Gameplay and Controls

Gameplay and Control

            When I think about a game that I played that has excellent control and gameplay, Super Smash Brothers Melee comes to mind. The way they bring so many different characters spanning several games and still manage to keep the control of each character feel genuine helps the game sustain long term playability.  The controls of SSBM let even the most casual gamer pick up the game and easily start moving and fighting with ease, but also let more dedicated gamers take all of the gameplay mechanics and hone those skills to play the game at a much more competitive level. Even so much as to find a break in the gameplay that let players execute a powerful gameplay mechanic.

            This game was so revolutionary because it let you pit characters of different games against each other, to see which game was better. This was amazing because all of them were the best, depending on what character you chose. You had a whole different feel for the environment of the game. Bowser moved slow and almost shook the ground after a high jump. You could feel his weight being moved around like a force with momentum, and you didn’t want to be in his way.  With Fox McCloud you move fast, jump fast, and hit fast. When you play as Fox you want to make sure you can move everywhere on the battlefield, and when you pick up the controller you are able to get that responsiveness. Once you play with every character and learn how they feel in the context of the game, you can pick how you want to play based on the feel of the game. When you want to move fast you will choose between Fox and Captain Falcon, or if you want speed with a lightweight feel you can choose Zelda or Peach. There are so many different choices for your fighting style and it makes this game so much fun with an extremely high replay ability level.

            With every movement the player could see how the character acted towards the context of the game. Running, jumping, and landing on the ground or being knocked into the wall is very visceral, which made it even more satisfying to do to the other players.  The game’s title was based on one of the gameplay mechanics that let you use the punch and analogue controller to hit at different strengths. You could just punch and administer a regular amount of damage, which reduces overtime if you don’t switch up your tactics, or you could almost literally smash the analogue stick in any direction with the punch button and do a charged attack which had the power to launch the opponent across the field. This mechanic didn’t have to be used to play the game, but that mechanic made the gameplay feel polished. Although there wasn’t a mechanic to let the player dash, if you utilized several mechanics in a certain fashion you could break the physics to help the player to dash. This emerging mechanic let hardcore players break the game to play the game at a more advanced level of gameplay. Being able to perform the dash took time to learn for just one specific character and wasn’t easy, so it really beefed up the learning curve for more advanced moves that used the dash. Even though this mechanic was not supposed to be in the game, it made the gameplay and controls much more exciting and satisfying to learn and master.

            Super Smash Brothers Melee is a game with a complex learning curve. You can pick it up and play easily making it fun for everyone, but that curve gets steep trying to master all the characters or moves. This plus polished environments and characters equal long term replay ability and fun.  SSBM is a great example of a game that demonstrates why gameplay and controls are important in a game.