When the first smash bros hit ,you had to live it to appreciate how huge it was then.When they shown the first two commercials my friends couldn't wait to play. My brother and I had our best friend over and he brought the game and we were blown away and played for hours WITH THE ITEMS ON.Btw the sound effects were too notch and by for the best sounding falcon punch. This was smash before the toxic community came along and made it competitive. It much simpler times ,it was at it's purest form, a awesome party game.
You can play the game however you like and never even have to engage with the smash community. Complaining about how other people enjoy the game is weird.
I'd say Smash 4 Wii U. The 3DS version has everything salvageable from the Wii U version (custom moves, Master Core) with better game modes (especially Smash Run and Classic) and better stages. It's also received more appreciation with the 3DS homebrew revival in full speed. Smash 4 Wii U has nothing redeemable about it that you wouldn't also find in Ultimate. Unless you like the broken Bayonetta, or Ridley as a boss. ...Or Smash Tour, if you somehow like that.
The orginal SSB64 intro announcer is literally the best and it’s non debatable. Melee was really good but after that they either don’t have him say it or it’s boring (Brawl). He made me feel like he was genuinely excited to introduce the game and I should be genuinely excited to play! But it helps I was born in the waaaay early days of 1993 😂
I actually agree with this. The Melee and Brawl announcers don't really match the 64 announcer energy. (Though I still like every announcer to an extent.)
Ahh my fave smash that was just left in the ground for the other sequels to take rise. It's understandable to how it's the way it is. But no matter the flaws, the roughness or even the smoothness in contrast to others it will remain my favorite and best smash game for me.
Yeah, nostalgia just kinda works like that, so I get it. Gives a game a special feeling when you grew up with it. (Though funnily enough, despite Melee being my first, my favorite is actually Brawl.) Hope you enjoy the video!
@@DuoStuff Honestly I get Brawl to a degree, but honestly take away Subspace Emissary and that's really the only thing that sets it apart from Melee. Finishers too I guess, but they get better as time goes on. I personally think Nintendo will NEVER do better than Melee; hence all the #Savemelee tags you see online constantly; and it's more than 20 years later,😉 but Melee is probably still the best and SMASH 64 is the best in terms of imagination; something future titles take away from the player.
The movement is actually smooth and intuitive compared to later smash games. Universal landing lag on z (L) canceled moves, quick initial dashes, easy pivots. Frame data for aerial moves are typically faster than later entries too. Might not be as apparent from a casual perspective, but they really nailed it for competitive players.
I think another thing to keep in mind is the separation of the fandom over time and the biases that came with it. Melee was where the competitive community really took off. Brawl was beloved for it's story mode, extended roster & modes, and Smash 4 & Ultimate was where the series became truly mainstream (for better or worse) and by now, there was much friction between the communities. Whereas Smash 64 I always saw as that humble older brother to it's sibling games that manages to stay both out of controversy and out of public eye. Frankly, I think one can't be too hard on Smash 64, given that it was the first of it's kind, and Sakurai and team probably never expected it to blow up as it did.
it's like going back to Super Mario Kart on the SNES - it laid the groundwork for a much bigger/greater series but is pretty ancient and barebones at this point
Yeah that's a pretty apt comparison. Though to be fair to Smash 64, I actually... Y'know, enjoy playing Smash 64. Super Mario Kart is straight up unfun. lol
Ya if you want to play that game Super Mario Kart, you might want to just play Super Circuit, it has all the tracks of the original in it as unlockables and is better to control. I still play the original game occasionally but it's definitely aged, and it's hard to get super into it. Doesn't help that all the computer racers can just spam items whenever the hell they feel like it and have special items you can't get, and don't appear to have to worry about traction around turns.
@@TheJadeFist i used to have it on GBA yearsssss ago but it got stolen 😩 i remember having fun with it though! nintendo needs to put some GBA games out on NSO if they aren’t going to give us a way to buy them digitally (VC)
As a competitive 64 player i expected to come into this feeling attacked about how our game is bad or something but you did make some good points about why its forgotten. Some stuff you brought up i dont think should be considered such as how bad the game looks or any of that stuff because that doesnt make the game any more of less fun. Also you mentioning that the game feels clunky i think is subjective because i feel like i cant hardly move my character in ultimate without sliding around like i got butter shoes. I dont have a problem movin around on 64 tho. But I agree that there are janky bullshit in this game just like there is in most fighting games. Also it would have been cooler to supply you with footage of cool 64 stuff so you could make the game look a little sicker rather than those damn cpu's lol. Was a good video tho. I enjoyed watching it. also since you mentioned about how annoying it is to move around and land hits in 64, checkout one of my combo videos (search Janitor smash combo, and im sure you will find one of them). It might be fun to see what kind of stuff is possible when you play a lot more.
I mean yeah, despite the slightly harsh-sounding title, I actually do enjoy Smash 64 in the end. I have problems with it, but it'd be pretty mean to just spend a whole video hating on a game that, objectively speaking, is still solid enough. Though I will say, while it doesn't effect the gameplay, bringing up the visuals does have merit, as is a part of the game that seems rather low-quality. And yeah, CPUs is the only real option I have if I'm recording my own footage, as base 64 doesn't have online.
There's one more piece of information that is pretty relevant: Melee was written completely from scratch, while all the other ones build upon Melee. So SSB 64 is the odd one out, an experiment to learn how to make a SSB game.
One thing from Smash 64 I'd like to see return someday is at the character selection screen, the characters would move around as you cycle through them, and when you pick one, they each have a different pose they do!
Bonus 1 and 2 practice could've been added to the segment of single player content. Other than that, this is a great video. I've spent so many hours of my life playing this game and I love it SO much. But the critiques of this game certainly ring true. It laid a great groundwork for a fantastic series!
it could have been if it were not for the fact that those stages are played for every character in the story mode which he accounted for in the total time of non-vs content
I appreciate what Smash Bros 64 has done. Not only has it spawned a great series of games, it's still quite polished and well made in my opinion, even if it is barebones and a bit lackluster.
For being the first entry in a series still going on today I can see where you’re coming with many points. But very bad take on gameplay. You show a clip of dk not even facing the ledge as and example of not grabbing it lmao. You complain about ness but his kit get extremely better when you add djc combos. You say you get stuck in specials by showing fox shine which you can cancel. Link boomerang okay i get that but you can tech case with rang to flow better. I think you could have explored gameplay a bit more. Remix has definitely brought more life into the game as well.
I'm going to address this because I feel like the comment itself either lacks perspective on how the video was made (a fault of mine, but not the point being made), or is using reasoning that outright doesn't apply to how I'm discussing the actual series as a whole. DK clip - honestly I was just tired and grabbed the first clip I saw that was vaguely close. I wasn't in the mood to actually look through my 5 hours of gameplay for one specific clip at that point. Point still stands that the ledge-grabbing is awkward. I've never had problems with it in any other game *besides* 64, which points to something about 64 being done different. Ness combos - ah yes, combos that you wouldn't know unless you got competitively pro with 64, a thing that most people who play it probably don't do. This isn't a retrospective from a "pro Smash player." It's a retrospective from someone who played these games casually with friends and goofed around. Hence the items always being used. Basically, how 98% of people experience Smash games. This is how the retrospective is being framed, and thus critique of it from a "competitive mindset" doesn't really apply. Most regular people who play 64 will likely feel the same: "wow, Ness feels kinda awkward here compared to later games." Arguably you could say something along the lines of "well then this isn't a comprehensive discussion," and yeah, it isn't. That's not the point of the series, nor do I have the expertise or know-how to discuss it that way. It's like if I did a retrospective of a game from a speedrunning perspective without ever speedrunning said game. I can study it, but it really wouldn't be a perspective coming from an expert. So I'm doing this retrospective as a casual Smash fan who played the games like most others did, and spending more time on character inclusions and singleplayer-content, which is a lot more fun to me. Specials - Okay, the Fox one I'll give you, but literally half the specials feels slow and clunky. You can literally do them in half the time from Melee forward. Like Ness's UP has so-much-start-up, Link's Boomerang is awkward, Mario's fireball even is way clunkier than later games. And again, "tech" isn't a commonly-used thing in casual play. It's like if I said "well wavedashing makes movement in Melee flow like butter," which it does, but only if you understand the mechanics at a pro level, which I'm not interested in doing. There are probably plenty of people who could do an analysis like that, but that's not my goal with this series. I want to talk about the games as most people probably experienced them, as the competitive scene is a much smaller piece of that. The only time I'm really discussing it is with Melee, and even that's more for historical accuracy, as I don't know jack about the finer points of Melee competitive play.
