Good Luck Beating This ‘Super Smash Bros.’ Choose Your Own Adventure
They say that when a great athlete is “in the zone,” time slows down and they suddenly have the clarity to make the right decision at the right time. I’m guessing it works like that for high-level competitive gamers too — and based on my feeble attempts to get the good ending in this awesome new Choose Your Own Adventure take on Super Smash Bros. Melee, I’m clearly not ready for prime time Smash.
Youtube user Stabby McKniferson is behind the crazy experiment. You begin by watching a Super Smash Bros. match between Falco and Fox McCloud, but about one minute in, the match slows down and you have to decide what Fox should do next. It’s filled with Smash jargon (you’ll have to choose between moves like Mangle and Edge Cancel), but even if you’re not entirely sure what Fox is about to do, it’s great fun trying to keep the poor guy from getting whipped.
Related: Review: ‘Super Smash Bros. for Wii U’ Is a Beautiful Beatdown
Which he’ll probably get. There are 13 different endings and 17 different paths, but only one particular branch will yield a Fox win. Otherwise, Falco is taking this one.
The adventure is, technically speaking, a Tool-Assisted Superplay (TAS), which refers to a gameplay performance in which the player uses emulation software and other tools to play a game frame by frame, create save states on the fly, and otherwise exploit glitches, usually in an effort to beat the game as quickly as possible. In this case, it allowed its creators to set up different scenarios and outcomes. According to Stabby, it took over 100 hours to build.
Thankfully, it won’t take you quite that long to beat it. Pro tip: Start off with “Tech in Place” if you want to stand a chance.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named the game Super Smash Bros. For Wii U. It’s Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Gamecube. You can make fun of Ben — and his weak Smash skills — on Twitter at @ben_silverman.
