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 fifth in the series, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, were released on two separate dates. The sixth Smash Bros. game, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, was released worldwide for Nintendo Switch on December 7, 2018. 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 was created 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 Petey Piranha and Metal Face. 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. Three more third-party characters, Ryu (from CAPCOM's Street Fighter series), Cloud (from Square-Enix's Final Fantasy series), and Bayonetta (from PlatinumGames' Bayonetta series) were added to the latter two games as downloadable content. A few other non-Nintendo characters, such as Simon and Richter Belmont (from Konami's Castlevania series), were introduced in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Super Smash Bros.
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 all 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, Planet 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
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
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 (from 2008-2014) 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 by itself, 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 Super 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 Piranha (Super Mario Sunshine)
 * 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)

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS was released for Nintendo 3DS on September 13, 2014, in Japan; October 3, 2014, in North America and Europe; and October 4, 2014, in Australia. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U was released for Wii U on November 21, 2014, in North America; November 28, 2014, in Europe; November 29, 2014, in Australia; and December 6, 2014, in Japan. The two games together comprise the fourth and fifth installments of the Super Smash Bros. series. It features more than 50 characters and numerous additional third-party ones, such as Mega Man from Capcom's Mega Man, Pac-Man from Namco's Pac-Man, Ryu from Capcom's Street Fighter, and Cloud from Square Enix's Final Fantasy series; it also added back the long-awaited Mewtwo.

Like in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, this game features the ability to change the control configuration, as well as featuring a multitude of different possible controllers in the Wii U version: the Wii U gamepad, the Wii U Pro Controller, The Wii Remote, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination, the Classic Controller, the Nintedo GameCube controller (if the appropriate adapter is used), and any system in the 3DS family.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U introduce the ability to customize fighters via equipment and custom moves, as well as utilize amiibo. Every character is capable of carrying equipment, and most every character has custom moves. Equipments come in Strength, Defensive, and Speed types, with certain equipment being specific to certain characters. Only three equipment pieces can be worn per character. Custom moves are alternative replacements to characters' special moves. For each special move, there are two alternatives which act similar to the original, but not exactly the same. Most custom moves are required to be unlocked; the exception being for Palutena and Mii Fighters, as Palutena's custom moves are completely different from each other, as goes the same with Mii Fighters, along with the fact that Mii Fighters are custom characters in general. Any characters released as DLC do not have custom moves. The player can store up to ten customized versions of every fighter. These Super Smash Bros. installments are also the first to use amiibo. In these games, the amiibo are used as Figure Players. They can train with CPUs or other players to improve their AI, as well as become stronger over time by leveling up; the max level is 50. An amiibo figure can be used for any playable character in the game, and can utilize custom moves, equipment, and a specific color palette (unless currently in use). The Wii U version also introduces 8-Player Smash, a mode that was originally planned to be included in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

The Classic Mode for these installments is significantly different than those found in previous installments. While it still revolves around fighting other characters on various stages and ending off at Final Destination for a showdown against Master Hand, there are numerous differences. In the Character Select screen, one has the ability to turn on custom fighters. The ability to change the difficulty and amount of stock is absent from this screen (with stock changing being absent altogether). After confirming one's fighter, the difficulty selection screen appears next. It is near identical to Kid Icarus: Uprising’s difficulty select; default difficulty is 2.0, but can be altered by increments of .1 from 0.0 to 9.0 by using gold. Instead of being sent into 11 fighting rounds with mini-game intermissions, there are only five (in the 3DS version) or six (in the Wii U version) rounds before a final fight at Final Destination.

