Super Smash Bros. should be considered the premier fighting game even though it doesn’t follow any of the traditions carried by other fighting games is quite simple. Just look at the rise of battle royale-type games over the past few years. Because of its popularity, Super Smash Bros. has morphed the platformer fighting game into its own competitive genre for gamers everywhere.

Despite Super Smash Bros.’s success, its place among fighting games is controversial. Since Super Smash Bros. abandons most of the rules laid out by traditional fighting games, some gamers feel the game should be categorized as something else. Regardless of where you stand in the debate, you can’t deny Super Smash Bros. was a game-changer to the fighting genre.

Premier Fighting Game Chooses Strategy Over Combat

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Overall, the level designs in most fighting games are mostly flat planes with various backgrounds to separate themselves from each other. Although strategy in traditional fighting games still matters with various characters’ combat styles, you only had to worry about your opponent and not the arena or stage themselves standing against you.

Then came Super Smash Bros. taking fighting games to a higher level, literally, with its various designed platform stages to add more difficulty to the fights. For instance, various stages would have different obstacles players would have to overcome through strategy and mastering the mobility of their character’s moveset. 

Simplifying Combat Styles of Traditional Fighting Games

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Another key feature that made Super Smash Bros. the premier fighting game is its simplistic gameplay. In typical fighting games, characters are given their own distinct combat style including combos and special moves. Therefore, each character would have various lists of button commands that players would have to learn in order to master each character’s combat style.

In Super Smash Bros., each character shared the same button commands. For instance, players use the “A” button for standard attacks. Yet, despite sharing button commands, each character had distinct movesets, thus allowing beginners to quickly become experts while providing intricate combat styles and mechanics for competitive gamers to feel challenged.

Premier Fighting Game’s All-Star Cast

If you’re a fan of Super Smash Bros., what hooked you in? For many players, the crossover aspect attracted them to play the game. Back in 1999, the first Super Smash Bros. game was released and was groundbreaking for fighting games as the original game consisted of iconic characters from other popular Nintendo games that hadn’t been together before.

In 2024, guest fighters are expected in Super Smash Bros. fighting games. For Example, Sonic the Hedgehog would become a playable character regardless of his popularity rising outside of Nintendo. Although most fighting games create and build their own iconic fighters, Super Smash Bros. relied on characters that became iconic in their own games.

Big Risks Lead to Bigger Rewards

As you can see, the risks Super Smash Bros. took paid off despite offering a completely different experience than other traditional fighting games. In recent years, Super Smash Bros. has proven that it’s the premier fighting game with the growth of the platformer fighting genre.

Specifically, the 1999 Super Smash Bros. game deserves its flowers for completely changing the fighting game concept by not following any traditional rules set by other popular fighting games. Likewise, the Nintendo 64 game would become the best-selling game on the platform, which in turn, would begin its own franchise with future games that have garnered critical acclaim as well. 

A Fighting Game for Everyone

Unfortunately, traditional fighting games can be intimidating to play because of their difficulty and competitive gameplay. What’s more, it could take weeks or months to play the game before you become comfortable with the combat styles and game mechanics. Even worse, you may only be able to master one character’s combat style within that time frame. 

Thankfully, Super Smash Bros. is here to lighten the load off your shoulders. Unlike other fighting games, Super Smash Bros. adjusts its difficulty to a player’s gaming style, so you can master the game in no time. As a result of its easy gameplay, beginners and experts of the game can have fun competitive battles without any of the toxicity that follows other fighting games.

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