Why your children should be playing Smash Bros.

While Hurricane Sandy was busy raping my neighborhood, I was shut inside, playing hours, and hours of Smash Bros with my little brother. My previous save file had been deleted for some suspicious reason, and I took the opportunity to re-kindle my love with the greatest fighting game ever made, and unlock everybody. It also got me to thinking about just how excited I am for Oliver to play this with me, to train and train in a futile effort to stop his father's supreme domination with Pikachu, and to fall in love with Nintendo. Not just Nintendo, this game will make you fall in love with video games.

My smash bros copies, along with my strategically placed Tomy japanese imported collectible  Pikachu set in the back there.

These are my copies of Smash Bros, (my copy of Melee is also suspiciously missing), and as you can see, I am a Nintendo product whore. So, when the original was announced for the N64 when I was in 6th grade, and that amazing commercial aired, I shit my pants all the way to the store. Here's that genius commercial.
I remember arguing with Alan over who got to be the white tunic Link, discovering that Pikachu not only represented my favorite Nintendo property, but also that he fit exactly the way I played, and sweating profusely in the middle of July as I struggled to unlock Ness. Smash Bros was one of the few things that Nintendo actually did that was original, and fan friendly, a masterpiece.

My son will play Smash Bros, not just because it is a blast, but also because it teaches you the history of video gaming as you play. Every trophy you collect, (and there are hundreds) have a full page of story behind it, from their first appearance in the video game world, to their roles in current games. Smash Bros is an action packed museum to the contribution of Nintendo on my favorite industry, and I feel relevant and special when I play.

Thats not to say that Brawl didn't have me scratching my head a little bit. Lucario is how we fix the Mewtwo problem? Dedede is seriously supposed to be a relevant option? I want to see Little Mac as a playable character, or, I dunno, MEGA MAN MAYBE!? Why the fuck is Solid Snake in the game and not Maximo?
I want to see Reggie as a playable character and Pokemon Trainer switched to Ash the way it should be.

So plug up some brawl and hand a controller to your kid, they'll learn something, and you can show them that button mashing gets you dead.