document_title: Once Upon a Time (TV series)

question_text: where is the show once upon a time filmed

question_tokens: where is the show once upon a time filmed

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text: Once Upon a Time (TV series)

text: Series overview[edit]

text: For the first six seasons, the series originally took place in the fictional seaside town of Storybrooke, Maine, in which the residents are actually characters from various fairy tales and other stories that were transported to the real world town and robbed of their original memories by the Evil Queen Regina (Lana Parrilla) who used a powerful curse obtained from Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle). The residents of Storybrooke, where Regina is mayor, have lived an unchanging existence for 28 years, unaware of their own lack of aging. The town's only hope lies with a bail-bonds person named Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison), the daughter of Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas), who was transported from the Enchanted Forest to the real world via a magic tree as an infant before she could be cursed. As such, she is the only person who can break the curse and restore the characters' lost memories. She is aided by her son, Henry (Jared S. Gilmore), with whom she was recently reunited after giving him up for adoption upon his birth, and his Once Upon a Time book of fairy tales that holds the key to breaking the curse. Henry is also the adopted son of Regina, providing a source of both conflict and common interest between the two women.

tag: p

text: In the seventh season reboot, an adult Henry Mills (Andrew J. West), along with Regina, Captain Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) and Rumplestiltskin, are found years later in the Seattle neighborhood of Hyperion Heights, where characters from a different realm were brought under a new curse. Hoping to restore her family's memories, Lucy (Alison Fernandez) must convince her parents, Henry and Cinderella (Dania Ramirez), of the true nature of Hyperion Heights, in the midst of emerging dangers involving Lady Tremaine (Gabrielle Anwar), Mother Gothel (Emma Booth) and Dr. Facilier (Daniel Francis).

text: Episodes usually have one segment that details the characters' past lives that, when serialized, adds a piece to the puzzle about the characters and their connection to the events that preceded the curse and its consequences. The other, set in the present day, follows a similar pattern with a different outcome but also offers similar insights.

text: Season 1 (2011–12)[edit]

text: The first season premiered on October 23, 2011. The Evil Queen interrupts the wedding of Snow White and Prince Charming to announce that she will cast a curse on everyone that will leave her with the only happy ending. As a result, the majority of the characters are transported to the town of Storybrooke, Maine, where they have been stripped of their original memories and identities as fairy tale characters. On her 28th birthday, Emma Swan, the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, is brought to Storybrooke by her biological son Henry Mills in the hopes of breaking the curse cast by his adoptive mother, the Evil Queen Regina.

text: Season 2 (2012–13)[edit]

text: The second season premiered on September 30, 2012.[9] Despite Emma having broken the curse, the characters are not returned to the fairy tale world, and must deal with their own dual identities. With the introduction of magic into Storybrooke by Mr. Gold, the fates of the two worlds become intertwined, and new threats emerge in the form of Captain Hook (Colin O'Donoghue), Regina's mother Cora (Barbara Hershey), also known as the Queen of Hearts, and sinister operatives from the real world with an agenda to destroy magic.

text: Season 3 (2013–14)[edit]

text: The third season premiered on September 29, 2013. It was split into two volumes, with the first eleven episodes running from September to December 2013, and the later half from March to May 2014. In the first volume, the main characters travel to Neverland to rescue Henry, who has been kidnapped by Peter Pan (Robbie Kay) as part of a plan to obtain the "Heart of the Truest Believer" from him. Their increasing power struggle with Pan continues in Storybrooke, which ultimately results in the complete reversal of the original curse. All the characters are returned to their original worlds, leaving Emma and Henry to escape to New York City. In the second volume, the characters are mysteriously brought back to a recreated Storybrooke with their memories of the previous year removed, and the envious Wicked Witch of the West (Rebecca Mader) from the Land of Oz appears with a plan to change the past. Once again, Emma is needed to save her family.

text: Season 4 (2014–15)[edit]

text: The fourth season premiered on September 28, 2014. It was also split into two volumes, with the first eleven episodes running from September to December 2014, and the later half from March to May 2015. A new storyline incorporating elements from Frozen was revealed when the time travel events of the previous season lead to the accidental arrival of Elsa (Georgina Haig) from the Enchanted Forest of the past to present-day Storybrooke. As she searches for her sister Anna (Elizabeth Lail) with the aid of the main characters, they encounter the Snow Queen (Elizabeth Mitchell).[10] Meanwhile, Regina seeks the Author of Henry's Once Upon a Time book so that she can finally have her happy ending. However, Mr. Gold, with the help of Cruella De Vil (Victoria Smurfit), Maleficent (Kristin Bauer van Straten), and Ursula (Merrin Dungey), has his own plan to rewrite the rules governing the fates of all heroes and villains. Henry and Emma race to restore reality and the truth before the twisted inversion becomes permanent. However, the price leads to the ultimate sacrifice.

text: Season 5 (2015–16)[edit]

text: The fifth season was announced on May 7, 2015,[11] and premiered on September 27, 2015. It was once again split into two volumes with the first volume ran from September to December 2015, and the second volume from March to May 2016. The characters embark on a quest to Camelot to find the Sorcerer Merlin (Elliot Knight) in order to free Emma from the powers of an ancient darkness that threatens to destroy everything. To complicate matters, King Arthur (Liam Garrigan) is determined to forever alter the balance between light and darkness using the legendary Excalibur. As history and destiny collide, unsuspected consequences lead the characters to the Underworld where they encounter souls of those with unfinished business and must face Hades (Greg Germann). In an attempt to restore order to the chaos that has culminated, the characters' dangerous manipulations of magic lead to an exacerbation of the war between light and darkness, with the separation of Regina and her Evil Queen persona, as well as the arrival of Dr. Jekyll (Hank Harris) and Mr. Hyde (Sam Witwer).

text: Season 6 (2016–17)[edit]

text: The sixth season was announced on March 3, 2016, and premiered on September 25, 2016. The characters must defend Storybrooke from the combined threat of Mr. Hyde and an unleashed Evil Queen and the mysterious fate of saviors leads to Emma learning about Aladdin (Deniz Akdeniz).[12] The ongoing war between light and darkness ultimately leads to the arrival of the Black Fairy (Jaime Murray) as well as the final battle that was prophesied before the casting of the original curse.

text: Season 7 (2017–18)[edit]

text: In May 2017, the series was renewed for a final seventh season consisting of 22 episodes,[4] which marks the beginning of a soft reboot.[13][14][15][7] Years later, Lucy (Alison Fernandez) arrives in the fictional neighborhood of Hyperion Heights in Seattle, Washington with her Once Upon a Time book to find her father Henry Mills (Andrew J. West) who is needed by his family.[16][17][18] Characters from the New Enchanted Forest[19] were brought to Hyperion Heights under a new curse and are caught in a rising conflict involving Cinderella (Dania Ramirez) and Lady Tremaine (Gabrielle Anwar) whose dangerous history with Mother Gothel (Emma Booth) is revealed as well as the agendas of Dr. Facilier (Daneiel Francis).

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
Season
Episodes
Originally aired
Nielsen ratings

First aired
Last aired
Viewers
(millions)
Viewers
rank
18–49
rating/share
18-49
rank

1
22
October 23, 2011 (2011-10-23)
May 13, 2012 (2012-05-13)
11.71
28[20]
4.1/10
18[21]

2
22
September 30, 2012 (2012-09-30)
May 12, 2013 (2013-05-12)
10.24
35[22]
3.6/9
18[23]

3
22
September 29, 2013 (2013-09-29)
May 11, 2014 (2014-05-11)
9.38
35[24]
3.3/8
12[25]

4
22
September 28, 2014 (2014-09-28)
May 10, 2015 (2015-05-10)
8.98
50[26]
3.2/7
17[26]

5
23
September 27, 2015 (2015-09-27)
May 15, 2016 (2016-05-15)
6.32
69[27]
2.2/7
34[27]

6
22
September 25, 2016 (2016-09-25)
May 14, 2017 (2017-05-14)
4.39
105[28]
1.5/5
70[28]

7
22[29]
October 6, 2017 (2017-10-06)
May 18, 2018 (2018-05-18)[30]
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

tag: table

text: Once Upon a Time's first season received "generally favorable" reviews from critics. Metacritic gave it a score of 66 out of 100 based on 26 reviews. The pilot episode was watched by 12.93 million viewers and achieved an adult 18–49 rating/share of 4.0/10. The second season premiered on September 30, 2012, to an audience of 11.36 million viewers, while the third season began on September 29, 2013, opening to 8.52 million viewers. In May 2014, ABC renewed the show for its fourth season, premiering in September 2014 to an audience of 9.47 million viewers. The series was renewed for a fifth season in May 2015 and for a sixth season in March 2016.[31] On May 11, 2017, ABC renewed the series for a 22-episode seventh season.[4] In February 2018, it was announced the seventh season would serve as the final season of the series.[7]

