REVIEW - super smash bros
---INFO---
made by HAL laboratories, 1999, 1-4 players, for the nintendo 64 & nintendo iQue.
super smash bros videos here.
----------
i remember the first time i ever played super smash bros vividly. i knew at once that this game had something special, but little did i know what the game would become. i ordered my own copy as soon as i could, and enjoyed it. it was only when i showed it to my cousins that i realised what this game was, and was then proved right with the gamecube sequel. this was one of the greatest multi-player concepts of all time. to clear up the matter of the gamecube sequel straight away, super smash bros melee exceeded the original in almost every way and by a great length. i except the upcoming wii sequel to do that again, but this review is just concerned with the original title. let's explore the little known project that spawned melee, one of the only games to still be top of the multi-player list six years after its launch.
super smash bros was made by a small team with a low budget, but headed by the creative visionary masahiro sakurai. it wasn't expected to be much of a success (hence the low budget), and recieved minimal promotion and only a japanese release. at first people weren't quite sure what to make of it. many reviewers complained at its deviation from many of the norms of the fighting genre. however it was soon apparent that the general public loved it, and by november the UK had their version as well. i've already given away two things about the game though: that it's a fighting game and that it's different. the principle of the game was a fighting game with many famous nintendo characters battling each other. this is a good prospect as it is, but sakurai ditched the standard beat-'em-up gameplay and came up with his own innovative system; a system resembling mario's platformers. you control your character by moving left and right along the 2D platform. you have a button to jump, which can be used twice for a double jump. you have two attack buttons, one normal and one special. the normal attack button lets your character use punches and kicks, different ones depedning on the direction the thumbstick is pointing and a few other factors. each character has three special attacks, using the other button. these can be performed by pressing the button by itself, whilst pointing upwards and whilst pointing downwards. for example, mario's standard special attack is to throw a fireball (taken from super mario bros.) and his down-special is a spin (similar to his spin-jump from super mario world). mario's up-special is his signature jump, which doubles up as both an attack and a third jump. you can also shield, dodge (moving you quickly along a small distance with temporary invincibility) and grab and throw enemies. the most powerful attacks that each character can do are their smash attacks. these attacks are performed by using the normal attack button but flicking the thumbstick hard in the direction you want to attack.
this set-up is already a little strange. most fighting games have you always facing your opponent with minimal movement, whereas smash bros has stages that look a little like an obstacle course, with platforms and moving areas, allowing you to jump around them like in a mario platformer. the other most important change to the gameplay though is the disappearance of health bars. instead of losing health when you're hit, you gain damage. at the bottom of the screen are the numbers for each player, which increase as more damage is taken. the more damage you take, the further you fly when you're hit. your character dies when they're thrown out of the stage, either by falling off the bottom or thrown far enough to either side or at the ceiling. the principle of the game therefore is to attack your enemy to put damage on them until they have enough damage to unleash a powerful attack and KO them by knocking them off the stage.
it doesn't stop there though. up to four players can participate in battles at once, basically allowing four famous nintendo characters to bounce around a stage knocking each other about. it's hard to imagine, but it works so perfectly. you also have items that you can pick up and use. many of these (like the stages and characters) are borrowed from the nintendo universes. there are heart containers from the zelda games and greens shells from the mario games. there are lots of little nintendo touches that make the game enjoyable to long-term fans.
the character list itself is reasonably big (eight initial characters and four hidden ones). the immediate line-up is mario, donkey kong, link, samus, fox, pikachu, kirby and yoshi. each of the characters is vastly different in their attacks and how they handle. it's also just great fun to watch mario beat up pikachu, or yoshi turn samus into an egg. if you want to know the hidden characters, i suggest you go look them up yourself, i won't spoil them for those who don't know already.
the gameplay is what makes this game what it is. the freedom of attack choice is so large! all four characters bounce around the stage throwing items, kicking enemies and dodging attacks. everything gets a bit hectic, but you can use a lot of strategy. the main thing is that it somewhat reflects the mario platformers in your ability to chain together combos of moves. this is of course the case with most fighting games, where move combos are rewarded, but in smash bros it feels more like a platformer. once you've got good at the game you'll be able to throw items at characters from miles off, drop-kick them in mid-air, dodge round behind them before grabbing them or pulling off various stupidly cool moves. it's true that with just two main attack buttons you have nowhere near the selection of moves that you do in a standard fighting game, but the creative freedom in battling is so much bigger that it more than makes up for it. you really have to see the game in action to understand it's crazy glory.
