Super Smash Flash

Super Smash Flash, (acronym SSF) is a fangame developed by McLeodGaming. It has a simple control scheme and has a wide cast of characters, ranging from various Nintendo characters to third-party and even anime characters. It is a flash remake of Super Smash Bros Melee. It also has a sequel called Super Smash Flash 2.

Gameplay
Super Smash Flash ' s gameplay is very similar to the official Super Smash Bros. games. Unlike most traditional 2D fighting games, each character's health is measured by a damage percentage counter, and as the character is attacked, damage is accumulated and the percentage value increases. The higher the percentage, the further the character gets launched when attacked, so the easier it is for them to be KOd by being hit off the stage.

The arrow keys are used to move the character around and crouch. The O and P keys are used to jump and attack, respectively. Pressing a movement button and the attack button together will initiate a special attack, much like Melee ' s B button attacks.

Matches can be played in either Time mode, Stock mode, or a combination of the two. In Time mode, each player receives a point when they KO an opponent, and loses a point if they argoobyplse KOd or self-destruct. At the end of the designated time limit, the player with the most points wins. In Stock mode, each player is given a chosen amount of lives, and every time they are KOd or self-destruct, they lose a life. When a player loses all their lives, they are out of the game, and the match's conclusion is reached when there is only one player left standing. In the Classic and Adventure modes, every level has both a time limit and a chosen amount of lives; if the player does not KO the opponent before time runs out, they lose a life and have to restart the level. Both modes can also be selected in the game's Melee mode, but if a winner is not decided when the time runs out, the player with the highest number of lives left is declared the winner. There is no equivalent of the Coin mode and Bonus mode from Super Smash Bros. Melee.

The game is very similar to Melee, but most game mechanics are missing, and all characters are lightweight and somewhat hard to control. In addition, most characters lack recovery methods other than jumping. However, in a select few situations button inputs can be made before a character floats to his or her death, which will make the character "teleport" back onto the stage. The camera in Super Smash Flash will only follow player 1, making multiplayer gameplay disadvantageous for player 2.

Most stages are based on actual Melee stages and have simplistic platforms and features. Super Smash Flash contains several game modes from Super Smash Bros. Melee game modes such as Classic, Adventure, All-Star, Target Test, Multi-Man Melee, and the multiplayer Melee.

Many of the characters in the Super Smash Flash games are sprite versions of those in Super Smash Bros. Melee, but there are also several characters from third-party developers. Some characters come from media other than video games, such as comics, anime and TV shows.

Cast
Below is the cast for the game. Shaded characters are unlockable.

Starter

 * Dream Land


 * Hyrule Temple


 * Peach's Castle


 * Pokemon Stadium


 * Mushroom Kingdom II


 * Emerald Hill Zone

Unlockable

 * Battlefield
 * Final Destination

Modes

 * 1P Mode
 * Regular Match
 * Classic
 * Adventure
 * All-Star


 * Training
 * Stadium
 * Target Test
 * Multi-Man Melee


 * Vs. Mode
 * Options
 * Name Entry
 * Erase Data
 * About


 * Data
 * Archives
 * How to Play


 * Melee Records
 * Vs. Records
 * Misc. Records


 * Special

Reception
Super Smash Flash was met with mixed reviews from the day it was launched. Various reviewers on multiple websites, including Newgrounds (which gave this game a 4.18 / 5.00) and McLeodGaming itself, declared that it was one of the best Smash fan games ever created because unlike other fan games, it was complete with a full character roster and single-player modes. Many others, however, were more critical of the game, pointing out its horrendous physics flaws, lack of item regulation, lack of VS. mode customization, and game-breaking glitches, such as the infamous Skip glitch.

The character roster was met with mixed reception, although it was arguably the main reason why Smash Flash received recognition. This was because it included lots of characters that many fans of different franchises wanted in the real Smash Bros. games, such as Sonic and Mega Man X, and many were excited that they could finally pit these characters against their favorite Nintendo characters. Many others criticized the selection, claiming the character additions were excessive and out of place. They stated that there were more Sonic characters than Mario characters (including a "Super Sonic" character and even custom Sonic characters known as Blade and Blue who are nothing more than recolors of Sonic but with swords,) which is ridiculous in a work that should be based off of the Nintendo-created Melee. A lot of people were also fed up with the insane number of other third- and fourth- party characters, including Crono, Cloud, Lloyd, InuYasha, Naruto, and most notoriously Mr. Incredible, who all have little to no backing of being in a Smash game, have seldom or never showed up on Nintendo console games, and have extremely inaccurate representations in Smash Flash (for example, Naruto cannot use anything but kicks and headbutts, while in his original series he could use ninja-based attacks.) All of these pieces of criticism accumulate into the idea that the creators randomly chose characters with no regard to whether they would fit into Smash Bros.

The controls and physics also garnered criticism. Super Smash Flash is notable for having an extremely watered-down control scheme, using only one button and four directional keys to play. All attacks, including some jumps, deal insane amounts of knockback even at low percentages, sending characters either horizontally or on a semi-spike trajectory that is impossible to recover from. This is exacerbated by the fact that most characters only have one midair jump for their recovery and lack an up special move to gain more distance, causing matches to end crazily, unfairly, and too quickly. Characters with projectiles and five midair jumps also dominated to the point of complete centralization. Overall, while the game was received well by fans for introducing desired characters into a Smash Bros.-like environment, it was panned by critics for lacking the depth that defined the series as a whole.

Trivia

 * A big rumor stated that Wario was planned to be playable in this game, but probably wasn't in the game due to the memory capacity not being sufficient to add him; so he had to wait till the sequel to be a playable character. It is most likely false due to the fact Wario is not playable in Melee. Ironically, Wario has a semi-reference: the Floating Islands stage in the Adventure Mode.
 * On the Newgrounds page, Cleod9 mentioned he didn't add all the characters from Super Smash Bros. Melee for a reason, most likely due to programing or just the fact the producers had their own roster and didn't include those characters. Them being the Ice Climbers, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Pichu, Dr. Mario, Marth, Falco, Roy, Bowser, Peach, Ganondorf, and Ness.