Man, a great video! I think part of the reason this one is as forgotten as it is, is because Smash, fundamentally, never changed. With Zelda, Metroid or Mario for example the games would experiment, make changes, which would create a divide of some kind between the old and the new. Zelda 1 was relevant because the 3D games before BOTW were starkly different. SMB 1 was relevant because Mario is so many things these days that it makes those humble beginnings all the more special, and reminds us of what the core of Mario is. Compared to that, Smash hasn't really done much except (attempt) to be a better version of itself. That's why I only ever really play the most recent game: The newest one just feels like the previous one, but better. All of this leaves Smash 64 feeling not like a first in a series, but more like an open beta. Thanks for reading my jumbled mess of an essay😅
I definitely understand that perspective honestly. I tend to return to Melee, Brawl, and 4 for the special modes they have. Ultimate has an amazing roster, but single-player-wise, it's incredibly lacking in my mind. Feels like it hedged all of its bets on a mode that I *really* didn't like. But that's a story for the Ultimate video. And I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
@@DuoStuff personally, I loved the spirit mode. It was just regular smash fun with good bossfights (I guess that includes classic mode for single player content, which is great) I guess world of light is a love it or hate it kind of deal
World of light is plain underwhelming. No cool cutscenes and the gameplay revolves around a mechanic not present in vs. mode that equates to the world's most boring collect-a-thon. Melee plays way different from ultimate but ultimate isn't BETTER than melee it's just different. 64 is 64. People will always play it as die hard fans but when they die I doubt the game will ever have a resurgence.
It’s really all a matter of what one would be willing to trade-off for improvements in other areas imo, and I personally think the new stuff in Ultimate like characters, visuals, gameplay changes, music tracks, etc. more than makes up for some of the missing stuff (Smash Run and a more fleshed out adventure mode would’ve been really nice though)
I notice people complaining way more about “competitive/Melee elitists” way more than there are actual elitists, at this point, “casual/most recent Smash game at the time elitists” are much more common and much more vocal
Excuse you mister, no one is a bit exaggerated. The things I love about the original smash is how simple and broken it is compared to the others smash games (except melee, being the most broken of them all)
I mean, there are competitive tournaments that are hosted every now and then. It's not irrelevant, it's just niche. Seriously, go look up Smash 64 tournament on youtube. The reason why it's no longer relevant is because it's so old, and because it's not Melee.
I think you struck gold with your style here. I liked the camera segments you used to have but when you solely focus on overlay editing to what your talking about I think you excel there. Your humor and delivery is top notch in this vid, I always dig your vids but this is up there with my favorites like the Subspace Emissary vid.
Wow, that's incredibly nice to hear. I generally agree with you. While I'll miss the goofy energy that came with the skits, the reality is that they were jarring to most, and didn't flow well. In my away time, I spent a bit practicing how *I* wanted to make videos, stuff that wasn't just "Watered-Down RelaxAlax," and I was extremely happy with how this turned out. So I'm really glad to hear that the video actually turned out well, and that the humor actually landed.
Tbh, smash 64 holds a lot of nostalgia for me. It was one of the games I got to watch my dad *beat* to completion. I played it a ton until I could finally get melee, I got every game late due to saving allowances or using birthday/Christmas money. So when ultimate came out, I got it at launch as a treat.
Although there's no denying that the stages in 64 are mostly pretty vague, I don't think that using Zelda's castle was a good example, since it's the one stage which is a, for the most part, pretty fateful recreation of the castle's top in Ocarina of Time. I have to say though, even if they don't do the best job at representing locations in their original games, the more vague and "playset" like stages as you described them still have a place in my heart, but I completely understand that's a personal taste and it can be frustrating for others. Great video either way! I see you found a new style you're more comfortable with and I'm glad to see that, I think it works well for your type of content. Keep up the good work! I'm very excited for the next episodes of this series
Even looking directly at the castle, this kinda still looks like its own thing honestly. Like very little about it screams "Zelda" either. And thank you. Glad the new style seems to be well-liked so far. I wasn't sure how it'd be recieved.
Also the "playset" ascetic that he mentioned sets the overall TONE for future SMASH titles. Think about it. In the intro. our favorite characters are in a child's room, taken out of a toy chest, and plopped on a desk before the desk transforms into an arena. The characters are all plush toys. In Melee we get trophies. In Brawl the trophies are described as living in a "world of toys." In Ultimate they are stickers. The point is SMASH has ALWAYS been about playing with your favorite toys and using your imagination. In the NEWER games the arenas are faithful re-creations of your favorite places. However being more realistic makes you forget the original novelty of your favorite characters being toys. The "playset" vibe is PERFECT for your imagination. Now the "realism" actually HURTS SMASH. Yes the games are better and the visuals are pretty, but the child-like wonder is gone. It's like playing D&D online vs playing it in a room full of people. Yes the overall game is better, but is the experience? SMASH 64 offers imagination and wonder in It's limitations. Future renditions rely on visuals and battle mechanics. Everything is based on Teers and strict rules and teqniques. SMASH 64 is NO pressure, just fun. That's why tripping was added in Brawl. Because Sakurai saw the community takes this stuff WAY too seriously and they forget to just relax and have fun. THAT'S what SMASH 64 SHOULD be celebrated for. Yes it is a product of it's time, but it offered straight up fun and relaxation whereas future titles are shiny and with a new coat of paint, but limit your imagination in the process.
@@phari4820 True. It's still cartoony enough. Brawl was MORE realistic. Future enstallments seem to have a bit of a mixture. Some characters are portrayed as MORE realistic like Brawl, but others are pretty cartoony like Melee.
They could have chosen a far more recognizable location that you can actually be in that is more faithful like melee did with Great Bay Termina down to the heart piece on the ledge. A lot of stages are really uninspired in 64 to what they are now. I mean I think the thought process theming of it is: "locations that are high up" aside from starfox and metroid that are already in space. If that's what they were going for, make the cloud n' candy level from yoshi's story and the top of the mast for DK. Also why make a random platform location high above peach's castle instead of just peach's castle?
While Smash 64 does feel dated in a lot of aspects You're honestly wrong about how no one really cares of Smash 64, most especially in the competitive aspects of it. If you really follow Smash Bros., particularly in the competitive side, you'd know how Smash 64 is famous for being the "combo party" as out of all the Smash Bros. games, Smash 64 has the longest hitstun out of all Smash Bros. games, combined with the fact you don't have air dodge till Melee, Smash 64's creativity in comboing is insane. Hence Super Smash Con always hosts the Smash 64 Combo Contest. So Smash 64 is still really worth to come back to just for how you can pull of most insane or ridiculous combo string you can think of. Almost all of the roster has their own form of cheese to pull off insane follow ups and combos, helps that it's easy to combo into a spike, especially when because of how limited animations were in Smash 64, gameplay wise they're ridiculously strong. Being a Ness fan myself, I envy Smash 64 Ness, while considered low tier in the international version of Smash 64, but is a top tier in the Japanese version of Smash 64 (and was seen as a top tier at the start for the international version), who used to have a FRAME 4 DOWN AIR SPIKE, and combined with double jump cancel, Ness can pull off so many ridiculous strings with that move while also a combo finisher that usually leads to a KO (even a finisher of a 0-to-death combo). And Ness is just one of those characters, never forget that Smash 64 is the only Smash Bros. game where Kirby was really strong, even the 2nd best character in the game behind Pikachu, and then when Melee came, Kirby was nerfed to the ground and he never got to regain his former glory even till Smash Ultimate, from a top tier to straight up bottom tier, and now just a mid or low tier.
Important to remember the time period for the bonus character selections. Mother 3 was in development during this time (at this time still being developed for the N64) and F-Zero X had just released a year before.
This is the best game ever made. What are you talking about the move lag. If you’re a serious player we all know you aren’t using specials as main attacks. I can’t play any other smash. I have them all but they just aren’t good. Any character can be viable in 64 unlike the others that have crazy metas you have to follow. I’ve been playing this game since it came out and still do with my same group of childhood friends. Nothing beats it and we all agree across the board. Best game ever!
Me and my siblings played Smash 64 for hours and hours and *hours* when it was new. Then Melee came out and just... did everything way better. The only reasons to revisit Smash 64 were to play on some of its better stages, and Kirby being good. But no thumbs up because you dissed Yoshi so much.
Good analysis! Yeah, Smash 64 was a product of its era and it hasn't aged the best. I played Smash 64 a ton when it was released, but I've never really had the urge to pick it up years later. If I want my Smash Bros fix now, I honestly just stick with Smash Ultimate. The funny thing is when Smash Melee was released when I was growing up, I was addicted to that game. However, my school friends at the time only wanted to play Smash 64 instead of Melee. For whatever reason, they just preferred it. I thought they were crazy as Melee just seemed to be a better game overall, but there you go. Play what you enjoy. I'm sure there is a die-hard Smash 64 community somewhere and more power to them. Even though some older games have obviously aged, a fun game is still fun. I mean, there is still a huge Smash Melee community even 20+ years later!
