Super Smash Flash 2

Super Smash Flash 2, commonly abbreviated SSF2, is a periodically demo-released Adobe Flash Player 10 non-profit fangame developed by the Super Smash Flash 2 Developer Group, in colaboration with Cleod9 Productions, and published by McLeodGaming. It is the direct and official sequel of the popular fangame Super Smash Flash. The game is loosely based on the Super Smash Bros. series, specifically Super Smash Bros. Brawl; featuring many characters from the aforementoned series and game, such as Mario, Link, and Kirby. However, the Flash game is not a clone of Super Smash Bros. Brawl due to the fact that it features third party characters, outside of the limits from Nintendo, such as Lloyd and Mega Man. The game also features the adition of manga/anime-originated characters such as Ichigo Kurosaki and Son Goku.

NOTE: Since this game is still under development, anything 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 2D 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 controls are switched by default. The A, S, D, and W key are now assigned to Player 1's movement, while the arrow keys move a second player. However, the O and P keys still remain in the P-1 possession; 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. Meanwhile 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. Coin matches are also avalaible. 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 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 out of the game, and the match's conclusion is reached when there is only one player left standing. In Coin matches, that make use of a time system, each player has to attack his opponents to spawn coins from them, the stronger the attack is, the higher value the coin will be. If a player is KO'd, his coin amount will be reduced to the half. The player with the most coins wins.

Almost every mechanic missing from Super Smash Flash is added to Super Smash Flash 2, making it more similar to the rest of the Super Smash Bros. series than its predecessor.

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

There are 2 types of characters: the Starter Characters, which are available for use from the beginning, and the Unlockable Characters, which are accessible only after being unlocked.

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 21. They are listed in alphabetical order. Three characters from the past game are confirmed to not return: Young Link, InuYasha and Mr. Incredible. Mega Man X was intended to be replaced with Model X, who was ultimately replaced by the classic Mega Man; which has sparked controversy regarding whether Mega Man should be regarded as a newcomer or veteran. All deconfirmed characters may return as expansion characters.

Expansion characters
The expansion characters are optional playable characters not available as a normal characters and, thus, need to be downloaded into the game. This kind of characters are treated in the Super Smash Flash 2 Expansion Forums. With this concept, many characters that didn't get into the SSF2 roster, may be added to the content of many people.

Adventure Mode: The Flash Of Shadows
The story mode for SSF2 is entitled The Flash Of Shadows. It will be a downloadable extension that will only work for the EXE version (downloadable version) of the game. The mode is developed by a group of SSF2 Devs known as The Flash Of Shadows Writers, led by Suliboy. The storyline is completed but is yet to be revealed.

Adventure Mode
As a downloadable extension, The Flash Of Shadows won't be available for the browser version of SSF2. Instead, there will be a standard Adventure Mode similar to SSF's Adventure Mode but considerably larger and with more stages; however, none of them are known at the moment. This game mode will be also availaible for the EXE version too.

Classic Mode
Classic Mode was confirmed to return. This time it will more stages and new bonuses. You fight a random order of characters while progressing through this mode. It is yet to be confirmed if the final boss will be Master Hand (and Crazy Hand on higher difficulties). Also, no stages have been confirmed yet.

All-Star Mode
All-Star Mode is a presumed unlockable game mode obtained when all of the secret characters are unlocked. You will fight all characters in their respective series. Just like in Brawl, you fight them as one series then move on to the next. But unlike Brawl, the order of the series' is said to be random.

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 's Fighting Shadow Team or if there will be a different team like Brawl's Fighting Alloy Team. The sub-modes are yet to be confirmed, most likely the same as SSF.

Brawl Mode
Brawl Mode is the standard fighting mode for the game. The first thing you must do after clicking it is select your character. To select the character you want, click and drag the circle with you player number on it to the character's face you want. You can also tint your character(s) to different colors.

Once the characters are selected, you may decide how difficult you want the foe's AI to be. Below each CPU, there is a slider that lets you 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!" If you click that bar, another screen pops up. In this menu you can decide how long the match will be, and/or how many lives you get. You 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 you start out with), and whether or not to display the player number above characters' heads at all times.

