Super Smash Bros. is without a doubt one of the most influential fighting game series of all time. Although it isn’t a traditional fighting game like Street Fighter or Tekken, Super Smash Bros. has been a staple of the fighting game community since the early years of the franchise.
It broke the mold of what a fighting game could be and left an entire subgenre of fighting games in its wake. Every new game in the series, from Super Smash Bros. Melee to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has expanded upon the formula first laid out by the original Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo 64 in new ways, adding new depth and influencing the fighting game genre as a whole.
10 Casual Accessibility
Fighting games have always been relatively difficult to get into, scaring off potential new players. Super Smash Bros. takes the opposite approach, instead opting to make the game as accessible as possible. Many consider Super Smash Bros. to be solely a party game and not at all a fighting game because of this casualization, but it’s the reason why Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is now the best-selling fighting game of all time.
Following in the footsteps of Smash, other recent fighting games have greatly expanded their tutorials and onboarding, making fighting games as a whole much easier for new players to get into.
9 It Pioneered A Genre
Super Smash Bros. isn’t a traditional fighter with health bars. Instead, players are supposed to knock each other off the stage and prevent their opponents from recovering.
Many other games, like Rivals of Aether, Brawlhalla, and Slap City have adopted this formula, and this has given way to an entirely new subgenre of fighting games: the platform fighter. Blending platforming and fighting, platform fighters would not exist without Super Smash Bros. It did it first, and it continues to do it the best.
8 Mods
Because every Super Smash Bros. game varies in terms of mechanics and speed, some Smash fans have taken to modding to make certain games in the franchise feel like others. Of course, there are cosmetic skins and other character mods like in other fighting games, but Smash players have taken modding to the next level.
Project M is a total conversion of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii that implements several new mechanics and speeds the game up dramatically in order to make it feel more like its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee. Project M has gotten so big to the point where it is regularly run as a side event at tournaments, and it’s incredibly beloved by the Smash community. Mods and fan projects are a thing for other fighting game franchises, but Smash players have created some of the most prominent custom content for any fighting game.
7 Crossovers
Crossovers happened in fighting games before Smash, but there’s no doubt that the series dramatically increased the popularity and demand for crossover characters in other fighting games. Super Smash Bros. character reveals prompt legendary reactions from fans just about every time, and that’s begun to seep into other fight game communities.
Since Smash has risen in popularity, crossovers have continued to get crazier and crazier, and now 2B from Nier Automata is in SoulCalibur VI, Negan from The Walking Dead is in Tekken 7, and Joker is in Mortal Kombat 11.
6 Grassroots Esports
Not every fighting game community is fortunate enough to be backed by the publisher of their respective game, and Super Smash Bros. is no different. With no official backing from Nintendo, the Super Smash Bros. Melee community has persevered for almost two decades, becoming one of the most massive titles in esports solely due to the dedication of its fans.
Melee isn’t the only fighting game in this situation, but it’s definitely one of the most prominent, and it serves as a beacon of inspiration to all of the other burgeoning grassroots fighting game communities out there.
5 EVO Mainstay
Although EVO is an annual celebration of all fighting games, Super Smash Bros. has been one of the main reasons many viewers tune into the tournament every year. Individual Smash titles usually come in second or third in terms of registration, typically behind Street Fighter, but Smash as a series has the most entrants yearly in recent years if you combine Melee and Smash for Wii U.
Starting in 2019, Smash Ultimate became the only Smash title to get a spot in the EVO lineup, and in its debut year, it smashed Street Fighter V’s entrance numbers, coming in at almost double the participants. Also, no matter the game, Super Smash Bros. is almost always the most-watched event at the tournament, and it continues to be one of the highlights that causes EVO’s audience to watch every year.
4 A Focus on History
Super Smash Bros. is a monument to Nintendo’s history and the history of gaming as a whole. Things that fans are nostalgic for return regularly, and they remain unchanged when they do. The Dreamland stage returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate but retains its Nintendo 64 graphical style, for example.
Other fighting game franchises have begun to incorporate their histories into their games as well, with classic costumes and stages being released for iconic characters. Mortal Kombat 11 is a fantastic example, with its entire story mode being centered around the clash between past and present. Fighting game players often stick with their respective franchises for years, so these callbacks are greatly appreciated by fans.
3 Casual Viewing
One of the major problems that a lot of esports face is the overwhelming amount of knowledge required to watch certain games and fully understand what is going on. Games like Overwatch and League of Legends require viewers to have a basic understanding of the roster and each character’s abilities and mechanics in order to follow a match.
Super Smash Bros. has propelled fighting game viewership to record highs because of how easy it is to follow. Fighting games in general are some of the most-watched games on Twitch because of their simple premise, but Smash is even more accessible to the casual viewer. Easily identifiable characters and a clear goal make Smash a very appealing game for fighting game viewers, and the lack of complicated combos allows even the least skilled players to be able to understand and enjoy a match.
2 The Art of the Character Reveal
Some of the most legendary video game announcements of all time have been Super Smash Bros. character reveals, and other fighting games have started to draw inspiration from this. Revealing a fighter is an art form, and Smash has perfected the process.
Now, fighter reveals for other games have started to follow the same approach in order to raise as much hype as possible, and fans are always on the edge of their seats at any possible event where someone could possibly be revealed. People wouldn’t have thought Solid Snake was coming to Tekken 7 after a voice clip played at EVO 2019 if they weren’t primed to think anything is possible due to Smash.
1 Single Player Modes
Although fighting games are inherently multiplayer ordeals, a good single-player mode goes a long way. Melee’s Adventure mode, Brawl’s legendary Subspace Emissary, and Ultimate’s World of Light are some of the best single-player modes in any fighting game, and other fighting games have started to take note.
Recently, fighting games have started to incorporate quality campaigns and single-player story modes, and Smash is a major reason as to why. Injustice 2 and Mortal Kombat 11, for example, both have excellent story modes, and they likely wouldn’t have been prioritized as much by developers if fans didn’t enjoy Smash’s single-player offerings as much as they did.
NEXT: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 5 Best Stages (& 5 Most Annoying)
