Super Smash Brothers

About

Super Smash Bros. is a crossover melee fighting video game franchise developed and published by Nintendo. Unlike most conventional fighting games, Super Smash Bros. revolves around fighting opponents until enough damage have been inflicted on them to be knocked off the edge of the screen.

History

Super Smash Bros. was developed during 1997 by Nintendo's second-party studio HAL Laboratory led by Masahiro Sakurai, who conceived an idea for a unique four-player player fighting game involving Nintendo characters. To his surprise, the idea was approved by Satoru Iwata and the game was released for the Nintendo 64 console in 1999

Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 64

Super Smash Bros. (Also known as Super Smash Bros. 64) was released on January 21st, 1999, in Japan and became so successful that it was released worldwide. The multiplayer mode allows up to four human or computer controlled fighters play on a selected stage with set conditions and features a dozen of iconic NIntendo characters: Mario (Super Mario), Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong), Link (The Legend of Zelda), Samus (Metroid), Yoshi (Super Mario), Kirby (Kirby), Fox (Star Fox) and Pikachu (Pokemon), in addition to Luigi (Super Mario), Captain Falcon (F-Zero), Ness (Earthbound) and Jigglypuff (Pokemon) who could be unlocked as the game progress.

Super Smash Bros Melee for GameCube

Super Smash Bros.'s successor, Super Smash Brothers Melee was released for the Nintendo Game Cube in 2001 by HAL Laboratories. This new game added to its predecessor by including new characters, tournaments, stages, and a story mode. In 2003 it was made part of Player's Choice and later bundled with the Nintendo Game Cube console for $99 in 2005.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the Wii entry into the Super Smash Bros. Franchise. It was announced at Nintendo's 2006 E3 Press conference^[1] and released January 31 2008 in Japan, March 9, 2008 in the Americas, June 26, 2008 in Australia and June 27, 2008 in Europe. It has sold 9.48 million copies worldwide since March 2010, becoming the eighth best selling Wii title.

Super Smash Bros for Wii U & 3DS

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U & 3DS is the first dual release in the series and marks the first time the franchise has appeared on a portable console. First unveiled during E3 on June 11th, 2013 and released during the fall of 2014. After the conference Nintendo's official Smash Brothers Website went live.^[6] Smash 4 focused on the refinement of mechanics found in previous games, drastically improved Netcode from Brawl, adding competitive Final Destination variations of every single stage in the game, the separation of transforming characters such as Zelda and Sheik, the ability to customize characters, and continued introducing a large variety of 1st and 3rd Party characters. The game has sold 8.35 Million copies on 3DS ^[11] and barely 5 Million Copies on the Wii U, and is the 5th bestselling game on the Wii U and 8th bestselling game on 3DS.

The development of Super Smash Bros gained a heavy online following as series director Masahiro Sakurai released daily updates in the form of screenshots via Miiverse^[12] along with Character Reveal Trailers during Nintendo Directs. Notable announcements include Capcom’s Mega Man (Mega Man), Villager (Animal Crossing), Wii Fit Trainer (Wii Fit), Rosalina (Super Mario Galaxy), Little Mac (Punch Out!!), Greninja and Charizard (Pokémon X&Y), Mii Fighters (Wii Character Creator), Palutena and Dark Pit (Kid Icarus Uprising), Pac Man (Namco), Robin and Lucina (Fire Emblem Awakening), and Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles).

Many of these announcements spun off their own memes including Wii Fit Trainer and Villager’s alternate personalities, Iwata versus Reggie battle, and Shulk’s I’m Really Feeling It! catchphrase. Additionally, early misinformation about the character Toon Link being demoted to a background character was unveiled to be an intentional mislead, as the Spirit Tracks character Alfonzo would take the place of Link while being played. This became a running in-joke of deconfirmation denial, replacing many background elements or assist characters with the engineer, or even leaving him in locations where the rumored or confirmed player characters would be in their respective games.