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White / Mary Margaret Blanchard (seasons 1–6)[32][33]
Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan (seasons 1–6)[32][33][34]
Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen / Regina Mills / Roni[32][35]
Josh Dallas as Pauper[36] / Prince Charming / David Nolan (seasons 1–6)[32][33]
Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills (main seasons 1–6; recurring season 7)[33][37]
Raphael Sbarge as Jiminy Cricket / Dr. Archibald Hopper (main season 1; recurring seasons 2–3, 6)
Jamie Dornan as Huntsman / Sheriff Graham Humbert (season 1)
Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin / Crocodile / Beast / Mr. Gold[32] / Weaver
Eion Bailey as Pinocchio / August Wayne Booth (main season 1; recurring seasons 2, 4, 6)
Emilie de Ravin as Belle / Lacey (main seasons 2–6; recurring season 1)[32][33][38]
Meghan Ory as Red Riding Hood / Wolf / Ruby (main season 2; recurring seasons 1, 3, 5)[39]
Colin O'Donoghue as Killian Jones / Captain Hook / Rogers (seasons 2–)[32]
Michael Raymond-James as Baelfire / Neal Cassidy (main season 3; recurring season 2)
Michael Socha as Will Scarlet / Knave of Hearts / White King (season 4)
Rebecca Mader as Zelena / Wicked Witch of the West / Kelly West (main seasons 5–6; recurring seasons 3–4, 7)[32][40][41]
Sean Maguire as Robin Hood (main season 5; recurring seasons 3–4, 6-7)[32][40]
Andrew J. West as Henry Mills (season 7)
Dania Ramirez as Cinderella / Jacinda Vidrio (season 7)
Gabrielle Anwar as Rapunzel / Lady Tremaine / Victoria Belfrey (season 7)
Alison Fernandez as Lucy Mills (season 7)
Mekia Cox as Tiana / Sabine (season 7)

tag: ul

text: Development and production[edit]

text: Conception[edit]

text: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis gave birth to the show in 2004 before joining the writing staff of Lost, but wanted to wait until that series was over to focus on this project.[42]

text:
The idea is to take these characters that we all know collectively and try to find things about them that we haven't explored before. Sometimes it's a story point, sometimes it's a thematic connection, sometimes it's a dilemma they face in both worlds that is similar. We are not generally retelling the exact same story as the fairy tale world.
“
”

— Executive producer Adam Horowitz[43]

tag: div

text: Eight years before the Once Upon a Time pilot (the two had just completed their work on Felicity, in 2002), Kitsis and Horowitz became inspired to write fairy tales out of a love of "mystery and excitement of exploring lots of different worlds."[44] They presented the premise to networks, but were refused because of its fantastic nature.[45] From their time on Lost, the writers learned to look at the story in a different way,[45] namely that "character has to trump mythology."[43]

text: They explained,

text: "As people, you've got to see what the void in their heart or in their lives is to care about them ... For us, this was as much about the character journeys and seeing what was ripped from them in coming to Storybrooke – going at it that way as opposed to making it the 'break-the-curse show.'"[46]

text: Despite the comparisons and similarities to Lost, the writers intend them to be very different shows.[45] To them, Lost concerned itself with redemption, while Once Upon a Time is about "hope".[47] Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof aids in the development of the series as a consultant, but has no official credit on the show. Kitsis and Horowitz have called him a "godfather" to the series.[48][49] To differentiate the storytelling from what the audience already knew, the writing staff decided to begin the pilot with the end of the typical Snow White fairytale.[46] Themes concerning family and motherhood were emphasized, in contrast to the focus on fatherhood in Lost. Kitsis and Horowitz sought to write strong female characters, rather than the classic damsel in distress. Horowitz stated their desire to approach each character the same way, asking themselves, "How do we make these icons real, make them relatable?"[45]

text: The pilot is meant to be the "template of the series".[44] Kitsis confirmed that every week will contain flashbacks between both worlds,[43] as they "love the idea of going back and forth and informing what the character is missing in their life."[50] The writers' desire to present a "mash up" of many small characters can be seen in a scene of the pilot, in which there is a war council featuring Geppetto, Pinocchio, and Grumpy. Horowitz elaborated, "One of the fun things for us coming up with these stories is thinking of ways these different characters can interact in ways they never have before."[45] Since then, the creators have added more elements, and given its ties to Disney, have managed to expand the universe to include more recent material, by throwing out hints that they might look ahead at incorporating characters from Brave and Frozen in future episodes, if they get the green light from Disney.[51] The Season 3 finale introduced Elsa in the final minutes of the episode.[52]

text: The general premise, importing the Snow White core characters into the "real world", was previously seen on ABC television in the short-lived 1980s comedy The Charmings. The show also has a similar premise to Bill Willingham's ten-year-old comic series Fables, to which ABC bought the rights in 2008 but never made it past planning stages. After Fables fans raised controversy over possible appropriation, the show writers initially denied a link, but later said they may have "read a couple issues" of the comic book but while the two concepts are "in the same playground", they are "telling a different story."[50] Bill Willingham responded to the controversy in an interview, where he stated he did not feel the show was plagiarism and said: "Maybe they did remember reading Fables back then, but didn't want to mention it because we've become a very litigious people."[50][53]

text: Casting[edit]

text: Secondary character casting director, Samuel Forsyth, started the casting process in 2010. Horowitz stated that everyone they initially wanted for roles in the series accepted their roles after being sent a script.[44][45] Ginnifer Goodwin was cast as Snow White / Mary Margaret Blanchard,[54] who appreciated that she would be playing a strong character that was fleshed out for the audience. Goodwin had stated in interviews that she would love to play Snow White, and called her acceptance of the role "a no-brainer."[55] Both Kitsis and Horowitz are self-described big fans of Goodwin's previous series, Big Love, and wrote the part of Snow White with her in mind.[45] Josh Dallas, who portrays Prince Charming / David Nolan, was pleased the writers took "some dramatic license" with his character, believing the prince had become more real. He explained,

text: "Prince Charming just happens to be a name. He's still a man with the same emotions as any other man. He's a Prince, but he's a Prince of the people. He gets his hands dirty. He's got a kingdom to run. He has a family to protect. He has an epic, epic love for Snow White. He's like everybody else. He's human."[55]

text: Jennifer Morrison was hired for the part of Emma Swan.[56] The actress explained her character as someone who "help[s] her son Henry whom she abandoned when he was a baby and who seems like he's a little bit emotionally dysfunctional", but noted that Emma does not start out believing in the fairytale universe.[55] Ten-year old Jared Gilmore, known for his work on Mad Men, took the role of her son, Henry.[56] The role of The Evil Queen/ Regina was given to Lana Parrilla.[57]

text:
"There's always two stories being told when playing Regina. There's the threat of her knowing she's an evil queen and then there's just the pure simple fact that the biological mother has stepped into her world and the threat of losing her son is just enormous. That's a fear that I think any adopted mother would have. I think that's going to really help the audience relate to Regina in some level."

—Lana Parrilla[55]

text: The role of Rumplestiltskin / Mr. Gold was given to Robert Carlyle,[58] after having been written with him in mind, though the writers initially thought he would not accept the part.[43] Horowitz recalled Carlyle's prison sequence, which was the actor's first day on the set as "mind-blowing ... You could see Ginny actually jump, the first time he did that character. It was fantastic!"[44] Jamie Dornan portrayed the Huntsman / Sheriff Graham[59] as a series regular before being killed off in the seventh episode,[60] while Eion Bailey was cast as Pinocchio / August Wayne Booth[59] in a recurring role,[61] starting in the show's ninth episode, "True North", where he was credited as "Stranger", he was promoted to series regular status for the fifteenth episode, "Red-Handed".[62] Raphael Sbarge portrayed Jiminy Cricket / Dr. Archie Hopper.[59]

text: For the second season, Meghan Ory and Emilie de Ravin were promoted to series regulars as Red Riding Hood / Ruby[63] and Belle / Lacey[64] respectively, while Bailey made guest appearances in two episodes after departing the series[65][66] and Sbarge joined the recurring cast.[67] Colin O'Donoghue was cast as Captain Killian "Hook" Jones,[68] and was upped to series regular for the fourteenth episode of the season.[69]

text: For the third season, Michael Raymond-James was promoted to a series regular as Neal Cassidy,[70] while Ory did not return as a series regular due to commitments to the TV series, Intelligence.[71]

text: For the fourth season, Michael Socha was brought onto the show as Will Scarlet / Knave of Hearts from the show's spin-off, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland,[72][73] while Raymond-James was dropped from the regular cast[74] when the writers decided to kill off his character.[74] Bailey returned in a recurring arc towards the end of the season after being absent from the show since the second season.[75]

text: For the fifth season, Rebecca Mader[40] and Sean Maguire[40] were announced to have been promoted to series regulars as Zelena / Wicked Witch of the West and Robin Hood respectively, while Socha was confirmed to not be returning as a series regular.[76] Ory also returned to the series in a recurring capacity after being absent since the third-season finale.[39]

text: Before the series was renewed for a seventh season, Jennifer Morrison announced that, if the series were to be renewed, she would not be returning as a series regular for that season but agreed to return for one episode to wrap up Emma Swan's storyline.[77] Later that week, actress Rebecca Mader announced that she would also be leaving the series after the sixth season wrapped. It was later announced that Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Jared S. Gilmore and Emilie de Ravin would also be leaving the show after the sixth season's finale aired. Along with departures, Andrew J. West and Alison Fernandez were announced to be joining the seventh season of the show as series regulars after guest starring in the previous season's finale. They will portray an older Henry Mills and his daughter Lucy respectively. In July 2017, actresses Dania Ramirez and Gabrielle Anwar were announced to be joining the cast of the seventh season as series regulars, playing new iterations of Cinderella and Lady Tremaine, respectively. In September 2017, Mekia Cox, who portrays Tiana, was promoted to a series regular.[78]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Principal photography for the series takes place in Vancouver, British Columbia.[79][80] Steveston Village in the adjacent city of Richmond doubles as Storybrooke for the series, with props and exterior sets disguising the existing businesses and buildings. During filming, all brightly-colored objects (flowers, etc.) are hidden to reinforce the story village's spell-subdued character. Certain sets are additionally filmed in separate studios, including the interior of Mr. Gold's pawn shop and the clock tower, which are not found in Steveston.[81]

text: Setting[edit]

text: This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Main settings[edit]

text: During the first six seasons, the Enchanted Forest was one of the main setting of the series. The Enchanted Forest is a realm within Fairy Tale Land, but the actual spread and scope of the realm is not known. However, they were later united during the Ogre Wars, which played a part in the formation of the War Council that was formed by Prince Charming and served as the catalysts in the backstories involving Rumpelstiltskin and the Evil Queen. Several independent kingdoms are implied by an array of different rulers. Most of the stories detailed their earlier lives before ascension to power and being influenced by their mentors through their upbringings.

