The topic of gaming and feminism is uniquely interesting to me, as a girl who has grown up obsessed with Clash Royale and Super Mario Smash Bros, but has never had the opportunity to fully succumb to the pull of other “hardcore” video games that were more readily accessible for boys. Super Smash Bros was integral to my introduction and infatuation with video games growing up, as a very accessible game with simple mechanics. Super Smash Bros’s inclusion of female fighter characters does offer gender representation, which is often rare in fighter games; however, the limited representation and perpetuation of gender tropes within these female fighters fails to fully adhere to feminist theories.
Super Smash Bros does better than many of its fighter-themed video game counterparts (such as City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, and Everquest, as mentioned by Shira Chess) because it includes female characters in its roster of fighters. Characters like Samus represent strong and independent fighters who come equipped with their own full backstory. This inclusion is key in lending female characters agency, which is Shira Chess describes as a key aspect of feminist theory. The concept of having will or power to change the outcome of your story can be seen in Super Smash Bros – female characters are put on the same stage with the same range of powers, as compared to other games where female characters are sidelined with only shallow and stereotypical roles.
Despite this inclusion, however, Super Smash Bros’ array of female fighters offers very limited selection, and many of these characters come secondary to their male counterparts. Characters like Princess Peach perpetuate the “damsel in distress” trope, as her original role within the Super Mario franchise was Mario’s love interest and Bowser’s main kidnapping target. However, it can also be argued that by giving Princess Peach a combative role, Smash Bros is actually subverting traditional “damsel” tropes.
Another criticism can be made that more narrative depth could be given to the female characters, which Chess argues is key to feminist game design. Smash Bros is a game so primarily focused on combat and competition that I do not believe that narrative depth is key to any character in the game. More so than narrative background, each character is defined by the strength and aesthetics of the movements and jumps.
One more aspect that fails to intertwine with feminist theories is the sexualization of female characters (i.e. Zero Suit Samus, Wii Fit Trainer, etc). In comparison, most of the larger, stronger characters (i.e. Ganandorf, Bowser, female looks (either attractive or innocent) Donkey Kong, etc.) are male. This stereotyping is counterproductive towards reaching true feminist goals in gaming. True feminist game design would incorporate more diverse features that play to different combative strengths rather than relying on traditional gendered stereotypes.
The lower barrier to entry and simple game mechanics (given that the one goal of the game is to hit people) makes Super Smash very accessible to beginners of all genders and demographics. Super Smash was one of the very first console games that I ever found myself enamored with. Games such as these are very important as gateway games that can draw in more female gamers into the space. After all, not only do games need to be more feminist, but games also need to matter more to feminists!
