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This article is about the video game series. For the first video game in the series, see Super Smash Bros. (video game). For the professional wrestling tag team, see Super Smash Brothers (professional wrestling).

Super Smash Bros.
Genre(s)Platform fighting
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Creator(s)Masahiro Sakurai
Platform(s)
First releaseSuper Smash Bros.
January 21, 1999
Latest releaseSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate
December 7, 2018

Super Smash Bros.[a] is a series of platform fighting video games published by Nintendo. Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the Super Smash Bros. series is a crossover featuring many characters from other video game series created by Nintendo and other developers. Its gameplay is distinct from traditional fighting games, with players aiming to knock each other off of stages after accumulating damage with numerous attacks. The games have also featured a variety of side modes, including single-player story modes.

Sakurai conceived the idea of Super Smash Bros. while working at HAL Laboratory in 1998 with the help of Satoru Iwata. The series's first game, Super Smash Bros. (1999), was released for the Nintendo 64 and used characters from Nintendo franchises including Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Kirby, and Pokémon. The game was a success, and Sakurai was asked to make a sequel for the then-upcoming GameCube, Super Smash Bros. Melee, which was developed in 13 months and released in 2001.

After Sakurai left HAL Laboratory, Iwata, who had become Nintendo's president, convinced him to continue directing the series. Sakurai directed Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) for the Wii and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014) for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. The series's most recent game, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, was released in 2018 for the Nintendo Switch, with Sakurai again returning as director and Bandai Namco Studios aiding Sora Ltd., Sakurai's own company, in the game's development.

The Super Smash Bros. games have received critical acclaim and commercial success, with the series selling over 76 million units combined as of 2024 and multiple of its games being considered among the best of all time. The series has also attracted a dedicated community of competitive players who compete in esports tournaments, and Super Smash Bros. has inspired numerous other platform fighting games and has been credited for bringing popularity to several of the franchises whose characters it features.

Gameplay

Pre-release screenshot of Ultimate featuring Ganondorf, Link, Mario and Mega Man battle on the "Great Plateau Tower" stage, based on the location from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Gameplay in the Super Smash Bros. series differs from many fighting games.[1] Instead of winning by depleting an opponent's life bar, players seek to launch their opponents off the stage and out of bounds. Characters have a damage total which rises as they take damage, represented by a percentage value that measures up to 999%. As a character's percentage rises, they suffer stronger knockback from enemy attacks.[2] To knock out an opponent, the player must knock that character outside the stage's boundaries in any direction.[3] When a character is launched off the stage, the character can attempt to "recover" by using jumping moves and abilities to return to the stage.[2] Some characters have an easier time recovering onto the stage than others due to their moves and abilities. Additionally, some characters vary in weight, with lighter characters being easier to launch than heavy characters.[4]

Controls are greatly simplified in comparison to other fighting games, with one button used for standard attacks and another used for special attacks.[1] Players can perform different types of moves by holding the directional controls up, down, to the side, or in a neutral position while pressing the attack or special button.[2] As such, each character has four types of ground attacks, mid-air attacks, and special attacks that can be performed.[2] Quickly pressing or tapping a directional input and the attack button together while on the ground allows players to perform a chargeable "Smash Attack", which is generally more powerful than other attacks.[2] When characters are hit by attacks, they receive a hitstun that temporarily disallows any attacks to be made. This allows combos to be performed. A shield button allows players to put up a defensive shield which weakens with repeated use and will leave the player unable to move if broken. Combining the shield button with directional inputs and attack buttons allows the player to also perform dodges, rolls, grabs, and throws.[5] The three basic actions in Super Smash Bros., attacking, grabbing, and shielding, are often described using a rock–paper–scissors analogy: attacking beats grabbing, grabbing beats shielding, and shielding beats attacking.[6] When a player knocks another player off of the main platform, they may perform an action called edge-guarding.[7] At the same time the player that has been knocked off will try to recover by jumping back onto the stage and avoiding the other players' edge-guarding.[2]