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, the player can opt to choose three differing paths. Each path has a color marking is difficulty: blue, green, or red; they also have an icon so the player has an idea as to what characters he/she will face. Each path generally has gold coins on it, with more present on more difficult paths; trophies may also be obtained on certain pathways. After picking a fight, there is a roulette in which the player will be rewarded the chosen option if the player successfully completes the match. Some characters may also be altered, such as becoming giant, metal, or a team of many of the same character. Before the round on Final Destination, the paths change, depending on the difficulty. On the default difficulty or lower, only Master Hand is accessible at the end of a white path. If at a greater difficulty, the player has the option to fight against Master Hand and Crazy Hand, which are at the end of an alternate black pathway. If at a difficulty greater than 5.0, the player can fight Master Core if choosing the black path. At 8.0 or higher, the player is forced to fight Master Core. After completing Classic Mode, a trophy of the used character is obtained. During the ending credits, the player can hit the names of the various people that worked on the game in order to create a special picture in the background. Clearing at least 90% shows the entire picture at the end.

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, it is mostly the same as the 3DS version, with some differences. After choosing a difficulty, the player is put on a platform with numerous other fighters. The player can navigate to fight against certain groups. Each character is shown, as well as the stage and possible reward for defeating each character. A "rival" character is also present; this character will get stronger the longer the player refrains from fighting it. This version of Classic Mode also allows for up to 8 fighters, as well as utilizing teams. Occasionally, an "intruder" will appear and take the slot of a fighter; these characters are altered to be giant or metal. After all other fighters are defeated on the platform (this takes three rounds), more fighters will appear, this time using their alternate version trophies; these fighters are equipped with custom moves (if applicable). This takes two rounds for all other fighters to be defeated. Afterwards, the player will be surrounded by Mii Fighters, and is forced to fight twenty of them on Battlefield. After defeating them, a black void engulfs the screen, leading the player to Final Destination. There is no option to choose between fighting just Master Hand, or fighting him alongside Crazy Hand; the following fight is determined by the difficulty. If played on 8.0 or higher, the player has the chance to fight a form of Master Core exclusive to the Wii U edition of the game: Master Fortress.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS introduces a new game-mode: Smash Run. In Smash Run, the player has five minutes to travel through a labyrinth, fighting off enemies, gathering treasures, enduring special events, and improving the character by increasing stats. In the end, all the players will compete in a special event. This mode is comparable to Kirby Air Ride’s City Trial mode.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U introduces a few new modes as well: Smash Tour, Master Orders, and Crazy Orders. Smash Tour plays like that of a board game, taking some elements of Smash Run with it, such as increasing stats. The player's Mii travels along the board, picking up stats, fighters, and fights with those whose path he/she crosses. After an amount of rounds, the players fight with their various collected fighters on Battlefield. Whoever obtains the most KOs wins. Master Orders is a mode in which the player can earn rewards by carrying out certain tasks of varying difficulties. The difficulties are as a result of various positive and negative handicaps the fighters receive during the fight. Crazy Orders is similar, but requires a Crazy Orders ticket or a small fee to get in. The player can choose one of three different possible fights. Some are team battles, some have metal characters, and some feature giant characters. Each fight has a reward such as gold, custom moves/equipment, or CDs. After a fight is over, three more fights are available. Some damage received from the fight is carried over. The goal is to complete as many fights as possible without losing a stock; the player can opt to fight Crazy Hand anytime he/she wants except before the first round. If enough rounds are completed, Master Hand will also join. Attacking Master Hand or Crazy Hand will result on chests filled with gold dropping, allowing the player to obtain them. A couple of CPU fighters will also appear to be a nuisance.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was announced on March 8, 2018 in a Nintendo Direct, and gameplay demo of the game was shown at E3 2018 on June 12. All characters from Super Smash Bros. history return in this iteration, along with a few newcomers, such as Daisy from the Super Mario franchise and Ridley from the Metroid series.

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."

Playable characters


The series has had a unique cast of characters from different series, and for each game more are added. The shaded blocks are the characters that need to be unlocked. This list is alphabetized and also labels if the fighter is DLC, an alternate costume for a fighter, a transformation for a fighter, or an Echo Fighter, a fighter who is a clone of another fighter.

