NAME: Super Smash Brothers
SYSTEM: Nintendo 64
MAKER: Nintendo/HAL
PRODUCER: Hiroaki Suga, Satoru Iwata, Kenji Miki, Shigeru Miyamoto
GENRE: Fighter

GRAPHICS: 7. Cool effects but low-poly chars
MUSIC: 8. Remixes of all your favorites and some new, usually lame, tracks
FUN: 10. The best party game since Mario Kart, and still darn cool 1 player
REPLAY: 9. Plenty of secrets, and one of the few modern games that urge high scores
DIFFICULTY: 7. Not overwhelming for the most part
ENDING: 5. Slightly cool rendered ending screen, and a unique credit system
STORYLINE: n/a
MULTIPLAYER: 10+. The best multiplayer game ever, imho
ORIGINALITY: 7. Tons of cues from old games, but an innovative damage system
REALISM: 7. A bit too angular and exaggerated, and too many single-poly sprites
CONTROL: 10. Very, very easy to get into controls
MATURITY: 7. Some vicious hits, but of course there's Yoshi, Kirby, and Jiggles

A point to make before I start: I have friends. Only problem is that most are only known to 
me over the internet, and the other two or three live like 20 miles away. Anyhow. Smash 
Bros. is a worthy game. The graphics are surprisingly low-polygon, but that's okay since it 
allows for silky-smooth multiplayer games. The only slowdown occurs in a four-player game 
in a complicated arena like the hidden one, with all the players getting hit, a Bob-omb 
walking around, and six Pokéballs opening. Wow. The music's good (especially Pikachu's and 
DK's) and the characters are diverse. Some are sickeningly cute (i/e Jigglypuff) and some 
are downright cool (i/e Falcon), while some are severely underappreciated (i/e Ness and 
Kirby). The secrets are well hidden, with the worthwhile characters (Ness, Luigi, Falcon) 
not to be gotten the first time you play through. The controls are very shallow, although 
in this game, that's a good thing. Something good for everybody.

OVERALL: ********** 100%

Reviewed on 6/8/1999