Super Smash Brothers Retrospective
The newest installment of the Super Smash Brothers 3DS series has been in stores for about a month now. The Wii U version will be out around November 21st. I've rode the hype train ever since I saw the first trailer. The introduction of Megaman was just icing on the cake. The Smash series is probably my favorite franchise in the history of gaming. I think it has to do with having so many beloved franchise characters duking it out in four player party action that makes it so addictive.
In order to honor the new game coming out, I was thinking of doing a retrospective of the older versions of the series. I've spent quite a bit of time with each installment of the series. So let's not waste too much time and get to the action!
Super Smash Brothers 64 (1999)
Super Smash Brothers 64 was the beginning of the epic franchise. Most people didn't really see it coming though. In 1999, the company, Hal Laboratory, spearheaded the production of the Nintendo Franchise fighter. A game that Nintendo never really has done before and that no company could do before (Sega and Sony didn't really have too many first party character). I mean when was the last Nintendo made a fighting game? Either way, the game was definitely what I would call a marketing experiment. Nintendo already had party games that involved a medley of characters (Mario Kart and Mario Party to name a few). But the idea that they could expand to other franchises and IPs seemed like it could have easily flopped. The N64 was in the middle of it's lifespan and a fighting game wasn't exactly what the system really needed.
But damn did it explode. In 2 years it sold over 5 million units. I think it really rocked everyone's world. I know it rocked mine. I mean the commercial for it was pretty much the best commercial in the universe. A party game where you could choose from 10 famous Nintendo characters (and 2 not so famous ones at the time) and duke it out with your friends.
And for two joyous years, the N64 became the the greatest games of all time...
party console. Late nights were filled with Smash 64. If only the Nintendo 64 controller wasn't so destructive to the fingertips. But that's the besides the point because in 2001 the Gamecube was released and with that came one of
Super Smash Brothers Melee (2001)
Oh. My. God. I don't think I was ever more excited for a video game in my then short 14 year old life. I told my mom the night before it came out if she could grab the game for me. It wasn't something I normally did, I usually try to buy games with my own money or request them for my birthday. That afternoon after school, I got a ride home from my close friend who had his mom pick up the game while we were at school. We opened the cellophane rabidly and marveled at the disc. We examined the contents of the instruction manual. The pages were bursting with colorful artwork and most importantly, a breakdown of all the fighters moves. I was so excited and it wasn't even my game! I ran home after the ride and ran to my mom. I asked excitedly if she got it. She looked at me and sighed; she said that E.B. Games was out at the mall. I was heartbroken. I couldn't believe that I'd have to wait some unknown time until I could get my hands on the game. Then she told me to get something from the car. I went to the car assuming i was picking up groceries when I saw what was waiting for me in the backseat. Super Freaking Smash Brothers Melee. I never felt so happy. I hugged my mom as tightly as I could and probably made some promised that I never kept. I ran upstairs and my life was never the same. I played the hell out of that game. Before my memory card broke, I clocked in over 400 hours on single-player melee. There was over 800 hours of combined total gameplay.
And it seemed like that was it and it was okay. I mean, I played the game for seven years and many so many friends on this single game. The game was the life of many parties and reasons to come over to people's houses. I hosted tourneys in high school for the game. The game was popular even in college. Dorms were rife with smash players. It was truly a masterpiece up there with Counterstrike and Diablo II.
But things only got better, or so it seemed. I few months into my freshman year of college an announcement came out of almost nowhere. No one really thought it was coming but the hype was real.
Super Smash Brothers Brawl (2008)
The Wii version of Super Smash Brothers finally came in 2008. After being delayed for an entire year (or two?), the game was finally in my hands. I remember a close friend of mine was there by my side and we finally loaded up the game and....silence. The game that was anticipated for 7 years was not what I nor what my friend expected. The game wasn't tight or as fast as Melee. It was floaty. It looked pretty though and the game modes were great. But strict multiplayer just wasn't as competitive as what melee brought.
I still saw it as an enjoyable game that should have been given more love. But my friends were nowhere near as impressed and quickly regressed back to Melee. My interest slowly withered on Brawl. I ended up not picking it up and practicing it like I did with melee. The random tripping and the mechanics just didn't do it for me either. I wanted to like Brawl, I mean it even had Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid! What was not to like? But if I had no one to play with, it seemed like an irrelevant game to play.
The reasoning behind the existence of Brawl was to try and correct the mistakes of Melee while also appealing to as many Nintendo fans as possible. There were many glitches that were exploited in the competitive scene of Melee. Sakurai decided to fix that by eliminating the glitch while also implementing a random tripping element. The development team also slowed things down so that it wasn't as competitive as it's counter part. All these changes were of good intentions but it just disappointed many of the hardcore fans.
