xeno3998's Full Review: Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 64
When Super Smash Brothers debuted a little while ago on the N64, I was, to say the least, far from intruiged. It appeared to be, and was in fact, nothing more than another multiplayer N64 game that's single player experience lacked the finesse and addiction of it's peers (hell, even the wretched Soul Calibur's single is better). So I held off on purchasing it and decided that it just wasn't for me because I don't have friends over all the time like Nintendo must believe players should. But when a friend brought over his copy of Super Smash Bros, I got hooked on the game... in multiplayer, that is. Playing with a few other friends was even better, especially if we played at the Zebus stage with that fiery yellow liquid that scorched any characters that came in contact with it. After a good time playing against my friends, I decided to give the game a whirl in the single-player quest and, needless to say, I was disappointed. Gone was the fun of cursing at my compadres as they utilized Mario's awesome array of attacks against my paltry Link, gone was the thrill of playing against real people instead of the computer and gone was the inherent addiction of multiplayer games - the knowledge that you're playing against the skills of humans, not against the pre-programmed artificial intelligence. So while I recommend Super Smash Bros to anyone that regularly has friends over, it's just not worth anything better than a rental (if that) for the majority of those that don't.
Super Smash Bros, despite being a fighting game at heart, has a good amount of gameplay depth overall. Any given character has a weapon attack (such as a lightsaber, fireplant), a good number of physical attacks and a throw/grab that's used to whip enemies off the stage (as is the object of the game, to disperse of your opponents by forcing them off the stage and into the nothingness below). Also at your disposal are items that can be thrown or that otherwise affect a group of enemies, such as a pokeball that summons a Pokemon monster to attack all enemies within it's range of assault, or the hammer item. The amount of attack variations presented amount to a deeper than normal fighting game experience.
One problem I have with SSB are the levels, which feel too enclosed and hardly interactive. They are made for multiplayer, so that you can see all the players at once, but in a single player game they're much too small and just plain boring. It would've been better to have the action go on in a plane similar to Power Stone, which would enable more interaction with the environment and better multiplayer gameplay. Still, some of the levels are pretty good in multiplayer, like the aforementioned Zebus stage (from Metroid), which actually forces level interaction. There are also a few mini-game style levels, some of which involve stepping on a given amount of platforms in a given amount of time to complete the stage, or breaking targets in a similar time-strict level. That about rounds it out for gaming environments.
Super Smash Bros. excels in it's addictive multiplayer mode. Yes, that's right, I said mode, as in, one single mode to play agains friends. What makes this one multiplayer game available such a blast is the item pickup customization and and the array of varying abilities on varying characrers (your options are Link, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Captain Falcon, Fox McCloud, Kirby, Samus and Pikachu and that kid from Earthbound) that you can select from. Especially on the Zebus stage, the multiplayer game is fascinatingly challenging and surprisingly strategic. Most of the other areas are well done too, but I highly recommend the Zebus stage overall, especially with three friends.
The multiplayer game's excellence however, renders the single player game useless. Yes, essentially the same mechanics used in the multiplayer mode are in the single player one, but it's not half the fun and wears thin faster than a game of SSX. The game only has one quest mode, and that's to unlock all the characters; there is no inventive, interesting plot to carry the gameplay you'll get from tackling the game yourself. It's fun the first two or three times, but it becomes a bore after an hour or two, so I don't recommend even renting this game unless you have a friend close by to challenge
Super Smash Bros.' controls are a bit tough to manage, particularly the run command and how lethargic character movements are overall. Using the joystick, you maneuver around your player and attack with the A and B buttons, combined with directional pad inputs and the R button which can be used in conjunction. You can use the Z key to block attacks (hide in a shell) and that's about the gist of the control mapping. Basically, though the controls are fairly intuitive, I always craved to be able to manage better my on screen character. It was always tough to guide the fighter around during a jump or speedy run, and it's likely you'll slip off one too many ledges and plummet to your doom because your character doesn't always stop moving when you let go of the joystick. Then there's the minor troubles that happen when you're on a huge stage like the Starfox ship and two players are on each side, the screen has to pan out very far to entirely convey the action. This was really only a problem in multiplayer though; seeing your character became quite troublesome as did controlling them.
Visually, Smash Bros is a mix. All the characters you see in the game look about the way they would or do in the N64 games they're from (teenage Link looks like he did in Ocarina of Time, DK even looks better than he did in DK64). The stages are nicely designed (for the most part) and the colors are varied but can be a little dull. Some of the levels are just plain boring polygonal models, however. Hyrule Castle is butt ugly, looking like it was made out of Legos instead of rendered on quality hardware. The area around the fountain in the real Hyrule Castle from OOT would have been a much better setting. Basically, the graphics are decent but unspectacular.
Authentic themes from old Nintendo games can be heard in Smash Bros, such as the classic Zelda music in Hyrule Castle, Mario music at Peach's Castle, the lovely classic Metriod theme at Zebus and Donkey Kong's anthem in his respective jungle setting. The music is overall very good, but it would have been better to have some original audio tracks made specifically for this game, just to give it less of a 'borrowed' feel. To speak about the sound effects, they're well well done and fit the action that they're placed after. A bomb explosion for example, would have the effect dubbed in right when it happens, and that effect would be a quality one. The character quips, while annoying after a while, are also prime.
Super Smash Bros is a great way to kill some time if you have friends to play it with - it'll stay in your N64 for a while and the fun may not end for dozens of hours on end. Unfortunately, the developers didn't take into consideration that friends may not always be over, and forgot to craft a good single player game with a quality storyline to give the game some more replay value. Still, if you have a couple friends, this is a great rental and perhaps even a purchase for those that have friends over ALL THE TIME. Everyone else should probably just rent it or demo it somewhere, because there really isn't much to it if you're gaming by yourself.
Great characters: Mario, Luigi, Pikachu, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Link, Star Fox, Yoshi, and more Simple gameplay Computer partner option Colorful arenas, ...More at Amazon Marketplace
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