Super Smash Flash 2

Super Smash Flash 2, commonly abbreviated SSF2, is an upcoming non-profit Flash fighting fan game developed by the Super Smash Flash 2 Developer Group, led by Cleod9 of Cleod9 Productions, and published by McLeodGaming. Although initially referred to as a sequel, Super Smash Flash 2 is a reboot of the critically received fan game Super Smash Flash. The game is loosely based on the Super Smash Bros. series, specifically Super Smash Bros. Brawl; featuring many characters from the aforementioned series and game, such as Mario, Link, and Kirby. However, the Flash game does not aim to clone Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as the content inclusion criteria has been loosened greatly to include content from any series that has ever appeared on a Nintendo console, allowing the roster access to other 3rd and 4th party characters including, but not limited to Lloyd, Mega Man, Ichigo, and Goku.

NOTE: Since this game is still under active development, all information below is subject to change at any time.

Gameplay
The following explanation is based on the gameplay of the demo.

Super Smash Flash 2's gameplay is very similar to the official Super Smash Bros. games. Unlike most traditional fighting games, a character's health is measured by a damage percentage counter. As the character is attacked, damage accumulates, and the percent value increases. The higher the percentage, the easier it is for a character to be knocked off the stage.

The controls are also different from its predecessor. The A, S, D, and W keys are now assigned to Player 1's movement, while the arrow keys move a second player. The O and P keys still remain in P-1's possession, however, as the O key is used for special moves (or activating a Final Smash), the P key for standard attacks, the I key for shield, and the 1 key for taunting. P-2 uses the 1 key on the numpad for special moves (or activating a Final Smash), numpad 2 for standard attacks, numpad 3 for shield and numpad 4 for taunt. Players can customize their controls in the menu.

Matches can be played in either Time mode, Stock mode, or a combination of the two. In Time mode, each player receives a point when they KO an opponent, and loses a point if they are KO'd, or if they self-destruct. At the end of the designated time limit, the player with the most points wins. Should two or more players accumulate the same amount of points, there will be a Sudden Death match to determine the winner. In Stock mode, each player is given a chosen amount of lives, and every time they are KO'd or self-destruct, they lose a life. When a player loses all of their lives, they are "defeated", and the match concludes when there is only one player left standing.

Playable characters
The characters are the fighters that Brawl had in Super Smash Flash 2, representing the universe in which they belong. Each character has a number of special attacks, standard attacks and a unique special move called a "Final Smash".

There are 2 types of characters: starter characters, which are available for use from the beginning, and unlockable characters, which are accessible only after being unlocked. Five characters from the past game are confirmed to not return:, , , and. was intended to be replaced with Model X, who was ultimately replaced by the classic ; which has sparked controversy regarding whether Mega Man should be regarded as a newcomer or veteran. All deconfirmed characters have the possibility to return as expansion characters.

This list is a compilation of the characters in Super Smash Flash 2 that have been confirmed to appear as playable characters, with a total so far of 31 (including Sheik) as of v0.9. They are listed here by series.

Starter characters
These are the characters available when turning on the game for the first time:

Expansion characters
Expansion characters are optional playable characters not bundled with the game, and thus, need to be downloaded. This concept allows any player with time, dedication, sprites, and a copy of Flash to create a playable character for others to enjoy.

Stages
A stage is an arena where battles take place. Some stages have hazards to add uniqueness and complexity. Listed below are stages that have been confirmed to appear in the game:

Starship Mario
In addition to the stages listed above, there exists a special Mario stage (set in the Super Mario Galaxy games' locations) called Starship Mario, whose singular hazard allows it to change its layout over the pass of the time. These are the forms the stage changes to:

Adventure Mode stages
These stages are only playable in the Adventure Mode and, thus, are not available for Versus Mode:

There are also other locations shown in the Smash Flash DOJO!!! that hint the appearance of a Kirby-themed with Waddle Dees and Bronto Burts; and a Mega Man-themed stage, hinted by Dr. Wily's appearance as a boss. The demo v0.8 intro shows Tails running across a loop in a stage that resembles Angel Island Zone, but the inclusion of this stage into the game in unconfirmed.

Items
Items fall from random places on stages, and characters can grab from the foreground and use them to attack, affect their status, or protect them. Below is a list of all items in the demo.

Normal Items
Some items come from the Super Smash Bros. series, and others come from the McLeodGaming series. They appear randomly in the stages or inside of containers, such as capsules. These items have been confirmed and are featured in the current SSF2 demo and/or the DOJO!!:

Poké Ball Pokémon
These are the Pokémon that have been confirmed to be released from Poké Balls:

Assist Trophy characters
These are the characters that have been confirmed to be summoned with the Assist Trophy:

Solo
These modes are exclusively for 1-Player only.

