Super Smash Bros. has been a longtime favorite of Nintendo fans and competitive fighting-game players. The first game released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64 console. It was heavily praised not only for its exciting Nintendo character crossover basis but also its solid control scheme. Super Smash Bros has been at the competitive E-Sports tournament Evo since its second sequel, Melee. Recently, Super Smash Bros Ultimate was released and has had great critical reception.
Both Smash Bros Ultimate and the original Super Smash Bros have single player campaigns but differ greatly in style. The original had a single player campaign similar to Mortal Kombat’s ladder matches. You face one character, beat them, then face the next one with a slightly increased difficulty. At the end, you fight the last boss, Master Hand. Increasing the difficulty would cause the enemies to become more responsive, use more powerful moves, and even dodge. Master Hand would also gain more health. The story was quite vague, the beginning cutscene shows a floating hand taking figurine models of the playable characters out of a toy chest and they come to life.
Smash Bros Ultimate took the single player campaign and transformed it into a more collaborative story. It starts off with a war between a mysterious force and the characters in the game. One character escapes but the others are captured. The surviving character must free the others by fighting them. Once the player defeats the character, they are unlocked and added to the roster. Over time, the games added different single-player elements such as adventure mode and survival mode for replay value as the first game’s campaign received criticism for its dullness.
The controls of both games are fluid and easy for people used to fighting games. Every character has virtually the same controls but different abilities. Simply using the control stick with the A button could perform over 12 different moves depending on the type of input. Smash Bros 1 by today’s standards feels noticeably less smooth but for a 1999 made Nintendo 64 game, it excels over others by a large margin. Super Mario 64 had been released 3 years prior and completely revolutionized the use of the control stick. Smash Bros followed the successful technique of the control scheme. Every game from the franchise stuck to the same controls but added a few differences and moves each time. For example, pressing A while standing did their standard combo. Pressing A and the directional pad simultaneously performed a “smash” attack much more powerful than the standard attack; once the Ultimate sequel arrived, you could delay the smash attack for as long as possible. Some characters had a down smash attack which could hit players from both directions. In SSB Ultimate, the developers redesigned every character’s down smash so that they all could attack both directions. This was intended to prevent players from selecting only “meta” characters (or characters who systematically have the best moves). Control scheme-wise, the two games have differed mostly in tweaking the small mechanics and damage output in the moves. The button outputs have not changed for the most part besides the controller button layouts.
The graphics have taken a huge leap over the course of nearly 20 years. The two games are now three console generations apart. Nintendo 64 wasn’t the first platform to utilize 3D animation but it did facilitate the majority of 3-D based games at the current time as did its competitor known as the PlayStation.
Super Smash Bros for the Nintendo 64
Super Smash Bros Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch
Simply just looking and contrasting the two images shows how far animation has come. Nintendo 64 graphics presently seem obviously polygonal with less resolution. Ultimate uses many different graphical advancements like fur effects, particle effects, improved lighting, and sharper details.
Over time, the Smash Bros franchise has seen success in every launch. The multiplayer has been highly praised and each game sold no less than 5 million copies. The most successful game, Super Smash Bros Brawl, sold over 13 million copies and Ultimate has sold over 12 million so far. Nintendo Power listed the series as one of the greatest multiplayer experiences in Nintendo history. Each game received positive reception and the franchise continues to show at E-Sports tournaments.
I like your comparison of the two games, from the latest to the original. Information provided for both games such as visuals, story, controls, and game mechanics are done nicely. After reading your article I have a better understanding of what the two games are about. Images supporting the article fit in well with the content they follow.
One key area of improvement that I would recommend is to add headers/sections and divide your content into manageable chunks. It will allow readers to better locate information and generally gives a clean look. I also believe that adding the two title’s cover art at the top will provide a visual reference right at the beginning, but that’s just personal preference.