In the top right corner of the options screen there is a circular button with a gamepad on it. If you click that button, another screen pops up. Here you can decide what controls you want to use. If you are playing against someone else, you can decide what their controls will be too. To change their controls, click the players' number, then click on the name of the command you would like to change. Then press the key you want to trigger that action. You can set up controls for up to four people, and up and jump may be mapped to the same key. Once you are done, click back to return to the character select screen. Once everything is set up the way you want, click "GO!".

After you have everything set up the way you want it, you must pick a stage. Hover over the small boxes to see a bigger preview of the stages on the right. You simply have to click on the stage you want and then you're ready to fight. All 45 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.

Star Snag Brawl
Star Snag Brawl is a debated VS. game mode that is similar to New Super Mario Bros.' "Mario vs. Luigi" 2P game mode. It was created by itsameSMB. Your goal in a Star Snag Brawl is to get the highest collection score of all of the combatants before the time limit is up. To do this, you must collect items called big stars. You start out with 0-5 big stars (depending on the handicap; 3 is the default) and you can get more by grabbing them when they appear or stealing them from other players (hence Star Snag).

Final Form Brawl
Final Form Brawl is another debated VS. game mode in which all the Final Forms in the game will fight each other as if they were normal characters. Characters without Final Forms (including Semi-Final Forms) will not be selectable in this mode. Unlike Brawl mode, Final Forms will have neither a Final Form Bar nor such high knockback resistance and damage dealout.

Events
Events have been confirmed for inclusion. They are open for anyone to make, and expand beyond Brawl to minigames and such with a specific objective the player must achieve in order to complete the event. Events include different characters, stages, and items. Most of the time, they tell stories.

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:


 * Battlefield
 * Casino Night Zone
 * Castle Wily
 * Central Highway
 * Chaos Shrine
 * Dream Land
 * Final Destination
 * Galaxy Tours:
 * Comet Observatory (main)
 * Freezeflame Galaxy
 * Good Egg Galaxy
 * Green Hill Zone
 * Hidden Leaf Village
 * Hueco Mundo
 * Hyrule Temple
 * Jungle Hijinx
 * Mushroom Kingdom II
 * Planet Namek
 * Rainbow Route
 * Saturn Valley
 * Sector Z
 * Shadow Moses Island
 * Temple of Time
 * Tower of Salvation
 * Twilight Town
 * Waiting Room
 * WarioWare, Inc.
 * Yoshi's Island

In addition to the confirmed arenas, the Super Smash Flash 2 Mini-Trailers have showcased other arenas in gameplay, but these have yet to be officially confirmed or deconfirmed. The stages are as follows:


 * Abandoned Warehouse
 * Awakening
 * Battlefield (Melee)
 * Battlerock Galaxy (sub-stage of Galaxy Tours)
 * Bridge of Eldin
 * Flying Battery Zone
 * Fountain of Dreams
 * Frigate Orpheon
 * Ghostly Galaxy (sub-stage of Galaxy Tours)
 * Luigi's Mansion
 * Lylat Cruise
 * Peach's Castle (SSB)
 * Shadow Moses Island (beta)
 * Underground (Third tier of Castle Siege

Stage Builder
The Stage Builder let you create your own stages using different themes. It also includes hazards such as spikes, conveyor belts, springs, etc. It is unknown at this time when it will be added.

Items
Items are weapons that characters grab from the foreground and use 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!!:


 * Beam Sword
 * Bob-omb
 * Capsule (normal and explosive)
 * Cucco
 * E-Tank
 * Exploding Tag
 * Fan
 * Food
 * Green Shell
 * Heart Container
 * Home-Run Bat
 * Maxim Tomato
 * Mr. Saturn
 * Ray Gun
 * Red Shell
 * Smash Ball
 * Spike Shell
 * Trigger Item

Poké Balls
The game will feature Poké Balls that were absent from the first game. When thrown, it will release a randomly chosen Pokémon to aid the player; however, the Pokémon released can sometimes be useless. So far, these Pokémon have been confirmed:


 * Charizard
 * Chikorita
 * Delibird
 * Gligar
 * Hitmonlee
 * Koffing
 * Magikarp
 * MissingNo.

