Hey and welcome to the first ever episode of Under the Superscope. Where we take an
in depth look at some of the most famous games of all time and work out exactly what makes
them so good and whether they still hold up today. It doesn't matter if they're 5
or 35, all that matters is that they're fun.
So let's rewind from 2018 with a new Smash on the horizon and go back passed Smash for
Wii U and 3DS, Passed Brawl, Passed Melee. Let's go all the way back to where it first
began. Back to that one simple idea: Who would win in a fight; Link or Mario?
It's easy to forget that premise when Smash has been around for as long as it has but
that's exactly what the core of Smash is. Taking Nintendo's most prominent all stars
and finding out who the most powerful is. Capcom had similar mash up ideas with the
likes of 1996's X-Men VS Street Fighter and Sega's 1996 Fighters Megamix but none
were quite as ambitious as this. Where Fighters Megamix largely takes its characters from
Virtua Fighter and Fighting Vipers, the characters in Smash don't originate from that genre
and so an entirely new playstyle was devised. The platform fighter.
Platformers are arguably the most accessible genre out there. You run, you jump. It's
what we've been doing in the real world since we've been able to stand on two legs.
Many of our very first games likely involved this method whether it was Super Mario Brothers
or Sonic or I dunno, Ristar. Hopefully someone's first game was Ristar. So to take that daunting
premise of a fighting game and to make it around running and jumping suddenly alleviates
the barrier to entry. Picking up Smash makes sense. Mario, Kirby and Donkey Kong all move
around like you'd expect from a 2D perspective and even the more experimental characters
adapt so well in this playstyle. There aren't health bars or complex moves,
it was an entirely new take on a fighting game.
So instead of pummelling your opponent until they lose consciousness, they almost get lighter
with each punch in a sense. So the more you hit them, the further they'll fly and eventually
they'll go walloping out of the stratosphere. Sakurai has often referred to Smash as a party
game as opposed to the competitive focus the genre was known for and while there is a competitive
Smash scene, I think that party focus is the backbone of the entire series. There aren't
complex button inputs to learn, or at least there aren't meant to be, Smash takes this
intimidating genre and makes it something anyone can pick up.
Basically there are two attack buttons, melees and specials. Pressing a different direction
while using either of these performs a different move. Not only does this grant a nice variety
of moves but it also ensures that once you've learned one character you've essentially
learn them all. If you're coming from later instalments
though you may be a little surprised to learn that there is no Side special in Smash 64.
Up Special is still a recovery and Down Special still executes another attack but Neutral
Special and Side Soecial perform the exact same move. Weird right? You also can't charge
Smash attacks or execute an air dodge, so watch your landings! While these are series
standards at this point, it was Melee that first introduced them. It never really made
a whole lot sense as to why side special performs the exact same move as natural special when
literally every other direction executes a different move. That's one area that was
always flawed in the original Smash. We've also gone from over a dozen characters in
Smash Wii U having counters to nothing but Fox's reflector in Smash 64. While the core
game is largely the same there's certainly are a lot of elements that just hadn't been
introduced yet. Though competitive players may not like to
learn that the item toggle is something you have to unlock…by playing 100 verses matches.
Yeah, that's a lot. These restricted moves are the one key area
where Smash 64 starts to show its age and it's something so many players finding jarring
to go back to. Of course every Smash has a unique feel. Melee
is the fastest and most technical, Smash Wii U is slightly more floaty but with a great
party/competitive balance and Brawl has tripping. The original is perhaps closest to Melee than
any other. It doesn't have as many exploitable glitches but the pacing feels slightly more
geared to experienced players, there are tons of crazy combos you can pull off and while
the competitive scene isn't massive it does exist and it's bigger than Brawl's.
Impressively, while most N64 games struggled to run at 20fps, Smash 64 holds a pretty stable
60 - up there with only a few others on the platform like F-Zero X. of course this comes
with the drawback of the background elements all being 2D though I think there's some
charm to be found with them. Sure they're pretty blurry but just look at the detail
here in the Hyrule Castle stage, you can see the entire world of Ocarina of Time from this
view: There's Kakariko village, there's death mountain, there's Zora's River and
there's Lake Hylia – in the wrong place. OK so it's not 100% but it's still a really
cool recreation. Here with Peach's castle you can see the entire grounds of Mario 64.
It may not be the best quality in the world but it pushes a level of detail that the N64
just wouldn't be able to output natively at this performance.
Smash is a celebration of Nintendo as much as it is a fighting game and almost every
element of the series is a reference to a franchise's source material. For instance
Mario's moveset is ripped mostly from Super Mario 64 with the three punches, little break
dancing kick and he throws the same way he throws Bowser. Link has the same spin attack
as Ocarina of Time, same bomb design, same hookshot and the down thrust from Zelda 2.
