On Feb. 28, Sinclair will be hosting a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate event in the Building 8 Game Room from 11 a.m to 2 p.m. This event is for newcomers and Smash Bros. veterans alike, but space is limited.
The Super Smash Bros. series, or just Smash Bros, is a worldwide phenomenon with Smash Ultimate being the highest selling fighting game of all time. The goal of the game is to choose from a variety of famous video game characters and knock them off the screen using a wide range of abilities and moves. There are five games in the series, and it has history all the way back to the mid-90s.
Masahiro Sakurai, who also created the popular game character Kirby, was prototyping a new video game project called Dragon King: The Fighting Game. At this time, the characters in the game were nothing but faceless three-dimensional models, but then Sakurai came up with an idea. He wanted to replace the original characters with famous Nintendo icons. After the concept was pitched to Nintendo higher-ups, Super Smash Bros. was released on the Nintendo 64 in January of 1999 in Japan, eventually making its way to the rest of the world throughout the year.
After the success of the original, Sakurai wanted to make a sequel to the game for the upcoming Nintendo GameCube. This project would eventually become the iconic Super Smash Bros. Melee, released just a few weeks after the GameCube in North America. Melee was developed in a blistering 13 months, which is absolutely insane for games, even back then. This rushed production caused not only extreme exhaustion in the staff, but also a series of bugs that would launch the game into competitive gaming history. Specifically, a glitch known as wave dashing can be performed by high-level players, allowing them to move around the stage at incredible speeds. Some would argue that without these glitches, Smash Bros. and competitive fighting games in general might not be as popular as they are now.
Since Melee, Sakurai has tried to keep the glitches down to a minimum, to the dismay of some Melee Purists. The next three games, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U all tried to make the game less complex and easier for beginners. However, Smash Ultimate was able to find a balance between accessibility and competitiveness that allows the game to be fun for veterans and newcomers alike.
To register for the event, you can email studentandcommunity@sinclair.edu.
Alex Cutler
Reporter