Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros. (known in Japan as Nintendo All-Star! Dairantō Smash Brothers ニンテンドーオールスター！ 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ) is a fighting game for the Nintendo 64 created by Nintendo and HAL. It was commercially successful, and had two sequels: Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl and a future sequel tentatively called Super Smash Bros. All fighters are famous Nintendo characters from the company's various franchises. Players must defeat their opponents multiple times in a fighting frenzy of items and power-ups, an original health system, and on unique, Nintendo-themed stages.

Although Super Smash Bros. is not a part of the Mario franchise, the game is heavily influenced by the Mario series, more so than any other Nintendo franchise.

Gameplay
Super Smash Bros. has a considerably different fighting style than other fighting games such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Rather than each player having a life gauge that begins full and gradually decreases with each attack taken, Super Smash Bros. has a unique system. Players starts at 0% damage and with each hit they take, the percentage rises depending on how powerful the attack is. As players' percentage gets higher, players are blown further away with each attack. The objective of the game is to knock out opponents from the screen so they cannot return to the stage or knocking out opponents so hard, opponents turn into a star. Getting defeated by an opponent is called a "TKO." In time mode, this results in a loss of one point, while in stock mode this counts as a loss of one life. Player regenerate on a descending floating platform at the center of the stage, unless they have no lives left. Players can exit by either moving, jumping, or waiting a few seconds. Players are invincible for a short amount of time after they exit the platform.

Items are also an important component of the game. Depending on the settings set in the menu, the frequencies and types of items appearing can be altered. Some items are more powerful than others, while some are used to heal the user rather than attack an opponent.

Below are specific rules and differences between the two fighting modes: Time and Stock.

Time
In Time mode, TKOs count as one negative point for players that are knocked out of the screen. Players that caused them to fall receives one positive point and is recorded as a "KO". If a player accidentally or intentionally falls off the stage without being influenced by other players, or if the player hits a wall before being KO'd, the player loses one point while nobody gains a point. At the end of the time period, a player that has the most points is declared the winner.

If there is a tie, there is a Sudden Death Match. The two or more players tied have a quick stock battle with one life, both starting with 300% percent damage, which will usually cause an instant KO when hit. Also, after a certain time, Bob-ombs start falling at random places on the stage, making survival more difficult. The winner of the Sudden Death wins the match.

Stock
In stock mode, there is still a point system, but wins are focused on number of lives left. Each player begins with a set amount of lives. Each time a player is defeated, he or she loses one life. Unlike Time mode, the number of KOs are irrelevant to the results because it is a game of survival unless it is a team match. This also means that matches could theoretically be endless.

If there is a tie, a tiebreaker called a Sudden Death match occurs, where all players begin with 300% damage and one life. The last one standing wins.

Players can fight alone or in teams. Allies usually cannot be hurt by other teammates unless team attack is turned on. Also, if players manage to defeat an ally, they get a point while the ally loses a point, unlike in the succeeding games where both teammates lose a point. If a team wins, players in the team with the most KOs gets the first place honor.

It is also important to note that this is the only game that shows who KO'd whom during a stock match.

Playable Characters
There are 12 playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Three are from the Mario series, one is from the Donkey Kong series, one is from The Legend of Zelda series, one is from the Metroid series, one is from the Kirby series, one is from the Star Fox series, two are from the Pokémon series, one is from F-Zero and one is from the EarthBound series.

Legend:

Pokémon

 * Beedrill
 * Blastoise
 * Chansey
 * Charizard
 * Clefairy
 * Hitmonlee
 * Koffing
 * Meowth
 * Mew
 * Snorlax
 * Starmie

Enemies

 * Fighting Polygons
 * Kirbys
 * Yoshis

Bosses

 * Giant Donkey Kong
 * Metal Mario
 * Master Hand

Items
There are many items throughout the game that help fire up the battle. All items will disappear after a period of time it is unused or if it is used to a certain extent. The following is a full list of them.

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One-player Game
In single-player mode, before a player starts the game, a character, difficulty level, and number of lives is selected. The difficulty levels range from Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, to Very Hard. The number of lives can be set anywhere from one to five lives. The number of lives carries over from the previous match, which means any lost lives are not restored each level. Once the player loses all lives, they can choose to continue, but will have their current score cut in half. Alternatively, they can quit, which will result in a Game Over.

All stages work with the stock system and opponents and allies have one life each. There is a time limit of five minutes per match, but players can choose to disable it.

Training Mode


Training mode is, as the name suggests, a mode primarily used to practice and simulate battles for improving skills or for beginners to learn controls and moves. There is no time limit or a set number of lives, and whatever happens in Training mode is not recorded.

There are multiple adjustable factors within this mode that are not available in regular VS. mode. Primarily, the computer player's actions can be set to either Stand, Walk, Evade, Jump, or Attack. In any case, if the computer player is about to get knocked off the stage, they will make an effort to recover. Another ability available from the pause menu is to be able to make any item spawn. Up to four items can be on the stage at once. The speed of the game is also adjustable. Besides normal speed, it can be set to 2/3, 1/2, or 1/4 speed. Lastly, the camera view can also be changed from normal to close-up; close-up view follows the player at a close angle.

