Why do you play Smash?

[Sazen]

Today I was playing against my brother, a casual player who has played the Super Smash Bros series as long as I have, all the way from Super Smash Bros itself. While we were playing, he asked me that what is it that makes Smash (More specifically Brawl in my case) so fascinating. Why do I spend so much time with the game, practicing against level 3 CPUs, reading information from Character specific boards, watching YT videos of Brawl as entertainment, registering to a forum dedicated to the Smash Bros series etc.

The thing is, that a little over 4 months ago I had no idea there was such a thing as competitive Smash. In fact I hadn't played any of the Smash games for two or more years, but after I went over to my friend’s house to play Brawl and Mario Kart Wii, I decided to pick up Brawl again. First I just wanted to get better generally, quickly finding myself watching videos from Apex 2013 and such, being mesmerized by Mr. R's combo video “Messiah” and eventually finding myself here, overwhelmed by all the information. That’s when I got really interested in Brawl.

Nowadays, I’m trying to improve little by little, playing against the level 3 CPUs in order to improve my spacing, get my timing better, get my strings to a better level and watch videos of the best players going at it and learn while entertained.

For me, the reason I play Smash seems to the hidden depth there is, with all the options you have in different situations, learning how to not be predictable, spacing, positioning, the large variety of characters with their own abilities and tricks and ATs like Dacus, while being a simple and thus accessible fun game, where you press A and B in order to attack, which most likely is one of the reasons for the series' humongous success. For many of us, including me, it might also be because of the Smash Bros series being such a huge part of our childhood, playing with friends and just enjoying ourselves while doing it.

Why do you play Smash? Why do you find it enjoyable? Why have you gone competitive? Those are the kind of questions I’d love to see being answered, so please go on and continue.

 

[Elyssa Xey Hexen]

I think it was a series of events that up to it.
1) Start playing nintento series as a kid.
2) Smash comes out for the first time and enjoy that.
3) Eventually get tired of playing smash due to no one to play with at all.
4) Period of doing only solo games for story and gameplay, but this too eventually gets boring.
5) Brawl comes out igniting likeness for smash now that there was wifi to play with.
6) Trying to improve yourself is a long and satisfying goal.
7) Eventually get to tournaments and like the people you meet and stuff.
At this point, its just a number of factors that lead to it.

 

[Vale]

- Why do I play it?
There isn't really a reason besides enjoying it. If somebody is playing a game competitively and isn't able to have fun playing it at the same time, they should really consider doing something else.

- Why do I enjoy it?
As a whole, I enjoy the game because it is easy to pick up. Although the games have strings and combos, you don't need to learn them in order to play with your friends. I never found the process of memorizing button combinations in other fighting games to execute combos to be enjoyable, so the ability to freestyle in SSB is a major plus in my opinion.

- Why have I gone competitive?
Procrastination. If I'm going to play the game for hours every day to avoid doing my homework, I might as well try to be good at it.

 

[TreK]

The reason I wanted to compete in Smash instead of a more traditional fighting game is exactly that : it is not traditional.
-There's DI, for one. The ability to break out of combos if you are smart enough. I always hated that combos were more of a guitar hero type of gameplay than actually fighting somebody.
-There's the whole 'no lifebar' thing, which makes it possible to extend your survivability if you're good. It just... makes sense, to me.
-There's platforms, slopes, pits, and **** that falls all over the place. Stages make zoning a completely different concept than what it is in traditional fighting games. They aren't just a background image in Smash.
-There's staleness, which is something that clicked in my head as 'hey, this is a good way to prevent spam', when I was younger. That turned out to be wrong, but hey.
-The characters aren't steroid boosted mofos. They're cute princesses and pet pokémons.
-It's not locked to duels, I can also go 2v2 or full random FFA. No other game allows me to do that.

Five years later, here are the reasons I'm still there :
-I have a lot of fun at every tournament I go to.
-I've made a ****ton of friends and it gives me an excuse to see them.
-I've made a couple idols which I enjoy watching play and rooting for as much as your fellow hooligan
-I've gotten good enough to my taste to be proud. But I can now see how much there is left for me to achieve, and it's a great motivation.
-I guess I'm a ****ing hipster, and I want to spread the word about something not enough people know about.
-Plus all of the above.

 

[Bakura]

I play Smash because I picked it up when I was little and eventually found the competitive scene and started playing in small local tournaments.

 

[Mr. OC]

Because I can.

