I’ve never taken Super Smash Bros. seriously. My reasoning came from my experience when I worked for a Summer Camp counselor. It was college, I was 18 at the time, and my job during the school year of being an afterschool counselor just ended. Summer Camp counselor was fun and paid decently. During some parts of the day, the campers would be able to play video games, and seeing as how the camp had a Nintendo GameCube, they played a lot of Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Now, I had never really been into the Super Smash series. A few of my friends played it, and my younger brother and his friends would, but it just wasn’t for me. I was more into Mortal Kombat and more adult fighting games. Part of it was probably due to the fact that I went through an anti-Mario time of my life. I had my Xbox and PlayStation and viewed Nintendo games as more childish. I always saw kids playing it, so my brain concluded that Smash Bros. = kids game.
I’d play the game with them, trying to pull of combos with precise button presses, and lose to them… a bunch of fourth and fifth graders. While I was trying to understand strategy with each character, I felt they were winning just by button mashing. And to be fair a lot of them were just button mashing and beating me. 18-year-old me couldn’t enjoy a game where I, a more-skilled and advanced gamer, could lose to a 10-year-old that’s button mashing. Hence, I thought Super Smash Bros. Melee was a shallow button-mashing fighting game for kids.
I maintained that stance for quite a while. When Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii came out, I ignored it. No way I was going to play another Smash Bros. game. But that Call of Duty and Madden… I’ll eat those up. For a good portion of my twenties, I was a bro gamer without playing the one fighting game that had “bro” in the title.
As I got older, I reconnected with some friends that I hadn’t really hung out with since middle school. They were gamers, and they actually opened me up to games I wouldn’t have thought about playing. They got me back into retro classics, had me try indie games, and I started playing JRPGs. One of the games we all started playing religiously was League of Legends. Almost every night we would get on and play a few matches. The obsession with League of Legends naturally led into eSports, which led me to watching eSports tournaments of other games. Sure there were the Call of Duty tournaments, but I was more drawn to fighting tournaments — SoulCalibur, Street Fighter, Tekken. Actually, one of the more entertaining tournaments to watch was that of Catherine. So intense!
This is when my view of the Smash Bros. series changed. There’s nothing quite like watching high-skilled Smash players going at it. They look far more impressive and competent than myself and 10-year-olds. There’s strategy and timing, and so much that goes into it — stuff that I know I’ll never be able to pull off. It was then when I realized that my view on Super Smash Bros. was skewed, all thanks to those 10-year-olds who dominated me with their button mashing. However, I did realize It makes the game widely accessible.
Watching the Super Smash Bros. Melee EVO 2014 Grand Finals increased my respect for this series even more. By watching what these characters could do in the hands of elite players, I saw what the game was truly capable of. I was stupid for assuming it was just a dumb game. Now I’m excited for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. I already have it pre-ordered and I’m considering getting it for the 3DS, as well. Yeah, I’ll still suck at it, but now I’ll know it’s just me and not the game. I fully expect my five-year-old to beat me at some point, and that’s okay. I’ll never be EVO material, but the game is.
You can follow Editorial Director Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. Or you can email him at [email protected].