Though adult Link couldn't use the boomerang, the Ocarina of Time representation is a little
sketchy here! In many ways Smash would actually have the
opposite effect on some of these licenses where they themselves became inspired from
their Smash appearance. Captain Falcon for instance never left his vehicle in either
F-Zero or F-Zero X yet they somehow gave him an entire moveset in Smash. This would then
lead to the Falcon Punch becoming an actual element of the F-Zero franchise during 2003's
F-Zero GP Legend anime. Perhaps the most surprising thing coming from
recent instalments is the roster. We're used to dozens and dozens of franchises both
first and third party being represented but in Smash 64 there are only 12 characters in
total from 10 different franchises. You'll start off with Mario, Donkey Kong Link, Samus,
Yoshi, Kirby, Fox and Pikachu with Luigi, Captain Falcon, Ness and Jigglypuff being
hidden behind Classic mode challenges. Starting with just these guys may seem like
a pretty safe roster but think back to how weird the idea of Mario punching Pikachu is.
And then the unlockable characters introduce what Andre elegantly referred to as the WTF
characters. Maybe not Luigi and maybe not Jigglypuff as he was once groomed to be the
face of the franchise but both Ness and Captain Falcon were by no means Nintendo icons. The
Blue Falcon was probably more iconic than Captain Falcon and when someone said Ness
the common response would be "No, it's pronounced N E S"
Smash Bros may be the spark that caused Earthbound to have such a large cult following and the
fact he's been there ever since the original game is something pretty special. Especially
seeming as Mother 2 was the last game to ever be localised worldwide – in the America's
at least. Europe never got it until Wii U! Though not special enough to get a stage apparently!
While the controls are the same for every character, that doesn't stop them all from
feeling unique. Even Luigi who's the closest thing to a clone character has his floaty
jump from Super Mario Brothers 2. I'm a bit of a Link fanboy myself though his recovery
is a bit eh in Smash 64 and a lot of his moves have a slow windup. Yoshi's recovery doesn't
even really give him any extra height like in later games. Fox's blaster even has a
stagger effect which was given to Falco instead in later games. Characters like Fox, Captain
Falcon and Pikachu are perhaps the best overall but I find the roster is way more balanced
than Melee. More importantly everyone's a ton of fun to play as, though the AI does
have a little trouble with Ness's recovery on Silph Co.
Playing later Smash games though you can defiantly tell who originated in Smash 64. Mario's
moveset makes sense here but fast forward to Smash for Wii U and when was the last time
Mario threw a punch? Where do most of DK's moves come from? I mean DK would go on to
use his wind up punch to punch a freaking moon but again that was something that came
from Smash rather than Smash taking it from the source material. There were certain leniencies
the team took with the original game that you wouldn't really see in modern Smash
games and who knows, maybe they'll even refresh the original roster in the Switch
game. One thing I admire about this entry more than
any other is the context behind all the fighting. If you read into the intro of the game and
the outros of classic mode, all these characters are just toys being played with by a hand.
Probably the hand of a child. This even adds context to Master Hand, it's just a kid
playing with his Nintendo toys and I think that goes so well with the premise of Smash.
In my opinion making them into trophies was a downgrade from this idea and Master Hand
feels like he's stuck around out of tradition rather than really being a metaphor for anything.
Speaking a bit of classic mode though, it's really the only thing you can do in Smash
64 other than Verses fighting. Sure you can train and practise break the targets but there's
really no other side mode and unlike later games, Classic is completely fixed to the
same structure every time. You'll always start off fighting Link on Hyrule Castle,
you'll always battle against a swarm of Kirby's and you'll always throw around
an unresponsive Metal Mario. You'll recognise Target Smash from later
games but board the platforms is something similar that's yet to return. Every character
has a set of obstacles and you simply need to land on each distinct platform as you make
your way through them. Perhaps the premise is too similar to Target Smash as you really
could just replace these platforms with targets but I like how it emphasises the platforming
portion of this platform fighter. Many of these designs are pretty good too even if
the visual variety gets stale fast. Interestingly there are stages in here that
aren't actually playable in the Verses mode. Notably Master Hands stage which is essentially
Final Destination and the Fighting Polygon stage which is essentially Battlefield. Even
Metal Mario has a unique stage. a bit of a waste to not be able to fight on three perfectly
good stages. The Nintendo 64 was something of a multiplayer
haven and right there with the Facility, Block Fort and a circle of eevees trying to get
fruit were the likes of Sector Z, Dreamland and my favourite, the Mushroom Kingdom.
The series may have grown a new pair of legs with Melee but the original has such a unique
feeling that makes it worth playing even in 2018. If you just want to see where it all
began or try your hand at an entirely different Smash, it's never too late to pick up the
three handed controller. Just make sure the people you're playing with know how to hold
it. Not only do I think Smash 64 still holds up
but I think it's one of the most enjoyable games on the platform. So go grab some friends
and four controllers and Smash like it's 1999!
Training mode even replaces all stage backgrounds with a giant Smash logo. Hmm, this looks vaguely
familiar? Eh, probably nothing…or is it? Thanks for watching and be sure to subscribe
to GameXplain for more episodes from Under the Superscope and other things gaming too.
Catch you next time, bye!
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