 

[GCS Gaming Customs]

The community

 

[Deathconsciousness]

cuz it's fun obvs

 

[Varg Foad]

I started playing Melee since it came out, at first I didn't know a damn thing about competitive play. Then I started to watch YT guides and pro matches with a friend. Melee became our favorite game, we played it non stop. Then I tried Brawl, and I was like "What ? no Wavedash / Dashdance ? where is the competitive play ?" but I discovered that you can play competitively even with Brawl.

So, like OP said, mostly for the hidden depth. And because it's pretty original for a fighting game.

 

[TigerBizNiz]

Grew up a Nintendo child. Need I say more?

 

[Wyoming]

I'm a massive Nintendo fan, with me owning plenty of games from most of the franchises present in the game. That, and the fact that Smash has so much depth to it and it's addictive to play.

 

[TeamFlareZakk]

Super Smash Bros for Miich started back in der N64 days, mich and my friend played SSB64 and we used to team up, we both used Link, and we'd battle our rival ai team, Captain Falcon and Fox, my rival was Captain Falcon, his rival was Fox.

Our team just reeked of awesomeness.

Then Melee came out, I started really getting into Super Smash Bros when that came out, I remember playing a lot of Melee, and I remember not really getting to play Golden Sun that much, they both came out the same time, and that's where the this Golden Sun character should be in Super Smash Bros began for me.

I remember the first trailer for Brawl, I'm not going to lie, I was excited to finally see Wario, then the agonizing delays, I was really furious when they delayed it on December 3rd, then finally March 8th, Brawl was released, and I been playing it since.

I can't wait to play Super Smash Bros on the 3ds.

 

[Susi]

I enjoy it.

There has been periods when I didn't enjoy it very much. Then it was for the Finnish community.

 

[DownWitDaWaveDash]

I play because I enjoy smashing people with hammers, throwing pokeballs , and sending them to their doom with a bunch of cartoony characters

 

[Daftatt]

I play it because I hate fighting games where a grab or "power move" sends you into a stupid scripted cutscene or animation that you, nor your opponent have any control over (i'm looking at you marvel vs capcom). I love smash bros because I think it is the purest form of fighting game, one input to one particular action, regardless of context (meaning no combo crap, excluding jabs).

 

[AncientSC]

Tbqh, this just about sums it up:

cuz it's fun obvs

Just like you, Sazen, I played casually for a while until I got really annoyed at my brother ftilt spamming me to death as Snake. Then I looked up Brawl vids online on the Marth vs Snake MU, and it really hooked me. From there, I kept on watching. Fast forward to 2013, here I am, a dedicated Brawl fan. Pretty much, I had a group of friends that loved the game as much as I did, and wanted to get better at the game as much as I did.

 

[Toon Link 99]

I got the first one for N64 a few years ago, and I tried it because Link was playable. I liked it; even though I were useless. I got Melee later, and I really liked it. With more characters, more stages and more to do, I started to like the games. I got Brawl later, and I found this game easier to learn than the others. I like the gameplay (and the characters) even though there are some parts I don't like. Like tripping. I started competitive play to test how good I were, and because the CPUs bored me. I'm still trying to get good at it for some reason.

 

[MarioSonicFan]

I don't find it competitive, I play for fun.

 

[Micro]

I was introduced to Smash Bros. by my friend when Melee came out. Though I couldn't explain it then, I immediately fell in love with it. I bought my own copy the next day and began striving to beat him. We both would play together every week and eventually, after a few months, I won. Neither of us really acknowledged it, but I was overjoyed. It was around this time that I realized I am an extremely competitive person. I continued to play Melee, but switched to Brawl when it was released. To this day, it's the only game I still play. But I think there's more to it than just me being competitive. I could have found another way to satisfy my need to compete. With sports, or maybe a different fighting game. There's just something about Smash Bros. that's so incredibly unique. I still can't put my finger on it, but Sakurai has created and hopefully will continue to create these masterpieces that we enjoy.

 

[FIREL]

I play smash cuz i has no life ...

 

[κomıc]

I like Nintendo and their characters.

Initially, seeing Kirby and Pikachu in the same game was mind blowing as a kid.

 

[Desu~]

Because it's like the most unique fighting game you can ever see in your life.
It's just like Teneban said.
Plus i'd like to point out how no other games have ever been in this kind of genre.
Even PSASBR tried to make itself the same style as smash, but still never got the same feel of it.

Nothing can ever be compared to smash.

 

[Seraphim.]

Smash is very fun and really just simple to play.

I also play Smash to find out about characters I knew nothing about, Melee introduced me to Roy who has become my favorite character while Brawl introduced me to Lucas.

I'm not sure how I started to play competitive but I actually enjoy the games more now that I do.

