Super Smash Bros.
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Super Smash Bros. (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ, Dai-Rantō Sumasshu Burazāzu, Great Fray Smash Brothers) is a series of fighting games made by Nintendo, featuring characters from established video games. The series had a successful start in 1999 with Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64. It achieved even greater success with Super Smash Bros. Melee, released in 2001 for the Nintendo GameCube, becoming the best selling game on that system. The third installment, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, is scheduled for release on Wii on December 3rd, 2007. Masahiro Sakurai, the director for all three games in the series, has stated he will do his best to make Brawl Wi-Fi compatible [1] [2].
History
Super Smash Bros.
Super Smash Bros. was introduced in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. Originally a low-budget game with polygonal shaped figures that was exclusive to Japan[citation needed], it was released worldwide after selling over a million copies in Japan[3]. It featured eight characters from the start, with four unlockable characters, all of them created by Nintendo or one of its second-party developers.
In 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 one 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, including "Break the Targets" and "Board 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: eight based on each of the starting characters (such as Princess Peach's Castle for Mario, Zebes for Samus and Sector Z for Fox) and the unlockable Mushroom Kingdom which is sometimes seen as Luigi's Stage.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee was released November 21, 2001 in Japan, December 3, 2001 in North America, May 24, 2002 in Europe, and May 31, 2002 in Australia for the GameCube video game console. It had a larger budget and development team than Super Smash Bros. did[4] 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.[citation needed]
Super Smash Bros. Melee features 25 characters, of which 14 are available initially. In contrast, Super Smash Bros. has only eight starting characters and four hidden characters. There are also 29 stages. It introduced two new single-player modes alongside the Classic mode: Adventure mode and All-Star mode. Adventure mode has platforming segments similar to the original's "Race to the Finish" mini-game, and All-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 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 played by the player, although only four players can participate at the same time. Also, it had 12 more modes such as being judged by bonuses usually given in classic and adventure, being in slow motion, being giant, etc.
In place of Super 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
Although a third Super Smash Bros. game had been announced long before E3 2006 known as Super Smash Bros. Revolution, on May 10, 2006, Nintendo unveiled its first information in the form of a trailer, and the game was renamed Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The trailer featured Solid Snake, of Konami's Metal Gear fame, marking the first time that a third-party character had been introduced as a playable character in a Super Smash Bros. title.
Brawl also features compatability with four kinds of controllers (the Wii Remote on its side, the Wii Remote and Nunchuck combination, the Classic Controller, and the Gamecube controller)[5], while its prequels 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.[6]
Brawl also introduces the Smash Ball, a field item that allows a character to unleash an unusually powerful "Final Smash" attack particular to each character. Also introduced is the Assist Trophy, which opens up a non-playable character to fight on a player's side for a short period of time in a similar fashion to that of Poké Balls used in all Super Smash Bros. games.
Gameplay
The Super Smash Bros. series is a dramatic departure from many fighting games. Unlike most fighting games, games or kills are won by knocking an opponent off the stage as opposed to damaging the opponent and depleting their life bar. In Super Smash Bros., players have a damage percent, and when they take damage from opponents' attacks, this number increases. As a player's percent rises, he/she is knocked progressively farther by an opponent's attacks. The number also gradually represents the risk by turning from white, (in the beginning at zero) to pink, to red, and eventually darkens to black. To kill an opponent, the player must damage the opponent enough to send him/her flying off the stage and/or fall out of the stage arena. When a player is knocked off the stage, he/she may use jump moves to return to the stage. Some characters have more far reaching jump moves than others, so it may be easier for some characters to "recover" than others. Additionally, some characters may be heavier than others, thus they will be knocked back less than a lighter character; the trade-off is heavier characters are unable to jump as far as their lighter counterparts.
Players control their characters more simply than in other fighting games in the sense they do not combine multiple attack buttons in special combinations to perform a move, but rather combine one attack button with one control stick direction to perform an individual attack. Also, characters are not limited to constantly facing their opponent, and may run around and move freely unaffected by the position of their enemy. In the Super Smash Bros. series, one can defend oneself using a temporary shield or a dodge system. Attacks can be dodged on the ground (a side step or a rolling dodge) as well as in the air.