the game has one main single-player mode, which takes you through a short list of set battles much like an arcade game. there's no story beyond what's written in the manual, unfortunately, but it is built like an arcade game so it wouldn't make much difference. as well as that there are two minigames that are different when played with each character and a training mode. the training mode gives you complete control of the environment in order to practice. it lets you choose what items to drop, the speed of gameplay, the camera zoom, the enemy AI and more. whilst there are four characters to unlock, the lifespan isn't that massive. the multi-player mode is of course where you'll spend most of your time. there's plenty of options, allowing 2-4 players in various combinations of teams or a free-for-all. you can set item frequency for each individual items, as well as a few other options to customise the battle, as well as of course the game requirements. matches are either timed (killing someone gets you a point, dying loses you a point, most points at the end of the time limit wins) or done with lives (last one remaining wins). the options and sheer depth of the game allows for a ridiculous amount of replayability. this game is a multi-player classic, and it will get played again and again and again.
since it's hard to explain why the game's so good, let's go through some of the review criteria. the graphics are ok for the N64, though most of the items and special effects are 2D sprites, which look a bit rubbish. the sounds are good, with classic nintendo tunes and decent sound effects. the drop-in factor is exceptionally high, thanks to the ease of setting up a match and the short time each match can take. the build-quality is very high, with a consistent physics engine and quite a high frame-rate for its day.
the difficulty is worth mentioning. the single-player mode is wonderful for this, because it lets you change the difficulty from anywhere between a walk in the park and a nightmare game. the only issue with the difficulty is it takes a short time to pick up. most people can grasp the movement pretty easily, but newcomers and non-gamers seem to have a real issue in using the third jump, because it's mapped to a different button combination than the other two jumps. it's also very easy for a newcomer or non-gamer to get lost in the mayhem. the upshot of all this is that it has a reasonably steep learning curve, and that a player with lots of skill will always be able to defeat one with less skill. this last issue is remedied slightly by the handicap settings. the lower your handicap number, the further you fly. normally you ought to get a player to about 100% damage (damage goes over 100% by the way) before attempting a KO, but with a handicap 1 player (handicaps valuing 1-9) you only need to get them to about 20%. there's a nice little setting called auto-handicap, which edits the players' handicaps between matches to suit their style, which should naturally come to rest at a happy medium where the players can have a fair match. this said, it still feels like one player is better than the other, even if the match results are close.
one of the last things you need to take into account is this game's relation to its sequel. super smash bros melee had a faster, tighter physics engine, more moves, more characters, more stages, more modes, more options, more nintendo cameos, better graphics and was generally better in every conceivable way. if you own melee, your only reason for buying the original would be for the collector value or simply for the enjoyment of playing the historic old version. it is interesting to note that there are one or two small things that the original did better. the bouncer item was better than the flipper that replaced it (despite the flipper being a nintendo cameo), and the ray gun was better in the original as well. metal enemies were also much more powerful on the original, though the only one was found in the one-player mode. finally, the fighting polygons were better than their replacement (the wire-frame fighters) because the posed more of a challenge and made for a really exciting battle, instead of the wire-frame's dull fight. still, melee is the one to buy if you have neither, and buy it you must! melee is easily my favourite multi-player game ever, and is still my first choice with friends after seven years.
despite appearing shallow, super smash bros has an incredible amount of depth. it combines many nintendo franchises into one brilliant game. it has a unique gameplay concept that works sublimely and provides near infinite multi-player enjoyment. obviously get melee first, but in terms of rating this game on its own, it's incredible and you wouldn't regret buying it. i feel i've somewhat lacked the hyper reviewing tone this game deserves. i spent ages explaining how it works, leaving little time to tell you how amazing it is. have a look at the videos page to get a better idea of how it works, but in the end you'll just have to trust me that once you've played a smash bros game (and got used to the controls), multi-player will never be the same again.
---SUMMARY---
the good: +great innovative concept, +many nintendo faces fighting each other, +lots of nintendo stuff thrown in, +plenty of multi-player options, +immense depth and strategy, +a massive amount of perfectly controlled mayhem, +a multi-player favourite for being such an incredible game.
the bad: -a little short on the one-player side, -feels old and slightly sluggish compared to melee.
overall feeling: good
-------------
---COMPARISON---
super smash bros melee - what can i say. buy this game now! it's one of the biggest games i've ever played in terms of content and it nearly perfects an already brilliant formula. no matter how gaming progresses and advances, you will always come back to play the latest smash bros game for it's pure mutli-player brilliance. this game will get more hours for your pennies than any other game.
super smash bros brawl - the new version for wii. more characters, better graphics, more modes. and online play? don't tell me you don't want it...
new super mario bros - the one-on-one multi-player is similar to smash bros in its freedom and general style. an amazing multi-player mode, if not as good as smash bros. oh, and the one-player's pretty awesome as well.
