''Project M'' is a
mod
Mod, MOD or mods may refer to:
Places
* Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band
* M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...
of the 2008
fighting game
A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...
''
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' is a 2008 List of crossovers in video games, crossover fighting game, fighting video game developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The third installment in the Super Smash Bros., ''Super Smash ...
'' for the
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
, created by the community group known as the Project M Development Team (PMDT; previously known as the Project M Back Room). It is designed to retool ''Brawl'' to play more like its two predecessors, ''
Super Smash Bros.'' (1999) and ''
Super Smash Bros. Melee'' (2001), in response to fan objections to ''Brawl''s physics, slower-paced gameplay, larger use of chance elements, and mechanics of certain attacks. ''Project M'' reintroduces the characters
Dr. Mario
''Dr. Mario'' is a 1990 puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom, and Game Boy. It was produced by Gunpei Yokoi and designed by Takahiro Harada. The soundtrack was composed by Hirokazu ...
(although as a
palette swap
This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players.
0–9
A
...
of
Mario
is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
),
Mewtwo
Mewtwo is a Pokémon, a fictional creature from Nintendo and Game Freak. Created by Ken Sugimori, it debuted in the video games ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue'', and later appeared in subsequent sequels and spin-off titles, such as '' Pokken Tour ...
, and
Roy
Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin.
In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...
, who were present in ''Melee'' but were cut from ''Brawl'' to make space for
Lucario
is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's ''Pokémon'' franchise. Created by Ken Sugimori, Lucario first appeared as a central character in the film '' Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew'', then a cameo in '' Pokémon Mystery Dun ...
and
Ike
Ike or IKE may refer to:
People
* Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname
...
. In addition, it features a new art style for in-game menus and allows players to choose certain characters individually when they are only accessible as extensions of other ones in ''Brawl''.
Development started in early 2010 with the goals of reworking the character
Falco Lombardi
is a fictional anthropomorphic bird from the ''Star Fox'' series of video games. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. Falco acts as the wingman and best friend of the titular Fox McCloud for the majority of the se ...
to mechanically play like he did in ''Melee'' and increasing the accessibility of the gameplay style, but the project quickly evolved to a full-scale reworking of ''Brawl''. The game's first demo build was released on February 7, 2011, and development continued until December 1, 2015, when the PMDT announced it would cease further development of ''Project M''. The game has received positive comments from reviewers, amassed a player base of over 500,000, surpassed three million downloads, and been played in many
professional tournaments.
Gameplay
''
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' is a 2008 List of crossovers in video games, crossover fighting game, fighting video game developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The third installment in the Super Smash Bros., ''Super Smash ...
'', which ''Project M'' modifies, is a
fighting game
A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...
with a battle system more similar to that of the game prior to Brawl, ''Super Smash Bros. Melee''. Players battle in arenas of varying sizes and levels of complexity, controlling characters with a variety of play styles. They can attack one another with their own repertoires of special moves, or with a basic attack. Attacks can be avoided by jumping or using a short-lived shield move. Unlike most traditional fighting games, the Super Smash Bros. games do not include standard health gauges, but a percentage counter; there is no point at which a character is automatically knocked out from the counter getting too high, but they will be knocked farther with increasing damage. Being knocked off the screen—or falling off oneself—causes a knock-out. Players may use
items for offensive purposes, such as guns and swords, or for
healing
With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells i ...
purposes, such as food and
heart containers. The stages, characters, and items are drawn from
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
's video game franchises such as ''
Mario
is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
'', ''
Pokémon
(an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise.
In terms of ...
'', ''
The Legend of Zelda
''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...
'', and ''
Metroid'', along with
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
's ''
Sonic the Hedgehog
is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...
'' series and
Konami
, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...
's ''
Metal Gear
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operativ ...
'' series. The victor of a match has no standard determining factor. Rather, depending on the settings, victory may be reached, for example, by being the last player alive using a
stock
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
system, or by achieving the most KOs after a set amount of time.
