Project M

Origins and Design Philosophy

Project M emerged directly from a divide within the Super Smash Bros. community following the 2008 release of Brawl. Competitive players of its 2001 predecessor, Melee, found Brawl's mechanics a significant departure. They objected to its generally slower pace, the larger role of chance elements, and specific mechanics like the random tripping feature. The general consensus was that Brawl had been reworked to appeal more to casual gamers at the expense of the straightforward, skill-based gameplay that defined high-level Melee.

In early 2010, the Project M Development Team, initially known as the Project M Back Room, began with the focused goal of reworking the character Falco Lombardi to play as he did in Melee. The intent was to increase the accessibility of Melee's gameplay style. This goal rapidly expanded into a comprehensive project to retool the entire game. The team's stated aims were to carry over Melee's fast-paced gameplay, its flowing and natural movement, a great deal of control over a character's actions, a balance favoring offense, and a complex combo system. Their overarching objective was to give Brawl more balanced gameplay by adding Melee mechanics back in and buffing the entire roster to be roughly as powerful as Fox, Melee's top-tier character.

Technical Overhaul and Gameplay Mechanics

The mod operates as a full-scale rework of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. While it maintains the core Super Smash Bros. formula of percentage-based damage and ring-out knockouts, it fundamentally alters the game's engine. Project M reintroduces the physics, movement options, and technical mechanics characteristic of Melee. This creates a gameplay experience that is faster and demands more precision than Brawl. Attacks connect differently, shield mechanics are altered, and character movement is more responsive, directly addressing competitive player complaints about Brawl's feel.

Beyond physics, the mod includes specific quality-of-life changes. It features a new art style for in-game menus and allows players to select characters like Zelda and Sheik individually, who were locked as transformations in Brawl. A significant technical achievement was the implementation of a Clone Engine, which allowed the developers to create fully separate character slots. This engine was used to reintroduce Roy and Mewtwo, characters absent from Brawl, without replacing existing fighters. The team avoided using this engine for characters debuting in the then-new Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U to prevent legal issues with Nintendo.

Evolution of Development and Key Releases

Development progressed through a series of public builds, each expanding the mod's scope. The first demo, released on February 7, 2011, featured 14 of Brawl's 39 characters and new stages. It was first featured at the Pound 5 tournament. By the second demo in March 2011, the team's goals had become a total overhaul of Brawl to match Melee's mechanics. Demo 2.5, released in December 2012, brought balance updates, aesthetic improvements, and new palette swaps.

The version 3.0 release on December 9, 2013, was a major milestone. It finalized the roster at 41 characters, more than any official Smash game at the time, by adding Mewtwo and Roy. It also introduced new alternate costumes, including Dr. Mario for Mario. Version 3.5, released in November 2014, refined the user interface, added new stages and original music, redesigned stages from the original Super Smash Bros. with HD visuals, and added new modes like All-Star Versus and a debug mode. The final version, 3.6, was released in August 2015 after a public beta, adding more costumes, stages, music, a new announcer, and balance tweaks.

Character Rework and Balance

A core tenet of Project M was rebalancing the entire character roster to promote viability in tournament play. This involved both reverting characters to their Melee iterations and reimagining them. For example, Peach's turnip attacks were changed to be more like their Melee versions after Brawl had diminished their usefulness. Bowser, considered non-viable in previous games, was given armor on moves, increased attack power, and a larger size to improve his reach at the cost of being a bigger target.

The developers also sought to make characters feel more true to their source material. They felt Brawl's Wario took too much from the WarioWare series, so they changed him to better reflect the Wario Land games. Mario was designed as a cross between his Melee self and Dr. Mario. The returning veterans, Mewtwo and Roy, were not mere ports, they were given new abilities and adjustments to make them competitive, addressing their previous low-tier status in Melee. Leaked files after development ended revealed planned newcomers like Knuckles from Sonic, Lyn from Fire Emblem, and Isaac from Golden Sun.

Community Adoption and Tournament Presence

Project M quickly gained traction within the competitive Smash community. It was featured in special invitation tournaments at major events like Apex in 2013 and 2014, demonstrating its competitive legitimacy. Its omission from Apex 2015 prompted negative reactions from players, underscoring its established place in the scene. The mod's popularity was reflected in its download numbers. The developers reported that the 2.0 demo had 100,000 downloads by late 2013. Version 3.0 surpassed 920,000 downloads by late 2014, and the team ultimately claimed a player base of over 500,000 and total downloads exceeding three million.

The game received positive media attention. Reviewers called it the best iteration of Super Smash Bros. and one of the highest-quality mods ever seen, noting that it improved Brawl so much it seemed practically new. Despite this community acclaim, it existed in a legal gray area. Nintendo's Miiverse forum automatically banned users for mentioning Project M, labeling it criminal content.

Cessation and Legacy

On December 1, 2015, the PMDT announced the immediate cessation of all development on Project M. The stated reason was to begin work on an original project. The team and their attorney explicitly denied that the decision was the result of a cease-and-desist notice or legal action from Nintendo, though one member stated the cancellation was to prevent future legal issues. Following the shutdown, several PMDT members were hired by Wavedash Games, which was developing Icons: Combat Arena, a fighting game with mechanics similar to Super Smash Bros.

Project M's legacy endures. Its final version, 3.6, remains actively played in community tournaments and online. Its influence is also seen in successor projects. In 2020, after Nintendo sent a cease and desist related to a Melee tournament, Project M's official website was updated to voice support for the Smash community and link to Project+, a mod derived from Project M that includes additional content like the character Knuckles.