----------------
made by HAL laboratories, 1999, 1-4 players, for the nintendo 64 & nintendo iQue.
super smash bros videos here.
----------
i remember the first time i ever played super smash bros vividly. i knew at once that this game had something special, but little did i know what the game would become. i ordered my own copy as soon as i could, and enjoyed it. it was only when i showed it to my cousins that i realised what this game was, and was then proved right with the gamecube sequel. this was one of the greatest multi-player concepts of all time. to clear up the matter of the gamecube sequel straight away, super smash bros melee exceeded the original in almost every way and by a great length. i except the upcoming wii sequel to do that again, but this review is just concerned with the original title. let's explore the little known project that spawned melee, one of the only games to still be top of the multi-player list six years after its launch.
super smash bros was made by a small team with a low budget, but headed by the creative visionary masahiro sakurai. it wasn't expected to be much of a success (hence the low budget), and recieved minimal promotion and only a japanese release. at first people weren't quite sure what to make of it. many reviewers complained at its deviation from many of the norms of the fighting genre. however it was soon apparent that the general public loved it, and by november the UK had their version as well. i've already given away two things about the game though: that it's a fighting game and that it's different. the principle of the game was a fighting game with many famous nintendo characters battling each other. this is a good prospect as it is, but sakurai ditched the standard beat-'em-up gameplay and came up with his own innovative system; a system resembling mario's platformers. you control your character by moving left and right along the 2D platform. you have a button to jump, which can be used twice for a double jump. you have two attack buttons, one normal and one special. the normal attack button lets your character use punches and kicks, different ones depedning on the direction the thumbstick is pointing and a few other factors. each character has three special attacks, using the other button. these can be performed by pressing the button by itself, whilst pointing upwards and whilst pointing downwards. for example, mario's standard special attack is to throw a fireball (taken from super mario bros.) and his down-special is a spin (similar to his spin-jump from super mario world). mario's up-special is his signature jump, which doubles up as both an attack and a third jump. you can also shield, dodge (moving you quickly along a small distance with temporary invincibility) and grab and throw enemies. the most powerful attacks that each character can do are their smash attacks. these attacks are performed by using the normal attack button but flicking the thumbstick hard in the direction you want to attack.
this set-up is already a little strange. most fighting games have you always facing your opponent with minimal movement, whereas smash bros has stages that look a little like an obstacle course, with platforms and moving areas, allowing you to jump around them like in a mario platformer. the other most important change to the gameplay though is the disappearance of health bars. instead of losing health when you're hit, you gain damage. at the bottom of the screen are the numbers for each player, which increase as more damage is taken. the more damage you take, the further you fly when you're hit. your character dies when they're thrown out of the stage, either by falling off the bottom or thrown far enough to either side or at the ceiling. the principle of the game therefore is to attack your enemy to put damage on them until they have enough damage to unleash a powerful attack and KO them by knocking them off the stage.
it doesn't stop there though. up to four players can participate in battles at once, basically allowing four famous nintendo characters to bounce around a stage knocking each other about. it's hard to imagine, but it works so perfectly. you also have items that you can pick up and use. many of these (like the stages and characters) are borrowed from the nintendo universes. there are heart containers from the zelda games and greens shells from the mario games. there are lots of little nintendo touches that make the game enjoyable to long-term fans.
the character list itself is reasonably big (eight initial characters and four hidden ones). the immediate line-up is mario, donkey kong, link, samus, fox, pikachu, kirby and yoshi. each of the characters is vastly different in their attacks and how they handle. it's also just great fun to watch mario beat up pikachu, or yoshi turn samus into an egg. if you want to know the hidden characters, i suggest you go look them up yourself, i won't spoil them for those who don't know already.
the gameplay is what makes this game what it is. the freedom of attack choice is so large! all four characters bounce around the stage throwing items, kicking enemies and dodging attacks. everything gets a bit hectic, but you can use a lot of strategy. the main thing is that it somewhat reflects the mario platformers in your ability to chain together combos of moves. this is of course the case with most fighting games, where move combos are rewarded, but in smash bros it feels more like a platformer. once you've got good at the game you'll be able to throw items at characters from miles off, drop-kick them in mid-air, dodge round behind them before grabbing them or pulling off various stupidly cool moves. it's true that with just two main attack buttons you have nowhere near the selection of moves that you do in a standard fighting game, but the creative freedom in battling is so much bigger that it more than makes up for it. you really have to see the game in action to understand it's crazy glory.
