I never thought Smash Bros.’ intense four-player multiplayer battles needed more fighters, but eight-player brawls have become one of my favorite modes in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Eight-player battles are local-only, which is an unfortunate limitation, but if you get a group of friends together you’ll fill these big, vibrantly colorful arenas with sheer madness happening in every corner. Each character displays fantastic personality in combat, drawing on a rich history from dozens of different beloved games. As I strike, dodge, block, and weave through seven other fighters, a match builds up to a climax that’s genuinely fun, each and every time. That represents Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as a whole: it’s bigger than ever, but remains laser-focused on the finely balanced action that makes this a legendary fighting game series.

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Smash Bros. Wii U wraps more than 30 years of gaming history together into an approachable brawler. Every fighter in the 49-strong roster uses the same button-presses to execute attacks and special moves, but each has their own distinct style that’s fun to learn. It makes them simple to pick up and play, but also challenging to master.

Bowser, for example, uses burly strikes and kicks to pummel foes into submission, while Smash Bros. newcomer Duck Hunt uses a tricky move set of clay-pigeon projectiles, explosive barrels, and attacks that make playful references to the 8-bit era. Add in iconic characters like Mega Man, Samus Aran, Captain Falcon, Fox McCloud, Animal Crossing’s Villager, Pac-Man, Wii Fit Trainer, Link, Mario himself, and dozens of others, and you’ve got something for pretty much anybody who’s ever loved a video game.

The attention to detail in every part of Super Smash Bros. is fantastic, and all of it is delivered at a speedy and smooth 60 frames per second. Mega Man walks using his signature awkward sideways-shuffle, and the new Mario Kart Circuit arena captures the zero-gravity look and feel of a Mario Kart 8 track. Items like the deadly Bullet Bill or POW Block stir up old-school Super Mario Bros. memories while also sending a satisfying wallop to opponents. With so many tiny details and references to observe, it’ll take lots of hours to see everything Smash Wii U has to offer.

Excellent moment-to-moment combat is the real jewel of this game, and the many ways it can be played, from the Wii U GamePad to classic GameCube controllers with an adapter, make it a gift that keeps on giving. The action scales incredibly well: two-player duels are tense, while eight players all trying to Smash each other out of the ring is complete chaos. Turning items off removes the random element, turning it into more of a test of skill. But that’s just the beginning.

The constant variety of the multiple modes keeps me playing. Event mode, for instance, makes learning new characters’ moves easy by putting them in playful solo or co-op adventures. One of these is “Keep ‘Em Off the Ship,” in which you play as Falco and go up to smash a squad of parachuting Mr. Game & Watch enemies out of the ring, and it provided me some great training for how to use the speedy character’s aerial attacks. The mission text makes some hilarious references to video game history, but the skills I picked up hold equal value, and the addition of two-player co-op makes it even more fun.

Modes like Classic, Special Orders, and All-Star take a similar approach, using diverse matches, fun scenarios, and specific rules to set up creative encounters, but each allows you to choose the level of risk and reward. Special Orders allow you to spend accumulated Smash coins on special event matches, where winning unlocks another trophy or a handy piece of custom equipment; the higher the difficulty, the better the prizes. However, losing comes at a hefty price torching most (or in some cases all) of the stakes, giving these matches special tension.

Nearly every mode of Super Smash Bros. offers a set of unlockable rewards, and the only parts about unlocking them that aren’t satisfying are the awkward menus and, more importantly, the stingy drop rates for custom special moves. Those swappable special moves alter the speed of Mario’s Fireball or the properties of other special attacks, so they’re pretty important and fun to mess with. The prospect of new custom equipment, special moves, beautifully rendered trophies, and more kept me playing for hours, even though Super Smash Bros. didn’t really give me enough direction for how to actually unlock the prizes I wanted. 997 IMAGES

The only mode that’s a snooze is Smash Tour, which is effectively a mediocre virtual board game with too many boring parts. Four players take turns gathering up stat buffs, items, and characters in a build up to a final battle, which is a cool concept, but Smash Tour’s approach distills the essence of this amazing brawler game into painfully short matches full of random elements that just don’t have the same satisfying payoff or feeling of accomplishment.

Super Smash Wii U’s online modes offer lots of match types to play with, from tense 1-on-1 showdowns without items, to 2v2 faceoffs in Team Smash, with up to two fighters playing from the same console. Just like in Mario Kart 8, getting friends together can be a little bit of a hassle involving text messages because Nintendo’s system doesn’t allow for notifications. But once you’re all set up, you can launch private matches with friends and unleash characters with customized movesets, or watch other players’ strategies through handy replay and spectator modes. Sadly, eight-player Smash doesn’t make the cut online, but four players is more than enough for a good brawl.