Nintendo’s flagship fighting series, started back in 1999 on the N64, this being the second instalment on the Nintendo Gamecube. Released in 2002 in my end. Having a bit of a lapsed play through of this particular title. With my first experience of this series coming from the Wii title Super Smash Bros Brawl. Having sunk an incredible amount of my time into that particular brawler. I then moved onto the Switch title when that was released and as far as i’m concerned, it’s one of the best fighting games going. So I wasn’t sure how it’d add up comparing to the newer titles.
Honestly it’s nothing short of a pleasant surprise. Still following the same crossover 2d fighting formula of characters ranging from; Mario, Pokemon, Kirby, Fire Emblem, Legend of Zelda etc. It obviously has less characters and stages from the monster sized Ultimate on the Switch. Having 25 playable characters and 29 stages. It’s still a good chunk to keep variety going at the very least. Most are playable from the offset, others are unlocked as it goes on, just from playing along .A new challenger appear,s smack them out the ring like Team Rocket in the Pokemon series. They get added to the playable roster. All characters have their own distinct play style, with moves/weapons carrying over from their respective original series.
The fighting itself is easy enough, and not much of a learning curve, the A button is for basic attacks combos, B button for slightly more damaging special moves. L and R for defence, Z trigger for throws, and then movement is standard and Y/X for jump or double jump. It’s mostly just getting used to not suiciding off the edge of the maps and timing that sweet sweet extra jump to save your life. The fighting is just as fast and frantic as in the newer games, other then the moves, controls are slightly different, It plays the same, the developers clearly not fixing what doesn’t need to be. Only improving the overall performance, which you’d expect would come naturally with better hardware and game engines.
You can easily sink hours into the tournament it’s if you play with friends, just cranking the tournament up to 64 and playing through them one by one. The thing that always makes this series more fun for me is the dynamic stages. Where some are static, bits falling off, making sure you don’t fall onto the racing track and get twatted out by f-zero racers. Or climbing up as the stage disappears below you. Along with these are the sprinkling of special items that fall down, these can range from straight hitting weapons, explosive canisters, red shells, Pokeballs that summon, a host of Mons that deal damage for you. Anything that can help me is a bonus, free damage to my opponents is always a plus.
The game looks great, considering it’s age coming up 22 years old, you can’t fault it really. Especially in the character designs, I especially like the chunky Pikachu design, obviously still before the rounded out the flagship mascot of the Pokemon series. Every stage feels and looks great, with diverse design, with appropriate stylised textures or designs to look straight out of their respective series. Nothing beats the soundtrack though, the orchestral songs as you go through 2,3 minutes of button mashing fighting is top. A good soundtrack whether it be a film, series or game always helps build some sort of extra atmosphere and adds to what’s going on. Here though it just adds another level to it. Really helps amp up the tension and epic feel to fighting on a moving ship up in the clouds.
Even if you aren’t necessarily into fighting games, this is just a great game. It’s fast, fun and easy to get into. With more depth coming if you want to get into the specifics of defending, and move times, reaction speeds. Allowing for a competitive experience if you really want too. This is a series that heavily leans into if it isn’t broken don’t fix it. However they continually improve and add more too it. I have yet to play the original, but having played all the others since this, it’s highly impressive to see where it was all these years ago.
I’d give this a Positively Tasty 7/10. I could rate a smidge higher, but I think a solid 7 is fair. The game looks, performs amazingly well for it’s age. The controls are simple but effective, and there’s enough choice to keep you going. However in knowing what the series became and how polished ultimate is I think I’m being a bit harsher on it. Don’t let this detract or turn you away from trying for the first time or even returning. It’s still a massively fun and precise game. Even more so if you go for co-op mode with some chums.
Released 24th May 2002, Nintendo Gamecube
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