Super Smash Bros. (series)
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Super Smash Bros., known in Japan asDairantō Smash Brothers (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ,Great Fray Smash Brothers), commonly known asSmash Bros. (スマブラ) orSmash, stylized asSUPER SMASH BROS., is a series of crossover fighting games published byNintendo, featuring characters from franchises established on Nintendo systems. The series had a successful start in 1999 with the video gameof the same name released on theNintendo 64. It achieved even greater success withSuper Smash Bros. Melee, first released in 2001 for theNintendo GameCube, becoming the best selling game on that system. The third installment,Super Smash Bros. Brawl, was first released on theWii in 2008. The fourth game in the series,Super Smash Bros. 4, was first released for theNintendo 3DS in September 2014, while theWii U version was first released in November 2014. The most recent game in the series,Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, was released for theNintendo Switch on December 7, 2018.Masahiro Sakurai has directed all five games despiteHAL Laboratory handing the series to a new developer forBrawl.[1]
History[edit]
Super Smash Bros.[edit]
Super Smash Bros. was introduced in 1999 for theNintendo 64. It was released worldwide after selling over a million copies in Japan. It featured 12 playable characters (eight characters from the start and four unlockable characters), all of them created by Nintendo or one of its second-party developers.
In the multiplayer (Versus) mode, up to four people can play, with the specific rules of each match being predetermined by the players. There are two different types that can be chosen: Time, where the person with the most KOs at the end of the set time wins; and stock, where each person has a set amount of lives, and when it is gone, the player is eliminated.
This game's one-player mode included an adventure mode that always followed the same series of opponents, although the player could change the difficulty. Other single-player modes exist such as Training and several mini-games, includingBreak the Targets andBoard the Platforms. All of these were included in the sequel, with the exception of "Board the Platforms".
In Versus mode, there are nine playable stages. However, there are eight stages available from the start; and are based on each of thestarter characters (includingPeach's Castle forMario,Congo Jungle forDonkey Kong,Hyrule Castle forLink,Planet Zebes forSamus Aran,Yoshi's Island forYoshi,Dream Land forKirby,Sector Z forFox McCloud, andSaffron City forPikachu), and the unlockableMushroom Kingdom (which is the oneunlockable stage).
Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]
Super Smash Bros. Melee was released November 21, 2001 in Japan; December 3, 2001 in the Americas; May 24, 2002 in Europe; and May 31, 2002 in Australia for theNintendo GameCube console. It had a larger budget and development team than its predecessor did and was released to much greater praise and acclaim among critics and consumers. Since its release,Super Smash Bros. Melee has sold more than 7 million copies and was the best-selling game on the GameCube.[2]
Super Smash Bros. Melee features twenty-six playable characters; of which 15 are available initially (more than doubling the number of characters in its predecessor). Altogether, 15 characters arestarter characters and 11 areunlockable characters). There are also twenty-nine playable stages (however, 18 stages arestarter stages and 11 areunlockable stages). It introduced two new single-player modes alongside theClassic Mode;Adventure, andAll Star.Adventure has platforming segments similar to the original's "Race to the Finish" minigame, andAll-Star is a fight against every playable character in the game, allows the player only one life in which damage is accumulated over each battle, and the character is allowed to use only three recovery items which heal all taken damage in between battles. There are also significantly more multiplayer modes and a tournament mode allowing for 64 different competitors whom can all be controlled by a human player, although only up to four players can participate at the same time. Additionally, the game featured alternative battle modes, called "Special Melee," which involve some sort of alteration to the battle (ex: all characters are giant by default, players may only use their jump and standard attack buttons, etc.), along with alternative ways to judge a victory, such as through collecting coins throughout the match. In addition, the game introduced theHome-Run Contest, where players use aHome-Run Bat to send Sandbag flying while damaging it for ten seconds.
