|
Super Smash Bros. (JP), more commonly known as Super Smash Bros. 64, SSB, or SSB64, is a N64 crossover fighting game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. It's the first installment in the Super Smash Bros. series and then spawned four sequels: Melee, Brawl, 3DS/Wii U, and Ultimate.
The game was also made available through the Virtual Console for anyone a with gold membership for Club Nintendo in 2013. The game allows players to fight as characters from popular Nintendo franchises such as Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Kirby, Metroid, Star Fox, Donkey Kong and Yoshi.
Premise[]
The game has a loose premise involving a being known as Master Hand bringing to life doll versions of classic Nintendo characters to fight. This is mainly illustrated in the game's opening movie. Master Hand is the end boss of the single player mode, and after beating him a short movie plays showing the fighter return to a lifeless doll.
Gameplay[]
Super Smash Bros. is unlike most traditional "arcade-style" fighting games such as Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Whereas most fighting games task the player with depleting an opponent's health meter, in Smash Bros. the goal is to KO your opponent by knocking them off the stage.
Fighters have a "percentage" which increases from 0% to a maximum of 999% as the player takes damage. The higher the percentage, the easier it is to be knocked off the stage by an opponent's attack.
Stages are rendered in 3D, but characters are restricted to moving in two dimensions, but they can move freely around the stage.
Most stages consist of floating islands and platforms, making it possible to be KO'd in any direction. If a fighter is knocked off the stage, they may use a series of jumps in an attempt to recover. Some characters like Kirby have many jumps, making their recovery much easier, while others like Donkey Kong have a weaker recovery but are heavier and thus harder to knock off the stage.
Smash Bros. offers up to 4-player matches with twelve Nintendo characters to choose from. Each of the characters have distinctive attacks, most of the time based on their moves from their own respective series of games. For example, Mario's Fireball originated in Super Mario Bros., Yoshi's Egg Throw from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Pikachu's various electrical attacks from the multiple Pokémon video games.
Despite each character having their own move-sets, the way in which they are controlled is almost identical. In most "arcade-style" fighting games, each character has their own unique, sometimes complicated, combinations of button presses that must be executed to perform certain abilities. Smash Bros., however, uses only a one-button and control stick combination at a time for every character, offering a wide range of abilities that are all easily accessible. Other moves such as dodging, shielding, grabbing, and throwing are also used.
Characters[]
The game features a cast of twelve playable characters from ten difference franchises, four of which must be unlocked by completing certain tasks.
Starters[]
| Character | Official Description |
|---|---|
 Mario |
"Although best known as the mustachioed plumber who battles the Turtle Tribe with his distinct jumping action, this internationally famous hero has also acted as a referee, a driver, and even a doctor! He's been linked to Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom for years, but to this day their true relationship remains a mystery." |
 Donkey Kong |
"Donkey Kong and Mario started out as arch-rivals, but they've patched things up in recent years. These days DK spends his time searching the jungle for bananas instead of kidnapping beautiful maidens. In the past few years, other members of the Kong family have cashed in on DK's fame as well, including his favorite nephew, Diddy." |
 Link |
"Link is the valiant boy hero of the The Legend of Zelda series in which he fights against the evil Ganon to recover the Triforce. Though his tools may change with each adventure, his strength and righteousness remain constant. With his trusty sword and a variety of weapons, he takes his adventures head on!" |
 Samus |
"Samus is the toughest bounty hunter in the galaxy. Using a special suit powered by the technology of the bird people which allows her to execute daring acrobatic feats, Samus pursues the airborne life form, Metroid, throughout the universe." |
 Yoshi |
"Yoshi is the friendly dinosaur of Yoshi's Island. He began as Mario's partner, but has since built his own identity, and now appears in many games. He uses his unique ability to turn whatever he swallows into an egg as his foremost attack. Yoshis come in a rainbow cloud of colors and are said to have a high IQ from a very early age." |
 Kirby |
"The 8-inch high Kirby hails from a distant, peaceful star. Like his simplistic appearance, he is an easily-understood character. True to his instincts, Kirby eats when he gets hungry and sleeps as soon as he grows tired. Nevertheless, Kirby remains a formidable opponent. In addition to his distinct flying and swallowing skills, he also has the ability to copy enemy attacks for ever-changing action." |
 Fox |
"Following his dead father's footsteps as the young leader of the Star Fox Team, Fox McCloud's piloting of the super-high-performance combat ship ARWING for the Lylatian System is still fresh in our memories. His one weakness may be his difficulty earning the trust of his teammates." |
 Pikachu |
"Pikachu, Mouse PKMN, Height 1'4", Weight 13 lbs, When several of these Pokémon gather, their electricity could cause lightning storms. (Pokédex excerpt)" |
Unlockable Characters[]
| Character | Official Description |
|---|---|
 Luigi |
"Though often hidden in his older brother Mario's shadow, Luigi is, in reality, very popular. Taller than Mario, Luigi also jumps higher. Although he didn't appear in Super Mario 64, in Mario Kart 64 he performed to the best of his ability. For one who seems to always seems to be in the background, he has many fans who eagerly await his appearance." |
 Ness |
"Ness was a seemingly-average kid from Onett, but in truth, he was destined for much more. When a strange meteorite landed near his hometown, the little boy with psychic powers set out to save the world. Little has been said of Ness' character, and much remains hidden." |
 Captain Falcon |
"A regular pilot in the great galactic race F-ZERO Grand Prix, Captain Falcon is skilled at collecting prize money. Much about his past remains hidden in shadow, but it's clear that many a villain hold a powerful grudge against him." |
 Jigglypuff |
"The Balloon PKMN with the big, round eyes. It sings a soothing melody, sending those that hear it to sleep. When mad, it puffs itself up. As a Balloon PKMN, its body is light, weak, and easy to knock away." |
Stages[]
All playable characters have home stages based on games from their own series except for Ness and Captain Falcon, who share stages with other characters for their unlock matches. Ness shares Dream Land with Kirby (as both franchises are developed by HAL Laboratory and center around themes of extra-terrestrials and space travel) and Captain Falcon shares Planet Zebes with Samus (since both characters are intergalactic bounty hunters from Science Fiction worlds).