Assist Trophies
A feature new to Brawl, Assist Trophies will make an appearance in SSF2; it consists of grabbing a capsule-like trophy to summon a random guest character, and simliar to Pokémon, the summoned character will aid the player that summoned him/her and attack the opponents. These Assist Trophy characters have been confirmed so far:


 * Amigo
 * Bandana Dee
 * Light Yagami
 * Metroid Hatchling
 * Pac-Man
 * Proto Man
 * Renji Abarai
 * Starfy
 * Viewtiful Joe

Battle Cards
A completely new feature coming directly from the Kingdom Hearts series, the Battle Cards can cause a singular effect on the player who grab it. Most notably, some work in a similar way to Assist Trophies, with the difference only Kingdom Hearts and Disney characters can be summoned, this characters also have unique features that neither Pokémon or Assist Trophies have. There are four different colored-cards but it is "presumed" there is fifth color. These characters have been confirmed:


 * Genie
 * Jack Skellington
 * Stitch

Trophies
It has been confirmed that there will be random appearance trophies, similar to Melee and Brawl's, and 3 trophies for each character (most likely). It is not certain what trophies there will be.

There is a trophy compilation with content not publicly described here:


 * Trophy's List 1
 * Trophy’s List 2
 * Trophy’s List 3

Note these links' trophies are outdated.

Development
During 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. Viewing the demands of people and the big 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. This also led to the creation of an usergroup called the Super Smash Flash 2 Developers, which keeps track on users with major contribuitions within the development for the game.

Periodically, Super Smash Flash 2 is released to public by Cleod9 in a demo format that includes, as newer versions are released; many enhancements, like characters improvements, bug fixes, new stages, etc. This way, everything is tested before the final release. The first ever playable demo was released on Christmas of 2007. Since Super Smash Bros. Brawl hadn't been released in that moment, Cleod9 developed his own mechanisms of the game, just like the ground Smash Ball. Many other mechanisms were implemented with the released of newer and better demos after Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released.

Some of the promotion for the game is in charge 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.

Wii compatibility
Cleod9 has confirmed that he is attempting Wii Web browser (Internet Channel) compatibility with Wiimote. Thus far, no demos have accomplished this feat yet, however it is currently possible to play some games, but not SSF2, with a USB keyboard on the Wii.

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


 * Characters (including veterans) 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 an 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 damage almost to 50%+ per hit.
 * Certain characters can now use tether recoveries. Ex. Link, Samus, etc.
 * Wall jumping has been implemented.
 * Air dodging and sidestep dodging have been implemented.
 * Tints have been implemented.
 * On-Screen Appearances have been added.
 * Revival platforms have been added (each character has an unique revival platform that represents something from their own universe).
 * The Camera is no longer in a single angle and it doesn't only follow P-1 anymore.
 * Stage angles can be controlled while paused.
 * Contains exclusive and/or edited sprites' animations. Ex. Mario, Kirby, etc.
 * The Skip glitch, along with many other glitches, have been removed.
 * More P-1 Modes and Vs. Modes have been added, some were improved.
 * A completely new Adventure Mode mechanism has been implemented.
 * Trophies have been added.
 * Stage Builder has been added.

Reception and impact
From the view of the demos, Super Smash Flash 2 is considered a big departure from its predecesor thanks to its improvements done on the gameplay, controls and interface that were widely critizied 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 polish an decent touch, despite some being ripped from other official games, with minor complains focusing on the games' choices for the rips, such as Mario using edited Super Mario World sprites rather than Mario & Luigi series sprites, which other flash works out of McLeodGaming, used. Nonetheless, Developers, nor Cleod9, will not be changing the sprites only because of this. 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. Critics for the game were focused on the bugs and lag found in the demos, making the game uncomfortable and tired to play, but that are ultimately fixed in future releases. The sound effects has also been critizied due the tone changes and unfitting clips on the voices of some characters, like Wario's dash attack for example. While it is still under development, according Cleod9; the unproper loop for background music on menus and stages has also been critizied.

From many Super Smash Bros. fangames, Super Smash Flash 2 is considered a very advanced game, thanks to its constant progress and notifications from part of its developers, wheter other games are simply left under development or are abandoned without any advice. GamesRadar listed Super Smash Flash 2, 5th on its list of "10 fan games that shouldn't be ceased or desisted" citing the improvments and characters added from the first game. It is by far one of the most popular Flash games around the internet and has been compared to other similar projects that, like Super Smash Flash 2, have constant development and are not abandoned like Super Smash Bros. Crusade and Super Nuke Bros. Melee, who are considered by fans, the main competitors for Super Smash Flash 2.