In place ofSuper Smash Bros.' character profiles,Melee introduced trophies (called "figures" in the Japanese version). The 293 trophies include three different profiles for each playable character, one unlocked in each single-player mode. In addition, unlike its predecessor,Melee contains profiles for many Nintendo characters who are either non-playable or do not appear in the game, as well as Nintendo items, stages, enemies, and elements.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]
Although a thirdSuper Smash Bros. game had been announced long before E3 2006, Nintendo unveiled its first information in the form of a trailer on May 10, 2006, and the game was namedSuper Smash Bros. Brawl. The trailer featuredSolid Snake, ofKonami'sMetal Gear fame, marking the first time that a third-party character had been introduced as a playable character in aSuper Smash Bros. title. A second third-party character,Sonic the Hedgehog, from Nintendo's former rivalSega was also confirmed as a playable character on October 10, 2007.Brawl is also the first game in the franchise to support online play via theNintendo Wi-Fi Connection.[3] The game was released on January 31, 2008 in Japan, and on March 9th for North America.
Brawl also features compatibility with four kinds of controllers (theWii Remote turned sideways, the Wii Remote andNunchuk combination, theClassic Controller, and theNintendo GameCube controller),[4] while its predecessors only used the one controller designed for that system. The player also has the ability to change the configuration of controls and the controller type.[5]
Super Smash Bros. 4[edit]
- See also:Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
- See also:Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
At E3 2011, it was announced that there would be a fourth entry in theSuper Smash Bros. franchise. The game is available on theNintendo 3DS and theWii U and is collectively known asSuper Smash Bros. 4. Development began in late February 2012, and the 3DS version was released on September 13th, 2014 in Japan, and was released on October 3rd, 2014 internationally, while the Wii U version was released on November 21st, 2014 in the Americas, on November 28th, 2014 in Europe, on November 29th, 2014 in Australia, and on December 6th, 2014 in Japan.
Sonic the Hedgehog returned as veteran third party fighter fromSega while new third-parties were also added to this game:Mega Man fromCapcom andPac-Man fromBandai Namco. Later, whenDLC was announced for the game,Ryu fromStreet Fighter was added as the first DLC newcomers. Then, during the November 12th, 2015Nintendo Direct,Cloud Strife fromFinal Fantasy was the second DLC newcomer announced, thus addingSquare Enix to the list of third-parties represented in SSB4. Lastly, in the final Smash Bros. Direct special presentation on December 15, 2015, the Smash Bros. Ballot winner, Bayonetta, was announced and revealed. Her inclusion, as well as Ryu's, make Sega and Capcom the first third-party companies in the series to have more than one fighter.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]
In October 2014, a fan asked Sakurai if he was done with developingSuper Smash Bros. games, to which he replied, "I'm not done yet...".[6] Despite this, he stated inWeekly Famitsu that he doubts he could continue game development as a whole if his workload stays the way it was forSuper Smash Bros. 4.[7]
On March 8th, 2018, aSuper Smash Bros. game was confirmed for the Nintendo Switch, due out in 2018. The trailer, revealed at the end of the Nintendo Direct that day, suggested that theInklings would be playable.[8]
During E3 2018, the title for the next game,Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, was announced alongside several details, including its character roster which includes all characters in theSuper Smash Bros. series, along with Inkling andRidley as newcomers,Daisy as an Echo Fighter of Peach, and the return of Xander Mobus as theannouncer. During theSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct on August 8th,Simon Belmont and his descendantRichter ofCastlevania fame were both announced as new playable fighters, along withDark Samus andChrom as Echo Fighters and Donkey Kong's arch-enemy,King K. Rool. Isabelle fromAnimal Crossing, who appeared in the previous game as an Assist Trophy, was revealed as a playable fighter at the close of the September 2018 Nintendo Direct, along with a teaser for a brand new entry in theAnimal Crossing series on the Switch in 2019. In the secondSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct on November 1st,Ken Masters andIncineroar were announced as the final fighters to complete the base roster along with the newSpirits mode, a new story calledWorld of Light, aPiranha Plant as a DLC fighter and theFighters Pass Vol. 1, which includes five fighters, five stages and extra music tracks as DLC. The first character of this Fighters Pass Vol. 1 was revealed to beJoker, the main protagonist fromPersona 5, atThe Game Awards 2018.
