”

Do you think you’re going to retire by the time the next Smash game comes out or are you going to keep playing competitively?

“I really want to play the new Smash game competitively. I don’t think I’ll ever stop going to tournaments. The fire of the competition and just playing Smash is my favorite thing in the world. The fact there might be another Smash game excites me a lot. You’ll probably see me at every tournament that that game has to offer.”

What do you personally want from a new Smash game? Do you want a completely new game or do you want a Smash Ultimate Deluxe with even more fighters?

“I think I would rather have a new Smash game that’s mechanically different, completely different from Ultimate. But I’m not closed to the idea of an Ultimate Deluxe. This game is great. If they add more characters to the thing, the only character that I’m requesting is Leon S Kennedy. After that I’m happy.”

In addition to Leon, who else would you want as a fighter?

“The second one, this is kind of a hot take. I really want Monster Hunter characters. I don’t play a lot of Nintendo Games, I’m more into PlayStation. But I really like someone like Joel from The Last of Us in Smash. Even if I don’t get a Leon, but I get Joel, that would be insane. That would be crazy.”

Do you have anything you’d like to say about competing at upcoming events like Port Priority and Watch The Throne?

“To all the fans, thanks so much for the support you guys have given me over the last seven, eight years. You guys don’t know how much I love you, how much I appreciate you. Give me all the support you can because I’ll probably need it. I’m gonna keep trying my hardest.”

This interview has been edited for clarity.