Super Smash Bros. (series)

The Super Smash Bros. (series) known in Japan as Dairantō Smash Brothers (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ Dairantō Sumasshu Burazāzu?, lit. "Great Melee Smash Brothers"), is a series of fighting games published by Nintendo, featuring characters from established video games. The gameplay differs from traditional fighters for focusing on knocking opponents out of the stage instead of depleting life bars.

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The original Super Smash Bros., released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64 , had a small budget and was originally a Japan-only release, but its domestic success led to a worldwide release. The series achieved even greater success with Super Smash Bros. Melee, released in 2001 for the Nintendo GameCube , becoming the best-selling game on that system. The third installment, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, was released in 2008 for the Wii. Although HAL Laboratory has been the developer of the first two titles, the third game was developed by a cooperation of different developers. A fourth title is in development for both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, expected to release in 2014. It will be the first series title on a handheld platform and features connectivity between the two versions. The series features many characters from Nintendo's most popular games, the first Mario, Fox, Link, Kirby, Samus Aran and Pikachu. The original Super Smash Bros. had 12 characters, and the number rose to 25 characters in Melee and 35 in Brawl. Some characters are able to transform into different forms that have different styles of play and sets of moves. The games also feature non-playable Nintendo characters, like Ridley and Petey Piranha. In Brawl, two third-party characters from other franchises were added, Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid and Sonic the Hedgehog from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Another third-party character, Capcom's Mega Man, will be appearing in the fourth game as well, a huge please to the fans. The series has been well received by critics, with much praise given to the multiplayer mode, although its single player modes did not attain the same praise. So far, all four games have been directed by Masahiro Sakurai.