Yeah, there are definitely some that are dedicated to 64, as there are still people dedicated to every game in the series. But it's as you said: the game has aged a bit, and thus feels a bit redundant.
the group you're talking about is smash remix, a mod team that has added ganondorf, wario, conker, the mad piano, several others, and a BUCKETload uv stages, AND 2 player single player, not az co-op, az competition. it's a good mod.
@@ehhorve857 that's a separate crowd, there is a group dedicated to playing vanilla 64 competitively. It's a whole different beast from other games in the series in a good way.
@@anothenblue2630 Man, even some vanilla players have Remix with them just because of it building upon Vanilla rather than tweaking it like PM did... and honestly, I really respect the Smash Remix team because of it
@@Eldoofus I can't blame PM devs for that because Brawl was broken beyond repair and the only real solution was changing it, mainly by going back to what worked before (Melee). Smash Remix, on the other hand, was dealing with an actually functional game and even the worst characters in 64 don't compare to the garbage in Brawl (same goes for Smash 4, at least Rage existed to let Ganon get random kills there). The most they would need to do is bugfixing. Not even Melee is as solid as 64 though that's a product of being made in like what, 11 months?
To be fair, this was the first game in the series. Usually there's not a lot of content in the first game. Nostalgia carries it for me. It deserves some respect cause 64 had to walk so Ultimate could fly. Don't know why this game isn't on NSO yet.
I used to own Melee along with N64 and Brawl. I hardly ever played it tho. Growing up, yes I did play Melee at a cousins house. But between my friends and I we enjoyed Smash, Brawl and Smash 4 more. Great little video!
in my book this game is still very much cared about and your youtube video name is just clickbait, i play it still like every other day over netplay with freinds an theres a whole discord community for the game in the series, its the same with smash brothers melee
Your analysis of the original character roster was extremely entertaining. They really nailed everything with the Smash rosters right out of the gate. (Even Yoshi, Yoshi’s Island SNES was excellent)
one thing that i always liked about the original smash bros was that there were only 3 special moves unlike later games that had 4 special moves... if the newer games still had that limitation, "clone" characters could have had different movesets (sakurai would have had 1 less move to make for each character too lol) (ex: young link losing fire arrows but having the boomerang, and regular link losing the boomerang but having arrows)
To say that the game faded from relevancy due to its lack of content is a bit of a reach. I don't think it's fair to discredit any *multiplayer game* on the amount of single player content that it offers. Anecdotally, I played it everyday in college for almost 2 years straight, so I feel like I got my money's worth even without a strong SP campaign. Also, games like Street Fighter II have received countless rereleases and that game has even fewer SP features compared to Smash. So I wouldn't say content or game length is responsible for its decline in popularity. I also disagree about the point that the game doesn't bring anything unique to the series. They have entire combo contests at Super Smash Con designed around the combo system in S64. The combo potential is unique, specifically to this game, and it's only possible *BECAUSE* of the slow animation speeds and lack of an air-dodge. So while I definitely agree that the game feels sluggish/small today... that's only because we're all comparing it to newer titles, which have demonstrably sped up and grown in scope with every new release. This video essay comes to some strong conclusions. Everything is put together and presented well. I just think the creator's viewpoint is heavily influenced by the time that they discovered the game. A lot of the magic with Smash 64 comes from the community and people you play it with. If you don't have a consistent friend group to play this 25 year old party game with, then it's totally natural to not get much out of it. But I think the game stands on its own, in spite of the floating physics and goofy maps and small roster size. I'll also say, Smash 64 is the 2nd Smash game I ever played. So I don't think I'm speaking purely from a point of nostalgia. Because 64 wasn't my first foray into platform fighters. It's definitely one of the weaker entries, but I think Smash 64 deserves a little more credit than saying it's just the 1st title in the series. The fact that people are still modding the game and remixing it and even putting retro 64 character models into newer titles directly contradicts the notion that 64 is a game that nobody cares about. It's unfortunate that the creator never got to share those great Smash 64 experiences that I and many others did when the game was still popular. The game doesn't hold up that well compared to other entries... and it's not something that I'd personally pick up and play on my own accord. But if a friend brought out some controllers and a couple of beers, you bet your ass I'd jump at the opportunity to play it again.
I enjoy it not just for my nostalgia and memories of the time period I played this game when it was new but I enjoy the idea of a kid playing with his/her/it's toys and using imagination to do play fights (that's the idea I got from the intro) and using thier own hand as the final boss. I also enjoyed greatly smash the targets and platforms as each was tailored for each character thus you had to know what each character did and preform to complete to 100 making them in a way effective training (without advertising it's training) for each character and wish those two mini games returned in some form come the future.
@@DuoStuff I'm writing what I recall about 64 and how it stands out in my memory. For Melee I don't recall sharply that it had break the targets or platforms mini game as 64 did it first and Melee just continued it without upgrade. So for break the targets and platforms mini game 64 has that honor. Melee however upgraded other content from 64, gave new content that stands out, and upgraded the fighting and control issues making Melee one of the best. 64 is the first but also weakest of the series and probably the one I might least return too but for what it has I will think of "break the targets" and that platform mini game first associated with it over other possibilities till a upgrade that becomes the definitive version is created.
I don't know about that. Smash 4 *is* mentioned a lot, even if it's to hate on it. That's still attention, and it still means people care. But regardless of any of that, *I* care about them, and that's all that matters to me.
@@DuoStuff but you just mentioned smash 64 now, and I seen different youtubers talk about this game as well. Let's focus more on the player count.. how many today boot up Smash Wii U and/or Smash 3ds?
I after the cartoons went off, I put the volume to 20, which is pretty loud, 10 stock, 3 lvl 9 cpus, items on medium, select sector Z, and have a blast as the crowd cheered, the bombs explode super loud, and endless choas insued. Smash 64, was truly amazing, it has the best crowd and announcer by far,
I’m old, so this was my favorite. Introduced me to a lot of Nintendo characters I wouldn’t have known about. It’s not like the internet was brimming with activity in the late 90s, especially compared to now, so Smash was like an ad for these Nintendo things I wouldn’t have given a chance otherwise. Also even though Melee was old by the time I went to college, N64 Smash is the one we played at college
I’ll never forget the commercial in 8th grade for this game with the music from The Turtles (happy together) and it was fantastic. People dressed up in cheesy Nintendo character outfits. Great great game. My favorite was honestly the GameCube version and that applies to almost all the Mario series, including Mario Kart, Paper Mario, Luigi’s Mansion, etc. I grew up with Nintendo being my first system and I got an SNES the first month it came out in early 90’s, I love the N64 too and can play that forever but I just loved how GameCube did Mario games. In fact those are the primary best games that were the best on that system. I hated Link Cartoon, and Mario Sunshine.
Yeah, Melee (and most Gamecube entries of franchises) were peak for their franchise. (Though I guess unlike you I also like Wind Waker and Mario Sunshine a ton.)
You mentioned the negatives about Super Smash Bros. '99 in this video, but I have some positives regarding the original Super Smash Bros. game. Super Smash Bros. Melee came out on November 2001, giving the previous game a very short lifespan. Melee took Smash '99's formula and polished it in a lot of aspects. Not only that, the roster has been expanded. Brawl, Smash 2014 and Ultimate came out as time progressed and contained its own character rosters and quirks. With the sequels out of the way, N64 rom hackers used these Smash sequels to create an extensive rom hack that breathes new life into an old short-lived entry. Enter Smash Remix; it wouldn't have happened without Melee and it's follow-ups. Don't forget that Smash '99 and Melee are the only games (without hacking) to feature a lag-canceling gameplay mechanic. Unlike Melee, the L-Cancel mechanic (done by pressing Shield the moment before landing from an aerial attack) has instant recovery time. In Melee, L-Canceling only speeds up the attack landing animation to a point you're given combo potential.
Smash 64 is very barebones, but what keeps people coming back to it despite far superior sequels is the presentation. The presentation has such a charm to it, that I love it, and many others do. Not to mention the music and sound. You make a lot of great points, but I'd argue that Smash 4, both 3DS and Wii U, are more irrelevant than 64. Since Ultimate came out, Smash 4 has literally nothing to go back to - lack of story mode and features, forgettable presentation, and every character carrying over to Ultimate. I guess if you wanna play online for free instead of pay for NSO, then Smash 4 Wii U is your best option, but you can also play Brawl online with the Dolphin Emulator using Wiimmfi or use Slippi with Melee.
I've always felt weird going back to smash 64 due to the animation wind ups but I think watching you talking about it made me realize that that wind up speed was great for a child me to get into fighting games more. That slowdown is pretty great when you're still trying to get used to fighting games as a whole imo because you have more time to think in between actions. Very thoughtful video and I really liked the editing on this one as well as the pacing of it.
Glad you enjoyed it. People seemed to resonate with the new style and pace here, so I'm glad that the effort I put in to find my own style is working so far.
