*the blog with a soundtrack, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzmWP0nCs-M&feature=related

Ah Smash Bros, one of the greatest 4player game series of all time. Whether you’re a hardened traditional fighting game pro, a simple fan of a select few characters, or anywhere in between; if you get a group of friends over good times will be had by all. But I’m not here to rant and rave about how Smash Bros is an amazing game series, I’m here to rant and rave about how Smash Bros is the greatest marketing campaign ever made.



My first console was the Sega Genesis, the N64 my second, so I was not yet versed in the many Nintendo franchises. When I first played Smash Bros 64 at a friend’s house I had never heard of Kirby, Fox McCloud, Captain Falcon, Ness, or Samus. But I did own and love Mario 64, DK64, and Ocarina of Time, so immediately found the game to be one of the most amazing things ever (and wishing sonic was in it ;p). While the characters I knew lured me in, Kirby quickly became my favorite character to play as in the original game. So I asked around my friends if they had any Kirby games for the N64. I borrowed Kirby & the Crystal Shards and have been buying Kirby games ever since. Additionally, my brother who liked playing as Fox ended up buying Starfox 64.

What Smash Bros does is lure you in with the familiar, then peak your interest with the unknown. If it wasn’t for Smash Bros I probably wouldn’t have bought Metroid Prime. Back when I was a kid I was a coward with a capital “RUN!!!” and from what I saw of Metroid Prime made it look like a scary game (funfact: I knee-‘d myself in the face at one point while playing the game out of sheer terror). While now I can play games like Dead Space without batting an eye, back then, for me, playing a scary game was a big deal. And it’s all thanks to Smash Bros.

Since Smash Bros introduced me to amazing game franchises I had either never heard of or simply never played, I now try and play every game that is represented in Super Smash Bros. The Sin & Punishment and Metal Gear series are now two of my favorite things ever and I probably never would have played them if Smash Bros didn’t introduce me to Solid Snake and Saki(assist trophy).



To really drive home the point that Smash Bros is king of marketing, Melee had Animal Crossing trophies before Animal Crossing was even released. So unreleased that the description called KK Slider “Totakeke” (his Japanese name) and where the game title should have been it says “Future Release” (meaning Animal Crossing didn’t even have a name yet). Since the trophies serve as a nostalgic retrospective, to include trophies of games yet to be released (aka games that are not yet nostalgic or retrospecting) can only serve the purpose of getting people interested in this mysterious up and coming game, which is the purpose of marketing.

Brawl took what Melee started and turned it into a freaking encyclopedia of knowledge that contains info on essentially every Nintendo game ever made. It even has demos. DEMOS! Ocarina of Time, Super Mario World, Starfox 64, Donkey Kong, Ice Climber, Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, F-Zero, Super Metroid, Super Mario Bros 2, and Kirby's Adventure. What other game comes, on the disc, with demos to other game franchises? The Animal Crossing trophies in Melee may not have been an intentional marketing move, but theres no way including demos in Brawl wasn't a marketing decision. So not only does the game introduce players to characters they may not know, it is now giving them the ability to demo the games they are from (and all the games demoed are downloadable on the Virtual Console).



Lastly I’m sure the likes of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 did much of the same thing, and hopefully Super Meat Boy’s indie cross over cameos will lead to increased interests as well. In the end, the cross-over is the embodiment of the win-win. It brings together multiple fan bases to buy a single product (the company making the product wins), it introduces fans of one franchise to many more they may fall in love with (the consumer wins), and this cross pollination of fanbases logically increases the number of fans of every franchise represented (so every company, staff member, and pre-existing fan wins). So hop to it awesome companies of the world and start asking if your characters can be in the next smash bros, there’s no better marketing on earth (also we fans will love you).



-do the impossible-