Anyone who is reading this currently, I hope you're having a good day, and I appreciate you taking the time to read what I have to say.
For those who don't know me, my name is Brandon otherwise known as BrandonGME on most social media platforms regarding Smash Bros stuff. Recently, I haven't been as active on Twitter and especially on Discord as I normally would be, and for those who have been wondering what's been going on with me these past few weeks, everything should be explained here as I've been working on writing this somewhat formal update about my mental health as well as taking a potential break from Smash Bros Clipping Content and from the game itself. I've been meaning to write something like this for a while now, and I figured it would be the perfect time to try this as I might do more in the future. Plus, it's a good way of making sure I can say everything I need to say since Twitter or X only allows a certain number of characters before you reach the limit. Anyway, I'll be breaking down this Update into three sections, my mental health, why I'll be taking a somewhat break from Smash, and finally my overall final thoughts.
- My Mental Health
As you may already know or in case you don't know, I've left a few comments to people on twitter talking about how I've been dealing with depression for a while now. I don't want to go into much detail as most of that information is private and meant for my therapist, but I will share a few things. One of the reasons why I have depression comes from the fact that I've always been very lonely as a kid, no one really understood me, I had a hard time making friends and socializing with other people. It got to the point where I constantly felt miserable thinking that I wasn't good enough for anyone and that my life was pointless. I would later develop thoughts and dreams of myself committing suicide although I never had attempted in taking my own life, and this mainly due to getting a therapist before it got to that level. As of now, I still deal with depression and even though it's hard for me to truly be happy, I do feel slightly better than I was before and it's thanks to again my therapist who has done an amazing job listening to all of my problems and helping me through them. That's all I say about my mental health. Again, most of this stuff is really personal to me, but I hope that made some sense as to why I have depression.
- Potentially taking a break from Smash for a while
As the title of this section states, yes, I am considering taking a break from Smash as a whole due to how stressful it's beginning to affect my overall mental health. I've been playing Smash ever since the 3DS and Wii U era, and I enjoyed the game even more when Ultimate came out. However, I now realize how much damage the game is doing to me. Any SSBU clipper can agree that going for clips can be extremely stressful, especially if your opponent is either playing like its grand finales of EVO or if your opponent is so bad at the game to the point where people begin saying it's fake or etc. It doesn't help much that the entire Smash Bros Community is known to be toxic as well. Thankfully, I know people in this community who are really nice people and are friends of mine on Discord. Going back to what I was saying about clipping, the reason why it's been so stressful for me recently is that I feel like I'm simply just replaceable and that my clips aren't good enough. I feel like I have very high expectations based on my clips alone, and the clips that I see from community montages even though most don't really consider me as one of their favorite clippers I believe. Regardless, I always try my hardest when going for clips, but having that mentality is one of the reasons why I never really posted any of my clips to twitter or to community montages. Also, what happened to Blade is another reason why I just want to take a break from this game. Many had accused him of faking his clips and so far from what I can remember, only one of his clips was found out to be fake. It got to the point where Blade was getting so much hate that he just disappeared entirely, and I just really feel bad for him. At the end of the day, Blade is a human with feelings, and I hope he's taking good care of himself. The situation with Blade really shows how toxic the smash community really is. This is especially true when it comes to the actual pro players since most of them shit on clips where the opponent does random options like missing techs, which I think is the top complaint when it comes to pro players reacting to clips. The thing that they may or may not understand is that not every opponent will be at their level. Sure, clipping someone who is a sweaty tryhard feels more satisfying than clipping someone who doesn't know what they're doing, but that really doesn't matter. A clip is a clip regardless of how your opponent is playing because at the end of the day, most pro players only really care about winning, while clippers care about sending a message and taking risks to get the best clip possible. I know for a fact that this is a topic of discussion that will always be debatable as everyone has their own opinions towards the concept of what is considered a "clip" and it's honestly fine. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I have clearly stated mine, so whether you agree or not, it's completely okay.
Anyway, I'm getting off topic, what I said earlier about why clipping in smash has been stressing me out recently, I've been working on trying to have a better mindset towards my clips, and thankfully it's been improving, but taking a break from this game is the next step towards healing at least for me. I originally wanted to take a break from smash and social media like Discord and Twitter until like late May 2025, but that's a bit too much, so I changed it up a bit. This break won't include me just giving up on the game entirely as I still enjoy playing smash, rather I will just be playing the game a lot less than I normally have been. The reason for this is just that I want to focus more on my college/university studies as Smash isn't and will never be my future. I want to have more time to focus on myself and my future. I will be playing smash whenever I know I have time, but it won't be as often as before. My future is the one thing that is important to me right now and I want to make sure I can make it the best that I can, and I want to make sure I give it my all in college/university. So, to summarize
I'll still be playing Smash; however, a lot less than I normally have been or whenever I know I have time to play
I'll still be using Discord, but I probably won't be active that much, and the same goes for Twitter too, but I'll try and post anything if possible
As for submitting my clips to community montages, entering clipping competitions or just posting my clips to twitter, I haven't really decided yet, but more than likely I'll try and still do these things when possible
Finally, as for montages, I will continue to work on them whenever I have the time, however, I've decided to delay my 2nd K Rool Montage as I need more time with it, and I'm also currently working on a new montage with a different character. This was the original list of montages in order that I'll try to make whenever I have time although the dates of release are unknown
________ Montage 2024 or 2025 (Most likely if things go as planned, and I'll reveal the character when I'm about done with the montage)
Wolf Montage 2
Sephiroth Montage 2
Ganon Montage 2
Wario Montage 2
K Rool Montage 2 (Delayed Indefinitely)
Mario Montage 3
DK Montage 3
- Final Thoughts
Overall, I just want to thank everyone again for reading what I had to say, and I want to personally thank both PatchyDog and MissGranva (Formerly known as Moltrace) as I know the both of them have been wondering where I've been. I met them back in 2022 and they are the reason why I continue to play smash as well as my motivation towards landing each clip that I get. They will always be my friends till the end of time.
Well, that's about everything, even though smash will always hold a special place in my heart from all the good memories I had gotten from it, I know that I need to play the game less now to really focus more on myself, my college/university years, and more importantly my future as I'm not only getting older, but I want to ensure myself that I make my parents proud of me as they are the reason why I'm here today, and to improve my mental health as I really want to overcome my depression.
I hope you have a good rest of your day!
Take Care! :)
BrandonGME ("Potentially" the Hypest DK in the World!)