 

[GRiM<-]

I started playing because i would watch my older brother play the N64 ssb. with my sisters and i wanted to play too (they said i was too little to understand ; ~ ; but then they finally gave me a chance~ lol ) because they were having a lot of fun and seemed to be enjoying the game c: after that i was hooked to the Nintendo life XD

 

[Str4y]

I play it because it is something that I can enjoy with my friends. I also love the friendly rivalries you can get out of it. It is just fun to be out and about, playing something that you love with others who share that passion.

 

[Tsumiya]

I started with nintendo games and discovered smash bros by seeing it in the glass at a store. I really enjoyed the gameplay and have stayed with the franchise since. I love playing against people and the gameplay of smash overal =)

 

[Deleted member]

Super Smash Bros. is a very fun series in general. I just love fighting on the various stages and playing as various characters. I love playing with items on for pure zaniness and items off to test my skills as characters and against characters. The series is very appealing for its choice of characters and it has introduced me to many series as a kid.

I love how simplistic yet deep the series is. I can easily pick up and play it yet I can develop strategies with certain characters.

The characters are fun to play as and some of the stages are very well-designed. I love revisiting every game to have a good time and have a sort of nostalgia for them. I still remember some chaotic fun over Wi-Fi where me and my friends had all items on, every stage on random, and our characters were randomly picked.

I can't really complain about Smash as a whole as the series is well... masterful in my opinion.

 

[Myran]

I went competitive, because I want to be the best. I mean don't get me wrong I find great enjoyment out of playing it, but I feel playing if I play something competitively I should go for the best. I know a lot of people don't have this mentality, but hey that's why we have opinions.

 

[Zink Imp]

>Why do you play Smash?

Nintendo characters.

 

[pidgezero_one]

i have no idea
I was a 10 year old kid in the late 90s when smash 64 came out. i played it since then. I dont even find smash games very fun most of the time. And yet i still spend money on bus and plane tickets to travel to tournaments that i dont feel like competing in

maybe i just like smashers

 

[Metalbro]

Meteor Smashes and Spikes.

 

[BoomToon]

I've been playing smash since the n64 and it has been a staple of gaming amongst my friends and I. We don't see each other as much nowadays due to college, but when we do have the chance to get together you can bet we're playing smash. Also, I've realized just how great the community is for this game!

 

[Pizdek]

cause of wifi

 

[link and ike lover]

*because i have no life
*its fun
*i love it
*link and ike rule
*online
*my friend had it
*because i love to kill people
*because i got it
*I work out
*link
thats pretty much it

 

[socandrewcer]

I love competitive games (mostly sports) that I know I have potential in. And it's a great party game when I have regular friends over.

 

[PurpleExcadrill]

I got into smash because a guy my dad works with's son was heading to colledge. So he gave us a Gamecube, and one of the discs he gave me was Melee. I played it everyday for 7 years, until this christmas I got brawl. Also my gamecube broke but I got a wii about a year ago when the gamecube broke.

 

[TheGoldMan]

I play because I enjoy smashing people with hammers, throwing pokeballs , and sending them to their doom with a bunch of cartoony characters

 

[Sazen]

Geez, 6 months or so have gone by. Now I have more or less gotten my brother "converted" to the competitive side of things, with his friend following close by. Now I've also discovered the Finnish community and met some of them face to face (Thanks mmKALL and Jebu, you guys are awesome) and I'm looking forward to my first ever tournament.

The reasons why I like this game if anything have even increased. Seeing myself getting better over months is just so encouraging to go on and learn a bunch of new stuff, and get to play against good players which is just so much fun. Learning little useful tricks, getting advice from more experienced players, getting appraisal and just generally having a good time. Like my dear brother's friend said this one evening, the game gets even more fun the more you know about it. It's the depth, the hidden depth which most people just will never discover.

Thanks for you all for answering thus far, personally have had fun checking on this thread after seeing a new message popping up here and such.

Peace guys! And don't freeze up in case your living in the Northern hemisphere or the US as it seems to be pretty damn cold there. Aah winter.

 

[Deleted member]

I play to have fun with friends and to just simply beat the livng s**t out of other Nintendo characters, like Jigglypuff xD

 

[Xx swift xX]

I don't play brawl, so this might not apply.

I play smash because I enjoy the spirit of competition. The technical skill and tactical wit of the players is mashed together until one emerges the victor.
Also, I've been playing this game for too long to quit. It's become a part of me. Not only that, but the depth is astounding. The game is so dynamic, both within matches and from year to year.

9 years into this thing, I don't think I'll ever stop playing smash. I'm just starting to get halfway decent at it, too!