Captain America and the Avengers
Captain America and the Avengers
December 31, 1991
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subdirectory_arrow_right The Outfoxies (Game), Savage Reign (Game), Super Smash Bros. (Franchise)
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The platform fighter genre has typically been thought of as having originated with the Super Smash Bros. franchise, to the point where it is common for the genre to be called "Smash Clones". However, while Smash did introduce almost all of the defining mechanics to the subgenre, such as ring-out based KOs, wavedashing, and the 3/4-way-input special move system, there are at least two titles that predate Nintendo's crossover and attempted to merge platforming with fighting gameplay - the multiplayer mode within 1991's Captain America and the Avengers for NES, and 1995's arcade title The Outfoxies. Both titles had characters with limited movepools compared to the style Smash would popularise and were lifebar-based. The Outfoxies also included damaging stage hazards and items, two mechanics popular within Smash but scantly used in other platform fighters.

Also of mention is Savage Reign, a traditional fighting game from 1995 featuring a platform gimmick, though this game has far less in common with platform fighters than The Outfoxies or Captain America, simply serving as a traditional fighting game with two planes to stand on as opposed to mobility-based platforming.

It is not known if anyone who worked on Super Smash Bros. was aware of or conciously took inspiration from these 3 games.
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 26, 2023
The Outfoxies gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gK9v4NXwIc

Captain America and the Avengers multiplayer gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8NUvK409kg

Savage Reign gameplay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gayz-lgn_po

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