Super Smash Flash 2

Super Smash Flash 2, commonly abbreviated as SSF2, is a periodically-released nonprofit Flash fan game developed by the Super Smash Flash 2 Developer Group, led by Gregory Cleod9McLeod of Cleod9 Productions, and published by McLeodGaming. Although initially referred to as a sequel, Super Smash Flash 2 is a reboot of the critically received fan game Super Smash Flash.

The game is based on the Super Smash Bros. series, featuring many of its gameplay mechanics and characters. However, the Flash game does not aim to clone the Super Smash Bros. games, as the content inclusion criteria has been loosened to include content from any series that has ever appeared on a Nintendo console, allowing the roster access to other 3rd and 4th party characters including, but not limited to Bomberman, Lloyd, Naruto, Ichigo, and Goku.

Contents
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Gameplay
The following explanation is based on the gameplay of the demo.[1]

Super Smash Flash 2's gameplay is very similar to the official Super Smash Bros. games. Unlike most traditional fighting games, a character's health is measured by a damage percentage counter. As the character is attacked, damage accumulates, and the percent value increases. The higher the percentage, the easier it is for a character to be knocked off the stage.

The controls are also different from its predecessor. The W, A, S, and D keys are now assigned to Player 1's movement, while the arrow keys move a second player. The O and P keys still remain in P-1's possession, however, as the O key is used for special moves(or activating a Final Smash), the P key for standard attacks, the I key for shield, and the 1 key for taunting. P-2 uses the 1 key on the numpad for special moves (or activating a Final Smash), numpad 2 for standard attacks, numpad 3 for shield and numpad 4 for taunt. Players can customize their controls in the menu.

Matches can be played in either Time mode, Stock mode, or a combination of the two. In Time mode, each player receives a point when they KO an opponent, and loses a point if they are KO'd, or if they self-destruct. At the end of the designated time limit, the player with the most points wins. Should two or more players accumulate the same amount of points, there will be a Sudden Death match to determine the winner. In Stock mode, each player is given a chosen amount of lives, and every time they are KO'd or self-destruct, they lose a life. When a player loses all of their lives, they are "defeated", and the match concludes when there is only one player, or one team left standing.

Playable characters
​​​​​The character selection screen as of Beta.The characters are the fighters which represent the universe they belong to. Each character has a number of special attacks, standard attacks and a unique special move called a Final Smash.

There are 2 types of characters: starter characters, which are available for use from the beginning, and unlockable characters, which are accessible only after being unlocked. Five characters from the past game are confirmed to return: Young Link, InuYasha, Blue, Blade and Mr. Incredible. Mega Man X was intended to be replaced with Model X, who was ultimately replaced by the classic Mega Man; which has sparked controversy regarding whether Mega Man should be regarded as a newcomer or veteran. All deconfirmed characters have the possibility to return as expansion characters.

This list is a compilation of the characters that have been confirmed playable for Super Smash Flash 2, with a total of 40 (including Sheik) as of Beta.[2]  They are listed here by series.

Starter characters
These are the characters available when turning on the game for the first time:

Unlockable characters
These are the characters that have to be encountered and defeated in a challenge match in order to become available:

Expansion characters

 * Main article: Expansion character

Expansion characters are optional playable characters not bundled with the game, and thus, need to be downloaded. This concept allows any player with time, dedication, sprites, and a copy of Flash to create a playable character for others to enjoy.

Stages
A stage is an arena where battles take place. Some stages have hazards to add uniqueness and complexity, though these changes can be disabled with the hazard switch for more relaxed battles. As with playable characters, stages are also sorted into starters and unlockables to determinate their availability.

Starter stages
These are the stages that are available right immediately after starting the game for the first time:

Unlockable stages
To access the following stages, certain criteria must be met in order to unlock them:

Items
Items fall from random places on stages, and characters can grab from the foreground and use them to attack, affect their status, or protect them. Below is a list of all items in the demo. They appear randomly in the stages or inside of containers, such as capsules. These items have been confirmed and are featured in the current version of SSF2:

Assist Trophy characters
These are the characters that have been confirmed to be summoned with the Assist Trophy:

Pokémon
These are the Pokémon that have been confirmed to be released from Poké Balls:

Solo
These modes are exclusively for single-player only.

Classic
In Classic Mode, the player fights CPU controlled opponents in a series of levels, with bonus rounds at certain intervals. Further expanded to include more levels, the mode ends with the traditional fight against Master Handon Final Destination.

Adventure
Adventure Mode will use the concept of mini-planets. There was a Melee-styled Adventure mode revealed at some point of the game's development, somewhat similar to SSF's Adventure Mode returning in SSF2. Levels are to be based around the known multiple locations from the game franchises represented through the game, such as Super Mario's Mushroom Kingdom. Aside enemies and obstacles, player might also encounter locked doors, mid-bosses and cannons. As of now, its status is unclear.

