NINTENDO-64
10
Super Smash Bros.
HAL Laboratory's fighting game experiment brought Nintendo's greatest icons together and reinvented the genre with platform-based fighting. Super Smash Bros. proved that a crossover fighting game built on knock-out mechanics rather than health bars could be simultaneously accessible and deeply competitive.
💡 Super Smash Bros. — Key Facts
- → Super Smash Bros. was developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo
- → Released in 1999 on NINTENDO-64
- → Genre: Fighting
- → We rate it 9.2/10 — an absolute classic
- → Part of the super-smash-bros franchise
- → HAL Laboratory's fighting game experiment brought Nintendo's greatest icons together and reinvented the genre with platform-based fighting. Super Smash Bros. proved that a crossover fighting game built on knock-out mechanics rather than health bars could be simultaneously accessible and deeply competitive.
Overview
Super Smash Bros. was conceived as an internal experiment at HAL Laboratory. Masahiro Sakurai, who had designed Kirby, developed a fighting game prototype using generic characters before pitching the concept to Nintendo: what if instead of generic fighters, the characters were Nintendo’s most beloved icons? Mario, Link, Samus, Kirby, Pikachu.
Nintendo’s initial skepticism about the concept’s commercial viability was overridden by the prototype’s obvious entertainment value. The game went into full development, and on January 21, 1999, it launched in Japan — quietly, without major marketing — and became a phenomenon.
Gameplay
Super Smash Bros. replaces fighting game health bars with a percentage counter. As characters absorb damage, their percentage rises from 0% to (potentially) 999%. Higher percentages cause characters to fly further when struck, eventually sailing off the edge of the platform stage into the blast zones that surround it. The goal is to knock opponents out of the stage rather than deplete their health.
This creates fighting rhythm entirely different from traditional fighters. The first 50-80% on an opponent is not inherently dangerous; it is investment. The kill window opens as percentages climb, and recognizing when an opponent is at finishing percentage — and landing the right attack in the right position — is the core skill of competitive play.
Twelve characters from across Nintendo’s history provide distinct play styles. Kirby’s five-jump recovery makes him forgiving; Captain Falcon’s Falcon Punch provides cinematic knockout potential; Samus’s charged shot enables zoning; Fox’s reflector reverses projectiles.
Why It’s a Classic
Smash 64 earns its place because it invented something genuinely new. Platform fighting had no precedent as a commercial category, and Sakurai’s team created the entire vocabulary of the genre — blast zones, percentage mechanics, directional influence, edge recovery — from scratch. The game works beautifully for its size and scope.
Legacy
Super Smash Bros. spawned a franchise that became one of Nintendo’s most commercially important properties, with Melee (2001), Brawl (2008), for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U (2014), and Ultimate (2018) each selling millions. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) with 89 characters became the best-selling fighting game of all time.
Our Review
9.2
Outstanding / 10
🎮
Gameplay
★★★★★
🎨
Graphics
★★★★★
🎵
Audio
★★★★★
🔄
Replay
★★★★★
Gameplay
The percentage-based damage system — opponents fly further when their damage percentage is higher, knocked out by being sent off the stage — creates a fundamentally different fighting rhythm from traditional health bars. Twelve Nintendo characters with distinct movesets engage in platform fights with excellent stage design. The four-player modes are an extraordinary social experience.
Graphics
Clean, colorful, and immediately legible — the character designs are faithful to their source games, the stage environments are imaginative (Peach's Castle, Hyrule Castle, Saffron City, Planet Zebes), and the game runs at an excellent frame rate in multi-player. The presentation quality is excellent for N64.
Audio
An exceptional Nintendo crossover soundtrack featuring new arrangements of iconic themes from Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox, Kirby, Pokémon, and more by composers including Hirokazu Ando. Hearing the Samus theme remixed for Zebes is a joy; the Dream Land stage theme is one of the finest in the franchise's history.
Replayability
Very high. Four-player versus battles with extensive mode customization, one-player mode with Classic and Adventure modes (added in Melee's predecessor), and the challenge of mastering each of twelve characters sustain long-term engagement. The game's competitive community has sustained organized play decades after release.
Historical Significance
Super Smash Bros. invented a new fighting game subgenre that continues to dominate the market. It established that a crossover fighting game built around platform mechanics could succeed commercially and competitively. The franchise went on to become Nintendo's best-selling fighting game series and one of gaming's highest-profile esports.
✅ Pros
- + Invented the platform fighter genre that remains dominant in casual fighting games
- + Twelve iconic Nintendo characters, each faithfully adapted from their source games
- + Four-player versus battles are an exceptional social experience
- + Accessible to complete beginners while having genuine competitive depth
- + Excellent Nintendo crossover stage and music selections
- + Stock/time battle configurations suit different group preferences
❌ Cons
- - Smallest roster in the franchise — only twelve characters vs later entries' enormous casts
- - Single-player modes are relatively sparse compared to later Smash games
- - No online multiplayer (standard for the era)
- - Some characters feel unfinished compared to the refined movesets in Melee
- - Limited stage selection — eight stages plus multi-man and board the platforms
Also Known As
SSB64スーパースマッシュブラザーズSmash 64
In the Series
Super Smash Bros. FAQ
Who are the original twelve playable characters?
The original roster consists of: Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Captain Falcon, Ness, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox McCloud, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff. Luigi, Captain Falcon, Ness, and Jigglypuff are unlockable through in-game conditions. Each character's moveset is adapted from their original game series.
How is Smash Bros. different from traditional fighting games?
Traditional fighting games use a health bar depleted to zero to determine victory. Super Smash Bros. uses a percentage counter that increases as characters take damage — the higher the percentage, the further a character flies when hit. Victory comes by sending opponents off the edge of the stage (into the blast zones above, below, or to the sides). This creates very different strategic priorities: rather than dealing maximum damage, players aim to position opponents for finishing blows when their percentage is high.
What are the unlockable characters and how do you get them?
Luigi: Play 'Race to the Finish' in 1-Player mode. Captain Falcon: Complete 1-Player mode in under 20 minutes. Ness: Complete 1-Player mode on Normal difficulty or higher with 3 lives and no continues. Jigglypuff: Complete 1-Player mode once. Meeting these conditions on the correct difficulty unlocks a fight with the character, which must be won to add them to the roster.
What is the competitive scene for Super Smash Bros. 64?
Super Smash Bros. 64 has a dedicated competitive community that has remained active for over two decades. Major tournaments have been held at EVO (the world's largest fighting game tournament) and dedicated events. Pikachu and Kirby are generally considered the top tiers, with Fox and Captain Falcon also high. The game's small roster means the competitive meta is more thoroughly understood than many fighters.
What stages are considered the best for competitive play?
Dream Land (the Kirby stage — floating platforms, no hazards, considered the most balanced) and Hyrule Castle (large, largely flat stage) are the two most played competitively. Final Destination (flat, no platforms) became a competitive standard term in later Smash games. Stages with significant hazards like Saffron City (Pokémon randomly appear) and Planet Zebes (rising lava) are generally avoided in competitive settings.