- Princess Peach's Castle - Mario's homestage. Based on Princess Peach's Castle from Super Mario 64, with many elements taken from stages in that game, such as the bridges from Cool, Cool Mountain and the Lego platforms from Bowser in the Dark World. A Bumper flies above the middle of the playing field causing 1% damage and knockback to all who get hit.
- Kongo Jungle - Donkey Kong's homestage. Based on Kongo Jungle, from Donkey Kong Country and taking inspiration from various jungle stages in that game, particularly the sunset backdrop from Orang-utan Gang. A relatively small stage, the Barrel Cannon at the bottom of the screen aids characters from falling to their certain death. But watch out, because the barrel could point the wrong way and blast you off the stage!
- Hyrule Castle - Link's homestage. It is a faithful recreation of the rooftop of Hyrule Castle from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, with Death Mountain and Kakariko Village visable in the background. A large Stage that features many platforms and a tornado appears once in a while.
- Yoshi's Story - Yoshi's homestage. It is based on the plot of Yoshi's Story, in which Baby Bowser steals the Super Happy Tree and turns Yoshi's Island into a pop-up book. The Super Happy Tree appears in the background and the stage takes visual cues from level 1-1, Treasure Hunt for the foreground and levels 1-2, Surprise!! and 1-3, Rail Lift for the background. A large place with many platforms and clouds that hold the player up before falling.
- Dream Land - Kirby's and Ness's homestage. Based on Green Greens and Whispy Woods' boss fight from Kirby's Dream Land, particularly from their Spring Breeze remake in Kirby Super Star. It is really big and contains Whispy Woods as an obstacle. It is designed to be easiest when playing as either Kirby or Jigglypuff.
- Planet Zebes - Samus's and Captain Falcon's homestage. Based on various locations on Planet Zebes from Metroid and Super Metroid, particularly Brinstar and Norfair. Acid rises from the bottom and damages everyone who makes contact with it. Acid causes 16% and lots of knockback.
- Sector Z - Fox's homestage. Based on Sector Z from Star Fox 64. The largest stage in the whole game. Watch out for Arwings that shoot players.
- Saffron City - Pikachu's and Jigglypuff's homestage. Based on Saffron City, the largest city in Pokémon Red and Blue, fights take place on the roof of Silph Co., inventors of the modern Poké Ball and the game's seventh dungeon. A Fairly Big Pokémon stage. Sometimes Pokémon appear and attacks someone.
- Mushroom Kingdom - Luigi's homestage. Based on the overworld levels from Super Mario Bros. In the 3 pipes you can go down, you appear in a different location. Piranha Plants come up from the pipes and attack people. Lastly, a POW block appears and whoever hits it knocks the other players, who are on the ground, up into the air. (this stage is unlockable)
- Other Stages (exclusive to 1P Mode) - Meta Crystal or Metal Cavern (Metal Mario's Residence, based on the Cavern of the Metal Cap from Super Mario 64), Duel Zone (the fight with the Fighting Polygon Team, and the first rendition of Battlefield), Master Hand's Residence (considered to be the original Final Destination).
Items[]
To make things more interesting, you can also use items. Some of these are the Poké Ball which summons a Pokémon that attacks the enemy or does something to the stage, a Bob-omb that explodes when you throw it, or if it's left on the ground for too long it starts to walk around and if it hits anyone it explodes, Motion Sensor Bombs that explode when a character walks over it, a Heart Container which recovers health, and a Fire Flower which acts as a Flamethrower when you use it.
Development[]
Apparently, the game was first going to be released on the SNES with the use of the Super FX Chip, just like Star Fox, though it was transferred onto the Nintendo 64. This was most likely done so the game could have better graphics and controls.
