Super Smash Bros. series

Super Smash Bros. is a series of fighting games published by Nintendo, featuring characters from established video games. The gameplay differs from traditional fighters for focusing on knocking opponents out of the stage instead of depleting life bars. The original Super Smash Bros., released in 1999 on the Nintendo 64, had a small budget and was originally a Japan-only release, but its domestic success led to a worldwide release. The series achieved even greater success with its second installment, Super Smash Bros. Melee, which was released in 2001 for the Nintendo GameCube, becoming the best selling game on that system. The third game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, was released on the Wii on January 31, 2008 in Japan, March 9, 2008 in North America, and was released in Europe on June 27, 2008. The fourth and latest impediment, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, was released at two separate dates. Although HAL Laboratory has been the developer of the first two titles, the third game was developed by a cooperation of different developers (although HAL still did supervise Super Smash Bros. Brawl). The franchise is conceived by Masahiro Sakurai, who is also the creator of the Kirby franchise.

The game features many characters from Nintendo's most popular games, like Mario, Fox, Link, and Samus Aran. Super Smash Bros. had 12 characters, and the number rose to 25 characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee and 35 in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Some characters are able to transform into different forms that have different styles of play and sets of moves. The games also feature non-playable Nintendo characters, like Ridley and Petey Piranha. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, two non-Nintendo characters were added to the playable roster, Sonic the Hedgehog (from Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series) and Solid Snake (from Konami's Metal Gear series). Two more non-Nintendo characters, Mega Man (from CAPCOM's Mega Man series) and PAC-MAN (from Bandai-Namco's PAC-MAN series), were introduced in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

The series has been well received by critics, with much praise given to the multiplayer mode, although its single player modes did not attain the same praise. The original received mixed reviews, however, all other titles were widely acclaimed by critics and fans alike.

History

Playable Characters

The series has had a unique cast of characters from different series, for each game more are added. The shaded blocks are the characters that need to be unlocked. This list is alphabetized.

Fighter	Super Smash Bros.	Super Smash Bros. Melee	Super Smash Bros. Brawl	Super Smash Bros. for Wii U / Nintendo 3DS	Series
Bayonetta				* (DLC)	Bayonetta
Bowser					Mario
Bowser Jr.				*(Starter on Wii U)	Mario
Charizard			*(Transformation)		Pokémon
Captain Falcon					F-ZERO
Cloud				* (DLC)	Final Fantasy
Corrin				* (DLC)	Fire Emblem
Dark Pit					Kid Icarus
Diddy Kong					Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong					Donkey Kong
Dr. Mario					Mario
Duck Hunt					Duck Hunt
Falco					Star Fox
Fox					Star Fox
Ganondorf				*(Starter on Wii U)	The Legend of Zelda
Greninja					Pokémon
Ice Climbers					Ice Climber
Ike					Fire Emblem
Ivysaur			* (Transformation)		Pokémon
Jigglypuff				*(Starter on Wii U)	Pokémon
King Dedede					Kirby
Kirby					Kirby
Lady Palutena					Kid Icarus
Link					The Legend of Zelda
Little Mac					Punch-Out!
Lucario					Pokémon
Lucas				* (DLC)	EarthBound (Mother)
Lucina					Fire Emblem
Luigi					Mario
Mario					Mario
Marth					Fire Emblem
Mega Man					Mega Man
Meta Knight					Kirby
Mewtwo				* (DLC)	Pokémon
Mii Fighter					Super Smash Bros.
Mr. Game & Watch					Game & Watch
Ness				*(Starter on Wii U)	EarthBound (Mother)
Olimar					Pikmin
Pac-Man					Pac-Man
Peach					Mario
Pichu					Pokémon
Pikachu					Pokémon
Pit					Kid Icarus
Pokémon Trainer					Pokémon
R.O.B.					R.O.B.
Robin					Fire Emblem
Rosalina & Luma					Mario
Roy				* (DLC)	Fire Emblem
Ryu				* (DLC)	Street Fighter
Samus					Metroid
Sheik		*(Transformation)	*(Transformation)		The Legend of Zelda
Shulk					Xenoblade
Snake					Metal Gear
Sonic					Sonic the Hedgehog
Squirtle			*(Transformation)		Pokèmon
Toon Link					The Legend of Zelda
Villager					Animal Crossing
Wario					Wario
Wii Fit Trainer					Wii Fit
Wolf					Star Fox
Yoshi					Yoshi
Young Link					The Legend of Zelda
Zelda		*(Transformation)	*(Transformation)		The Legend of Zelda
Zero Suit Samus					Metroid

Games

Super Smash Bros.

