Super Smash Bros. (series)

The Super Smash Bros. series is a crossover series of multiplayer games in which many well-known Nintendo characters are pitted against each other to fight, with each character using their unique abilities in battle. It was created by Masahiro Sakurai, a former HAL Laboratory employee. The games are among Nintendo's best selling games, not only for being one of Nintendo's few fighting games, but also for being a mass crossover of many Nintendo franchises, such as Mario and The Legend of Zelda. Pokémon is also a majorly represented franchise, with Pikachu being a playable character in every appearance. The Super Smash Bros. series is known to attract both casual and competitive players, with game modes and official Nintendo events accommodating different types of play. The first and titular installment of the Super Smash Bros. series is Super Smash Bros., released in early 1999 for the Nintendo 64, and its latest installment is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, released worldwide on December 7, 2018.
While the Western title for the series is a play on the title of Super Mario Bros., Super Smash Bros. is a standalone crossover franchise and is not a spinoff of the Mario franchise.
Besides the diverse lineup of fighters, Super Smash Bros. has numerous non-playable references to Nintendo history, such as the roster of stages in the series, themed around locations from past Nintendo games, such as Saffron City from the first Super Smash Bros., based on the location of the same name from the core series.
==List of games==
===Super Smash Bros.===
Super Smash Bros. is the first installment in the Super Smash Bros. series, introduced in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. The game features eight characters from the start, with four unlockable characters, all of them created by Nintendo or one of its second-party developers.
Up to four people can play in multiplayer (Versus) mode, with the specific rules of each match being predetermined by the players. There are two different types that can be chosen: Time, where the person with the most KOs at the end of the set time wins; and stock, where each person has a set amount of lives, and when they are gone, the player is eliminated.
This game's one-player mode included one adventure mode that always followed the same series of opponents although the player could change the difficulty. Other single player modes exist such as Training and several mini-games, including "Break the Targets!" and "Board the Platforms!". All of these were included in the sequel, with the exception of "Board the Platforms".
There are nine playable stages in Versus mode, eight based on each of the starting characters, such as Saffron City for Pikachu.
===Super Smash Bros. Melee===
Super Smash Bros. Melee is the second installment in the Super Smash Bros. series, released in 2001 for the Nintendo GameCube. It had a larger budget and development team than Super Smash Bros. did and was released to much greater praise and acclaim among critics and consumers. Since its release, Super Smash Bros. Melee has sold more than 7 million copies and was the best-selling game on the GameCube. Super Smash Bros. Melee features 26 characters, of which 15 are available initially, more than doubling the number of characters in its predecessor. There are also 29 stages.
It introduced two new single-player modes alongside the Classic Mode: Adventure, and All-Star Mode. Adventure mode has platforming segments similar to the original's Race to the Finish mini-game, and All-Star is a fight against every playable character in the game, allows the player only one life in which damage is accumulated over each battle and a limited number of heal items in between battles.
There are also significantly more multiplayer modes and a tournament mode allowing for 64 different competitors whom can all be controlled by a human player, although only up to four players can participate at the same time. Additionally, the game features alternative battle modes, called "Special Melee", which involve some sort of alteration to the battle (e.g. all characters are giant by default, the speed is faster than normal, etc.), along with alternative ways to judge a victory, such as through collecting coins throughout the match.
In place of Super Smash Bros.'s character profiles, Super Smash Bros. Melee introduced trophies (called "figures" in the Japanese version). The 293 trophies include three different profiles for each playable character, one unlocked in each single-player mode. In addition, unlike its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee contains profiles for many Nintendo characters who are either non-playable or do not appear in the game, as well as Nintendo items, stages, enemies, and elements.
===Super Smash Bros. Brawl===
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series, released in 2008 for the Nintendo Wii. It is also the first game to support online play, via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and offers the ability for players to construct their own original stages. The game features a total of 39 playable characters and 41 stages.
The gane also features compatibility with four kinds of controllers (the Wii Remote on its side, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination, the Classic Controller, and the Nintendo GameCube controller), while its predecessors only used the one controller designed for that system. The player also has the ability to change the configuration of controls and the controller type.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl features a new Adventure Mode titled Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary. It features unique character storylines along with numerous side scrolling levels and multiple bosses to fight, as well as CG cut scenes explaining the storyline. The Subspace Emissary features a new group of antagonists called the Subspace Army, who are led by the Ancient Minister. Some of these enemy characters appeared in previous Nintendo games, one of them being the Pokémon Rayquaza, who is fought as a boss at The Lake. However, no Pokémon appear as regular enemies.
Though primarily a single-player mode, The Subspace Emissary allows for cooperative multiplayer. There are five difficulty levels for each stage, and there is a method of increasing characters' powers during the game. This is done by placing collected stickers onto the bottom of a character's trophy between stages to improve various aspects of a fighter.
Like its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Brawl introduces several new playable characters. Among them are Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake, the series' first third-party fighters.
===Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U===
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U are the fourth and fifth games in the Super Smash Bros. series, although they are commonly thought of as the joint fourth installment. At E3 2011, it was confirmed that new Super Smash Bros. titles were in development for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, with both versions being cross-compatible with each other in some way. The games were shown for the first time at E3 2013.
The Nintendo 3DS version features cel-shaded 3D graphics and stages based on games for handheld consoles, while the Wii U version features HD graphics and stages based on games from home consoles. Like prior games in the series, this game introduces new characters, including two more third-party fighters, Mega Man and Pac-Man. The character lineup is the same across both versions, and characters can now be customized with a range of equipment and custom special moves.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS includes an exclusive mode called Smash Run, which has a 2.5D platforming portion akin to The Subspace Emissary in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, although now features certain Pokémon such as Gastly as enemies. Likewise, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U includes an exclusive mode called Smash Tour, which has a board game portion with various items, including some Pokémon such as Snorlax.
The games also introduce downloadable content (DLC) to the series, which was made available after release. Mewtwo is among the DLC fighters.
The 3DS version was released first on September 13, 2014 in Japan, and on October 3rd, 2014 in the rest of the world. The Wii U version was released on November 21, 2014 in North America, November 28, 2014 in Europe, November 29, 2014 in Australia, and December 6th, 2014 in Japan.
===Super Smash Bros. Ultimate===
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the sixth game in the series (fifth if Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U are counted collectively), released on December 7, 2018 for the Nintendo Switch. It features every playable character from the past installments.
In the November 2018 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct, Incineroar was confirmed to be a playable fighter, making him the newest Pokémon representative. Incineroar's reveal trailer, "Clash of Flames," is shared with Ken Masters of the Street Fighter series. 
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate introduces Spirits mode, with collectible spirits able to augment fighters' abilities. They replace the collectible trophies from previous installments. They visually appear and function very similarly to stickers from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. There is also a new Adventure Mode, titled World of Light, which sees Galeem turning many characters (except for the playable fighters, who were instead imprisoned, except for Kirby who survived) into spirits.
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