text: The Land Without Magic, commonly known as the Real World, is another main setting, shown as a place devoid with magic, and not connected to the others. It is often said that travelling to the Land Without Magic is hard, but possible, such as magical doors created by the Apprentice, magic beans, or the Dark Curse. During the first six seasons, Storybrooke, Maine was the main setting, serving as an isolated town separated from the rest of the world, where the cursed inhabitants are trapped by various forces. During the series’ seventh season, the setting shifted to Hyperion Heights, Seattle, where unlike Storybrooke, its cursed inhabitants are living among ordinary people.

text: During the seventh season, the New Enchanted Forest[19] is shown as the main setting, alongside with Hyperion Heights. As a realm in New Fairy Tale Land, it is divided into several independent kingdoms with different rulers. The inhabitants are in-conflict with each other, most notably between Lady Tremaine, Cinderella, Drizella, a resistance led by Tiana, and the Coven of the Eight led by Mother Gothel. Most flashbacks shown are involving events happened before the original curse and before the latest curse that brought everyone to Hyperion Heights.

text: Expanded settings[edit]

text: The realms and worlds featured in the series are mostly based on many fairy tales, mythologies and real life locations and are magical, unlike the real world which is dubbed the Land Without Magic. Just like the Enchanted Forest, the other realms and worlds were affected by the Evil Queen’s curse, but indirectly, merely freezing them in time and state for twenty-eight years.

text: Some of the worlds within the universe are mostly based fairy tales where witchcraft plays a vital role in the lands. Known worlds are Fairy Tale Land,[82] Wonderland,[82] Neverland,[82] the Land of Oz,[82] Asgard,[83] the Book Realm,[84] the Land of Untold Stories,[82] the World Behind the Mirror,[85] the Dark Realm,[86] the Wish Realm,[86] New Fairy Tale Land,[19] the Edge of Realms,[87] and New Wonderland.[88]

text: There are also worlds known as the Realms of Storytelling.[89] These realms are mostly based on the Land Without Magic, taking the name of a certain location and a certain time period. Known worlds are the Land Without Color,[82] 19th Century London,[90] Victorian England,[91] Kansas,[92] 1920s England,[93] 19th Century France,[94] and the Land Without Stories.[95]

text: Additionally, several spiritual worlds exist in the universe. These worlds are known to not sustain living inhabitants, merely souls of the living in some and the deceased in others, with exception of the deities. Such worlds are the Dreamscape,[96] the Netherworld,[97] the Underworld,[98] the Worst Place,[99] and Mount Olympus.[100]

text: Cultural references[edit]

text: As a nod to the ties between the production teams of Once Upon a Time and Lost, the former show contains allusions to Lost, and is expected to continue alluding to Lost throughout its run.[50] For example, many items found in the Lost universe, such as Apollo candy bars, Oceanic Airlines, Ajira Airways, the TV series Exposé and MacCutcheon Whiskey, can be seen in Once Upon a Time.[101]

text: Music[edit]

text: Mark Isham composed the series' theme and music. On February 14, 2012, an extended play album featuring four cues from the score was released by ABC Studios.[102] On May 1, 2012, a full-length 25-track official soundtrack album was released by Intrada Records to accompany season one.[103] On August 13, 2013, another full-length 25-track official soundtrack album was released by Intrada to accompany season two.[104] Since December 2015, Mark Isham had begun to release music that was previously not released from the third, fourth and fifth seasons on his Soundcloud account.

text:
[show]Season 1 Soundtrack

No.
Title
Length

1.
"Once Upon a Time Orchestral Suite"
4:13

2.
"Henry's Proposal"
1:17

3.
"The Queen's Curse"
2:46

4.
"Jiminy Cricket"
3:11

5.
"Dealing With Rumplestiltskin"
3:26

6.
"Belle's Story"
2:37

7.
"Dwarves"
2:45

8.
"The Huntsman"
4:31

9.
"Things Are Changing in Storybrooke"
1:47

10.
"Cinderella"
1:44

11.
"Wedding Dance"
1:21

12.
"Advising Ashley"
2:26

13.
"If The Shoe Fits"
1:35

14.
"Unhappy Endings"
3:46

15.
"Emma And Henry"
1:43

16.
"The Siren"
5:07

17.
"The Man with the Wooden Box"
1:11

18.
"Hope Will Return"
1:48

19.
"Rumplestiltskin in Love"
2:19

20.
"The Genie's Wishes"
1:58

21.
"The Road To True Love"
2:50

22.
"The Family Compass"
2:00

23.
"Burn The Witch"
2:34

24.
"What The Queen Loves Most"
2:30

25.
"The Clock Moves"
1:12

text:
[show]Season 2 Soundtrack

No.
Title
Length

1.
"Sleeping Beauty"
2:29

2.
"True Love"
4:45

3.
"Magic"
3:12

4.
"We Are Both"
1:41

5.
"Meet the Jefferson"
2:37

6.
"Ruby and Granny"
1:54

7.
"A Real Boy"
2:26

8.
"The Hedge Maze"
4:13

9.
"Regina's True Love"
2:29

10.
"Storybrooke Reunions"
2:12

11.
"The Duelists"
1:21

12.
"The Lady Jack"
0:45

13.
"In a Burning Room"
4:16

14.
"Tallahassee"
2:21

15.
"This Boy Will Be Your Undoing"
2:46

16.
"Science!"
1:23

17.
"To Neverland!"
1:58

18.
"Cora's Waltz"
2:19

19.
"Snow White in Black"
2:45

20.
"How Magic Is Made"
3:33

21.
"One Perfect Day After Another"
2:37

22.
"Bae and the Shadow"
2:45

23.
"Tamara Shows Her True Colors"
4:20

24.
"The Adventure Begins"
2:14

25.
"Main Title"
0:14

text: Broadcast[edit]

text: The series has been licensed to over 190 countries.[105] In Australia, Once Upon a Time first aired on Seven Network, starting on May 15, 2012. In Canada it airs on CTV from October 23, 2011. It premiered on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2012.[106] On December 17, 2013, it was confirmed that Channel 5 would not be picking the series up for the third season airing in the UK.[106] On March 14, 2015, Netflix picked up the show in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, subsequently showing all seasons and premiering each new episode on Wednesdays after their initial showing on Sundays on ABC.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: Critical response to the first season was generally positive. On Metacritic, it was given a score of 66 out of 100 with "generally favorable reviews".[107] E!'s Kristin dos Santos cited the show as one of the five new shows of the 2011–2012 season to watch.[108] Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe gave the show a "C+" grade commenting

text: "From a pair of Lost producers, this is a love-or-hate proposition. The ambition is impressive, as it asks us to imagine Goodwin's Snow White and Parrilla's Evil Queen as moderns. But Morrison is a wooden lead, and the back stories – a random collection of fairy tales -- don't promise to surprise."[109]

text: In a review from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, TV critic Gail Pennington hailed it as one of the "Most Promising Shows of The Fall" and, unlike Gilbert, had high marks for Morrison.[110] USA Today's Robert Blanco placed the series on its top ten list, declaring that "There's nothing else on the air quite like it."[111] Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times preferred the series to another fairy-tale themed drama, Grimm, citing that the premise takes its time building up the charm and that the producer "has that part nailed". She also gave excellent reviews for Morrison's character: "Her Emma is predictably cynical and prickly – fairy-tale princess, my Aunt Fanny – but she's sharp and lively enough to keep audiences begging for 'just a few more pages' before they go to bed."[112]

text: Several feminist outlets were pleased with the show for its feminist twist on fairy tales. Avital Norman Nathman of Bitch stated that she liked the show for "infusing a feminist sensibility" into the stories.[113] Genie Leslie at Feministing commented that Emma was a "badass", that she liked how Emma was "very adamant that women be able to make their own decisions about their lives and their children", and how Emma was a "well-rounded" character who was "feminine, but not 'girly'".[114] Natalie Wilson from Ms. praised the show for a strong, "kick-butt" female lead, for including multiple strong women who take turns doing the saving with the men, for subverting the fetishization of true love, and for dealing with the idea of what makes a mother in a more nuanced fashion. Wilson went on to state of the lead: "Her pursuit of a 'happy ending' is not about finding a man or going to a ball all gussied up, but about detective work, about building a relationship with her son Henry, and about seeking the 'truth' as to why time stands still in the corrupt Storybrooke world."[115]

text: Ratings[edit]

text: The first season premiered as the top-rated drama series. The pilot episode was watched by 13 million viewers and received a 4.0 rating/share among 18- to 49-year-olds.[116] It was the season's highest-rated drama debut among the age range and ABC's biggest debut in five years.[117][118] With DVR viewers, the premiere climbed to 15.5 million viewers and a 5.2 rating/share in adults 18–49.[119] The show's next three episodes had consistent ratings every week with over 11 million viewers.[120][121][122] The series has become the number one non-sports program in the U.S. with viewers and young adults on Sunday nights.[123]

text:
Season
Timeslot (ET)
Episodes
First aired
Last aired
TV season
Rank
Avg. viewers
(millions)
18–49 rating
(average)

Date
Viewers
(millions)
Date
Viewers
(millions)

1
Sunday 8:00 pm
22
October 23, 2011 (2011-10-23)
12.93[124]
May 13, 2012 (2012-05-13)
9.66[125]
2011–12
28
11.71[126]
4.1/10[127]

2
22
September 30, 2012 (2012-09-30)
11.36[128]
May 12, 2013 (2013-05-12)
7.33[129]
2012–13
35
10.24[130]
3.6/9[131]

