Growing Up With: Super Smash Bros.
Ah, Super Smash Bros. what can I say about it that hasn’t already been said. This franchise put me in awe when I was a kid. The obvious aspect that makes this franchise so famous is the characters in these games. Mario, Link, Pikachu, and more, all fighting each other to prove their warrior prowess. The original games only included Nintendo characters but this franchise grew so big that the only stipulation to be in these games is to be a famous video game character. It’s like a fan-fiction writer’s wet dream!
When you start to understand storytelling as a kid, it becomes very clear that the hero of the story should always come out on top and is going to be the winner no matter what. That’s the whole point of playing these games, overcoming the trails and winning the day. But how is the hero going to win when everyone is playing different heroes? This blew my mind! How can you have Mario and Link, both heroes and good guys, fight each other? That was just absurd!
Needless to say, I played the heck out of these games. Playing by myself to practice my skills, playing with friends casually just to see what kind of craziness could happen, and eventually playing these games competitively at local tournaments. It felt like I never won any of the matches however, but it was still a blast. That shows how powerful these games are, when you lose all the time, but you still have fun and keep coming back.
My favorite in the series has to be Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Not because its better or anything like that but because this game is responsible for me having one of my best friends. We were both in high school and never really talked much but he told me that he just got a Wii and wanted to know what games to get. I told him Brawl and he asked if I wanted to come over and play. I shyly agreed and quickly bonded. We played almost everyday for a year straight. We were so addicted to this game that we walked out in the middle of class, drove home and played. We still play the latest Super Smash Bros. online sometimes.
As I said before, I used to play in tournaments. This was my first delve into the Esports world. Nintendo may not treat these games with respect when it comes to competitive play, but the fans sure do! Theyy have torn all these games apart to min-max everything they can out of each character, stage, and possible exploit. I am, by far, not good at these games but watching and participating in tournaments is so entertaining. There is a reason memes about wave dashing and wombo-combo were a thing and these games were to blame.
These games were clearly made with love. The polish and design of each character. The stages and the representation of where they originated from. The minor details that can be found. The music from all the different franchises coming together. When a game is made with this much love, its hard not to love the game back. This franchise is fun to play, fun to watch, and helped me form a life-long friendship.
