Day 220, Game 220 - Super Smash Bros. Melee

Since day one of this year long project I started back on January 1st, there were a few games and series that I was genuinely excited to go back and play. Not only could I not wait to play them, but I was equally anticipating writing about and sharing my experiences with them. I wasn't sure when I would get to the ones I really wanted to play, as anyone should know by now that this blog is pretty fluid and unpredictable. So finally getting to one of the games on my list was quite a thrill. 

Yes, Super Smash Bros. is one of those series, and Melee, the GameCube iteration of the franchise was one I was anxious to get to. And I finally did. 

This week I have been thinking a lot about the state of Nintendo as a company, especially with the direction in which they are headed. I've also done a lot of revisiting of all the things that has made Nintendo so great over the years, and why they are still relevant in the landscape of video games today. All of this really started when Pikmin 3 was released, as it marked the first big release for the Wii U since its launch, but also the beginning of a busy release schedule for the Big N and their Intellectual Properties.

With Pikmin 3, I see this as the first step for the Wii U to grow legs and begin showing why it is deserving of shelf space in people's living rooms or wherever else they choose to game. Other people disagree, saying that the console is dead in the water and marks a total failure for the company. People argue that Nintendo should completely give up on making home consoles all together, instead just focusing on developing and licensing out their beloved franchises. 

Of course, this isn't a new argument, as the same one was brought up when the GameCube launched. Critics marked that system as a failure almost from the get-go, and while it never saw the commercial success that Nintendo would have liked, it was still responsible for putting out some amazing games.

One of these amazing games was Super Smash Bros. Melee, which despite seeing an update version come out for the Wii several years later, is still played by some of the best fighting game players in the world at EVO, which is essentially the World Series or Super Bowl of competitive gaming. Yes, the little console with a lunchbox handle produced a fighting game that is still being played by the best of the best for the title of "Champion." 

Good thing the console sucked so bad, huh?

Anyway, enough of me rambling. This game is absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, a fantastic gaming experience. The first Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 produced a fascinating idea of mashing all of Nintendo's best-known characters together into one game and letting them brawl. But this game, Melee, took that seed of an idea and planted it, watered it, nurtured it and let it grow into a superb gaming experience. Essentially, it created an entirely new genre of games all by itself, with others trying to imitate and duplicate, but never fully succeeding in creating what Nintendo did. 

Personally, it's not my favorite Smash Bros. game, but it set the gold standard for what to expect from the series, the genre is spawned and Nintendo itself. Playing it just made me that much more excited for the new Super Smash Bros. games coming out next year for not only the 3DS, but the struggling Wii U as well. 

But yeah, maybe the haters are right. The Wii U is doomed to fail, right? Well, not as long as Smash Bros. has anything to say about it. 

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