The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

Critical Analysis of Physics in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers Brawl is a competition-like fighting game that feature selected characters from other honorable video games. The characters range from old electronic handheld video game characters like, “Mr. Game and Watch” to newer characters like, “Snake” from the Konami’s Metal Gear Solid video game series. In succession from its previous editions, “Super Smash Brothers” for the Nintendo 64 and “Super Smash Brothers Melee” for the Nintendo Gamecube, the computer-generated imagery was significantly improved, but the video game’s physics has not changed all that much. The overall gameplay for the game is based on fast-paced, high intensity fighting, which makes the game very challenging and favorable, but there is a noticeable amount of flawed physics in the game. There is plenty of evidence in the gameplay that show some of the faulty physics that will be later evaluated but, whether the physics of the gameplay is believable or not, the popularity of the game has definitely shown that the players could care less about the physics because when it comes down to challenging video games, the main objective is to have fun and the faulty physics only add to that aspect.

The first major aspect of the faulty physics in this video game is the gravity that interacts in their seemingly normal world. When first playing the game, one can notice that the characters are able to walk, run, and melee normally just like any fighting character in a video game. In the action of jumping, the characters show a well-defined jump that shows squash and stretch. A good example of this is shown when using the character, Kirby. Since Kirby is ball-like, the animators did a good job in making Kirby’s actions similar to a ball of blubber or a water-balloon being dropped. The characters also show an acceptable parabolic arc when doing a single running jump, but this is where the details versus exceptional gameplay come into factor. When the characters jump, the push time seem to be too fast and short to be able to jump as high as they do in the game. Then comes the second part of the jump where they tend to float down when coming down to the ground. The characters do show the squash and stretch gestures, but the floating down action is very unrealistic. Along with that aspect, the players can also control the character’s movements in the air by simply pressing a selection of buttons that will allow the character to manipulate their path in mid-air. By holding the directional pad to the right or left while in mid-air, the character will suddenly start to float down in that direction without showing much difficulty as they plainly just turn their bodies without the presence of weight-shift or transference of weight by use of flailing of their arms or legs. Even the action of them simply floating down make the game more unrealistic, eluding the fact that the characters are all fictitious.

Also the action of the double-jump that all the characters possess is of course absurd since being able to catch oneself in mid-air and be able to jump higher than the initial jump is surely impossible. An interesting and somewhat humorous action that the character, Ness, has is to be able to jump, then when he moves to another jump in mid-air, he does a complete vertical loop and seems to fly upward higher than his initial jump’s apex. This is entirely outrageous considering that being able to jump requires a floor or anything to push the feet against in order to achieve a real jump but, the characters’ jump in mid-air seem to apply force on the air below them and use that to push themselves upward.

A further evaluation of their world’s gravity is the fact that the higher the character’s damage percentage directly correlate how far they will be knocked when attacked with a hard blow from an opposing force. For instance, if Mario were to do his forward “A” button move - which is basically just a hard punch – to an already 200% damaged Bowser, Bowser would be knocked quickly across the stage, off screen and explode or fall into the abyss – sometimes blown away spinning uniformly until a twinkle of a star appears representing the incomprehensible distance they’ve been blown. When in reality, for Mario to be able to knock a heavy Bowser that far he would have to exert the force exponential to that of Bowser’s weight and attain an incredible amount of speed with his short arms. To add to this, Mario’s hard punch is directed forward in a 90-degree angle parallel to his body, but for some reason the game animation will make the opponent get knocked in a seemingly 45-degree angle meaning the punch would have been directed a little upwards. It is clearly seen when pausing the frame during the punch.

All goes to show that the action and reaction is a little modified for the gameplay. But the modified gravity in the game also allows much more strategy when playing the game. To be able to double-jump is undeniably a desirable trait that all fighters would like to possess since it would allow them to possibly reach higher advantage positions or simply to evade an opponent’s attack. The double-jump could also be consistent in the instance that an opponent were to knock the character off the stage and one jump would not be able to bring them back but two jumps would be enough to be able to grab at least a ledge or possibly jump successfully back on the stage to make a full recovery. All of these modifications contribute to the fun and challenging factor of playing a video game.

