smash-smash

During my senior year at Tufts, all five of my housemates spent quite a lot of time playing "Smash Brothers" (or, one could say, very little time doing anything else). One of them ended up graduating late, and while nobody can attribute that directly to his gaming habits, we all know that Gordon caked hard.

I, however, spent all year resisting the temptation, which was easy to do from the sidelines: the game looks like a cartoon with tiny characters smashing each other. So, instead of playing, I tried to spend my time productively, doing things like meeting Susan and applying to grad schools.

Years later, the game is out for the Wii – and my friend Chris ended up buying it for us.

A few weeks in, I’m happy to report that I’m capable of stopping – although the game sure is addicting. One of the reasons I can put down the controller is that I’m absolutely terrible at it. Once in a while, Susan and I connect to play Chris and Anne online, and the result is dismal. Our characters spend most of their time being punted back and forth between explosions, kicks, and other animated maladies. We’d like to get better, but we know we’re outmatched – just as the boys in my suite, Chris and Anne spend countless hours every day playing that damn game...