Everything has some kind of following: authors, musicians, franchises, and technology to name a few. Usually, if something changes about this particular thing or person – a new song being released or the death of a movie star – it will also be felt within the community surrounding it. For anyone that enjoys video games and hasn’t been living under a rock for at least a year, such a thing happened when a particular game was released last December: Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.

While this may seem like it doesn’t involve Bob Jones, all you have to do is look around the commons areas and the media center before school starts and during lunch to see students bringing the latest Nintendo console inside the building to enjoy the new game in their free time.

t has had no greater an impact here than with our very own Smash Club. That’s right, we have an entire club dedicated to the popular game series, and it has been thriving for years; it was even around before the current seniors were freshmen and before the last Smash Brothers came out all the way back in September of 2014. I myself am a part of the club, and I was curious how the game affected the group as a whole and interviewed some of the other members to find what they have to say about the topic.

For those not in the know about the latest games, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate is the highly anticipated fifth installment to Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers series. It is the only series where you can see famous gaming icons such as Mario, Kirby, Link, and Samus duke it out. Nintendo characters are not the only fighters, with other great characters such as Mega Man, Sonic, Cloud, and even Solid Snake being playable. Liam Patrick, one of the newer members of Smash Club, described it as “a variety of characters from your favorite games fighting each other in ridiculous scenarios.” 

Despite how popular the game is, the Smash Club here at school is a niche club. I asked members this week about how they would describe the club to those. While they all have their differences, each description had one thing in common: a focus on Smash Club being a friendly community. Micah Mosley, one of the more competitive freshmen, described it as “a community of friends that play Super Smash Bros that is open to new members and new ideas.” Liam, who is one of the more casual members, said that Smash Club is “a chill space to hang out and do homework, or to play video games with friends.” Perhaps the purest answer came from Jahi Jacobs-El, the president of Smash Club, who stated, “It’s very humble, a small family of sorts.”

How will the new game affect the club? Micah said, “The game would be more accessible to people [that don’t already have it], thanks to the club, and it would help build the community because of it.” Others said that it would allow a new generation of people to make friends, the return of classic characters from the past would boost club membership, and that the game will generally do the same as the rest of the series, which isn’t bad in the slightest. Members were also asked to describe the game series in one word. Some notable examples are “competitive,” “enjoyable,” and “community.” Liam even stated that “it’s a good party game.”

A few more points of interest were some of the members’ favorite thing about the game, what they liked about it, and what they had the biggest problem with regarding Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. Some of the more competitive players, such as Micah Mosley, said that they liked the competitive atmosphere the game can have and how it has a ton of room for mastering the mechanics and characters. On the other hand, the more casual members said that they enjoyed how much content you get from the game for its price, how quick matches can be, and that it is easy to pick up and play. “Whether you’re 7 or 70, you can play,” said Jahi. The things that people didn’t like were mostly down to personal preference and were little things. One person said it was how directional air-dodging works, while another said that the game was more offense-oriented. Some even said that it was the paid online service of the system, though all agreed that $20 a year is very cheap and could be much, much worse; I’m looking at you, Playstation Plus. However, it should be noted that Smash Ultimate uses a different physics engine from the previous title for the Wii U and 3DS, which took some time for most members to get used to, especially those that don’t own the game. “It’s a little hard to get used to coming from past games. Once you get used to it, though, it’s as fun as any other Smash game,” said Jahi on the subject.

While there are some that didn’t like the game when it first came out, the majority of members can agree that Super Smash Brothers Ultimate has found a home in Smash Club. Even the very president of the club didn’t like the game at first but has warmed up to it significantly.

All in all, the new title has a bright future in the club going forward. If you are looking for a friendly community to join and make some new friends or to maybe learn how to play a new game, Smash Club could be right for you.