Adventure mode
There will be a Melee-styled Adventure Mode, somewhat similar to  SSF' s Adventure Mode returning in SSF2. Levels are based around the known multiple locations from the game franchises represented thorough the game, such as Super Mario ' s Mushroom Kingdom. Aside enemies and obstacles, player may also encounter locked doors, mid-bosses and cannons.

Classic mode
Classic mode has been confirmed to return; this time with more stages and new bonuses. In Classic Mode, players fight a random order of characters on their respective stages. It is yet to be confirmed if the final boss will be Master Hand (and Crazy Hand on higher difficulties).

All-Star mode
All-Star mode is an assumed unlockable game mode, likely to be obtained when all of the secret characters are unlocked. Mirroring Brawl, players will likely fight all characters and their respective series, in order. But unlike Brawl, the order of the series themselves, is said to be random.

Training mode
Training mode allows player to test characters on the multiple stages available for the game. By pausing, player can get access to a menu that they can alter and change the surrounding of the battle, like adding or removing opponent characters, spawn items, increase or decrease the speed, etc..

Stadium
Stadium is series of 1-player sub-games which includes the following modes:

Target Smash!!
Target Smash!! put the player to destroy 10 targets in the minimal amount of time possible. There are 3 levels available.

Multi-Man mode
Multi-Man mode is a single-player mode that will challenge the player to defeat as many opponents as possible, under various pretenses, before falling from the stage, self-destructing, or being KO'd. It is not confirmed if the opponents will again be SSF Fighting Shadow Team or if there will be a different team like Brawl ' s Fighting Alloy Team. As of now, only cruel mode is confirmed.

Group
This mode focuses on Vs. modes and multiplayer modes.

Versus mode
Versus mode is the standard fighting mode for the game. The first thing is to select a character. To select a character, the players have click and drag the token with thier respective player number on it to the character's mugshot. To add variety, players are able to tint thier character(s) to different colors.

Once the characters are selected, the players may decide how difficult the AI will be, in case they want the missing slots to be filled by the computer. Below each CPU, there is a slider that lets the player select the CPU's difficulty. The further right the slider, the more difficult the CPU. Nine is the highest level of difficulty.

In the top of the character select screen there is a large gray bar that says "-man KO test!" Clicking on it will lead to the configuration screen to change many settings for the matches like how long the match will be, and/or how many lives player will start at. Players can also determine the damage ratio, (a value that multiplies with knockback that changes the distance a foe is thrown by attacks), the item frequency (how often items appear), the start damage (how much damage players start out with), whether or not to display the player number above characters' heads at all times or set the stage hazards either on or off.

In the top right corner of the options screen there is a circular button with a gamepad on it. Clicking on it lead to the control configuration where players can decide what controls they want to use. To change the controls, players have to click the players' number, then click on the name of the command they want to input or change, then press the key they want to trigger that action. Players can set up controls for up to four people, and up and jump may be mapped to the same key. Once everything is set up the way desired, players have to click "Ready to fight" or press the space bar.

What proceeds is the stage selection. Selecting the stage is mostly the same as selecting a character, players have to place the cursor over a stage mugshot and simply click to take them into the battle. All characters have a brief entrance animation before the match begins during the 3 second countdown.

The difference between this mode and the Melee mode of SSF is that now secret characters can be unlocked by playing a certain number of matches.

Special mode
Special mode, or special versus, allows players to select special modifiers for play, such as "mega mode" which causes all characters to be as large as if they've used a Super Mushroom. Other modifiers include lower gravity and any damage taken trapping the player inside a Yoshi egg.

Online mode
Online mode allows players to fight each other via an internet connection with the help of McLeodGaming Network, SSF2 ' s personal online service. Players can choose whether they create a room for other to join or simply join an existing room to play online.

Trophies
It has been confirmed that there will be collectible trophies. It is not confirmed what trophies there will be.

Development
Following the release of the first Super Smash Flash in 2006, Nintendo announced the development of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the third installment of the series. Seeing the popular demand for a sequel, and the popularity of his first game, Greg McLeod (Cleod9) decided to make a new Super Smash Flash game loosely based on Super Smash Bros. Brawl, crowning it the appropriate name of Super Smash Flash 2.

Cleod9 made this announcement on the McLeodGaming Forums, so its members could provide him with sprites, effects, and sounds to make his new game. In seeing how open the development of the game was, this soon also led to the creation of a usergroup called the Super Smash Flash 2 Developers, which keeps track of users with major contributions to the development for the game, and hiding the majority of the content from the public.

