PixlBit

Super Smash Bros. is 16 years old

So today is the 16th anniversary of the first Super Smash Bros. game on the N64 and probably the whole franchise, at least here in the U.S. or was yesterday since the time on my Pixlbit blogs are weird, but that doesn’t matter. This will be a short post on the 1st game since I knew about this rather late.

I remember when I first saw the commercial for the game and I was blown away because Mario and Pikachu  were in the same game.

                     
I didn’t know that many video game crossover games except Marvel vs. Capcom.  It seemed like a wacky idea at the time but I was interested. I didn’t get it then because my family and I went to Mexico that year for vacation. I didn’t get SSB till xmas that same year and I was stunned that such a game existed. It had 2 of my childhood icons there beating each other up with other characters I didn’t know about, that alone was enough for me.

The game was simple to pick up and play and simple to understand the controls. Your character can jump and double jump and is used for various ways to fight, but it is crucial as well. You have your basic punching and kicking moves as well as aerial attacks when you jump. You have also access to 3 character specific moves known as your special moves like a fireball for Mario. Special moves are lifted directly from each respective characters game, sort of in the case of Captain Falcon. You can also grab and throw your opponent as well as guard and dodge attacks. There was no need to recognize an insane amount of combos or button combinations, since the attacks and moves were easy to understand.

Remember when I said jumping was crucial? Well this game in reality isn’t a fighting game, but it is in fact a platformer game. With fighting elements. Jumping is important because unlike other fighting games, you can get thrown off or knocked off a stage. It is possible to save yourself from danger if you jump back and most characters have a special recovery move making it a third jump. The more damage you get, the more chances you have of flying off a stage. It may seem like a lot to process but it is really simple once behind the controller.

                
It is also the first game that my little brother (at the time) knew about Kirby and seemed to be a fated thing for him, since he’s now a huge Kirby fan. Me and brother played for a few hours that night and it was fun. I tried the single player modes and they were fun, but the real money maker here was the multiplayer modes. Back then, fighting games were only limited to 2 players at once in a vs. mode, but in Smash 64, 4 players can duke it out at the same time without waiting for a turn. 

The game also featured items from various Nintendo games to use against your opponents during fights. My favorite items were always the Pokeballs and I think they still are. Items made fights even more frantic but really fun. The stages were also pretty neat and were from different Nintendo games. I knew of the ones I was familiar with like the Mario, Pokemon, Yoshi, and DK stages, but the others really piqued my interest.

Though the thing that really interested me the most was the roster of characters. It is rather small looking back at it now, but it was really awesome for its time and was pretty varied. I was then really interested in the games these characters were from and knew I had to try these games if I could. It was sorta fated and without SSB, I would of never tried these other games. Sure, maybe I would have, but probably wouldn’t of had tried them as early as I did. It broadened my horizon about different types of games and for that I am grateful.

Like I mentioned before, this game was really good for speculation and playground rumors. My friends and I would always try to deduce the hidden characters in the game. From characters like Wario, to farfetched theories like Sonic The Hedgehog.  It’s those memories that I cherish about this game.
It is a really simple game looking back at it now, but I think Nintendo and Masahiro Sakurai started something special with SSB. Sakurai developed the game in secret and was intended for the SNES, or so I heard on that last part. The original game looks and feels dated now, but it’s still playable and you have to give credit on the title that started it all. It was a pretty big thing I guess and the franchise is still a big deal as the premier crossover fighting game franchise.

People say it’s a fighting game, but I like to think it’s a platforming game with fighting elements thrown in because the games rely heavily on jumping for offensive, defensive, and recovery and all the stages have platforms to jump on. Whatever you call Smash, the games are still fun, especially with more people  and the series has come a long way since its N64 (SNES?) roots. I’ll make this into a series of blogs about Smash were I’ll talk about the Smash games and give my thoughts on them, so hopefully you look forward to that.

So that’s it for this one. Sorry it has been so long since my last post, but I’m still taking a break from the series I did. It kinda took a toll on me and feel a bit burned out right now, but I’ll try to have something else up soon.

So, what do you think of the original Super Smash Bros game? Thanks for reading and later.