Initially, when HAL was developing the game, they didn't implement characters from Nintendo's games, but rather just had standard polygonal characters in a Japanese setting (in fact in the background of one of the stages the Nintendo headquarters in Kyoto could be seen). Eventually, they made the move to Nintendo characters.
The game also had a very small budget. Nintendo didn't expect it to be a big hit!
Reception[]
Super Smash Bros. received mostly positive reviews, with criticism mostly directed towards the game's single-player mode.[1] GameSpot's former editorial director, Jeff Gerstmann, noted the single-player game "won't exactly last a long time".[2] Instead, he praised the multi-player portion of the game, saying that it is "extremely simple to learn".[3] He also praised the game's music, calling it "amazing". GameCritics.com's Dale Weir described Super Smash Bros. as "the most original fighting game on the market and possibly the best multiplayer game on any system".[4] There were criticisms, however, such as the game's scoring being difficult to follow. In addition, the single-player mode was criticized for its perceived difficulty and lack of features. It was deemed one of the ten best Mario games of all time by ScrewAttack from GameTrailers.[5] It was given an Editors' choice award from IGN.[6]
Sales[]
Super Smash Bros. was commercially successful, and quickly became a Player's Choice title. Super Smash Bros. is the fifth best-selling game for the Nintendo 64, selling 5.55 million copies worldwide; 1.97 million copies were sold in Japan, 2.93 million have been sold in North America, and 650,000 have been sold elsewhere, as of December 31, 2009.[7]
Development[]
Super Smash Bros. was developed by HAL Laboratory, a Nintendo second-party developer, during 1998. It began life as a prototype created by Masahiro Sakurai and Satoru Iwata in their spare time entitled 'Kakuto-Gēmu Ryūō' (格闘ゲーム竜王 ?, lit. "Dragon King: The Fighting Game"), and originally featured no Nintendo characters. However, Iwata hit on the idea of including fighters from different Nintendo franchises in order to provide "atmosphere" which he felt was necessary for a home console fighting game, and their idea was approved. The game had a small budget and little promotion, and was originally a Japan-only release, but its huge success saw the game released worldwide.[8]
Legacy[]
So far, the game has spawned four sequels - Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The series quickly built a name for itself and by the third installement, it started to include third party characters that had reached an iconic status in gaming history namely Sonic and Solid Snake. At Nintendo's press conference at E3 2011, the first portable Super Smash Bros. game was announced in the form of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. The fourth and fifth installment built on the crossover aspect and added Pac-Man, Mega Man, Ryu, and Cloud Strife alongside Sonic as Snake was cut from the roster. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate saw the return of all the previously cut characters and added Ken, Simon Belmont, and Richter Belmont in the roster of third party characters.
The original Super Smash Bros. was released on the Virtual Console for the Wii for 1,000 Wii points ($10) in 2009.
Credits[]
Gallery[]
| Main article: Super Smash Bros./gallery |
Soundtrack[]
Trivia[]
- Super Smash Bros. was originally going to be a Japanese-only release, but due to its success, it eventually saw a worldwide release.
- Jigglypuff was a last-minute addition to the game. It was chosen because its model could be easily made out of Kirby and because it was one of the more popular Pokemon of the era.
- Originally Bowser, King Dedede, Mewtwo, and Meowth were going to be playable, but weren't included.[9] This is because Nintendo wanted the playable characters to all be heroes, not villains, for the first game. A similar thing occurred with Banjo from Banjo-Kazooie, but this was because they couldn't get the licence from his original company, Rare.
- Link's voice clips were recycled from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time while the other playable characters have unique voice clips.
- This is the only game in the series to not feature stages from Earthbound and F-Zero.
- This is also the only game in the series to receive an ESRB rating of E for Everyone. Its successors are both rated T for Teen while the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U versions (alongside Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) are rated E10+ for Everyone 10+.
- When the player chooses a character, the character will do a short animation in the player's box; this is the only game in the series that does this.
- This is the only game in the Super Smash Bros. series up until Super Smash Bros. Ultimate where the characters are not trophies. They are dolls and the stages are dioramas brought to life by Master Hand.
- This is the only Wii Virtual Console release related to the Mario series that has not been re-released on the Wii U's Virtual Console service.
- It’s the only Smash Bros game where Falco Lombardi, Slippy Toad and Peppy Hare don’t physically appear. They’re however mentioned in Fox’s biography. Fox’s orange alternative costume and his purple one is a reference to respectively Falco and Slippy.
References[]
- ↑ Gamespot Super Smash Bros. Review
- ↑ Gamespot Super Smash Bros. Review
- ↑ Gamespot Super Smash Bros. Review
- ↑ GameCritics.com Super Smash Bros. Review
- ↑ ScrewAttack - Top 10 Mario Games
- ↑ IGN.com - Smash Bros Review Nintendo 64
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ http://us.wii.com/iwata_asks/ssbb/vol7_page1.jsp Iwata Asks: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- ↑ http://games.yahoo.co.jp/qa/detail?qid=1090755405