Fighting games. I’m sure you have all played one before, and I can assure you that they are the most exhilarating genre of video games. The tension of two players duking it out to see who will come out on top is just as exciting as Muhammad Ali meticulously defeat his foe. Today, I tell you about practically the only video game I play:

SUPERRRRRRR SMASH BROTHERS MAYLAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

The Beginning

I started off my Smash Brothers career with the exciting release of Brawl, the third installment in the series. Even though Brawl is widely considered a failure, I still had plenty of fun with the game. You know what they say, “Ignorance is Bliss”. Never owned the game for the majority of the time I played the game, but I have had hundreds of matches with one of my best friends, Shuo. He introduced me to many of the hobbies I have including smash, and is now my favourite hobby. He was crazy good at Brawl and I’m pretty sure that my win – lose record with him was 5 – 400. Something funny is that Shuo kept jumping with the x or y button a secret from everyone who played smash with him, so we were all jumping with the inefficient analog stick tap jump.

The Beginning… of Melee

It all started two years ago when one of our friends Calvin, told him that Brawl was a bad game and that we should play Melee instead. I used Marth because I was told that most people start with him and the majority of the melee videos I watched were of Mew2King, arguably the best Marth player ever. After a couple months I found a video. One about the most stylish and disrespectful player I have ever seen.

Bizzarro Flame

I was inspired. My eyes lit up as I told myself “I want to do that”. Started using Ganondorf more and more until one of my biggest goals was completed: defeat Shuo at Melee. I was also title the Bizzarro Flame of our group shortly after.

Yeah.

That was my insanely short history lesson on how I got into smash, but that is not what this article is about. Surely you are all here to feast upon the reasons why Melee is my favourite game. Well let me starve you no longer.

My Competitive Spirit

I grew up with some rather competitive video games. Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter, Street Fighter II, Mario Party, and even Tetris. Unfortunately none of my friends had them, so the only people I played these games with were either my brother or my father. This left my burning desire for competition sink so deep, that Adele couldn’t roll in it.

BA DUM TSS

Anyways, my desire was re-lit with Brawl, but Super Smash Brothers Melee is the game that keeps the torch burning with passion and determination. With many players around I can always find stronger opponents and I still feel like a fish in the sea even though I have two years of experience. Which falls short to those who have been playing since it’s release.

The Community

Smashers are known for being amazing in all aspects of that word. They are good people who house other smashers, car pool to tournaments, and are easy to get along with. Melee was kept strong for a decade and a half. Gameplay evolved several times and people are still discovering new properties about the game. Project M, a massive mod which feels like a brand new game, was created due to melee players complaining that brawl wasn’t competitive enough. Being a part of something larger than me is fun and this incredible community is no exception.

The Players

There is a vast amount of players and I enjoy meeting new people that share similar interests. I am connected to many people because of smash. My friends, people on the internet, people I see at tournaments, people I fight at a smash club, and even strangers. It doesn’t even matter if there strangers, I know that I can bond with them; I can have a great time with them.

Because of Smash