Super Smash Bros.

"Finally A Chance To Beat The Hell Out Of Pikachu"

I'm sure most of us heard about this game in the same way, we were watching TV and then the commercial of a couple guys in Nintendo Character suits were skipping through a meadow... yawn. then you see the dudes in the suits start beating the crap out of each other, this is a famous commercial now that is regarded by some of us as the best one ever [narrowly beating out the dorks in the Guitar Hero II ad]. Well, I bet that the people at HAL Labs and Masahiro Sakurai never thought the game would of been this big, but judging from the Wii Boards it is. Lets start this review.

Story: 6

I honestly have no idea what the hell is going on in here, they never told a real story. But from the best of what can gather from the opening cinematic, all of the characters in this game were dolls in a Toy Box who were brought to life by a White Glove who puts them on a desk and creates this little world for them to fight on. Then they have to go through a few levels until they can fight Master Hand.

Its a low score because of how they cheaped out on the story by only using an Opening Cinematic.

Gameplay: 8

This game is an intensely simplified fighting game, if you don't like having to memorize all of those commands in the Soul Calibur or Tekken games, then Smash Bros is for you because all of the moves and fighting mechanics are simple enough for most people to learn. First, instead of the "power bar" at the top, there is a percentage marker at the bottom of the screen that shows how much damage you have taken, as it goes up you will get knocked farther by the opponents attacks, and the goal is to knock someone off the stage instead of the standard "knock the power bar to zero".

There are also plenty of characters and stages to choose from, all of them filled with nostalgia of the past games. And there are also some weapons you can choose, like the Beam Sword [like a light Saber] or the Pokeball [releases a Pokemon].

Everything was kept simple, and that is what I like about this game, I enjoy games like Soul Calibur but it is so hard to learn how to do all everything like the million different move combos, or the blocks, but in here the moves are really simple, shielding is simple, and the game is like a 2D sidescroller game. This is a brilliant way to do fighting games.

Challenge: 6

Smash Bros is a very simple game; the AI in here isn't too hard to beat after a while. But the game itself is relatively easy, unlocking all of the characters does not require much of an effort to do. The only real challenge of the game is in Multiplayer when you turn the AI up to the highest Level, but that won't last long you can still pound them really easily. The main game itself will be breezed through, just be glad there is a great Multiplayer mode.

Controls: 9

Again, the controls in this game are really simple to learn, the attacks will require, at the most, tilting the control stick in a direction or pressing the A or B button. As with everything else the controls were kept really simple and you should be able to figure out everything really fast.

Graphics: 8

Everything was presented at some of the highest quality that the Nintendo 64 could muster. The characters look great, the Levels are really reminiscent of the Games they are taken from, and the entire presentation of a cartoony beat-em-up was captured very well. One of the details of the "cartoony beat-em-up" was that there is some kind of action bubbles when you hit the opponent, and most of the attacks have a cartoony feel to them. Even the pixelated things look good.

Also luckily for you, because this game moves so fast, and there is usually so much going on, the game does not slow down at all.

Sound: 8

The game also sounds incredible, the music from so many different games has been remixed and inserted into the nostalgia filled levels of this game, and the rest of the music composed just for this game sounds great. The characters also sound good and the rest of the cartoony sound effects sound great and are perfect for this game. Simply put, the game sounds amazing.

Atmosphere: 7

The atmosphere that was set up for this game was kept simple, the game is very cartoony and the sound effects [the rattling sound you hear when there is a hard impact], or the graphical effects [certain attacks make the skeleton of the character become exposed] really make it feel like that. But for the rest of the games, the nostalgia packed levels make themselves feel like a game in that series.

Multiplayer: 10

This is one of the best multiplayer party games on the Nintendo 64, the main game itself is not very good because of how un-challenging and repetitive it is, but playing against skilled human players keeps things fun and exciting with this game. it is no coincidence that the Smash Bros games are played in Tournaments a lot, they are great multiplayer games that anyone no matter what their skill level can get into and learn how to play quickly. If you like 4 Player games on the N64, but don't like Mario Party or Goldeneye type games, you should give this a try.

Replayability: 8

The reason to keep playing is the Multiplayer, which does not get boring for a long time. The problem is that the Single Player mode won't keep you enthralled for a long time and will probably only be played until you can get all of the characters by most players.

Pros:
Great graphics, great sound, nostalgia filled, one of the best multiplayer games on the N64, very simple fighting mechanics, you can kick Pikachu's ass.

Cons:
Weak single player mode and story.

Should you get it:

As I have been saying, this is a great Multiplayer game and it can be found really cheap at used game stores now so you should get it.

Overall:

Super Smash Bros is one of the greatest multiplayer experiences on the Nintendo 64, and it was filled with nostalgia from some of the best of Nintendo's games to create some "fantasy football" esqe match ups... like who would win: Link or Mario, Samus or Pikachu? Also, we got one of the greatest commercials for any video game when this game came out. Keep your eyes out for the next game in the series, Super Smash Bros: Brawl because it should surpass everything about this game, and if you like this one you will love Brawl.

8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/26/07

Game Release: Super Smash Bros. (US, 04/26/99)