Super Smash Bros.

A unique fighter with a great concept, and a sort of celebration of all things late-90's Nintendo. Though the series has been perfected over the years, the original Smash Bros. is still a blast to play. Its weak link is its relative lack of 1P content, a multiplayer party game at heart.

Super Smash Bros is a classic and one of the most creative fighting games for it's time. It practically invented the sub-genre of the "brawler" where instead of depleting your enemy's health bars to win, your objective is to knock your opponents off the screen to score a point or deplete a "stock". It's pretty hard to compare it to other fighting games because the strategies and rules are just so different. Not only is the game's radical game-play a huge draw here but maybe the biggest draw is the game's roster of 12 iconic Nintendo characters and locations, and their move-sets which are inspired by the game's they originated from and weapons that are also inspired by these universes. It's kinda like a small museum of Nintendo's greatest accomplishments and a collection of the greatest figures in video games (at the time) available for us to see who's best!

This game initiates with a cut scene of toys being scattered about on a desk and being brought to life so they can battle it out, this scene is meant to represent how when we were children we'd often take our toys in our hands and pretend that they are alive and fighting. The final boss of the game's classic mode -Master Hand- is the hand which brings these toys to life..... Us!!! :3 That's such an incredible sentiment and one of the reasons why this game -and series - hold such a powerful place in my heart! Apart from classic mode the game also features target test and "board the platform" mini games with unique courses for each character! These were pretty fun in and of themselves, if not periodically frustrating, because these character's movements weren't exactly tailor made for platforming, yet it all still works somehow...

This series is known for having highly technical game-play, however Smash 64 definitely has the most basic and simplistic game-play in the series which is totally understandable being the first game. Unfortunately this is the area where I feel like this game has aged the most! T_T The characters in this game feel very heavy and clunky, they don't move with a heck of a lot of speed or precision, and the uncomfortable nature of the N64 controller doesn't exactly help the situation! Still the foundation of these mechanics are balanced and bug free! The roster itself is pretty epic, you have all of the major characters you'd expect to see like Mario, Link, Donkey Kong, Pikachu and Kirby, along with some more obscure figures (at the time) like Captain Falcon from F-Zero and Ness from Earthbound. Matter of fact; Ness and Falcon's appearance in these games were so well pronounced that both characters are known more through their contributions to Smash Bros rather than the games they originated from! ("FALCON PUNCH!!!")

The way they handled hidden characters was pretty iconic as well, not only with the foreshadowing in the game's intro, but with the alarm going off and the "A new challenger approaches" screen, I remember getting chills every time I saw that screen as a kid! The stages in this game are also fun, whether you're fighting atop the Great Fox, Hyrule Castle, or in front of Wispy Woods in Dreamland! Many stages here have some elements that will interact with you during fights, like the rising lava/acid on Planet Zebes or the Pokemon from Saffron City. It's all very dynamic and varied!

I know it sounds like my nostalgia got the better of me during this review, it's pretty hard not to have fond memories over a game so iconic! The trouble is, the advances in later games makes going back to this one tough, in particular the very slow, stiff, and dated game-play, met with the annoying N64 controller. If you feel like playing this game (and you should!) I'd recommend copping it off of the Wii or WiiU virtual console because that would certainly improve matters. This is still a must play for Nintendo fanatics interested in the history of this series! :3