20 Beloved Video Games No One Admits They Hated

Take all of Nintendo's most beloved IPs, add in a dash of popular characters from other platforms and genres, throw them into a big battle royale, and what do you get? Super Smash Bros. The series made its debut in 1999 for the Nintendo 64, and it has grown in popularity ever since. Instead of the usual fighting game tropes of 1v1 combat until one person is KO'd, Super Smash Bros. pits an average of 4-6 fighters against each other in 2.5D arenas as they aim to knock each other off the sides.

As the series has evolved into its most recent form, 2018's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, more and more characters from other IPs (over 80 in total) have made their way onto the playable roster, including the likes of Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog. The variety of characters on offer has increased the game's demographic appeal exponentially, and whatever your gaming background, you'd be hard pressed not to find a character you know and love. In many ways, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the optimal party game.

While the premise is simple, however, the gameplay is deceptively deep, and newcomers will often find themselves quickly overwhelmed when playing competitive online modes. Anyone is able to pick up a pad and play it, but the game has a high skill ceiling that many players don't expect from a cutesy fighter featuring the likes of Mario and Kirby. Such a deep roster also means lots of move sets to learn and master, if players have any hope of playing it competitively. 

Super Smash Bros. is the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. On the surface it's colourful, fun and chaotic, but dig a little deeper and the real beast will quickly bear its ferocious teeth. For first-time players this can feel very daunting, and even a little off-putting when they realize just how deep the gameplay iceberg goes. Some players would've initially disliked the game for these reasons, only realizing its true potential once they took time to fully understand how the combat and gameplay works.