One additional major element in the Super Smash Bros. series is the inclusion of battle items; players can control the frequency of the appearance of these items. There are conventional "battering items" with which a player may hit an opponent, such as a baseball bat or a sword, as well as throwing items, including Bob-ombs and shells, 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 the Pokémon franchise come Poké Balls that release a random Pokémon onto the battlefield. Most items have appeared in a past Nintendo game.
Characters
Playable characters
Characters are listed in alphabetical order by their name.
Question marks indicate that the character has not been confirmed or dismissed to appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Non-playable characters
The following fighters are non-playable characters that appear only in the various Single Player modes throughout the series, controlled by the computer. They all have the official Super Smash Bros. logo as their symbol. The player can control them by using various cheat devices.
| NPC | SSB | Melee | Brawl |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master Hand |  |
|
? |
| Crazy Hand |  |
|
? |
| Giga Bowser | |
|
? |
| Fighting Polygons | |
|
? |
| Fighting Wire Frames | |
|
? |
| Sandbag | |
|
? |
Master Hand
Master Hand (マスターハンド, Masutā Hando) appears in both Super Smash Bros. and its sequel Super Smash Bros. Melee as the final boss of Classic Mode and the 50th Event Match "Final Destination Match". Master Hand is modeled after Wham Bam Rock in Kirby Super Star, with many of the moves later used in Super Smash Bros. Master Hand also makes several appearances in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror as a miniboss, and partnered with Crazy Hand as the bosses of Candy Constellation. It also makes an appearance in Kirby: Squeak Squad as a gray hand that can shift its shape to form swords and the like. His trophy in Melee describes him as a "symbolic link between the real world and the imaginary battlefields of Super Smash Bros. Melee".
Crazy Hand
Crazy Hand (クレイジーハンド, Kureijī Hando) is the left hand counterpart of Master Hand, appearing in the 50th Event Match "Final Destination Match", as well as in Classic Mode if certain conditions are met. Crazy Hand is not usually thought of as the "main" hand, and is even described as Master Hand's alter ego.
Crazy Hand looks exactly the same as Master Hand (apart from being a left hand), but the fingers act in a more erratic and chaotic way. While Master Hand is more relaxed and mature, Crazy Hand is impulsive and destructive and its fingers move differently when it's preparing for an attack. It's attacks are wilder and faster than those of Master Hand. However, some attacks are the same as Master Hand's, including the blue finger lasers. When it attacks it turns to gray or red for a couple of seconds.
Crazy Hand and Master Hand, when being fought simultaneously, are able to execute moves together, including a series of claps, the two hands making fists and smashing, and the well-known "fist in palm".
Giga Bowser
Giga Bowser, known in Japan as Giga Koopa (ギガクッパ, Giga Kuppa), is a more powerful version of Bowser who made his first appearance in Melee. He is the "secret boss" of Adventure mode and only appears if certain conditions are met in Adventure Mode. He is also one of the fighters in Event Match 51, "The Showdown", with Mewtwo and Ganondorf by his side. This grouping may be more than just a coincidence, as Giga Bowser appears to have traits similar to Bowser, Mewtwo, and Ganon (a transformation of Ganondorf.)
Super Smash Bros. Melee marked the first appearance of the character named Giga Bowser. After the player defeats Bowser (under the conditions described below), Bowser's trophy floats back up to the arena, gets hit by a lightning bolt and transforms into Giga Bowser. In this form, he has several abilities that the regular Bowser doesn't and appears far larger and more intimidating, with longer limbs, and (which he is most noted for) a manic looking face. He can be found in "Adventure Mode" if the player defeats Bowser in Normal mode or harder, under 18 minutes and uses one continue or less.
When playing as Giga Bowser using Action Replay, he appears to be normally playable, with no known gameplay glitches, and in the "Kanto-Pokemon Stadium" stage, the big screen displays his name as "G-Bowser".
Giga Bowser has been confirmed to make an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, when Bowser performs his "Final Smash" attack. Bowser transforms into Giga Bowser, and is invincible for a short time. [7]
Fighting Polygons
Fighting Polygons (or "the Fighting Polygon Team") are metallic-looking purple clones of playable characters made completely out of polygons in Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. The next to last level in the game contains 30 of these clones of existing SSB characters.
Fighting Polygons, due to the vast number the player faces (30), are not very strong and most can be KO'd easily, similar to the Kirby Team and Yoshi Team. They use near-perfect models as their character-counterparts with minute changes to their anatomy, and with a purple, slightly noisy, texture. On harder difficulty levels, the Fighting Polygons actively hunt the character down and attack in clusters, making them a formidable fighting force.