The Super Smash Bros. logo, consisting of two lines of different weight crossing within a circle, represented the idea of a franchise crossover, according to Sakurai, naturally dividing the circle into four sections to represent the four-player fighting mode.[8]

Another element in the Super Smash Bros. series is battle items, the abundance of which players can adjust before matches. There are conventional "battering items", with which a player may hit an opponent, such as a home-run bat or a beam sword; throwing items, including Bob-ombs and Koopa shells; and shooting items, either single-shot guns or rapid-fire blasters. Recovery items allow the user to reduce their damage percentage by varying amounts. Poké Balls are special items that release a random Pokémon onto the battlefield to temporarily assist the user. Brawl introduced the Assist Trophy item which serves a similar purpose; instead of releasing Pokémon, it summons a character from another series.[9] Brawl also introduces the Smash Ball, which when broken allows the fighter to perform a character-specific super attack known as a "Final Smash".[9]

The rules that can be used in a match vary depending on the game, but the two most commonly used settings across all games are Time and Stock. Time mode uses a point-based system in which fighters earn points for knocking out their opponents and lose points for being knocked out or self-destructing (i.e. falling out of the stage by themselves). The player with the highest score at the end of the set time limit wins the match. Stock mode, also known as Survival, uses a life-based system in which players are given a set number of lives, known as stock, with each fighter losing a life whenever they are knocked out, becoming eliminated if they run out of lives. The winner is the last fighter standing once all other fighters are eliminated or, if a time limit is applied to the match, the fighter with the most lives remaining once time runs out. In the event of a tie, a Sudden Death match takes place. Here, each of the tied fighters are given a starting damage percentage of 300%, making them easier to launch off the stage, and the last fighter standing will be declared as the winner. In some games this process is repeated if the match ends in another tie.

Gameplay using competitive Super Smash Bros. rules is usually played in Stock mode with a timer.[10] Items are turned off, and the only tournament-legal stages are those that do not feature hazards and other disruptive elements.[11]

Characters

Main article: Characters in the Super Smash Bros. series

Each game in the series has a number of playable characters (referred in the games as "fighters") taken from various gaming franchises, with over 80 in total across the series. Starting with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, characters from non-Nintendo franchises began to make playable appearances. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, players were able to customize existing fighters with altered movesets and abilities, as well as making their own Mii fighters that can be given three different fighting styles. There are also other non-playable characters that take the form of enemies, bosses, and summonable power-up items.

Music

Super Smash Bros. features music from some of Nintendo's popular gaming franchises. While many are newly arranged for the game, some songs are taken directly from their sources. The music for the Nintendo 64 game was composed by Hirokazu Ando, who later returned as sound and music director in Melee. Melee also features tracks composed by Tadashi Ikegami, Shougo Sakai, and Takuto Kitsuta.[12] Brawl featured the collaboration of 38 contracted composers,[13] including Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu, who composed the main theme.[14] Like in Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U featured many original and re-arranged tracks from various different gaming franchises from a variety of different composers and arrangers. Both versions have multiple musical tracks that can be selected and listened to using the returning "My Music" feature, including pieces taken directly from earlier Super Smash Bros. games. The 3DS and Switch games allow players to listen to their music from the sound menu while the system is in sleep/handheld mode.[15][16] Ultimate continued the trend of multiple composers and arrangers working on remixed tracks, having over 800 in total.[16][17]

Three soundtrack albums for the series have been released. An album with the original music for Super Smash Bros. was released in Japan by Teichiku Records in 2000.[18] In 2003, Nintendo released Smashing...Live!, a live orchestrated performance of various pieces featured in Melee by the New Japan Philharmonic.[19] A two-disc promotional soundtrack titled A Smashing Soundtrack was available for Club Nintendo members who registered both the 3DS and Wii U games between November 21, 2014, and January 13, 2015.[20]

History and development

1996–1999: Conception and first game

Further information: Super Smash Bros. (video game)
Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of the Super Smash Bros. series, in 2021

