Remember all of those hours you spent battling your friends in all-out videogame warfare with Super Smash Bros? You sat for what seemed like an eternity throwing mushrooms and doing power moves with your favorite Nintendo characters like Mario and Bowser. Now you can play the PC version as well!
Much like the original game, your character is placed in an arena with several other characters, all vying to win in a brutal battle of fists and special powers. The keyboard controls are relatively simple: the arrow keys (and WASD keys for a second player) are for movement with the O and P keys being used to jump or attack. Certain buttons can be combined to use a special, more powerful attack.
There are 28 characters in total, but half or more of them must be unlocked. The main characters include all the classics like Mario, Sonic and Zelda. However, fans of the original Super Smash Bros will be very pleased to find out that Mr. Game & Watch is available as an unlockable character. His special weapon is launching food at other characters, most notably sausages. It’s hilarious, we assure you. Other special characters include Inuyasha from the popular manga/anime of the same name, Cloud from Final Fantasy, and Jigglypuff (do we really need to tell you where he’s from?).
There are two main modes of gameplay: Time Mode and Stock Mode. Time Mode is a countdown to see who can get the most wins in that time frame, whereas Stock Mode gives you a set amount of lives and ends when one player loses all of them. There are also Classic and Adventure modes where Time Mode and Stock Mode are combined, with both players having a time limit and set amount of lives. The maps found in the game are mostly from the original Smash Bros, but there are a few new ones added that are unique to Super Smash Flash.
Playing Super Smash Flash can really be a sentimental experience for some players. The sense of nostalgia that washes over you as you pound Zelda’s face into the arena floor just can’t be rivaled. Lag hasn’t been much of an issue, but it gets somewhat frustrating to have only one attack button, unlike the original Smash Bros. Still, the creators have done an excellent job of modifying the gameplay for the PC. We highly recommend this to anyone who doesn’t want to go to the trouble of digging out their Super Nintendo and just wants a good, clean bit of fun on their computer.