Super Smash Bros had such an interesting philosophy during it's initial concept. It was in large part an examination and response to the fighting games of the time. A lot of fighting games, in competition with each other, we're becoming increasingly complex. This was great for hardcore fans and has given us fantastic game franchises like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Soul Calibur.
However, the increased complexity meant that a complete newbie would have a much harder time playing these games. It meant that players would need to learn long complex combos to have a chance at winning and pushed the meta of each respective game out of reach of more casual players.
"DragonKing: The Fighting Game"
This was the environment that the smash prototype was made, originally titled "DragonKing: The Fighting Game"
In an attempt to make something more accessible, some interesting design choices were made during development.
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Health bars were removed and were replaced with an accumulating damage system that launched players further based on how much damage had been taken. This was meant to incentivize improvisation since your opponent would vary in distance moved depening on when they were hit, in which direction they were hit, and by how strong an attack they were hit by.
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It was made as a 4 player party game instead of the traditionally 1 vs 1 fighting game. This would drastically change the dynamic of a match and necessarily create new strategies for players.
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Lastly the stages were made into multi level dynamic stages meant to keep players moving. This was in stark contrast to most fighting games that kept players on flat even ground.
Final Thoughts
It's funny to think that combos eventually did make it back into smash bros within the competitive scene, but I find it so interesting that an earnest attempt for accessibility and fun was able to create such an iconic game. It makes me wish AAA game studios besides Nintendo would take risks like this more often.