Smash Brawl was sort of an oddity. It was a conservative approach in terms of gameplay yet so much more content than ever before. It made for an odd combination of pros and cons. You had all these modes and content to unlock yet the gameplay just wasn't enough to satisfy. The adventure mode of Melee turned into Subspace Emissary, a cut-scene based story mode that revolved around platforming and battling to unlock characters. SE also had bosses to fight.
Many seemed to think that this was Sakurai's swan song on the Super Smash Brother's franchise. It was assumed that there would be no more. It was a very sad day since the latest one didn't live up to its hype. Yet when the Wii U was announced, Nintendo's president vowed to bring a Super Smash Brothers to the system. Gamers were perplexed yet excited as well. Just a year ago our dreams turned into reality when trailers kept getting dished out for the newcomers of the newest Smash.
Some noteable entries to the franchise was the inclusion of two characters not owned exclusively by Nintendo: Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog. These two characters seem to play radically different than the rest of the Nintendo army. Solid Snake was a trapper and had wild but hard hitting smash attacks. Sonic, on the other hand, was weak but had amazing speed that completely outclasses Fox and Pikachu.
Super Smash Brother 3DS/Wii U (2014)
This brings us to the current chapter of the Smash Brothers series. Waiting another six years for a super smash game is a crazy thought. I mean gamers nowadays are used to the one to two year production style for games. So when this game was announced at E3 during the Wii U launch, people went crazy. Sakurai didn't even know he was directing the game until the announcement (at least initial reports said so).
This also came as a surprise to gamers since it Sakurai was supposed to be "done" with Super Smash Brothers Brawl. The newest Smash has now re-invigorated the franchise proposing the idea that new smashes can still be made.
The multi-platform release was a gift and a curse. The game was made for cross-functionality; the 3DS version would unlock and act as a controller for the Wii U version. This added extra content and a new play style for the franchise but also hinder the Wii U game. The 3DS has limited processing and storage capabilities which means that the roster has to be small enough for it to fit on a 3DS cartridge. So while the newest installment boast the biggest roster in smash history (around 50 characters!), it could have been more in the Wii U version.
The game is a mixture of Brawl and Melee. It tries to find that middle ground as to not be too competitive and fast pace but also not as slow and floaty as Brawl was. It is perfect in its execution. It may not be the smash for everyone but I'm having a hell of time with this game. With the new tech, there is a wealth of content in this game (and the Wii U version isn't even out). I had a fun time unlocking all of secret characters, but at the same time, I felt like there wasn't that many secret characters to unlock.
However the amount of content in the handheld version of this game borders on insane. I have spend over forty hours on this game and I still haven't gotten all the items and trophies yet. I still haven't finished all the challenges in the game either. If this is any indication of how the Wii U version will be, we're looking at a very smash-tastic winter!
Super Smash Brothers 64 was the beginning of the epic franchise. Most people didn't really see it coming though. In 1999, the company, Hal Laboratory, spearheaded the production of the Nintendo Franchise fighter. A game that Nintendo never really has done before and that no company could do before (Sega and Sony didn't really have too many first party character). I mean when was the last Nintendo made a fighting game? Either way, the game was definitely what I would call a marketing experiment. Nintendo already had party games that involved a medley of characters (Mario Kart and Mario Party to name a few). But the idea that they could expand to other franchises and IPs seemed like it could have easily flopped. The N64 was in the middle of it's lifespan and a fighting game wasn't exactly what the system really needed.
But damn did it explode. In 2 years it sold over 5 million units. I think it really rocked everyone's world. I know it rocked mine. I mean the commercial for it was pretty much the best commercial in the universe. A party game where you could choose from 10 famous Nintendo characters (and 2 not so famous ones at the time) and duke it out with your friends.
And for two joyous years, the N64 became the the greatest games of all time...
Super Smash Brothers Melee (2001)
Oh. My. God. I don't think I was ever more excited for a video game in my then short 14 year old life. I told my mom the night before it came out if she could grab the game for me. It wasn't something I normally did, I usually try to buy games with my own money or request them for my birthday. That afternoon after school, I got a ride home from my close friend who had his mom pick up the game while we were at school. We opened the cellophane rabidly and marveled at the disc. We examined the contents of the instruction manual. The pages were bursting with colorful artwork and most importantly, a breakdown of all the fighters moves. I was so excited and it wasn't even my game! I ran home after the ride and ran to my mom. I asked excitedly if she got it. She looked at me and sighed; she said that E.B. Games was out at the mall. I was heartbroken. I couldn't believe that I'd have to wait some unknown time until I could get my hands on the game. Then she told me to get something from the car. I went to the car assuming i was picking up groceries when I saw what was waiting for me in the backseat. Super Freaking Smash Brothers Melee. I never felt so happy. I hugged my mom as tightly as I could and probably made some promised that I never kept. I ran upstairs and my life was never the same. I played the hell out of that game. Before my memory card broke, I clocked in over 400 hours on single-player melee. There was over 800 hours of combined total gameplay.
