A New Challenger Approaches...

Video games can be great for a lot of things: experiencing an incredible story, challenging tests of skill, exploring impossible worlds, bridging culture gaps, and more. When I first started playing video games, I did so as a way to escape the real world, to become someone different, someone better; to become someone I would rather be in a world I would rather be in. Because of this (and likely many, many other deeply personal issues), I became one shy-as-hell kid, I’ll tell you what. It wasn’t until high school that I was finally able to find a group of friends that I’m still close with to this day. These are people that have become some of the most important people around me, and their friendships are something that I will never forget. And I think I have one game in particular to thank for that…

Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo GCN, 2001)

I genuinely believe that the closeness I share with many of my friends has much to do with the sheer volume of time we’ve spent together playing this one fighting game. It’s not as if there’s some magic quality to this one game that hypnotically drew us together, upon which our friendship is predicated. If that were the case, then these would have to be some pretty weak friendships indeed and altogether unimportant...

Unimportant, like Marth. Who's a c*nt. F*ck Marth. OP like a motherf*ker. And look at him! He's wearing a TIARA! What kind of man wears a motherf*cking tiara unless he's dandier than Shadow Kanji from Persona4? 

The only reason Melee might forever stand as my personal favorite fighter isn’t because I love it as a fighting game (true to fact, I’ve come to dislike it quite a bit recently), or because it was the first fighting game I really loved (Tekken 2) or even the one I think I’m best at (Tatsunoko vs. Capcom). It’s because we all loved it, and we loved competing against one another in it. Everyone had their favorite characters: I had Luigi/Young Link, Jun had Sheik/Marth for a while, Persona had Fox, Breadman had Samus, and one had Ganondorf’s Down-B attack.

I'm looking at you, Taeku...

Rivalries would often come and go, and the best of the group never stayed constant for too long: sometimes contention would be between Jun and me, or later between Persona and Lemon. Some of us had our idiosyncrasies, like Breadman’s frequent cries of “F*ck that, rematch mother*cker!”, or we might need specific controller or demand a certain color costume for a certain character. We developed our own words, like “first degree,” wherein during a one-on-one 3-stock match, the winner will have won without being killed once. More to the point, Melee gave us all something to gather together for.

One more reason I know that Melee is profoundly special to me is because I can still feel a longing for when we all hung out, doing little more than eating, talking, maybe watch a movie, and of course, play Melee. Those days are long gone now, and I really do miss them. We tried other games, like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Blazblue, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Street Fighter 4, but none of them have held the same special place in my heart and within the group as Melee. As we grew up, life became increasingly complicated, and, sadly, all things must fade with time, especially those we hold dear. I often catch myself reminiscing of those bygone days, wishing that we all had something, anything, to fill in the void. C’est la vie, I suppose. But no matter what may happen to us, no matter how far we drift apart or how much we change, those long nights and early mornings spent together fighting each other to bitter death can’t ever be forgotten, and every time I see my Melee game case I am overcome by some of the best memories I have been given the privilege of making.

No matter how old I get, I will remember scenes like this...
Except those kids aren't us...

And so, for all this, I thank you, Super Smash Bros. Melee.