I've played the remake on the Nintendo WII. It's MUCH better with a GameCube controller. However my friends all whine it doesn't have a side B recovery or good recovery abilities. I get it, but it's the Sonic the Hedgehog argument all over again. Some of my friends either won't play the first Sonic at all or think it sucks because" this game doesn't have a Spin dash." Who cares? STILL a great game that only gets improved upon; just like SMASH 64.
@@Eldoofus Sorry I meant Sonic having a Spindash in STH2 vs. The first Sonic on the Sega Genesis. I had friends who refuse to play the first Sonic; not because of lack of Tails, but because Sonic doesn't have his Spindash yet.
Smash 64 still holds a special place in my heart, despite having Melee I still kept playing 64 games because it was the console I was allowed to take into my room and because I didn't unlock Ness yet, I tried many things until I just looked it up on the internet. To be fair I've gone through cicles of preferring the last game when the new one comes out, Melee because Brawl was too slow; Brawl because modding plus Smash 4 having too little 1-player content; however the cycle broke with Ultimate because the roster and gameplay is too good for me (even though I still love Smash Run) Still I think 64 has a unique feel to it that can't be replicated and definitely holds value because of that, but definitely a game that is hard to get into for younger players.
14:22 they look like that because they were board games that a kid placed in his table while playing with toys of the characters, that was the lore back then
Smash 64 may not have the single player content, roster or stage selection as newer games, due to the era in which it came out, but it is fundamentally a far superior game compared to Ultimate, gameplay wise. Better in so many categories: Combo/punish game Neutral game Cool tech skill potential Honest ledge mechanics If you want to talk about clunky controls, talk about Ultimate, not 64. 64 controls are far smoother and more consistent. 64 is a much better game, which is why it still thrives with a dedicated community, while Ultimate would be dead in a week if a new smash game released, just like every other new Smash title.
I was introduced to Smash thru the first game on the N64. I was just starting college at the time. Before I played it, I wrote it off as a kid's watered down fighting game. It was fundementally basic, but it was a fun party fighter. Also we had no idea this game would have all the sequels it did. Or had a competitive scene. We just played and had fun. Then Melee came out, and it was a more polished Smash game with bigger production values. The biggest deal for me was playing as Peach, Zelda, and Ganondorf. Up to that point in the Zelda and Mario series, we barely played as the princesses or the villain. Game and Watch was the joke character. I thought, only the hardcore of Nintendo fans would know that character. It wasn't until Sonic was announced for Brawl that Smash got hype in gaming as a whole. Finally Sonic and Mario can fight it out for real after their long rivalry in the 90s. We thought Sonic was the only non Nintendo character, until Snake from a Mature rated game was announced. Snake was heavily associated with Playstation, so it was big surprise. It was such a nice show of respect for Snake to make codec comments of every Smash character up to Brawl. From then on, the competitive scene was becoming main stream and gradually grew to what it is today.
I'm a nostalgia junkie and probably played this with friends for over 400 hours when I was a kid, but I have to agree - just play literally any of the follow up titles
@@DuoStuff It was great! As always. I don't know what it is about you but you just have a really funny and interesting way of presenting ideas and topics
says "Smash 64 is irrelevant today" and was "Designed to fade" I can't wait til he finds out about Smash Remix lol All jokes aside, this is a great video!!!!
The main appeal to me these days is that it is the only smash game that's a cartridge, meaning I can play it decades from now without a concern. In contrast with melee these days I feel like I am holding a fragile piece of decorative glass.
"The stages in 64 always reminded me more of cheap plastic playsets than actual locations" Isn't the entire premise of Smash that these are action figures being played with by a child in his room? That's what Master hand is, no?
Smash 4 is the forgotten one, it has nothing going for it. 64 is still played in bracket and the smash community def acknowledges it. 4 has nothing anymore, it’s outclassed by ultimate. It’s no notorious like brawl, it’s not iconic like melee, or vintage like the original.
Hey DuoStuff, not to mention, most of these fighting games pretty much feel like they just blend in since they share a lot of similarities to each other
The original smash bros is a great game, and those that grew up on hold it in high regards. When I speak to my peers, and we speak of the 64, 4 games are always brought up. Goldeneye, Smash Bros, Ocarina of time, Conkers bad fur day. I wouldn’t say “it’s faded” as much as all it’s predecessors did it better. The original game had 8 characters, and many of peoples favorites didn’t start showing up till around Melee. It’s like the original Mortal Kombat. It’s only remembered for helping create controversy, when MK2 did everything but better, and more of it. I couldn’t imagine a smash game now without Ice Climbers, PAC Man, Sonic, the Belmonts Mr Game and Watch and Zelda! I love these characters, and the story mode.
I haven’t played it probably since it came out. The controls are probably stiff and delayed. That being said I think I’m gonna take my switch to work with me today :D
I actually had to be convinced to buy it too. Back during the ol' 'Cube days I went "ehhh I'm not into fighting games, but everyone says it's ok. I guess I'll try it out . . ." Now it's one of literally only 2 reasons to ever own a console after moving to PC, the other being The Legend Of Zelda. Whats strange to think about is how many of the characters throughout Smash history have far and away outlived their actual games. Ness? Donkey Kong? _Ice Climbers?!_ Just to name a few. I mean was the last time anyone even talked about an F-Zero game? FFS Dr. Mario was an old Tetris knockoff with Mario in it! Yes, I know many of them still have games, even more modern ones, and dont get me wrong, it's absolutely amazing and cool what they're doing with all these old, nostalgic characters and keeping them thriving and relevant through the years in arguably one of the most "Video Game" of all video games. It's just interesting when you stand back and think about it; being in Smash made them more famous than their actual games did.
The Smash game no one cares about anymore:
Me: Smash 4?
When the first smash bros hit ,you had to live it to appreciate how huge it was then.When they shown the first two commercials my friends couldn't wait to play. My brother and I had our best friend over and he brought the game and we were blown away and played for hours WITH THE ITEMS ON.Btw the sound effects were too notch and by for the best sounding falcon punch. This was smash before the toxic community came along and made it competitive. It much simpler times ,it was at it's purest form, a awesome party game.
This couldn't be more true. Being a kid at the time I couldn't IMAGINE more content.
@@JC20XX yeah it was madness ,unlocking captian falcon , Jigglypuff,Luigi ,and ness were difficult 😂 ,we eventually had to read the players guide lol
You can play the game however you like and never even have to engage with the smash community. Complaining about how other people enjoy the game is weird.
You're saying the competitive community is toxic meanwhile you're bashing how other people choose to enjoy a game 😭
Exactly! I’m 36 and when this came out it was a big deal around my area. My friends who were die hard PlayStation lovers even played it.
64? You're crazy. You're thinking of DS, Smash 4 or Brawl.
4. Brawl was memorable to some people
I'd say Smash 4 Wii U. The 3DS version has everything salvageable from the Wii U version (custom moves, Master Core) with better game modes (especially Smash Run and Classic) and better stages. It's also received more appreciation with the 3DS homebrew revival in full speed.
Smash 4 Wii U has nothing redeemable about it that you wouldn't also find in Ultimate. Unless you like the broken Bayonetta, or Ridley as a boss. ...Or Smash Tour, if you somehow like that.
My friends ONLY play smash 64. That's all we play
same here
The orginal SSB64 intro announcer is literally the best and it’s non debatable. Melee was really good but after that they either don’t have him say it or it’s boring (Brawl). He made me feel like he was genuinely excited to introduce the game and I should be genuinely excited to play! But it helps I was born in the waaaay early days of 1993 😂
I actually agree with this. The Melee and Brawl announcers don't really match the 64 announcer energy. (Though I still like every announcer to an extent.)
I agree as well, but I hail from the waaaay early days of 1988.😆
How DARE you disgrace Pat Cashman's S tier announcing.
@@Nick-up5wv 😂😂 we’re old man but you’ve got the nod in seniority!
@@Lechgang 😂 idk man, it just doesn’t hit the same for me. But I’ll make sure I put respect on his name next time.
Ahh my fave smash that was just left in the ground for the other sequels to take rise. It's understandable to how it's the way it is. But no matter the flaws, the roughness or even the smoothness in contrast to others it will remain my favorite and best smash game for me.
Yeah, nostalgia just kinda works like that, so I get it. Gives a game a special feeling when you grew up with it. (Though funnily enough, despite Melee being my first, my favorite is actually Brawl.)
Hope you enjoy the video!
@@DuoStuff Honestly I get Brawl to a degree, but honestly take away Subspace Emissary and that's really the only thing that sets it apart from Melee. Finishers too I guess, but they get better as time goes on. I personally think Nintendo will NEVER do better than Melee; hence all the #Savemelee tags you see online constantly; and it's more than 20 years later,😉 but Melee is probably still the best and SMASH 64 is the best in terms of imagination; something future titles take away from the player.
