I always try to make every 50th game special, although sometimes I don't come through(Mortal Kombat Trilogy? Really?) but #650 is a special one. Super Smash Bros. was the go-to staple game of every and any after-school/weekend get-together. Everyone I knew that had a N64 had this game after it came out, and we'd never fail to play this game. It was amazing. It also introduced me to Ness, so that's something.
There's something oh so appealing about this game. I love the simple art-style they went with, still to this day I've soft spot for the official art from the original Super Smash Bros. I also adore its simple graphics, characters are very low poly, and there are a lot of 2-D objects, like Ness' yo-yo or Link's bombs. Even when I was younger I knew that by N64 standards it looked crappy, in order to maintain a somewhat stable framerate no doubt, but I still found it charming. I still think it's charming.
It's Smash but worse. No, really, pick ANY other Smash game and it'll be better than this one. This is Smash before Side B specials were a thing, so characters only have 3 special moves, before you could charge smash attacks. Before the character roster got massive. Before air-dodging. Basically, it's the most barebones Smash experience you can get.
But what is inside this cart? 8 characters, Mario, Link, Pikachu, Yoshi, Samus, Donkey Kong, Fox and Kirby, alongside 4 hidden characters, Ness, Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon and Luigi. The basics were born here: B, B+Up and B+Down are your special moves, R is used to grab the enemy and then throw them in any direction(No pummeling though!), Z can be used to block or roll to either side and, lastly, A is used to attack. Coupling it with different directions on the analog stick will produce two other attacks, either by tilting/holding a direction or flicking the stick, the latter being the infamous Smash attacks, which, as I said before, couldn't be charged in this game! The objective's the same it'd be in future installments: Attack your enemy to increase their damage percentage, which in turns makes them easier to send flying offscreen, in order to finally beat them.
There's not much to do in this game but the basics of basics, you've got the single player stage course and then multiplayer Smash, either by stocks or based on time, battling in teams or just the good ole free for all. Honestly, that's it, I really meant it when I claimed that this was the most feature-starved entry in the series, not that it mattered back in the day when there was nothing to compare it with. On its defense, this one features unique 'Board all platforms' and 'Destroy all targets' challenges for every character. And, although it might be nostalgia speaking, I think it has one of the most memorable single player courses in the entire series. From fighting a dumb Link at the start, to the multi-man Yoshi, Kirby and Polygon team battles. What about the giant Donkey Kong?! Other games would add more variety in Single Player, which is a good think, but there's a certain charm to this set set of stages.
Super Smash Bros. is still fun, although there's no denying that any other game in the franchise leaves this one in the dust. So I'm torn, I don't think there are many compelling reasons to come back to this one besides nostalgia. That said, Smash 64 remains one of the N64's best.
8.0 out of 10
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