the game has one main single-player mode, which takes you through a short list of set battles much like an arcade game. there's no story beyond what's written in the manual, unfortunately, but it is built like an arcade game so it wouldn't make much difference. as well as that there are two minigames that are different when played with each character and a training mode. the training mode gives you complete control of the environment in order to practice. it lets you choose what items to drop, the speed of gameplay, the camera zoom, the enemy AI and more. whilst there are four characters to unlock, the lifespan isn't that massive. the multi-player mode is of course where you'll spend most of your time. there's plenty of options, allowing 2-4 players in various combinations of teams or a free-for-all. you can set item frequency for each individual items, as well as a few other options to customise the battle, as well as of course the game requirements. matches are either timed (killing someone gets you a point, dying loses you a point, most points at the end of the time limit wins) or done with lives (last one remaining wins). the options and sheer depth of the game allows for a ridiculous amount of replayability. this game is a multi-player classic, and it will get played again and again and again.
since it's hard to explain why the game's so good, let's go through some of the review criteria. the graphics are ok for the N64, though most of the items and special effects are 2D sprites, which look a bit rubbish. the sounds are good, with classic nintendo tunes and decent sound effects. the drop-in factor is exceptionally high, thanks to the ease of setting up a match and the short time each match can take. the build-quality is very high, with a consistent physics engine and quite a high frame-rate for its day.
the difficulty is worth mentioning. the single-player mode is wonderful for this, because it lets you change the difficulty from anywhere between a walk in the park and a nightmare game. the only issue with the difficulty is it takes a short time to pick up. most people can grasp the movement pretty easily, but newcomers and non-gamers seem to have a real issue in using the third jump, because it's mapped to a different button combination than the other two jumps. it's also very easy for a newcomer or non-gamer to get lost in the mayhem. the upshot of all this is that it has a reasonably steep learning curve, and that a player with lots of skill will always be able to defeat one with less skill. this last issue is remedied slightly by the handicap settings. the lower your handicap number, the further you fly. normally you ought to get a player to about 100% damage (damage goes over 100% by the way) before attempting a KO, but with a handicap 1 player (handicaps valuing 1-9) you only need to get them to about 20%. there's a nice little setting called auto-handicap, which edits the players' handicaps between matches to suit their style, which should naturally come to rest at a happy medium where the players can have a fair match. this said, it still feels like one player is better than the other, even if the match results are close.
one of the last things you need to take into account is this game's relation to its sequel. super smash bros melee had a faster, tighter physics engine, more moves, more characters, more stages, more modes, more options, more nintendo cameos, better graphics and was generally better in every conceivable way. if you own melee, your only reason for buying the original would be for the collector value or simply for the enjoyment of playing the historic old version. it is interesting to note that there are one or two small things that the original did better. the bouncer item was better than the flipper that replaced it (despite the flipper being a nintendo cameo), and the ray gun was better in the original as well. metal enemies were also much more powerful on the original, though the only one was found in the one-player mode. finally, the fighting polygons were better than their replacement (the wire-frame fighters) because the posed more of a challenge and made for a really exciting battle, instead of the wire-frame's dull fight. still, melee is the one to buy if you have neither, and buy it you must! melee is easily my favourite multi-player game ever, and is still my first choice with friends after seven years.
despite appearing shallow, super smash bros has an incredible amount of depth. it combines many nintendo franchises into one brilliant game. it has a unique gameplay concept that works sublimely and provides near infinite multi-player enjoyment. obviously get melee first, but in terms of rating this game on its own, it's incredible and you wouldn't regret buying it. i feel i've somewhat lacked the hyper reviewing tone this game deserves. i spent ages explaining how it works, leaving little time to tell you how amazing it is. have a look at the videos page to get a better idea of how it works, but in the end you'll just have to trust me that once you've played a smash bros game (and got used to the controls), multi-player will never be the same again.
---SUMMARY---
the good: +great innovative concept, +many nintendo faces fighting each other, +lots of nintendo stuff thrown in, +plenty of multi-player options, +immense depth and strategy, +a massive amount of perfectly controlled mayhem, +a multi-player favourite for being such an incredible game.
the bad: -a little short on the one-player side, -feels old and slightly sluggish compared to melee.
overall feeling: good
-------------
---COMPARISON---
super smash bros melee - what can i say. buy this game now! it's one of the biggest games i've ever played in terms of content and it nearly perfects an already brilliant formula. no matter how gaming progresses and advances, you will always come back to play the latest smash bros game for it's pure mutli-player brilliance. this game will get more hours for your pennies than any other game.
super smash bros brawl - the new version for wii. more characters, better graphics, more modes. and online play? don't tell me you don't want it...
new super mario bros - the one-on-one multi-player is similar to smash bros in its freedom and general style. an amazing multi-player mode, if not as good as smash bros. oh, and the one-player's pretty awesome as well.
----------------
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