It's literally never too late to start playing Melee. I started playing a little more than 3 months ago (ignore my join date, i didnt even get a controller until at least May), and I'm already catching up to a lot of people near me who have been playing competitively for years. Given, I practice about 40 hours a week, but I'm also just generally bad at fighting games (and I want to be a top level competitor, this is nowhere near required for the average tournament-goer). If you like the games, play them. If you want to compete in bigger stuff, practice more. It's always worth it.
You will get out of Melee (or Project M, or 64, or SM4SH, or Brawl for that matter) what you put into it a hundred fold. Good times, friends, people I love like family (and that's just after a few months). I love this game, I will play it as long as my hands will let me (Fox pls) and I don't ever EVER want to see anyone think it's too late to start playing. Ten more years.
And never apologize for someone else's folly. It's important sometimes to remember that everyone in the Smash community is family, but family can be rude sometimes too. Know what YOU love, not what someone else does, and you spend your time doing that thing. But respect what they love all the same. Hope to see you at a tournament some day :D
THIS MAN KNOWS. we're practically smash twins, hahaha. just not identical ones.