Super Smash Bros. (video game)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 68.212.171.149 (talk) at 20:07, 3 March 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the original Nintendo 64 game. For the series, see Super Smash Bros. (series).
Super Smash Bros.
Developer(s)HAL Laboratory, Inc.
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Designer(s)Masahiro Sakurai
SeriesSuper Smash Bros.
Platform(s)Nintendo 64, Nintendo iQue
Release



Genre(s)Fighting
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer (2-4)

Template:Nihongo title, is a crossover fighting video game developed by HAL Laboratory, Inc., also responsible for the Kirby and EarthBound intellectual properties, and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 console. It was first released in Japan on January 21, 1999, and released on April 26, 1999 in North America, followed by Australia in 1999 then at last on November 19, 1999 in Europe.[1]

Players are able to choose from up to twelve characters from various games in Nintendo's history, such as Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, and Kirby.

Super Smash Bros. was the first game in the Super Smash Bros. series. It was followed by the very successful Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube and Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii. Super Smash Bros. was also the fifth best-selling game on the Nintendo 64, with over 4.89 million copies sold.

Gameplay

Super Smash Bros. uses a battle system different from usual fighting games. Choosing from a variety of characters, two to four players fight on various stages, while trying to knock their opponents off the stage. Instead of using health bars like other fighting games, the game features percentage meters to indicate the character's vitality. At the beginning of the match, the meters start at zero percent. As the characters take damage, the percentage meter goes up, causing the characters to fly farther back each time when hit. When a character is knocked off the stage, they lose either a life or a point depending on the mode of play. The characters can attack each other with a variety of different fighting moves. Each character can perform an array of attacks when prompted with the press of a button in conjunction with a tilt of an analog stick.[2] In addition to basic attacks, characters have access to more powerful attacks as well as three special character-specific moves.


File:Ssb stageselect.jpg
The stage select screen for Versus Mode

There are nine playable stages. The stages are three dimensional arenas (although players only move in two dimensions) that are mostly based on levels from the represented series of the game. They range from floating platforms to stationary land stages. Each stage has a boundary that cannot be passed, or the character will be "KO'd", thus losing a life and counting as a "fall" against that player. The characters can make use of a variety of items, ranging from projectiles, melee weapons and health.

Single-player

File:FightingPolygons.jpg
Mario preparing to fight 30 Fighting Polygons in single-player mode.

Although the player can choose from five difficulty levels, the game's single-player mode always follows the same series of opponents. The single-player also features two character specific Bonus stages, and one non-character specific bonus stage. Also included in the game is a Training mode, where a single-player can practice his skills in any of the playable stages against any of the unlocked characters, and practice areas for each of the character-specialized Break the Targets and Board the Platforms stages. Single-player mode ends when the boss character is defeated, although if certain requirements have been met, the player may fight a bonus character. If victorious against this bonus character, the character is unlocked and is then available for play.

Multiplayer

Ness fighting Kirby in the Mushroom Kingdom.

In multiplayer mode, up to four people can play with the specific rules of each match predetermined by the players. In "Time Battles," each player can be knocked out an infinite number of times. When the predetermined fight-time is up, scores are determined by subtracting a player's falls from their KOs, and a winner is determined. If there is a tie, the contenders are returned to the fighting stage in a "Sudden Death" battle with 300% damage each, which means players are easily knocked out, so as to quickly determine the winner. In "Stock Battles," each player can be knocked out a fixed amount of times, and there is no time limit. The winner is the last player standing.

Team Battles of the stock and time modes are also selectable. These have the same rules as the above modes, but players instead choose their teams and teammates work cooperatively to win the match. When the match is over, KO totals are added up for each member of a team and taken as a whole, and then a winning team is declared. All of the matches listed above can be played against the computer AI also.

Playable Characters

See also: Super Smash Bros. Playable Characters

There are twelve playable characters in Super Smash Bros., all drawn from games developed by Nintendo. Eight characters are available at the beginning of the game, while the other four can be unlocked by achieving certain goals within the game. All characters are designated a symbol that is used for identifying them throughout the fight. The symbols are indicative of the franchise that each character is from, a system that continued throughout the Super Smash Bros. games. For example, all Pokémon characters have a Poké Ball symbol, while all characters from The Legend of Zelda have a Triforce symbol.

Development

Super Smash Bros. was developed by HAL Laboratory, Inc., a Nintendo second-party developer, during 1998. It began life as a prototype created by Masahiro Sakurai and Satoru Iwata in their spare time titled "Dragon King: The Fighting Game", and originally featured no Nintendo characters. However, Sakurai hit on the idea of including fighters from different Nintendo franchises in order to provide "atmosphere" which he felt was necessary for a home console fighting game, and his idea was approved.[3] The game had a small budget and little promotion, and was originally a Japan-only release, but its huge success saw the game released worldwide.[4]

The promotional artwork is done in the style of a comic book, and the characters were portrayed as dolls that come to life to fight. This presentational style has since been omitted in the sequels, opting instead for a more serious art style (such as using in-game models for the characters in place of hand-drawn art) and replacing the dolls with trophies.

Reception

Reviews
Compilations of multiple reviews
Game Rankings 80% (based on 20 reviews)[5]
Metacritic 79% (based on 11 reviews)[6]
Publication Response
Electronic Gaming Monthly 8.62/10
Game Informer 8.5/10
Famitsu 31/40[7]
GameSpot 7.5/10[8]
Nintendo Power 7.7/10
IGN 8.6/10[9]

Reviews for Super Smash Bros. were mixed, but usually positive,[5] with a lot of the praise going to the multiplayer mode of the game.[9] There were criticisms, however, such as the game's scoring being difficult to follow.[10] In addition, the single-player mode was criticized for its perceived difficulty and lack of features.[8] However, this criticism is addressed in its sequel Super Smash Bros. Melee, which was released in 2001 for the Nintendo GameCube.

The game was very popular and quickly became a Player's Choice title. In Japan, 1.9 million copies were sold[11] and 2.7 million were sold in the U.S.[12]

References

  1. ^ "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
  2. ^ See Nintendo 64#Other hardware components.
  3. ^ "Wii.com - Iwata Asks: Super Smash Bros. Brawl". Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  4. ^ "Super Smash Bros. Melee". n-Sider.
  5. ^ a b "Super Smash Bros. reviews". Game Rankings.
  6. ^ Metacritic staff. "Super Smash Bros Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
  7. ^ IGN staff (2001-14-11). "Famitsu Scores Smash Bros". IGN. Retrieved 2007-04-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ a b Gerstmann, Jeff (1999-18-02). "Gamespot Super Smash Bros. review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-04-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ a b Schneider, Peer (1999-27-04). "Super Smash Bros. review". IGN. Retrieved 2007-03-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Game Critics Review". gamecritics.com.
  11. ^ "Japan Platinum Game Chart". MagicBox.com.
  12. ^ "US Platinum Game Chart". MagicBox.com.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Super_Smash_Bros._(video_game)&oldid=195624847"