...Smash Brothers...tomorrow...it's only a daaaaaaaay....aaaaaaaaaawaaaaaaaaay!

Eat your heart out Little Orphan Annie. :D

I've never been one to get caught up in the hype of new releases. Rarely will I buy a game on release day just for the sheer fact that I usually don't have the money for it and will justify waiting until I can find a used copy and trade a few games towards the price. But something has happened this morning. I think it's because my store has receieved it's alotment of Smash Bros. Brawl for tomorrow and Gamespot's front page advertisements, but for the first time I'm getting excited about a game being released. Well, I can't say the FIRST time. Silent Hill Origins was a big day for me, being the huge Silent Hill fan I am. But Smash Bros. didn't appeal to me the way Silent Hill did. So this is an odd sensation to be thinking that I'll be selling it all day tomorrow and won't be able to play until after 7 pm when I get home. Then, I have work all day Monday, clinicals and work Tuesday and Wednesday, clinicals Thursday, I need to set up my daughter's room because pick her up on Friday...it's one thing after another. So when will I get to play Smash Bros? It's a little distressing now that I'm finally excited about a game, but who knows when I'll get to enjoy it? It's going to be a tough week with the thought of knocking the hell out of Pickachu with a well-placed right hook from Samus but not knowing when I'll actually get to do so.

This makes me think back to the days of the original Game Boy. For you kids who are too young to remember, that was the original monochromatic system (i.e. 4 shades of green were the only colors) that debuted in 1989. I was 12 and it was the coolest thing I had ever seen...portable video games! And what did they package with it? Tetris. One of THE most addictive games ever created. Many a day I would sit in class and imagine falling blocks and where to place them. I would walk the halls humming the music to myself. These were the days that handhelds were not allowed in school...even during recess or lunch. Those who were caught with them in class, or at the school in general, had them taken away until the end of the school year. So I would long to get home and finish my homework and dinner just to flop down on the bed and play Tetris for an hour before sleep.

And there once was a time when I was only allowed to play video games on the weekend. Imagine if we had to do that now. Imagine if you picked up Super Smash Bros. Brawl while out with Mom and Dad at the mall, had to wait until you got home to play, stop for dinner and, oh wait! You didn't finish that worksheet for class tomorrow! Ahhh the horror! Rush through last minute homework and then just as you're sitting down with your Wii, it's time for bed. The next day is Monday. No video games until Friday night...IF you have no homework. And on top of that, you have to tip-toe through the week and not do anything stupid that will get you grounded from video games for a month. Like getting a bad grade on that worksheet you rushed through just so you could go back to your game before bed on Sunday. Oops.

This situation has happened. Of course things aren't like that anymore, but there was a time that I was grounded from my NES and had to sit around my room looking at the blank tv screen as my video games sat there waiting to be played. It's funny now to think back about those days and compare to my life today. But this is what happens as we get older. We have less time to do the things we want and that's probably why I don't get excited about new releases anymore. Who knows when Kirby will get to smack Pit in the head with a hammer. Will Mario be throttled by Luigi in a Bros. grudge match? It'll be going on all over the United States starting at 12:01 Sunday morning (damn, I'm glad we aren't doing a Midnight launch!) but who knows when that war will wage in my livingroom.

So to all of you, my friends, who have the opportunity to whoop @$$ this weekend; whoop a little harder just for me. I'll be there in spirit every day as I imagine battle royales while ringing up the next customer or drawing blood off the next patient.

Cheers!