Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros. (known as ニンテンドウオールスター! 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ  in Japan), also simply known as Smash, is a video game series spanning from the years 1999 (with Super Smash Bros.) to 2018 (with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate). It features many of Nintendo's biggest IPs, such as Mario, Link, and Pikachu, fighting against each other in a fighting game style not seen until the series' first installment, Super Smash Bros.. The series received overwhelmingly positive reviews from both critics and Nintendo fans alike as they could play as their favorite video game characters alongside others... and then mercilessly beat the ever-loving Christ out of them.

What possibly makes Super Smash Bros. stand out from many other fighting games can be three things: its featuring of many different elements from varying franchises, having more to it than "YO YOU SEE THAT GUY OVER THERE NOW BEAT THE SHIT OUTTA HIM", and its gameplay bringing something new and interesting to the fighting genre's table. What is it that's so new about Smash? Its inversion of how health in battle works: instead of being given a number displaying your health, there is a percentage (%) representing it, called damage. The more a fighter gets hit by foes, items, or staying off the screen for too long, the higher their damage gets. When someone has much damage, it will be easier to launch them, a term used when you hit them and send them flying. For example, if Mario has 20% (or 20 damage) and Bowser hits him, he won't be launched as far as if he had 70%. If a fighter is launched far enough, they will be sent flying off-screen, then be KO'd (or knocked out). Depending on the game's current rules, they can then return to battle on a platform floating off the ground. When they get off that platform, they will have invincibility frames for about four seconds until becoming vulnerable to enemy attacks again.

64
Super Smash Bros. first started with the Nintendo 64's title, Super Smash Bros., also called Super Smash Bros. 64 to not confuse it with the whole series. In it, the player could choose 12 fighters to play as: Mario, Luigi, Samus, Captain Falcon, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Donkey Kong, Link, Kirby, Yoshi, Fox, and Ness. As one of those fighters, they can fight on one of eleven stages: Peach's Castle, Kongo Jungle (Kongo spelled with a C back in 64), Hyrule Castle, Planet Zebes, Saffron City, Dream Land, Yoshi's Island, Sector Z, Mushroom Kingdom, Battlefield, and Final Destination. Obviously, 64 is what introduced many basic elements of Smash, such as damage, items, and the announcer and his voice. Along with every other game in the Smash franchise, 64 was loved by many people.