So, whilst stuck here in Mexico, under the mercy of its "It's either gonna rain today you're all going to die of heat exhaustion" weather system, I've found my cousins are fond of two things: Smash Brothers and Saint Seiya. Good thing, because I happen to be fond of both of those things. We'll often find ourselves talking at length about the Saints, be if from the various sagas (from the 12 houses to the hades saga to the movies), or be it about just how much of a stereotypical 80's manga it really was. That also usually leads to talks of other eighties mangas/anime, which make said talks even longer.
What this means is that while here, I'm usually always in a Saint Seiya fever. And while we were at a nearby shopping district (if that's what you would call a half a city of malls, beggars, and people selling you things on the street), I just happened to have money, and there just happened to be Saint Seiya action figures there. They weren't the cheap generic crap you'd expect from a place like the one I was in (though that stuff was there too). These were top notch, 65 dollar action figures, with full metal armor and nice looking plastic anime hair. So, I just happened to pick one representing my zodiac sign up(we also picked this one up).
Thing is, here, you don't just walk up and buy anything. You barter for it. So, I was able to barter mine down to about 60 dollars, which felt good, even if it was 5 dollars. Heck , I used that 5 dollars to buy lunch (keep in mind all prices were actually in pesos, so multiply each of those prices about 10 times, but they all lead to same result anyway, approximately). The action figures are pretty awesome, some of the best playable figures out there (they don't stand well against some of the better models out there), and boy are they shiny.
Moving on to smash bros (of course I speak of the new one), We've been playing it a lot, with a lot of people. In all the time we've played it, I've realized how much of a party game it is and how much of a competitive, tournament playable game it isn't. I used to argue with anyone who would listen that smash bros was as competitive as Halo or Street Fighter, that it deserved as much attention from the MLG/Evo scene as any of its affiliates. Now, I know that while that may be what the community did to it, that that wasn't the creator's intent. He (and probably nintendo) meant it to be part of it's casual reaching market, while catering to the hardcore. He even almost intentionally deterred its tournament playability (with tripping), to the point where it seems he was screaming "You're not supposed to play it for money, you idiots!" Of course, I can't speak for him, because I never could do that for any developer, and intentions are something to be seen from different perspectives, but I think the evidence speaks for itself.
That's not to say it's a bad game. At all. It's a fantastic one. All the nintendo nostalgia/nerdgasms to be had in the world are here, the characters are varied (albeit with clones, who still feel a little different). Items are pretty much designed to help weaker players win (and it works, too), to the point where if items are on, skill because much less of a factor in winning. It's a phenomenal game, you just have to not expect it to be virtua fighter.
I also need to give props to my cousin Pablo, who is awesome because he plays with every character my brother hates. And it makes him oh so mad when he loses, which, needless to say, makes me oh so happy.
Peace.
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