Super Smash Bros.[a] (retroactively referred to as Super Smash Bros. 64 or Smash 64) is a 1999 crossover fighting game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was first released in Japan on January 21, 1999, in North America on April 26, 1999,[1][2] and in Europe on November 19, 1999. The first installment in the Super Smash Bros. series, it is a crossover between several different Nintendo franchises, including Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Metroid, F-Zero, Mother, Kirby, and Pokémon. It presents a cast of characters and locations from these franchises and allows players to use each character’s unique skills and the stage’s hazards to inflict damage, recover health, and ultimately knock opponents off the stage.
Super Smash Bros. received mostly positive reviews upon its release. It was a commercial success, selling over five million copies worldwide by 2001,[3] with 2.93 million sold in the United States and 1.97 million sold in Japan.[4][5] It was given an Editors’ Choice award from IGN for the “Best Fighting Game”,[6] and also became a Nintendo 64 Player’s Choice title. The game spawned a series of sequels for each successive Nintendo console, starting with Super Smash Bros. Melee which was released for the GameCube in 2001.