@@Nick-up5wv yeah
Smash 64 is called "the combo party" for a reason
@@psiforce8342 💯
Smash 64 is the best game ever made hands down.
The movement is actually smooth and intuitive compared to later smash games. Universal landing lag on z (L) canceled moves, quick initial dashes, easy pivots. Frame data for aerial moves are typically faster than later entries too. Might not be as apparent from a casual perspective, but they really nailed it for competitive players.
@@Nintendofan184 lmao just scrolled and saw you said the same thing to andykins that I said to you.
As a kid when it was the only smash these complaints weren’t present at all we just loved what we got and replayed the shit outta it
Kirby is the main hero in all the smash games. He deals with cosmic horrors.
I think another thing to keep in mind is the separation of the fandom over time and the biases that came with it. Melee was where the competitive community really took off. Brawl was beloved for it's story mode, extended roster & modes, and Smash 4 & Ultimate was where the series became truly mainstream (for better or worse) and by now, there was much friction between the communities. Whereas Smash 64 I always saw as that humble older brother to it's sibling games that manages to stay both out of controversy and out of public eye.
Frankly, I think one can't be too hard on Smash 64, given that it was the first of it's kind, and Sakurai and team probably never expected it to blow up as it did.
it's like going back to Super Mario Kart on the SNES - it laid the groundwork for a much bigger/greater series but is pretty ancient and barebones at this point
Yeah that's a pretty apt comparison. Though to be fair to Smash 64, I actually... Y'know, enjoy playing Smash 64. Super Mario Kart is straight up unfun. lol
@@DuoStuff lol i like playing SMK for a race or two here and there for a trip down memory lane but that’s about how far i get
The controls just stop me from even wanting to get that far.
Ya if you want to play that game Super Mario Kart, you might want to just play Super Circuit, it has all the tracks of the original in it as unlockables and is better to control. I still play the original game occasionally but it's definitely aged, and it's hard to get super into it. Doesn't help that all the computer racers can just spam items whenever the hell they feel like it and have special items you can't get, and don't appear to have to worry about traction around turns.
@@TheJadeFist i used to have it on GBA yearsssss ago but it got stolen 😩 i remember having fun with it though! nintendo needs to put some GBA games out on NSO if they aren’t going to give us a way to buy them digitally (VC)
As a competitive 64 player i expected to come into this feeling attacked about how our game is bad or something but you did make some good points about why its forgotten. Some stuff you brought up i dont think should be considered such as how bad the game looks or any of that stuff because that doesnt make the game any more of less fun. Also you mentioning that the game feels clunky i think is subjective because i feel like i cant hardly move my character in ultimate without sliding around like i got butter shoes. I dont have a problem movin around on 64 tho. But I agree that there are janky bullshit in this game just like there is in most fighting games. Also it would have been cooler to supply you with footage of cool 64 stuff so you could make the game look a little sicker rather than those damn cpu's lol. Was a good video tho. I enjoyed watching it.
also since you mentioned about how annoying it is to move around and land hits in 64, checkout one of my combo videos (search Janitor smash combo, and im sure you will find one of them). It might be fun to see what kind of stuff is possible when you play a lot more.
“look up clips of me if you wanna see some cool shit” 😂
@@LegendOfOJ basically lol
I mean yeah, despite the slightly harsh-sounding title, I actually do enjoy Smash 64 in the end. I have problems with it, but it'd be pretty mean to just spend a whole video hating on a game that, objectively speaking, is still solid enough.
Though I will say, while it doesn't effect the gameplay, bringing up the visuals does have merit, as is a part of the game that seems rather low-quality. And yeah, CPUs is the only real option I have if I'm recording my own footage, as base 64 doesn't have online.
@@DuoStuff online exists for emu
There's one more piece of information that is pretty relevant: Melee was written completely from scratch, while all the other ones build upon Melee. So SSB 64 is the odd one out, an experiment to learn how to make a SSB game.
I'm old as hell and Smash 64 was my first and will always be special to me ❤
My old high school friend loves smash 64 cause he can woop ass in it. He’s still learning Ultimate and it feels like a completely different game .
One thing from Smash 64 I'd like to see return someday is at the character selection screen, the characters would move around as you cycle through them, and when you pick one, they each have a different pose they do!
Bonus 1 and 2 practice could've been added to the segment of single player content. Other than that, this is a great video. I've spent so many hours of my life playing this game and I love it SO much. But the critiques of this game certainly ring true. It laid a great groundwork for a fantastic series!
it could have been if it were not for the fact that those stages are played for every character in the story mode which he accounted for in the total time of non-vs content
I appreciate what Smash Bros 64 has done. Not only has it spawned a great series of games, it's still quite polished and well made in my opinion, even if it is barebones and a bit lackluster.
The definition of “you had to be there”
This one will forever be my favorite
For being the first entry in a series still going on today I can see where you’re coming with many points. But very bad take on gameplay. You show a clip of dk not even facing the ledge as and example of not grabbing it lmao. You complain about ness but his kit get extremely better when you add djc combos. You say you get stuck in specials by showing fox shine which you can cancel. Link boomerang okay i get that but you can tech case with rang to flow better. I think you could have explored gameplay a bit more. Remix has definitely brought more life into the game as well.
I'm going to address this because I feel like the comment itself either lacks perspective on how the video was made (a fault of mine, but not the point being made), or is using reasoning that outright doesn't apply to how I'm discussing the actual series as a whole.
DK clip - honestly I was just tired and grabbed the first clip I saw that was vaguely close. I wasn't in the mood to actually look through my 5 hours of gameplay for one specific clip at that point. Point still stands that the ledge-grabbing is awkward. I've never had problems with it in any other game *besides* 64, which points to something about 64 being done different.
Ness combos - ah yes, combos that you wouldn't know unless you got competitively pro with 64, a thing that most people who play it probably don't do. This isn't a retrospective from a "pro Smash player." It's a retrospective from someone who played these games casually with friends and goofed around. Hence the items always being used. Basically, how 98% of people experience Smash games. This is how the retrospective is being framed, and thus critique of it from a "competitive mindset" doesn't really apply. Most regular people who play 64 will likely feel the same: "wow, Ness feels kinda awkward here compared to later games." Arguably you could say something along the lines of "well then this isn't a comprehensive discussion," and yeah, it isn't. That's not the point of the series, nor do I have the expertise or know-how to discuss it that way. It's like if I did a retrospective of a game from a speedrunning perspective without ever speedrunning said game. I can study it, but it really wouldn't be a perspective coming from an expert. So I'm doing this retrospective as a casual Smash fan who played the games like most others did, and spending more time on character inclusions and singleplayer-content, which is a lot more fun to me.
Specials - Okay, the Fox one I'll give you, but literally half the specials feels slow and clunky. You can literally do them in half the time from Melee forward. Like Ness's UP has so-much-start-up, Link's Boomerang is awkward, Mario's fireball even is way clunkier than later games. And again, "tech" isn't a commonly-used thing in casual play. It's like if I said "well wavedashing makes movement in Melee flow like butter," which it does, but only if you understand the mechanics at a pro level, which I'm not interested in doing. There are probably plenty of people who could do an analysis like that, but that's not my goal with this series. I want to talk about the games as most people probably experienced them, as the competitive scene is a much smaller piece of that. The only time I'm really discussing it is with Melee, and even that's more for historical accuracy, as I don't know jack about the finer points of Melee competitive play.
Man, a great video!
I think part of the reason this one is as forgotten as it is, is because Smash, fundamentally, never changed.
With Zelda, Metroid or Mario for example the games would experiment, make changes, which would create a divide of some kind between the old and the new.
Zelda 1 was relevant because the 3D games before BOTW were starkly different. SMB 1 was relevant because Mario is so many things these days that it makes those humble beginnings all the more special, and reminds us of what the core of Mario is.
Compared to that, Smash hasn't really done much except (attempt) to be a better version of itself. That's why I only ever really play the most recent game: The newest one just feels like the previous one, but better. All of this leaves Smash 64 feeling not like a first in a series, but more like an open beta.
Thanks for reading my jumbled mess of an essay😅
I definitely understand that perspective honestly. I tend to return to Melee, Brawl, and 4 for the special modes they have. Ultimate has an amazing roster, but single-player-wise, it's incredibly lacking in my mind. Feels like it hedged all of its bets on a mode that I *really* didn't like. But that's a story for the Ultimate video.
And I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
@@DuoStuff personally, I loved the spirit mode. It was just regular smash fun with good bossfights (I guess that includes classic mode for single player content, which is great) I guess world of light is a love it or hate it kind of deal
World of light is plain underwhelming. No cool cutscenes and the gameplay revolves around a mechanic not present in vs. mode that equates to the world's most boring collect-a-thon. Melee plays way different from ultimate but ultimate isn't BETTER than melee it's just different. 64 is 64. People will always play it as die hard fans but when they die I doubt the game will ever have a resurgence.