And it seemed like that was it and it was okay. I mean, I played the game for seven years and many so many friends on this single game. The game was the life of many parties and reasons to come over to people's houses. I hosted tourneys in high school for the game. The game was popular even in college. Dorms were rife with smash players. It was truly a masterpiece up there with Counterstrike and Diablo II.
But things only got better, or so it seemed. I few months into my freshman year of college an announcement came out of almost nowhere. No one really thought it was coming but the hype was real.
Super Smash Brothers Brawl (2008)
The Wii version of Super Smash Brothers finally came in 2008. After being delayed for an entire year (or two?), the game was finally in my hands. I remember a close friend of mine was there by my side and we finally loaded up the game and....silence. The game that was anticipated for 7 years was not what I nor what my friend expected. The game wasn't tight or as fast as Melee. It was floaty. It looked pretty though and the game modes were great. But strict multiplayer just wasn't as competitive as what melee brought.
I still saw it as an enjoyable game that should have been given more love. But my friends were nowhere near as impressed and quickly regressed back to Melee. My interest slowly withered on Brawl. I ended up not picking it up and practicing it like I did with melee. The random tripping and the mechanics just didn't do it for me either. I wanted to like Brawl, I mean it even had Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid! What was not to like? But if I had no one to play with, it seemed like an irrelevant game to play.
The reasoning behind the existence of Brawl was to try and correct the mistakes of Melee while also appealing to as many Nintendo fans as possible. There were many glitches that were exploited in the competitive scene of Melee. Sakurai decided to fix that by eliminating the glitch while also implementing a random tripping element. The development team also slowed things down so that it wasn't as competitive as it's counter part. All these changes were of good intentions but it just disappointed many of the hardcore fans.
Smash Brawl was sort of an oddity. It was a conservative approach in terms of gameplay yet so much more content than ever before. It made for an odd combination of pros and cons. You had all these modes and content to unlock yet the gameplay just wasn't enough to satisfy. The adventure mode of Melee turned into Subspace Emissary, a cut-scene based story mode that revolved around platforming and battling to unlock characters. SE also had bosses to fight.
Many seemed to think that this was Sakurai's swan song on the Super Smash Brother's franchise. It was assumed that there would be no more. It was a very sad day since the latest one didn't live up to its hype. Yet when the Wii U was announced, Nintendo's president vowed to bring a Super Smash Brothers to the system. Gamers were perplexed yet excited as well. Just a year ago our dreams turned into reality when trailers kept getting dished out for the newcomers of the newest Smash.
Some noteable entries to the franchise was the inclusion of two characters not owned exclusively by Nintendo: Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog. These two characters seem to play radically different than the rest of the Nintendo army. Solid Snake was a trapper and had wild but hard hitting smash attacks. Sonic, on the other hand, was weak but had amazing speed that completely outclasses Fox and Pikachu.
Super Smash Brother 3DS/Wii U (2014)
This brings us to the current chapter of the Smash Brothers series. Waiting another six years for a super smash game is a crazy thought. I mean gamers nowadays are used to the one to two year production style for games. So when this game was announced at E3 during the Wii U launch, people went crazy. Sakurai didn't even know he was directing the game until the announcement (at least initial reports said so).
This also came as a surprise to gamers since it Sakurai was supposed to be "done" with Super Smash Brothers Brawl. The newest Smash has now re-invigorated the franchise proposing the idea that new smashes can still be made.
The multi-platform release was a gift and a curse. The game was made for cross-functionality; the 3DS version would unlock and act as a controller for the Wii U version. This added extra content and a new play style for the franchise but also hinder the Wii U game. The 3DS has limited processing and storage capabilities which means that the roster has to be small enough for it to fit on a 3DS cartridge. So while the newest installment boast the biggest roster in smash history (around 50 characters!), it could have been more in the Wii U version.
The game is a mixture of Brawl and Melee. It tries to find that middle ground as to not be too competitive and fast pace but also not as slow and floaty as Brawl was. It is perfect in its execution. It may not be the smash for everyone but I'm having a hell of time with this game. With the new tech, there is a wealth of content in this game (and the Wii U version isn't even out). I had a fun time unlocking all of secret characters, but at the same time, I felt like there wasn't that many secret characters to unlock.
However the amount of content in the handheld version of this game borders on insane. I have spend over forty hours on this game and I still haven't gotten all the items and trophies yet. I still haven't finished all the challenges in the game either. If this is any indication of how the Wii U version will be, we're looking at a very smash-tastic winter!
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