That's just smashing!
So I got a Wii U for Christmas.
I'd been hesitant to get/ask for one even with Nintendo discontinuing support for the Wii, but while I was visiting my grandparents between DragonCon and Anime Weekend Atlanta last year, my aunt invited us over for some first anniversary cake. It was there that my (then) nine year old cousin showed me "Super Mario Maker" on his Wii U. Next thing I knew I was adding a Wii U, specifically one with "Mario Maker" pre-installed, to my Amazon Wishlist. Come Christmas Day, I recieve that very thing from my dad- game pre-installed and everything.
That said, while I certainly have spent a lot of time playing around with and in "Mario Maker", well, it's a distraction but not the major distraction I've been babbling about. But it is what won me over towards the Wii U, and ownership of said console is essential to the "major distraction".
Now, as is likely common knowledge, it's pretty much become tradition that starting with the Gamecube every time Nintendo releases a new home console they release a new "Super Smash Brothers" (often shortened to "Smash Bros." or even just "Smash") game for it. (Yes, I know the first "Smash" was on the Nintendo 64, but there it was one of the last big releases for that machine.) The Wii U was to be no exception. Since at that point I was still wavering on wanting a Wii U, I didn't follow the trailers, announcements, and such all that closely (not even on That Other Site, where despite "liking" the official "Smash" and "Nintendo" pages the posts didn't always make it onto my newsfeed). At best, what I did hear was met with little more than a "that's nice" from me. Those not met with that reaction were met with disbelief and disapproval. Of course I heard about there being a 3DS version as well (thus the oh-so-creative title "Super Smash Bros. for Wii U" and "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS", though most people simply refer to either or both versions as "Smash 4", "SSB4", or "Sm4sh") and thought that maybe I'd get that. Eventually. Unless one of the few announcements I caught really wowed me. (The announcement of the "Smash Ballot"- which I actually heard about via a "Wreck-It Ralph" fangroup of all places- did get my attention, but my thoughts and feelings on that are a whole 'nother entry.)
In the end, once I had indeed acquired a Wii U, I thought, "oh, what the heck" and added it to my birthday wishlist. And again, guess what I recieved (and from the same person at that). I should have known from past experience with "Melee" (the Gamecube "Smash") and "Brawl" (the Wii "Smash") that this would lead to (pardon my use of the word) addiction even despite my aforementioned mere quasi-interest. But it did, though just so everyone knows I don't play online very often (too many bad experiences). Also, in general I hold the same view towards playing this game as I do towards cosplay: I just do it for fun, I don't have to "prove" anything to anybody.
( That said... )
I'd been hesitant to get/ask for one even with Nintendo discontinuing support for the Wii, but while I was visiting my grandparents between DragonCon and Anime Weekend Atlanta last year, my aunt invited us over for some first anniversary cake. It was there that my (then) nine year old cousin showed me "Super Mario Maker" on his Wii U. Next thing I knew I was adding a Wii U, specifically one with "Mario Maker" pre-installed, to my Amazon Wishlist. Come Christmas Day, I recieve that very thing from my dad- game pre-installed and everything.
That said, while I certainly have spent a lot of time playing around with and in "Mario Maker", well, it's a distraction but not the major distraction I've been babbling about. But it is what won me over towards the Wii U, and ownership of said console is essential to the "major distraction".
Now, as is likely common knowledge, it's pretty much become tradition that starting with the Gamecube every time Nintendo releases a new home console they release a new "Super Smash Brothers" (often shortened to "Smash Bros." or even just "Smash") game for it. (Yes, I know the first "Smash" was on the Nintendo 64, but there it was one of the last big releases for that machine.) The Wii U was to be no exception. Since at that point I was still wavering on wanting a Wii U, I didn't follow the trailers, announcements, and such all that closely (not even on That Other Site, where despite "liking" the official "Smash" and "Nintendo" pages the posts didn't always make it onto my newsfeed). At best, what I did hear was met with little more than a "that's nice" from me. Those not met with that reaction were met with disbelief and disapproval. Of course I heard about there being a 3DS version as well (thus the oh-so-creative title "Super Smash Bros. for Wii U" and "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS", though most people simply refer to either or both versions as "Smash 4", "SSB4", or "Sm4sh") and thought that maybe I'd get that. Eventually. Unless one of the few announcements I caught really wowed me. (The announcement of the "Smash Ballot"- which I actually heard about via a "Wreck-It Ralph" fangroup of all places- did get my attention, but my thoughts and feelings on that are a whole 'nother entry.)
In the end, once I had indeed acquired a Wii U, I thought, "oh, what the heck" and added it to my birthday wishlist. And again, guess what I recieved (and from the same person at that). I should have known from past experience with "Melee" (the Gamecube "Smash") and "Brawl" (the Wii "Smash") that this would lead to (pardon my use of the word) addiction even despite my aforementioned mere quasi-interest. But it did, though just so everyone knows I don't play online very often (too many bad experiences). Also, in general I hold the same view towards playing this game as I do towards cosplay: I just do it for fun, I don't have to "prove" anything to anybody.
( That said... )