Document text
Games of the week: Super Smash Bros. For:N64 By Chip and Jonathan Carter Being a Nintendo character must be tough. There's all that competition -- who's the favorite? Is it Mario? Link? You could make a case for Donkey Kong... That kind of pressure has apparently left all Nintendo's top dogs (and apes and foxes and other critters) with some serious issues. But rather than take their troubles to a therapist, the Big N gang has decided to handle things the old-fashioned way: They're gonna duke it out. This is a no-holds barred brawler that lets you pit your favorite Nintendo characters against each other in a variety of arenas and environments you'll recognize from Nintendo classics. The lineup of characters includes: Mario, king of the hill who has to defend his crown; Donkey Kong, who's big enough to thump just about anybody; Link (that sword's gotta come in handy); Samus Aran from Metroid (talk about grrrl power!); Yoshi, who has that tongue thing going on; Kirby (bet you just can't wait to pound that little marshmallow); Fox McCloud from StarFox; and Pikachu (don't let him near the water). There are also four hidden characters: Captain Falcon, one of the F-Zero drivers; Ness, the kid from Earthbound with the baseball bat; Jigglypuff, the musical Pokemon; and Luigi, who you know would just like to beat brother Mario senseless after being second banana to him all these years. If you're a Nintendo fan, you'll love the chance to see who can best hold their own against the others. And if you're a Nintendo hater ... well, this is a fighting game ... get the picture? All characters bring the skills and weapons from their own games into the ring. But you can also pick up special items that fall at random during each match. You'll recognize them all from other games, but they're really fun to play with here. You may get a star wand to thunk somebody with, a bomb soldier that'll blow 'em up, a Pokeball that'll release a Pokemon to fight for you, or shells, hammers and fireballs from the Mario games. You can choose a character and take on the others in a one-player Mortal Kombat-style tournament. But the real fun here is in the multiplayer modes. The time mode lets two-to-four players duke it out 'til the bell rings. The stock mode lets you choose reserve characters and brawl 'til only one's left standing. Along the way, you'll also discover three bonus stages that remind us of old-school Mario stuff. And if you beat all eight one-player levels, you'll find yourself in a 3-D version of the old NES Super Mario Bros. kingdom. Whether you're a fan of traditional brawling games or not, you'll find something to like here. The graphics are Nintendo perfect, and the action is fast, furious and tons of fun -- more cartoon-style than dead-on combat. Parents concerned about once-peaceable Mario becoming a thug really don't have anything to worry about. And you can't beat this cast of characters. Well actually, you can -- we suppose that's the whole point of this one. AGES 8 & UP. A+ TIPS AND TRICKS -- Here's how to unlock the secret characters. Finish the Practice 1 mode with all eight characters and you'll get Luigi. Finish a one-player game with any character and you'll get Jigglypuff. Finish with the "normal" difficulty setting and you'll get Ness. Finish in less than 20 minutes and you'll get Captain Falcon. For more tips, tricks, reviews and news, check us out on-line at http://vgames.webpoint.com/vid/ecol/mainpage . Or e-mail us at [email protected] . Got a question? An inside tip you'd like to share? Write to Chip and Jonathan Carter in care of this newspaper. While they cannot respond individually, they will answer questions of general interest in their column. (C) 1999 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC. Techno file index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA