What Super Smash Bros means to gaming?

Super Smash Bros Ultimate is more than just a game. It's a tribute to the wide and wacky world of Nintendo and by a larger extension now since Super Smash Bros Brawl in 2008 the video game industry in general. I can't imagine that when the fist Super Smash Bros game released in 1999 the developers at HAL Laboratory saw this crossover of 12 of Nintendo's biggest characters would spawn into a roster of 80+ fighters from all over the video game industry.  

If anything this roster is as close to a video game hall of fame as we will get. With a few omissions if you class it as such a host of icons both past a present are all showcased. From Mr Game & Watch to Steve from Minecraft generations of videos games are represented in one game. It's amazing the agreements to be put in place on this game the likes of Snake and Mega Man who's parent companies do not use are hold in a negative light due to fractured relationships with developers get into the game which is a surprising turn. 

I think there’s no better place showing the strength of Smash Bros then the inclusion of Banjo and Kazooie. While you could make the case for Sonic relations between Nintendo and Sega are worlds away from the rivalry of the 90s and with Olympic Games shared Sonic was still getting games whereas Banjo and Kazooie had been all but forgotten apart from by the fans of the bird and the bear.

Let’s break it down. The last new Banjo and Kazooie was Nuts and Bolts in 2008 and they joined Smash Bros as DLC in 2019 so that was 11 years of effective silence and with that being an Xbox exclusive it’s really 19 years since they were on Nintendo property back with Banjo-Tooie on the Nintendo 64 in 2000. It really was a forgotten franchise to anyone but its own fans and now with this interest in the franchise goes back up. It's almost like 3rd party companies can use Smash Bros as a way to gauge interest to revive a series. It's a powerful market tool and with roughly 23.84 million units sold of Ultimate you could imagine that would be a lot of people not familiar with Banjo and Kazooie getting a new look there. If they like it maybe they'd look into it in more detail. While this may be seen as a gamble I think it's worth looking at what happened with some of the character in Smash Bros that were first party.

I speak from experience when I saw the first time I ever heard of Fire Emblem was through Super Smash Bros. As far as my understanding goes is that when Melee came out Fire Emblem was a Japanese Exclusive title which certainly would raise some eyebrows for Western audiences. However, with this you give people a taste of the character designs and from that you get people interested in the series as a whole. This kept me interested in the series and when it came to the 3DS & Wii U entry for Smash Bros I ended up getting Fire Emblem Awakening due to Robin & Lucina being in the smash Bros roster. 

I think this could be looked at the release of the games. A series that went from Japanese exclusive unheard of to the latest release in Three Houses getting a simultaneous worldwide release. I don't think this happened without the initial inclusion of Marth and Roy in Smash Bros Melee. The inclusion of these characters to the Smash Bros series is arguably what saved Fire Emblem. Now if this was gone for Fire Emblem imagine what could be done for other series. The most recent DLC as of the time of this writing is Pyra & Mythra and I am very much interested in how this boosts interest and sales in Xenoblade 2 and the series as a whole. With Xenoblade being a relatively modern and new IP for Nintendo I wonder if it really has reached its potential and as such having both Shulk and now the Pura and Mythra duo in Smash bros it may move numbers and interest.  

Perhaps even more than to gauge interest in bring characters back into the spotlight it can also be a place for those who won't get that chance to be remembered one final time. We have all seen the issues between Hideo Kojima and Konami have pretty much signalled the end of the Metal Gear Solid franchise it was nice to see Snake make it onto this game post that fall out. I think of Snake and Mega Man the most when it comes to being largely abandoned or forgotten and as such it is a nice place to revisit these characters. With stages and music and other things from their franchises it is nice to see care given to them. I know this can replace a hypothetical Metal Gear Solid 6 or a new Mega Man game with all of Capcom's weight behind it but it is a good marker for these characters in the sense of paying tribute to them. 

As of the Kazuya DLC announcement Smash Bros Ultimate has 81 characters from 39 franchises which most likely will be 82 from 40 with the final DLC character (although as per a previous post I hope we get a fighter pass 3) while this number can be disputed I have used the official Smash Bros Ultimate website to get the numbers the website itself has the Mii Fighters as a series and also does not regard the Koopalings as alternative characters it still gives us a look at the sheer scope of Smash Bros to when it comes to representing all corners of the video game industry. 

So to answer the question posed by the title of this post. Smash Bros means a lot to gaming. It's a tribute, it's a marketing tool but most of all it is a franchise that has created partnerships and collaborations that nobody would think possible. I do think that Ultimate is the end of the franchise in terms of new games, I do think it would be the case if Nintendo had a new system it would get ported as it is with maybe new characters and maybe a new game mode added because I don't think you top this iteration. Regardless, Smash Bros allowed hypothetical dream matches of video game characters to happen and partnerships and collaborations in an industry which is ruled by a me against everyone else mentality to be different even for a while. When talking about franchise and video games that were important to the industry Super Smash Bros should be listed as one of the most important.