It’s really all a matter of what one would be willing to trade-off for improvements in other areas imo, and I personally think the new stuff in Ultimate like characters, visuals, gameplay changes, music tracks, etc. more than makes up for some of the missing stuff (Smash Run and a more fleshed out adventure mode would’ve been really nice though)
I notice people complaining way more about “competitive/Melee elitists” way more than there are actual elitists, at this point, “casual/most recent Smash game at the time elitists” are much more common and much more vocal
I rather go back to 64 than ever touch Smash 4 again.
or brawl !
Still is the goat. Easiest one to replay over and over again. Never get boring
Funny thing is, Hyrle Castle's layout is actually really accurate to Ocarina of Time. There's just a couple minor changes.
That says a lot about Ocarina of Time more than it says about Smash 64
Smash 64>>>>every smash bros after melee.
Smash 64 is the best hands down.
Excuse you mister, no one is a bit exaggerated.
The things I love about the original smash is how simple and broken it is compared to the others smash games (except melee, being the most broken of them all)
"The Smash Game No One Cares About Anymore"
wrong, i care about the game. in fact, im begging nintendo to add it to nso.
I mean, there are competitive tournaments that are hosted every now and then. It's not irrelevant, it's just niche. Seriously, go look up Smash 64 tournament on youtube.
The reason why it's no longer relevant is because it's so old, and because it's not Melee.
I think you struck gold with your style here. I liked the camera segments you used to have but when you solely focus on overlay editing to what your talking about I think you excel there. Your humor and delivery is top notch in this vid, I always dig your vids but this is up there with my favorites like the Subspace Emissary vid.
Wow, that's incredibly nice to hear.
I generally agree with you. While I'll miss the goofy energy that came with the skits, the reality is that they were jarring to most, and didn't flow well. In my away time, I spent a bit practicing how *I* wanted to make videos, stuff that wasn't just "Watered-Down RelaxAlax," and I was extremely happy with how this turned out. So I'm really glad to hear that the video actually turned out well, and that the humor actually landed.
Does this guy just watch everyone's channel giving advice on whether he thinks it is good or not.
@@handsomeDRAC No, he's saying it because I changed my editing style with this video.
Tbh, smash 64 holds a lot of nostalgia for me. It was one of the games I got to watch my dad *beat* to completion. I played it a ton until I could finally get melee, I got every game late due to saving allowances or using birthday/Christmas money. So when ultimate came out, I got it at launch as a treat.
Although there's no denying that the stages in 64 are mostly pretty vague, I don't think that using Zelda's castle was a good example, since it's the one stage which is a, for the most part, pretty fateful recreation of the castle's top in Ocarina of Time.
I have to say though, even if they don't do the best job at representing locations in their original games, the more vague and "playset" like stages as you described them still have a place in my heart, but I completely understand that's a personal taste and it can be frustrating for others.
Great video either way! I see you found a new style you're more comfortable with and I'm glad to see that, I think it works well for your type of content. Keep up the good work! I'm very excited for the next episodes of this series
Even looking directly at the castle, this kinda still looks like its own thing honestly. Like very little about it screams "Zelda" either.
And thank you. Glad the new style seems to be well-liked so far. I wasn't sure how it'd be recieved.
Also the "playset" ascetic that he mentioned sets the overall TONE for future SMASH titles. Think about it. In the intro. our favorite characters are in a child's room, taken out of a toy chest, and plopped on a desk before the desk transforms into an arena. The characters are all plush toys. In Melee we get trophies. In Brawl the trophies are described as living in a "world of toys." In Ultimate they are stickers. The point is SMASH has ALWAYS been about playing with your favorite toys and using your imagination. In the NEWER games the arenas are faithful re-creations of your favorite places. However being more realistic makes you forget the original novelty of your favorite characters being toys. The "playset" vibe is PERFECT for your imagination. Now the "realism" actually HURTS SMASH. Yes the games are better and the visuals are pretty, but the child-like wonder is gone. It's like playing D&D online vs playing it in a room full of people. Yes the overall game is better, but is the experience? SMASH 64 offers imagination and wonder in It's limitations. Future renditions rely on visuals and battle mechanics. Everything is based on Teers and strict rules and teqniques. SMASH 64 is NO pressure, just fun. That's why tripping was added in Brawl. Because Sakurai saw the community takes this stuff WAY too seriously and they forget to just relax and have fun. THAT'S what SMASH 64 SHOULD be celebrated for. Yes it is a product of it's time, but it offered straight up fun and relaxation whereas future titles are shiny and with a new coat of paint, but limit your imagination in the process.
@@Nick-up5wv agreed, great analysis! Although I think Melee still captures the playset vibe very well
@@phari4820 True. It's still cartoony enough. Brawl was MORE realistic. Future enstallments seem to have a bit of a mixture. Some characters are portrayed as MORE realistic like Brawl, but others are pretty cartoony like Melee.
They could have chosen a far more recognizable location that you can actually be in that is more faithful like melee did with Great Bay Termina down to the heart piece on the ledge. A lot of stages are really uninspired in 64 to what they are now. I mean I think the thought process theming of it is: "locations that are high up" aside from starfox and metroid that are already in space. If that's what they were going for, make the cloud n' candy level from yoshi's story and the top of the mast for DK. Also why make a random platform location high above peach's castle instead of just peach's castle?
While Smash 64 does feel dated in a lot of aspects
You're honestly wrong about how no one really cares of Smash 64, most especially in the competitive aspects of it.
If you really follow Smash Bros., particularly in the competitive side, you'd know how Smash 64 is famous for being the "combo party" as out of all the Smash Bros. games, Smash 64 has the longest hitstun out of all Smash Bros. games, combined with the fact you don't have air dodge till Melee, Smash 64's creativity in comboing is insane. Hence Super Smash Con always hosts the Smash 64 Combo Contest. So Smash 64 is still really worth to come back to just for how you can pull of most insane or ridiculous combo string you can think of. Almost all of the roster has their own form of cheese to pull off insane follow ups and combos, helps that it's easy to combo into a spike, especially when because of how limited animations were in Smash 64, gameplay wise they're ridiculously strong.
Being a Ness fan myself, I envy Smash 64 Ness, while considered low tier in the international version of Smash 64, but is a top tier in the Japanese version of Smash 64 (and was seen as a top tier at the start for the international version), who used to have a FRAME 4 DOWN AIR SPIKE, and combined with double jump cancel, Ness can pull off so many ridiculous strings with that move while also a combo finisher that usually leads to a KO (even a finisher of a 0-to-death combo). And Ness is just one of those characters, never forget that Smash 64 is the only Smash Bros. game where Kirby was really strong, even the 2nd best character in the game behind Pikachu, and then when Melee came, Kirby was nerfed to the ground and he never got to regain his former glory even till Smash Ultimate, from a top tier to straight up bottom tier, and now just a mid or low tier.
Important to remember the time period for the bonus character selections. Mother 3 was in development during this time (at this time still being developed for the N64) and F-Zero X had just released a year before.
This is the best game ever made. What are you talking about the move lag. If you’re a serious player we all know you aren’t using specials as main attacks. I can’t play any other smash. I have them all but they just aren’t good. Any character can be viable in 64 unlike the others that have crazy metas you have to follow. I’ve been playing this game since it came out and still do with my same group of childhood friends. Nothing beats it and we all agree across the board. Best game ever!
Me and my siblings played Smash 64 for hours and hours and *hours* when it was new. Then Melee came out and just... did everything way better. The only reasons to revisit Smash 64 were to play on some of its better stages, and Kirby being good.
But no thumbs up because you dissed Yoshi so much.
Good analysis! Yeah, Smash 64 was a product of its era and it hasn't aged the best. I played Smash 64 a ton when it was released, but I've never really had the urge to pick it up years later. If I want my Smash Bros fix now, I honestly just stick with Smash Ultimate.
The funny thing is when Smash Melee was released when I was growing up, I was addicted to that game. However, my school friends at the time only wanted to play Smash 64 instead of Melee. For whatever reason, they just preferred it. I thought they were crazy as Melee just seemed to be a better game overall, but there you go.
Play what you enjoy. I'm sure there is a die-hard Smash 64 community somewhere and more power to them. Even though some older games have obviously aged, a fun game is still fun. I mean, there is still a huge Smash Melee community even 20+ years later!
Yeah, there are definitely some that are dedicated to 64, as there are still people dedicated to every game in the series. But it's as you said: the game has aged a bit, and thus feels a bit redundant.
the group you're talking about is smash remix, a mod team that has added ganondorf, wario, conker, the mad piano, several others, and a BUCKETload uv stages, AND 2 player single player, not az co-op, az competition. it's a good mod.
@@ehhorve857 that's a separate crowd, there is a group dedicated to playing vanilla 64 competitively. It's a whole different beast from other games in the series in a good way.
