Simply Smashing: The Making Of Super Smash Bros.

A look at Nintendo's amazing cross over fighting game series and how it came to be
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June 03, 2013
Since my last "making of" article was a hit, I thought I'd go forth and make another one. Although this time I'll be talking about the Super Smash Bros. series. The development of the first Super Smash Bros. actually started on the Super Nintendo and would've used the Super FX Chip (A micro chip that allowed the SNES to render 3D graphics.) Anyways the game was called Dragon King and was a fighting game that Nintendo and HAL Laboratories thought would be a massive hit but the game's programmers Masahiro Sakurai (the creator of Kirby.) thought this idea wouldn't sell. So when Dragon King was moved to the Nintendo 64, Sakurai made a prototype of what would eventually become Super Smash Bros. The prototype basically contained Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus Aran & Fox McCloud all duking it out. After the idea was approved, Sakurai and his team took other famous Nintendo characters such as Luigi & Pikachu into what would be a Japan only release. But when Super Smash Bros. hit on January 21st, 1999, people loved it despite the fact that there was little to no promotion for the game. After its release in Japan, Super Smash Bros. was released in America on April 26th, 1999. Now when I first played this game in 2000, I would ALWAYS play as Fox because he was the only character (aside from Mario, Yoshi, Pikachu, Luigi & Donkey Kong) that I recognized.

Super Smash Bros. was the game that got me into fighting games period.

In 2001, Nintendo let the gang loose again with Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Now this installment of Smash Bros. is considered by many to be the best in the series because there's just SO much to unlock it's just amazing. Believe me, Super Smash Bros. Melee was the most incredible game ever. Some of the newcomers were characters I would never expect to see at all. Characters like Falco Lombardi, Mewtwo, even Bowser shows up.
My experience with Super Smash Bros. Melee is quite interesting because I had played at my local Best Buy when it first came out.
Since I recognized more characters other than Fox, I decided to play as Bowser and man was it fun burning my opponents with his fire breath. After that joyous experience, I got a GameCube for my 6th birthday. (When I got the original Super Smash Bros, it was on my 5th birthday.) When it came to spending my birthday money that year, I knew I wanted to Super Smash Bros. Melee and I did. It's hard to believe that when I was six years old, I played my first T-rated game. It's also worth noting that Marth & Roy from Fire Emblem were originally going to appear only in the Japanese version of Super Smash Bros. Melee but they were playable in all regions for the game's release.

Seven years later, Nintendo released Super Smash Bros. Brawl on March 9th, 2008.

Unlike the other two games in the series, Brawl actually has a story to it. In this case a mysterious being in a very creepy place called Subspace uses bombs to plunge the entire world of Smash Bros. into internal chaos. The first thing I've got to say about Brawl is that it's a ridiculously awesome game with an equally awesome cast of new characters including Wario, Meta Knight, King Dedede & the biggest surprises of all: Sonic the Hedgehog & Solid Snake. After Brawl was released, everyone thought that the world of Smash Bros. was open to third party characters like Mega Man and Simon Belmont. When I first played Brawl, I was shocked and amazed by not only the graphics but also the amazing adventure mode (which follows the game's actual story.)But I was also amazed by the overall game play of Brawl (Mostly because I used a GameCube controller and that worked wonders for me instead of the Wii-mote.)

All in all, the Super Smash Bros. series is the greatest thing to come out of Nintendo. I would recommend you try to track all three games down because it's a thrill ride you'll never forget.
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