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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

f the b-side)l Thursday, November 9, 2006 - 3B

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom th e b -sid e Thursday, November 9, 2006 -

Welcome to the jungle: Super Smash Bros.

By PAUL TASSI
Daily Arts Writer
To fully appreciate the significance of
Nintendo 64's"Super Smash Bros." you need
to go back to an era of true competition in
video games. This does not mean trash-talk-
ing a 12-year-old Korean you just "pwn3d"
from across the ocean on Halo's Xbox Live.
We're talking real competition at its core,
four friends in a room fightingto the death,
screaming obscenities right in each other's
faces. Egos are inflated and destroyed all
within the course of a 10-minute round. It's
way more intense than a bunch of fighting
cartoon characters should be.
What makes "Super Smash Bros." so dif-
ferent from other games is the massive sub-
culture of followers it's gathered since its
release seven years ago. Though fairly well-
received at its launch, the game's popularity
has grown almost exponentially each year
since then. Today, it's staggering how many
people still play the game - a large per-
centage of them college students. There's
something so simple, yet so addictive about
"Smash Bros." that makes it perfect to pick
up at anytime, whether it's an organized 16-
person tournament with a case of beer for
the winner or a quick five-life grudge match
between roommates before class.
A good part of the game's appeal is its
nostalgia factor. Not only has the game itself
been around for some time, but the charac-

ters are the stuff of legend. If you were born
in the '80s you grew up with either 8-bit or
Super Nintendo and surely played "Super
Mario Bros," "The Legend of Zelda" or
"Donkey Kong" for hours until your mom
You picked Pikachu?
Seriously, who are
you?
threatenedto take your system away. "Super
Smash Bros." allows Nintendo fans to play
out the battles they've always envisioned
with the characteirs they've grown up with.
Sibling rivalry is settled between Mario
and Luigi once and for all. The fastest pilots
in the galaxy duke it out as Fox McCloud
duels Captain Falcon. And the title of most
effeminate pink ball of fluff is up for grabs as
Kirby faces off against Jigglypuff.
But in contrast to the fuzzy feelings of
childhood the game evokes, the other half
of its appeal is the kind of primal, barbaric
competition it creates. Though the competi-
tive game ofchoice for most college students
is "Madden" or some other sports title,
"Smash Bros." trumps them all in terms of
intensity. The range of emotions that can be
experienced in a round of this game is truly
astonishing. Strong bonds of friendship

can be bent and nearly broken in 10-min-
ute rounds as the gloating winner makes
the once-proud loser storm out of the room,
truly angry about what just happened.
You can actually see a progression
through the emotional cycle of a cocky
player from the moment he realizes he's
outmatched to the point of reflection after
he's lost his last life to the abyss.
It begins with denial: "Bullshit, you're
getting so lucky! This game is all luck!"
Soon, it turns to anger. "Goddamnit! At
least let me get back to the edge you bitch!"
Next is bargaining. "OK, ok let's team up
against Pikachu. Just don't hit me!"
Then it slips into depression. "This game
fucking sucks. I'm just killing myself."
And finally, acceptance. "You have way
too much time on your hands, you loser."
But you and they know - you're not a loser.
They're just jealous.
"Super Smash Bros." is a simple game
relying not on breathtaking graphics or an
in-depth storyline, but on gameplay phys-
ics and an innovative, addictive reworking
of the traditional fighting game platform.
"Smash Bros." is unlike most games, where
you can button-mash your way to an easy
victory. It takes speed, timing and strategy
to beat the crap out of your opponent rather
than just having Ryu "Hadoken!" his way to
victory 75 straight times in "Street Fighter."
"Super Smash Bros." perfected something
that every video game wishes to achieve - it