The game was released worldwide on December 7, 2018.[9]
Piranha Plant was released as the first DLC fighter as a huge surprise, free to those who had registered the game on My Nintendo before the end of January 2019.Joker was the first Fighters Pass Vol.1 character to be released in April 2019. Subsequent DLC announcements occurred at E3 2019: theHero fromDragon Quest, released late July of 2019, andBanjo &Kazooie, who were released in September 2019. The same month Banjo & Kazooie were released,Terry fromFatal Fury was announced as the fourth DLC fighter, and was released in November 2019. That same month, it was announced that more DLC characters were undergoing development to join the roster. In January 2020,Byleth fromFire Emblem: Three Houses was announced as the fifth and last Fighters Pass Vol. 1 character, and was released later that same month. It was also revealed that another Fighters Pass would be released, under the title of Fighters Pass Vol. 2, and it would contain six characters:Min Min fromARMS, who was announced in March 2020, and was fully revealed/released in June 2020;Steve fromMinecraft, who was announced and released in October 2020;Sephiroth fromFinal Fantasy, who was announced and released in December 2020;Pyra andMythra as a two-in-one transformation character fromXenoblade Chronicles 2, were announced in February 2021 and released in March 2021;Kazuya fromTekken, who was announced and released in June 2021; andSora fromKingdom Hearts as the final downloadable character, who released on October 18, 2021.
Gameplay[edit]
The basic gameplay ofSuper Smash Bros. series dramatically differs from many fighting games. Instead of depleting an opponent's life bar,Smash Bros. seeks players to launch characters off the stage. InSuper Smash Bros., characters have a damage total, represented by a percentage value, which rises as they take damage and can exceed 100%. As characters' percentages rise, they can be knocked progressively further by an opponent's attacks. For a character to be KO'd, said character must be sent off the edge of the stage, which is not an enclosed arena but rather an area with open boundaries, usually a set of suspended platforms. If a character travels too far away from the stage in any direction, they lose a stock and potentially lose the entire game. When a character is knocked off the stage, they typically have an opportunity to (attempt to) recover and return; typically by jumping and using attacks that cause the player to travel a significant distance. Some characters have an easier time recovering than others due to a combination of floatier jumps or simply having more jumps available, as well as having attacks with more significant aerial drift. Additionally, some characters are heavier than others, making it harder for an opponent to knock them off the edge but likewise harder to recover.
Smash Bros.'s play controls are greatly simplified in comparison to other fighting games. While traditional fighting games such asStreet Fighter require the player to memorize button-input combinations (sometimes lengthy and complicated, and often specific to a character),Smash Bros uses the same one-attack-button, one-control-stick-direction combinations to access all moves for all characters. Two buttons are primarily used for attacks:normal attack button andspecial attack button, with the orientation of thecontrol stick dictating what specific attack is used. Some attacks only activate on the ground, while others only activate while airborne, and some can activate in both scenarios, though functionality may change. Other attacks are activated through non-traditional methods, but these are few and far between. Most characters are not limited to constantly facing their opponent but may move around freely, with some attacks only accessible by tilting the stick opposite where the character is facing.Smash Bros. also approaches blocking different than other games. Instead of simply holding a direction to block, a dedicated button activates ashield, which depletes with prolonged used and replenishes when not in use, with enemy attacks accelerating the depletion. If a shield fully depletes, the character isstunned and at the mercy of their opponent. Using the stick in this shield state can activate various types ofdodges, which can be used both on the ground and in the air. Grabbing and throwing other characters is also possible, allowing for a large variety of ways to attack.
