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| Copyright: Nintendo |
As I'm sitting here, watching my Link Amiibo, Sparda, wreck shop on 8 player Smash, 99 stock at level 50 as he collects items I lack the drive to acquire myself, let's take a look back at the immaculate concept of what actually is Smash Brothers.
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| OH MY GENTLE JESUS Copyright: Nintendo |
We all grew up at some point (surprising, ey?) and only now have the past couple of generations have been surrounded by technology that can be consumed and interacted with. This includes video games, obviously. A good few of us played the magic that is Super Mario Bros. on the NES. As we pressed buttons, we watched the burly red plumber jump and run at enemies and, occasionally, if you remember old game difficulty, fall down holes and slightly nudge Goombas which, somehow, result in a death that sends you into the air and off the very fabric of the world itself.
We grew a connection to that character and this was the start of such connections. The dots and vehicles that inhabited the screen had evolved into a personality with a name and a background. Everybody knows Mario because we were that collection of pixels on the screen since the very start of it all, being the reaper over the on screen persons life and death.
Well, apart from the green mushrooms that popped out of the question blocks. Don't get me started about the back story of Mario blocks, it's too.. what's the word.. manic?
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| Que the horror story music. Copyright: Nintendo |
But leading on from this, a wave of story driven games with personalities embraced our screens. We pressed those buttons and became the characters on the screen over and over again. A decade later when more Nintendo games came out in droves and captured our hearts, such as Donkey Kong, Kirby and the one series that has my time travelling bro' in it, Zelda, we were living adventures in our homes, an introverts paradise.
So this game came out of nowhere when consoles were starting to progress on the idea of 3 glorious dimensions. This game was the glorious birth of what can be simplified in a sentence. Brace for the swearing.
LET'S GET SOME NINTENDO CHARACTERS AND GET THEM TO FUCK EACH OTHER UP.
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| HNNNGGGGGGGG Copyright: Nintendo |
I mean, this idea was titanic in proportion, nobody even thought that other game characters could even perform in the same game together, let alone beat the crap out of one another.
Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 came out. Now I was a PS1 owner at the time and I had only heard that the N64 existed, let alone the games. I was introduced to it when I was hanging with a group of my cousin's friends. It blew my mind when I saw what was going on. I couldn't believe it, Mario getting smacked about by DK. It's a memory that hasn't left me!
Now, we can move on to the current day. 2 more games later, we have arrived at Smash Bros. for the Wii U and 3DS. I only have the Wii U version so I'll avoid commenting about the 3DS version.
There was so much hype for this, after Melee and Brawl, what could they do next? Obvious answers would be to add more characters and stages. Which they did. Villager from Animal Crossing, Wii Fit Trainer from.. Wii.. Fit.. and others like Dark Pit from Icarus, Shulk from Valkyrie etc etc
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| "Now please enter the 'I'm kicking your ass' position" Copyright: Nintendo |
Now my favourite thing about these games isn't being Link and spamming projectiles from the other side of the stage (Sorry, I'M SORRY!), it was items. Items that introduce even MORE characters into the battle. More specifically, Pokemon and Assists.
I LOVE the Pokemon aspect, not only do you have the majesty of throwing a Pokeball directly into someone else's face and occasionally, crotch, it even unleashes the Pokemon inside. You could get the Legendary overkiller, Goldeen, who strikes fear in all or Arceus, WHO CREATED LIFE. It feels almost like the time somebody injected strawberry flavouring into ice cream, it tastes sooooo good! Assists are the same, I enjoy watching my girlfriend squeal when her favourite Nintendo character, Waluigi, comes out of nowhere and stomps me into the ground whilst yelling "WHAAAHAHAHAHA" to accompany the tears that slide out of my eyeholes.
But the best thing Nintendo ever did for the Wii U and Smash Bros was Amiibos. Cheapish, depending on your budget, quite accurate models with NFC codes attached onto them. You pop them into Smash and you train them. It feels personal and nice when you can take something physical and make it virtual. Sure, when you peel the skin from the satsuma, it's a model with a chip on the bottom but the overall feel and majesty of it is exciting, especially to small children and people who probably don't have that much knowledge when it comes to technology, it can be perceived as magic.
Plus, taking it to your friends house who doesn't have an Amiibo, betting money that they wont be able to beat it and them thinking "Can't be that hard" is deliciously malicious.
Have a favourite experience with Smash, Amiibos, the assists and Pokemon? Let me know in the comments!
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