Super Smash Flash

Super Smash Flash, commonly abbreviated SSF or SSF1, is an unofficial flash game created by McLeodGaming and Cleod9 Productions. The game is based on Super Smash Bros. Melee in the menu format, music, and numerous other fields such as game play modes. The game features several characters from the Super Smash Bros. series, such as Mario, Samus, Link, Kirby, and Pikachu. It also features many third-party characters, including Sonic (who, at the time of the game's creation, was not confirmed to be a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl) and Mega Man. The official sequel to this game is Super Smash Flash 2.

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

The arrow keys (or A, S, D, and W for a second player) are used to move the character around and crouch. The O and P keys (or G and F for a second player) are used to jump and attack, respectively. Pressing a movement button and the attack button together will initiate a special attack, much like Melee's B button attacks.

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 self-destruct. At the end of the designated time limit, the player with the most points wins. 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 their lives, they are out of the game, and the match's conclusion is reached when there is only one player left standing. In the Classic and Adventure modes, every level has both a time limit and a chosen amount of lives; if the player does not KO the opponent before time runs out, they lose a life and have to restart the level. Both modes can also be selected in the *game's Melee mode, but if a winner is not decided when the time runs out, the player with the highest number of lives left is declared the winner. Super Smash Bros. Melee's Coin and Bonus modes are absent.

The game is very similar to Melee, but most game mechanics are missing, and all characters are lightweight. In addition, characters lack recovery methods other than jumping.

Characters


This list is a compilation of the characters in Super Smash Flash that appear as playable characters and they are listed in alphabetical order. Shaded cells denote unlockable characters. To learn how to unlock them, click here.

Stages
Most of the eight stages in Super Smash Flash are based off of actual Melee stages, and have simplistic platforms and features.

Starter stages
Six of the eight stages do not have to be unlocked and can be selected in Melee and Training modes.


 * Peach's Castle: This stage consists of two flat platforms overlapping each other, and is the only stage where characters can walk off the stage boundaries, much like Flat Zone and Icicle Mountain. Holding the Down key for a few seconds will allow the player to jump down to the lower platform, while a simple jump allows the character to return to the starting platform. Players can also jump onto a Pipe.


 * Subcon: Based off of Melee ' s Mushroom Kingdom II stage, this level consists of three platforms, each separated by a waterfall that, if fallen into, counts as a lost life. This is another stage that can be "walked off" if the player is not careful enough. It will return in the sequel with a few changes.


 * Emerald Hill Zone: Credited as Emerald Hills, is a grassy area from the Sonic series, Emerald Hill Zone consists of a large, flat platform below three floating platforms, all at the same height. An extended version is available in SSF's Classic mode and Adventure mode, in which the player is forced to reach the end before time runs out.


 * Hyrule Temple: Hyrule Temple has a barren, flat platform with rock pillars that support four platforms above.


 * Dream Land: Credited as Whispy Woods, the stages is a direct copy of Super Smash Bros's stage with the same name (Dream Land), complete with three floating platforms and a sprite version of Whispy Woods. It returns in the sequel under the mistaked name of Whispy Woods doubt the tree's name in the background.


 * Pokémon Stadium: Based off of Melee ' s Pokemon Stadium stage, this simple level contains only two floating platforms above a flat field. Unlike the official Pokemon Stadium stage, however, this stage does not change forms.

Unlockable stages
Two stages can be unlocked for use in Melee and Training modes by completing certain criteria in the game. They are also available in several one-player modes where the stages are automatically chosen:


 * Final Destination: A completely flat, one-platformed level based off of Melee ' s own Final Destination can be unlocked by unlocking every character. It will return in the sequel as an unlockable stage again.


 * Battlefield: The home of Multi-Man Melee, and based off of the Battlefield stages in Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, SSF's Battlefield is a three-platformed stage that looks nearly identical to Dream Land. It can be unlocked by completing the All-Star mode with any character.

1-P Mode stages
This stages only appear in the game's Classic, Adventure and All-Star mode and aren't available in Versus mode and/or Training Mode.


 * Super Mario World: A exact replica of the second level in Super Mario World with Koopas and Paragoombas, the main goal is to reach the ending posts.


 * Floating Islands: This stage is the biggest in the game, it has little platforms and other more bigger. The goal is to reach a rock door in the top of the islands. The stage is famous for have one buttom of "Skip" that was supossed to skip the preview screen and for create the Wario's rumor doubt it has Wario Land 4 sprites.


 * Emerald Hill Zone (extended version): Is a extended version of the playable stage in the game. The goal is to reach a platform at the stage ending.
 * Kirby Hub Room: The target tests takes place in here and is the same to all playable characters with the only difference that the targets have different moves and places.


 * Rest Station:This stage is only available in the All-Star mode, it's similar to the Floating Islands because it has the same sprites. Here, the player can heal him by grabbing one of the 3 Heart Containers availables and make a pause before his next battle.

Game Modes
Super Smash Flash contains several game modes based off of traditional Melee game modes. All, save for All-Star, are unlocked from the beginning.


 * Classic Mode: Based off of Super Smash Bros. ' s 1P Game and Melee ' s Classic Mode, Classic is a single-player game where the player advances from level to level, fighting a certain amount of enemies on each level. These battles can range from anything between one single opponent to a Multi-Man Melee-like showdown. At the end is Master Hand, his sprite directly taken from Kirby and the Amazing Mirror for the Game Boy Advance.