3
22
September 29, 2013 (2013-09-29)
8.52[132]
May 11, 2014 (2014-05-11)
6.80[133]
2013–14
35
9.38[134]
3.3/8[135]

4
22
September 28, 2014 (2014-09-28)
9.47[136]
May 10, 2015 (2015-05-10)
5.51[137]
2014–15
50
8.98[138]
3.2/7[138]

5
23
September 27, 2015 (2015-09-27)
5.93[139]
May 15, 2016 (2016-05-15)
4.07[140]
2015–16
69
6.32[27]
2.2[27]

6
22
September 25, 2016 (2016-09-25)
3.99[141]
May 14, 2017 (2017-05-14)
2.95[142]
2016–17
105
4.39[143]
1.5/5[28]

7
Friday 8:00 pm
22[4]
October 6, 2017 (2017-10-06)
3.26[144]
May 18, 2018 (2018-05-18)[145]
TBD
2017–18
TBD
TBD
TBD

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text: Once Upon a Time was nominated for a 2012 People's Choice Award for "Favorite New TV Drama", but lost to Person of Interest.[146] The show was nominated at the 39th People's Choice Awards in four categories: Favorite Network TV Drama, Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show, Favorite TV Fan Following, and Favorite TV Drama Actress (Ginnifer Goodwin); it lost to another ABC show Grey's Anatomy in the first category, Supernatural in the second two, and Ellen Pompeo (from Grey's Anatomy) in the last category. the show was nominated at 40th People's Choice Awards, but lost to Beauty and the Beast and The Vampire Diaries, respectively.

text: The show was also nominated for "Best Genre Series" at the 2011 Satellite Awards, but lost to American Horror Story.[147] The show was nominated in this category again at the 2012 Satellite Awards, but lost to The Walking Dead.[148]

text: The program also received three nominations at the 2012 Visual Effects Society Awards, but all lost to Boardwalk Empire, Gears of War 3, and Terra Nova.[149]

text: At the 38th Saturn Awards, the series received a nomination for Best Network Television Series and Parrilla was nominated for Best Supporting Actress on Television, but lost to Fringe and Michelle Forbes, respectively.[150]

text: The program was nominated for the former award again at the 39th Saturn Awards, but lost to new series Revolution.[151]

text: Jared S. Gilmore was nominated for Best Performance by an Younger Actor on Television at 40th Saturn Awards, but lost to Chandler Riggs for The Walking Dead

text: The show received trophies for "Favorite New TV Drama" and "Favorite Villain" for Lana Parrilla by the TV Guide.[152]

text: The show was nominated at the 2012 Teen Choice Awards, but lost to The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars and Awkward and the show was also nominated at 2013 Teen Choice Awards, but lost to The Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars.

text: The show was nominated again 2014 Teen Choice Awards, but lost to The Vampire Diaries and Dylan O'Brien, respectively.

text: It was also nominated at the 64th Creative Arts Primetime Emmy Awards, but lost to Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead and the show was nominated again at 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, but lost to The Borgias and Game of Thrones.

text: Tie-in material[edit]

text: Novels[edit]

text: In 2013, Disney-owned Hyperion Books published Reawakened by Odette Beane, a novelization of storylines from the first season, expanded to include new perspectives. The narrative is from the points-of-view of Emma Swan in Storybrooke and Snow White in the Enchanted Forest. The novel was published on April 28, 2013, as an ebook and May 7, 2013, in paperback form.[153]

text: In 2015, production company Kingswell Teen published Red's Untold Tale, by Wendy Toliver, a novel telling a story of Red's past that was not seen in the show. The novel was published on September 22, 2015 and consisted of 416 pages.

text: In 2017, Kingswell Teen published a second novel, Regina Rising, also written by Wendy Toliver, which depicts the life of a sixteen year old Regina. The novel was published on April 25, 2017.

text: Comic books[edit]

text: A comic book, titled Once Upon a Time: Shadow of the Queen, was released on September 4, 2013, in both digital and hardcover forms. The story was written by Dan Thomsen and Corinna Bechko, with art by Nimit Malavia, Vasilis Lolos, Mike Del Mundo, Stephanie Hans and Mike Henderson. Shadow of the Queen details what happens after the Evil Queen takes the Huntsman's heart. She forces the Huntsman to commit evil, and try to capture Snow White yet again. The Huntsman faces his past, and also meets Red Riding Hood, who is trying to cope with her beastly alter ego. Together, they team up and try to save Snow White before all is too late.[154]

text: On April 14, 2014, a sequel to the first comic book called Once Upon a Time: Out of the Past was released.[155]

text: Spin-off[edit]

text: In February 2013, Kitsis & Horowitz, along with producers Zack Estrin and Jane Espenson, developed a spin-off focusing on Lewis Carroll's Wonderland.[156] The series was called Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. A "teaser presentation" began shooting in April 2013, and the pilot was shot in late July or August.[157] On May 10, 2013, ABC announced that it had approved the spin-off and on May 14, 2013, announced that the spin-off would air in the Thursday night 8:00pm time slot instead of making it a fill-in for the parent series.[158] The series premiered on October 10, 2013, but was cancelled[159] after a single-season thirteen-episode run that ended on April 3, 2014.[160]


document_title: Dogue de Bordeaux

question_text: what breed of dog in turner and hooch

question_tokens: what breed of dog in turner and hooch

text: Dogue de Bordeaux

text: History[edit]

text: The Dogue de Bordeaux was known in France as early as the fourteenth century, particularly in southern France in the region around Bordeaux. Hence, the city lent its name to this large dog. A uniform breed type of the Bordeaux Dog did not exist before about 1920.[1]

text: The French placed emphasis on keeping the old breeding line pure. Black masks were considered an indication of the crossing in of the English Mastiff. As an important indication of purity of the breed, attention was paid to the self colored (pink) nose, lighter eye color (dark amber), and red mask. They were originally bred with huge heads; a pioneer for the breed in Germany, Werner Preugschat once wrote:

text: What am I supposed to do with a dog that has a monstrous skull and is at most able to carry it from the food dish to its bed?

text: The Dogue de Bordeaux was at one time known to come in two varieties, Dogues and Doguins, the Dogue being considerably larger than the Doguin. The smaller Doguin has withered away to nothing more than a mention in breed history books, as it is no longer in existence.

text: The history of the breed is believed to predate the Bullmastiff and the Bulldog. It is said that the Dogue can be found in the background of the Bullmastiff, and others claim that the Dogue and Mastiff breeds were both being accomplished at the same time. Another theory is the Dogue de Bordeaux originates from the Tibetan Mastiff and it is also said that the Dogue is related to the Greco Roman molossoids used for war.[citation needed]

text: As there was a breed similar to the Dogue de Bordeaux in Rome at the time of Julius Caesar's reign, possibly a cousin of the Neapolitan Mastiff. Others suggest that the Dogue de Bordeaux is a descendent of a breed which existed in ancient France, the Dogues de Bordeaux of Aquitaine. Whichever theory is true, it is obvious that the Dogue de Bordeaux shares the same common links as all modern molossers.

text: The Dogue de Bordeaux was once classified into three varieties, the Parisian, the Toulouse and the Bordeaux, types which were bred depending on the region of France and the jobs it was required to do. The ancestral Dogue de Bordeaux had various coat colors, such as brindle and a majority of white markings that carried fully up the legs. It had scissor bites in some regions, undershot in others; a big head or a small head, a large body or a small body; very inconsistent in type. Another controversial aspect was the mask, red (brown), none or black. The Dogue de Bordeaux of Bordeaux of the time also sported cropped ears. Regardless, it had a general type similar to today's Dogue de Bordeaux.

text: Breeding[edit]

text: In 1863, the first canine exhibition was held at the "Jardin d'Acclimatation" in Paris, France. The winner of the Dogue de Bordeaux was a female named Magentas. The Dogue de Bordeaux was then given the name of the capital of its region of origin, today's Dogue de Bordeaux.

text: During the 1960s, a group of breeders of the Dogue de Bordeaux in France, headed by Raymond Triquet, worked on the rebuilding of the foundation of the breed. In 1970, a new standard was written for the breed, with the most recent update in 1995. This standard is the basis of the standard written for the AKC in 2005.

text: Although the Dogue de Bordeaux first arrived in the USA in the 1890s for the show ring, the first documented Dogues de Bordeaux of modern times appeared in 1959[clarification needed], Fidelle de Fenelon; and in 1968, Rugby de la Maison des Arbres. Between 1969 and 1980, imported Dogues de Bordeaux in the USA were scarce, limited to a few breeders who worked closely with the French Dogue de Bordeaux Club, the SADB. The breed was first "officially" introduced to American purebred enthusiasts in an article written in 1982 and by the American anthropologist, Dr. Carl Semencic for "Dog World" magazine. That article, entitled "Introducing the Dogue de Bordeaux", was followed by chapters dedicated to the Dogue in Semencic's books on dogs, published by T.F.H. Publications of Neptune, New Jersey. When Semencic's first article on the breed was published, there were no Bordeaux Dogues in the United States. There were 600 examples left in the world, mostly in France, the Netherlands and East Berlin, and the breed's numbers were on the decline. Much later, in 1989, the typical American family saw the Dogue de Bordeaux for the first time on the big screen in Touchstone's movie Turner & Hooch about a policeman and his canine partner, although many people[who?] did not know that the massive slobbering animal was a Dogue de Bordeaux.

text: Since then, the Dogue de Bordeaux has taken hold in the United States and can be found in greatly increasing numbers across the country. The Dogue de Bordeaux has been supported by multiple breed clubs throughout the years, and has finally found its way to full AKC recognition through the assistance of the Dogue de Bordeaux Society of America. Since 1997, the DDBSA has helped bring the breed to the point in which full AKC recognition could be achieved.

