Super Smash Bros.

"A Nintendo Revolution"

What started out as a humorous Nintendo joke, turned into one of the most revolutionary fighter franchises of all time.

STORY
Like most fighters, Smash Bros doesn't really have a story. The intro tells of a gloved hand that brings minature dolls of Nintendo characters to life and makes them fight in imaginary battle fields. It doesn't tell much, but it gives a little purpose to the endless fighting.

GAME PLAY
Smash Bros is not like your average fighter. There are no health bars and you don't pull off complicated combos. Each character has a percent. When they are attacked, their percent goes up. As each character takes damage, they'll fly higher and farther through the air. If a character flies far enough, they'll fly past the boundaries along the edges of the screen and get knocked out, or KO'd. If you are the one that KO's them, you win. Just think sumo wrestling, only without the large fat men.

SINGLE PLAYER MODE
You can duke it out against a ladder of opponents, with limited lives, in a journey to face the Master Hand. Your score is based on how many lives you have remaining, and how you KO your opponents. You'll earn more points on higher difficulty levels and lose points when you lose lives. Besides playing against the playable fighters, you'll also face some enemies that are exclusive to this mode such as Metal Mario, giant DK, and the Fighting Polygon Team. This mode is fun the first few play throughs, but it gets very repetitive because you face the exact same opponents, in the exact same order, every single time.

There are three mini games that only 1 player can play. Break the Targets, Board the Platforms, and Race to the Finish. In Break the Targets, you have to smash 10 targets in an obstacle course as quickly as possible without falling off the stage. Board the Platforms is similar, but instead, you must stand on top of 10 platforms. Each character has their own unique target and platform test which shows plenty originality and challenge. These tests are not straightforward, as you'll need to find creative ways to hit each target and reach each platform. This easily separates the fans, from the determined. Lastly, the Race to the Finish is a 5 level obstacle course where you must dodge enemies, rolling bombs, and hovering bumpers in order to reach the exit before time runs out. This is the same for every character but the course is fun and easy to learn a pattern to get through. The rolling bombs are reminiscent of Bomb Omb Battlefield in Super Mario 64, while the bumpers will test your rolling and jumping abilities.

The single player mode is severely lacking in modes because there's nothing else to do besides the ladder of opponents and the mini game courses. It's obvious this game was designed for more than just one player.

MULTI PLAYER MODE
This is where the game gets a WHOLE lot better. You and up to 3 other friends can duke it out in free for all or team battles. The rules can be set to time, where you must score as many points by KO-ing your opponents as many times as possible within the time limit, or stock, where each player is given a specific amount of lives and the last man standing wins. These two match types are very addictive and the fun gets better as more players join in.

There are 8 playable Nintendo characters: Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, and Pikachu. Each character has a unique move set and you may be surprised; picking your character can be determined by which is your favorite, or which play style fits you best.

There are 8 stages that are based on Nintendo franchises to fight on. While most of the stages are small, they're large enough to give each player some elbow room, but are small enough to keep the pressure on. The stages are fun, colorful, and everyone will easily find a favorite.

There are also numerous items, that come from Nintendo franchises, that you can use to deal more damage to your opponents. Items may range from Star Man (from Mario Bros), Heart Container (from Legend of Zelda), to even Pokemon you can summon from Poke balls to attack your opponents! These items add the crazy fighting and make the game all the more fun.

The multi player is deep and very addictive. It's the heart and soul of this game and it's this mode that is worth buying the game for and to come back to time and time again.

CONTROLS
The controls for Smash Bros couldn't be any easier. The A button attacks, while the B button performs special moves. If you press the A button while tilting the control stick in any direction, you perform a tilt attack, which is slightly more powerful than a regular attack. You can tilt the control stick with the B button to perform other special attacks. If you tap the control stick in any direction with the A button, you perform Smash attacks, which are your most powerful attacks. The control stick moves your character and tapping it will allow you to run. The R button allows you to grab your opponent, and tilting the control stick will throw them in that direction. The Upward C button allows you to jump, and pressing it again allows you to double jump. You can also do this by tapping the control stick up. The L button causes your character to perform a little goofy animation to make funny of your opponents. The Z button puts up your shield bubble to prevent damage from attacks. This shield weakens as attacked so holding it for too long will break it, leaving you temporarily vulnerable. Holding up your shield and tilting the control stick will allow you to roll and dodge attacks. It's important to learn this in order to keep your defenses up. Overall, the controls are much easier than most fighting games, making Smash Bros an easily accessible game. The controls are smooth, responsive, and make the game so much fun to play.

REPLAYABILITY
One of the biggest problems with the game is that it is lacking in modes. Smash Bros was obviously designed to fight and nothing much more. There is a gallery where you can view bios of the characters and records of your battles. There are four unlockable characters as well as one unlockable stage. Other then that, there isn't anything else to do. It's a good thing the fighting is so polished because otherwise, the game wouldn't be much fun.

MUSIC
The music is very good. All the stage themes are great remixes of classic Nintendo tunes and the beats really do get you in the mood to fight. Overall, the music is very good and makes the game that much better to play.

SOUND
The characters have little one liners and screams that are done by the appropriate voice actors. They're not particularly memorable, but not terrible.

DESIGN
Smash Bros nails 3-D graphics on the N64. Everything looks great. However, the main menu looks dark and a bit ugly. It's not a big deal since you won't be seeing it all the time. The game borrows from Mario Kart 64. By that, I mean that the majority of the game is 3-D, but some of the backgrounds, items, and Pokemon, are all sprites. This is the N64! We need to be moving on from sprites! It seems like a bit lazy that the designers took a short cut and jut made the backgrounds 3-D and scroll with the camera. Pokemon Stadium showed that Pokemon could be in 3-D so why are they sprites here? It doesn't make sense. Another problem is that the frame rate drops considerably when more than 2 people are playing. For a game that was designed to handle 4 simultaneous players, this is sort of annoying. Regardless, the N64 was still figuring out 3-D game play and the graphics aren't too bad.

OVERALL
Super Smash Bros is an addictive fighting game that is easy to learn, but difficult to master. While the single player mode is lacking in modes, the fighting style is fun and engaging. This is a game that looks, good, sounds good, and plays good. It's a game that every N64 collection is incomplete without. Super Smash Bros is a must buy game. Nintendo struck gold, and paved the way for even greater things to come.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/03/09

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