Super Smash Bros. (video game)

Super Smash Bros. "SUPER! SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!! BROTHEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRSS!!!" Genre(s): Fighting Platform(s): Nintendo 64 iQue Player Release: Nintendo 64 JP: January 21, 1999 NA/BR: April 26, 1999 EU: November 19, 1999 AU: January 5, 2000 iQue Player CHN: November 15, 2005 Developer(s): HAL Laboratory Publisher(s): Nintendo Country: Japan Series: Super Smash Bros. Successor: Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros., sometimes referred as Super Smash Bros. 64, is a fighting game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. It is the first installment in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Why It's Smashing

1. The game has a total of 12 playable characters, all of which come from various well-known franchises, with them being Mario and Luigi from Super Mario, Donkey Kong from Donkey Kong Country, Link from The Legend of Zelda, Samus from Metroid, Yoshi and Kirby from their series of the same name, Fox McCloud from Star Fox, Pikachu and Jigglypuff from Pokémon, Captain Falcon from F-Zero and Ness from EarthBound. Each one has their own playstyle, with the exception of Luigi, who is a clone of Mario but with noticeable differences, as well as Jigglypuff being a semi-clone of Kirby but with different moves.
2. Compared to other fighting games, where you had to defeat your opponent until their HP counter reached 0 to achieve a K.O. and a win, in this game, the only way to K.O. your opponent is to hit them off the stage. However, the game uses percentage (%) instead of regular HP, making Super Smash Bros. unique from the other fighting games. Also, the characters normally have stocks, and losing all of them will mean that they cannot fight anymore and will have to wait until there's one fighter remaining, although there's a time mode which focuses on gaining points to achieve the victory, where the character with the most points win the match, while the others will get either the 2nd, 3rd or last places when they score less points.
3. Excellent graphics for 1999 standards. Some models look like they match the characters from their source games, such as Mario and Luigi's designs being inspired by Mario Party and Super Mario 64, meanwhile some characters make their full debut in 3D, such as Ness, Samus, Donkey Kong, Kirby, and some other characters.
4. Amazing soundtrack. Each stage has their own music, with some being happy (such as the music for Yoshi's Island and Dream Land), some feel like you're travelling somewhere, such as the music for Planet Zebes, while some music, such as for Duel Zone/Battlefield and Final Destination are fitting for Fighting Polygon Team and Master Hand, respectively.
5. Solid controls. Controlling your character is so easy that you won't have to easily fall off the edge without even being able to recover, and performing every attack is also not difficult since you can just hold the analog stick to the right and press the A button at the same time to perform a forward smash, or any specials, such as the neutral special, which is performed simply by pressing the B button.
6. Over 9 stages to choose from, with each one having their own design and gimmicks, such as Whispy Woods blowing wind in Dream Land that slightly pushes the characters depending on where he blows, Kongo Jungle (misstyped as Congo Jungle) has a barrel that lets you shoot to recover, though it can be quite tricky, Yoshi's Island has clouds that can be used to camp, although some characters end up being stuck on them if they have poor recoveries and cannot recover from them, while Final Destination is a flat stage with no platforms, although the latter is only exclusive to 1P mode and cannot be accessed without cheats.
7. Awesome intro before the title screen. Master Hand places two plushes of any starter characters, followed by each starter character performing some of their moves (or just falling, notably when the intro shows Pikachu), and then two moments with Link and Pikachu, respectively. After that, it shows Samus and Donkey Kong fighting on Congo Jungle (Kongo Jungle) before Samus fires a fully charged Charge Shot that shoots Donkey Kong away, followed by two parts of Yoshi and Fox, respectively, until it switches to a scene where Mario and Kirby perform their kicks, followed by other starter characters, and then the poses for the unlockable characters (Luigi, Ness, Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff). Interestingly, in the intro, if either Luigi, Ness, Captain Falcon or Jigglypuff aren't unlocked yet, the intro will display them in their silhouettes. Finally, when the intro ends, the announcer announces the game's title while the crowd cheers in the background.
8. The credits are incredible. Instead of regular credits, you can shoot at the names of the people who worked on in the game, and other stuff, and the information box will display the person/company responsible for something for the game. Interestingly, for unlockable characters, if any of them hasn't been unlocked yet, a "?????" will be displayed in the information box, very likely to avoid spoilers.
9. The game has two bonus modes that are very enjoyable - Break the Targets and Board the Platforms, where you have to break 10 targets and board 10 platforms, respectively. Each character has their own stage designed for these two modes, and it requires some skills to fully complete them. Additionally, completing Break the Targets as every starter character will allow you to fight Luigi if he's not unlocked and then unlock him as a playable character.
10. You can play with 4 players for lots of fun, which can result in a very fun way to spend time fighting with your friends as your main, no matter if the character is strong or not. And you can choose one of the 9 playable stages for even more fun.