After developing Kirby Super Star (1996), Masahiro Sakurai, a game developer at HAL Laboratory, wished to experiment with 3D graphics and animation following the release of the Nintendo 64 video game console.[21] Sakurai proposed two games to Nintendo for release on the system: a four-player free-for-all fighting game and a RC robot stealth exploration game where the player progressed through levels by hacking into security cameras.[22] While both proposals were praised by Nintendo, HAL Laboratory was currently developing several other games for the Nintendo 64, including Mother 3, and was unable begin full development on either prototype. After HAL's other projects were cancelled, however, the company needed to produce a finished game as soon as possible.[21] The fighting game prototype was chosen as the studio's next project after Sakurai determined it would take less time to complete than the RC game.[22]

The fighting game prototype, titled Dragon King: The Fighting Game,[23] was developed by three people: Sakurai was responsible for the game's planning, design, graphics, modeling, and animation, while his coworker Satoru Iwata handled the programming and a third developer was responsible for the game's audio.[24] Because he was leading another project at the time, Iwata created Dragon King's programming on weekends. Iwata had agreed to the project because he wished to create a four-player game utilizing the three-dimensional joystick on the Nintendo 64 controller, while Sakurai wished to create an alternative to the fighting games dominating the video game industry at the time.[24]

Super Smash Bros. (1999) was made for the Nintendo 64, whose capacity for 3D graphics and joystick heavily influenced the game's design

Sakurai had developed the idea for a new type of fighting game in 1996, because he felt that existing fighting games had become too complex, with gameplay over-reliant on combos that reduced the importance of player strategy. He sought to create a game that allowed for more player improvisation and interplay, creating a system of accumulated damage to force players to react differently to each attack instead of making the depletion of the other player's life bar the only goal. He created "smash attacks" that could be triggered with a more aggressive "flick" of the joystick while searching for ways to best integrate the Nintendo 64 controller's joystick into the prototype's gameplay.[21]

While Dragon King had largely the same gameplay as what would become Super Smash Bros., it lacked any crossover elements.[21] Sakurai had reservations about including a cast of original characters,[24] saying that existing fighting games had too many "main characters" competing to be the focus of marketing, making it more difficult for players to care compared to games that have fewer protagonists and several side characters.[21] While Sakurai said that would be acceptable in fighting games released for arcades, the transition to home consoles meant that it was important to establish the game world's "atmosphere" as soon as possible,[24] and he did not want new players to encounter a large roster of unfamiliar characters.[21] Therefore, he asked Nintendo's permission to use various characters from its other games.[21][24] The proposal to use pre-existing characters was controversial,[24] and Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto rejected the idea. In response, Sakurai and Iwata created a demo of the game featuring Mario, Fox McCloud, Samus Aran, and Donkey Kong, and ensured that it was well-balanced before presenting it again. Upon seeing the revised demo, Miyamoto gave permission for the game to use Nintendo characters.[23]

After the game's completion, it was met with mixed reception internally; many other developers reacted positively, while Nintendo's sales team did not want the company's characters to fight each other.[21] The game was ultimately titled "Super Smash Bros." after Iwata suggested the inclusion of the word "brothers" to indicate that the characters "weren't simply fighting" but "were friends who were settling a little disagreement."[25] Super Smash Bros. was released for the Nintendo 64 in Japan on January 21, 1999, and in North America on April 26, 1999.[23] To help appeal to players used to the gameplay of traditional fighting games, Sakurai created the "Smash Bros. Dojo!!", a website intended to teach players strategies and techniques for the game.[21]

2000–2004: Super Smash Bros. Melee

Further information: Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) became the best-selling game released for the Nintendo GameCube

In May 1999, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Sakurai privately revealed that he was developing a sequel to Super Smash Bros. for the then-upcoming Nintendo GameCube, and the design plan for the game was completed on July 5, 1999.[26] HAL Laboratory returned to develop the game,[27] and was assisted by other studios, including Creatures Inc.[28] By May 2001, over 50 people were actively working on the game, while over 100 had been involved with the project at some point in time.[26] The game was officially revealed as Super Smash Bros. Melee at E3 2001, seven months ahead of its release in North America.[23] Because the GameCube was both more powerful and easier to develop games for than the Nintendo 64, Melee was able to include much more content than its predecessor, including 14 new characters and many multiplayer options and modes.[23][28]

