Absurd college classes: 'Super Smash Brothers Melee Theory and Practice'

chautemoc | August 24, 2008 | Blog | Wii Misc

Cracked has a sweet article up which should make for some entertaining Sunday reading: it details six absurd classes taught at actual colleges across the Americas. #6 is 'Super Smash Brothers Melee Theory and Practice.' No joke.

Read the full thing for maximum satisfaction.

Offered At:

Oberlin College in Ohio.

We admit we've never heard of this college, but at first glance it seemed like a legit school of higher learning. We found out that it's actually a 175 year-old private and selective school, and one that is fairly well-regarded even though their mascot is a Yeoman. What would the 19th Century founders say if they could see their own classrooms used to teach a course on Super Smash Brothers Melee?

News Story attached to:

Super Smash Bros. Melee [GC]

33 comments | go to source (www.cracked.com) | Add to favorites!

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Comments

4 thumbs!
random_gamer | August 24, 2008

I'd sign up for that class in a second.
- 4 thumbs!
  Slumpy monkey | August 25, 2008
  
  Why? Anyone who actually took that class had to be pretty sad IMO.
  - 2 thumbs!
    therealNgamer | August 25, 2008
    
    If you needed some random elective credit, what would you rather take: "Super Smash Bros. Melee Practice and Theory," or "Underwater Basket Weaving?"
    - 0 thumbs!
      chautemoc | August 26, 2008
      
      I now want to take that class. Awesome.
    - 0 thumbs!
      Raziel_326 | August 26, 2008
      
      I'd rather take a class that will be useful for my future.
- 2 thumbs!
  Remino52 | August 25, 2008
  
  That would frekin' own. I wonder what our homework would be.
1 thumbs!
Starsky134 | August 25, 2008

Man, I would sooo love that class! SSBM is classic.
1 thumbs!
Play ISDF | August 25, 2008

Anyone who says they'd sign up for this class means they suck at playing Melee/Brawl. But maybe I just see it as a waste since I got Brawl and was an utter noob at it and then after 24 hours of playing it off and on I was killing lvl 9's with Sonic without much trouble.
- 0 thumbs!
  Starsky134 | August 25, 2008
  
  I've been playing Melee for 6 years... I don't suck at SSB.
2 thumbs!
Twisted | August 25, 2008

I'd so take that class.

quote
Anyone who says they'd sign up for this class means they suck at playing Melee/Brawl.
Exactly.
0 thumbs!
KernelKush | August 25, 2008

I wouldn't necessarily say it means they aren't up to par with all of those SSB addicts out there, they may just want to improve their game - or go for an easy A. Heck I'd sign up just for the sake of learning to play a video game, even if I've been playing since I opened up that N64 for Christmas 98'.
4 thumbs!
BANDITO ATTACK | August 25, 2008

i wonder why its melee and not brawl? could it possibly be because brawl is just melee's lesbian step-daughter?
- 0 thumbs!
  Final Blade | August 25, 2008
  
  _{HAHAHA I don't even think Brawl should be compared to that, cause at least thats cool that most guys would like.
  Brawl is Melee, and did nothing spectacular that Melee didn't already do. Horribly disappointed.}
  - 0 thumbs!
    therealNgamer | August 25, 2008
    
    I love how some people think it's "cool" to hate on Brawl, just as it's "cool" to hate on Final Fantasy VII and Halo.
    - 2 thumbs!
      Koloth | August 25, 2008
      
      It isn't "cool" to hate on FF7. It is only "cool" if you have the superior taste to realize that FF7 isn't the ultimate representation of everything that makes a great RPG. Same with Halo and FPS's and Brawl and fighters.
      
      They are all fun games but some people put them up on these ridiculus pedastals and expect that everyone have the smae opinion. And if you don't you must be crazy. FF7 was fun but I always felt FF8 was better. The story was more interesting to me. Halo was a good thing for the Xbox at the time, but it isn't by any means the best FPS ever made for all time and through out history. Like some would have you believe.
      
      Defending the games like they are holy is ridiculus. Not everyone likes them and they aren't beyond critisism.
    - 0 thumbs!
      therealNgamer | August 25, 2008
      
      You obviously haven't seen the rabid anti-(insert popular game here) crowd then. I recognize these games are not perfect, but there's now denying that they are excellent.
      
      Take FFVII for instance. While there are many people who worship it as the holy grail of RPGs, which can be annoying, there are just as many people who go around claiming it's utter shit and garbage. This crowd is just as bad, if not worse, than the pro-FFVII fanboys simply because they hate on it just because they want to be different and go against popular opinion.
      
      This same elitist group exists for both the other games I mentioned and quite frankly it pisses me off whenever I see someone like that.
    - 0 thumbs!
      Koloth | August 25, 2008
      
      Rabid, no. But I don't get the imression that FB was hating Brawl to be cool. Just that he wasn't overly impressed with what it accomplished.
    - 1 thumbs!
      therealNgamer | August 25, 2008
      
      Maybe it's just how I perceived it then. His post wasn't written very well. Furthermore, Final Blade was one of the most outspoken advocates to remove the thumbs down feature from Game Grep, and by looking at his past posts and contributions, he seems to love pissing other people off without fear of people thumbing him down. I assume his intentions were the same here.
      