 * Adventure Mode: A tip-of-the-hat to Melee ' s Adventure Mode, the Adventure is a single-player mode in which the player goes through several diverse worlds, fighting enemies as they go along. Some are traditional battles, but a few stages force the player to reach a designated finish line before time runs out.


 * All-Star Mode: All-Star mode is based off of Melee ' s All-Star Mode, and is automatically unlocked after all characters are unlocked. The goal is to fight against all 28 playable characters.


 * Target Test: Super Smash Flash's Target Test is a relatively short minigame in which a character must destroy eight targets as fast as they can. This mode is also included in SSF's Classic mode and is based off of Super Smash Bros. ' s Break the Targets and Melee ' s Target Test.


 * Multi-Man Melee: Based off of Melee ' s Multi-Man Melee mode, this mode has several sub-modes. However, the Endless Melee mode made popular by Melee is absent, and instead of fighting wireframes, the opponents are simply grayed-out versions of other playable characters. The sub-modes are:
 * 10-Man Melee
 * 100-Man Melee
 * 3-Minute Melee
 * 15-Minute Melee
 * Cruel Melee
 * Burly Brawl Melee


 * Melee: The only multiplayer mode in Super Smash Flash, Melee allows for up to two humans to battle simultaneously, as well as battle against up to 3 computers. This mode allows the player to set up single battles between computers or another human. As well as the standard free-for-all battle, Melee mode also allows for team battles, much like Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Items
Items from the Smash series, among other series, are featured:


 * Beam Sword
 * Bob-omb
 * Fan
 * Fire Flower
 * Flipper
 * Green Shell
 * Home-Run Bat
 * Heart Container
 * Maxim Tomato
 * Motion-Sensor Bomb

Development
Greg McLeod (Cleod9) founded a site named McLeodGaming to showcase his Flash creations, such as games, movies or music. Cleod9 developed three interactive different games during the early time of McLeodGaming. The games were Adivina La Película, The Cell and Pong (actually there were two versions of Pong: Multiplayer and Impossible). Two games were, basically, created for school project purposes.

Viewing the good job and ability he had with the Flash Player, Cleod9 had decided to make a whole new game. Being also a big Super Smash Bros. fan, decided to make the game based off on the last intallment in that moment: Super Smash Bros. Melee. To make it different from the original game, Cleod9 decided to added third-party characters into the game along other different features.

During the next four months, Cleod9 test and code every sprite, music and effect he got from the web, finally culminating with the creation of his new and first whole game, giving it the name of Super Smash Flash.

Reception
The game received, generally, mixed reviews from the day of its' launching, the reviews in Newgrounds, McLeodGaming site, and in other web sites clarified this game as one of the better Super Smash Bros. fan games ever created because it has similarities with the original Super Smash Bros. Melee, a choice of 28 playable characters (including a wish-list of characters), and many and good challenging tasks to do. Even it received these reviews and won popularity and fame, exists other heavy reviews that suggested it was a regular or even a bad game because of a critical number of annoying glitches, only one Vs. Mode, few stages and hard-to-control characters, giving it an honest ending rating of 4.18/5.00 from reviews in the Newgrounds site.

Glitches
As the game was created with Macromedia Flash, there are a lot of glitches. Notable glitches include Knuckles' down jump and the possibility of unlocking Final Destination with only starter characters and Jigglypuff. Some glitches only occur with certain characters; in Classic mode, Mario always runs off and dies, and Samus shortly follows.

But the most popular glitch is the one known as the Stage Clear glitch method, which consist in the player right-clicks at the start of anything, goes on settings, and while the settings box appears, right-click on the screen again and click on 'play'; or well by an easier way to press Ctrl with any of the arrow key, left or right. This will skip the stage/event and count as a win. If this is used on one of the multi-man melees, the player will automatically be sent through all the events before being challenged.

This glitch does not work on the Newgrounds version, or the Mario Games sites. Instead the player must press forward. If the player presses rewind, they will be sent to the loading screen.

One of the most crippling game bugs, however, was the instant-death attack. Virtually all of the playable characters in the game had at least one move that would instantly kill an opponent with approximately 50% or higher. Most of the time, this move was an up tilt attack that would send the opponent flying perfectly sideways until they died (which was usually within moments of getting hit, causing the move to appear as an instant kill). Other variations of this move include Master Hand's push (which sends the opponent straight up), and Master Hand's fist (which sent the player straight downwards and through the main platform). The existence of this bug made the game nearly impossible to unlock InuYasha and complete All-Star mode because one was almost certain to lose at least one life. But another glitch was found to help this, in which, when you fight Master hand, if you pause the game as Master hand is attacking, you will take no damage, and Master hands attack continues. The same doesn't work against any other opponent.

Trivia

 * Lloyd who appeared as an unlockable character in this game, appears in Super Smash Flash 2 as a starter character.
 * InuYasha, Young Link and Mr. Incredible are the only playable characters in this game that didn't return in the sequel as normal characters (those who are stater or unlockable characters), but may be accesible as expansion characters.
 * A big rumor that Wario (with another mysterious character) was planned for to be playable characters, but maybe the memory capacity wasn't sufficient to add him; so he had to wait the sequel to be a playable character.
 * Ironically, there is a Wario's reference: the Floating Islands stage in the Adventure Mode.
 * Like Super Smash Bros., the Mario universe, along with the Super smash Bros. universe is the only universe that has more than 1 stage in the game: Peach's Castle and Subcon.
 * According to the game's credits, the real name of Emerald Hill Zone and Dream Land are Emerald Hills and Whispy Woods respectively.