I can remember the first time that I ever heard of Super Smash Bros. I was about ten years old at the time, and I didn’t really read gaming magazines. However, I did watch a lot of television which is where I saw the commercial.
For those who don’t remember, the commercial opens up in a nice serene grassy field where we see Mario, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Pikachu all holding hands, skipping in a field while the song “Happy Together” plays in the background. Suddenly out of nowhere, Mario kicks Yoshi in the shin and with a record scratch, the music stops. The once friendly characters from Nintendo then proceed to kick the living crap out of each other. It was brilliant! In 30 short seconds, Nintendo managed to grab and hold your attention with the idea of their family-friendly characters suddenly turning violent in ways that many hadn’t seen them before.
That commercial worked. It made me want to play the game more than anything. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a Nintendo 64 despite having begged my parents for one. And sadly, at the time, I didn’t have any friends or family that had one either.
Thankfully a few months later my best friend surprised me when I was hanging out at his house with his family. He had purchased a Nintendo 64 with a copy of Super Smash Bros. using money earned from a paper route. We played that game all night. We had so much fun playing as all the iconic Nintendo characters! And our minds exploded the first time we saw a new challenger approach and we got a new character to play once we beat it. Super Smash Bros. was one of the favorite games of my childhood and continues to be so with each new entry. My best friend and I always seek out new info and love the idea that any character can now show up in Smash Bros. When Solid Snake was announced as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, I became a huge fan of the Metal Gear series trying to figure out how a character from another game developer would play.
My story with Super Smash Bros. is most likely in many ways quite similar to yours. Many of us loved Super Smash Bros. as a game that you always played with your friends, or maybe in a competitive sense. Super Smash Bros. was the odd and enticing game from the Nintendo 64 that morphed into an essential game to have for any Nintendo fan’s game library. Which is way the showcase of the latest Super Smash Bros. game at this years Nintendo E3 Presentation was so exciting to fans of this series.
It’s clear that both Nintendo and games director Masahiro Sakurai that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is not only the best entry in the series but one that honors both the history of the franchise and Nintendo. The fact that this entry now has every single character from the past, including those who only appeared once, proves this. It’s more than just boosting the number of characters; it’s honoring each entry that came before to show love to fans who longed to play those characters once again.
But Nintendo didn’t stop there. Not only did they bring characters back, they went the extra mile to rework them. The way that they’ve updated the move sets, added small details to make them better to play, and altered their appearance is astounding. There are also plenty of new and classic stages returning. They are even bringing back game modes from previous versions! Additionally, Nintendo has added much-needed updates to the game’s already great, yet simple combat by including air dodges. (The way these have been implemented begs players to master them.) We also should thank them for finally adding a very popular character with Ridley from the Metroid series finally being playable.
It’s clear what the mindset was when this game was being developed: this is a Smash Bros. game that says “thank you” to the fans. Nintendo wanted to make a game that would be fun for players who want to play on the couch with their friends, but also for those who play more competitively. They are giving players as much variety as possible with the play style they choose and with a large cast of characters to choose from. (More characters are most likely on the way too.)
But more importantly, they wanted to make a game that we would play for years and never grow tired of. A game that keeps on giving back to the fans that have helped it become what it is now. Thus making the game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that game that fans have wanted for years.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be available for the Nintendo Switch on December 7th, 2018. Will you be buying it? Let us know in the comments below!
