Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros. is a fighting game for the Nintendo 64 created by Nintendo and HAL. It was commercialy successful, and had two sequels: Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. All the fighters are famous Nintendo characters from the company's various franchises. Players must defeat their opponents multiple times in a fighting frenzy of items, power-ups, an original health system, in 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 franchise.

Playable Characters
There are 12 playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Two are from the Mario series (Donkey Kong and Yoshi are excluded since they have their own 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 Yoshi 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 Earthbound.

Legend:

Non-playable characters
A list linking to articles for non-playble characters seen in 1-player mode.


 * Giant Donkey Kong


 * Metal Mario


 * Fighting Polygons


 * Master Hand
 * Mew

Items
There are many items throughout the game that help fire up the battle. Here is a full list of them.

Gameplay
Players can use their characters' attacks or items to hit their opponents. This will cause a percentage of damage. The higher the percentage of a player is, the easier they can be knocked off the stage. Percentage of damage can, however, exceed 100%.

There are two different fighting modes in Super Smash Bros.; time and stock.

Time
Players get points by KOing other players. One KO is worth one point. Players lose a point when KO'd or self-destructing. When the time is up, the player with the most points wins.

If there is a tie in time mode, there will be a Sudden Death. The two or more players tied will have a quick stock battle with one life, and both starting with 300% percent damage, which will usually cause an instant KO when hit. Also, after a certain time, Bob-ombs will start falling at random places on the stage, and if a player is hit, will be instantly KO'd. The winner of the Sudden Death wins the whole battle.

Stock
Players have a specified amount of lives. When a player has lost all his lives, he loses. The winner of the match is the last player standing. Optionally, a time limit can be specified. When it runs out, the player with the most lives wins.

If there is a tie in this mode, when setting a time limit, there will also be a Sudden Death.

Players can fight alone or in teams.

Single-Player mode
The single-player mode in Super Smash Bros. follows a set pattern. In the beginning, the player can choose his or her character, difficulty level (very easy - easy - normal - hard - very hard) and number of lives (1 - 5). The number of lives selected will be for the whole mode, not per match.

All stages work with the stock system, and the opponents have one life each. There is a time limit of 5 minutes per match.


 * Stage 1: The player fights Link at Hyrule Castle.
 * Stage 2: The player fights a team of 18 Yoshis in Yoshi's Island. The player fights three Yoshis at a time. When one is defeated, another one will take its place, until all are defeated.
 * Stage 3: The player fights Fox in Sector Z.
 * Bonus Stage 1: Break the targets: The player has to hit the 10 targets within a time limit of 2 minutes. Each character has a different arena for his target test. Dying in the target test only causes the failure of the test, but not the loss of a life.
 * Stage 4: The player fights Mario and Luigi on Peach's Castle. The player also gets a randomly chosen ally for his team.
 * Stage 5: The player fights Pikachu in Saffron City.
 * Stage 6: The player fights Giant Donkey Kong in Kongo Jungle. The player gets two randomly chosen allies on his side.
 * Bonus Stage 2: Board the platforms: The player has to board all of the 10 platforms in the stage within 2 minutes. As with the first bonus stage, failing does not cause loss of life.
 * Stage 7: The player fights a team of 8 Kirbys in Dream Land. Seven of them already have abilities from the other 7 default characters. The last one is either the regular Kirby or has the ability of one unlockable character. The player fights two at a time.
 * Stage 8: The player fights Samus on Planet Zebes.
 * Stage 9: The player fights Metal Mario at his personal stage.
 * Bonus Stage 3: Race to the finish: The player has to reach the finish within one minute. On his way, Fighting Polygons will attack him or her. Once again, failing does not cause loss of life.
 * Stage 10: The player fights a team of 30 Fighting Polygons on the Battlefield stage. He fights three at a time.
 * Stage 11: The player fights Master Hand. Unlike the player, the Master Hand does not have a percentage of damage, but 300 hit points. The battle takes place on Final Destination.

Training Mode
In this mode, the player can try their skills against computers. Training Mode allows abilities that cannot be used anywhere else in the game. The player is able to change the speed, make any item appear, make the computer do things such as stand, jump, walk, etc., and also pick how many computers there are (three at most), along with other abilities. It is usually used for testing, trying out skills, and for beginners of the game.

Bonus Practice
In the mode, Bonus Practice, the player can play as a fighter and do a practice "stage" out of the two shown, both being Bonus Stage 1: Break the Targets and Bonus Stage 2: Board the Platforms (both can only be played on this mode and/or in Adventure Mode).

In Break the Targets, the player has to break eight Targets, which every character get their own target stage.

In Board the Platforms, the player has to jump on a series of platforms while avoiding obstacles.

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 player(s) are able to pick which fighter he or she want. 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 player can pick the amount of the stocks he/she and the computers have, and also pick the items that will appear in the match (not in an order, as they are picked randomly), and set the handicap up for the fighters. The next screen is the stage selection screen, where one will pick the stage to play on, and then the battle starts.

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

Reception
Super Smash Bros. was commercially successful as a game. In Japan, 1.4 million copies were sold, and 2.3 million have been sold in the United States as of December 2007. Although the Single-Player mode was criticized as "won't exactly last a long time", Dale Weir of GameCritics.com stated Super Smash Bros. was "The most original fighting game on the market and possibly the best multiplayer game on any system."

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, 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. 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.

Trivia

 * Originally, Mewtwo, Peach, Bowser, Pit and King Dedede were supposed to be in the game. Mewtwo and King Dedede were cut due to time. Peach and Bowser were cut due to limitations of the Nintendo 64. Pit was replaced by Jigglypuff because he wasn't popular enough.
 * The Final Smash system was supposed to be in the game. Masahiro Sakurai can prove it, he recorded the characters' voices when they used their Final Smash.
 * Super Smash Bros. is the only game in the Super Smash Bros. series to be rated E. Its successors are both rated T.