Training
Training allows player to test characters on the multiple stages available for the game. By pausing, player can get access to a menu that they can alter and change the surrounding of the battle, like adding or removing opponent characters, spawn items, increase or decrease the speed, etc..

Stadium
Stadium is a series of sub-games, that normally do not have fighting as the main focus (save one exception) which includes the following modes:

Home-Run Contest
Home-Run Contest has the player to launch the Sandbag as far away as possible using the Home-Run Bat, or by any other means necessary. The player has 10 seconds to rack up the Sandbag's damage to sent it even further away.

Target Smash
Target Smash, or Break the Targets, puts the player to destroy 10 targets in the minimal amount of time possible. There are 4 levels to play for everybody, ranging from level 1 to level 4. Aside the regular Target Smash, there are also unique, personal levels for each character from the roster, each having to exploit the character's attributes in order to destroy all the targets.

Multi-Man Smash
Multi-Man Smash is a single-player mode that challenges the player to defeat as many opponents as possible, under various pretenses, before falling from the stage, self-destructing, or being KO'd. The opponents are once more the Fighting Silhouette Team. The sub-modes are the following:
 * 10-Man Smash
 * 100-Man Smash
 * 3-Minute Smash
 * Endless Smash
 * Cruel Smash

Group
This mode focuses on multiplayer modes. It has been expanded from its SSF's incarnation to include a plethora of new modes.

Smash
Smash is the standard fighting mode for the game. The first thing is to select a character. To select a character, the players have to click and drag the token with their respective player number on it to the character's mugshot. To add variety, players are able to swap their character(s) to different colors.

Once the characters are selected, the players may decide how difficult the AI will be, in case they want the missing slots to be filled by the computer. Below each CPU, there is a slider that lets the player select the CPU's difficulty. The further right the slider, the more difficult the CPU. Nine is the highest level of difficulty.

In the top of the character selection screen there is a large gray bar that says "-man KO test!" Clicking on it will lead to the configuration screen to change many settings for the matches like how long the match will be, and/or how many lives player will start at. Players can also determine the damage ratio, (a value that multiplies with knockback that changes the distance a foe is thrown by attacks), the item frequency (how often items appear), the start damage (how much damage players start out with), whether or not to display the player number above characters' heads at all times or set the stage hazards either on or off.

In the top right corner of the options screen there is button with a gamepad that reads "Controls". Clicking on it lead to the control configuration where players can decide what controls they want to use. To change the controls, players have to click the players's number, then click on the name of the command they want to input or change, then press the key they want to trigger that action. Players can set up controls for up to four people, and up and jump may be mapped to the same key. Once everything is set up the way desired, players have to click "Ready to fight" or press the spacebar.

What proceeds is the stage selection. Selecting the stage is mostly the same as selecting a character, players have to place the cursor over a stage mugshot and simply click to take them into the battle. All characters have a brief entrance animation before the match begins during the 3 second countdown.

Unlike Melee mode of SSF, players are now rewarded with unlockables by playing a certain number of matches.

Special Smash
Special Smash, or special versus, allows players to select special modifiers for play, such as "mega mode" which causes all characters to be as large as if they've used a Super Mushroom. Other modifiers include lower gravity, any damage taken traps the players inside Yoshi eggs or even mimicking the flawed physics of the original Super Smash Flash.

Arena
Arena is a new game mode where players can participate in various, action-oriented, multiplayer sub-games using the Sandbag. It can be considered the multiplayer equivalent of Stadium from Solo. Currently only two sub-mode has been revealed:

Sandbag Soccer
Sandbag Soccer has the players have to "kick" the aforementioned Sandbag to introduce it in the opposing player's goal. As the Sandbag gets damage more and more, it can be difficult to stop it once it is shot.

Sandbag Basketball
Sandbag Basketball has the players have to launch the Sandbag and pass it through the opposing player's hoop net. Equally, more damage on the Sandbag means it will be difficult to stop it once it is launched.

Online
Online allows players to fight each other via an internet connection with the help of McLeodGaming Network, SSF2's personal online service. Players can choose whether they create a room for other to join or simply join an existing room to play online.

Vault
The Vault section includes the many collectibles of the game the player has been awarded, as well as other rewards.

Trophies
It has been confirmed that there will be collectible trophies. It is not confirmed what trophies there will be.

Data
On Data players may manage save data and records by importing and esporting files. Data may also be deleted from here.

Development

 * Main article: List of unused and removed content of Super Smash Flash 2

The first playable demo. Following the release of the first Super Smash Flash in 2006, when Nintendo first announced Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it enjoyed a huge popularity and demand for a sequel suddenly grew. The game's creator, Greg Cleod9 McLeod, decided to make a new Super Smash Flash game loosely based on Super Smash Bros. Brawl, crowning it the appropriate name of Super Smash Flash 2.

Cleod9 made this announcement on the McLeodGaming Forums, so its members could provide him with sprites, effects, and sounds to make his new game. In seeing how open the development of the game was, this soon also led to the creation of a usergroup called the Super Smash Flash 2 Developers, which keeps track of users with major contributions to the development for the game, and hiding the majority of the content from the public.