The development of Melee lasted only 13 months, during which Sakurai described his lifestyle as "destructive". He said the game was the "biggest project [he] had ever led up to that point", and during development he took no holidays and only short breaks on weekends.[29] Development was held back by technical limitations, with the GameCube not being powerful enough to allow features such as eight-player multiplayer.[23] Collectible "trophies" were introduced, allowing players to collect 3D models of various Nintendo characters as a way to include more characters than could be developed as fighters.[28] Sakurai designed Melee to appeal to people who were "well-versed in video games", compared to the more casual audience targeted by the first Super Smash Bros. game,[29] and Melee's physics system underwent extensive revisions.[30] Melee also included full-motion video scenes; HAL worked with three separate computer graphics studios in Tokyo to complete the animations by E3 2001[27] and Sakurai created the storyboards himself.[28] Super Smash Bros. Melee was released for the GameCube on November 21, 2001, in Japan, and on December 3, 2001, in North America.[23] Melee later went on to be the best-selling game released for the GameCube.[28]

2005–2010: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Further information: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's president, asked Sakurai to create Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) for the Wii

In May 2005, at a press conference prior to E3 2005, Iwata—who had become the president of Nintendo—said that a new Super Smash Bros. game was in development for the Wii and would launch alongside the system the next year, featuring online multiplayer using the system's Wi-Fi capabilities.[31] The announcement came as a surprise to Sakurai, who had left HAL Laboratory in 2003 and had not heard about an upcoming Smash Bros. game.[32] Iwata had made the announcement after many people polled by Nintendo showed a desire for a new Smash Bros. game with online play, despite planning on the next game in the series having not yet begun.[33] After the announcement, Iwata met with Sakurai and asked him to create a new Smash Bros. game for the Wii, saying that Nintendo would simply port Melee to the system with online functionality if he refused. Sakurai accepted, and completed the planning document for the next Super Smash Bros. game in July 2005.[23]

The former Super Smash Bros. team at HAL Laboratory was busy with another project, so Sakurai assembled a team including staff from Game Arts, another studio.[33] Sora Ltd., Sakurai's own company, was also involved.[32][33] The game's development team included over 100 full-time staff,[34] with over 700 people involved altogether.[33] One year after its announcement, the trailer revealing the game as Super Smash Bros. Brawl aired at E3 2006.[23]

Brawl was designed with a focus on creating online multiplayer as well as a lengthy single-player story mode intended to flesh out the game's characters and give them more time in the spotlight. Sakurai had wanted the single-player mode to be developed by a separate team, though all except for its animated cutscenes were created by Brawl's main team.[34] Sakurai worked with Kazushige Nojima, who had written scenarios for various Final Fantasy games, to create the storyline for Brawl's single-player mode.[33] Because the Wii was targeted towards more casual players than the GameCube and the game would need to be played with the Wii Remote controller, Sakurai decided to adjust the gameplay speed of Brawl to make it considerably slower than Melee.[33][34] Brawl was also the first game in the series to undergo playtesting, with a small team of four being tasked with evaluating the game's balance. It introduced several new mechanics to the Smash Bros. series, including powerful "Final Smash" attacks able to be activated after destroying an orb and "Assist Trophy" items that allow players to summon certain characters to fight alongside them,[35] which were created as another way to increase the number of characters present in Brawl.[34]

