The funny thing about this game, unlike Melee (and I'll get to why in a minute) is that every single playable character and assist trophy mentioned by the dojo so far, with the exceptions of Lucas, Devil and Stafy, has been a part of my childhood in one way or another.
Short Version: This game IS my childhood, and it's such a love letter from Nintendo to all of us kids who grew up with this stuff, I can't even begin to describe it. I had a freaking R.O.B. and Keyboard with my NES for goodness sake.
You see, with Melee, I had no idea what Fire Emblem was, simply because the series hadn't reached America prior to its release, and yet I've been a major fan of Sega's counter-punch to Fire Emblem, Shining Force, since I was 6 years old. I'm a huge fan of Fire Emblem now, as a result, and thus I love Ike, just like I would've loved it if Max (which would of course never happen) from Shining Force made it into the game.
I won't really go into detail with the vets, simply because most of them are completely obvious. However, I feel like I should talk about the Ice Climbers. At my day care, there was a beat-up NES with only 3 godforsaken games (I assume the good ones were stolen): Totally Rad, Urban Champion, and Ice Climber. Well, when those are your options, you find a way to cope with Ice Climber...
Now onto the newcomers. The Kirby crew and I go way back to Kirby's Adventure on the NES, or even Kirby's Dreamland on the Gameboy. I owned Kid Icarus II: Of Myths and Monsters, and wish I still had it, so I'm pretty much ready to main Pit. And I own every Wario game made other than Master of Disguise and Wario World (which I rented and beat on its own).
Like any pre-teen in 1998 I was swept asunder by Poke-mania. However, just like many of my age bracket it never really caught on again with me after the first generation. The inclusion of the Pokemon trainer with all of my favorite starters in all of my favorite forms of theirs (Yes, I do like Ivysaur the best) is simply breathtaking.
My brother and I have been talking about tag teaming with DK and Diddy since SSB 64, and now that dream's realized. Rad.
Metal Gear Solid was the first mature rated game I ever played, and my parents actually were surprised by how well made the game was. I caught my Stepdad playing through Snake's adventure just about every morning for a month. Very good memories.
I actually played Earthbound on a cartridge, so that makes me one of a few select giant Nintendo dorks who's seen it all the way to the end in the year the game was released. I didn't own an SNES, so I had to play that and all of the other great 1st party Nintendo games at my friend Jared's house. I'll miss Ness, but his spirit lives on in Lucas, so whatever.
However, it really all boils down to Sonic the Hedgehog. Where to even begin? Sonic the Hedgehog's Archie comics are what got me into reading comics along with Spider-Man. I still have folders filled with sketches and rudimentary drawings of my own visions of the knothole gang. I used to write stories in my head about how the daring Freedom Fighters would take out Dr. Robotnik's latest scheme, and ****it these were fully calculated. Some of the characters died, some of them went for glory, all of these were virtuous to an 8 year old with a sega genesis and no friends that lived within walking or bicycle distance. My stepbrother, stepsister, and I would act out these stories with our imaginations, and my god that's the one thing I miss most about childhood, where you could just cut loose and do that kind of thing without any second thoughts as to how silly it may seem.
So yeah... Sonic used to be a pretty big deal for me. Man, I've been waiting for a Sonic and Mario showdown for years.
And all I have to say about Assist Trophies is that I am SOOOOO disappointed that Little Mac couldn't make the cut as a playable character.
So yeah, thanks Nintendo for giving me a little piece of that 8-year-old's imagination back.
)
Until then, I got Smash, which is still kick *** in its own rights
