This article originally ran December 4, 2009.

The One-Uppers have poured a lot of time into the Smash Bros. series over the years. Since the original game came out on the N64, it revolutionized the platforming fighting game (which the Ninja Turtles and “Tales of” series borrowed heavily in recent releases). Checkpoint takes a look back at the frenzied fighter with familiar mascots, and the One-Uppers decide which game was best — and then talk about it least.

Super Smash Bros.

Lee: “Happy Together” by The Turtles. That is what you would have heard several years ago for the Super Smash Bros. commercial. You open up with a field, in which Mario, Yoshi, Donkey Kong and Pikachu are skipping along merrily. Then, out of nowhere, they all start beating on each other. I knew I had to have that game.

Chris: That commercial had me sold from the start. It doesn’t even matter that Pikachu does absolutely nothing in it. Conceptually, I was already interested.

Shaun: That was a good commercial. Ah, the original Smash Bros. Back when Pikachu wasn’t ruined.

Lee: It seemed like a large undertaking. Getting together some of Nintendo’s most noteworthy — and some less noteworthy — characters in a platforming/fighting game. It was almost hard to believe.

Shaun: Well, the idea was especially intriguing to me, mainly because I spent a lot of time making up my own Nintendo battle royals. Really, I think Nintendo stole the idea from me first. Spy satellites or something. I was even pioneering third-party support way before Nintendo was. I guess you could say I am sort of a revolutionary

Chris: Nintendo hit on the concept from the start. This was just eight characters, pretty low for a fighting game that wasn’t from the early ’90s. Yes, four more were unlockable, but there were some strange choices there (Captain Falcon? Jigglypuff?). Point being, as usual, Nintendo focused on making the gameplay solid first, and bringing in the other elements later.

Shaun: Of course, Nintendo didn’t settle for making a typical fighting game. Instead, it was a sidescroller-type fighter, with the only way to win being ringouts. Pretty innovative, although it was difficult to wrap my brain around at first.

Chris: Having grown up with Street Fighter and the like, it was strange starting at 0 and building up to an uncertain end point. The more damage you did, the further they flew, but there wasn’t a life bar with a clear-cut endpoint. I actually like that adaptation, though.

Shaun: I loved it. Sending Yoshi hurtling to his death at the top of the screen provided me endless amusement.

Lee: The characters were good, the levels were unique, and the music really sealed the deal. What’s better than beating on Fox? Doing it to some sweet tunes.

Shaun: Plus, it allowed them to craft unique items based on this design element. Baseball bats were great for one hit kills, while bumpers could wreak havoc if your percentage was high enough.

Chris: I think that stuff really helped the title. Not only the unique items, but each stage’s little interaction, like the Pokemon in Saffron City or that damn tornado on top of Hyrule Castle. That really added to the benefits of this strange platformer/fighter hybrid.

Lee: And I liked the little touches. Link could grapple into the side of the stage with his hookshot. Pikachu’s thunder couldn’t go through platforms. They put some thought into the game.

Chris: Those nuances also tied in to the idea of balance. Sure, some characters were better than others (a problem that has plagued most fighting games since the dawn of time). For example, Kirby’s aerial Down-A was flat-out broken. Anyway, the overall balance was very good, and it didn’t hurt that the bulk of these character moves were things we’d seen from their original games.

Shaun: This touches also contributed to each character feeling very different from one another. Donkey Kong has a vastly different style than Kirby, as he should.

Lee: And if you sucked at actual fighting, they gave you items for your preferred combat needs.

Chris: I was a fan of the good old-fashioned star. Same familiar epic music, same invincibility, brand new setting.

Shaun: Personally, I loved the light sab…I mean, laser sword. Pikachu looked awesome with it, and once you got good with it, enemies didn’t know if you were going to slash them with it or throw it at them.

Lee: The proximity mine was one of my favorites, back from Goldeneye. Sometimes you remembered where it was, sometimes you didn’t. And there was always the glorious moment when you threw someone into them.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Shaun: The original Smash Bros. was good, but it was only the foundation for what was to come.

Lee: It was easy with the template they had. Add more characters, moves, levels, items, etc.

Chris: And with Nintendo’s virtually limitless resources to pull from, that was an even easier task.

Shaun: Well, what impressed me most was that they didn’t settle for the simple cash in now that they had another solid franchise, like they do with so many other IP’s. I loved the addition of the adventure mode. I must have played through that thing almost a hundred times. Also, being the achievement whore I am, I loved earning the different trophies. They discussed Nintendo’s history, and some were pretty elusive. I spend countless hours going for trophies like Giga Bowser.

Lee: The trophies were nice, but getting them was a pain. Again, I focused more on the multiplayer. That was how the game was meant to be played. And it didn’t matter how many times you played it, multiplayer kept being fun.

Shaun: The single player was pretty fun, but the title really excelled at multiplayer.

Chris: Personally, I usually turned multiplayer into a co-op affair. Sure, all-out brawls were fun, but I preferred teaming up and taking on level 9 computer opponents. It showed the AI that we humans are still superior. For now.

Shaun: What was nice about multiplayer was that it was really well balanced; simple enough to learn quickly, but complex enough for competitive gameplay. I spent a lot of time with co-op too. Playing those level 9′s taught me the importance of rolling.

Chris: Yeah, learning the bubble shield, air dodging and other tactics were a huge part in those advanced tactics you talked about. That depth is perhaps this series’ greatest strength — depth of characters, fighting system, accessibility, etc.

Shaun: That way people like “Meghan” (you know who you are) can still pick it up and have a fun time. As Jigglypuff or whatever.