Creation
Super Smash Bros. was developed by HAL Laboratory, an independent affiliate company, during 1998. It began as a prototype created by Masahiro Sakurai and Satoru Iwata in their spare time, Dragon King: The Fighting Game, and featured no Nintendo characters. However, Sakurai hit on the idea of including fighters from different Nintendo franchises in order to provide "atmosphere" which he felt was necessary for a home console fighting game, and his idea was approved. Although never acknowledged by Nintendo or any developers behind Super Smash Bros., third-party sources have identified Namco's 1995 fighting game The Outfoxies as a possible inspiration. The game had a small budget and little promotion, and was originally a Japan-only release, but its huge success saw the game released worldwide.

Reception
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. Though the original received mixed reviews, all other titles were widely acclaimed by critics and fans alike.

Influences on the Kirby franchise
There are several Super Smash Bros. references in some other Kirby games.
 * In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, some of Kirby's voice clips are reused from Super Smash Bros.
 * In Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land, the design of The Fountain of Dreams is based on its appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and the music that plays against King Dedede is a remix of Gourmet Race, which plays on the stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
 * In Kirby Air Ride, various menu elements are reused from Super Smash Bros. Melee. Remixes of Gourmet Race and Green Greens are also reused from Super Smash Bros. Melee.
 * In Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, the Smash Copy Ability was introduced, based on moves Kirby used in Super Smash Bros. Melee; Master Hand appears as a mid-boss for this Copy Ability, and appears alongside Crazy Hand as the boss of Candy Constellation.
 * The Smash Copy Ability returns in Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition and in Kirby: Planet Robobot, where it is renamed "Smash Bros." in the latter.
 * Master Hand makes cameo appearances in Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Kirby: Planet Robobot as a keychain in the former and as a sticker and Stone transformation when using the Smash Bros. ability in the latter.
 * Crazy Hand makes a cameo appearance in Kirby: Planet Robobot as a sticker.
 * In Kirby: Squeak Squad, an enemy called Uja can take on a form that resembles Master Hand.
 * In Kirby Super Star Ultra, the design of the Halberd is based on its appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * In Kirby's Return to Dream Land, Meta Knight can now use Shuttle Loop, which originated in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * Meta Knight can also use Galaxia Darkness in Kirby: Planet Robobot, which originated in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Meta Knight's Dimensional Strike in Kirby Battle Royale is based on Dimensional Cape, which also originated in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * In Kirby: Triple Deluxe, the Kirby Fighters sub-game (and its successors, Kirby Fighters Deluxe and Kirby Fighters 2) was influenced by the Super Smash Bros. series. Additionally, Kirby's ability to dodge was also influenced by the Super Smash Bros. series.
 * In Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, the Figurines in the game behave very similar to trophies.
 * In Kirby Battle Royale, in the results screens, the losing characters are shown applauding in a very similar manner to fighters in the Super Smash Bros. series.
 * In Kirby Star Allies, Parallel Dedede can use Gordo Throw, which originated in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
 * King Dedede can also use this move in Kirby Fighters 2 when fought as a boss.
 * In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, the figurines shares similarities to trophies.

Trivia

 * Kirby has debuted on several consoles through the Super Smash Bros. series before his own games, excluding Virtual Console re-releases:
 * He joined the roster in Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 in 1999, one year before Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards.
 * He appeared in Super Smash Bros. Melee on the Nintendo GameCube in 2001, two years before Kirby Air Ride.
 * He appeared in Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii in March 2008, over two and a half years before Kirby's Epic Yarn.
 * He appeared in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U on the Wii U in November 2014, two months before the Japanese launch of Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
 * Kirby's first original appearance on Wii U altogether was in NES Remix 2, released in April 2014.
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS was the first console entry in the series to break this tradition, as Kirby Triple Deluxe release in japan on January 2014 before Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS release on September 2014 in japan.
 * Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was the second console entry in the series to break this tradition as Kirby Star Allies released worldwide in March 2018 prior to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s launch in December 2018.