21 years ago to the day, the Nintendo mascot battle royale extravaganza that is Super Smash Bros was released in Japan on the Nintendo 64.
Originally developed by a team of just two people, Super Smash Bros was conceived as a Dragon Fighters game, before the creators decided to test the game using some Nintendo character models they had at hand. The idea to use Nintendo mascots as the fighters was seen as a streak of genius to really give the game a worthy USP, and so without Nintendo's knowledge nor blessing, the game was designed to a point that a well-balanced and functioning demo could be shown to the bigwigs of the company, who upon seeing the potential, greenlit the game.
Super Smash was originally supposed to be a SNES game, running 3D graphics much the same way as Starfox was able to, however whilst the hardware was able to produce triangular star fighters with no issue, displaying models as unique as Mario or Donkey Kong proved too great a challenge for it, so the shift was made to Nintendo's next console, the 64. Incidentally, Mario and Donkey Kong were the first two characters created within the game, and in fact the order in which the fighters appear on the title screen is the exact same order they were each created. Some of the characters that didn't make the initial roster were fan favourites such as Bowser, and also two Pokemon characters Meowth and Mewtwo. Bowser and Mewtwo would both eventually appear in Melee on the Gamecube, however to this day Meowth has never been brought back onto the series' hefty roster.
Initially the game was destined to be a Japanese exclusive, as Nintendo were not too sure how to market the game nor did they know if it would even be a popular concept, yet despite their worries and a significantly lacking marketing campaign, the game hit shelves on the 21st January 1999, to praise from gamers and critics alike. The popularity of the game proved so great in fact that Nintendo were quick to prep the game for international release, now with a much stronger ad campaign.
There have so far been five instalments of the Super Smash franchise, with a game being included in every single one of Nintendo's home consoles' libraries since the Nintendo 64. During this time the game has picked up several other non-Nintendo characters, including Namco's Pacman, Konami's Solid Snake, and even ex-bitter rival Sega mascot Sonic the Hedgehog.
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