You don’t think I could just let Kevin bring back a feature and receive no competition? Absolutely not! My arrogant jerkiness won’t allow it. And so, the Console Classica returns. So what’s the game we’ll be looking at now? How about one of the greatest successes on the N64, and one of Nintendo’s most popular franchises? I’m talking about Super Smash Bros. for the N64.

Developed by HAL Laboratory, Inc.
Published by Nintendo

Platform - Nintendo 64

Date Released:
Japan - January 21, 1999
North America - April 26, 1999
Europe - November 19, 1999

Development:

The original Smash Bros. was developed by Nintendo-owned second-party developer, HAL Laboratories, Inc. HAL was known best for their extensive involvement with the Kirby franchise. Originally a side project by series creator, Masahiro Sakurai, and HAL president, Satoru Iwata, they had an idea to create a very accessible fighter to add to Nintendo’s ever-growing list of genres. Utilizing an altered Kirby engine for ease of development, the project was originally going under the name of Dragon King: The Fighting Game. The title originally didn’t feature any of the Nintendo characters, but shortly into conception, the idea was brought up. Iwata is quoted as wanting to give the game more atmosphere. Further down the line, Iwata and Sakurai approached Nintendo with the concept. The project was soon approved and made official. However, Nintendo was cautious about the idea. HAL was given a small budget to continue development.

The fighter roster featured 12 of Nintendo’s most iconic characters.

Rumours began to circulate to various members of the press that Nintendo was working on a fighting game featuring their iconic characters. The original impression was a Tekken-like arcadey fighter. Nintendo tried to not give too much away, and they were really worried about how it would be received by audiences. As a result, they planned the game for a Japan-only release. Once the game was officially announced, the press went rabid. They wanted more. Nintendo, however, still scared about the response, offered little promotion for the title.

Nintendo’s fears were put to rest. The game sold incredibly well in Japan. Now convinced that they had done the right thing, the game was then approved to be a worldwide release. In a very short time, Super Smash Bros. was released in North America, and sold over 200 000 units in its first week alone.

Mario and Link faced off for the first time ever. The concept struck an instant chord with Nintendo fans.

The Game:

The very concept behind Super Smash Bros. is simple. Players can choose from a list of Nintendo’s key characters, and pit them against one another in combat. The original title featured twelve of Nintendo’s characters, four of which were unlockable through various modes in the game. The initial roster included Mario, Link from the Zelda franchise, DK, Kirby, Fox McCloud, and Yoshi. Riding on the recent breakout success of the Pokemon franchise, Pikachu was also included. Metroid’s heroic bounty hunter, Samus Aran, also made her first appearance on the N64. The unlockable characters included Pokemon’s Jigglypuff, F-Zero’s Captain Falcon, Luigi, and Ness from Earthbound. Of all the characters, Ness has had the largest affect, introducing many to the Mother series. Ness received none of his moves in the original game, but instead, those of his comrades.

The game placed you in a small arena that was themed after the various franchises featured in the title. Smash Bros. was unique as a fighting game, however. Instead of having you beat down your opponent’s health, instead the more you hit an opponent, their percentage would rise. The higher the percentage, the higher the chance of them being thrown out of the ring, and defeated. The game acted very similarly to Japanese Sumo wrestling, and has made references to the sport.

The game only really utilized two-buttons. The A-button was used for basic melee attacks, while the B-button was a character’s ’special move’ which took inspiration from that characters’ franchise such as Yoshi’s extending tongue, Kirby’s ability to fly etc.. Depending on the direction you were holding the control stick, each of the attacks would be different. This allowed up to four unique moves to be mapped to a single button. For example, Link’s bow and arrow were mapped to the B-button alone, holding the control stick to the side would pull out his boomerang, down would bring out his bombs which he’d throw, and up would make him use his iconic spin attack. Also, flicking the control stick in one direction while simultaneously pressing the A-button would make your character perform a smash-attack. The smash-attack was an incredibly strong attack would send your opponent flying, thus giving the game its name.

Smash Bros. featured numerous stages to battle on, each one with unique traps and layouts.

The single-player mode had you face various opponents, but most of them were specialized into teams, or facing a giant version of one of the fighters. The boss was basically a giant hand named Master Hand.

But it wasn’t in single-player that the game achieved success. Smash Bros. was a huge success as a multiplayer title. Up to four players could jump in together and battle one-another. Due to its easily-accessible design due to the way it mapped the characters’ techniques, the game’s popularity would only grow. Arguably one of the most-played multiplayer games on the N64, it was also one of the best.

Response:

The game did incredibly well, reaching a worldwide total of over 5 million copies sold. The North American release was directly the cause of the game’s enormous success in Japan. Both audiences just loved the idea, and it became the central focus for get-togethers between friends.

The game was received positively by critics, but the single player received much criticism for being fairly repetitive and bland. The game was also knocked for lacking many features. Metacritic scores the game at 79. Some were still thrown off by how different it was to fighting games like Street Fighter or Tekken. But many also realized that it never intended to be like those games.

Super Smash Bros. was one of the highlights of the N64-era. The game’s instant pick-up-and-play design was welcoming to those who were mostly spectators to the fighting genre, and the 4-player multiplayer just added to the appeal. The game’s multiplayer even rivals (and to some, surpasses) the legendary multiplayer found in Mario Kart. Launching a multiplayer legacy, one of Nintendo’s scariest risks ended up being one of their most successful. The latest iteration, Smash Bros. Brawl has already become Nintendo’s fastest-selling title, already reaching over 1.5 million in North America alone only weeks after its release. With no foreseeable end in sight, this franchise can’t be described as anything other than a smash-hit.