One additional major element in theSuper Smash Bros. series is the inclusion of battleitems, of which players can control the frequency of appearance. There are conventional "battering items" with which a player may hit an opponent, such as abaseball bat or asword, as well as throwing items, includingBob-ombs andshells, and shooting items, either single-shot guns or rapid fire blasters. Recovery items allow the user to lose varying amounts of their damage percent. From thePokémon franchise comePoké Balls that release a random Pokémon onto the battlefield to assist the user;Brawl introduces a new "Assist Trophy" item which serves a similar purpose, albeit being capable of summoning a wider range of characters from a variety of franchises.Brawl also introduces items calledSmash Balls, which allows fighters to perform powerful character-specific attacks, known asFinal Smashes.
Characters[edit]
Characters in theSuper Smash Bros. series can be divided into two main groups. The primary group that most people refer to when they speak of "characters" are those that are playable in-game. These are known asfighters or playable characters. The second group is those that are non-playable. This is a larger group that encompasses such entities includingbosses,generic enemies, and summonable characters likeAssist Trophies, to name a few.
Playable characters[edit]
There are currently 89 (if Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon count as three characters, and Mii fighters count as three characters) playable characters in total.Smash 64 has 12,Melee has 26 (if Sheik is put separate from Zelda),Brawl has 39 (if Zero Suit Samus and Sheik are put separate from Samus and Zelda, respectively, and the Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon count as three characters), andSmash 4 has 58 (51 on disc and 7 downloadable), almost five times the amount inSmash 64.Ultimate uniquely brings back all of the characters from past games, as well as 24 newcomers. However, without countingDLC,Ultimate has 74 playable characters (counting Pokémon Trainer as one character) and like in Smash 4, Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Zelda, and Sheik are all separate characters (so Samus can no longer transform into Zero Suit Samus; while Zelda can no longer transform into Sheik). Many of the characters are available from the start, but some are unlockable, meaning certain conditions must be met before they can be played as.
Non-playable characters[edit]
Computer-controlled, non-playable characters appear in the various single-player modes throughout the series, as well as the backgrounds of select versus mode stages. The player can control them only by using various cheat devices and theMaster Hand glitch. Most of the non-playable characters were created for use in theSuper Smash Bros. series. The only other way to play as a boss is inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, whereMaster Hand can be played as the true final boss. Some examples of non-playable characters are as follows:
Bosses[edit]
Throughout theSuper Smash Bros. series, most single-player modes have included several non-playable boss characters. These bosses generally have several advantageous characteristics, such as extreme resistance to being knocked off of the screen. Most of these bosses were created specifically for theSuper Smash Bros. franchise, though some have made appearances in other games.
Master Hand appears in bothSuper Smash Bros. and its sequelSuper Smash Bros. Melee as the final boss ofClassic Mode and the 50thEvent match "Final Destination Match".Super Smash Bros. Melee introduced a left-hand counterpart to Master Hand namedCrazy Hand, which appears alongside Master Hand in some scenarios. Master Hand also makes several appearances inKirby & the Amazing Mirror as a miniboss, and partnered with Crazy Hand as the bosses of Candy Constellation. He also makes an appearance inKirby: Squeak Squad as a gray hand that can shift its shape to form swords and the like.
Master Hand and Crazy Hand look identical aside from theirlaterality, but Crazy Hand's fingers act more erratically and chaotically. While Master Hand is more relaxed and mature, Crazy Hand is impulsive and destructive and his fingers move differently when he is preparing for an attack. His attacks are wilder and faster than those of Master Hand, hence his name. When being fought simultaneously, Crazy Hand and Master Hand are able to execute moves together, including a series of claps, and the two hands making fists.
