2008 Woodie Awards
' Game Room': 'Super Smash Bros.' has great style
By Jashua Vail
in OpinionIssue date: 4/3/08 Section: Opinion
The third installment in the Super Smash Brothers series was released last month.
For those unfamiliar with it, Super Smash Brothers is a series of fighting games which star the major characters from Nintendo's flagship series. These include characters like Mario, Link, Pikachu, Samus, Donkey Kong and members of their supporting casts, as well as characters from a few more obscure series.
Unlike traditional fighting games, which focus on depleting an opponent's health, Super Smash Brothers employs a "damage percentage." The higher the percentage, the farther characters fly when hit. The goal is to knock opponents off the screen.
Another unique feature of the Super Smash Brothers series is the control scheme, which uses only two attack buttons. This makes the game very easy to learn. A character's entire move set can be memorized in minutes. As a continuation of this series, Super Smash Brothers: Brawl not only keeps perfectly the spirit and play style of the first two games, but it also improves on them in every area.
The graphical improvement over Super Smash Brothers: Melee is not so great that it immediately jumps out at you. The polygon count does not seem to have increased much; however, the characters move more fluidly. They have changing expressions and personality that makes them feel so much more realistic than in the previous game.
Brawl contains 35 playable characters, mostly from Nintendo franchises though the third party characters Sonic the Hedgehog and Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series make an appearance by heavy fan request. Each of these characters takes the very simple fighting model and manages to have a unique style.
There is also a decent balance in the game. Any character can be used to win. There are 41 stages, nearly twice that of Melee, and a stage creator for making even more. There are more than 1,000 other unlockables, including gaming features, collectible trophies and stickers (3D and 2D visual artwork) and game music.
For those unfamiliar with it, Super Smash Brothers is a series of fighting games which star the major characters from Nintendo's flagship series. These include characters like Mario, Link, Pikachu, Samus, Donkey Kong and members of their supporting casts, as well as characters from a few more obscure series.
Unlike traditional fighting games, which focus on depleting an opponent's health, Super Smash Brothers employs a "damage percentage." The higher the percentage, the farther characters fly when hit. The goal is to knock opponents off the screen.
Another unique feature of the Super Smash Brothers series is the control scheme, which uses only two attack buttons. This makes the game very easy to learn. A character's entire move set can be memorized in minutes. As a continuation of this series, Super Smash Brothers: Brawl not only keeps perfectly the spirit and play style of the first two games, but it also improves on them in every area.
The graphical improvement over Super Smash Brothers: Melee is not so great that it immediately jumps out at you. The polygon count does not seem to have increased much; however, the characters move more fluidly. They have changing expressions and personality that makes them feel so much more realistic than in the previous game.
Brawl contains 35 playable characters, mostly from Nintendo franchises though the third party characters Sonic the Hedgehog and Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series make an appearance by heavy fan request. Each of these characters takes the very simple fighting model and manages to have a unique style.
There is also a decent balance in the game. Any character can be used to win. There are 41 stages, nearly twice that of Melee, and a stage creator for making even more. There are more than 1,000 other unlockables, including gaming features, collectible trophies and stickers (3D and 2D visual artwork) and game music.
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