Smash Bros Logo

Super Smash Bros. Logo PNG

“The main thing is to select the target and hit it!” – The Super Smash Bros logo focuses the player’s attention on the accuracy, which is important in battle. The emblem creates a feeling of large-scale battles, and its elements are like objects for the attack.

Meaning and History

In modern versions of Smash Bros., up to eight players can face off in a scrum, while in the 1999 original, there were only four. The list of available characters has also grown significantly – from 12 to 74. And it continues to grow, moreover, at the expense of heroes from franchises that do not even belong to Nintendo.

The popularity of the series is due to its unusual concept. After all, the participants do not just fight among themselves – they can choose their favorite character from other video games and try to win, using his special skills to attack. Combined with various locations, this makes the fighting game exciting and unpredictable.

Given the incredible popularity of Smash Bros., its logos are familiar to many gamers. We are talking about both a round icon in the form of a crosshair and a word sign with the franchise’s name. These symbols have remained the mainstay of the game’s visual identity since 1999, although the lettering has undergone several redesigns in recent years.

1999 – today

The round badge with two perpendicular lines made its debut alongside the original version of the fighting game, which was published on the Nintendo 64 console. It first appeared in the Smash Bros. intro cinematic in 1999. He can now be seen on objects and other objects in all subsequent games in the series. In addition, the crosshair icon is used as a design element. For example, it blinks on the loading screen, appears during a pause, is displayed next to the names of stages.

1999 – 2001

The franchise’s first international logo appeared in 1999. It was featured on Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. The designers have made the game’s title flashy to mimic the comic book style. In the center was the yellow word “SMASH” with red kennels. The chosen geometric font ITC Kabel Bold was created by Victor Caruso in the 1970s.

The sides of the lettering (“SUPER” and “BROS.”) Were also yellow. They used a vertically elongated Pritchard typeface – more precisely, its modified version with a rounded “U.” The comic-book resemblance was reinforced by a black base in the form of an explosion.

2001 – 2008

Super Smash Bros. was released in 2001. Melee is a fighting game released specifically for the Nintendo GameCube. A shiny logo was created for it with a black and red gradient, white border, and silvery shadows. The modified inscription took two lines. The typeface was unified: typographers developed one serif with an individual design for all three words. The letter “O” resembled the original circular logo of the franchise. And the three Ss (the first in SUPER SMASH and the last in BROS.) Have been slightly enlarged.

2008 – 2014

With the advent of Super Smash Bros., Brawl’s logo was modified again, although it generally echoed the wordmark of the second game. The designers have sharpened the font and repainted the title of the series in brown with an asymmetrical red gradient. The texture was uneven due to stains of different shades.

The developers have placed the inscription on two silver plates, surrounded by gray shadows along the edges. And to balance the geometry, they had to arch the second row.

2014 – 2018

For Super Smash Bros. 4, a new emblem was created – this time brighter and brighter. The main structure has been preserved: the inscription, as before, consisted of two parts. But the letters became tricolor. There was a blue stripe at the top of each word, a white stripe in the middle, and a pink one at the bottom. A black base was used instead of a silver base, with two sharp spikes along the edges and a dark blue gradient.

A fire was added to the right of the text, and not an ordinary one: the red-orange flame gradually turned into frozen blue ice. This image symbolized the battle of two elements, opposing characters with different abilities. The arched shape of the second line did not change. But the creators of the inscription decided to balance it by curving the first word in the opposite direction.

2018 – today

After Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the logo was changed again. The fifth part of the series appeared at a time when minimalism came into fashion. Therefore, the designers made the letters completely black and removed all the outlines, leaving an empty white background. The image of fire and ice also disappeared. But another interesting element appeared: two thin perpendicular lines of white color, passing through the entire inscription along and across. By the way, thanks to the simplification, “O” now looks exactly like the official symbol of the franchise.

Font and Colors

Fighting Super Smash Bros. can be easily recognized by the emblem that was created in 1999 for the very first game. The graphic sign is very simple: it is an even circle divided into four fragments by two intersecting stripes. Fans have speculated a lot about what this geometric figure might mean. Some saw it as sight or target, associating it with battles in the arena. Others saw the drawing as an abstract illustration of the sun shining through the window in the N64 intro video. Still, others noted the similarity of the image to the Sports Series logo on the NES, which consisted of a tennis racket, golf club, and baseball bat. And according to the Hungrybox esportsman, this is an image of an explosion that occurs when you lose.

Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai dispelled all rumors by interviewing Japanese comedians Yoiko for YouTube. In 2018, he revealed that the mysterious emblem means multiplayer. Each of the four circle fragments represents one participant because, at the beginning of the series, a maximum of four people could come together in a battle. Now, this is no longer relevant: in Smash Bros., up to 8 players can fight simultaneously, but the structure of the logo has not changed. At the same time, the two dividing lines symbolize the crossover nature of the fighting game, when characters from different franchises meet in the arena.

Due to its ‘crosshair’ shape, the Super Smash Bros. once got into a scandal. A student at one school drew it on the blackboard, which forced the school to close for a short time. People unfamiliar with the iconic logo thought it was a threat of mass murder.

The title of the fighting game series uses the original serif font based on the game’s old word marks. This is a high contrast serif with the “O” replaced by a circular Super Smash icon. Both current logos are painted black with added white details. With such a minimalistic palette, the letters in the lettering look clear and easy to read, which cannot be said about the past versions with a gradient.

Smash Bros color codes