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Published by Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO, PO Box 398166, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55439.
Copyright 2022 by Abdo Consulting Group, Inc. International copyrights reserved in all countries.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.
Checkerboard Library is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing.
Printed in the United States of America, North Mankato, Minnesota
052021
092021
Design: Aruna Rangarajan, Mighty Media, Inc.
Production: Mighty Media, Inc.
Editor: Rebecca Felix
Design Elements: Shutterstock Images
Cover Photograph: AntMan3001/Flickr
Interior Photographs: Alpha/Flickr, p. 16; AntMan3001/Flickr, pp. 18-19, 23, 29 (top); Courtesy of The
Strong, Rochester, New York, p. 11; Farley Santos/Flickr, pp. 5, 21, 29 (bottom right); Instacodez/Flickr,
p. 25 (bottom); Handout/Getty Images, p. 27; Jordan Strauss/AP Images, p. 13; Mighty Media, p. 4; Paul
Boxley/Flickr, p. 6; Phillip Jeffrey/Flickr, p. 24; Picasa 2.7/Flickr, pp. 7, 28 (bottom left); Ric Francis/AP
Images, p. 9; Shutterstock Images, p. 25; Sophie Lenaerts/Cdric Simon/Flickr, pp. 15, 28-29
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020949733
Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rusick, Jessica, author.
Title: Super Smash Bros. / by Jessica Rusick
Description: Minneapolis, Minnesota : Abdo Publishing, 2022 | Series: Game On! | Includes online
resources and index.
Identifiers: ISBN 9781532195822 (lib. bdg.) | ISBN 9781644945506 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781098216559 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Video games--Juvenile literature. | Super Smash Bros. (Game)--Juvenile literature. |
Nintendo video games--Juvenile literature. | Hand-to-hand fighting--Juvenile literature. | Video
games and children--Juvenile literature.
Classification: DDC 794.8--dc23
NOTE TO READERS
Video games that depict shooting or other violent acts should be subject to adult discretion and
awareness that exposure to such acts may affect players perceptions of violence in the real world.
SMASH BROS. SHOWDOWN
Four popular video game characters stand on a rocky stage
that floats above waterfalls.
A countdown ends and the
characters attack one another at lightning speed. They hurl
items at each other and try to blast one another off the stage.
Who will win this Super Smash Bros. battle, and who will be
eliminated by knockout ?
Super Smash Bros. is the best-selling fighting video game
franchise of all time. In each title, players battle as their favorite
characters from video game
company Nintendo and other
video game franchises. These
franchises include Mario ,
Pokmon , Animal Crossing ,
and PAC-MAN .
LOGO LINES
The Super Smash Bros. logo is
a circle with two crossed lines.
These lines represent
the crossover fights
between characters
in the Super Smash
Bros. series .
Donkey Kong ( game cover, top left ) and Mario ( game cover,
bottom left ) were the first two Super Smash Bros. characters.
Super Smash Bros. has been a fan favorite for more than
20 years. And, its still going strong. Each new game features
more characters and special features than the last!
SMASH BROS. MASTERMIND
Super Smash Bros . creator Masahiro Sakurai was born in Tokyo,
Japan, in 1970.
At age 19, Sakurai began working for HAL
Laboratory. This company helped develop games for Nintendo.
In 1996, while working at HAL, Sakurai had an idea for a new
type of fighting game.
At the time, fighting games featured only two-player
fights.
To win, a player depleted the other players health
bar. Sakurai wanted to make a game with four-players fights.
And, there would be no health bars. Instead, a player would
win by launching opponents off
the stage .
Sakurai believed his fighting
game would be perfect the
Nintendo 64 (N64) console . The
N64 was the first home gaming
KIRBY
In 1989, Sakurai designed the
character Kirby ( pictured ).
Kirby went on to star in
several Nintendo
games. He is
also a character
in every Super
Smash Bros. game.
BUILDING THE GAME
Sakurai asked HAL president Satoru Iwata to help him develop
his fighting game.
Sakurai worked on game planning and
design.
Iwata worked on programming .
The men created a prototype game called Dragon King:
The Fighting Game in 1996.
Its fighters were faceless. But
Sakurai thought players would enjoy the game more if it used
established Nintendo characters as fighters!
Sakurai asked Nintendo for permission to use its characters
in the game. Nintendo said no. But Sakurai and Iwata used
Nintendo characters anyway to redevelop the prototype. In
1998, the men showed it to Nintendo.
Nintendo executives loved the
prototype! The company gave HAL
permission to develop a game using
Nintendo characters.
Super Smash
Bros. was born.
PLAYING TO LEARN
Sakurai often plays new
video games. He believes
he can learn something
new about game design
from each one.
Before Dragon King: The
Fighting Game got its name,
its developers called the
game 4-player Battle Royal.
SUPER SMASH BROS.
Super Smash Bros. was released for the N64 in 1999.
The games
main mode was Versus. In Versus mode, up to four players
could fight each other at once.
They battled on stages inspired
by Nintendo games.
Versus mode featured eight base Nintendo characters.
These included Mario, Link, Kirby, and Pikachu. Players could
unlock four more characters by playing the games single-player
mode. In this mode, one player fought against opponents
controlled by the games central processing unit (CPU) . These
characters are called CPU opponents.
The N64 controller allowed players to move characters more
easily than in other fighting games. Fun, easy gameplay made
Super Smash Bros. an instant hit!
It became one of the N64s
best-selling games.