Main article: Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros. characters

Super Smash Bros. was introduced in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. It was released worldwide after selling over a million copies in Japan. It featured eight characters from the start, with four unlockable characters, all of them created by Nintendo or one of its second-party developers.

Up to four people can play in multiplayer (Versus) mode, with the specific rules of each match being predetermined by the players. There are two different types that can be chosen: Time, where the person with the most KOs at the end of the set time wins; and stock, where each person has a set amount of lives, and when they are gone, the player is eliminated.

This game's one-player mode included one adventure mode that always followed the same series of opponents although the player could change the difficulty. Other single player modes exist such as Training and several mini-games, including "Break the Targets" and "Board the Platforms". All of these were included in the sequel, with the exception of "Board the Platforms".

There are nine playable stages in Versus mode, eight based on each of the starting characters (such as Princess Peach's Castle for Mario, Zebes for Samus, and Sector Z for Fox) and the unlockable Mushroom Kingdom.

King Dedede was originally meant to be a playable character, but was removed due to concerns of over-referencing the Kirby franchise. He does make a cameo appearance, flying in the background of the Dream Land stage.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Main article: Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee was released November 21, 2001, in Japan; December 3, 2001, in North America; May 24, 2002, in Europe; and May 31, 2002, in Australia for the GameCube video game console. It had a larger budget and development team than Super Smash Bros. did and was released to much greater praise and acclaim among critics and consumers. Since its release, Super Smash Bros. Melee has sold more than 7 million copies and was the best-selling game on the GameCube. Super Smash Bros. Melee features 26 characters, of which 15 are available initially, more than doubling the number of characters in its predecessor. There are also 29 stages.

It introduced two new single-player modes alongside the Classic mode: Adventure mode and All-Star mode. Adventure mode has platforming segments similar to the original's "Race to the Finish" mini-game, and All-Star is a fight against every playable character in the game, allows the player only one life in which damage is accumulated over each battle, and a limited number of heal items in between battles.

There are also significantly more multiplayer modes and a tournament mode allowing for 64 different competitors whom can all be controlled by a human player, although only up to four players can participate at the same time. Additionally, the game featured alternative battle modes, called "Special Melee," which involve some sort of alteration to the battle (e.g. all characters are giant by default, the speed is faster than normal, etc.), along with alternative ways to judge a victory, such as through collecting coins throughout the match.

In place of Super Smash Bros.' character profiles, Super Smash Bros. Melee introduced trophies (called "figures" in the Japanese version). The 293 trophies include three different profiles for each playable character, one unlocked in each single-player mode. In addition, unlike its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee contains profiles for many Nintendo characters who are either non-playable or do not appear in the game, as well as Nintendo items, stages, enemies, and elements.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Main article: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Although a third Super Smash Bros. game had been announced long before E3 2006, Nintendo unveiled its first information in the form of a trailer on May 10, 2006, and the game was named Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The trailer featured Solid Snake, of Konami's Metal Gear fame, marking the first time that a third-party character had been introduced as a playable character in a Super Smash Bros. title. A second third-party character, Sonic the Hedgehog, from Nintendo's former rival Sega was also confirmed as a playable character on October 10, 2007. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released in Japan on January 31, 2008, in North America on March 9, 2008, in Australia on June 26, 2008, and Europe on June 27, 2008. Super Smash Bros. Brawl is also the first game in the franchise to support online play, via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and offer the ability for players to construct their own original stages.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl also features compatibility with four kinds of controllers (the Wii Remote on its side, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination, the Classic Controller, and the Nintendo GameCube controller), while its predecessors only used the one controller designed for that system. The player also has the ability to change the configuration of controls and the controller type.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl features a new Adventure Mode titled The Subspace Emissary. This mode features unique character storylines along with numerous side scrolling levels and multiple bosses to fight, as well as CG cut scenes explaining the storyline. The Subspace Emissary features a new group of antagonists called the Subspace Army, who are led by the Ancient Minister. Some of these enemy characters appeared in previous Nintendo video games, such as Petey Piranha from the Mario series and a squadron of R.O.B.s based on classic Nintendo hardware. The Subspace Emissary also boasts a number of original enemies, such as the Roader, a robotic unicycle; the Bytan, a one-eyed ball-like creature which can replicate itself if left alone; and the Primid, enemies that come in many variations. Though primarily a single-player mode, The Subspace Emissary allows for cooperative multiplayer. There are five difficulty levels for each stage, and there is a method of increasing characters' powers during the game. This is done by placing collected stickers onto the bottom of a character's trophy between stages to improve various aspects of a fighter.

