Smash Reflections: Super Smash Bros.

The year was 1998. The Nintendo 64 was struggling to compete with its direct rival, Sony’s Playstation. And HAL Laboratory’s most-famous programmer, a then 28 year-old Masahiro Sakurai, was working on a fighting game for the console. Initially, Sakurai pitched it as a Namco-style arcade fighter, dubbed Kakuto-Geemu Ryouh, only to have it rejected by the higher-ups at Nintendo. Desperate to have his idea gain traction, Sakurai reworked it from the ground-up in less than a year, added Nintendo characters and pitched it once again.

It’s no surprise that Super Smash Bros. would become a hit, as it had all the trademarks of a classic game: a simple, easy-to-use roster. Basic, well-constructed stages that are fun to revisit. 4-player capabilities, then a novelty exclusive to the N64. A story mode that doubled as a semi-tutorial for how to play the game. Unlockables that allowed for multiple play-throughs of said story mode. And, most-importantly, fun gameplay.

All of the above gave Super Smash Bros. a certain degree of Nintendo polish in spite of its bare-bones aesthetic. N64 games in general haven’t aged all that gracefully, with a few exceptions, but they pushed the limits of what the console was capable of. Super Smash Bros., even by N64-standards, was pretty low-end, such that 9 year-old me thought the game was designed using cardboard cut-outs. That it didn’t end up mattering was proof that even a cheaply-made, rushed product could be good if everyone involved in its creation cared about it.

It helped that Super Smash Bros. had an excellent ad campaign in North America. This was apparent in its wacky promo, which, to this day, is one of the best ads Nintendo’s ever put on TV:

Dat Pikachu, tho… (Courtesy of PSNDarKnight01.)

I could go on about why this is a great commercial, but that wouldn’t do it justice. Especially since the intro’s been covered before by me on Infinite Rainy Day. No, instead I’d like to share my experience with the game, and its sequels, in honour of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as well as how they’ve shaped my childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

I first discovered Super Smash Bros. at the same place I discovered most N64 games: my neighbour across the street’s house. Having kids who were quite a bit older than everyone else on the block, they usually had the coolest toys first, and that included video games. But while I’d usually be present with them when they’d play their newest N64 games, here I only had exposure to the game because I was shirking my responsibilities to the house’s owners: I was supposed to be looking after their golden retriever, but when playing with a hyperactive puppy got boring I started exploring the house for something to do. I eventually made my way upstairs to one of the bedrooms, where I noticed their N64 tucked away with a TV and an unfamiliar-looking game top-loaded in the console.

Sufficed to say, it quickly become one of my favourite N64 games.

I have many subsequent memories of Super Smash Bros. in the years to follow. For one, two of my cousins had N64s, and I’d spend many occasions playing the game with them. And two, my next-door-neighbour had the game as well, and I even got to play it at his house during his 10th birthday celebration. Super Smash Bros., while technically a fighting game, was, at its heart, the perfect party game, so it made sense that I’d routinely return to it. Even my dentist’s office had the game, which was a great way to pass the time and a frustrating experience for my mother when she had to drag me away from it.

I even developed short-hands for experiencing the game more-efficiently. Everyone had a favourite fighter, and mine was Kirby. To this day, I’ve used the pink creampuff enough to know his entire move-set by heart: B allows Kirby to inhale enemies, which could be copied with A. Down + B in midair allows Kirby to turn into a brick. A + Up repeatedly allows Kirby to float in the air. Up + B activates Kirby’s sword. Even holding Z and grabbing an enemy allows you to flip them and do immense damage. I’ve become so experienced with Kirby that, to-date, I still use him as my go-to character in every entry.

Speaking of, Super Smash Bros. succeeded because its character variety. The original game had 12 fighters, 8 from the get-go, and they were all pretty well-balanced. You could pick a favourite, familiarize yourself with their moves and become a pro in relatively-little time. The game was practically made for me because of its simplicity, and I can’t say that for other fighting franchises.

The game also allowed you to unlock special characters and stages via in-game objectives. These days, it’s easy to figure out how to 100% a game because of the internet, but back in the late-90’s/early-2000’s this wasn’t a luxury I had available to me. The limitations of the world wide web had forced me to go by word-of-mouth and trust others with how to unlock characters/stages, which made doing so surprising. I still remember figuring out how to unlock Ness and Captain Falcon, let-alone The Mushroom Kingdom stage. The joy that brought to me was priceless.

Super Smash Bros. was a crucial step in the evolution of console fighting games. Whereas most fighting games prior utilized a “deplete your opponent’s health” formula, the Smash Bros. franchise broke tradition by making the gameplay free-for-all. You didn’t deplete health, you added to percentage bars. You didn’t knock out your opponent, you knocked them off the screen. Whether it was a timer or stocks, the unique ways that the game kicked fighting game traditions in the face, even utilizing items from various Nintendo franchises, was refreshing. We take it for granted now, but this was huge in 1999!

Ultimately, the game’s ability to party-up the fighting genre has given it legs. Whether it’s a quick round with your buddies, or a drunken match of endurance, there’s no competition for the Smash Bros. games. Not that other games haven’t tried, Power Stone for the Dreamcast came close, but none have outcompeted Nintendo’s juggernaut. Like the Game Boy and the handheld market, Nintendo was king, and they’d continue to be king with its sequel on the Gamecube.

But that’s for next time…