The Fun Factor 02.26.07: Super Smash Brothers
Posted by Cory Moore on 02.26.2007
Nintendo's venture into the fighting genre is controlled chaos at its best!
Back when I went to a private middle/high school, there was a pretty awesome video game club. Keep in mind, this was a time when it still wasn't "cool" to like video games. But this one guy, Justin, convinced our librarian to open the library after school, once a week, to let us enjoy some gaming goodness. Granted, Justin's club wasn't very successful at first. I found out about it probably a month after he started it. We only had access to a Nintendo 64 and just a handful of people showed up each week. Still, when he informed me of one particular game's release, we knew we had to get it. Sure enough, it's just the boost our after-school activity needed…
Super Smash Brothers
Nintendo 64, 1999
The Origins
1999 wasn't the most pivotal year for gaming, but it certainly had its moments. After several successful years on the market, Sony's Playstation library welcomed Final Fantasy VIII and Tony Hawk into gamers' living rooms. New-school classics such as EverQuest and Counterstrike were released on the PC. Sega released its last console, the Dreamcast.
1999 was also the first year that Nintendo started to expand its character ventures into new arenas. Sure, they'd tested the waters with kart racing, but until the last year of the 1990s, Nintendo had played it safe. In '99, the first Mario Party was introduced and pleased gamers with a fantastic array of mini-games that were aimed almost exclusively at a multiplayer audience. Then, of course, we had Super Smash Brothers.
When it was released, Smash Brothers was a breath of fresh air for fighting games. Games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Tekken had defined the genre, but really hadn't expanded combat along the way. Like it has now done with racing and nearly every sports genre, Nintendo decided it was time to defer from the norm and wanted to make its own impression. So, no, Super Smash Brothers is not a traditional fighting game. It doesn't try to be. It just aims to be fun.
The Controlled Substance
Again, Super Smash Brothers is not a traditional fighting game by any means. I can't stress that enough. It's not a true button masher, but it comes close enough to it. Each action is executed by a button press and a tilt of the control stick. The game does not feature the typical fighting game health bar that guarantees victory upon drainage. Instead, each hit inflicts damage, and the more injury your opponent incurs, the farther he or she is sent flying. The ultimate goal is to knock your opponent clear off the screen, either by sending him sailing with a massive hit (like a KO) or by playing tricks that make him inadvertently trip off the main platform and to his doom (similar to a Ring Out).
Smash Brothers is based in the Nintendo universe, which pretty much always guarantees a player is going to get a different experience. The characters consist of the regulars (Mario and Luigi) and some less recognizable personas (Earthbound's Nes). The levels also mirror the big N's franchises with unique elements for each stage. Finally, the weapons are recognizable, like Donkey Kong's 1980s hammer and Link's trademark sword.
As you would expect, each character in Smash Brothers has unique traits that set them apart from the competition. Like in other games featuring Nintendo characters, Mario and Luigi are well-balanced fighters: they're good at hand-to-hand combat, yet have their fire balls to shoot at you from a distance. Fox McCloud is better in one-on-one duels, thanks to his karate-like fighting style. At the same time, all Donkey Kong has to do is smack the mess out of your chosen personality and you're going to get a wakeup call.
While it is important, expertise in hand-to-hand combat does not always guarantee victory in this game. For instance, the characters that use weapons and projectiles to their advantage are arguably some of the most effective. Link's sword may be helpful for close-range attacks, but his bombs, grappling hooks and boomerangs can come in handy when there is a melee (no pun intended towards the game's sequel) in a certain area of battle. Meanwhile, the lightweights don't fight exceptionally well, but make up for it in a variety of ways. Kirby can extensively float in the air to gain an advantage, or can swallow his opponent and spit them out while stealing their special attack. Pikachu has many attacks based on his lightning abilities, such as a short range shock and a stronger blast that really lets his competition know he is a force to be reckoned with.
Super Smash Brothers makes the most out of its Nintendo heritage with recognizable characters and stages that span throughout various generations.
