Listening to this makes me want to write a post-mortem for Sm4sh, so why not.
I came to Smashboards because of Sm4sh. I'd gotten banned from GameFAQs due to an error in their site that they refused to overturn, and I had nowhere else to go for speculation and information. Smashboards was much more welcoming than GameFAQs. I remember back before
@PushDustIn started SourceGaming and he was one of the best speculators here with his knowledge of Sakurai interviews and articles and capability to translate Japanese. I remember when Ninka/Vaanrose leak was just the Ninka and Vaanrose leaks and both said different things. Of course I believed the Ninka leak because it had Shulk, my most wanted character. And then the ESRB leak released on 4chan and all hell broke loose. People going back and forth on whether or not it was fake or real. I was pretty convinced it was real when I first saw it, but the gameplay sold it because it was too good to simply be a Brawl mod. I look back on that turbulent period of speculation and I can say it was better than the war that broke out over the Grinch Hoax. It felt like the community was together arguing about the merits and flaws of it, compared to two sides yelling at each other, telling the other side they're wrong.
I remember when they released the demo codes for Sm4sh 3DS and watching Twitter for anyone who had spare codes. I spent about an hour refreshing searchs, DM'ing people about it, and I finally got my hand on the demo with 5 characters and only two minute timed matches. I absolutely loved it. Portable Smash Bros. had been my dream for the longest time, and to see it actually happening was surreal. I remember attending the midnight release of Sm4sh 3DS with my dad and being the youngest person there by far (I was 14 at the time). I played a single game of Melee (the only Melee game I've ever really played) and picking Roy only to get absolutely **** on. The Gamecube controller was kinda greasy, and it smelt like body odor, but I got Sm4sh 3DS and I stayed up until 5AM playing it. After sleeping for a bit, I took a day off of school just to keep playing. I'd been waiting for this game since it's announcement in 2011, and school could wait one day gosh-dang-it.
I didn't take a day off to play Sm4sh Wii U when it released, but since it released on a Friday I had an entire weekend to play it. I remember getting it from Gamestop and then walking over to a Target to find one of three Marth amiibos left. Of course I got him. This was before the mass shortage of amiibos occurred, and I spent quite some time chasing after rarer amiibos. I actually made my reddit account to primarily post on r/amiibo, even though I barely, if ever, go there now. I also remember searching for around three months for a Gamecube adapter since they were in such short demand, but finally I got one after much searching (and pestering my parents). When Sm4sh Wii U released I invited my best friend over and we jumped right into classic mode from the start, and imagine our surprise when we go to face the first match only for one of the trophies to get
ABSOLUTELY BLOWN THE **** OUT by Peach. We had a good laugh about that. We also enjoyed Smash Tour, even though I feel like we're the only ones who do at times. It brought another dimension to the multiplayer experience of Smash Bros., and that's the most important part to me.
Sm4sh introduced me to Xenoblade Chronicles, my favorite game series ever. I was lucky enough to get a copy for the Wii back when it was a Gamestop exclusive. I had it shipped in from another county or state and put on hold for me. Some fan(s) offered an additional $50 to break that, but they didn't, and I got the game. It introduced me to Alpharad, one of my favorite youtubers who I've had the opportunity to watch grow from 10K to 1 million subscribers; I can actually say that I was there for 10K unlike most posers. When I got dumped my junior year of High School and fell into horrible depression, Sm4sh is how I reconnected with my old best friend who I'd neglected, and that's what started a new, stronger friendship between us.
Sm4sh has been a massively influential aspect of my life, and if it weren't for it's influence in my life I wouldn't have come back to speculate this time around, and I wouldn't have met all of you. Being older and more mature makes me feel like I've gotten to know all of you more than I did during Sm4sh speculation. Even people I knew from back then such as
Luigi The President
,
@Rie Sonomura, and
@Swamp Sensei I feel like I've gotten to know so much better, to the point where I can call them friends alongside newer faces such as
@Nekoo and
@Noipoi. For those I've forgotten to list, if you're sad that I didn't list you then you're my friend as well. Even if you weren't sad I still consider most, if not all of you, friends. For all of our disagreements and back-and-forth arguments, I genuinely enjoy my time on this site (most of the time, anyways). However things play out from here, whether I end up staying or taking a back seat in speculation, I'd like to thank you all, and wish nothing but the best in life for y'all.