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OAKLAND, California -- Multi-colored faceplates, motherboards, springs and joysticks covered a set of long tables lined up near the entrance of the Oakland Convention Center during Genesis 6. As customers queued up to place their orders on this early Friday morning, many were abuzz: Attendees had come from all around the world, and now they had the opportunity to have their GameCube controllers modified by the best technician in the world. Behind one of the tables, mentally preparing for the long day ahead, Noah Ray Valdez sat with a wide smile across his face. In the past 16 months, Valdez has become the premier GameCube controller modifier and a staple at Super Smash Bros. tournaments around the U.S. It has been a long year for Valdez, 20, but in the time he has dedicated to the craft -- both repairing broken controllers and innovating new techniques -- no other has become as well-known to Super Smash Bros. players. And as the line grows longer, it's a fulfilling sentiment for him to see how far he has come. "I love my job," he said. "I love what I do." Valdez's modifications don't give players overbearing competitive advantages, unlike most well-known gaming controller tweaks that allow multiple button presses to be executed in one input. But for many, Valdez has created adjustments that do everything from relieving hand pain to better helping players ensure they hit specific in-game inputs that require immense precision. What started at his parents' home in Thousands Oaks, California, has now become a sustainable business for Valdez. After gaining traction online, Valdez partnered with a friend to launch Top Notch Controllers -- named affectionately after the notch modification that Valdez, in part, has made famous. The business has become the hottest exhibition booth at major Smash events. Large multimillion-dollar corporations, such as Astro and ASUS, have displays at Genesis, but everyone is champing at the bit to meet Valdez. Before entering the controller modification business, Valdez, who goes by "N3Z" online, ran other small businesses throughout his middle and high school years. In middle school, he said, he would travel to Venice, California, and admittedly hustle some of his classmates. "I would buy these tongue whistles, and I would sell them at my school," he said. "I would mark them up like $5 more. Everyone had them." Years later, that entrepreneurial spirit led him to another venture: sneakers. Like many others online, Valdez would buy sought-after shoes, particularly Jordans, and make a return by selling them at marked-up prices on eBay once demand peaked. But Valdez's online venture wasn't the only job in his life. He also worked at a fine dining restaurant, something he credited with teaching him to treat customers equally. "Working there taught me a lot about customer service, how to talk to people and how to give them an overwhelming sense of wanting to come back," Valdez said. "Not only can that be taught in so many ways, but what I want to show everyone is that I'm genuine. I care you, the consumer and someone purchasing something from me that's going to be high quality at the end of the day. That you, him or her will like." Valdez began modifying GameCube controllers in 2017. He learned the craft by altering controllers for free. "I was learning, and I was more obsessed with perfecting the craft before I even thought about putting a price tag on it," he said. "So I thought, maybe that was a good business model to follow at the beginning of a startup. I figured I'd get my name out there, I'd learn a lot more about controllers and at the same time, people would get what they wanted." At first, there were mistakes. "There were some stories back in the day," he said, "but now, I can't tell you the last time I've had someone have a negative complaint about any of my work or anything like that. "I've messed up on a lot of face plates, but at the same time, I think it was all for a reason. I had to lose a lot of money and throw away a lot of controllers to even get to the point where I am now. I think it was an investment, and I think it's paying off." Valdez's modifications now range from as low as $3 to remove a rumble pack to up to $125 to create precise and tiny notches along the control stick for players who play Fox or Falco. And his style has caught on: One of his famous packages is the "n3z trigger" package, which changes how hard a player will need to press their left and right triggers to input shields. His customer base includes every single member of the Panda Global Rankings top 10 for Super Smash Bros. other than Zain "Zain" Naghmi. Those players include Juan "Hungrybox" DeBiedma, Joseph "Mang0" Marquez, Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman and William "Leffen" Hjelte. On any given major Smash weekend, top players rush to Valdez for emergency repairs. "These things happen -- it's kind of weird mid set -- but we can pump things out pretty fast," he said. "It's sort of like a NASCAR switching your tires type deal. That's kind of what it's like." A tournament weekend for Valdez can be hectic. At Genesis, he took more than 70 orders from customers, something he had to cap to be realistic with himself and his staff. The booth featured pre-modified, rare controller models, which sell for hundreds of dollars. And recently, Valdez and his staff launched a limited edition clothing line, too. He and his staff drove their merchandise to Oakland, which is roughly six hours from his home in Southern California, but getting stock to and from tournaments in other states can be difficult. "Finding a way to transport all of the luggage, all of the equipment, all of the stock controllers, all of the pre-mades that I have," Valdez said, "it's actually very stressful." Now Valdez has another task to conquer: his health. In October, Valdez took an emergency flight from Detroit, where he attended The Big House 8, back to Southern California and rushed to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. It wasn't the first time. Valdez said he deals with health issues frequently, stemming from chronic stomach issues, Gastroesophageal reflux disease and Chron's disease. At 10, he was diagnosed with Barrett's esophagus and had a laparoscopic fundoplication surgery. Those same health problems prevented Valdez from attending Don't Park on the Grass in Seattle in December. "It's some of the worst pain you could ever ask for," he said. "It's happened to me at tournaments and just in general every day when I wake up. It's something that I struggle with and battle every single day." His daily routine requires six pills in the morning and careful monitoring of his food acidity levels. But now, he will require another surgery, which he scheduled for May 1. That operation will make him sit out for an extended period of time, missing tournaments and taking a break from the small business. If all goes well, he said, he hopes to take a three-month break. But Valdez knows better than most that balancing health and work is increasingly important. "It definitely does get in the way of me trying to work so hard," he said. "If there's one thing that's preventing me from going 100 percent all-in, it's 100 percent my health. It's for sure my health. ... What I'm realizing that is, yes, if I do treat myself better, sleep better and eating appropriately, these things can definitely be reduced." Valdez won't let his health hold him down, and if becoming the best-known controller technician in Super Smash Bros. within about a year is any indication, his work ethic will continue. His health issues may be a bump in the road and they might sideline him for the summer of multi-thousand person tournaments, but he's determined to make it back and to continue serving his customers in the way that made him famous. In real time in Oakland, a random customer ran up urgently needing their controller completed. Valdez grabbed it, took out a screw driver and quickly put the controller back together. He handed it to the customer, who smiled, thanked him and ran back off to the competition. "The quality of the work I do for Mang0 is no different than what I do for you," Valdez said. "Everything I do will be the same. That's what really matters to me -- it's keeping that quality consistent and not selling anyone short, not selling myself short."
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