Super Smash Bros. also introducedMetal Mario (originally fromSuper Mario 64) and aGiant Donkey Kong. Metal Mario is basically Mario, but with increased resistance to being knocked out of the stage as well as a faster falling speed and more attack power, while Giant Donkey Kong is a larger and more powerful version of Donkey Kong.Super Smash Bros. Melee's Adventure Mode introduced more boss characters that were enhanced versions of playable characters, such as the Tiny Donkey Kong duo, Giant Kirby, and Metal Luigi. However, due to items introduced inMelee, such as theMetal Box,Super Mushroom andPoison Mushroom, all of these seemingly non-playable characters (including the enhanced characters that were unplayable bosses in the first game) are indeed playable for short amounts of time as they allow all characters to become Metal, Giant or Tiny.Dark Link, a completely black form of Link, appeared inMelee as a non-playable character. InSuper Smash Bros. Brawl, gamers are able to play as Dark Link in the form of a color change for Link.[10]
Giga Bowser, known in Japan asGiga Koopa (ギガクッパ), is the giant and powered up version ofBowser introduced inSmash Bros. Melee. He is the secret final boss ofMelee'sAdventure Mode, only appearing if the player clears Adventure Mode on Normal mode or higher in 18 minutes or less without using continues. Beat him without using a continue to get his trophy. He is also one of the fighters in the final match ofMelee's Event modeEvent 51: The Showdown (where the player fights Giga Bowser,Ganondorf, andMewtwo). Giga Bowser has several abilities that the regular Bowser does not. He is so large that he is immune to grabs and similar grabbing moves. As with Metal Mario, Giga Bowser becomes playable for short periods of time in the following game,Super Smash Bros. Brawl, whenBowser performs his "Final Smash" attack. Bowser transforms into Giga Bowser, and is practically invincible until the effect of the Final Smash wears off.[11]
Super Smash Bros. Brawl's adventure mode,The Subspace Emissary, also features boss characters.[12] Some of these characters, such asPetey Piranha, are characters borrowed from other franchises.
Others are original and are only inSuper Smash Bros.; namely,Galleom,Duon andTabuu.
Super Smash Bros. 4 also has bosses that appear on regular stages, such asRidley onPyrosphere,Yellow Devil onWily Castle, andDark Emperor onFind Mii The game also has an extra boss namedMaster Core, which only appears on higher intensity onClassic Mode.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate adds new bosses that show up at the end ofClassic Mode and in theWorld of Light mode, such asMarx,Rathalos, andGanon. There are also several returning bosses, includingMaster Hand,Crazy Hand,Galleom andGiga Bowser.
Finally, there are the two main antagonists ofWorld of Light,Galeem andDharkon.
Mysterious Small Fry Enemy Corps[edit]
The series'Multi-Man Smash modes pit players against a horde of genericenemies that function near-identically to select fighters, minuseffects andspecial moves, and having their sheer numbers offset by higherknockback and lowerAI.
- Fighting Polygons (or "the Fighting Polygon Team") are metallic-looking purple clones of playable characters made completely out of crude polygons inSuper Smash Bros. 64. The next to last level in the game contains 30 of these clones of existingSmash 64 characters. They use near-perfect models as their character-counterparts with minute changes to their anatomy, and with a purple texture.
- InSmash Bros. Melee, the Fighting Polygons are replaced by theFighting Wire Frames. Unlike the original game, there are only two types of Fighting Wire Frames (Male and Female) as opposed to a Polygon corresponding to each individual character base. The only distinct characteristics Fighting Wire Frames have is that there is a Heart inside their chest and theSuper Smash Bros. logo where their face should be. Both the male and female Fighting Wire Frames possess these. Male and Female Wire Frames have the frame and gait ofCaptain Falcon andZelda, respectively.
- InSuper Smash Bros. Brawl, theFighting Alloy Team supersedes both other teams and come in four colors, shapes, and sizes. They have the frame and gait ofCaptain Falcon,Zelda,Mario, andKirby.
- InSmash Bros 4 , they were replaced byFightingMii Teams. They wear a black shirt that has the letter M, instead of a crudely made model of another character. There arethreedifferenttypes of Fighting Mii Team members.
Common enemies[edit]
Along withMelee'sAdventure Mode came the inclusion of minor, generic enemies, such asGoombas from theMario franchise and Octoroks from theZelda franchise. This trend continues intoSuper Smash Bros. Brawl to an extent; only enemies from the Mario series reappear (Goombas,Hammer Bros,Bullet Bills, andKoopa Troopas) due to Bowser's hands-on role in the SSE as a villain.Waddle Dees also appeared in a cutscene, but they never showed up as regular enemies. Brawl's adventure mode also includes an assortment of original characters to serve as non-playable generic enemies led by the Subspace Army.