Chris: The bottom line is Melee honed what was great about the first into a tight, cohesive package. The fighting was fast and fluid, the character/stage selection was top-notch, and everything just felt…polished.

Lee: While certainly not the most robust, Melee is my favorite installment in the franchise.

Chris: It might be mine as well. I appreciate all the fan service in Brawl, but I think the gameplay might have been strongest in Melee.

Shaun: Not to mention the single player campaign in Brawl was miserable.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Lee: Brawl further improved the gameplay by adding Smash Balls. They were superior attacks, depending on who you played. If you were Mario, too bad. If you were on Meta Knight’s or Olimar’s team, get ready for the pain to set in.

Chris: If you were Marth, prepare to fly off the screen. If you were Fox, Falco and Wolf, prepare for stock footage. I liked the Final Smashes overall, but they weren’t balanced properly and they took away from the pacing of the gameplay. Everyone’s attention turned when those showed up. And if you suck at the game, guess what? Free Smash Balls when you respawn!

Shaun: Smash Balls were either the best or the worst addition to the series, depending on how you look at them. For me, they were fun at times, but made the game way too unbalanced and unfair. First of all, slow characters had a hell of a time getting them. And how can you give Sonic, the game’s fastest character, such a devastating Final Smash? It just made the game too luck-based, although it was fun at times. I don’ t like it when my games feel sorry for people I am murdering. I like my games apathetic.

Lee: I agree about the loser Smash Balls. Those were awful, especially when I got them. But I don’t think Sonic was the best because of his speed. Sometimes, you would just go right past that ball.

Shaun: Ha, yes! Actually, you’re right, I spend most of the time running off the screen and dying as Sonic.

Chris: I almost feel like there’s too many characters in Brawl — or at the very least, the wrong ones. I understand why Lucario is there instead of Mewtwo, to pander to Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. I like Wolf, but he shouldn’t be there. America never even got the sequel to Earthbound that Lucas was in. It feels like a tighter or more expansive roster (i.e. different franchises) would have helped this game out.

Shaun: As much as I liked the inclusion of Snake, why did he have to be so useless? I know that garbage about him being good in the hands of an expert, but his moveset in ridiculous. If I had known we were getting a caricature of Snake and not really Snake, I would have been less excited.

Lee: And it really wasn’t necessary to continue with the copycat characters. Falco and Fox, Captain Falcon and Ganondorf. They should either get rid of one or make them both unique. It worked out with Marth and Ike.

Shaun: Pretty much the only new character I was happy with was Sonic. Sonic and Ike.

Chris: I played a lot of Ike at first, but ended up with mostly Ganondorf and Zelda. Not as much Pikachu as the first two games.

Lee: I like Olimar. He fought with a team, and when he died, the team went with him.

Shaun: Brawl was a solid game, but it just didn’t hold my attention as much as the previous entries did.

Lee: But Shaun, they had trophies, stickers, and achievements to collect. Where do you lose interest?

Shaun: For one, the stickers were lame. For two, getting a lot of the trophies would have meant playing through the campaign, which I could not stand.

Chris: It was almost like too much at once. Too many challenges, too many modes. I liked the stage creator, and I like a lot of what Brawl did, but it also had some unforgivable changes. Like tripping.

Lee: I think we can all agree on the music being the best part of that game. You got a wider variety, and you could choose the probability of getting one of a stage’s multiple songs.

Shaun: The music was epic, and I actually dug most of the stage designs.

Chris: Yeah, I loved that soundtrack. It’s essentially a best-of for Nintendo’s nearly 30 years of existence. Steali–er, getting that before the game came out helped tide me over for Brawl’s multiple delays.

Shaun: Ha, it almost looks like you meant to say stealing. Weird.

Chris: There was one other thing about Brawl that deserves some credit — the developers putting up a website and introducing one new thing about the game each weekday. That was fun, seeing what new thing would be revealed.

Shaun: I loved that site. I checked it about every day for updates. As dumb as it sounds, part of me was actually disappointed when the game was actually released because it meant those daily updates would stop.

The Fuuuuuuuuuture

Lee: I want more. For the next entry, I want more levels, items, music and people. But most of all, I want more variety. There was a lot of business as usual in Brawl. I got the same level of enjoyment as Melee, but I was expecting something greater. Clones won’t do.

Shaun: As far as game modes, I could go for more, but I would be okay with a filtering of the roster. Take out stupid ones, and add some new characters, preferably from more third parties, that actually contribute something to the game. No Smash balls. No Wii motion controls. And for the love of God, give me a story-less adventure mode, like Melee. I don’t need another plot with ‘tude.

Lee: Would you accept a new system for Smash Balls? Every 100 percent damage you take, you get the same type of power.

Chris: I don’t know. That still seems like it punishes players who are ahead. I guess it’s better than a complete luck factor, but still.

Shaun: That would work better, but it would probably need to be even higher than 100 to really balance it out, depending on how powerful of a boost it is. Every 300 percent, you can summon a spirit bomb, or call for an air raid. Or, like, a satellite from space that kills everything and ends the match immediately. Or a nuke or something. Or a Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Chris: For me, I don’t necessarily want “more” as much as I want “better.” Rebalance the characters. Get rid of silly stages like 75m that are cute, but worthless. Expand the umbrella of franchises and cut out the clones. It’s not that Brawl was a bad game — far from it — but it didn’t continue the upward progression that we had from the original to Melee.

Lee: Agree.

Shaun: …or like Lavos comes up from the ground and destroys everything. I mean, agreed. As much as I hate to say it, less fan service and more fine-tuning is what we need. Less Solid Snake, more Raiden, am I right?