J.R.: Without a doubt, Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. franchise is a fighting game.

There’s a longstanding argument in the fighting game community (FGC) that Smash Bros. should be classified as a party game instead of a fighting game.

The game earns its label as a fighting game because the effort and skills required to win are equal to the effort needed for other fighting games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter and Dragon Ball Fighterz.

There’s a vast amount of complexity in the fighting mechanics from character matchups to stage choices. The game’s mechanics are so deep that Super Smash Bros. Melee, a game from 2001, is still played professionally to this day.

Smash Bros. is a gigantic chunk of the FGC. During EVO 2019—the largest fighting game tournament— it beat records with over 200,000 con- current viewers according to VG247. Smash Bros. earned its top FGC spot, no matter what Michael says.

M.F.S.: The Super Smash Bros. Franchise is NOT a fighting game like my misguided friend above would like to believe. The niche community has made the game deeper than what it is, and it harkens to people thinking they can play fighting games just because they button mash with Eddy Gordo in Tekken.

Smash Bros. can be played in a two-player mode which gives it a fighting game feel. If the fighting game community allows Smash Bros. to be considered a fighting game then we have to consider a game like the awful Wu-Tang game on Playstation 1 to be fighting games also which brings up my third argument.

The creator of Smash Bros. Masa- hiro Sakurai says it is not a fighting game in his mind, but it boils down to the perspective of the players. A fighting game to me is a game that can be played side by side with other play- ers at an arcade machine. Speaking from experience and age, Smash Bros. would not have made the cut then or now in an Arcade style environment.

Sorry to burst your Gam be clutched controller bubble, Jose.