Super Smash Bros., 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. The original Super Smash Bros., released in 1999 on 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 on the Wii on January 31, 2008, in Japan, March 9, 2008, in North America, and June 27, 2008, in Europe. Although HAL Laboratory has been the developer of the first two titles, the third game was developed by a cooperation of different developers.
The game features many characters from Nintendo's most popular games, like 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 were added, Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog.
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. All three titles were widely acclaimed by critics and fans alike. So far, all three games have been directed by Masahiro Sakurai.
