HAL Laboratory made a fighting game where winning meant knocking opponents off the stage, not depleting HP.
Super Smash Bros. was developed by HAL Laboratory under Masahiro Sakurai and released for Nintendo 64 in January 1999 — a party fighting game with a unique damage system: characters accumulated percentage damage and were knocked further as the percentage increased, with the goal of launching opponents off the stage rather than reducing HP to zero. The game featured eight playable characters from Nintendo's major franchises — Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, and Pikachu — with four unlockable characters. Super Smash Bros. sold 5.55 million copies and established a franchise that became one of Nintendo's most commercially significant properties.
— inspired by Masahiro Sakurai
About this game
Super Smash Bros. is the game that Masahiro Sakurai built in secret. Working without Nintendo's knowledge, Sakurai created a prototype in September 1997 — then called Dragon King: The Fighting Game — and showed it to HAL Laboratory colleague Satoru Iwata (later Nintendo's president) before bringing it to Nintendo. The concept: a fighting game where the objective is not to reduce a health bar to zero but to knock opponents off a platform. Twelve Nintendo characters. A crowd that could join at any skill level. It sold over five million copies worldwide and launched one of gaming's enduring competitive communities.
Key Features
Platform-based combat — knock opponents off the stage rather than deplete a health bar. Damage percentage system — higher percentage means greater knockback on any hit. 12 playable characters from Nintendo's flagship franchises: Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox McCloud, Pikachu, Luigi, Captain Falcon, Ness, and Jigglypuff. Nine single-player stages and four multiplayer battle stages. 1-4 player simultaneous gameplay with stock or timed matches. Items drawn from across Nintendo's history.
Gallery
The Story Behind
Super Smash Bros. arrived late in the N64's lifespan, in January 1999 in Japan. By this point, the PlayStation had captured market leadership globally, and the N64's release schedule was thinning. Into this context came a game that Nintendo's own internal teams had initially dismissed as unmarketable — a fighting game built not for fighting-game players but for people who wanted to play together regardless of skill. Its success proved that Nintendo's most unexpected ideas were sometimes its most durable ones. The competitive community that grew around Melee (2001) traces its DNA directly to this first entry, and major tournaments still feature the original as a side event.
Tricks & Tales
Sakurai developed the initial prototype entirely in his spare time without Nintendo's knowledge. He described his reasoning: fighting games were a commercially risky genre, so he needed to make something fully functional before showing it to anyone. Satoru Iwata joined the project to help with programming before it was presented to Nintendo. Ness was nearly cut from the roster due to concerns that EarthBound (Mother) was insufficiently known internationally. Captain Falcon's "FALCON PUNCH" voice acting became one of the most parodied audio clips in internet culture.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
Released worldwide, though with a significant delay between Japan (January 1999) and Europe (November 1999). Japanese cartridge plays on Japanese N64 and region-free modified units. The Japanese title — Dairantou Smash Brothers — differs from the English-language title.
Maintenance Tips
Super Smash Bros. N64 cartridges use SRAM for save data. Contact cleaning is the standard first step for any read issues. The game's cartridge is relatively compact and robust; the most common issue on surviving copies is contact oxidation from storage, which isopropyl cleaning resolves in most cases.
Going deeper
Explore the machine this game ran on, and what to check before you buy or care for one:
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese Super Smash Bros. copies regularly.
Will this Japanese Nintendo 64 cartridge work on a North American or European N64?
No, not without modification. The Nintendo 64 uses a regional CIC lockout chip, and Japanese N64 cartridges have a different physical shape from North American cartridges. Running Japanese software on a Western N64 requires both a cartridge adapter to bridge the shape difference and a method to bypass the CIC chip. A Japanese Nintendo 64 console is the simplest way to play Japanese N64 software.
How should I clean a Nintendo 64 cartridge?
Apply 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol to a cotton swab and wipe the gold-plated edge contacts on the base of the cartridge. The N64 connector slot is deep — a longer swab or folded swab helps reach all contacts. Never blow into the cartridge. N64 cartridges use 3.8mm security game bit screws if the shell needs to be opened. Most N64 boot failures trace to oxidized contacts; cleaning both the cartridge edge and the console slot is usually the complete fix.
Before You Buy
Things worth knowing before you buy Super Smash Bros.
A short checklist for buying a used Nintendo 64 cartridge wisely — useful with any seller, anywhere.
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Choose a seller who tests it before shipping
A copy that has actually been powered on and checked is a known quantity. An untested one is a gamble you only settle after it arrives.
Look for a seller who states it was function-tested and says what they confirmed. A serious seller can tell you exactly what was checked.
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Make sure it fits your console
This is a Japanese N64 cartridge. The N64 is region-locked by shape and lockout, so a Japanese cart needs a Japanese console or an adapter.
Play it on a matching Japanese console or a region-free system, and confirm the listing states the region.
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If this title saves your progress, check the battery
Cartridges that save use a small coin-cell battery that fades over decades — a dead one wipes your save without warning.
Ask the seller whether the save function was tested. Replacing the battery is possible, but doing so erases any existing save.
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Check that the contacts are clean
Dirty edge contacts are the most common cause of startup and sound trouble in cartridges of this age.
Choose a seller who cleans the contacts before shipping. A note that it was tested and cleaned means the basics were handled.
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Read the seller's reviews and return policy
A 100% positive record across thousands of sales is close to a guarantee — packing, communication and problem-solving all work for everyone. A return policy protects you if something is off.
Read the feedback and confirm a clear return window before you buy.
The last step before buying anywhere is knowing what it's worth.
See what it's selling for on eBay →Unexpected Discoveries
Games you weren't looking for — but might be glad you found.
Rooms this game lives in
Wander deeper — explore the themed rooms where Super Smash Bros. sits alongside its kin.
Memories from around the world
This is a young museum, and this page is still waiting for its first voices. The memories people send reach Taisei personally, and the ones that move him find a home here over time — always with the writer's blessing. Yours could be the very first for this game.
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