The casual audience of the Wii led Sakurai to slow down the gameplay of Brawl

Brawl was the first game in the Super Smash Bros. to feature characters from third-party developers, with Solid Snake from Konami's Metal Gear and Sonic from Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog being playable fighters.[35] Snake was revealed in the E3 2006 trailer,[35] while Sonic was announced in October 2007 on the Smash Bros. Dojo!! website.[23] Sakurai designed both Snake and Sonic to have a "distinct feel" from the other characters, though said he did not consciously try to treat Nintendo characters differently from non-Nintendo characters in terms of design.[24] Both Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka had asked Sakurai to include their respective characters in Melee, though time constraints meant that neither character would be added to that game.[36][37] Brawl's final roster included 35 playable characters, with nearly all characters from Melee returning in addition to 15 new characters.[23]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released for the Wii on January 31, 2008, in Japan, and March 9, 2008, in North America. The game's release followed a delay; Nintendo had said the game would release in December 2007, but pushed its release date back to early 2008 two months ahead of its scheduled launch.[23]

2011–2015: Nintendo 3DS and Wii U games

Further information: Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
The fourth Super Smash Bros. game (2014) was released for both the Nintendo 3DS (left) and Wii U (right)

At E3 2011 in June 2011, Iwata announced that Sakurai would be developing a new Super Smash Bros. game that would release on both the handheld Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U, a home console, with the two versions having connectivity with each other.[23][38] However, Sakurai was developing Kid Icarus Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS at the time, and work on the next Smash Bros. game did not begin until after Uprising's release in 2012.[39] The game was developed by Sora Ltd. alongside Bandai Namco Studios, with various staff members from Bandai Namco's other fighting games, Tekken and Soulcalibur, joining the team.[40] The games were formally revealed during a Nintendo Direct video presentation at E3 2013, titled Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Smash 4).[41]

Sakurai felt that the cutscenes developed for Brawl's story mode were unable to impact players as he wished because they were shared widely on the internet, so he said that Smash 4 would include neither a story mode nor cutscenes, and that the animation resources would instead go into creating computer-generated videos to reveal new characters coming to the game online.[42] The "fighter reveal videos" continued to be used for future games.[43] Sakurai aimed for Smash 4's gameplay speed to be in between that of Melee and Brawl, and designed the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U versions to have the same characters, movesets, and items, but both versions would have exclusive stages not in the other.[44] Because of the 3DS's technical limitations, however, parity between both versions' characters required those not technically possible on the 3DS—including characters that transform mid-match such as the Pokémon Trainer or Princess Zelda and Sheik, or the Ice Climbers, which act as two characters at once—could not be in either game.[23][45] The Nintendo 3DS and Wii U games lack cross-platform play, but players can transfer data between the two games, including customized characters.[46]

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS released in Japan on September 13, 2014, and in North America on October 3, 2014. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U released later that year: it first launched in North America on November 21, 2014, and released in Japan on December 6, 2014.[23] Smash 4 became the first game in the Super Smash Bros. series to receive paid downloadable content (DLC); Nintendo released additional characters, stages, and Mii fighter outfits able to be purchased individually for both versions of the game.[23][47] The final DLC characters for Smash 4, Corrin from Fire Emblem Fates and Bayonetta from Bayonetta, were released on February 3, 2016.[48] Including DLC, Smash 4's full roster featured 56 characters, 19 of which were new.[23]

2016–present: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and future

Further information: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) was made for the Nintendo Switch, a hybrid system able to act as both a handheld and home console

Even before the Nintendo Switch was publicly announced, Iwata asked Sakurai to direct a new Super Smash Bros. game for the system.[49] Sakurai said that creating a Super Smash Bros. game for the Switch was the last request he received from Iwata before Iwata's death in July 2015.[50] Sakurai began planning the Smash Bros. game for the Switch while DLC for Smash 4 was still in progress, and finished the game's proposal document on December 16, 2015.[49] Active development on the next game in the series began in February 2016, after all DLC had been released for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U games.[51] Bandai Namco Studios returned to assist Sora Ltd. in developing the next Smash game, and the similarity between Wii U and Nintendo Switch's hardware made development easier than past games,[52] which were developed by teams assembled from scratch.[49]

