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Thursday 21 February, 2008
Entry #2
GAMEPLAY:
The second session of gameplay made me fall in love with Super Smash Bros all over again. The intensity as you struggle to get yourself back on the stage, or when you curse at your opponent for being an "edge camper" as you vow vengeance in the next life (which takes only a few short moments) is unmatched in any other multiplayer game. As you progress through single-player, you start unlocking new characters and maps to play on, which is a nice reward for your hard "work." Super Smash Bros continues to be the exact opposite of a stale old game, still being fun to play after 8 years.
Gameplay in SSB is still a heart-pounding action-packed slugfest that can only be made better by incorporating the best of Nintendo's characters. There are very few and far between stop points in SSB, usually only when there are two players left and one of them getsKO'd . It is nearly impossible to not be involved in the main brawl in SSB unless you actively avoid conflict, which usually gets people saying "Ok, I'm goin after you then" and winds up with certain doom. The timing and coordination of moves, dodges, rolls, and smashes (more powerful than a basic attack) is beautiful to watch, and even better to be a part of. The only thing that you can do after winning an intense battle is stand up and dance for your victory, and try not to yank the cord out of the console.
The unlockable characters are somewhat better than the original counterparts, but they still have their weaknesses, such as slower but more powerful attacks, which can be stopped or avoided by a quick punch or dodge. Captain Falcon is my favorite character to use in SSB, and with good reason. He is one of the fastest characters, with a nice combination of powerful attacks and artful maneuvers. He also holds the all-powerful "Falcon Punch," which is a move that, if mastered, can send your opponent flying off the back end of the stage before they can even scratch you. There are alsounlockable stages, which add to the excellent level selection, which range from nice and open battleground to skinny platform mayhem.
DESIGN:
Super Smash Bros is one of the best designed games for the N64. Not so much in amazing graphics, like most modern games do, but in innovation of the world you play. The innovative items system is brilliant, and often requires your attention as soon as an item drops. Items can be anything from the mega-destructive Hammer (from the original Donkey Kong), to the always needed Maximum Tomato (from the Kirby universe) or Shimmering Heart (from the Zelda universe). This brings about another brilliant design aspect of SSB, in that it ties in a vast majority of Nintendo's universe into one game.
The levels also play into the Nintendo theme, and take place in other Nintendo universes, which broadens the field you can play through generations of games. One of my all-time favorite levels is from the Pokemon universe, atop a tower where Pokemon randomly pop their heads out of the stairwell door and perform a move. You also travel to the Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, and Starfox universes, with each of the levels displaying the main theme of the game through music and events.
Super Smash Bros has one of the most challenging enemies known, a human. Granted, the level 9 CPU (the AI has 9 different levels, each one harder than the last) is somewhat challenging, it can't hold a candle to a human. This creates a massive combination of play methods and unique conflict for each person who challenges you. This also makes the game much more interesting the longer you play, as you can learn new combos and techniques to use to achieve victory. This human element may also help bring players together to defeat a common enemy (or the opposing team while doing a Team Battle).
Overall, Super Smash Bros for the Nintendo 64 is still one of my all time favorite games. Not only is it fun to play, its design is quite revolutionary for its 2D-fighting genre, which is plagued by button mashers and boring sword/ninja/magician/old man beat-em-ups.
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