So I took the day off from OtakuBoards; I didn't sign on at all today. (Saturday, that is. It's still 11:00 PM in my time zone.) That's pretty rare for me, heh. Partly it was because I had something more important to do today--no, I'm serious, stop laughing--but I also just wanted a break after spending way more time than usual on OB over the past week. It being the weekend, then, I decided to go ahead and just relax for the rest of the day after taking care of that important matter. It was thoroughly enjoyable and now I feel refreshed and ready to jump back into things tomorrow.
What was the important matter, you say? It was filling out a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form. Despite my whining a few posts back, I most likely will just start college next semester, so being able to get financial aid is important. The price of textbooks is freaking insane. . . . Oh well, I'm sure I'll be fine once I settle into things; I just have to keep my lazy and apathetic side from taking over.
But after that, I found the August issue of Nintendo Power had arrived. Issues covering E3 are always great, since even though you can get online news in nearly realtime during E3, the coverage generally isn't as detailed until later, when places have the time to write some longer articles. After reading the issue cover-to-cover, my that rush of excitement for the Wii and a few choice DS titles is renewed.
Also, something I was reminded of from that issue of NP is that the Wii won't cost more than $250. Obviously this knowledge has been floating around in my mind for some time now, but I just realized today: "Hey, I got $250 from graduation presents. How convenient." I know my parents would rather I save the money for something more practical, but you know what? Screw it, the card they gave me said I should have some fun after having worked to graduate. That money is getting me a Wii at launch; no waiting around for Christmas this time, like I had to do with the GameCube.
So, yeah, that's going to be nice. What little income I had for a while is kind of drying up, so I can't really afford many new games. Which is annoying, because I really wanted to get New Super Mario Bros. But I guess playing the Wii version of Zelda: Twilight Princess as soon as it's released will be worth it.
But what do I do without any new games? No, I don't go (more) crazy, I just play Super Smash Bros. Melee or one of the other classics in my library. And that's exactly what I did before sitting down to write this post.
Fair warning here: The following paragraphs are me raving about SSBM. If you're not a fan of the game, you probably won't have any idea what I'm talking about. And, even if you are, you probably won't care unless you're really into it like I am.
Maybe this is just the gamer geek deep within me talking, but I find it utterly amazing that I can play SSBM (and the original SSB before it) for close to five years and still be learning new tricks, given how simple the game is to pick up and play. While I didn't exactly discover a new one today, I did discover a great new way to use one. And, wow, am I loving it.
To go off on a little tangent here, I've always been better with Marth in the air than I am on the ground. Sure, I'm good at fighting on the ground, but I'm at my best when I can bring Marth's air attacks into play. This has always presented a problem for me when playing against fast ground fighters like Fox. If I can't get him up in the air somehow, he can basically just go to town on me once he manages to slip inside my sword's reach--which isn't hard, given how fast he is. Or he could, until today. . . .
Today I found a way to effectively use my air attacks against a ground target. Now, jumping and trying to come down on an opponent with an air attack usually doesn't work too well because it's 1) slow, 2) easy to counter with an upwards attack, 3) leaves you vulnerable afterwards, and 4) is hard to combo into. Usually. This little trick I found, however, doesn't suffer for any of those. On the contrary, it's on par with most of Marth's ground attacks for speed, is hard to counter with another attack, doesn't leave you vulnerable after the landing, and is great for starting a combo with. So what is it? It involves a tiny jump (the smallest possible, with just a slight tap of the button), then pushing sharply down on the control stick so you fall quickly back to the ground. And in that split second you're in the air, you execute an air attack so that it connects just before you land.
So far I'm best at using the standard A air attack (the two quick, short range slashes) this way, as it's the easiest to time and works great as a dash attack. What I do is start the attack just before pushing down to start my descent. This way the first slash will be early and miss, but the second, more powerful slash will connect and knock the opponent backwards. From there I can combo into a ground attack such as a light down+A or, if I have time, a side+A smash before they can recover. And then I can combo into another of the air attacks. Doing that I've managed to combo Fox all the way across the Final Destination level, then spike him down off the edge with an air down+A. It was awesome; and by awesome I mean totally sweet.
Now, as if the offensive abilities of this move weren't cool enough, I'm finding it's also great as a dodge-and-counter move. Someone coming at you with fists blazing? Jump over an attack with a quick hop, have the first slash pass over his head, then come down to hit him right in the noggin with the second slash--all while he's punching at thin air below you. If you can time it right, a hop like that is actually quicker than blocking something with the shield or doing a sidestep dodge, since it lets you go right into a counter-attack without any delay.
The raving has subsided. I now return you to your regularly scheduled myOtaku post.
At the end of the day, then, I have a great new move to play with in SSBM. Refining its use, like I've done with others ( I <3 the down+A air spike), should provide lots of fun while waiting for the Wii's launch. And, hey, there's always Guild Wars (I also <3 no monthly fees) as well Zelda: A Link to the Past. I've fallen behind on my old quota of playing through LttP four times a year, so maybe I'll catch up on that again.
But, for now, I sleep. . . . Wait, crap, I still need to think of a title for this post. Um, okay, I guess that'll do. I'm going to go stop moving for a while, so whatever.