Unlike Super Smash Bros. Melee or Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the computer player cannot be controlled using a controller, and only one computer player can be present at a time.

Bonus Practice
The final mode in single-player mode is Bonus Practice. There are two games, "Board the Platforms" and "Break the Targets." Both games appear as bonus stages in the One-player mode. Unlike other modes, if the player waits after selecting a character, the game automatically starts.

Board the Platforms!
Each character has a unique stage that has ten platforms of various sizes. The objective is to land on each of the ten platforms in the least amount of time possible. Some platforms move while others must be jumped on with the correct timing or the player gets damaged. If the player falls from the stage, it is a Failure, and the player will be sent back to the character selection screen.

Break the Targets!
Similarly to Board the Platforms, Break the Targets has a unique stage for each player. The objective in this game is to break ten targets placed throughout the stage by hitting them with an attack. Like Board the Platforms, some targets move, while others are stationary. There are no extra lives, so once a player falls, the trial is a failure, and the player will be brought back to the character selection screen.

VS Mode
In VS Mode, the player can pick up to four fighters to fight in a battle. A fighter selection screen is seen, and the players are able to pick which fighter he or she wants. The player is also able to set rules for this match, such as in a time match, the player can pick the amount of time that can be played, and in a stock match, the players can pick the amount of the stocks they and the computers have. Also, after playing a certain number of VS matches, players can choose which items will appear during matches (not in an order, as they are picked randomly). There's also a handicap setting, which allows human players to adjust their attack power and knockback resistance. The damage setting allows players to adjust how quickly fighters can get KO'd at low damage; ranging from a minimum of 50%, to a maximum of 200%.

The next screen is the stage selection screen, where players pick the stage to play on before the battle starts.

Besides the default Free-for-all mode in which players fight each other, there are also team battles. Players can divide into up to three teams and fight against the other team(s). Also, lives are shared, so if one player is eliminated from a team, given that another team mate has 2 or more lives remaining, the eliminated player can recover by borrowing one ally's life by pressing the Start button. Teams are distinguished by costume color of each player, which is either red, green, or blue.

In Super Smash Bros., VS Mode is notable for being the only multi-player mode in the game.

Options
In the options mode, players can adjust a few game settings. They can adjust the sound to be mono or stereo. It is important to note that Super Smash Bros. is currently the only game in the series where players cannot adjust the music or sound effects volume. The next option is screen adjusting. Super Smash Bros. is also the only game in the series to have this option. The next option is the backup clear, which removes the game's data, which cannot be restored.

Records
The last menu, the records shows the profile of each character (and any unlocked characters), which is very similar to trophies in the later game, Super Smash Bros. Melee. The next part is the VS. Records, where players can see how many KOs, TKOS, and SD's are recorded. By pressing, the player can see how each character is ranked by KOs, SDs, Win Percentage, etc. By pressing the button again, players can view the character's record in detail, showing how much damage was given or taken and the ratio of KOs to TKOs to a certain character. It also shows the character's share of total playtime by percentage.

The last of the records is the unlockable Sound Test. Players can hear sounds effects, voices, and/or music from the game. Players can unlock the Sound Test by completing both Break the Targets and Board the Platforms with all characters.

Reception
Super Smash Bros. was commercially successful, and quickly became a Player's Choice title. In Japan, 1.97 million copies were sold, and 2.93 million have been sold in the United States as of 2008.

Super Smash Bros. received mostly positive reviews, with criticism mostly directed towards the game's single-player mode. GameSpot's former editorial director, Jeff Gerstmann, noted the single-player game "won't exactly last a long time". Instead, he praised the multi-player portion of the game, saying that it is "extremely simple to learn". He also praised the game's music, calling it "amazing". GameCritics.com's Dale Weir described Super Smash Bros. as "the most original fighting game on the market and possibly the best multiplayer game on any system". There were criticisms, however, such as the game's scoring being difficult to follow. In addition, the single-player mode was criticized for its perceived difficulty and lack of features. It was deemed one of the ten best Mario games of all time by ScrewAttack from GameTrailers. It was given an Editors' choice award from IGN.

Development
Super Smash Bros. was developed by HAL Laboratory, 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 'Kakuto-Gēmu Ryūō' (格闘ゲーム竜王 ?, lit. "Dragon King: The Fighting Game"), and originally featured no Nintendo characters. However, Iwata 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 their idea was approved. 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.

List of Bonuses

 * For a list of this game special bonuses, see here.

Trivia

 * Super Smash Bros. is the only game in the Super Smash Bros. series to receive an ESRB rating of E for Everyone. Its successors are both rated T for Teen.
 * When the player chooses a character, the character will do a short animation in the player's box; so far, this is the only game in the series that does this.
 * This is the only game in the Super Smash Bros. series where the characters are not trophies. They are dolls and the stages are dioramas brought to life by Master Hand.