7 friends, 4 hours, 1 Super Smash Bros.

I wanted to get this brief personal blog out amidst the long line of blog posts that I have scheduled for this month. I apologize beforehand if this feels a bit hastily written, but I wanted to publish this before daybreak (it is like two in the morning here) so I could spend my full energy tomorrow playing video games.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS released about two hours ago here in California. Being the nerdy bunch we are, me and three other friends decided to go to our local GameStop and grab the game at midnight. We were later joined by several other of our friends, and the seven of us made camp at about eight in the evening sitting in front of the store waiting to get our hands on the first Smash game in six years. Yes, we waiting over four hours to get our Smash on. It certainly felt a lot longer than I had anticipated, but we passed the time by playing a few rounds of the Smash demo together as well as several cups of Mario Kart. Unfortunately, not all of us came prepared; one by one, our 3DS’ died out. Mine was the first to go, though I obviously tried my best to keep it from completely running out of juice so I could play a round of Smash right after midnight. It was unfortunate that I had to stop playing with over three hours remaining before the game’s official launch, but the rest of my time there was not too bad.

It struck me not too long after that this was probably the first time I have ever participated in a midnight launch. This may not strike you guys as a surprise, but I rarely buy video games new, mostly because my backlog is so large that I have not ever felt the need to immediately buy a product, and also because I like snagging those “buy one get one free” deals a lot of stores offer during the holidays. Regarding midnight launches in particular, they have never appealed to me, especially since I could realistically go to sleep, wake up, and have Amazon deliver the game to me the next day. In fact, the only reason why I had decided to go today was because I had two GameStop gift cards that I needed to spend, and I felt that I should probably spend it on something that I know I will love, especially when I have six other people willing to do it with me. I think I get it now though, why midnight launches are so popular.

One interesting thing about the launch of a new 3DS game is that there is inherently a social aspect in any event involving the platform due to its StreetPass capabilities. We spent dozens of times taking turns walking up and down the line – which was surprisingly long, actually. There were easily over fifty people waiting, and the line wrapped around the corner of the store and beyond. I honestly thought we might see between a dozen or two people crazy enough to be waiting in line with us, though I guess living in Irvine I ought to expect a bunch of young university students eagerly awaiting a new Smash release too. We turned more than a couple of heads – one lady asked us what we were waiting in line for, and then followed the question up with “is that an Xbox game?” (to which we all tried so hard not to snicker).

The GameStop we went to already had a ton of copies pre-stocked for those who had ordered beforehand. For the rest of us, they numbered off from one to twenty-five (though rumor had it that they did have a few more copies to spare). The seven of us were, naturally, the first seven in line, so all of us secured a copy relatively early. All we had to do then was wait two more hours before the game’s official release at midnight. Within those two hours, we met a ton of other cool people – many of which went to the same university as us – and the staff offered us snacks and a free raffle to win a Smash Bros. tote bag (or, in their words, the only Smash Bros. related item they had). The last minute before midnight was marked by an obnoxiously loud countdown and incessant chanting before they finally let us into the store and pick up our games. I got mine at 12:08 – we had all made bets as to what time it would finally be our turn to pick the game up, as those who had preordered got to receive their games first. Immediately afterwards, we had an epic, simultaneous unwrapping “climax” (don’t ask) and played one round of Smash before heading home.

Here is an obligatory picture gallery:

8:39pm: The line already spans the store.

8:40pm: Why am I here again?

9:49pm: The line spans multiple stores now.

10:13pm: Got my number, and it's four!

12:11am: All seven of us got our games! Finally!

Thanks so much for reading this rather spontaneous blog post. Tell me, my fellow MyIGNers, did you get your Smash Bros. game at midnight as well? What was your first midnight release? Sound off in the comments below!

~Bryce