On August 19th, 2014, Shoryuken^[10] reported an early leak of the final 3DS Roadster, with allegedly Shulk being revealed prior to his official announcement. Seeing as dozens of fabricated roadster leaks previously left many people bitter, many people attempted to debunk the leak; resulting in a theory that Shulk had been Photoshopped from Little Mac. When proven by the Shulk reveal trailer, photoshopped Little Mac had become an antithesis to Alfonzo, denying the confirmation of future leaks and announced characters in the game.

After the games launch for 3DS in September and for Wii U in November, talks of the Meta and subsequent patches to the game dominated much of the discussion of the game, including the Needless Nerfing of Greninja and Diddy Kong’s Hoo-Ha. However, unlike past Smash games, ongoing support in the form of DLC was provide to the game, re-introducing characters who had been cut from the series (such as Mewtwo, Roy, and Lucas) and introducing all new 3rd Party Characters (such as Ryu from Street Fighter and Cloud from Final Fantasy). These announcements garnered a plethora of positive reactions.

A Special Ballot was held during this period, promising to add the video game character with the highest votes to the roadster. It had become popular to request nonsensical characters such as Dreamwork’s Shrek or Dragon Ball’s Goku to the game. Ultimately, this resulted in Bayonetta (Bayonetta) being added to the game as she had gained the most votes World-Wide.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

On March 8th, 2018, Nintendo released the first teaser trailer for Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo Switch console during the Nintendo Direct broadcast. Within one hour, the video (shown below) received more than 53,000 views. The trailer indicates that the Inklings from Splatoon will be included in the game.^[13]

After the trailer premiere, Nintendo of America tweeted^[14] the logo of the game with the caption "Super #SmashBros is coming to #NintendoSwitch in 2018!" The post (shown below) received more than 19,000 retweets and 33,000 likes in roughly one hour.

That day, Redditor^[15] thecornballer1 posted about the news on the /r/NinentdoSwitch subreddit. The post received more than 8,900 points (96% upvoted) and 1,700 comments in under one hour.

During a Nintendo Direct streamed on June 12th, 2018, during E3 2018, Masahiro Sakurai talked at length about the upcoming Smash game, revealing major details and mechanics. Sakurai revealed that the game would be called Super Smash Brothers Ultimate and that the game would feature every character who has ever appeared in a Smash Bros. game, including characters who only appeared in one title such as Young Link, Solid Snake, and Wolf. Daisy was also revealed as a new character, as well as Ridley from the Metroid series, who players have long clamored to have in the series, itself the subject of the meme Ridley Is Too Big. Sakurai also revealed a wide variety of stages would be included and he also revealed some interesting new gameplay details, including tweaks to final smashes and more technical tweaks for competitive play. At the end of the stream, Sakurai revealed the release date to be December 7th, 2018.

The Ridley reveal caused a huge stir online, and many social media users created image macros about the reveal only minutes after the Direct (examples shown below).

Fandom

Super Smash Land

Super Smash Land is a fan project to "demake" the Super Smash Bros. Franchise using visuals, sound and controls from the original GameBoy. Super Smash Land was released on September 14th 2011^[2].

Super Smash Flash (1 & 2)

Super Smash Flash^[3] is a flash game developed by Cleod 9. It copies the game-play style of Super Smash Brothers, and adds several other characters from different video game and anime series to the roster. It's sequel, Super Smash Flash 2, is currently in it's 0.9th beta phase and whose game-play is much closer to that of the actual series.

Webcomics

The Fsjal Comic

Fsjal's origin comes from a comic by Deviantart user "burgertime", revolving around Super Smash Brothers.

Awkward Zombie

Katie Tiedrich, creator of the Awkward Zombie Web-comics^[4], became popular through the making of Super Smash Brothers Melee (and surrounding universes) comics.

Brawl in the Family

Brawl in the Family^[5] is a Web-comic that features characters that have appeared in the Super Smash Bros. Universe (Mostly featuring Kirby and King Dedede). It is written and drawn by Matthew Taranto.

