Project M (mod)

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Project M
Developer(s) Project M Back Room
Series Super Smash Bros.
Platform(s) Wii
Release date(s) February 7, 2011 (initial build)
Genre(s) Fighting game
Mode(s) Multiplayer

Project M is a community-made video game mod of the 2008 Wii fighting game Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Gameplay

Project M was designed to resemble Super Smash Bros. Melee but not be a copy of it.[1] The designers' about page lists a number of aspects from Melee that they tried to carry over; these included fast-paced gameplay, "flowing, natural movement," a "great deal of control" due to player's skill, a balance of offense and defense (though they favour offense over defense slightly), and a deeper combo system.[1]

Development

A large number of fans of Super Smash Bros. Melee were disappointed upon the release of its sequel Brawl six-and-a-half years later, the general consensus being that the latter game's developers had reworked the older battling system to better appeal to casual gamers. Of particular infamy were a new "tripping" mechanic and a greater degree of randomness and unpredictability, in contrast to Melee's straightforward, skill-based gameplay.[2]

Project M first began as a development project to rework Falco to play like his incarnation in Super Smash Bros. Melee.[3] 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 better balancing the characters.[4]

Project M's first demo was announced on January 15, 2011. It featured 14 of the 39 characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It also featured new stages not seen before in Brawl. It would release in late January or early February before the Pound 5 tournament (where it would also be featured).[5] It was later given a solid date of February 7, 2011.[6] A patch was created to fix bugs in the Project M demo.[7] The patch also included mechanical changes such as the improvement of the directional influence (DI) found in Brawl, which allows players to influence the direction in which they move when they are hit by an attack.[7]

By the release of the game's second demo in March 2011, the team's goals had expanded to those of a full retooling of Brawl to better match Melee.[2] This update changed the mechanic in Brawl that allowed players to use the GameCube's C-stick to help with DI. Also changed was a Brawl mechanic which caused moves to degrade with respect to damage and knockback; the knockback degradation was removed to improve combo ability.[8]

A newer build added 11 characters and was first playable at the Genesis 2 tournament.[9] An update was made to allow characters whose recovery requires the use of a tether to recover if another player is hanging off of the edge (which normally causes the character to be unable to recover). This was done to buff characters who rely on these kinds of recovery techniques.[10] The second demo was released on April 15, 2012 and featured 29 characters with 41 stages.[11] The second demo featured significant changes to multiple characters.[12] Players of the 2.0 demo reported on a number of bugs which included freezing, which were fixed in the 2.1 patch.[13] A 2.5 demo version was announced on September 10, 2012 which would feature balance updates, aesthetic improvements, and others.[14] The 2.5 demo implemented stage updates and the addition of recolours for characters.[15] A release date was announced for December 28, 2012.[16]

It was announced that a new "Turbo mode" —- inspired by a YouTube video called "Melee Impossible" —- would be featured in the eventual 3.0 demo.[17] The designers set up a Turbo Tuesday video series showing off the mode once a week.[18] A 2.6 demo was announced on June 26, 2013,[19] and it was released on July 17, 2013.[20] The designers hoped to feature the Turbo mode in this update, but it was not ready in time.[18] The designers added a "Clone Engine" to the game that allowed them to make the character Roy (whose only appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series was in Melee). They designed Roy by taking a clone of a pre-existing character and changing the clone into the desired result, along with using the same use of the engine to make the character Mewtwo but with major edits to its model (due to it and Lucario having different movesets). The designers explained that they would not use this to make characters such as those who first appeared in the fourth Super Smash Bros. game in order to avoid cease-and-desist letters from Nintendo.[21] The designers added alternate costumes for a number of characters, including Dr. Mario for Mario.[22] It was given a release date of December 9, 2013 and a final character count of 41 (more than any previous Super Smash Bros. game to date).[23] 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.[4]

