Smash Brothers

Sam us from Metro id was one of the coolest Nintendo characters ever. No, actually, Link from The Legend Of Zelda was probably cooler. Lets not forget Mario, though he's the old man from Nintendo's lineup. You may think cutesy Pikachu or cartoony Yoshi rules, but don't forget the venerable Fox McCloud from StarFox. What's that you say? You can't decide which one is the better character? Let's fight it out...in Smash Brothers, the new game being developed for the Nintendo 64--and the first tournament fighting game to feature all these characters! It already sounds like fun.

Want to see who the superior.. .er, fox is? Where else will you see Fox McCloud whup on Samus? In Smash, if you can't win a fight with your fists, you can try Link's bomb attack or Yoshi's slurp-n-burp fighting style. You can also take advantage of flower bombs or Yoshi eggs throughout the stages, which include backgrounds from the characters' signature games. The screens look unbelievable, and we're looking forward to some hands-on action. Smash Brothers looks to be hilarious fun with Nintendo's heaviest hitters.

Weird things happen to those who wait apparently, and with decent fighting games a rarity on the N64, Nintendo has surprised everyone by publishing a 3D fighter that pits the most familiar faces in the Nintendo universe against each other. Given the tentative title Smash Brothers, this game's blockbuster roster includes Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox McCloud and Pikachu, and each character has his/her own 3D arena (such as Kong's jungle).

The fighters unleash the classic attacks you'd expect, such as Yoshi's tongue-lashing swallow attack and Link's broad swipes of his trusty Master Sword. Power-ups, including Fire Flowers and Bob-ombs, litter the arenas too, and we're sure to see some spectacularly weird finishing moves, as well.

The gameplay here is a bit askew from most fighters. You win by knocking down opponents as many times as you can in each round. As many as four players can battle each other simultaneously, or you can engage in a standard one-player story mode or two-player bouts. Nintendo has yet to announce whether it will bring Smash Brothers to the U.S., but we feel it's a safe bet we'll see the game here sometime next year.