''
Super Smash Bros. Melee'', ''Brawl''s predecessor in the ''
Super Smash Bros.'' series, has a similar gameplay style, but there are major differences in areas such as control, general movement styles, and character balancing. ''Project M'' was designed to incorporate elements of ''Melee'' while still being distinctive in its own right. The designers' "about" page lists a number of aspects from ''Melee'' that they aimed to carry over, including fast-paced gameplay, "flowing, natural movement", a "great deal of control" in the player's movements, a balance of offense and defense—though they favored offense over defense slightly—and a complex system of combo attacks. The Project M development team's goal was to give Brawl more balanced gameplay, adding mechanics from Melee back into Brawl, as well as buffing characters to be about as powerful as Fox, the character near-universally considered to be the best in ''Melee''. In addition, some characters who had been present in ''Melee'' but scrapped for ''Brawl'' were brought back.
The game files can be downloaded from its official website and exported to the player's console via an
SD card
Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices.
The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...
.
Players who own an
NTSC
The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...
Wii can install the game without any software modifications,
but they must delete all custom stages created in ''Brawl'' because of the way files are stored.
Development
A large number of
competitive ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' players were disappointed upon the release of its sequel ''Brawl'' six-and-a-half years after the release of ''Melee''. The general consensus among competitive players was that the latter game's developers had reworked the older battling system to better appeal to
casual game
A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a hardcore game, which is targeted at hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They generally involve simpler rules, shorter sessio ...
rs, by making the attacks and movement of the game significantly slower in general and adding a greater degree of randomness, luck, and unpredictability, in contrast to ''Melee'', which has more straightforward, skill-based gameplay. Of particular infamy was a new "tripping" mechanic, by which a character occasionally and randomly slips and falls when changing their direction while running.
''Project M'' first began as a development project to rework the character
Falco to play like he did in ''Melee''.
The designers' goal at the time was for the game to be accessible to newcomers and encourage people to get better at the game, which was accomplished by creating a character roster that is more balanced.
The mod's first demo was announced on January 15, 2011, with a release date of late January or early February in time for the Pound 5 tournament, where it was featured. It featured 14 of the 39 characters in ''Brawl'', as well as new stages ''Brawl'' had not included. It was later given a solid date of February 7, 2011. A patch was later created to fix the demo's bugs and fine-tune the player's control of their movement direction after being attacked.
By the release of the game's second demo in March 2011, the team's goals for the mod had expanded to a total overhaul of ''Brawl'' to better match ''Melee''s gameplay mechanics.
A newer build added 11 characters and was first playable at the Genesis 2 tournament. The second demo, released on April 15, 2012, added four new characters as well as more stages and changes in multiple characters' gameplay mechanics. Players of this second demo reported a number of bugs, but these were fixed shortly afterwards in version 2.1.
A demo version numbered 2.5 was announced on September 10, 2012; it featured changes such as balance updates, aesthetic improvements, stage updates, and
palette swap
This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players.
0–9
A
...
s for the characters. Version 2.5 was released on December 28.
Originally as part of an April Fool's Day joke, the PMDT announced that a new "Turbo mode"—inspired by a
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
video called "Melee Impossible" that showed off powerful combos—would be featured in the upcoming version 3.0.
The designers set up a Turbo Tuesday video series showing off the mode with various characters, such as Mario and
Ike
Ike or IKE may refer to:
People
* Ike (given name), a list of people with the name or nickname
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II and President of the United States Surname
...
, once a week.
A 2.6 demo was announced on June 26, 2013, and it was released on July 17, 2013. The designers hoped to feature the Turbo mode in this update, but it was not ready in time.
The designers added a "Clone Engine" to the game that allowed them to make the character
Roy
Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin.
In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...
, whose only appearance in the
''Super Smash Bros.'' series at the time was in ''Melee''. They designed Roy by taking a clone of Marth and changing the clone into the desired result, along with using the same use of the engine to make the character
Mewtwo
Mewtwo is a Pokémon, a fictional creature from Nintendo and Game Freak. Created by Ken Sugimori, it debuted in the video games ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue'', and later appeared in subsequent sequels and spin-off titles, such as '' Pokken Tour ...
