Last Saturday was a big day for most people on Otterbein's Campus.
Ask anyone what they did and it will certainly involve digging cars out of snow, deciding it wasn't worth it to trek to work or just hanging around and enjoying the lazy snow day.
For me, it was a little different. Last Saturday was possibly the biggest day for video game buffs in a long time. Saturday marked the release of the "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" on the Nintendo Wii.
For those uneducated in the ways of "Smash," I will give you a quick run down. The point of the game is to play as famous characters from past Nintendo video games and beat up other Nintendo characters.
"Super Smash Bros. Brawl" is a sequel to the 2001 game "Super Smash Bros," which I have been playing since the day it came out. It has been a lifestyle for me. The release of the new game has had me on pins and needles since it was announced almost two years ago.
Originally scheduled to be released in December, the game was delayed until February, and then again until March 9.
Needless to say, I was frustrated waiting for its arrival. Allow me to share with you the events that unfolded the day before the release of "Super Smash Bros. Brawl."
3:30 a.m.: I woke up after a four-hour nap. I had been attempting to alter my sleep schedule so that when I got the game at midnight, I could stay up as late as possible playing without getting tired.
3:45 a.m.: I got a bowl of cereal and starting thinking about how to kill the 20-plus hours in my way. Perhaps I should go to the library and rent some movies? It was at this point that I glanced outside and my whole outlook on the day changed.
I was incredibly nervous about the amount of snow that had piled up and was still coming down. This was something that could easily and drastically alter my meticulous plans for the day.
4:00 a.m.: Being the only one awake in my house, I decide to kill some time by watching a few films I had been itching to see: "Unforgiven" starring Clint Eastwood, Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" and "American Psycho."
9:00 a.m.: I start waking people up throughout my house, including my good friend and his fiancée who were snowed in. We killed some more time by watching soccer.
12:00 p.m.: At noon my roommate Dave decided to phone GameStop. He wanted to make sure that they were still hosting a tournament and releasing the game at midnight. They were not.
The snow was ruining everything.It was going to cancel the little party I had been planning with my friends where we planned to stay up all night playing the game.
5:00 p.m.: I was incredibly tired at this point from helping dig my roommate's car out of the snow and playing in the park. I decided to take a nap.
10:00 p.m.: I had slept a measley five hours when Dave burst into my room and told me that Meijer was going to be open at midnight and was going to have the game. The only catch was we had to walk there.
Most people would take a few seconds to think about this, by weighing the pros and cons.
For me there was never any choice. I immediately started dressing in as many layers as I could possibly fit on my body.
10:30 p.m.: Three of us (Dave, fellow "Smash fan" Lucas Elder, and I) set off through the snow for Meijer.
11:10 p.m.: The sidewalk was completely covered in snow so we decided to walk on State Street. Apparently this is illegal.
A cop stopped and asked us to kindly get the heck off the road. Luckily for us this was a stone's throw away from Meijer.
11:15 p.m.: When we made it to Meijer, we were greeted by an employee who rather gruffly asked if we were here for "Smash Mouth."
After kindly correcting her, she continued on to ask everyone else who showed up (about seven more people) if they were also here for "Smash Mouth."
12:01 a.m.: Finally! I had it in my hands. I was so excited I simply couldn't contain myself; I actually got a head rush.
12:10 a.m.: After being picked up by our other roommate Brett Hiltbrand, we all arrived back to Knox Street and sprinted inside.
We booted up the Wii and proceeded to gorge ourselves on the "Smash" goodness.
5:45 a.m.: We finally decide to call it a day. After all, I needed to be able to wake up the next day and play it again.
While the day didn't go as planned, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I spent time with my friends making memories that will last us a lifetime. That's what "Super Smash Bros." is all about. t&c;
