Super Smash Bros.

"The Best Fighting Game For The N64!"

At last, after all these years, a game that lets me beat up Pokemon. That is but one of the many things you can do in the epic N64 game Super Smash Brothers. SSB was the much anticipated fighting title that came out for the Nintendo 64 not long before the release of the Gamecube. This was a truly unique game, as for the first time ever, it featured all of Nintendo's most famous video game characters, all fighting each other! Super Smash Bros. would eventually become so popular, that it would spawn a sequel for the Gamecube: Super Smash Bros Melee. Here is why I consider this game to be so great...

Gameplay 10/10: Normally I'm not a big fan of fighting games, but in this case I'll make an exception. As I said before, this game feature's most of Nintendo's most popular characters, like Mario, DK, Kirby, and ultimately, Link, as well as several others. Aside from the large amount of fighters, there are many weapons for you to fight with, including bombs, baseball bats, and lightsabers. It's always fun to beat up Pikachu with a lightsaber.

Unlike a lot of fighting games, where you want your opponent's health to go down so he dies, Smash Bros. is the other way around. In SSB, you want to raise your enemy's health percentage as much as you can. You see, the higher the other guy's percentage, the farther he flies when you hit him. The whole objective of the game is to knock your adversary so far off of the fighting platform that he can't get back on.

The control varies on who you're playing as. If you're Fox, then you can move really quickly, and you have excellent recovery from missed attacks and the such, but your attacks aren't as strong as some of the other characters. On the other hand, if you're Link, then you get decently powerful attacks, but you're slower, and your recovery isn't very good.

Challenge 10/10: The difficulty of Super Smash Brothers ranges from incredibly easy, to frustratingly hard. When the challenge settings are set to very easy, the opponent rarely, if ever, fights back. On the opposite end of the challenge spectrum however, when the game is on very hard mode, you'll be lucky if you can manage to make it through the third round without dying once.

Story 1/10: Umm...Super Smash Brothers doesn't really have an official story, so I'll just make one up: ''One fine day, Mario gathered up all of the greatest Nintendo characters, and told them all to get into a huge fight. They all accepted this order with pride and glee, and then proceeded to beat the crap of each other. In the end though, they all came together, and beat the life out of the Pokemon instead.''. I'm sure if SSB actually had a story, it would go something like that.

Graphics 8/10: Even though SSB came out late in the N64's life, these graphics are similar to the early N64 games! Everything is so polygonal! Seriously, I have seen better graphics on the N64. Much better graphics. The weapons have a 2-D ''Paper Mario'' look to them. And while I'm on the subject of the weapons, they made the all-powerful hammer look more like a mailbox! I'd have to say that the best looking thing in the entire game would have to be Kirby. And that's only because it's hard to mess up Kirby. Smash Brothers doesn't have terrible graphics though, they just could have been much better, that's all. For instance, the backgrounds are very detailed and beautiful, and the fighting platforms look pretty good too. All of the fighting arenas suit their character well.

Sound 10/10: The sound qualities of Smash Brothers are very high indeed. Each stage has music from the game it is from. Also, all of the character have their own distinct sounds, for example, Link's yells and screams sound exactly like they do in Ocarina of Time, and Pikachu has that annoying little saying that he's always doing, like an idiot of course. I suppose that the only ting I can find wrong with this title is that some of the weapons do not sound like they should. The lightsaber doesn't do the hum that it's always doing in the Star Wars movies. When you hit someone with it, it always makes this huge ripping noise, yet another thing I don't remember from the movies.

Playtime/Replayability 10/10: Smash Brothers is one of the most addicting games I have ever played. It is very hard to get bored of this game while you're playing it. There are a number of secrets to unlock in Super Smash Brothers, but I'm not going to go into detail on that. The one thing that will keep you hooked on Smash Bros. though, is definitely the multiplayer. Nintendo always appears to be the best when it comes to multiplayer games, and Smash Brothers is one of their finest projects. Gather up a friend or two, or three, put in Smash Bros, start playing it, and before you know it, several hours have passed.

Rent or Buy: Let me put it this way, you can't really call yourself a Nintendo fan until you buy this game.

I'm beginning to run out of things to say about this game, so I'll end this review by saying that Super Smash Brothers is one of the truly great epics for the Nintendo 64.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/19/03, Updated 05/19/03