text: The Dogue de Bordeaux has begun to flourish is recent years, with its introduction into more movies and even television, as well as its full recognition status by the American Kennel Club, also known as the AKC (full AKC recognition began July 2008). Its numbers are climbing, but careful attention must be paid to health in the breed if its increase in popularity is to show a positive forward motion.

text: The breed was first exhibited in France in 1863 after which time it gained in popularity not only in their home country but in other parts of the world. The first record of Dogue de Bordeaux in the UK can be seen in the Kennel Club Gazette in 1897.[2] The breed was officially recognised by the Kennel Club (UK) in 1997[3] but it was not until 2001[4] that the Kennel Club (UK) accepted an interim breed standard.

text: Appearance[edit]

text: The Dogue de Bordeaux is a well balanced, muscular and massive dog with a powerful build. The Dogue's size should come mostly from width and muscles, rather than height.[citation needed] The breed is set somewhat low to the ground and is not tall like the English Mastiff. The body of the Dogue de Bordeaux is thick-set, with a top-line that has a slight dip (topline is never completely straight) and a gentle rounded croup. The front legs should be straight and heavy-boned, well up on pasterns, down to tight cat-like feet. The straight tail, beginning thickly at the base and then tapering to a point at the end, should not reach lower than the hocks, and is set and carried low. The breed is to be presented in a completely natural condition with intact ears, tail, and natural dewclaws. It should be evaluated equally for correctness in conformation, temperament, movement, and overall structural soundness.[citation needed]

text: Weight[edit]

text: The breed standards by European FCI and the American Kennel Club specify a minimum weight of 99 pounds (45 kg) for a female and 110 pounds (50 kg) for a male.[5] There is no formally stated maximum weight, but dogs must be balanced with regard to their overall type and the conformation standards of the breed.[citation needed]

text: Height[edit]

text: The standard states that the desirable height, at maturity, should range between 24 to 27 inches (61 to 69 cm) for male dogs and from 23 to 26 inches (58 to 66 cm) for females.[5] Deviation from these margins is considered a fault.[citation needed]

text: Head[edit]

text: The massive head is a crucial breed characteristic. The Dogue de Bordeaux is claimed to have the largest head in the canine world, in proportion to the rest of the body. For males, the circumference of the head, measured at the widest point of the skull, is roughly equal to the dog's height at the withers (shoulders). For females, the circumference may be slightly less. When viewed from the front or from above, the head of the Dogue forms a trapezoid shape with the longer top-line of the skull, and the shorter line of the underjaw, forming the parallel sides of the trapezoid. The jaw is undershot and powerful. The Dogue should always have a black or red mask that can be distinguished from the rest of the coat around and under the nose, including the lips and eye rims. The nose colour in red-masked dogs should be brown, in black-masked dogs, it must be black. The muzzle should be at most a third of the total length of the head and no shorter than a quarter of the length of the head, the ideal being between the two extremes. The upper lip hangs thickly down over the lower jaw. The upper lips of the Dogue de Bordeaux hangs over the lower lips. The skin on the neck is loose, forming a noticeable dewlap, but should not resemble that of a Neapolitan Mastiff. Small pendant ears top the head, but should not be long and hound like.[citation needed]

text: Coat[edit]

text: The standard specifies the coat to be 'short, fine, and soft to the touch'. Color varies from shades of fawn (light, coppery red) to mahogany (dark, brownish red) with a black, brown, or red mask, although the red mask is true to the breed. White markings are permitted on the tips of the toes and on the chest, but white on any other part of the body is considered a fault, and a disqualifying one if the pigmentation goes beyond the neck.[citation needed]

text: Health[edit]

text: While larger breeds of canines tend to have shorter life expectancy, the life expectancy of the Dogue is still shorter than even breeds of comparable or larger size.[6] According to data collected by the Dogue De Bordeaux Society of America, the average lifespan of the breed is 5 to 6 years.[7] A veterinary database in the UK showed similar figures.[8] In the American survey, the oldest dog in the record was 12 years old.[7] The Society is actively recording dogs that are 7 years old or older to celebrate the longer-lived dogs.[9]

text: Because of its brachycephalic head, the Dogue can be affected by breathing problems. Some may be heat- and exercise-intolerant as a result.[10] The FCI standard considers excessive shortness of breath and raspy breathing in the Dogue a severe fault.[11] The brachycephalic head shape can also encourage ectropion—an outward rolling of the lower eyelid— which can lead to conjunctivitis (eye inflammation) and bacterial infections.[12] Under the UK Kennel Club's Breed Watch system, the Dogue is classed as a Category 3 breed (formerly High Profile Breed), meaning it is a breed "where some dogs have visible conditions or exaggerations that can cause pain or discomfort."[13]

text: Aortic stenosis is a disease of the heart valve in which the opening of the aortic valve is narrowed. Symptoms include exercise intolerance, exertional syncope (fainting from physical exertion) and sudden death. One study suggests a high predisposition in the breed. No severe cases were found in adult dogs, and most moderate to severely affected dogs died before one year of age, leading the authors to speculate that the disease is more severe in the Dogue than in other breeds.[14]

text: Another heart problem in the breed is dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart becomes weakened and enlarged and cannot pump blood efficiently. Some affected dogs may die suddenly without showing any signs of problems. Others may die from congestive heart failure after several weeks or months. Affected dogs are often euthanized at an early stage to avoid suffering.[15]

text: An estimated 5% of dogs may be affected by footpad hyperkeratosis, a thickening of the footpad and sometimes nose.[16][17] X-rays submitted voluntarily to the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals shows that more than 50% of Dogues in the database are affected by hip dysplasia.[18]

text: Reproduction[edit]

text: Data from the Norwegian Kennel Club indicates a mean litter size of 8.1 puppies (ranging from 2-17) for the breed.[19] The breed has a high stillborn and early neonatal mortality rate, with a stillborn rate of 14.2% and early neonatal mortality (death within 1 week from birth) of 10.4%. The average across all breeds in the study was 4.3% stillbirth and 3.7% early neonatal mortality. Excluding stillborn and early deaths, the mean litter size is 6.1.[20] UK Kennel Club data shows that 27.8% (5 of 18) of Dogue litters were delivered by caesarean section.[21]


document_title: Super Smash Bros.

question_text: when does super smash brothers ultimate come out

text: Super Smash Bros.

text: Games

text: Super Smash Bros. (1999)

text: Super Smash Bros. was introduced in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. It was released worldwide after selling over a million copies in Japan.[6] It featured eight characters from the start (Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, and Pikachu), with four unlockable characters (Luigi, Captain Falcon, Ness, and Jigglypuff), all of them created by Nintendo or one of its second-party developers.

text: In Super Smash Bros., up to four players can play in multiplayer (Versus) mode, with the specific rules of each match being predetermined by the players. There are two match types that can be chosen: Time, where the person with the most KOs at the end of the set time wins; and stock, where each player has a set number of lives and are eliminated from play when their lives are depleted.

text: This game's one-player mode included one adventure mode that always followed the same series of opponents although the player could change the difficulty. Other single-player modes exist such as Training and several minigames, including "Break the Targets" and "Board the Platforms". All of these were included in the sequel, with the exception of "Board the Platforms".

text: There are nine playable stages in Versus mode, eight based on each of the starting characters (such as Princess Peach's Castle for Mario, Zebes for Samus, and Sector Z for Fox) and the unlockable Mushroom Kingdom, based around motifs from the original Super Mario Bros., even containing original sprites and the original version of the Overworld theme from that game.

text: Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)

text: A followup for the GameCube, Super Smash Bros. Melee, released in Japan and North America in late 2001, and in Europe and Australia in May 2002. It had a larger budget and development team than Super Smash Bros. did[7] and was released to much greater praise and acclaim among critics and consumers. Since its release, Super Smash Bros. Melee has sold more than 7 million copies and was the bestselling game on the GameCube.[8] Super Smash Bros. Melee features 26 characters, of which 15 are available initially, more than doubling the number of characters in its predecessor. There are also 29 stages.

text: It introduced two new single-player modes alongside the Classic mode: Adventure mode and All-Star mode. Adventure mode has platforming segments similar to the original's "Race to the Finish" mini-game, and All-Star is a fight against every playable character in the game, allows the player only one life in which damage is accumulated over each battle and a limited number of heal items in between battles.

text: There are also significantly more multiplayer modes and a tournament mode allowing for 64 different competitors whom can all be controlled by a human player, although only up to four players can participate at the same time. Additionally, the game featured alternative battle modes, called "Special Melee," which allows players to make many different alterations to the battle, along with alternative ways to judge a victory, such as through collecting coins throughout the match.[9]

text: In place of Super Smash Bros.' character profiles, Melee introduced trophies (called "figures" in the Japanese version). The 293 trophies include three different profiles for each playable character, one unlocked in each single-player mode. In addition, unlike its predecessor, Melee contains profiles for many Nintendo characters who are either non-playable or do not appear in the game, as well as Nintendo items, stages, enemies, and elements.

text: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)

text: Although a third Super Smash Bros. game had been announced long before E3 2006, Nintendo unveiled its first information in the form of a trailer in 2006, and the game was named Super Smash Bros. Brawl and released worldwide in 2008. The game featured a set of third-party characters, Solid Snake of Konami's Metal Gear series, and longtime Mario rival Sonic the Hedgehog from Sega's series of the same name. Brawl was also the first game in the franchise to support online play, via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection,[10] and to offer the ability for players to construct their own original stages.[11] The game features a total of 39 playable characters and 41 stages.

