Brawl Article I'm interested in opinions on.

[jboogie]

The Smash Bros. series is a strange anomaly on the face of gaming. It's a fighting game that's not really a fighting game. It's a platformer that's not really about platforming. It's an unabashed revelry in all things Nintendo, but resists simple classification as indulgent fan service. Smash Bros. games have become a point of obsession for many

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[kouaidou]

"But it's fun." This is the argument any conversation about Smash Bros. always returns to. What is fun about it? Is it simply the experience of being good at something? Is it the wonder of seeing all your favorite childhood toys in one centralized hub world, fully pliable and willing to supplicate to your whims? Is it the experience of playing against your friends in an absurd cartoon world where all the normal constraints of real life fade away in the charred path of Pikachu's lightning strike? Isn't it, instead a kind of mass hypnosis (all too common in the gaming world) where we mutually convince ourselves that the brand is the message; that the label we package the experience in is paramount? Playing Brawl is an uncomfortably empty experience. When I put down the Wii remote and nunchuk (yes, that's how I prefer to play) and walk away from the Wii, I feel like I've given more of myself than I received in return from the game. It doesn't matter, finally, whether I've won or lost because the game has provided me with nothing but