has truly infinite replay value. Despite the
fact you started playing it before you had
hair on your body, there are still new tac-
tics to be discovered even today. You'll soon
be fluent in the language of the game using
phrases like "I just down-A'ed the shit out of
you" and "You're such an edge whore!"
The much-anticipated sequel "Super
Smash Bros. Melee" was released for Game-
cube a few years back, and though it's decent
enough, fails to live up to the original. This
was mostly due to the Gamecube's control-
lers looking and functioning like they're
manufactured by Playmobile. You usu-
ally end up spending more time combating
the arena hazards than other players. The
essence of simplicity from the first "Smash
Bros." has been lost, a key factor that makes
the game so easily playable by so many.
A new hope will soon arrive in the form
of "Super Smash Bros. Brawl," slated as a
release for the absurdly named Nintendo
Wii due out this fall. The third game looks
to branch into new territory using Ninten-
do's ground-breaking but strange-looking
motion sensingcontroller. And you can fight
as Solid Snake. How cool is that?
But the first will always be the best in the
eyes of true fans. Nintendo 64 was king of
four-player havoc with games like "Golden-
eye," "Mario Kart 64" and "Perfect Dark,"
but "Super Smash Bros." stands atop them
as the most innovative, most fun and most
timeless cartridge of all.

WHAT YOUR CHARACTER
SAYS ABOUT YOU
Everyone knows who you play is who
you are
Pikachu - You're a rookie, and an annoying
one at that. You spend thetgame zipping
around the screen shocking people at
random without a hint of strategy. Hearing
"pi-ka-CHU!" squeaked out 97 times in the
caunse ot a round is enough to make esen
the most veteran playesthrow downtheir
controllers in disgust.
Kirby - You're an expert but you're also a
cocky bitch. Kirby is without a doubt the best
player, if you taketfull advantage ofthischeap
tricks that send everyone plummeting to the
bottom with ease. When you win everyone is
pissed and says it doesn't count
Jigglypuff - You're an idiot, plain and
simple. ligglypuff is terrible; that should be
clear by looking at herpicture and sayingher
name out loud. Her"unique" moves include
singing and faling asleep.
Samus - You're just lazy.;You'll never actu-
ally win a game with Samus - her moves
just annoy ratherthan actually do hard
damage. During the course of a game you
proceed to piss everyone off as you hidein
the corner shootingotfplasma rounds at the
people who are actuallytfighting each other.
Fox -You're a truefighterwith a sense of
honor. Fox is the quickest in the game mak-
ing him a great player, but proves himself
without the useoftcheap tricks. Iftyou win
with Fox you can feel truepnide about your-
self, unlike those pink Kirby bastards,

A wild
and
crazy Ivy
comic
By PUNIT MATTOO
Daily TV/New Media Editor
An Ivy-league Mitch Hed-
berg without the drug habit. It's
a description
Demetri Mar- Demitri
tin is probably Martin
tired of by now, Friday at8 p.m.
but it inevitably
remains the best $26.10
way to describe At the Michigan
his act to friends Theater
before linkingthemtohisYouTube
clips. His reliance on stoner-obser-
vation jokes without traditional
punchlines has allowed Martin to
establish himself as one of college
students' favorite post-Hedberg
comedians. After multiple appear-
ances on late night shows and his
own "Comedy Central" stand-up
special, he's on his first national
tour and will stop at The Michigan
Theater tomorrow night.
The road to standup started a
little differently for Martin. Con-
tradictory to the harsh childhood
experiences and dysfunctional
families comedians typically
source for jokes, Martin dealt with
the problem every college stu-
dent has to eventually ask at some
point: What the hell do I want to
do with my life?
After graduating from Yale, he
headed over to New YorkUniversi-
ty for law school, but soon realized
it wasn't the best choice for him.
"I was not passionate about
what I was doing, and I thought,
I'm too young to be feeling this
much dread to wake up and go do
my stuff," Martin said. "I figured
it'd be better to change out early
before getting caught up in it."
With obviously disgruntled par-
ents hovering in the background,
Martin tried to decide where he
could go after his already miser-
able experience, and began think-
ing about investing his time in an