There Will Be Brawl

There Will Be Brawl is a live-action web-series that features characters that appear in the Super Smash Bros. universe. It was eventually hosted by The Escapist and is planned for a DVD release. The plot follows Luigi, who is now a jaded drug dealer trying to make ends meet in the seedy underworld of the Mushroom Kingdom for both himself and his brother. As the plot thickens and new dangers arise, Luigi searches for a reason to keep fighting for a city that seems beyond salvation.

Related Memes

Super Smash Bros. Character Predictions

Super Smash Bros. Character Predictions are fan guesses / wishes for the next roster of the next Super Smash Bros. game (The next one announced is the Wii U / 3DS Smash Bros. announced at E3 2011 which hasn't started development). A Challenger Approaches is simply a form by which new characters are introduced to the player in the game.

Falcon Punch

The Falcon Punch is a move performed by Captain Falcon in the games despite not existing in Captain Falcon's game series, F-Zero. It is often used online as a verb to intensity punch someone or to abort teen pregnancy.

Brawl Taunts

Brawl Taunts is a flash animation video created by Newgrounds users Kirbopher and Rina-Chan. The video contains animated versions of Brawl Characters doing all sorts of weird random things; relating to the actions done in Brawl and sometimes relating to existing memes.

Ike Quotes

Ike Quotes are a trio of lines said by the Fire Emblem character Ike in Super Smash Brothers Brawl, and have been quoted with pictures or videos of him.

You're Too Slow!

You're Too Slow! is a taunt used by Sonic the Hedgehog in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and is considered extremely annoying.

Wombo Combo

Wombo Combo is the catchphrase derived from a recorded Super Smash Bros. Melee match that became famous for both the incredible combo pulled off during the match as well as the overly excited reaction that could heard in the background as the match was being recorded.

No X, Fox Only, Final Destination

No X, Fox Only, Final Destination is a parody of competitive Super Smash Brothers players, who oftentimes will exclude items, certain characters, and stages trying to make the game have as little luck factor as possible. To the casual player, the competitive rules seem oftentimes ridiculous and restrictive.

Pikaman (Longchu)

Pikaman (also known as Longchu) is the name given to Pikachu when his default moveset is replaced by that of Gannondorf. This forces Gannondorf's character model rig onto the Pikachu model, causing it to appear vaguely humanoid.

Hammer MADs

The Hammer MAD is a remix video fad using the tune/sound effects from the Hammer Item, which is a powerful and common item found in all three games in the Smash Brothers Series.

Ridley Is Too Big

“Ridley is Too Big” is an argument against allowing the alien creature Ridley from the Metroid video game series to become a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. fighting video games due to his large size relative to other characters.

Daisy Ridley in Smash

Prior to the announcement of Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, some fans of the series made jokes that characters Daisy and Ridley would never be in Smash by saying actress Daisy Ridley, best known for playing Rey in the Star Wars sequels, would not appear in Smash. For example, on January 13th, 2016, Tumblr user crustyclarinet posted a text post that read "i’m not into star wars but the person that plays rey has the same name as two characters that will never be in smash bros".^[16] On May 30th, 2018, Alpharad tweeted a picture of Daisy Ridley with the caption "Two characters who won't ever be in Smash," gaining over 1,000 retweets (shown below).

The Nintendo Direct at E3 2018 from June 12th, 2018, gave lots of details into the upcoming Super Smash Brothers game, including that Daisy and Ridley would be new characters. This led to a surge in jokes about actress Daisy Ridley being in the game. Tumblr user crustyclarinet updated their original post and said "i’m gonna go back in time and kick my own ass." The post gained over 27,000 notes in total. Twitter user @Chastity_V tweeted a joke about adding Daisy Ridley to Smash, gaining over 200 retweets and 1,100 likes (shown below, left). User @ConfessAmiibo did the same, gaining over 100 retweets and 290 likes (shown below, right). Jokes about the surge in "Daisy Ridley" jokes were covered by The Wrap.^[17]

Search Interest

External References