Project Smash

Project Smash is a spin-off of the Super Smash Bros. series. Unlike the other games in Nintendo's popular series of crossover fighting games, Project Smash is not a 2.5D platform-inspired fighting game, but rather a 3D arena combat game. The game is developed by Existence Software.
== Gameplay ==
Instead of the single-screen gameplay style utilized by the Super Smash Bros. series, Project Smash instead sets fights within 3D environments that can sustain damage from attacks. Because of the fundamentally different gameplay, Project Smash does away with many of the mechanics staple to the Super Smash Bros. series. The most prominent change is the camera: while the Super Smash Bros. camera is mainly static, only zooming in and out when necessary, the Project Smash camera is set behind the player's character and thus the screen will split when two players fight locally. As the original Super Smash Bros. titles were party-based fighting games that support up to four players, so too is Project Smash; four players may fight against each other in a free-for-all format, or in team battles using a 2-on-2 or 3-on-1 format. CPU fighters are also able to be substituted into battle should there be fewer than four players present.
Similar to the original Super Smash Bros. titles, the game features simpler methods of attacks that stem from the use of only three buttons: for basic attacks, for stronger attacks, and for special attacks. The button for special attack buttons does not instantly perform a special attack like one might expects, rather it opens up a menu where inputting one of four directions on the control stick or D-Pad - up, down, left, or right - causes the corresponding special attack to then be performed. With the normal basic and strong attacks, different combinations of alternating button presses cause different strings of attacks to be performed. Akin to the Warriors franchise developed by , some combo strings consist of combinations such as , while others consist of more complicated combinations such as . Though the combinations remain the same, the strings of button presses will change the attacks performed should the player's character be airborne; the player can manually jump with the button. By dealing damage to others and taking damage, the player will charge up their Finale Meter which boosts the power of their normal attacks for a short time and allows them to transform a single special attack into a more-devastating version of itself focused on launching others away.
Though there exist many differences in terms of the gameplay mechanics compared to the Super Smash Bros. series, one major similarity between both titles is the emphasis on launching opponents. Surrounding each battle arena is an invisible dome - a forcefield. By launching enemies into this forcefield with strong attacks, the enemy will be KO'd and thus the fighter that launched them will gain a point. Whenever a fighter is getting launched into the forcefield, the camera will take a static position and film the impact at a cinematic angle, often with accompanying particle effects that change based on the stage's aesthetics. Dealing damage to an enemy will increase their damage percentage and thus cause the fighter to fly a further distance when they are launched; a character's damage percentage maxes out at 999%, which essentially causes any fighter to instantly be launched into the forcefield with even the force of a basic attack. While launching foes into this forcefield is the only way to KO a fighter, there are often walls or other objects that prevent fighters from being defeated at lower percentages as they must be knocked a certain distance upwards to hit it. The fighter's damage percentage will reset back to 0% once a fighter is KO'd.
As all stages take on either a circular or ovoid shape, the main factors that differentiate arenas are the structures and aesthetics that are placed within the perimeter of the forcefield surrounding it. Many of these structures have destructible elements that allow players to manipulate the battlefield's layout during combat. Additionally some stages also have interactive elements that can be used to turn a battle in the favour of one player. Some of these interactive elements may activate automatically (after a set time has passed or when a fighter enters a certain area), while others must manually be activated by attacking glowing nodes that protrude out of the ground; like most other aspects, the appearance of these nodes changes depending on the stage.
== Trivia ==
* The name "Project Smash" was originally intended to be a placeholder, and still technically is. The name is just being used as a simple way to describe the idea of it being "similar to Super Smash Bros. but not." New names are being considered.