Though video games have come a long way since the first adventures of Mario, the “Super Smash Bros.” series keeps many of the old characters alive for new generations of Nintendo gamers.

The series, the latest entry of which hit stores on November 21, allows players to fight against one another with video game characters from classic titles like Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Pokemon, and Sonic the Hedgehog.  The latest game, available for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS adds characters from series like Pac-man, Megaman, and even the 1984 game Duck Hunt.

With its mixture of characters from different franchises, the game itself inherently draws upon nostalgia, but now that the game itself is a classic that has been remade four times since 1999, the nostalgia factor is amped up.  Students and faculty members alike were asked about their experience with the many characters that Smash Bros. brings together.

Faculty members were asked if they were familiar with the game and if they could identify any of the characters from the recent release’s enormous roster.

Chemistry teacher Philip Porzio was able to name all of the main characters and many of the more obscure characters. He only missed a few characters, including some of the newer Pokemon, and a few characters from Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, and Xenoblade.

He expressed his excitement for the upcoming game,  citing his fondness of the series due to its popularity with friends and family.

“It’s such an easy game to just pick up and play,” he said, mentioning that he has even looked into getting it for himself.

When using earlier versions of the game, Mr. Porzio plays with the Kirby character, mostly because of one of Kirby’s signature moves where he transforms into a stone,  weight, or a miscellaneous heavy object and drops straight down onto his opponent. “Most people expect these kinds of attacks to come into an arc, but the fact that Kirby’s attack goes straight down on top of them catches people off guard,” he said.

Unsurprisingly, even among the teachers and staff members who do not actively play the game, many characters off the Smash roster were recognizable. English teachers Christine Duffy and Katherine Yan were able to name the most popular characters of course, namely Mario, Luigi and the rest of the Mario cast, as well as Pikachu from Pokemon, and a few others. Many of the students of Townsend Harris have expressed excitement and anticipation as well. Junior Benjamin Chang explained his love for the series: “You can just play it and not get bored of it. And Smash especially, you can just play all night with your friends.” Benjamin prefers to play Snake, saying, “His ‘Final Smash’ is awesome.”

Sophomore Thomas Chu prefers to play as the Pokemon Trainer because the character switching adds to the enjoyment of the game.

Freshman Rabia Khan also favors Kirby, but for different reasons. It was the first character she picked, and she won her first game with him too. Due to those reasons, Kirby stuck with her to this day.