text: Brawl also features compatibility with four kinds of controllers (the Wii Remote on its side, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination, the Classic Controller, and the GameCube controller),[12] while its predecessors only used the one controller designed for that system. The player also has the ability to change the configuration of controls and the controller type.[13]

text: Super Smash Bros. Brawl features a single-player mode known as The Subspace Emissary. This mode features unique character storylines along with numerous side-scrolling levels and multiple bosses to fight, as well as CG cut scenes explaining the storyline. The Subspace Emissary features a new group of antagonists called the Subspace Army, who are led by the Ancient Minister. Some of these enemy characters appeared in previous Nintendo video games, such as Petey Piranha from the Super Mario series and a squadron of R.O.B.s based on classic Nintendo hardware. The Subspace Emissary also boasts a number of original enemies, such as the Roader, a robotic unicycle; the Bytan, a one-eyed ball-like creature which can replicate itself if left alone; and the Primid, enemies that come in many variations.[14] Though primarily a single-player mode, The Subspace Emissary allows for cooperative multiplayer. There are five difficulty levels for each stage, and there is a method of increasing characters' powers during the game.[15] This is done by placing collected stickers onto the bottom of a character's trophy between stages to improve various aspects of a fighter.[16]

text: Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014)

text: At E3 2011, it was confirmed that a fourth and fifth Super Smash Bros. game would be coming to the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, with the two games being cross-compatible with each other in some way.[17][18] Sakurai stated that the announcement was made public in order to attract developers needed for the games, as development for the titles did not start until May 2012 due to production on Kid Icarus: Uprising.[19][20] On June 21, 2012, Nintendo announced that the creation of the games would be a co-production between Sakurai's Sora Ltd. and Bandai Namco Entertainment.[21] The titles were officially revealed at E3 2013, with new information being released via trailers, Nintendo Direct presentations, and developer posts on Miiverse.[22] The game features 58 characters[23] (seven of which are downloadable) with 19 brand new fighters, including third-party characters Mega Man, Pac-Man, Ryu, Cloud Strife, and Bayonetta. The game was released for Nintendo 3DS in Japan in September 2014, and in North America, Europe, and Australia the following month. The Wii U version was released North America, Europe, and Australia in November 2014, and in Japan the following month.[24][25][26]

text: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)

text: In April 2014, Bandai Namco Entertainment posted a recruitment advertisement on a Japanese career job opportunity website. The recruitment page consisted of a listing for programmers for "Smash Bros. 6", which was expected to be released in 2015 for both the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. The page noted there were 120 game developers working on the project at the time, and that Bandai Namco expected that number to increase to 200. However, shortly after its publication, the page was taken down.[27] In a January 2015 column in Weekly Famitsu, Sakurai alluded to the possibility of retirement, expressing doubt that he would be able to continue making games if his career continued to be as stressful as it was.[28] In December 2015, Sakurai once again stated that he was not sure if there would be another game in the Smash Bros. series.[29]

text: On March 8, 2018, a Super Smash Bros. game for the Nintendo Switch was announced during a Nintendo Direct, in which Inkling characters from Splatoon appeared, suggesting that they would be new characters in the game.[3][4][5] Sakurai later confirmed that he had worked on the game "in silence, day after day."[30][31] On March 22, 2018, Nintendo announced that they would host another Super Smash Bros. Invitational tournament, in which a selected group of players would get to play the game for the first time and compete in a series of matches before a winner is chosen. The tournament took place alongside the Splatoon 2 World Championship at E3 2018 and was held on June 11–12. Both events were live streamed on Nintendo's official YouTube and Twitch channels.[32] The title was later confirmed as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at E3 2018, containing all playable characters from previous games in addition to Princess Daisy from the Mario series, the Inklings from the Splatoon series, and Ridley from the Metroid series.[33] The game is scheduled to be released worldwide on December 7, 2018.

text: Gameplay

text: Timeline of release years1999Super Smash Bros.20002001Melee2002200320042005200620072008Brawl200920102011201220132014for 3DS and Wii U2015201620172018Ultimate

text: Gameplay in the Super Smash Bros. series differs from many fighting games.[34] Instead of winning by depleting an opponent's life bar, players seek to launch their opponents off the stage and out of the map. Characters have a damage total which rises as they take damage, represented by a percentage value that measures up to 999%. As a character's percentage rises, the character can be knocked progressively farther by an opponent's attacks.[9] To knock out an opponent, the player must knock that character outside the arena's boundaries in any direction.[35] When a character is launched off the stage, the character can attempt to "recover" by using jumping moves and abilities to return to the stage.[9] Some characters have an easier time recovering onto the stage than others due to their moves and abilities. Additionally, some characters vary in weight, with lighter characters being easier to launch than heavy characters.[36]

text: Controls are greatly simplified in comparison to other fighting games, with one button used for standard attacks and another used for special attacks.[34] Players can perform different types of moves by holding the directional controls up, down, to the side, or in a neutral position while pressing the attack or special button.[9] As such, each character has four types of ground attacks, mid-air attacks, and special attacks that can be performed.[9] Quickly pressing or tapping a directional input and the attack button together while on the ground allows players to perform a chargeable "Smash Attack", which is generally more powerful than other attacks.[9] When characters are hit by attacks, they receive hitstun that temporarily disallows any attacks to be made. This allows combos to be performed. A shield button allows players to put up a defensive shield which weakens with repeated use and will leave the player unable to move if broken. Combining the shield button with directional inputs and attack buttons allows the player to also perform dodges, rolls, grabs, and throws.[37] The three basic actions in Super Smash Bros., attacking, grabbing, and shielding, are often described using a rock–paper–scissors analogy: attacking beats grabbing, grabbing beats shielding, and shielding beats attacking.[38] When a player knocks another player off of the main platform, they may perform an action called edge-guarding.[39] At the same time the player that has been knocked off will try to recover by jumping back onto the stage and avoiding the other players' edge-guarding.[9]

text: Another element in the Super Smash Bros. series is battle items, the abundance of which players can adjust the before matches. There are conventional "battering items", with which a player may hit an opponent, such as a Home run bat or a Beam Sword, throwing items, including Bob-ombs and Koopa shells, and shooting items, either single shot guns or rapid fire blasters. Recovery items allow the user to reduce their damage percentage by varying amounts. Poké Balls are special items that release a random Pokémon onto the battlefield to assist the user. Brawl introduced the Assist Trophy item which serves a similar purpose; instead of releasing Pokémon, it summons a character from a Nintendo franchise.[40] Brawl also introduces the Smash Ball, which when broken allows fighters to perform a character-specific super attack known as a "Final Smash".[40]

text: The rules that can be used in a match vary depending on the game, but the most commonly used settings across all games are Time and Stock. Time mode uses a point based system in which fighters earn points for knocking out their opponents and lose points for being knocked out or self-destructing (i.e. falling out of the arena by themselves). The player with the highest score at the end of the set time limit wins the match. Survival uses a life-based system in which players are given a set number of lives, known as stock, with each fighter losing a life whenever they are knocked out, becoming eliminated if they run out of lives. The winner is the last fighter standing once all other fighters are eliminated or, if a time-limit is applied to the match, the fighter with the most lives remaining once time runs out. In the event of a tie, such as two or more fighters sharing the highest score/life count at the end of the time limit or remaining fighters losing their last life simultaneously, a Sudden Death match takes place. Here, each of the tied fighters are given a starting damage percentage of 300%, making them easier to launch off the stage, and the last fighter standing wins the match. In some games this process is repeated if the match ends in another tie.

text: Gameplay using competitive Super Smash Bros. rules is usually played in stock mode and with a timer.[41] Items are turned off and the only tournament legal stages are those that do not feature hazards and other disruptive elements.[42]

text: Characters

text: Playable characters

text: Each game in the series has a number of playable characters (referred in the games as "fighters") taken from various Nintendo franchises. Starting with Brawl, characters from third-party franchises have also made playable appearances. At the start of each game, some of the fighters will be locked from play. To unlock a hidden fighter, players need to clear certain conditions, such as playing a certain number of matches, and defeat that fighter in a match. In Brawl, players can also unlock fighters by encountering them in the Subspace Emissary mode. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, players are able to customize existing fighters with altered movesets and statistics, or make their own Mii Fighters that can be given different fighting styles, though these cannot be played in online matches with strangers. The character's number is given to a character based on their first appearance in the series; characters with an ε are "echo fighters", which are clones of another character with that number.

text:
Fighter

64

Melee

Brawl

3DS and Wii U

Ultimate

Franchise

Bayonetta

DLC

Bayonetta

Bowser

Super Mario

Bowser Jr.[A]

Captain Falcon

F-Zero

Charizard[B]

Pokémon

Cloud

DLC

Final Fantasy

Corrin

DLC

Fire Emblem

Daisy

Super Mario

Dark Pit

Kid Icarus

Diddy Kong

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong

Dr. Mario

Super Mario

Duck Hunt[C]

Duck Hunt

Falco

Star Fox

Fox

Ganondorf

The Legend of Zelda

Greninja

Pokémon

Ice Climbers

Ice Climber

Ike

Fire Emblem

Inkling

Splatoon

Ivysaur[B]

Pokémon

Jigglypuff

King Dedede

Kirby

Kirby

Link

The Legend of Zelda

Little Mac

Punch-Out!!

Lucario

Pokémon

Lucas

DLC

EarthBound

Lucina

Fire Emblem

Luigi

Super Mario

Mario

Marth

Fire Emblem

Mega Man

Mega Man

Meta Knight

Kirby

Mewtwo

DLC

Pokémon

Mii Brawler[D]

Mii

Mii Swordfighter[D]

Mii Gunner[D]

Mr. Game & Watch

Game & Watch

Ness

EarthBound

Olimar[E]

Pikmin

Pac-Man

Pac-Man

Palutena

Kid Icarus

Peach

Super Mario

Pichu

Pokémon

Pikachu

Pit

Kid Icarus

Ridley

Metroid

R.O.B.

