About
Project M is a mod for the fighting game Super Smash Bros. Brawl designed to emulate the game physics of the previous entry in the Super Smash Bros. franchise, Super Smash Bros. Melee, incorporating the advanced techniques associated with the title.
Gameplay
Project M modifies the game engine of Super Smash Bros Brawl to emulate the physics of Super Smash Bros. Melee, along with incorporating the same advanced techniques associated with the latter title, including wavedashing and l-cancelling, while also incorporating advanced techniques from Brawl like DACUS (Dash Attack Cancelled Up Smash) and grab release tech for certain characters. Along with reincorporating techniques from the previous installment, Project M includes exclusive mechanics and design to the mod itself, including having all characters unlocked along with adding the characters of Mewtwo and Roy via the “clone engine” allowing the incorporation of new characters to modifications of Brawl, and having exclusive tech to the game such as “grab armor,” a term given to infinite armor attached to grabs that out-prioritize an attack.
History
Originally starting as a hobby project to recreate Melee’s of the character Falco, the first demo of Project M released to the public was released on February 8th, 2011 and included 14 characters. Multiple demos would be released over the course of two years until version 3.0 was released to the public on December 9th, 2013, which was the first version to include all characters from Brawl, along with the addition of Mewtwo and Roy from Melee. 3.0 also saw the release of Turbo mode, a mode which allowed the players to perform extensive combos on their opponents, inspired by the Melee combo video “Melee Impossible” (gameplay shown below). Version 3.5 would be released almost a year later on November 24th, 2014, adding new costumes, stages, and an overhaul to the user interface.
Cease of Development
On December 1st, 2015, the Project M Development Team announced via their website that Version 3.6 would be the final release of Project M and development would cease, effective immediately. Despite rumors circulating that a cease-and-desist was ordered from Nintendo, confirmation was stated from a former developer of the mod that it was a team decision to cease development to avoid legal issues. Official downloads from the site were removed, although mirrors exist online.
Reception
Project M was met with praise from casual and competitive players alike. PMDT claimed through Twitter that version 3.0 was downloaded 923,458 times.Project M was covered by high profile gaming such as Wired, Destructoid, and GamesRadar, all devoting praise towards the mod’s polishing of gameplay elements and being one of the highest quality mods for Super Smash Bros. Brawl out there. Before development ceased on the mod, mentioning of the mod on Nintendo’s now-defunct social media platform, Miiverse, would result in a ban for “criminal content.”
Online Presence
With the aforementioned downloads of version 3.0, Project M remains as the most popular mod for Super Smash Bros Brawl. Project M retains a dedicated competitive community, enough so that despite the ceasing of development, the community has a dedicated subforum on the Super Smash Bros dedicated forum Smashboards. The competitive community remains strong to this day, with the largest event having hosted 427 entrants, eclipsing the largest number of the main game of Brawl’s largest showing of 400.
External Links
Source : https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/project-m