Subspace Army[edit]
The Subspace Army are the antagonists ofSuper Smash Bros. Brawl, appearing inThe Subspace Emissary and led by theAncient Minister. Their goal is to bring the entireWorld of Trophies intoSubspace piece by piece with devices calledSubspace Bombs (detonated with the aid of twoR.O.B.s), though their motives are a mystery. Among their foot soldiers are thePrimid, the primary offensive force of the Subspace Army, said to come in various forms to do battle.[13] They can be seen forming out of strangepurple spores that clump together. A variety of other enemies exist; along with theR.O.B. Squad, assorted original enemies includeBytans, small spherical enemies capable of self-replication;Greaps, large robotic figures that attack with large sickles; andTrowlons, enemies with trowel-like bodies that attack by lifting opponents, among many others.[14]
Sandbag[edit]
Sandbag (サンドバッグくん,Sandobaggu-kun) appears in the "Home-Run Contest" minigame inSuper Smash Bros. Melee,Super Smash Bros. Brawl,Super Smash Bros. 4, andSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate. The object is to strike it as far as possible with either a suppliedHome-Run Bat or a fighting move. Sandbag's only purpose is to get hit in the Home-Run Contest. Being hit all the time does not hurt it; it actually loves to see players "wind up and let loose," according to the trophy description. During the actual Home-Run Contest challenge, a player will use their chosen character to hit Sandbag off the pedestal on which it rests within ten seconds. Players damage Sandbag as much as possible while keeping on the orange platform so that it will fly farther. InBrawl, the "Home-Run Contest" also features two-player modes, online play, and a shield that keeps Sandbag on the platform while it is being damaged. Players may also practice by attacking Sandbag while online multiplayer matches load.
Trivia[edit]
- Masahiro Sakurai stated in aYouTube video that Satoru Iwata came up with the title ofSuper Smash Bros. (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ in Japanese). Iwata explained that while very few of the characters in the game are canonically brothers, the title implied that the characters had personal connections and were not simply fighting each other for no reason, as if they were all friends settling a little disagreement.[15]
References[edit]
- ^Masahiro Sakurai. How this Game Came to be Made. Smash Bros. DOJO!!. smashbros.com. Archived fromthe original on 2006-07-17.
- ^David Radd (2006-11-17). Opinion: Wii Won't Rock You. GameDaily. Retrieved on 2006-11-27.
- ^Wi-Fi Play. Smash Bros. DOJO!!. smashbros.com (2007-09-18). Retrieved on 2007-09-18.
- ^Four Kinds of Control. Smash Bros. DOJO!!. smashbros.com.
- ^Names. Smash Bros. DOJO!!. smashbros.com.
- ^Super Smash Bros. Isn't Finished Being Made. Kotaku.
- ^Smash Bros. Could be its Creator's Last Game. Kotaku.
- ^Super Smash Bros. is coming to Nintendo Switch!.
- ^Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - E3 2018 - Nintendo Switch.
- ^Video of Dark Link in theBrawl Demo made available at EforAll 2007.
- ^Bowser's page on the official Super Smash Bros. Brawl website. Smash Bros. DOJO!!. smashbros.com.
- ^Petey Piranha. Smash Bros. DOJO!!. smashbros.com.
- ^The Subspace Army. Smash Bros. DOJO!!. smashbros.com.
- ^The Enemies From Subspace. Smash Bros. DOJO!!. smashbros.com.
- ^Mr. Iwata [Grab Bag]
External links[edit]
| Super Smash Bros. series | |
|---|---|
| Super Smash Bros. ·Super Smash Bros. Melee ·Super Smash Bros. Brawl ·Super Smash Bros. 4 (for Nintendo 3DS ·for Wii U) ·Super Smash Bros. Ultimate |