@@anothenblue2630 Man, even some vanilla players have Remix with them just because of it building upon Vanilla rather than tweaking it like PM did... and honestly, I really respect the Smash Remix team because of it
@@Eldoofus I can't blame PM devs for that because Brawl was broken beyond repair and the only real solution was changing it, mainly by going back to what worked before (Melee). Smash Remix, on the other hand, was dealing with an actually functional game and even the worst characters in 64 don't compare to the garbage in Brawl (same goes for Smash 4, at least Rage existed to let Ganon get random kills there). The most they would need to do is bugfixing. Not even Melee is as solid as 64 though that's a product of being made in like what, 11 months?
I haven't seen many Super Smash Bros. fans mentioning The Outfoxies. Such an underrated gem!
I can't imagine being a nintendo fan back then and then seeing this game come out.
Must've been a dream come true.
Absolutely! It was a time where video game crossovers just weren't really a thing. So the hype for this was immense.
To be fair, this was the first game in the series. Usually there's not a lot of content in the first game. Nostalgia carries it for me. It deserves some respect cause 64 had to walk so Ultimate could fly. Don't know why this game isn't on NSO yet.
This is the game that started it all, and created a legacy for the series and what it would become.
I used to own Melee along with N64 and Brawl. I hardly ever played it tho. Growing up, yes I did play Melee at a cousins house. But between my friends and I we enjoyed Smash, Brawl and Smash 4 more.
Great little video!
So happy to see this game get some love and also excellent video!
Well, I guess "love" is a relative term here, but regardless I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
in my book this game is still very much cared about and your youtube video name is just clickbait, i play it still like every other day over netplay with freinds an theres a whole discord community for the game in the series, its the same with smash brothers melee
Your analysis of the original character roster was extremely entertaining. They really nailed everything with the Smash rosters right out of the gate. (Even Yoshi, Yoshi’s Island SNES was excellent)
Glad you enjoyed that. It was probably my favorite part of the video, and it'll be fun to do it for Melee as well.
Smash bros 64 is like the wright brothers’ first plane. Not perfect but absolutely changed the entire world.
one thing that i always liked about the original smash bros was that there were only 3 special moves unlike later games that had 4 special moves... if the newer games still had that limitation, "clone" characters could have had different movesets (sakurai would have had 1 less move to make for each character too lol)
(ex: young link losing fire arrows but having the boomerang, and regular link losing the boomerang but having arrows)
Totally agree. This never gets mentioned enough!
It also makes the inputs more simple pull off, like a neutral during or right after a run. More akin to Kirby game movesets.
Probably because it's old and there's like... 6 characters, pretty much a 2 minute conversation.
... Or a 20...
Smash Bros 64 had the best physics. The games from Melee onward felt kinda disconnected from the player. Still great though
Melee is also broken as hell
Except besides Ultimate and Melee it's the only other still active and played competitively, also professionally.
To say that the game faded from relevancy due to its lack of content is a bit of a reach. I don't think it's fair to discredit any *multiplayer game* on the amount of single player content that it offers. Anecdotally, I played it everyday in college for almost 2 years straight, so I feel like I got my money's worth even without a strong SP campaign. Also, games like Street Fighter II have received countless rereleases and that game has even fewer SP features compared to Smash. So I wouldn't say content or game length is responsible for its decline in popularity.
I also disagree about the point that the game doesn't bring anything unique to the series. They have entire combo contests at Super Smash Con designed around the combo system in S64. The combo potential is unique, specifically to this game, and it's only possible *BECAUSE* of the slow animation speeds and lack of an air-dodge. So while I definitely agree that the game feels sluggish/small today... that's only because we're all comparing it to newer titles, which have demonstrably sped up and grown in scope with every new release.
This video essay comes to some strong conclusions. Everything is put together and presented well. I just think the creator's viewpoint is heavily influenced by the time that they discovered the game. A lot of the magic with Smash 64 comes from the community and people you play it with. If you don't have a consistent friend group to play this 25 year old party game with, then it's totally natural to not get much out of it. But I think the game stands on its own, in spite of the floating physics and goofy maps and small roster size.
I'll also say, Smash 64 is the 2nd Smash game I ever played. So I don't think I'm speaking purely from a point of nostalgia. Because 64 wasn't my first foray into platform fighters. It's definitely one of the weaker entries, but I think Smash 64 deserves a little more credit than saying it's just the 1st title in the series. The fact that people are still modding the game and remixing it and even putting retro 64 character models into newer titles directly contradicts the notion that 64 is a game that nobody cares about.
It's unfortunate that the creator never got to share those great Smash 64 experiences that I and many others did when the game was still popular. The game doesn't hold up that well compared to other entries... and it's not something that I'd personally pick up and play on my own accord. But if a friend brought out some controllers and a couple of beers, you bet your ass I'd jump at the opportunity to play it again.
Not liking yoshi is a huge red flag. Clicked off the video.
I beg to differ, smash remix has really helped 64. But I will say smash melee is still the best one imo
HEY i care
I enjoy it not just for my nostalgia and memories of the time period I played this game when it was new but I enjoy the idea of a kid playing with his/her/it's toys and using imagination to do play fights (that's the idea I got from the intro) and using thier own hand as the final boss. I also enjoyed greatly smash the targets and platforms as each was tailored for each character thus you had to know what each character did and preform to complete to 100 making them in a way effective training (without advertising it's training) for each character and wish those two mini games returned in some form come the future.
So I understand and all, but I'm pretty sure everything you said pretty much applies to Melee and then some. lol
@@DuoStuff I'm writing what I recall about 64 and how it stands out in my memory. For Melee I don't recall sharply that it had break the targets or platforms mini game as 64 did it first and Melee just continued it without upgrade. So for break the targets and platforms mini game 64 has that honor.
Melee however upgraded other content from 64, gave new content that stands out, and upgraded the fighting and control issues making Melee one of the best.
64 is the first but also weakest of the series and probably the one I might least return too but for what it has I will think of "break the targets" and that platform mini game first associated with it over other possibilities till a upgrade that becomes the definitive version is created.
If you think people don't care, check out the combo contest!
2:41 SUPER SMAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BROTHERS!
Super Smash Bros 3ds & Wii U is the smash series no one cares about anymore.
I don't know about that. Smash 4 *is* mentioned a lot, even if it's to hate on it. That's still attention, and it still means people care.
But regardless of any of that, *I* care about them, and that's all that matters to me.
@@DuoStuff but you just mentioned smash 64 now, and I seen different youtubers talk about this game as well. Let's focus more on the player count.. how many today boot up Smash Wii U and/or Smash 3ds?
Probably still more than 64.
Smash 64 combo contests are hype
I after the cartoons went off, I put the volume to 20, which is pretty loud, 10 stock, 3 lvl 9 cpus, items on medium, select sector Z, and have a blast as the crowd cheered, the bombs explode super loud, and endless choas insued. Smash 64, was truly amazing, it has the best crowd and announcer by far,
This is such an interesting perspective into smash 64
Well thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.
I’m old, so this was my favorite. Introduced me to a lot of Nintendo characters I wouldn’t have known about. It’s not like the internet was brimming with activity in the late 90s, especially compared to now, so Smash was like an ad for these Nintendo things I wouldn’t have given a chance otherwise. Also even though Melee was old by the time I went to college, N64 Smash is the one we played at college
64??? i love it...the only one i dont care about anymore is Brawl.
I's say less people care about Smash 3ds
Hence why I used the word *most*.
Though that's unfortunate because Smash 3DS is super underrated.
I do, I am waiting for it to drop on NSO to revive my childhood
I am a little surprised that they still haven't done it, but to be fair, they didn't even throw it on Wii U VC for some reason.
I’ll never forget the commercial in 8th grade for this game with the music from The Turtles (happy together) and it was fantastic. People dressed up in cheesy Nintendo character outfits. Great great game. My favorite was honestly the GameCube version and that applies to almost all the Mario series, including Mario Kart, Paper Mario, Luigi’s Mansion, etc. I grew up with Nintendo being my first system and I got an SNES the first month it came out in early 90’s, I love the N64 too and can play that forever but I just loved how GameCube did Mario games. In fact those are the primary best games that were the best on that system. I hated Link Cartoon, and Mario Sunshine.
Yeah, Melee (and most Gamecube entries of franchises) were peak for their franchise. (Though I guess unlike you I also like Wind Waker and Mario Sunshine a ton.)
You mentioned the negatives about Super Smash Bros. '99 in this video, but I have some positives regarding the original Super Smash Bros. game.
Super Smash Bros. Melee came out on November 2001, giving the previous game a very short lifespan. Melee took Smash '99's formula and polished it in a lot of aspects. Not only that, the roster has been expanded. Brawl, Smash 2014 and Ultimate came out as time progressed and contained its own character rosters and quirks. With the sequels out of the way, N64 rom hackers used these Smash sequels to create an extensive rom hack that breathes new life into an old short-lived entry. Enter Smash Remix; it wouldn't have happened without Melee and it's follow-ups.