So, what would Nintendo characters be without their recognizable stages, right? Thankfully, Smash Brothers makes each area easy to navigate, but complicated enough to make you think about how you'll go about your next move. For example, Kongo Jungle allows you to shoot your character out of Donkey Kong Country-inspired barrels. On Metroid's Planet Zebes, you'll encounter a relatively small stage with several vertical platforms. As the action rages on, the corrosive coating below will start to rise, causing you and your opponents to escape to the top platforms. If you aren't fast or agile enough, you just may be sent flying upon contact with the acid!
The Fun Factor
What makes all of this fun, you ask? Well, there are all kinds of scenarios that play out that really make you compete in your goal to become the best brawler out there. Lightweight and projectile-based characters are best suited for a stage with multiple platforms, since they are agile and can create havoc from long distances. These same players are not quite as effective in stationary platforms – Sector Z's Great Fox – because they cannot escape hand-to-hand battles quite as easily. Meanwhile, larger competitors have the same crisis. All in all, it's a well-balanced formula.
The inclusion of weapons is arguably one of the biggest x-factors in the game, and really turns up the competitive spirit and wacky nature that has become synonymous with Nintendo games. The lightsaber and blaster are useful, but only give the player a slight advantage. The hammer from Donkey Kong causes a mad scramble, for the damage it inflicts can be deadly if your damage is teetering above 100 percent. Sometimes, it's a matter of which weapon you get, and if you are able to use it to your advantage. Of course, such items are not required to have a good time, but the decibel level in the room rises significantly when they are turned to frequently fall from the sky.
The momentum swing in Smash Brothers is perhaps the most defining feature of the series, though. When Smash says "every man for himself," it doesn't lie. You can have 200% damage, flee from the heat of the battle, and then jump in and capture the win at the last minute with a decisive blow. Of course, you may get heat from your friends ("coward!") after the match, but the claim of victory will be yours and yours alone. Thus, every player has to be on his toes at all times. If you slack off, you're likely going to endure a whole lot of punishment for it. And take it from me; the ways you can be pummeled are numerous.
Getting involved in an outrageous, uncontrollable brawl sets Smash Brothers apart from traditional fighting games, and gives it the unpredictability on which the franchise has built a reputation. (Screenshot taken from Super Smash Brothers Melee, Gamecube.)
For example, in a timed battle, you may coast throughout a 15-minute match, but simply surviving does not ensure you victory in this mode. Because your progress is determined by a kill-to-death ratio, you're going to have to pick and choose your battles carefully. You want just enough kills to win the match. After all, getting involved in every single scuffle can be detrimental if it costs you a lot of lives. Then again, it's easier said than done when your friends are chasing you down trying to pad their totals!
Stock mode – where the last man standing wins – is a little easier to grasp in terms of gauging the progress of a fight, but the free-for-all gameplay ensures no one is ever 100 percent safe. In a 4-player game, for instance, three players can form an alliance to take out the best gamer, and then decide the match between themselves. This rarely happens because everyone gets greedy for an advantage along the way, but it's still a possibility. In Smash Brothers, skill is helpful, but not to a definitive point. That's what makes it so unpredictable…and fun.
The 411
As you probably figured out, Super Smash Brothers was the game that attracted some large crowds when we presented it at the video game club. The regular attendance started out at around four or five per gathering, but once the buzz about this game got around, I'd say we attracted about 20 people at one point. It got so rowdy that we had to move it into my mom's classroom because we were interrupting after school studies.
So, Super Smash Brothers was the catalyst for the club's success. It's the perfect game for big groups. You don't have to learn outlandish button combos to execute a move; you just pick up a controller and hope for dear life you press the right buttons at the right time. Strategy can be – and often is – thrown out the window at any time. Sometimes, the best blueprint is none at all. The game is simply infectious. And better yet, you get to laugh while sealing your adversary's doom. And who says Nintendo doesn't advocate violence? In all seriousness, this was probably the game that cemented the Nintendo 64's reputation as the "party console."
Because, let's face it: sending Mario off a cliff is about as funny as a round of college beer pong.