Another aspect of the Super Smash Brother’s Brawl’s faulty physics is that slight compensation of weight shift. As for some of the character’s movements there is a definite show of weight shift and resistance, but some character’s actions during certain situations are a bit inaccurate. When small characters like Diddy Kong are to carry a large object like a heavy wooden crate, he demonstrates a good representation of weight shift, but upon acquiring the Golden Hammer weapon, which gives the impression of weighing a burdensome amount, he is forced to swing it up and down quickly and easily. Considering that the stage cannot be torn apart in the game, in reality, the constant swinging of a massive lead-based hammer would surely form crater-like holes into whatever stage they are on with all the speed and force it makes the character do. Along with the damage percentage topic presented earlier, the action and reaction impact of smaller characters towards larger characters also correlate to the weight shift issue. The amount of weight transferred to hit the opponent would be have to be spontaneously generated considering the smaller character’s shorter arms, little travel space, and lighter weight to be able to promote a significant blow to an opponent that would make them fly backward into the abyss.

Although this may seem entirely unfair taking into account that larger characters should be able to withstand hits from smaller, weaker characters, it all plays into the gameplay aspect of the video game. The fact that smaller characters can produce a significant amount of force would allow evening out the playing field for all players to enjoy. This also allows character choices to be more diversified because if the larger characters were always stronger and would not be able to be blown away, no one would want to choose the smaller characters and would in time make the smaller characters a hassle and inconvenient.

The character’s special abilities are also very unexpected when applying real physics to the fighting. In consideration to some of each character’s remarkable powers, some of the powers seem to be imprecise. Excluding powers like telekinesis and fire breathing, Yoshi’s ability to grab and engulf an opponent entirely in its mouth without over stretching its jaw structure or skin is extremely bizarre. Little Yoshi could engulf Donkey Kong, who is an extremely large ape, entirely into its mouth and Yoshi’s appearance would simply look as if it just had a bowling ball in its mouth. Not only that, but Yoshi’s weight shift from its center of gravity to its head portion would not lower all that much even when a heavy ape is in its mouth. In reality, Yoshi would have probably fell forward if it were to actually be able to fit Donkey Kong into its mouth. Although this seems to be quite bizarre to the eye, this again plays into the gameplay aspect because engulfing an opponent is the way Yoshi is able to grab an opponent.

The portion of this game that seems to express the more concrete and real animation is during the cutscenes. The animators obviously spent a longer time animating the cutscenes in the single player mode where the players follow a story that corresponds to the characters in the game because the quality of the computer graphic imagery is noticeably different than the gameplay. The movements of the characters and inanimate objects seem to be more tangible and smoother not including the over exaggerated jumping and slow motion scenes. There are instances in the cutscenes where a character will fall victim and be turned into a trophy. Upon some examination, the trophies fall at realistic rate and seem to demonstrate at a good understanding of physics as opposed to the modified gravity in the gameplay. Unfortunately, the gameplay and the cutscenes are totally different parts of the video games whereas the gameplay is interactive and the cutscenes are basically movies that allow higher definition of quality and realism.

In summation, the physics of Super Smash Brother’s Brawl for the Nintendo Wii is not nearly quite perfect. The overemphasized gravity that allows characters to float down or the simple punching of an opponent that forces them flying into the abyss makes the game hardly believable and difficult to take seriously. When designing the game, they should have made the physics a little more believable and possibly made the characters fall at a more realistic and reasonable rate. Aside from the realistic point of view of worldly physics, video games in general do not account all aspects of physics because then that would make the character harder to control and ultimately the game less desirable to play. With real accounted physics, the characters would have a lot of lag and would be constantly trying to regain control of their momentum; the fighting aspect of the game would greatly be jeopardized. People must remember that the sometimes the reason cartoon-like computer graphic imagery is created is to portray a comedic and purposely unrealistic game for people to enjoy. The constant explosions and flying punches only add to the fun aspect of the game, which is the main focus of a game, to have fun.