MrZero

When I was around 4 or 5 years old, my mom took me to her friend's house. It was my luck that she had a son, a good bit older than me, between 9 and 12 years old (maybe older), who also liked video games. He had a Nintendo 64, and Super Smash Bros., which I had never heard of at the time, so he let me play it. I immediately fell in love with it. I played it for what felt like hours; he showed me a few tricks and eventually went downstairs to hang out with the adults, I suppose. I was left up there, trying to beat the 1P Game mode. My mom eventually called me downstairs for dinner, which was hot dogs. My favorite at the time. I declined; I was still having difficulty beating Master Hand as Luigi. Eventually, we had to leave, and I wouldn't see the game for another couple of years. IIRC, for my 6th birthday, I got my own Nintendo 64 as well as a few games. One of them was Smash 64, still in the box (which I still have to this day). Me and my one or two friends were ecstatic and we would play it a lot. However, this version was different from the one I played before. When I played it at the other kid's house, he had a more proportionally realistic character in place of Ness, and he was able to do this weird move that I've never seen since. He could form one of those Looney Tunes-esque smoke clouds that form when one character was beating up another, with fists and feet flailing out of it to show they were winding up for a hit. To this day, I still have no idea what the deal was. Hacks, beta cart, no idea.
When I was 7, I got my own GameCube for Christmas. Unfortunately, I didn't get Melee with it for a couple of months. My mom took me to Blockbuster a short time later, and they had Super Smash Bros. Melee; I rented it, of course. I rented it nearly every time we went there, which was on a weekly/bi-weekly basis. I eventually got it for my birthday. I had about 7 or 8 friends there, and we all took turns playing it and having a good time. I played it pretty consistently until about 2003, when I just lost interest for some reason or another. It wasn't until late 2007 that I would pull it out again, in preparation for the release of Brawl, and play it so consistently like I used to. It was another few years before I discovered the professional scene. Around the same time, I had a friend challenge me to Melee. I had played the living hell out of Brawl, so I felt pretty confident in my abilities and was sure they would transfer over. I wasn't wrong, but the physics were different from what I was used to, so he won, though the matches were usually pretty close. It wasn't until early 2013 that I would start practicing Melee for more hardcore matches.
In the summer of 2005, my friend showed me the E3 trailer for Brawl. I nearly crapped my pants. It was so glorious. I didn't hear about it again until around 2007, the original planned release year. God, I was so excited. It was the first game I ever pre-ordered. The day after I got it, I took it to a friend's house, and we played Subspace Emissary for about three days, when we finally beat it. Afterward, he would get on his computer and do whatever; look for a job, make 3D art, chat with friends, et cetera. He left me to play Brawl by myself, which was more than okay. He had wi-fi, and I didn't, so I played online with all sorts of people. When we got our own wi-fi probably a year later, I would play the hell out of Brawl online. I mostly just wanted to see the different styles people would use. I loved seeing how people would play. I eventually discovered the tournament scene for this one too. I went to my first one in late summer of 2011. It was at US Gaming Arena; unfortunately, just being better than all of my friends wasn't good enough and I almost immediately struck out. Kadaj was there, and I didn't know it at the time, but he's the US's 3rd best Marth. I knew he was something else, but I didn't think anyone that good would be there. Afterward, I tried to learn as many advanced techniques as I could and enter another one. The place eventually closed down (in a period of a couple months, which was weird), so it wasn't for another year and a half (ish) until I entered in another tourney: The Bulldog Brawl V.Tourney rankings~US Gaming Arena ( Summer 2010):Brawl Singles - Let's not talk about that.
~The Bulldog Brawl V (April 6th, 2013)
Brawl Singles - Tied for 17th place out of 25
Brawl Doubles - (With Reckless4Christ) Tied for 7th place out of 7
~TM41 (Torment)
Brawl Singles - Tied for 9th place out of 9
Brawl Doubles - (With Reckless4Christ) Tied for 4th place out of 4