Super Smash Brothers

About

Super Smash Brothers is a Nintendo crossover fighting franchise. Unlike most fight games, Super Smash Bros. revolves around fighting opponents until they are weak enough (measured by a lost resistance percentage) to be hit off the edge of the screen.

Origin

Masahiro Sakurai is a Japanese video game developer who is an ex-employee of HAL Laboratories, a Nintendo second party developer. His idea for a unique 4 player player fighting game was approved by Satoru Iwata. His first idea was to have famous Nintendo characters fight each other despite knowing that he wouldn’t be able use them. He used Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus and Fox as prototypes and didn’t present his idea until he balanced the game. The game was eventually approved to his surprise. Super Smash Brothers was developed by HAL Laboratories and released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64.

Games In Series

Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo 64)

Super Smash Bros. (Also known as Super Smash Bros. 64) was released in January 21 1999 in Japan and became so successful it was released worldwide. It featured 12 characters: Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, and Pikachu as already unlocked characters. Luigi, Captain Falcon, Ness and Jigglypuff are unlocked by doing different achievements in-game.

The game had a single-player mode in which you faced; Link, A team of 18 colored Yoshies, Fox McCloud, A “Break the Targets” mini-game, Mario and Luigi (With a random ally), Pikachu, Giant Donkey Kong (With 2 random allies), A “Board the Platforms” mini-game, A team of 8 Kirbys consisting of 7 Kirbys with guises of the 7 other pre-unlocked characters and a plain Kirby, Samus Aran, Metal Mario, A race to the finish mini-game, A fighting team of 30 polygons and the final boss, Master Hand.

The multiplayer mode let 4 human or computer controlled fighters play on a selected stage with set conditions.

Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube)

Super Smash Bros.’s successor, Super Smash Brothers Melee was released for the Nintendo Game Cube in 2001 by HAL Laboratories. This new game added to its predecessor by including new characters, tournaments, stages, and a story mode.

In 2003 it was made part of Player’s Choice and later bundled with the Nintendo Game Cube console for $99 in 2005.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the Wii entry into the Super Smash Bros. Franchise. It was announced at Nintendo’s 2006 E3 Press conference^[1] and released January 31 2008 in Japan, March 9, 2008 in the Americas, June 26, 2008 in Australia and June 27, 2008 in Europe.

It has sold 9.48 million copies worldwide since March 2010, becoming the eighth best selling Wii title.

Super Smash Bros. Unannounced Title (Wii U / 3DS)

During Nintendo’s 2011 E3 Press Conference, following the announcement of the Wii U Satoru Iwata talked about the planning stages for the next Super Smash Bros game.

A few months ago, I explained the concept of Wii U to Mr. Sakurai who was developing Kid Icarus (Uprising). We were discussing which platform his next game should be developed for, Nintendo 3DS or Wii U?. What Mr. Sakurai suggested then was a specific idea to make Smash Brothers for both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. To make it work together of both platforms. Well since his team is still involved in the final work in the, for the Kid Icarus, maybe I shouldn’t go into any details today. But I think I have just promised you that Smash Brothers will be developed for Nintendo 3DS and for Wii U and that the software will work together in some fashion. Of course, this is a product for the future.

Spread

WIP. Due to Super Smash Bros.’s unique nature and merging of previously existing fanbases the franchise has spawned a multitude of fan art, parodies, and memes.

Search Interest

Super Smash Bros. interest spiked around the release of Super Smash Brothers Brawl before returning down to a steady interest rate. Something similar probably happened around the same time Super Smash Brothers Melee was released.

Sub Memes

Super Smash Bros. Character Predictions & A Challenger Approaches

Super Smash Bros. Character Predictions are fan guesses / wishes for the next roster of the next Super Smash Bros. game (The next one announced is the Wii U / 3DS Smash Bros. announced at E3 2011 which hasn’t started development). A Challenger Approaches is simply a form by which new characters are introduced to the player in the game.

Falcon Punch

The Falcon Punch is a move performed by Captain Falcon in the games despite not existing in Captain Falcon’s game series, F-Zero. It is often used online as a verb to intensity punch someone or to abort teen pregnancy.

Brawl Taunts

Brawl Taunts is a flash animation video created by Newgrounds users Kirbopher and Rina-Chan. The video contains animated versions of Brawl Characters doing all sorts of weird random things; relating to the actions done in Brawl and sometimes relating to existing memes.

Ike Quotes

Ike Quotes are a trio of lines said by the Fire Emblem character Ike in Super Smash Brothers Brawl, and have been quoted with pictures or videos of him.

You’re Too Slow!

You’re Too Slow! is a taunt used by Sonic the Hedgehog in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and is considered extremely annoying.

Wombo Combo

Wombo Combo is the catchphrase derived from a recorded Super Smash Bros. Melee match that became famous for both the incredible combo pulled off during the match as well as the overly excited reaction that could heard in the background as the match was being recorded.

No X, Fox Only, Final Destination

No X, Fox Only, Final Destination is a parody of competitive Super Smash Brothers players, who oftentimes will exclude items, certain characters, and stages trying to make the game have as little luck factor as possible. To the casual player, the competitive rules seem oftentimes ridiculous and restrictive.

Pikaman (Longchu)

Pikaman (Longchu) is the name given to Pikachu when his default moveset is replaced by that of Gannondorf. This forces Gannondorf’s character model rig onto the Pikachu model, causing it to appear vaguely humanoid.

Hammer MAD’s

The Hammer MAD is a remix video fad using the tune/sound effects from the Hammer Item, which is a powerful and common item found in all three games in the Smash Brothers Series.

Origin of Fsjal

Fsjal’s origin comes from a comic by Deviantart user “burgertime”, revolving around Super Smash Brothers.

Fan Projects

Super Smash Land

Super Smash Land is a fan project to “demake” the Super Smash Bros. Franchise using visuals, sound and controls from the original GameBoy. Super Smash Land was released on September 14th 2011^[2].

Super Smash Flash (1 & 2)

Super Smash Flash^[3] is a flash game developed by Cleod 9. It copies the game-play style of Super Smash Brothers on a basic level, and adds several other characters from different video game and anime series to the roster. It’s sequel, Super Smash Flash 2, is currently in it’s 0.8th beta phase and whose game-play is closer to that of Smash Brothers Brawl (to the point of refrenceing Brawls programing code).

Web-Comics & Series

Starting of the Awkward Zombie Series

Katie Tiedrich, creator of the Awkward Zombie Web-comics^[4], became popular through the making of Super Smash Brothers Melee (and surrounding universes) comics.

Brawl in the Family

Brawl in the Family^[5] is a Web-comic that features characters that have appeared in the Super Smash Bros. Universe (Mostly featuring Kirby and King Dedede). It is written and drawn by Matthew Taranto.

There Will Be Brawl

There Will Be Brawl is a live-action web-series that features characters that appear in the Super Smash Bros. universe. It was eventually hosted by The Escapist and is planned for a DVD release. The plot follows Luigi, who is now a jaded drug dealer trying to make ends meet in the seedy underworld of the Mushroom Kingdom for both himself and his brother. As the plot thickens and new dangers arise, Luigi searches for a reason to keep fighting for a city that seems beyond salvation.

External References