LinksDarkArrows | The state of all things. ft. potentially click baity thumbnail. Read Description. @linksdarkarrows | Uploaded October 2016 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
So by now I'm sure people have taken notice that I've been uploading significantly fewer Smash Brothers videos, and that the few I've trickled out have usually been far lower than what I'd consider my standards. Before anyone has the chance to get concerned, nothing is wrong. Everything is fine.

The main reason I wanted to make this announcement is to admit I've lost most of my motivation to do all the stuff I'd normally do on YouTube. I still love Smash Brothers, especially Melee, dearly, but it stands to reason that I've been at it for 12 years now, 10 of which have been uploading and posting the videos to YouTube. I'm nowhere near out of things I can do or anywhere close to my limit, but where do you draw the line? At the same time I feel like I'm starting to disappoint people by not being my usual self and uploading some wacky Target Test video. I also feel kind of bad that my effort has diminished greatly. Lately I've made a habit of starting projects of all types and not finishing them or going beyond the first few steps. I need to evaluate some things and find out why. Maybe it's not the type of thing I want to be working on, or anymore there's another reason. I don't actually know.

I'm trying to decide what I want to do with this channel next, if anything, but I do want to answer some of the more frequent questions I've received all over the place regarding the channel.

• Will you ever improve your total high score in Melee?
- This is a hard one. I'm not going to say never, but it's not looking likely at the moment. We're approaching 2 years without an improvement and this is the longest I've ever gone to date. Maybe if a new strategy that isn't stupid (Looking at you Jigglypuff burner) pops up I'll come back and do it, but I'm not looking to get lower than 3:04.80 any time soon.

• You've improved since your last compilation. Will you update it?
- Yes, I will. I still haven't decided when would be most appropriate or how I would go about it. Would anyone be mad if I used Dolphin footage to create facsimiles of my existing scores so 3:04.80 could be featured in 720p or possibly 1080p high definition? Or do people prefer to have the authentic videos to back it up? Maybe you want both? If you have an opinion on that I'd like to hear it. I only bring this up because some of my clips, like Fox, date back to 2006 when I was still using a VCR to record my videos, then onto Dazzle with Windows Movie Maker on a low grade e-machines computer. My have the times changed.

• Will you play Super Smash Flash 2 again?
-- I would like to, but I'm waiting for the official 1.0 non-beta release. Right now too many things are at risk of being manipulated and scores, or possibly entire stages, being obsoleted with any build out now until 1.0. This is the same reason it's hard for me to take Wii U seriously, in addition to it having some lackluster single player. There's just no way to know if or when your hard work will be made invalid.

• Will you ever start streaming again?
- This is an interesting idea, and although I'm not against it, my current setup doesn't allow it. I would like to stream casually here and there. If it ever becomes an option for me in the somewhat near future I'll consider it.

• Have you put any thought into making Target Test video guides?
- I have, but I haven't been able to take it beyond the conceptual phase. I get there are a lot of nuances between the way I would approach a level and you would, but when I look at a stage it's hard for me to describe it in a way that isn't just "Do exactly what you see on screen, but better than how you do right now" for most things. The truth is most of it just optimizing, perseverance and wanting it more than those around you. I'm always more than happy to answer any character specific questions people have, but at the moment I don't see how it could work out in the form of a guide, video or text, and not be cluttered with worthless filler.

• Super Smash Flash is cool, but there's this game called Super Smash Brothers Crusade... Will you play that?
- Same rules I've set up for Super Smash Flash 2 apply here. As long as the fan game is decently built, has some effort put into it, I'll probably play it for a while when an official 1.0 drops and dramatic changes are no longer being made to the engine.

I'm sure there are a lot of things I could bring up that I'm forgetting, so if you feel like I didn't cover everything you wanted to know I encourage you to ask. I'll always more than likely upload something to YouTube for the rest of my life. The thing is I'm almost certain it won't be Smash Brothers forever. There's no telling when this train is going to stop, but it's begun to peter out for good. I apologize if that disappoints anybody, but I want to thank you for the last 10 years. I took Target Test and did things with it I never thought I would with your encouragement. I guess we'll see where life takes us, together or apart.