Gyromite / Stack-Up

Robin

Fire Emblem

Rosalina & Luma

Super Mario

Roy

DLC

Fire Emblem

Ryu

DLC

Street Fighter

Samus

Metroid

Sheik

The Legend of Zelda

Shulk

Xenoblade

Snake

Metal Gear

Sonic

Sonic the Hedgehog

Squirtle[B]

Pokémon

Toon Link

The Legend of Zelda

Villager

Animal Crossing

Wario

Wario

Wii Fit Trainer

Wii Fit

Wolf

Star Fox

Yoshi

Yoshi

Young Link

The Legend of Zelda

Zelda

Zero Suit Samus

Metroid

Total

12

26

39

51 + 7 (DLC)

68

text:
Jump up ^ Bowser Jr.'s seven alternate costumes change the character's name and appearance to be one of the Koopalings: Larry, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Roy, Lemmy, or Ludwig.

^ Jump up to: a b c In Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, this Pokémon is listed with two others under the name "Pokémon Trainer" on the character select screen. The Pokémon Trainer appears in the background while the player takes direct control of Squirtle, Ivysaur, or Charizard, and can switch between them during the battle. In 3DS/Wii U, only Charizard is available as a standalone character.

Jump up ^ There are slight name variations between NTSC and PAL versions. For the NTSC characters "Duck Hunt" and "Mii Swordfighter," PAL versions lists them as "Duck Hunt Duo" and "Mii Sword Fighter."

^ Jump up to: a b c Brawler, Swordfighter, and Gunner are under one slot labeled as Mii Fighters.

Jump up ^ In 3DS/Wii U, four of Olimar's alternate costumes change his name and appearance to Alph, a character from Pikmin 3.

tag: ol

text: Non-playable characters

text: The following characters are non-playable characters unless using glitches or cheat cartridges, that appear only in the various single-player modes throughout the series, controlled by the computer, as hazards in specific stages, as assist trophies, or in Smash Run. Most of the non-playable characters were created for use in the Super Smash Bros. series although some of them, such as Goombas, come from other game franchises.

text: Bosses

text: Throughout the Super Smash Bros. series, most single-player modes have included several non-playable boss characters. Most of these bosses were created specifically for the Super Smash Bros. franchise.

text: Master Hand[a] is a glove-like being that appears in all games to date, serving as the final boss of Classic Mode[48] and, in Super Smash Bros. Melee, the 50th Event Match "Final Destination Match". In Melee, Master Hand is playable via a system glitch.[49] Super Smash Bros. Melee introduced a left-hand counterpart to Master Hand named Crazy Hand[b], which appears alongside Master Hand under certain conditions.[citation needed]

text: Tabuu[c] is the villain of Super Smash Bros. Brawl's story mode, The Subspace Emissary. He is a human-shaped apparition composed of pure energy, with a single eye-shaped object located where a person's stomach would be. He is able to conjure several weapons for use in battle, including a rapier and large chakram. His other powers include the ability to change his size at will and teleportation. Towards the end of The Subspace Emissary, it is revealed that Tabuu is the entity that controlled Master Hand and the true antagonist behind the events of the story.[50]

text: The Subspace Emissary also features other boss characters.[51] Some of these characters, such as Petey Piranha, Ridley, Porky, and Rayquaza, are from other franchises. Three original bosses are also featured: the aforementioned Tabuu, Galleom[d] and Duon[e]. Galleom is a giant cyborg that is fought two times while Duon is a giant twin-bodied robot.[52]

text: Other characters

text: In each of the games, there is a group of characters that resemble the designs for the initial characters. In the Japanese versions of the games, these characters have always been called the "Mysterious Small Fry Enemy Corps"[f]. In the English regionalized versions of the games, they are given names that describe their physical form. These include the Fighting Polygon Team, the Fighting Wire Frames, the Fighting Alloy Team[53] and the Fighting Mii Team. Along with Melee's Adventure Mode came the inclusion of minor, generic enemies, such as Goombas from the Super Mario series and Octoroks from The Legend of Zelda series.[54] This trend continues into Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which also includes an assortment of original characters to serve as non-playable generic enemies led by the Subspace Army.

text: The Subspace Army[g] are the antagonists of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, appearing in The Subspace Emissary and led by the Ancient Minister[h]. Their goal is to bring the entire world to Subspace piece by piece with devices called Subspace bombs (detonated with the aid of two R.O.B.s, requires 3 minutes of waiting time).[55][56] The Sandbag[i] appears in the "Home-Run Contest" minigame since Super Smash Bros. Melee. The object is to strike it as far as possible with either a Home-Run Bat or a fighting move.[57] Sandbag also appears randomly as an item that drops other items when hit in various other modes in Brawl.[58]

text: Each Super Smash Bros. game has an announcer who blasts the player character names upon selection and victory. The announcer's voice is used in many of the promotional materials of the games. The role has been taken on by Jeff Manning in the original game, Dean Harrington in Melee, Pat Cashman in Brawl, and Xander Mobus in 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate[59]. The announcer voice actor traditionally voices Master Hand and Crazy Hand as well.[60][61]

text: Development

text: Super Smash Bros. was developed by HAL Laboratory, a Nintendo first-party developer, during 1998. It began as a prototype created by Masahiro Sakurai and Satoru Iwata in their spare time titled "Dragon King: The Fighting Game", and originally featured no Nintendo characters. However, Sakurai hit on the idea of including fighters from different Nintendo franchises in order to provide "atmosphere" which he felt was necessary for a home console fighting game, and his idea was approved.[62] Although never acknowledged by Nintendo or any developers behind Super Smash Bros., third party sources have identified Namco's 1995 fighting game The Outfoxies as a possible inspiration.[63][64][65] The game had a small budget and little promotion, and was originally a Japan-only release, but its huge success saw the game released worldwide.[66]

text: HAL Laboratory developed Super Smash Bros. Melee, with Masahiro Sakurai as the head of production. The game was one of the first games released on the GameCube and highlighted the advancement in graphics from the Nintendo 64. The developers wanted to pay homage to the debut of the GameCube by making an opening full motion video sequence that would attract people's attention to the graphics.[67] HAL worked with three separate graphic houses in Tokyo to make the opening sequence. On their official website, the developers posted screenshots and information highlighting and explaining the attention to physics and detail in the game, with references to changes from its predecessor.[68]

text: At a pre-E3 2005 press conference, president of Nintendo at the time Satoru Iwata announced the next installment of Super Smash Bros. was not only already in development for their next gaming console, but hoped it would be a launch title with Wi–Fi compatibility for online play.[69] The announcement was unexpected to the creator of the Super Smash Bros. series, Masahiro Sakurai. Back in 2003, he had left HAL Laboratory, the company that was in charge with the franchises' development and was never informed of this announcement despite the fact shortly after resigning from the company, Iwata said if a new game was to be made, he would be in charge. It was not until after the conference Sakurai was called to Satoru Iwata's room on the top floor of a Los Angeles hotel, where he was told by Iwata "We'd like you to be involved in the production of the new Smash Bros., if possible near the level of director".[70] Although Iwata had said he was hoping for it to be a launch title, Sakurai stated "I decided to become director. And as of May 2005, I was the only member of the new Smash Bros. development team". Development of the game never actually started until October 2005,[71] when Nintendo opened a new office in Tokyo just for its production. Nintendo also enlisted outside help from various developer studios, mainly Game Arts. Sakurai also stated that these people had spent excessive amounts of time playing Super Smash Bros. Melee. This team was given access to all the original material and tools from the development of Melee, courtesy of HAL Laboratory. Also, several Smash Bros. staff members that reside around the area of the new office joined the project's development.[72][73]

text: On the game's official Japanese website, the developers explain reasons for making particular characters playable and explain why some characters were not available as playable characters upon release. Initially, the development team wanted to replace Ness with Lucas, the main character of Mother 3 for the Game Boy Advance, but they retained Ness in consideration of delays.[74] The game's creators have included Lucas in the game's sequel, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.[75][76] Video game developer Hideo Kojima originally requested Solid Snake, the protagonist of the Metal Gear series, to be a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee, but the game was too far in development for him to be included. As with Lucas, development time allowed for his inclusion in Brawl. Roy and Marth were initially intended to be playable exclusively in the Japanese version of Super Smash Bros. Melee. However, they received favorable attention during the game's North American localization, leading to the decision for the developers to include them in the Western version. Comparisons have been formed by the developers between characters which have very similar moves to each other on the website. Such characters have been referred to as "clones" in the media.

text: At the Nintendo Media Conference at E3 2007, it was announced by Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé that Super Smash Bros. Brawl would be released on December 3, 2007 in the Americas. However, just 2 months before its anticipated December release, the development team asked for more time to work on the game. During the Nintendo Conference on October 10, 2007, Nintendo Co., Ltd. president Iwata announced the delay.

