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One of the Nintendo GameCube’s defining titles, Super Smash Bros. No Smash game has quite the legacy of Melee. Ultimate uses much of Smash 4 as its base - it’s an incredibly fun fighting game with a roster plucked right out of your high-school fan fiction.
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Smash 4 is a bit lacking in terms of compelling single-player content, offering a lackluster Smash Tour party mode in lieu of a true story or adventure mode. And for casual fans, the new 8-player Smash mode was an even more chaotically joyful way to beat down your friends. Smash 4’s vibrant HD graphics still look gorgeous to this day, and its tight gameplay - which finds a nice middle ground between the methodical Brawl and the frenetic Melee - inspired years’ worth of exciting competitive action.
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And the fighting is nearly every bit as fun and frantic as that of its big brother. Smash 3DS has the same massive 58-character roster (including DLC) as the Wii U version that would release shortly after, while also standing alone as its own game thanks to its exclusive loot-collecting Smash Run mode and a bevy of neat 3DS-exclusive stages. for 3DS is impressive for two reasons: it was the first game to let you Smash on the go, and it matched its prettier-looking Wii U counterpart almost pound for pound in terms of content.
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That leaves N64 Smash feeling like worthwhile historical piece for fans to revisit, but not the best representation of the chaos the brand would become known for. But the quirky party fighter hit critical mass with the faster, more madcap Melee just two years later, and the sequel’s larger selection of fighters and stages made it a dazzling early GameCube showcase. Such a big deal, in fact, that Nintendo only allowed it to happen with the caveat that these were merely toys of your favorite gaming mascots - not the actual characters themselves. on the N64 started it all, allowing Link, Mario, Zelda, Pikachu and even Ness to cross universes and battle for the first time ever, and that was certainly a big deal way back in 1999.
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