A Boss Endurance mode is included, but only after beating the Subspace Emissary for the first time. Just like in Kirby Super Star and its remake, every boss but the final one is fought in a random order. The final boss is always fought last. Oddly enough, Master Hand and Crazy Hand are included in this mode, even though they could only be found in Classic Mode. Bosses fought in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Boss Battles mode are:

• Petey Pirahna (Super Mario Sunshine & Super Princess Peach)

• Rayquaza (Pokémon series)

• Porky (Earthbound / Mother series)

• Ridley (Metroid series)

• Master Hand (Super Smash Bros. through Super Smash Bros. Brawl; he also appeared in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror)

• Crazy Hand (Super Smash Bros. Melee through Super Smash Bros. Brawl; he also appeared in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror)

• Galleom (original)

• Duon (original)

• Meta Ridley (Metroid Prime)

• Tabuu (original, final boss)

Gameplay

The Super Smash Bros. series is a dramatic departure from many fighting games. Instead of winning by depleting an opponent's life bar, Super Smash Bros. players seek to knock opposing characters off the stage. In Super Smash Bros., characters have a damage total, represented by a percentage value, which rises as they take damage and can exceed 100%. As a character's percentage rises, the character can be knocked progressively farther by an opponent's attacks. To KO an opponent, the player must send that character flying off the edge of the stage, which is not an enclosed arena but rather an area with open boundaries, usually a set of suspended platforms. When a character is knocked off the stage, the character may use jumping moves to (attempt to) return; as some characters' jumps are longer-ranged, they may have an easier time "recovering" than others. Additionally, some characters are heavier than others, making it harder for an opponent to knock them off the edge but likewise harder to recover.

Super Smash Bros.'s play controls are greatly simplified in comparison to other fighting games. While traditional fighting games such as Street Fighter or Soul Calibur require the player to memorize button-input combinations (sometimes lengthy and complicated, and often specific to a character), Super Smash Bros. uses the same one-attack-button, one-control-stick-direction combinations to access all moves for all characters. Characters are not limited to constantly facing their opponent, but may run around freely. Super Smash Bros. also implements blocking and dodging mechanics, which can be used both on the ground and in the air. Grabbing and throwing other characters are also possible, allowing for a large variety of ways to attack.

One additional major element in the Super Smash Bros. series is the inclusion of battle items, of which players can control the frequency of appearance. There are conventional "battering items," with which a player may hit an opponent, such as a baseball bat or a sword; throwing items, including Bob-ombs and shells; and shooting items, either single shot guns or rapid fire blasters. Recovery items allow the user to lose varying amounts of their damage percent. From the Pokémon franchise come Poké Balls that release a random Pokémon onto the battlefield to assist the user; Super Smash Bros. Brawl introduces a new "Assist Trophy" item which serves a similar purpose, albeit being capable of summoning a wider range of characters from a variety of franchises. Super Smash Bros. Brawl also introduces a new item called a "Smash Ball," which allow fighters to perform character-specific supers known as "Final Smashes."