Don't forget that Smash '99 and Melee are the only games (without hacking) to feature a lag-canceling gameplay mechanic. Unlike Melee, the L-Cancel mechanic (done by pressing Shield the moment before landing from an aerial attack) has instant recovery time. In Melee, L-Canceling only speeds up the attack landing animation to a point you're given combo potential.
Smash 64 is very barebones, but what keeps people coming back to it despite far superior sequels is the presentation. The presentation has such a charm to it, that I love it, and many others do. Not to mention the music and sound.
You make a lot of great points, but I'd argue that Smash 4, both 3DS and Wii U, are more irrelevant than 64. Since Ultimate came out, Smash 4 has literally nothing to go back to - lack of story mode and features, forgettable presentation, and every character carrying over to Ultimate. I guess if you wanna play online for free instead of pay for NSO, then Smash 4 Wii U is your best option, but you can also play Brawl online with the Dolphin Emulator using Wiimmfi or use Slippi with Melee.
Look up smash remix cause a ton of people actually still care about this game and the mechanics it does have to offer
I still care. N64 and Melee are my favorites. If you want more, that Smash Remix hack is more than enough.
Missed out on the perfect oppurtunity to say "He's Bigger, Slower, and kind.. of strong. He only made it in because he's Donkey Kong."
I've always felt weird going back to smash 64 due to the animation wind ups but I think watching you talking about it made me realize that that wind up speed was great for a child me to get into fighting games more. That slowdown is pretty great when you're still trying to get used to fighting games as a whole imo because you have more time to think in between actions.
Very thoughtful video and I really liked the editing on this one as well as the pacing of it.
Glad you enjoyed it. People seemed to resonate with the new style and pace here, so I'm glad that the effort I put in to find my own style is working so far.
I always thought 3ds was the irrelevant game
Got to try 64 and Remix out at a college local. It was really fun reminded me of early Ultimate
Never played any 64 mods, but I imagine it was interesting at bare minimum.
I've played the remake on the Nintendo WII. It's MUCH better with a GameCube controller. However my friends all whine it doesn't have a side B recovery or good recovery abilities. I get it, but it's the Sonic the Hedgehog argument all over again. Some of my friends either won't play the first Sonic at all or think it sucks because" this game doesn't have a Spin dash." Who cares? STILL a great game that only gets improved upon; just like SMASH 64.
@@Nick-up5wv agreed it felt weird but it was too fun to stop me
@@Nick-up5wv What are you talking about? Sonic has a spindash in Smash Remix. 🙃
@@Eldoofus Sorry I meant Sonic having a Spindash in STH2 vs. The first Sonic on the Sega Genesis. I had friends who refuse to play the first Sonic; not because of lack of Tails, but because Sonic doesn't have his Spindash yet.
I used to think yoshi was overrated but I think I was just jealous of his cuteness
This is the first video I watched on my new TV
So happy together.
So happy
together
I mean people play smash 64 more than brawl or smash 4
Smash 64 still holds a special place in my heart, despite having Melee I still kept playing 64 games because it was the console I was allowed to take into my room and because I didn't unlock Ness yet, I tried many things until I just looked it up on the internet.
To be fair I've gone through cicles of preferring the last game when the new one comes out, Melee because Brawl was too slow; Brawl because modding plus Smash 4 having too little 1-player content; however the cycle broke with Ultimate because the roster and gameplay is too good for me (even though I still love Smash Run)
Still I think 64 has a unique feel to it that can't be replicated and definitely holds value because of that, but definitely a game that is hard to get into for younger players.
I loved and still love smash 64. But I am old.
14:22 they look like that because they were board games that a kid placed in his table while playing with toys of the characters, that was the lore back then
Smash 64 may not have the single player content, roster or stage selection as newer games, due to the era in which it came out, but it is fundamentally a far superior game compared to Ultimate, gameplay wise.
Better in so many categories:
Combo/punish game
Neutral game
Cool tech skill potential
Honest ledge mechanics
If you want to talk about clunky controls, talk about Ultimate, not 64. 64 controls are far smoother and more consistent.
64 is a much better game, which is why it still thrives with a dedicated community, while Ultimate would be dead in a week if a new smash game released, just like every other new Smash title.
Great vid man! Love me some Smash!
This game is better than Ultimate. Ultimate tries too hard to be an arcade game with all their over-the-top Final smashes.
I was introduced to Smash thru the first game on the N64. I was just starting college at the time. Before I played it, I wrote it off as a kid's watered down fighting game. It was fundementally basic, but it was a fun party fighter. Also we had no idea this game would have all the sequels it did. Or had a competitive scene. We just played and had fun. Then Melee came out, and it was a more polished Smash game with bigger production values. The biggest deal for me was playing as Peach, Zelda, and Ganondorf. Up to that point in the Zelda and Mario series, we barely played as the princesses or the villain. Game and Watch was the joke character. I thought, only the hardcore of Nintendo fans would know that character. It wasn't until Sonic was announced for Brawl that Smash got hype in gaming as a whole. Finally Sonic and Mario can fight it out for real after their long rivalry in the 90s. We thought Sonic was the only non Nintendo character, until Snake from a Mature rated game was announced. Snake was heavily associated with Playstation, so it was big surprise. It was such a nice show of respect for Snake to make codec comments of every Smash character up to Brawl. From then on, the competitive scene was becoming main stream and gradually grew to what it is today.
I'm a nostalgia junkie and probably played this with friends for over 400 hours when I was a kid, but I have to agree - just play literally any of the follow up titles
BUT I CARE ABOUT IT MAINLY CAUSE OF SMASH REMIX
Yoo new Duostuff upload! I've missed your content dude it's always so fun to see.
Well thank you. I've adopted a new style with this one, so I hope you still enjoyed it.
@@DuoStuff It was great! As always. I don't know what it is about you but you just have a really funny and interesting way of presenting ideas and topics
The comments are a W. Keep up the good work and keep making vids.
Bro, I’ve still my original copy and console 😂
says "Smash 64 is irrelevant today" and was "Designed to fade"
I can't wait til he finds out about Smash Remix lol
All jokes aside, this is a great video!!!!
The main appeal to me these days is that it is the only smash game that's a cartridge, meaning I can play it decades from now without a concern. In contrast with melee these days I feel like I am holding a fragile piece of decorative glass.
Smash 3ds and Ultimate
TRIANGLE HEAD DK. Now I will never unsee it.
Yeah it's shockingly triangular.
"The stages in 64 always reminded me more of cheap plastic playsets than actual locations"
Isn't the entire premise of Smash that these are action figures being played with by a child in his room? That's what Master hand is, no?
I do like the classic logo way more than the current one.
I played it as a kid and loved it. Still enjoyable game and I still have it.
Smash 4 is the forgotten one, it has nothing going for it. 64 is still played in bracket and the smash community def acknowledges it. 4 has nothing anymore, it’s outclassed by ultimate. It’s no notorious like brawl, it’s not iconic like melee, or vintage like the original.
Hey DuoStuff, not to mention, most of these fighting games pretty much feel like they just blend in since they share a lot of similarities to each other
The original smash bros is a great game, and those that grew up on hold it in high regards. When I speak to my peers, and we speak of the 64, 4 games are always brought up.
Goldeneye, Smash Bros, Ocarina of time, Conkers bad fur day.
I wouldn’t say “it’s faded” as much as all it’s predecessors did it better.
The original game had 8 characters, and many of peoples favorites didn’t start showing up till around Melee.
It’s like the original Mortal Kombat. It’s only remembered for helping create controversy, when MK2 did everything but better, and more of it.
I couldn’t imagine a smash game now without Ice Climbers, PAC Man, Sonic, the Belmonts Mr Game and Watch and Zelda!
I love these characters, and the story mode.
I haven’t played it probably since it came out. The controls are probably stiff and delayed.
That being said I think I’m gonna take my switch to work with me today :D
I actually had to be convinced to buy it too. Back during the ol' 'Cube days I went "ehhh I'm not into fighting games, but everyone says it's ok. I guess I'll try it out . . ."
Now it's one of literally only 2 reasons to ever own a console after moving to PC, the other being The Legend Of Zelda.
Whats strange to think about is how many of the characters throughout Smash history have far and away outlived their actual games. Ness? Donkey Kong? _Ice Climbers?!_ Just to name a few. I mean was the last time anyone even talked about an F-Zero game? FFS Dr. Mario was an old Tetris knockoff with Mario in it!
Yes, I know many of them still have games, even more modern ones, and dont get me wrong, it's absolutely amazing and cool what they're doing with all these old, nostalgic characters and keeping them thriving and relevant through the years in arguably one of the most "Video Game" of all video games. It's just interesting when you stand back and think about it; being in Smash made them more famous than their actual games did.