      Personally, I feel Brawl to be the best game in the SSB series since it added many completely new characters, stages, items, a new single player mode, a level creator, decent online features, more balanced gameplay, and slew of other extras like stickers and the likes. I don't know what more you could ask for in a video game sequel.
    - 0 thumbs!
      Deathsythe | August 28, 2008
      
      Many people actually feel the same way- and they aren't necessarily saying it to be cool. I know fanboys of the series that were very disappointed with Brawl. And in all honesty- from an impartial gamer- they really could have stepped it up with Brawl, but they dropped the ball a bit and really must made Melee-2 and added a few characters and stages.
      
      And they totally screwed the pooch with the wifi battles.
    - 1 thumbs!
      Final Blade | August 29, 2008
      
      quote
      His post wasn't written very well. Furthermore, Final Blade was one of the most outspoken advocates to remove the thumbs down feature from Game Grep, and by looking at his past posts and contributions, he seems to love pissing other people off without fear of people thumbing him down.
      _{Oh yes cause honestly I can't think of a better way to piss people off by stating the fact Brawl didn't live up to its hype by rabid fanboys and reviewers.
      Also I wasn't the only one talking about the removal of the thumbs, I was just the only one who was brave enough to make several points as to why it should be moved. Hell it was going to be removed at one point anyway from my knowledge so really you know nothing. However don't worry its going to make a return at one point so people can go trigger happy themselves to death.
      You seem to think you know alot about me, I love the SSB series, I had so much fun with SSB and Melee, that I was expecting great things to the series, yet Brawl sucked and was more of a Melee two. Hell you can say I am a fan of the series but brawl was a let down. Its the same way how I felt with Halo tbh.
      
      And don't even bring FF7 into this. FF7 for me was my first FF game and RPG game that got me into the genre so for me im going to be biased on that game and think its awesome above most I played within it.}
      quote
      I assume his intentions were the same here.
      _{Whats that saying "Don't assume things, it makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and me". Yea word of the wise if you don't know what my intentions were don't assume shit.
      
      And Koloth is right I didn't hate the game to be cool, I hated the game for its lack of serious upgrade compared to Melee and I felt it as a disappointment when I played it. The game is fun, but not the best. The game should have been scored 8.5/10 cause thats exactly what the game was to me, nothing more nothing less.}
0 thumbs!
Gothic Girl | August 25, 2008

And after forking out a few thousand dollars for the college and spending years learning about Melee, you graduate, only to discover you now have a diploma that is absolutely useless and won't get you a job anywhere. GG student.
- 0 thumbs!
  Seeker X | August 25, 2008
  
  Considering that most of the students that GO to college never graduate, if you ask me, that's money well spent. Why work your ass off when College is barely worth it nowadays.
- 0 thumbs!
  Starsky134 | August 26, 2008
  
  It's a single class, not all of them, so wouldn't it be one semester(as opposed to years)? I agree with the money problem though, I guess I wouldn't pay a couple grand just to get better at SSBM.
2 thumbs!
Silver Mirror | August 25, 2008

People pay to learn about games?

*Rushes out and puts up sign*
- 4 thumbs!
  Deathsythe | August 25, 2008
  
  Silver, I've got an Idea.
  
  We'll call it Deathsythe and Silver Mirror's School of Gaming.
  
  We can take our first freshman class in say 2010, we should be ready by then right?
  
  Special discount on tuition for neoseeker students.
  - 0 thumbs!
    Spurs_Rule_And_Rock | August 26, 2008
    
    I'm in with this. Deathsythe and Silver Mirror's School of Gaming-with new recruit teaher Spurs_Rule_And_Rock.
- 1 thumbs!
  Silver Mirror | August 26, 2008
  
  Why wait to 2010? I'm setting up shop tomorrow
  
  And it would be Silver Mirror's School of Gaming
  with two other guys named Death and Spurs or something
2 thumbs!
black doom | August 25, 2008

Okay first off, I just want to say that those of you flaming Brawl based off this should note that if they established it as a Melee in the course label they may take sometime to change it and insulting Brawl based off that is pointless and moronic. Secondly I could see this being ever so slightly useful for someone who wanted to be a game designer but short of that it is, as stated, a joke.
- 2 thumbs!
  Slumpy monkey | August 25, 2008
  
  It would be of no help to someone wanting a job in the industry at all.
  "Hi I want a job please, I learned about super smash mele at college, that's good right?"
  
  employer-"Where's your portfolio of work? Where are you computer science degrees? Where is your work experience?"
  - 0 thumbs!
    Starsky134 | August 25, 2008
    
    Everybody would already have their science, math, language, etc. classes taken care of. It's not like all of our classes were video game related.
- 3 thumbs!
  Raziel_326 | August 26, 2008
  
  A game designer? There's a huuuge difference between designing a game and playing game.
  - 0 thumbs!
    black doom | September 06, 2008
    
    In my opinion Melee's characters were meant to capture the essence of their games. I believe understanding those characters and their source games can offer an insight into enjoyable and cool characters.
0 thumbs!
Dark Arcanine | August 31, 2008

Wish we had a class like that, I'd take it in a second.

I suppose the Extension course would be SSBB.