This is it. The game that spawned the gaming phenomenon that is Super Smash Bros, a phenomenon that Sony is now attempting to capitalize on (read: ape) with Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. But little does Sony know that it's all in the name, because this is their first game of this nature, and already it has a descriptor on it. They should have named the first one Battle Royale so they could name the second one All-Stars Battle Royale. Keep up Sony.

Regardless, the core of this game, a core which would go on in each of the newer generation Smash Bros games, is so rock solid you could stick it on the tip of the Iberian Peninsula and call it Gibraltar. The normal attacks, all mapped to the A button, the special attacks, all mapped to the B button, and the grab and block moves, are so simple to understand that anyone can at the very least begin to play this game. I push A to punch, B shoots a fireball/laser/FALCON PUNCH! But despite the simplistic fighting design, the depth of fighting and strategy that comes out of these simple mechanics is surprising. The whole system is so versatile that in the hands of a master, you'd think they had access to a different moveset than you, with the way they can string together combos, items, and dodges.

The graphics are amazing, with just the right combination of traditional fighters such as Street Fighter and a more cartoonish, arcadey approach. This fits very well with the idea that anyone can play this game. The sound, especially the music, is pulled straight from whatever game that particular element came from.

Which brings me to what really sold this game to me: the world. Nintendo knew exactly what it was doing when it created this game. It knew that Nintendo fans had, long before Super Smash Bros ever was conceived, been staging epic battles between Mario and Samus, Pikachu and Yoshi, through their imaginations, with or without action figures or other toys. The opening cinematic of Smash Bros shows the Master Hand pulling out some Nintendo dolls, setting up his desk to create obstacles for the dolls, and then bringing them to life. This clearly says to the player "You remember when you used to do this? Well now it's happening for real!" Our imaginations come alive and we no longer have to combine the worlds of Mario, Samus, Donkey Kong, and Pikachu in our minds because Super Smash Bros does it for us.

The levels are pulled from various characters games. The characters themselves utilize moves and weapons from their respective games. Even the items are straight up Nintendo nostalgia, my favorite addition being the Super Scope, an oft-forgot relic of the NES. And each piece is so full of that particular games flavor. One of my favorite stages, Great Fox, has Arwings flying around that you can ride on, plus Great Fox's lasers even fire from time to time. It's a wild ride that pays homage to some of Nintendo's greatest characters.

Plus, it had one of the greatest commercials ever. Nuff said. This game is a 10.