With the NRW Cup – Rise of Germany, the biggest German event took place last weekend Super Smash Bros. tournament ever took place. The huge gaming event offered enough space for the best fighting game from the house Nintendo. But the schedule was perhaps a little too tight. We were there!
Choose your character!
The Smash series from Nintendo has existed since the first part in 1999, which was released for the N64. In the current part for the Switch, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (buy now )(buy now €49.74), it's not just Nintendo's favorites like Mario, Pikachu, Link and Donkey Kong that fight each other. Also third-party icons like Sonic, Solid Snake, Ryu and Steve come here to fight.
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Up to eight players can fight, shoot or fence in a variety of arenas. How it's about the future of the series is, however, not yet certain.
Smash Bros. has shaped the platform fighter genre like no other series. The game is not a traditional fighting game like that Street Fighters, Tekken or Guilty Gear with life points, but works with a percentage display.
While in the former you only have to beat down a life bar, things are different in Smash Bros.: If you concede too many percentage points in the form of hits, you increase the risk of being thrown off the stage by strong attacks and not being able to come back.
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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the newest installment in the series, but it's now almost six years old. By December 2021, patches were even released to improve balancing. This year, the latest update only added compatibility with the Sora Amiibo.
Source: Artur Martirosian aka Zeta
Zeta's Twitter account // Zeta's Instagram account
No Items, Fox Only, Final Destination
But while the majority of Smash players are casual, serious tournaments for games in the series are also not uncommon. Because while banter with your group of friends is almost always fun, the depth of Smash Bros., like many other fighting games, cannot be denied. That's why many specialize in 1vs1 battles to increase their player strength.
In particular, the part that appeared in 2001, Super Smash Bros. Melee, is still important in e-sports today. The game owes this to its high speed and high skill ceiling. Since e-sports are still comparatively niche, such tournaments and speed runs are only slowly gaining more attention in the mainstream.