Super Smash Flash (series)

Super Smash Flash is a series of fan-made fighting games published by McLeodGaming. The series is based on the  series of crossover fighting games by Nintendo. As the name implies, both games are developed in and designed to be playable in a web browser.

Gameplay
The gameplay of the Super Smash Flash games is based heavily on that of the official Super Smash Bros. games. Up to four playable characters fight on a designated stage made up of platforms. Unlike most traditional fighting games, each character's health is measured by a damage percentage counter, and as the character is attacked, damage is accumulated and the percentage value increases. Each player's objective is to KO their opponents by knocking them outside the stage's boundaries, and as a character's damage percentage rises, they can be launched progressively farther by an opponent's attacks. Players can also attempt to recover when launched off of the stage, but failure to do so will lead to them falling out of bounds, resulting in a KO.

The controls in each game are also simplified compared to traditional fighting games. Players are able move and jump freely around the stage, and most attacks simply require the player to press an attack button while holding a direction. In the original Super Smash Flash, characters only have a total of five attacks each, activated by pressing the attack key along with a movement key, and some characters have an extra attack while jumping. The game's successor, Super Smash Flash 2, offers controls much more similar to those of the official games, including one input for standard attacks and another for special moves, as well as the ability to grab and throw opponents or put a shield up for defense.

The rules that can be used in a multiplayer match are adjustable by the player, with the two primary settings being Time and Stock. Time mode uses a point-based system in which players earn points when they KO an opponents and lose points when they themselves are KO'd or if they self-destruct. The player or team of players with the most points at the end of the set time limit wins the match. Stock mode uses a life-based system in which each player is given a set number of "stocks", with each player losing a stock when knocked out, and players are eliminated from the match if they run out of stocks. The winner is determined by the last player or team of players standing once all other players are eliminated or, if a time limit is present, the player or team of players with the most stocks remaining once time runs out. In the event of a tie in the original Super Smash Flash, the match ends in a draw, whereas in Super Smash Flash 2, a Sudden Death match takes place to determine the winner.

Both games also feature a variety of items that appear randomly across the stage. Players can adjust how often they appear, and in Super Smash Flash 2, they can also choose which particular items appear. Items can generally be picked up by players and have a variety of unique effects, such as activating upon being thrown, being swung like a melee weapon, firing projectiles, or healing the player's damage.

Super Smash Flash


The first game in the series is Super Smash Flash, commonly abbreviated as SSF. It was developed by Gregory McLeod over a span of about two to four months and is primarily based on . It was initially released as a browser game on the Newgrounds and McLeodGaming websites on August 21, 2006, and a downloadable version for PC and Mac was later released on August 28, 2006.

The game is loosely similar to Super Smash Bros. Melee in many areas, such as its characters, stages, items, game modes, and menu designs. However, it lacks many game mechanics from the official series. As mentioned previously, characters have five total attacks, with several having sixth attack while jumping, and lack actions such as grabbing, shielding, and special moves. Attacks in this game deal a particular amount of damage on each frame they are active, allowing players do deal large amounts of damage with a single attack. Additionally, the camera only follows player 1, making multiplayer gameplay disadvantageous for player 2.

A total of 28 characters (30 if shared slots are counted) are playable in this game, of which 13 are starters and 15 are unlockable. Many of these characters are simplified versions of characters in Melee. There are also several characters from third-party video game franchises such as, , and , as well as several characters from media outside of video games such as , , and. Notably, the game also features and, two fan characters created for this game. There are also 8 stages, many of which are based on actual Melee stages and have simplistic platforms and features, and 10 items based on items from Melee.

The Melee multiplayer game mode allows for up to two human players to battle simultaneously, as well as battle against up to three computer players. There are also several single-player game modes based on similar modes from Melee. The primary one is Classic, in which the player must complete eight levels of matches on one set of stocks, culminating in a fight against. Adventure is very similar to Classic but requires the player to reach the end of several linear platforming levels while fighting enemies in the way, with the final fight featuring in addition to Master Hand. The unlockable All-Star requires the player to fight against all 28 playable characters in succession with a limited amount of recovery items. The Stadium menu includes game modes featured in Classic and Adventure, including Target Test, in which the player must break eight targets as fast as possible, Multi-Man Melee, which features multiple sub-games centered around fighting the Fighting Silhouette Team.

Super Smash Flash 2


Super Smash Flash 2, often shortened as SSF2, is the successor to the original SSF. Its development is once again led by Gregory McLeod, except he now works with a much larger team of developers known as SSF2 Team. The earliest playable demo for the game, version 0.1, released on December 25, 2007, and new revisions of the demo are released over time as both a browser game and a downloadable game for PC, Mac, and Linux. The game was originally based on  and planned as a sequel to SSF, but following the release of v0.7 in 2011, it has since been considered a reboot. The final major release of the demo, Beta, released on May 29, 2017.

Compared to the original SSF, the gameplay in SSF2 is much more similar to that of the official games, and its more refined mechanics have been described as a combination of multiple Super Smash Bros. games with various creative liberties taken. Attacks now properly deal damage and knockback once per hit, and the more refined hitstun allows for combos to be performed.

Characters' movesets are also vastly expanded from SSF, with each character having multiple types of attacks that can be performed by holding a direction and attacking. In particular, there are four types of grounded attacks and aerial attacks performed with the attack input and four special moves performed with the special input, and characters can also grab and throw opponents. Characters can also perform a Final Smash, which is often a large and incredibly powerful attack, by breaking the Smash Ball item or filling a Final Smash Meter. There are also new defensive options, including the ability to put up a shield and sidestep or roll on the ground or dodge in mid-air. Controls can be fully customized by the player, and the game also supports the use of traditional controllers in addition to keyboards.

As of the current demo, there are 47 playable characters in the game. As the game is still in development, this number is still subject to change. Many of these characters are taken from the official Super Smash Bros. games and are often designed as a mixture of their various appearances, with some having new attacks altogether. New characters now span across both first-party and third-party video game franchises, and there are four characters from manga and anime franchises. Due to the more professional nature of the game's development, fan characters no longer appear.

There are also currently 67 stages, of which 17 are directly based on stages from the Super Smash Bros. games. These stages are often much more varied and complex in layout compared to those in SSF, and many of them now have stage hazards that can be toggled by the player and interfere with the match in various ways. Additionally, there are currently 46 items that appear, such as the aforementioned Smash Ball that allows players to unleash a Final Smash. Notably, the game also features the Assist Trophy, Poké Ball, and Master Ball items, which temporarily summon one of many non-playable characters that can aid or fight alongside the player.

The game's Group multiplayer mode supports up to four players at once and has additional options compared to SSF, such as a Stamina mode that replaces damage percentages with a traditional hit points system, the ability to select which items can appear, and various special modifiers that can be selected in Special Smash. Multiplayer matches can also be played online using a peer-to-peer connection through the McLeodGaming Network infrastructure. Many of the Solo game modes from SSF also return with updated structures, such as Classic, All-Star, Break the Targets, and Multi-Man Smash. Events features 57 specialized matches called "events" that each have a unique task to be completed by the player. Home-Run Contest requires the player to deal as much damage as possible to a helpless Sandbag before launching it a certain distance away. Crystal Smash is very similar to Break the Targets and requires the layer to destroy a certain number of large crystals as quickly as possible.