Photography as performance art

There has
activity
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granted.
Marti
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long one
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By ANDREW SARGUS KLEIN
ManagingArts Editor
The 1960s art scene was as
diverse politically as it was aes-
thetically. The Civil Rights Move-
ment, Vietnam, racism - it was
r nearly inspossible for issues such
f{ as these to take center stage in
modern art. Second-wave femi-
nism, a movement concerned with
gender inequalities found in soci-
ety (as opposed to those found in
legislation), was in full swing with
the publication of Betty Friedan's
"The Feminine Mystique." Mod-
ernism as defined by heavyweight
critics was crumbling, -aking
unsteady headway into postmod-
ernism.
Performance artists such as
Carole Schneemann were pushing
untold boundaries with their art,
defying gender stereotypes with
graphic effort (see: Schneemann's
lv be a better way to se sDemetri Martin "Interior Scroll" performance).
Photography began to hold
he loved - telling funny filmed for perennial college favor- as equal weight as painting and
With that, Martin was on ite "The Daily Show." After he was sculpture as part of the avant-
to a new career. contacted by the show's producers, garde, and nowhere is this devel-
s have always been a puz- he pitched them his ideas. opment more evident than in the
e," Martin said. That logic His "Trendspotting" pieces work of Cindy Sherman.
distinct multimedia stand- on issues ranging from Xbox to Born in New Jersey in 1954,
complete with projectors, MySpace helped extend his full Sherman cut her teeth on Ameri-
nd an easel. Martin avoids creative freedom and allowed for can and European art films dur-
ml topics of family life and helpful input from Jon Stewart, ing the '70s. Her experience with
ship issues, and his charm who, Martin explained, remains cinema would directly evolve into
icking apart the everyday very involved in the entire show's her landmark photography series,
s most people take for content. "Untitled Film Stills" (1977-1980).
Though he covered the topics, By conjuring various female ste-
n's journey has been a he remained adamant that he isn't reotypes found in film, Sherman
really a fan of YouTube, despite its attempted to erase the notion
role as an online networking tool of the voyeuristic photographer
M alternate and a comedian's publicity haven. - instead, the viewer is the voy-
n "I'm getting a little tired of all eur. Her deft manipulation of
Lute for a Yale that stuff. I just want to go out- angles, lighting and body language
side," Martin said. "I'm from a demands the viewer to recognize
graduate. time when people actually talked how society (specifically film)
to each other." depicts women.
In addition to his career as a Instead of defining their own
stand-up comedian, Martin has autonomy, Sherman's film stills
guiding him through the also sold a few film pitches and are in dialogue with contemporary
of comedians each year now is looking to take an extended culture. "Untitled Film Still no. 6"
ing to make a name for break from the road. is a closely cropped shot of Sher-
ves. He explained: "I can write jokes man reclining on a couch in eve-
ust really hard perform- anywhere since that's usually easy. ningwear with a dreamy look on
to make living with this But a screenplay is like a big paper. her face, her limp hand holding a
Martin said. "It's not like It's much easier if I can just go to mirror. At a glance, the pose drips
g act. I'm getting decent the library or work in my apart- with vanity, her clothing eliciting
but I think I'm kind of ment than (do) all the things of a
nder the radar." comedy show."
xposure to audiences grew Maybe he's got a little bit of col-
number of segments he lege student still left in him.

a voyeuristic sentiment.
With another glance, the
composition isn't so shallow.
She begins to look like that of a
shocked corpse, the pose one of
rigor mortis. Uncertain questions
arise: What should the viewer feel
for the woman (note, Sherman's
character, not Sherman her-
self)? Pity? Compassion? Is she in
Sexualized gender
statements? Must
be the '80s.
need of a man's arms? It's flat-out
unsettling. Sherman leaves you no
answers - she simply exposes sex-
ism as it exists in popular culture.
In a 1982 untitled statement,
Sherman wrote that "a photo-

graph should transcend itself, the
image its medium, in order to have
its own presence." Her art does
exactly that. Each film still creates
its own personality, its own per-
sonal interaction with the viewer
through common culture..
"I'm trying to make other peo-
ple recognize something of them-
selves rather than me," she said in
the same statement.
Sherman'swork, from her "Unti-
tIed Film Stills" to 1981's "Center-
folds" to 1992's "Sex Pictures," is
constantly evolving, time taking
no toll on their overall effect.
Although she has claimed her
work is not feminist, her manipu-
lation of cultural norms (conscious
and subconscious) completely tri-
umphs.
The result, whether intended or
not, stakes a huge claim for female
artists and the female gender as a
whole.

Wolverine Access
(wolverineaccess.umich.edu)
Unavailable
November 10-13
Wolverine Access Information & services for
- Students
. Parents & family
" Alumni
" General public
will be unavailable from
8:00 p.m., Friday, November 10
to
7:00 a.m., Monday, November 13
For details see
www.mais.umich.edu/waunavailable.html

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