Super Smash Flash 2 is released to public by Cleod9 in a demo format that gives the public a sneak peek of the progress that is being made on the game. Newer versions are periodically released with many enhancements, such as character improvements, bug fixes, new stages, etc. In doing this, everything is tested before the final release, the public stays excited for the game, and no unlockable content is spoiled in doing so. The first ever playable demo, version 0.1a, was released on Christmas of 2007. Since Super Smash Bros. Brawl hadn't been released as of that moment, Cleod9 developed his own game mechanisms, such as the grounded, pick-up-able Smash Ball. Many other mechanisms were implemented with the release of newer and improved demos after Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released.

Some of the promotion for the game is in the hands of the Developers. A trailer was released to project the game's existence to non-McLeodGaming Forums members. A DOJO!!! was also released to provide info on characters, stages, and many other things relating to Super Smash Flash 2.

In 2010, Super Smash Flash 2 received a major overhaul. The demo relased that year, version 0.6, was the last demo where Cleod9 handled all the coding by himself. All the progress that was done at that point was scrapped and developers began working fresh on the game, Cleod9 now received more help in the coding by other developers. The planned rosters was changed and is kept in secret by developers since, From that point onwards, Super Smash Flash 2 would be called a reboot to Super Smash Flash rather than a sequel.

Differences from Super Smash Flash
Super Smash Flash 2 also improved many qualms and errors from the first Super Smash Flash retaining few mechanisms but fixing some others.


 * Characters have gained eight different standard attacks (a standard combo, three strong attacks, three smash attacks, and a dash attack), five different aerial attacks, four different special moves, and a unique Final Smash.
 * Characters can protect themselves by shielding.
 * Characters can perform 3 different taunts.
 * Characters can pummel and throw in 4 different directions.
 * Characters can grab on to stages, ledges, and use ledge attacks.
 * Characters' attack can no longer deal massive damage and multiple hits with one attack unless specifically coded to do so.
 * Certain characters can now use tether recoveries. Ex.: Link, Samus.
 * Wall jumping has been implemented.
 * Air dodging and sidestep dodging have been implemented.
 * Color changes have been implemented.
 * On-Screen Appearances have been added.
 * Revival platforms have been added.
 * The camera is no longer in a single angle and follows all players, rather than just P1.
 * The camera can be panned and zoomed while paused, and can take pictures.
 * Contains exclusive and/or edited sprites' by the SSF2 Devs. Ex. Mario, Kirby, Ness, etc.
 * The Skip glitch, along with many other glitches, have been remedied.
 * More P-1 Modes and Vs. Modes have been added and others improved.
 * A completely new Adventure Mode mechanism will be implemented.
 * Trophies will be added.
 * Stage Builder will be added.

Reception and impact
Super Smash Flash 2 has received a very positive response from players, greatly overshadowing its predecessor. From the view of the demos, Super Smash Flash 2 is considered a big departure from its predecessor thanks to its improvements on the gameplay, controls and interface that were widely criticized from the first game, being more similar to those from the official Smash Bros. games. The sprites and tileset from the stages have received some praised for their unique design, edits and complexity which gives the game a unique polish, despite some being ripped from other official games, with minor complaints focusing on the origin of the rips, such as Mario using edited Super Mario World sprites rather than Mario & Luigi series sprites, which other Flash works from McLeodGaming used.

The game modes and items, not present in any the official Smash Bros. games have also met a positive reaction citing them as original and clever, comparing them with the actual modes and items from the official games. Criticism for the game is focused on the bugs and lag found in the demos, making the game uncomfortable and tiring to play, but most are ultimately fixed in timely demo updates. The sound effects have also been criticized due the tone changes and unfitting clips on the voices of some characters, like Wario's dash attack for example. While, according to Cleod9, it is still under development, the improper looping of background music on menus and stages has also been criticized.

From many Super Smash Bros. fan games, Super Smash Flash 2 is considered a very advanced game, thanks to its constant progress and attention given to it from its Developers, while many other fan games are simply left in development or are abandoned without any notice. GamesRadar listed Super Smash Flash 2, 5th on its list of "10 Fan Games That Shouldn't Be Ceased or Desisted" citing the improvements and characters added from the first game. It is by far one of the most popular Flash games around the Internet, scoring over 400,000 plays a day on McLeodGaming alone, and has been compared to other similarly successful Smash-oriented fan projects that, much like Super Smash Flash 2, have constant development, such as Super Smash Bros. Crusade and Super Smash Land, who are often considered as the main competition for Super Smash Flash 2 for the title of Best Smash Fan game.