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ALL-STAR SMASH BROTHERS
Copyright © Nintendo
Nintendo 64
Fighting
For 1-4 Players
Nintendo/HAL
¥5800
Where to buy
—by Charles McCarter
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"This is the story... of eight Nintendo characters.. picked to be in a
fighting game... Find out what happens when characters stop being nice and
start being real."
This is pretty much the best description of SMASH BROTHERS that there is.
You've probably seen the commercials for the domestic release by now.
Pikachu, Mario, Donkey Kong,
Yoshi all skipping through a field, and suddenly, they turn on each other.
Fur flies. Bodies slam. What's going on?
Nintendo's own first foray into fighting games has yielded another strange
product. Have you ever wanted to lash out at Luigi? To smack the stuffing
out of Yoshi? Are you more than a little tired of hearing "Pika!"
everywhere you go? Well then this is the game for you.
The object of the game is simple: knock the other player(s) off the
fighting area
platform. That's all you have to do to win. But it's not as easy as it
sounds. First, you have to inflict significant damage on your opponents, or
when you knock them off they'll just literally bounce back.
Players can choose from eight characters in the beginning, including Mario,
Link, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Pikachu, Star Fox, Samus (remember METROID?), and
Kirby. Each has their own special attack and special moves. However, doing
all the moves is pretty simple. Learn a few button combinations and you can
play just about anyone. This game is admittedly and unabashedly a
button-masher, but it works.
Stages are taken from the various characters' homes, so there are stages
like Princess Peach's Castle, Yoshi's Island, and one of the cities from
Pokémon. Each area has unique pros and cons. For example, when you battle
on the rooftops in Yamabuki City in the Pokémon level, various Pokémon will
come out and try to hurt you or give you stuff. You have to stay out of the
way of them as well as the other players.
Powerups are numerous, and include things like Star Fox's sword (complete
with lightsaber sound), a fan, a baseball bat, a tomato (which restores
health), Pokeballs (with varying Pokémon inside), a fire flower, and even
the classic hammer from the original DONKEY KONG game (complete with 8-bit
theme music!). But don't rely on these items too much or you may find
yourself in trouble.
This is not a serious strategy game, and button-mashers can do as well as
or better than those used to more rigid fighting engines. This game is just
plain fun. And, like many of Nintendo's other games, a
big secret of its success lies in the battle mode. Up to four players can
go head to head to see who's the best. While it sometimes does get rather
crowded and busy on the screen, it's still the best party game this side of
the old BOMBERMAN titles.
And what would a fighting game be without secret characters? There are
spaces for four additional characters on the character select screen, and
they are... Well, you're just going to have to earn them for yourself and
find out. But here's a hint: there is another Pokémon among them.
The version I have is the Japanese version, so there may be some changes to
the American version. The only one I know of is that one of the secret
characters has been changed. (Unfortunately, to someone lamer than in the
original.) But some other things may vary as well. Still, since this game
isn't incredibly difficult to learn to play, you can be smashing your
friends in no time. Mario, you'd better run.
Rating: 8.5/10 |
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