I simply cannot shake the feeling of excitement that I currently have after watching, again, the Nintendo Direct announcement for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, releasing December 7 for the Nintendo Switch. So much so that I managed to convince my wife, Dezi, that we needed a second Switch in the apartment so that I wouldn’t hog the Switch away from the kids with the amount of time I will be spending with this game and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee. The inclusion of every playable character ever presented in all previous Super Smash Bros. games is simply mind boggling – and that’s before you factor in the already announced Inklings from Splatoon and the recently announced Ridley from the Metroid series. That roster is simply insane. And they said that there are a few others as well. Maybe not as many new additions as there have been in previous iterations of the game because of the already huge roster size, but they did say that there were a few that would be revealed at some point. Let’s just say mind blown. Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Peach, Bowser, Sonic, Pac-Man, Solid Snake, Ryu, Palutena, Bayonetta, the Ice Climbers… oh man, and that’s just the beginning.
I have been a fan of the SSB series since it first debuted on the Nintendo 64 back in 1999 and has been a go-to game for my friends and family ever since. Hell, I once even convinced my “I hate video games” step-father to take a crack at the game (I think it was Super Smash Bros. Melee for the GameCube) because he saw how excited my friends and I were playing the game. But ever since the first game in the series, oh man, have I had fun with the game. Taking on friends and family, just beating the holy hell outta these beloved characters to see who would emerge victorious, straining some friendships (at least until a few beers kicked in or some pizza slices were exchanged… actually, a lot of times after a few drinks had settled in) just to see who was the best Smash player that day… oh man, those were some good times.
And after I married my wife and her family and I really started bonding, especially with her brothers, we did so quickly over Super Smash Bros. Brawl as I (or my brother-in-law Daniel) would take out Wiis over to their grandparent’s house on Tuesdays or Fridays (it was tradition for them to meet and have dinner there) and we would all sit and play SSBB until we all had to go home for the night. Heck, we even started to let my daughter Lily (who was about a year and a half at the time) have a crack at the game, just kinda laughing as she would move the Wii remotes about, trying to mimic what she saw us doing. We weren’t laughing a few years later when Super Smash Bros. for Wii U came out in 2014 and my then 5-year old son Alex almost kicked our butts in the game and was able to keep up with the best player in the family (Dezi’s brother Christian), almost beating him as well.
Over the next couple of years, I watched as Alex and my youngest son, Kay, soon started to get really good at the game to the point where I was lucky if I was able to beat them at a round of the game and not the other way around. Lily, well – she’s good, but not on their or my level. But it was the bonding that we did as we played the game that made the game special for us. And now, later this year, we’re getting Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Switch, and already I see that my kids are pumped for the challenges and the fun we are going to have… and the occasional temper-tantrum when someone loses a close game (I’m not saying it’s going to be me, but I’m not saying that either).
This is the kind of game that I love having around because it makes it fun to be a gaming family. It is a game that we can all play and enjoy (yes, even Dezi too) because it is wholesome fun… with a lot of ass-kicking ladled in for good measure. Heck, I think I may even stream some of our matches because, well, why not? It’s just a fun game for everyone. And with so many characters for us to choose from, and some that are still going to be announced – oh yeah, bring it on, Nintendo; we’re waiting for it.
And, by the way, this is a pic of my kids playing SSB for Wii U from a couple of year back. Yes, they each have their own Nintendo themed GameCube controllers to play SSB on, courtesy of PDP. That’s how seriously we take our SSB gaming in this household. Just wanted to share that with you all.
