Super Smash Bros.

Genre: Fighting
Developer: Hal Laboratories
Platform: Nintendo 64
Release: 1999
Rating: E

- Graphics -

While character models were relatively low-detail, and the items and Pokemon (from pokeballs) were all low-res 2D sprites, there's one key point here: while pausing the game, you can actually move the camera around; this is actually fairly difficult to do without exposing graphics glitches, and when the game is in play, the graphics don't need to be any better. When you're actually playing the game, are you really going to notice the low resolution of the dust cloud at your feet? Yes? Oh, sorry, see you in the next life~!

Graphics: 7/10


- Story -

N/A

Story: --/10


- Gameplay -

Smash Bros is an entirely new type of fighting game. For one thing, it was one of, if not the, first 3D fighting games. This means that the camera has to move in three directions (X, Y, and Z axes). While the playing field itself is limited to the X and Y axes, there is a lot going on in the foreground and background. Next, there is no HP system, so you cannot win just by giving damage and living longest. You actually have to get a "ring out" victory. Finally, there are no crazy button combos that vary for each character, "Fatalities", or other super-powered attacks. Each character's moveset is different, but the buttons you push do the same types of thing for each character. You can push Up and A on every character and they'll attack upwards. This gives the game a large amount of strategy as opposed to simply memorization, as players can now focus on more than just either button combos or button-mashing.

Gameplay: 10/10


- Music -

I was honestly pretty disappointed with the soundtrack. Several of the stages have music so subtle (such as Yoshi's Story and Kongo Jungle) that you don't even notice it, and as nearly all of the music was brought in from other games, the only original tracks are the opening, credits, menu, and a few tracks in the single-player mode.

Music: 4/10

Total Score: 7/10

Also available for Virtual Console