Session 1
Summery
In Super Smash Brothers for the Nintendo 64, players must battle stay on the screen in a frantic and cartoony bout that spans Nintendos entire game catalog. Levels, characters, and items are borrowed from games developed by Nintendo over the past years and the experience brings the best the company has to offer into a exciting, nostalgia inspiring package. This Arcady fighting game is truly a classic from Nintendos best years and upon the originals foundation, two sequels have become blockbuster success and classics.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Super Smash is sporadic. Characters race to grab powerful weapons, attack and evade at blinding speeds, and use smash moves to propel their opponents towards oblivion. While playing a round on the pokemon stage, I was pummeling my opponent with a barrage of well timed kicks and head buts as Pikachu. As the match went on, my enemies damage percent continued to climb into the 200% range. I went in for a speedy running smash attack, but he jumped, I missed and rammed into the explosive Electrode Pokemon. As I my head butt connected with the non-player character, I was shot into the sky and lost the match. The randomness of the stage added a whole new dimension to the battle. Not know what the level has planned for you causes players to constantly be on guard for the most unforeseen attacks.
Session 2
Gameplay
I decided to switch to Kirby to see how his mimic ability changed the gameplay. While playing against Link on the characters stage in Hyrule, I discovered Kirbys ability came in handy. The majority of Kirbys attacks are close range attacks, with the exception of his jump save move that propels a crystal sword towards his enemy. When I sucked up Link and stole his boomerang ability it allow me to use mid to long range attacks. As the battle ranged, Kirby in his green elf cap, I was ably to quickly use my boomerang to attack my foe at mid distance, and follow up with a brutal jump save that sent him flying. This mechanic added quite a bit of variety to the bout and added to the randomness of each battle.
Design
The developers changed the paradigm for fighting games with this title. In most fighting games, players battle to deplete their opponents health bar and preserve their own. During these fights there are often long stand stills as each player fears the others possible blocks may lead to a counter and combo attack that will end them. In Super Smash, the developers force players to constantly be on the attack. While there is a defensive shield that can be called upon at any point in the battle, it can easily crack and lead to a few seconds where the player is vulnerable to a deadly smash attack. Nintendo totally ignored the standard in fighting games and remade the genre into a party game that just happens to be based around fighting.
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