Now it's time to find out who is the strongest and most powerful Nintendo hero of them all! Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikachu, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox McCloud can be chosen from and for all you Luigi fans out there I'm happy to announce that Luigi appears as a hidden character along with Captain Falco, Jigglypuff a.k.a. Purin (from Pokémon) and Ness (from Earthbound a.k.a. Mother).
    The moves each character possesses is rather limited if compared to other conventional beat 'em ups, but then again Super Smash Bros is no conventional beat 'em up. The goal isn't to get your opponent's life meter to reach zero in order to kill him, either. Instead you have to throw or beat your opponent out of the "ring" or the platform on which you fight. Instead of a lifemeter another counter called "damage meter" has been added. When you get hit by your opponent the meter increases. The higher your damage meter is the further you fly when your opponent punches or throws you. Consequently, the more damage you have sustained your opponent the easier it is to get him out of the "ring".
    There are 9 battle arenas to choose from and each arena is taken from a famous Nintendo game. Samus arena for example is the dangerous planet Zebes with an rising acid lake and Donkey Kong fights in his beloved jungle. Mario's arena is on the roof of Peach's Castle.
To spice up the game play, HAL Laboratories has added some power ups that appears on the arenas as you fight. Some of them are taken directly from the Mario games like the Green and Red Shell, Star Man, Fire Flower, Hammer (from Donkey Kong) and the Bob-Omb.

  

   Mario vs. Kirby
 

Mario brawls with Donkey Kong in the jungle
   

Join the dark side Yoshi!