, albeit with major edits to its model, due to it and
Lucario
is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's ''Pokémon'' franchise. Created by Ken Sugimori, Lucario first appeared as a central character in the film '' Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew'', then a cameo in '' Pokémon Mystery Dun ...
having different move-sets. In order to avoid cease-and-desist letters from Nintendo, the designers explained that they would not use this engine to make new fighters who debuted in
''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS'' and ''Wii U''. The designers added new alternate costumes for a number of characters, including
Dr. Mario
''Dr. Mario'' is a 1990 puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom, and Game Boy. It was produced by Gunpei Yokoi and designed by Takahiro Harada. The soundtrack was composed by Hirokazu ...
, who was previously cut from ''Brawl'', for
Mario
is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
. It was given a release date of December 9, 2013 with a final character count of 41, more than any previous ''Super Smash Bros.'' game at the time. Senior designer Corey Archer stated that there would probably be only one more update before he considers ''Project M'' complete; he suggested that this update may contain new Nintendo characters.
Version 3.5 was released on November 14, 2014. This revision refines the game's user interface, adds new stages and costumes, adds a few new original musical pieces, redesigns several stages from the original ''
Super Smash Bros.'' using new HD visuals, and implements new modes such as a
debug mode and "All-Star Versus," a mode allowing players to use a different character on every life. A public beta of Version 3.6 was released on June 23, 2015. It added more costumes and stages, new music, a new in-game announcer, and the ability for players to choose between the modified and unmodified versions of stages before battle among other changes. This was the first non-demo version of ''Project M'' which has had a public beta before final release. Version 3.6 was officially released on August 16, 2015, and included even more additional content on top of what was present in the Beta release. Included were additional balance stages, a brand new Wario Land stage, more music, a new announcer to replace the one used in the Beta and various tweaks and fixes to bugs and errors found during the 3.6 Beta period.
On December 1, 2015, the PMDT announced it would cease further development of ''Project M'', effective immediately, in favor of beginning development on an original project.
The development team denied allegations that legal threats from
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
were the cause of the project's termination.
According to the team's attorney and business consultant, Ryan Morrison, the decision was not made as a result of a cease-and-desist notice or legal action by Nintendo.
One member of the development team stated that the mod's cancellation was to prevent future
legal issues
List of lists of issues and controversies with the law
* Legal issues in airsoft
* Legal issues with fan fiction
* Burger King legal issues
* Legal issues and controversies surrounding Netflix
* Legality of cannabis
* Legal issues surrounding ...
. Members of the PMDT later went on to form the game studio Wavedash Games and develop ''Icons: Combat Arena'', a fighting game with similar mechanics to ''Project M''.
After Nintendo sent a cease and desist letter to tournament organizer
The Big House for their use of the Slippi emulator in their 2020 ''Melee'' tournament, ''Project Ms official website was updated for the first time in several years, voicing support for the ''Smash Bros.'' community and linking to a mod derived from ''Project M'', called ''Project+''.
Characters
''Project M'' includes a number of adjustments and tweaks intended to make the characters from ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' and ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' more balanced, as well as add touches that felt more true to their games of origin. For example, the staff felt that the character
Wario
is a fictional character in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' series, designed as an Arch rival, arch-rival to Mario. He first appeared in the 1992 Game Boy game ''Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins'' as the main antagonist and final Bos ...
in ''Brawl'' took too much influence from the ''
WarioWare
is a video game series, a Spin-off (media), spin-off of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise. It comprises various video games created by Nintendo, starring the character Wario. The series began with ''Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3'', th ...
'' series of games and not enough from his older appearances in the ''
Wario Land'' series of games, so they changed him to better reflect the ''Wario Land'' games.
Mario
is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
was redesigned to be a cross between his ''Melee'' incarnation and his heavier-hitting clone from the same game,
Dr. Mario
''Dr. Mario'' is a 1990 puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom, and Game Boy. It was produced by Gunpei Yokoi and designed by Takahiro Harada. The soundtrack was composed by Hirokazu ...
.
Peach
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...
was changed to make her turnip attacks more similar to ''Melee'' than in ''Brawl'', after ''Brawl''s advent had diminished their usefulness.
Bowser
, or King Koopa, is a fictional character, the primary antagonist in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise, and the arch-nemesis of Mario. In Japan, the character bears the title of . Bowser is the leader of the turtle-like Koopa ...
