Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is the console half of a pair of games Nintendo released within a short span of each other on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and it's the flashier of the two. Fights don't run on hit points but on damage percentages: the more hits a character takes, the further the next blow sends them flying, and the goal is to knock opponents clear off the edge of the arena. That makes matches readable even for someone who's never touched a traditional fighting game, while still leaving enormous room to improve. Battles take place on moving arenas where the environment itself, falling items, and summonable characters from other games all get involved in the action.

What sets the Wii U version apart is above all its eight-player mode, which turns a battle into a chaotic but tremendously fun scrum, along with a noticeably richer offering of content beyond the fights themselves. The roster of characters was among the widest the series had ever had at launch, and it kept growing through downloadable fighters. Master Orders and Crazy Orders let you wager for rewards, Smash Tour is a board game for several players, and a classic arcade-style campaign rounds out the solo offering. The game was also among the first to make use of amiibo figures, which gradually picked up their owner's playstyle and could be sent into battle against friends.

Technically it's one of the smoothest titles on the console, holding a high frame rate even with eight characters and total chaos on screen. The soundtrack gathers hundreds of tracks, mostly new arrangements spanning Nintendo's entire history, and works on its own as a tribute to decades of game music. Series creator Masahiro Sakurai directed the game. Reception was very positive, the game became one of the console's best-selling titles, and it earned a stable place in the competitive gaming community, even though part of the older fanbase preferred the previous entry. Today it remains a great choice for an evening with friends in front of one TV.