Characters

Project M makes a number of adjustments and tweaks to make the characters from Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl more balanced. The staff noted that Wario in Brawl took too much from his WarioWare games and not his Wario Land games and changed him to fix this.[24] Mario was redesigned to be a cross between his Melee incarnation and the Dr. Mario character from Melee.[25] Peach was changed to make her turnip attacks more similar to Melee than Brawl, after Brawl's advent had diminished their usefulness.[26] Bowser, a character who was generally not considered viable for tournament play in previous games, was given armor and increased attack power and made larger. This made him more able to reach enemies while making him an easier target.[27] Yoshi was given an improved recovery and defense.[28] The characters Mewtwo and Roy, who had been present in Melee but scrapped in Brawl, were brought back.[29]

Reception and legacy

By May 23, 2012, the 2.0 demo had received 46,000 downloads.[13] It went on to receive 100,000 demos by December 9, 2013.[4] Project M 2.5 was featured for a special invitation 16-person tournament at APEX 2013.[30] Ryan Rigney called it the best iteration of Super Smash Bros. and felt that it successfully transforms Brawl into a serious competitive game.[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "About". Project M Back Room. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Todd, Nick (April 21, 2012). "http://www.1up.com/news/smash-bros-projectm-fighter". 1UP.com. Retrieved January 27, 2014. 
  3. ↑ George, Richard (2012-04-19). "Rebuilding Super Smash Bros.". IGN. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Rigney, Ryan (2013-12-09). "The Best Super Smash Bros. Isn’t Made by Nintendo". Wired. Retrieved 2014-01-21. 
  5. ↑ "Announcing the Project M Demo". Project M Back Room. 2011-01-15. Retrieved 2013-01-20. 
  6. ↑ "Project M Demo Release Date Announcement". Project M Back Room. 2011-02-03. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Project M Blog Post #1". Project M Back Room. 2011-03-10. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  8. ↑ "http://projectmgame.com/en/news/project-m-blog-post-2". Project M Back Room. 2011-03-21. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  9. ↑ "Genesis 2 Tournament Roster Revealed". Project M Back Room. 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  10. ↑ "Project M Blog Post #8". Project M Back Room. 2011-10-21. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  11. ↑ "Demo 2 Release Date: 4/15/2012! 29 Characters!". Project M Back Room. 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  12. ↑ "Demo 2 Roster Confirmations! Demo 1 Cast Confirmed!". Project M Back Room. 2012-04-12. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Project M Demo 2.1 Patch Release!". Project M Back Room. 2012-05-23. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  14. ↑ "Project M Demo 2.5 Announcement". Project M Back Room. 2012-09-10. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  15. ↑ "New Features in Demo 2.5: Character recolors and Stage Updates!". Project M Back Room. 2012-12-27. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  16. ↑ "Demo 2.5 Release Date!". Project M Back Room. 2012-12-11. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  17. ↑ "Turbo Mode Announced". Project M Back Room. 2013-04-02. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "We're Back & Turbo Tuesdays". Project M Back Room. 2013-09-17. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  19. ↑ "Welcome to the New Website". Project M Back Room. 2013-06-26. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  20. ↑ "Project M Demo 2.6 released!". Project M Back Room. 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  21. ↑ "Clone Engine Blogpost - Limits, Restrictions, and Possibilities". Project M Back Room. 2013-09-27. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  22. ↑ "Alternate Costumes Blogpost". Project M Back Room. 2013-11-06. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  23. ↑ "Project M 3.0 Trailer Released!". Project M Back Room. 2013-11-11. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 
  24. ↑ "Wario". Project M Back Room. Retrieved 2014-01-21. 
  25. ↑ "Mario". Project M Back Room. Retrieved 2014-01-21. 
  26. ↑ "Peach". Project M Back Room. Retrieved 2014-01-21. 
  27. ↑ "Bowser". Project M Back Room. Retrieved 2014-01-21. 
  28. ↑ "Yoshi". Project M Back Room. Retrieved 2014-01-21. 
  29. ↑ Betka, Zach (January 10, 2014). "Be Inspired by These Ambitious Video Game Fan Projects". GamesRadar. Retrieved January 27, 2014. 
  30. ↑ "Invitational Project M event at APEX 2013". Project M Back Room. 2012-12-19. Retrieved 2014-01-20. 

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