, a character who was generally not considered viable for tournament play in previous games, was given armor and increased attack power and made larger. These adjustments gave him the ability to reach enemies easier while making him an easier target for opponents.
Yoshi
Yoshi is a fictional dinosaur who appears in video games published by Nintendo. Yoshi debuted in ''Super Mario World'' (1990) on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario and Luigi's sidekick. Yoshi is the title character of the List of Y ...
was given an improved recovery and defense. While
Ganondorf's strength was changed to function closer to that of his appearance in ''Melee'', his neutral special has also been changed to a floating descent in the air and a backhand to deflect projectiles on the ground. Additionally, the characters Mewtwo and
Roy
Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin.
In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...
, who had been present in ''Melee'' but were cut from the cast in ''Brawl'', were added back to the roster and given new abilities to make the previously low-tier characters more viable.
Before the project was discontinued, several newcomers were planned for addition, including
Knuckles the Echidna
is a fictional character in Sega's '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' series. He is a red anthropomorphic short-beaked echidna who is Sonic's best friend and former rival. Determined and serious, but sometimes gullible, he has the ability to punch enem ...
from ''
Sonic the Hedgehog
is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...
'',
Lyn from ''
Fire Emblem
is a fantasy tactical role-playing game franchise developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. First produced and published for the Famicom in 1990, the series currently consists of sixteen core entries and five spinoffs. Game ...
'', and
Isaac
Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...
from ''
Golden Sun
is a series of fantasy role-playing video games developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. ''Golden Sun'' follows the story of a group of magically-attuned "adepts" who are charged with preventing the potentially destru ...
''. A development build containing these characters was leaked on
4chan
4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, cooking, weapons, television, ...
in the aftermath of the project's discontinuation. However, Knuckles would later be added to ''Project Ms spiritual successor, ''Project+''.
Reception
The Project M Development Team claimed that the 2.0 demo had received 46,000 downloads by May 23, 2012,
and 100,000 by December 9, 2013.
, ''Project M'' version 3.0 has been downloaded over 920,000 times. The version 3.6 beta has been downloaded over 106,791 times, and version 3.5 has been downloaded over 615,809 times as of July 25, 2015.
''Project M'' 2.5 was featured for a special invitation 16-person tournament at
Apex 2013
Apex was an annual esports tournament held in New Jersey that was focused on '' Super Smash Bros.'' The event's first incarnation was in 2009 with Jesus "Jman" Fernandez as the champion of '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'' and Elliot "Ally" Carroza- ...
.
Version 3.0 was featured the following year as well, but was omitted from inclusion at
Apex 2015
Apex was an annual esports tournament held in New Jersey that was focused on '' Super Smash Bros.'' The event's first incarnation was in 2009 with Jesus "Jman" Fernandez as the champion of ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' and Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oy ...
, prompting negative reactions from players.
The game has received positive attention from the media. Ryan Rigney of ''
Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...
'' called it the best iteration of ''Super Smash Bros.'' and felt that it successfully transforms ''Brawl'' into a serious competitive game.
Similarly, Patricia Hernandez of
Kotaku
''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.
History
...
called it the "best ''Smash Bros.'' mod around" and remarked that it "improves the game so much, it practically seems new."
Jordan Devore of
Destructoid
''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022.
History
' ...
stated that it was one of the highest-quality mods he had ever seen.
Zach Betka from
GamesRadar
''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...
called the game "beautiful" and enjoyed the presence of "many edits that will make the average ''Smash'' fan squeal."
Prior to its discontinuation, Nintendo's
Miiverse
Miiverse was a social network for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, created by Nintendo System Development and Hatena, and powered by the Nintendo Network. Integrated into many games, Miiverse allowed players to interact and share their experiences by w ...
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...
would apply an automatic ban to those who mentioned ''Project M'' on the grounds of it being "criminal content", including the acronym "PM".
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Unofficial Mario media
2011 video games
Crossover video games
Esports games
Fangames
Homebrew software
Platform fighters
Super Smash Bros.
Video game mods
Video games developed in Japan
Video games developed in the United States
Video games with 2.5D graphics
Wii-only games
Wii games