My interest in the game Super Smash Bros.: Melee (SSBM) goes back to a time before I even owned a single disk. This didn't last long, however. As far back as I can recall, my brother and I visited my cousin's house only recently after he and his best friend Mike had nabbed a copy for themselves. Little did I know just how much of an impact this "children's game" would have on my life.
I can't recall the day in particular (I was only seven), but I know for a fact that Mike walked over to his best friend's house soon after I dropped the controller. For whatever reason I had, the game didn't interest me that much initially: it was too hard, I hated losing, blah blah blah. So I felt content floating in and out of the room, at times overhearing fierce johning between Mike and Jake. (My brother was waiting his turn due to an insufficient number of controllers.) These two kids had egos fit for billionaires. Like Bill Gates... only cooler.
At some point along the way, Jake and Mike discovered the value of cool gamer handles and made some for themselves. Jake told me of this event in clear detail: he and Mike were arguing--as usual--over some cool name the two both felt pleased with. But in came Mom to interrupt the quarrel saying how it was time for dinner; tomato soup and grilled cheese to be specific. So, to settle the issue, Jake entered "SOUP" as his tag. Mike found this hilarious, but it wasn't until the following day that they found a name suitable for Mike. His handle became "SOAP," playing off of Jake's use of an inanimate object, while remaining only a single letter different. My previous gamer handle was OPUS. For a long time, too. An anagram in tribute to the one who introduced me to--and kept me going at--this game.
I looked up to Jake in more ways than one. So far that, due to the developmental period in my life when he and my brother hung out the most (I was simply along for the ride), I've been told we even talk in the same manner... Hmm.... Well, as a high-priority figure in my youth, the game the three preteens drooled over grew on me too, and soon I began joining the fights on a regular basis.
Sheik was my specialty when it came to not losing. I played Sheik for so many years that I was maining her before I even knew what maining was. Not a bad choice when it comes to a beginner's selection, either. I would never win, for Mike and Jake seemed lightyears ahead of my brother and I; they played practically every day after school. Not to mention my brain being five years smaller than the lot of 'em. However, after a copy found its way under our roof, my brother and I played non-stop. And soon I was knocking Mike off the stage and toying around against my brother. This didn't suit well with my sibling and around five years into our little extravaganza, different games (mostly single-player) caught my brother's eye and it didn't take long before my pleads for a few matches with him were struck down with bewildering consistency. And for reasons I won't state here, Mike soon drifted out of our lives, let alone the Smash scene.
The one thing that frustrates me to this day is how I can't seem to recall, despite some astounding details I seem to remember of my past, the character I first used. With my personality, this character would no doubt hold tremendous nostalgia; I would most likely still be using them today. But alas, I must continue to rely on pure judgment. I no longer main Sheik, for complaints from others I've played with, on top of a bit of educated bias through Smashboards, I hate her as a character. Her low-skill-high-reward play style is something I regret ever being a part of. Leaving a trail of success behind me, Jake leaped on the Sheik freight train and still mains her to this day, to my utter despondency. We accumulated at total of 10,500+ K.O.'s with Sheik, alone. And that was just my memory card...
(Continued in Part 2)...
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