On an aside note, Mario, Luigi, and Ness's polygons look almost exactly alike, and are only distinguishable when performing one of their moves. Thus, players might notice an abundance of one polygon, when actually, they are seeing three different ones.
Individual members of the Fighting Polygon Team can be controlled by using GameShark. They all have the same stats as their playable counterparts, except that they lack special moves, and attempting to grab makes them carry out their A moves instead.
Fighting Wire Frames
The Fighting Wire Frames (謎のザコ敵軍団, Nazo no Zako Teki Gundan, Mysterious Small Fry Enemy Army Group) are a group of enemies in Super Smash Bros. Melee. They are analogous to the Fighting Polygons, as they play a similar role; however, unlike the original game, there are only two types of Fighting Wire Frames (Male and Female) as opposed to a Wire Frame corresponding to each individual character base. Their symbol is the Smash Bros. Symbol (a circle with an off-center cross), just like the Fighting Polygons and crates, a box item used in gameplay. The only distinct characteristics Fighting Wire Frames have is that they have a Heart inside their chest, and the Super Smash Bros. Melee Symbol where their face should be. Both the male and female Fighting Wire Frames possess these.
Males and Female Wire Frames have the same frame and gait of Captain Falcon and Zelda, respectively. Males have better attack and defense than the Females, but the Females have better speed and jumps. Both models lack special moves ("B" moves). They have approximately the same strength as the Fighting Polygons, but are somewhat more agile. The Fighting Wire Frames are very weak, with the exception of the Cruel Fighting Wire Frames found in Cruel Melee, being ridiculously strong, teaming up on the player. What makes Cruel Melee so difficult is that your damage ratio is higher than normal, meaning that you can be sent flying off the screen with a relatively low damage percentage.
There are a number of Multi-Man Melees, in which a player fights many Wire Frame Fighters before being defeated. Each type of Multi-Man Melee has certain goals, including a 100 man Melee and 15 minute Melee, staying alive for 15 minutes.
When controlled using Action Replay, the Wire Frames retain all their normal stats and are fairly easy to control. However, they are given an additional handicap: they cannot take advantage of charged smash attacks. Their names are displayed rather unusually in the Kanto - Pokemon Stadium stage. The Male Wire Frame is displayed as "ZAKO otoko", and the Female model is displayed as "ZAKO onna" (where zako is Japanese for small fry, otoko (kanji:男 hiragana:おとこ) for male, and onna (kanji:女 hiragana:おんあ) female).
The Cruel Melee was mentioned in EGM's April Fools 2002 hoax. In that issue, EGM claimed that those who beat 20 Wire Frames in Cruel Melee would be able to unlock Sonic and Tails. This prank sparked a large amount of controversy after it was proven to be false.
Sandbag
Sandbag (サンドバッグくん, Sandobaggu-kun) appears in the "Home-Run Contest" minigame. The object is to strike it as far as possible with a Home-Run Bat. The more Sandbag is damaged, the farther it will fly when hit. Sandbag's only purpose is to get hit in the Home Run Contest. Being hit all the time doesn't hurt it; it actually loves to see players "wind up and let loose," according to the trophy description. When Kirby copies Sandbag, Kirby does not receive any abilities.
During the actual Sandbag challenge, a player will use their chosen character to hit the Sandbag off the pedestal on which it rests within ten seconds. Players damage the Sandbag as much as possible while keeping on the orange platform so that it will fly farther. Once it has hit the lower floor the try is automatically canceled. In addition, players are supplied with a Home Run Bat, one of the most powerful items, with which to smash the bag.
The player can control the Sandbag using Action Replay. It can safely "slide" (pressing right or left on the Control Stick) and jump. However, attempting to attack, taunt or double jump (double jumping will sometimes work) will freeze the game, as the Sandbag was never designed to sport a full moveset. Making the Sandbag fall off the stage will not KO it; it will simply fall endlessly and nothing will happen, although the game sometimes freezes.
References
- ^ http://wii.ign.com/articles/670/670552p1.html
- ^ http://wii.ign.com/articles/707/707504p1.html
- ^ Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. continues to top the charts in Japan.
- ^ www.n-sider.com article
- ^ http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/gamemode/various/various01.html
- ^ http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/gamemode/various/various02.html
- ^ Bowser's page on the official Super Smash Bros. Brawl website
