Super Smash Bros. scores 9/10 in the verdict of The Games Market editorial team.
Once Upon a Time
Super Smash Bros N64, the first gathering of Nintendo legends!
by Simon Larocca·December 21, 2025
Siamo at the end of the second millennium, Sony's PlayStation is now the undisputed market leader and only the tenacious Nintendo64 manages to keep up with it, even if the battle soon proves uneven: something more is needed to be able to compete and Nintendo entrusts one of its youngest and most enterprising game designers with finding a solution. Masahiro Sakurai, buoyed by the success of the Kirby series, has a brilliant idea and proposes a project as crazy as it is brilliant: why not hybridize a platform game and a fighting game into a single game, designed for multiplayer and capable of standing out from the various Tekken and Crash Bandicoot?
The answer to this question is provided by him the following year: in 1999, the development of Super Smash Bros. is completed. The game proves to be an unprecedented success in the Land of the Rising Sun, going far beyond Nintendo’s expectations, and you know very well what happens when the House of Wonders in Kyoto finds itself with a golden goose in its hands, right?
Mettendo a disposizione i personaggi più amati del multiverso Nintendo, Super Smash Bros puts its revolution on the table: to win, it is not necessary to reduce the opponent’s energy bar to zero, as has always been the case in classic beat’em ups, but it is enough to weaken them to the point of hurling them off the screen, effectively making them fall (often ingloriously) from the platforms of the arenas, settings taken from the worlds from which the contenders come.
Zelda, Mario, Luigi and the whole gang find themselves together in the arena ready to battle, and so do we: for the first time on a console, it’s possible to play with up to four players simultaneously! The graphics are very colorful and take advantage of the capabilities of the processor that is the heart of the machine; however, improvements in the technical-visual department would become significantly more noticeable with later versions of the game, reaching their peak in the Ultimate.
The action in the game is, of course, frenetic and deliberately hails chaos, since it is the core of the game, just as the characterization of the selectable characters deeply respects their nature: Kirby can attack by engulfing objects and enemies, Samus “Metroid” Aran is a living arsenal thanks to her ultra-powered suit, just as good old Luigi will delight players inclined toward melee attacks, with no mercy at all.
Every match is always different from the previous one; barrels, Poké Balls, turtle shells, and even giant hammers are just some of the items that will randomly rain down onto the game platforms for the use and benefit of whoever manages to grab them first, but that’s not all: the arenas change during the course of the match (for example, you might find yourself tragically sinking into lava at any moment), so don’t expect a game lacking in strategy: you’ll need to know the battlefield very well, the pros and cons of a jump, and which weapons are best suited against one character rather than another, etc.
Super Smash Bros is the shining example of how a good idea, supported by a creative and technical team willing to get involved, can go a long way. It is as if Sakurai, through his magnum opus, wanted to impart an important lesson not only to his competition, but to his own colleagues as well. Indeed, the cardinal and common element of this title is the constant presence of an off-screen precipice, a desperately bottomless abyss for all we know, where it doesn’t matter how big, powerful, or heavily armed you are: sooner or later, you too will fall.
Visto in this perspective, Super Smash Bros is a sort of video game haiku, which between one smash and another makes us reflect on the fleeting nature of existence and on how we are all just passing through, just like the Nintendo 64 which three years later will retire, deserving all the glory and aura of legend that, even today, surrounds it.
9
Pro
Exceptional for concept, gameplay, and overall playability: the essence of fun in multiplayer
Incredibly well-chosen music, the CD with the soundtrack is a must if you can manage to find it from your trusted dealers of Japanese goodies.
Stunning battle arenas, legendary characters revitalized even outside their original world
Contro
It’s hard to find a truly significant flaw in Super Smash Bros.: perhaps, and I emphasize perhaps, since it was the first title in the series, they could have added a few more playable characters, but seriously: we’re nitpicking (at Chansey’s egg)
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
Simon Larocca
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
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