text: On October 11, 2007, George Harrison of Nintendo of America announced that Super Smash Bros. Brawl would be released on February 10, 2008 in North America.[77] On January 15, 2008, the game's release was pushed back one week in Japan to January 31 and nearly a month in the Americas to March 9.[78] On April 24, 2008, it was confirmed by Nintendo of Europe that Brawl will be released in Europe on June 27.[79]

text: Director Masahiro Sakurai first announced that a new Super Smash Bros. game was planned for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U at E3 2011 in June 2011, but development only officially began following the completion of Sakurai's other project, Kid Icarus: Uprising, in March 2012.[80][81] The game was later revealed to be a joint-project between Sora Ltd. and Bandai Namco Games, with various staff members from Bandai Namco's Soulcalibur and Tekken series assisting Sakurai in development.[82][83][84] Sakurai, who was previously the sole person responsible for balance in the series' multiple fighters, has involved more staff to further improve the game's competitive balance.[85] The game was officially revealed at E3 2013 on June 11, 2013 during a Nintendo Direct presentation.[86] Along with screenshots being posted each weekday on the game's official website and Miiverse community,[87] various cinematic trailers were released, introducing each of the brand new fighters. Sakurai chose to use these trailers, which benefit from Internet sharing, as opposed to including a story campaign similar to the Subspace Emissary mode featured in Brawl, as he believed the impact of seeing the mode's cinematic cutscenes for the first time was ruined by people uploading said scenes to video sharing websites.[88][89]

text: At E3 2013, Sakurai stated that the tripping mechanic introduced in Brawl was removed, with him also stating that the gameplay was between the fast-paced and competitive style of Melee and the slower and more casual style of Brawl.[90] While the games didn't feature cross-platform play between the Wii U and 3DS, due to each version featuring certain exclusive stages and gamemodes, there is an option to transfer customized characters and items between the two versions.[91] The game builds upon the previous game's third-party involvement with the addition of third-party characters such as Capcom's Mega Man and Bandai Namco's Pac-Man, as well as the return of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog. This involvement expands beyond playable characters, as other third-party characters, such as Ubisoft's Rayman, are also included in the game as trophies.[92] The addition of Mii characters was made in response to the growing number of requests from fans to have their dream characters included in the game. To prevent potential bullying, as well as to maintain game balance online, Mii Fighters cannot be used in online matches against strangers.[93] The decision to release the Wii U version at a later date from the 3DS version was made to allow each version to receive a dedicated debugging period.[94] Hardware limitations on the Nintendo 3DS led to various design choices, such as the removal of mid-match transformations, the absence of the Ice Climbers, and the lack of Circle Pad Pro support.[95]

text: Music

text: Super Smash Bros. features music from some of Nintendo's popular gaming franchises. While many are newly arranged for the game, some pieces are taken directly from their sources. The music for the Nintendo 64 game was composed by Hirokazu Ando, who later returned as sound and music director in Melee. Melee also features tracks composed by Tadashi Ikegami, Shougo Sakai, and Takuto Kitsuta.[96] Brawl features the collaboration of 38 composers,[97] including Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu, who composed the main theme.[98] Like the previous game in the series, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U features many original and re-arranged tracks from various different gaming franchises. Both versions have multiple musical tracks that can be selected and listened to using the returning "My Music" feature, including pieces taken directly from earlier Super Smash Bros. games. The 3DS version features less music altogether than the Wii U version however, and only has two songs per stage because of size limitations.[99] The 3DS version also has a "Play in Sleep Mode" option, allowing players to listen to the game's music from the sound menu whilst the system is in sleep mode.[100] On August 22, 2014, the Super Smash Bros. website revealed the list of composers and arrangers for the game. Various well known musicians such as Masashi Hamauzu, Yuzo Koshiro, Yasunori Mitsuda, Motoi Sakuraba, Yoko Shimomura, Mahito Yokota, along with many others, provided new arrangements for both versions of the game.[101] The original music was created by Bandai Namco's in-house sound team. The Wii U specific musicians were revealed on October 23, 2014, and feature contributions from Akari Kaida, Michiru Yamane, Koji Kondo, Kazumi Totaka, and Hiroshi Okubo, among others.[101]

text: Three soundtrack albums for the series have been released. An album with the original music for Super Smash Bros. was released in Japan by Teichiku Records in 2000.[102] In 2003, Nintendo released Smashing...Live!, a live orchestrated performance of various pieces featured in Melee by the New Japan Philharmonic.[103] A two-disc promotional soundtrack was available for Club Nintendo members who registered both the 3DS and Wii U games between November 21, 2014 and January 13, 2015.[104]

text: Reception

text:
Aggregate review scoresAs of February 6, 2015.

Game

Metacritic

Super Smash Bros.

79[105]

Super Smash Bros. Melee

92[106]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

93[107]

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

85[108]

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

92[109]

text: Reviews for the Super Smash Bros. series are usually positive. The multiplayer mode in every game has been highly praised; however, single-player modes have not always been viewed as highly.

text: Super Smash Bros. has received praise for its multiplayer mode. Nintendo Power listed the series as being one of the greatest multiplayer experiences in Nintendo history, describing it as infinitely replayable due to its special moves and close-quarters combat.[110] There were criticisms, however, such as the game's scoring being difficult to follow.[111] In addition, the single-player mode was criticized for its perceived difficulty and lack of features.

text: Super Smash Bros. Melee generally received a positive reception from reviewers, most of whom credited Melee's expansion of gameplay features from Super Smash Bros. Focusing on the additional features, GameSpy commented that "Melee really scores big in the 'we've added tons of great extra stuff' department." Reviewers compared the game favorably to Super Smash Bros.—IGN's Fran Mirabella III stated that it was "in an entirely different league than the N64 version"; GameSpot's Miguel Lopez praised the game for offering an advanced "classic-mode" compared to its predecessor, while detailing the Adventure Mode as "really a hit-or-miss experience." Despite a mixed response to the single-player modes, most reviewers expressed the game's multiplayer mode as a strong component of the game. In their review of the game, GameSpy stated that "you'll have a pretty hard time finding a more enjoyable multiplayer experience on any other console."

text: Brawl received a perfect score from the Japanese magazine Famitsu. The reviewers praised the variety and depth of the single-player content,[112] the unpredictability of Final Smashes, and the dynamic fighting styles of the characters. Thunderbolt Games gave the game 10 out of 10, calling it "a vastly improved entry into the venerable series". Chris Slate of Nintendo Power also awarded Brawl a perfect score in its March 2008 issue, calling it "one of the very best games that Nintendo has ever produced". IGN critic Matt Casamassina, in his February 11 Wii-k in Review podcast, noted that although Brawl is a "solid fighter," it does have "some issues that need to be acknowledged," including "long loading times" and repetition in The Subspace Emissary.

text: Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U both garnered critical praise and were commercially successful, holding current ratings of 85/100 and 92/100 on Metacritic and 86.10% and 92.39% on GameRankings.[113][108][114][109] Reviewers have particularly noted the large, diverse character roster, the improvements to game mechanics, and the variety of multiplayer options. Some criticisms in the 3DS version include a lack of single-player modes and issues concerning the 3DS hardware, such as the size of characters on the smaller screen when zoomed out and latency issues during both local and online multiplayer.[115][116] There were also reports of players damaging their 3DS Circle Pads while playing the game excessively.[117][118] The Wii U version's online play quality was mildly criticized for some inconsistency, but has overall been critically acclaimed. Daniel Dischoff of Game Revolution stated "It's true that Super Smash Bros. evolves every time with regard to new features, items, and characters to choose from. While your favorite character may not return or a few annoying pickups may force you to turn off items altogether, this represents the biggest leap forward Smashers have seen yet." Daniel Starky at GameSpot criticized the inconsistent online performance in the game, but still called it an "incredible game", noting "With the Wii U release, Smash Bros. has fully realized its goals." Jose Otero from IGN, praising the replayability of the game, states "Nearly every aspect of Smash Wii U seems fine-tuned not only to appeal to the nostalgia of long-time Nintendo fans, but also to be accessible to new players."

text: Sales

text:
Life-to-date number units shipped, in millions

Game

Year

Sales

Super Smash Bros.

1999 (N64)

5.55[119]

Super Smash Bros. Melee

2001 (GC)

7.09[8]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

2008 (Wii)

13.27[120]

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

2014 (3DS)

9.24[121]

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

2014 (Wii U)

5.34[122]

text:
Super Smash Bros sold 1.4 million copies in Japan,[123] and 2.3 million in the U.S.,[124] with a total of 5.55 million units worldwide.[119] Melee sold over 7 million units worldwide, becoming the bestselling GameCube title.[8]
Brawl sold 1.524 million units in Japan as of  March 30, 2008[update],[125] and sold 1.4 million units in its first week in the United States, becoming Nintendo of America's fastest selling title.[126] The 3DS version sold over a million copies in its first weekend on sale in Japan,[127] and has sold more than 9.24 million copies worldwide as of  March 2018[update].[121] Super Smash Bros. for Wii U became the fastest-selling Wii U game to date, selling 3.39 million units worldwide within just two months of availability, beating the record previously held by Mario Kart 8.[128] As of September 2017, it has sold 5.34 million copies worldwide.[122]

text: Competitive play

text: The Super Smash Bros. series has been widely played as competitive video games and has been featured in several high-profile tournaments. The first publicized Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments were held in early 2002.[129] From 2004 to 2007, Melee was on Major League Gaming's tournament roster.[130] In 2010 MLG picked up Brawl for its pro circuit for a year. During this time, Nintendo prohibited MLG from live streaming Brawl matches.[131] At 2014 MLG Anaheim Melee was once again hosted at an MLG event. Melee was also included at the Evolution Championship Series (Evo) in 2007, a fighting game tournament held in Las Vegas. Melee was again hosted at Evo 2013 after it won a charity drive to decide the final game to be featured in its tournament lineup.[132][133] Due to the large turnout and popularity that year, Evo again included a Melee tournament at their 2014 and 2015 events.[134] New Jersey based Apex is another prominent Super Smash Bros. tournament, and has a series of qualifying events that are a prerequisite to playing at Apex. In 2015, Apex announced that they were officially sponsored by Nintendo of America.[135]

text: Notes

text:
Jump up ^ Known in Japan as マスターハンド (Masutā Hando)

Jump up ^ Known in Japan as クレイジーハンド (Kureijī Hando)

Jump up ^ Known in Japan asタブー (Tabū)

Jump up ^ Known in Japan as ガレオム (Gareomu)

Jump up ^ Known in Japan as デュオン (Dyuon)

Jump up ^ Known in Japan as 謎のザコ敵軍団 (Nazo no Zako Teki Gundan)

Jump up ^ Known in Japan as 亜空軍 (Akūgun)

Jump up ^ Known in Japan asエインシャント卿 (Einshanto Kyō)

Jump up ^ Known in Japan as サンドバッグくん (Sandobaggu-kun)