Because the transition to the newest entry in the series seemed easier than normal, Sakurai proposed that the Smash game for the Nintendo Switch feature all previous playable characters from throughout the series.[49] Managing to include all past characters became a major goal of the game's development.[53] Sakurai scrapped plans to differ gameplay between the Switch's TV and handheld modes, because he found that the system's screen in handheld was good enough to make it not worthwhile to change the game for it.[54] He decided to raise the gameplay speed again past Smash 4, though still decided that he did not want Ultimate to be as fast as Melee.[49] Time constraints meant that the team could create neither a story mode similar to Brawl's nor a large assortment of collectible trophies, which had grown expensive to develop. Sakurai conceived "Spirits" as trophies' replacement and designed the game's story mode to be involved, but not more so than Brawl's,[49] and he created the story mode's storyboards himself.[53]

A Super Smash Bros. game for the Nintendo Switch was teased in a March 2018 Nintendo Direct,[55] and the game was fully revealed as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at E3 2018 three months later.[56] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate released worldwide on the Nintendo Switch on December 7, 2018.[57]

Reception

Sales and aggregate review scores
As of December 31, 2024.
Game Year Sales
(in millions) 		Metacritic
(out of 100)
Super Smash Bros. 1999 5.55[58] 79[59]
Melee 2001 7.09[60] 92[61]
Brawl 2008 13.32[62] 93[63]
for Nintendo 3DS 2014 9.63[64] 85[65]
for Wii U 2014 5.38[66] 92[67]
Ultimate 2018 35.88[68] 93[69]

Reviews for the Super Smash Bros. series are usually positive. The multiplayer mode in every game is usually highly praised; however, single-player modes have not always been viewed as highly.

Super Smash Bros. received praise for its multiplayer mode. Nintendo Power listed the series as being one of the greatest multiplayer experiences in Nintendo history, describing it as infinitely replayable due to its special moves and close-quarters combat.[70] There were criticisms, however, such as the game's scoring being difficult to follow.[71] In addition, the single-player mode was criticized for its perceived difficulty and lack of features.

Super Smash Bros. Melee generally received a positive reception from reviewers, most of whom credited Melee's expansion of gameplay features from Super Smash Bros. Focusing on the additional features, GameSpy commented that "Melee really scores big in the 'we've added tons of great extra stuff' department." Reviewers compared the game favorably to Super Smash Bros. IGN's Fran Mirabella III stated that it was "in an entirely different league than the N64 version"; GameSpot's Miguel Lopez praised the game for offering an advanced "classic-mode" compared to its predecessor, while detailing the Adventure Mode as "really a hit-or-miss experience." Despite a mixed response to the single-player modes, most reviewers expressed the game's multiplayer mode as a strong component of the game. In their review of the game, GameSpy stated that "you'll have a pretty hard time finding a more enjoyable multiplayer experience on any other console."

Brawl received a perfect score from the Japanese magazine Famitsu. The reviewers praised the variety and depth of the single-player content,[72] the unpredictability of Final Smashes, and the dynamic fighting styles of the characters. Thunderbolt Games gave the game 10 out of 10, calling it "a vastly improved entry into the venerable series". Chris Slate of Nintendo Power also awarded Brawl a perfect score in its March 2008 issue, calling it "one of the very best games that Nintendo has ever produced". IGN critic Matt Casamassina, in his February 11 Wii-k in Review podcast, noted that although Brawl is a "solid fighter", it does have "some issues that need to be acknowledged", including "long loading times" and repetition in The Subspace Emissary.

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U both garnered critical praise and were commercially successful, holding ratings of 85/100 and 92/100 on Metacritic and 86.10% and 92.39% on GameRankings.[73][65][74][75] Reviewers have particularly noted the large, diverse character roster, the improvements to game mechanics, and the variety of multiplayer options. Some criticisms in the 3DS version include a lack of single-player modes and issues concerning the 3DS hardware, such as the size of characters on the smaller screen when zoomed out and latency issues during both local and online multiplayer.[76][77] There were also reports of players damaging their 3DS Circle Pads while playing the game excessively.[78][79] The Wii U version's online play quality was mildly criticized for some inconsistency, but has overall been critically acclaimed. Daniel Dischoff of GameRevolution stated "It's true that Super Smash Bros. evolves every time with regard to new features, items, and characters to choose from. While your favorite character may not return or a few annoying pickups may force you to turn off items altogether, this represents the biggest leap forward Smashers have seen yet." Daniel Starky at GameSpot criticized the inconsistent online performance in the game, but still called it an "incredible game", noting "With the Wii U release, Smash Bros. has fully realized its goals." Jose Otero from IGN, praising the replayability of the game, states "Nearly every aspect of Smash Wii U seems fine-tuned not only to appeal to the nostalgia of long-time Nintendo fans, but also to be accessible to new players."