Bad Qualities

1. There are some slight problems in balance in characters, and some have several flaws.
   • While it's not a huge issue that Luigi is a clone of Mario, Luigi is slower and can be easy to punish, and his fireball doesn't travel a very long distance. Also, some of his attacks are weaker with the exception of Super Jump Punch, his Up special.
   • Donkey Kong's weight is a huge mixed bag, as while it makes him the hardest character to K.O., it also makes him very easy to combo, his recovery doesn't cover much vertical distance and his off-stage survivability almost doesn't exist. However, he is better in the western versions because he received some buffs, compared to the Japanese version, where he had a lot of weaknesses.
   • Ness's recovery, despite covering a long distance, is notorious for being very predictable, not to mention his projectiles are a bit laggy and he doesn't have much vertical distance. However, he's better in the Japanese version because he's stronger, while in the western versions, he was nerfed in bad ways.
   • Link has one of the worst recoveries in the whole series, as Spin Attack, his Up special, doesn't cover much vertical distance. Also, due to being a fast faller and dropping like a rock, he is easy to combo, though arguably not as much as Donkey Kong. Not only that, but Link's attacks are bit slow too.
   • Pikachu feels too overpowered, as it can K.O. rather quickly, but as other overpowered characters, Pikachu does have some weaknesses, such as it being a lightweight character that makes it easier for it to be K.O.'d.
2. The A.I. is incredibly flawed; sometimes they spam the same moves, such as Mario's fireball, they ignore Motion-Sensor Bombs, which can result in them being K.O.'d in a very easy way (especially if they ignore their own Motion-Sensor Bombs), and they only recover once, as if they get edgeguarded, they won't recover again and will just lose a stock. They also have trouble recognizing walls and will just walk into them, which is notable in Saffron City as if a Pokémon appears, they can receive a lot of damage. They also have more problems with recovering; if Captain Falcon uses Falcon Dive and grabs an opponent while recovering, he won't use the move again until landing, which can cause him to self destruct if he's away from the stage, or if Ness uses PK Thunder to recover, he always aims it in a horizontal, barely upwards angle, even if he's below the stage, which can also result in him self-destructing. These flaws resulted in the A.I. in Smash 64 being considered as the worst A.I. in any Super Smash Bros. game, even worse than in Melee.
3. Smash 64 has the least amount of content, with only 12 playable characters, 9 stages, not that much items and only three 1P modes, although it is understandable since they were just getting started, and some modes couldn't be implemented either due to time constraints or the N64's limitations.
4. The artstyle of the box arts and artworks is pretty ugly looking, with Yoshi, Link and Fox having the worst designs.
   • Each playable character has 3 specials instead of 4, as Side Specials did not exist in Smash 64 yet, and they were introduced in Melee.
5. The 1P mode can feel very repetitive, as you fight every playable character in the same order, starting with Link on Hyrule Castle, as well as three bonus stages, being Break the Targets as stage 3, Board the Platforms as stage 6, and Race to the Finish as stage 9. However, this can be understandable, since they were just getting started, and the 1P mode, which was renamed to Classic mode in later Smash games, improved since Melee, where the character you fight is randomized, and the bonus stages are the same, but the classic mode also has differences.

Reception

Super Smash Bros was met with a positive reception from both critics and players. The graphics, soundtrack, gameplay, multiplayer-player mode, its original fighting game style, and simple learning curve. However, the game did receive some criticism for its lack of features and the single-player mode. On Metacritic, the game has a 79/100 from critics and a 8.6/10 from players.

The game sold 5 million copies worldwide as of 2001, making it the 5th best-selling game for the Nintendo 64.

Trivia

• 4 characters were considered to appear in the game, with them being Bowser from Super Mario, King Dedede from Kirby, Marth from Fire Emblem and Mewtwo from Pokémon, but all were cut from the game either due to the N64's limitations or time constraints. Bowser, Marth and Mewtwo first appeared in the Smash series in Melee, while King Dedede first appeared in Brawl.
  • As a result, Smash 64 is the only Super Smash Bros. game to lack Fire Emblem content.
• This is the only Super Smash Bros. game to be rated E for Everyone, as Melee and Brawl were rated T for Teens, while Smash 4 and Ultimate were rated E10+ for Everyone 10+.
• This is the only game in the series where Fox McCloud's blaster causes hitstun and deal a bit of damage, as starting from Melee, Fox's blaster no longer causes hitstun and deals a very slight amount of damage. Later it was borrowed by Falco and Wolf, respectively.

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