Super Smash Flash 2 is released to public by Cleod9 in a demo format that gives the public a sneak peek of the progress that is being made on the game. Newer versions are periodically released with many enhancements, such as character improvements, bug fixes, new stages, etc. In doing this, everything is tested before the final release, the public stays excited for the game, and no unlockable content is spoiled in doing so. The first ever playable demo, version 0.1a, was released on Christmas Day of 2007. Since Super Smash Bros. Brawl had not been released as of that moment, Cleod9 developed his own game mechanisms, such as the grounded, pick-up-able Smash Ball. Many other mechanisms were implemented with the release of newer and improved demos after Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released.

Some of the promotion for the game is in the hands of the developers. A teaser trailer was released to project the game's existence to non-McLeodGaming Forums members. A [http://mcleodgaming.wikia.com/wiki/Smash_Flash_DOJO!!! DOJO!!!][3]  was also released to provide info on characters, stages, and many other things relating to Super Smash Flash 2.

In 2010, Super Smash Flash 2 received a major overhaul after the codebase was upgraded from Macromedia Flash 8 to Flash 10 AS3. The demo released that year, version 0.6, was the last demo where Cleod9 handled all the coding by himself. All the progress that was done at that point was scrapped and developers began working fresh on the game, Cleod9 now received more help in the coding by other developers. The planned rosters was changed and is kept in secret by developers since, from that point onwards, Super Smash Flash 2 would be called a reboot to Super Smash Flash rather than a sequel.

In 2013, Super Smash Flash 2 began attending at major tournament events, particularly the APEX tournament series, but only as a guest game. These events are used by McLeodGaming to showcase the newest version of the game and let attendants to play it. New content is also revealed there.

On May 29, 2017, Super Smash Flash 2 finally reached its Beta state.

Differences from Super Smash Flash
Super Smash Flash 2 also improved many qualms and errors from the first Super Smash Flash retaining few mechanisms but fixing some others.
 * Characters have gained several different attacks, expanding and improving the five-attack moveset; this includes a standard combo, three tilt attacks, three smash attacks, a dash attack, a floor attack, an edge attack, five aerial attacks, four special moves, and a unique Final Smash.
 * Characters can protect themselves by shielding.
 * Characters can perform 3 different taunts.
 * Characters can pummel and throw in 4 different directions.
 * Characters can grab onto stages, ledges, and use ledge attacks.
 * Characters' attack can no longer deal massive damage and multiple hits with one attack unless specifically coded to do so.
 * Certain characters can now use tether recoveries. Ex.: Link, Samus.
 * Wall jumping has been implemented.
 * Air dodging and sidestep dodging have been implemented.
 * Palette swap have been implemented.
 * On-screen appearances have been added.
 * Revival platforms have been added.
 * The camera is no longer in a single angle and follows all players, rather than just P1.
 * The camera can be panned and zoomed while paused, and can take pictures.
 * Contains exclusive and/or edited sprites' by the SSF2 Devs. Ex. Mario, Kirby, Ness, etc.
 * The Skip glitch, along with many other glitches, have been remedied.
 * More P-1 Modes and Vs. Modes have been added and others improved.
 * A completely new Adventure Mode mechanism will be implemented.
 * Trophies will be added.

Reception and impact
Super Smash Flash 2 has received a very positive response from players, greatly overshadowing its predecessor. From the view of the demos, Super Smash Flash 2 is considered a big departure from its predecessor thanks to its improvements on the gameplay, controls and interface that were widely criticized from the first game, being more similar to those from the official Smash Bros. games. The sprites and tileset from the stages have received some praised for their unique design, edits and complexity which gives the game a unique polish, despite some being ripped from other official games, with minor complaints focusing on the origin of the rips.

The game modes and items, not present in any the official Smash Bros. games have also met a positive reaction citing them as original and clever, comparing them with the actual modes and items from the official games. Criticism for the game is focused on the bugs and lag found in the demos, making the game uncomfortable and tiring to play, but most are ultimately fixed in timely demo updates. The sound effects have also been criticized due the tone changes and unfitting clips on the voices of some characters, like Wario's dash attack for example. While, according to Cleod9, it is still under development, the improper looping of background music on menus and stages has also been criticized.

From many Super Smash Bros. fan games, Super Smash Flash 2 is considered a very advanced game, thanks to its constant progress and attention given to it from its developers, while many other fan games are simply left in development or are abandoned without any notice. GamesRadar+ listed Super Smash Flash 2, 5th on its list of "10 Fan Games That Shouldn't Be Ceased or Desisted" citing the improvements and characters added from the first game.[4]  In 2012 it was said to have over 400,000 plays a day on McLeodGaming alone, making it by far one of the most popular Flash games around the Internet. It has also been compared to other similarly successful Smash-oriented fan projects that, much like Super Smash Flash 2, have constant development, such as Super Smash Bros. Crusade and Super Smash Land.