Sales

Super Smash Bros. sold 1.4 million copies in Japan,[80] and 2.3 million in the U.S.,[81] with a total of 5.55 million units worldwide.[58] Melee sold over 7 million units worldwide, becoming the best-selling GameCube game.[60] Brawl sold 1.524 million units in Japan as of March 30, 2008,[82] and sold 1.4 million units in its first week in the United States, becoming Nintendo of America's fastest selling game.[83] The 3DS version sold over a million copies in its first weekend on sale in Japan,[84] and has sold more than 9.63 million copies worldwide as of September 2021.[64] Super Smash Bros. for Wii U became the fastest-selling Wii U game to date, selling 3.39 million units worldwide within just two months of availability, beating the record previously held by Mario Kart 8.[85] As of September 2021, it has sold 5.38 million copies worldwide.[66] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Nintendo Switch has set new record highs for the series and for the system.[86][87] It sold an estimate of 5.6 million copies in global sales during its first week of launch, beating out records previously held by games such as Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, Super Mario Odyssey, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.[88] In Japan, Ultimate outsold the records held by Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS with 2.6 million copies sold in five weeks.[89] It is also the third best-selling game for the Nintendo Switch and the best-selling fighting game of all time, with 35.88 million copies sold worldwide as of December 31, 2024.[68]

Legacy

Esports

Main article: Super Smash Bros. in esports

The Super Smash Bros. series has been widely played as a competitive video game, with several of the games in the series having been featured in high-profile tournaments, including Major League Gaming (MLG) and Evolution Championship Series (EVO), among others.[90] The first publicized professional Smash Bros. tournaments were held for Super Smash Bros. Melee in early 2002.[91] Current major Smash Bros. annual tournament series include GENESIS, EVO, Super Smash Con and The Big House. The competitive Smash Bros. community is well known among the wider fighting game community for its decentralized, grassroots scene, a byproduct of Nintendo's historical reluctance to directly promote the scene.[92][93]

Notes

  1. ^ Japanese: 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ, Hepburn: Dai Rantō Sumasshu Burazāzu, ; commonly shortened to Smash Bros. or Smash.

References

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  2. ^ a b c d e f Super Smash Bros. Melee Instruction Booklet. 2001.
  3. ^ "The Basic Rules". Smash Bros. DOJO!!. Smashbros.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2013. Retrieved April 15, 2008.
  4. ^ "You Must Recover!". Smash Bros. DOJO!!. Smashbros.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2013. Retrieved April 15, 2008.
  5. ^ Schneider, Peer (April 27, 1999). "Super Smash Bros. review". IGN. Archived from the original on May 12, 2008. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
  6. ^ LeJacq, Yannick (December 22, 2015). "What Pros Have To Think About In Every Smash Bros. Match". Kotaku. Archived from the original on January 31, 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  7. ^ Otero, Jose (January 22, 2014). "Smash Bros. Will Change The Way Edge-Guarding Works". IGN. Archived from the original on January 31, 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
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  9. ^ a b Super Smash Bros. Brawl Instruction Booklet (PDF). Nintendo. 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 15, 2016.
  10. ^ "EVO 2013 Rules". IGN. February 15, 2013. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  11. ^ Dawson, Bryan (September 11, 2014). "How to get into Competitive Super Smash Bros". Prima Games. Archived from the original on January 31, 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  12. ^ "Discussions music staff" (in Japanese). Nintendo. January 18, 2002. Archived from the original on January 5, 2008. Retrieved January 10, 2008.
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