Webcomic / Smaaaash

SMAAAASH!! is a video game comic by Sam Laurel. Covers a large variety of games. It's named after critical hits in EarthBound (1994); likewise, the series gets a lot of attention in the comics.

On June 21, 2013, it was announced that SMAAAASH!! would no longer update regularly with comics, instead being replaced by a new original webcomic called Ludicrous Power, but the SMAAAASH!! website still updates with random pieces of art by the creator and possibly comics as well.

Aside from the main strip, there was a running series about the Super Smash Bros. Brawl cast stranded on an island called Survival Mode.

As of 2018, the official website is defunct. The old domain at https://moonside.kontek.net still works to some degree, but many image links are broken, and the comic archive only goes up to comic #97, with all comics posted afterward being missing.

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This webcomic provides examples of:

• Aborted Arc: "Whaddya Want" was originally supposed to be an arc similar to "Showtime", but this was abandoned after the site's relaunch.
  • "Servbot Surprise" was going to be part of the Marvel vs. Capcom arc, but the author decided the arc was fine where it ended.
• All There in the Manual: The characters section provides miscellaneous background information on some of the characters, most notably giving names to the recurring Squirtle, Torchic, Pikachu, and Cyndaquil characters (their names were later acknowledged in-comic in Survival Mode, though).
• Alt Text: Started with this one, then eventually added to most of the older ones.
• Annoying Video Game Helper: invoked Starlow and her tutorials...
• Art Evolution: Oh, is there ever.
• Art Shift: "Culture Gap" is made with clay figures, and "Sprite and Wrong" and "Sprite Here, Sprite Now"...you can guess.
• Author Avatar: Rarely, often without importance, twice as a zombie.
• Beat Panel: Common. This one has two.
• Bilingual Bonus: Uneducated Guess has the evil Shroobs from the Mario & Luigi games... offering peace, in Spanish.
• Brick Joke: In the sprite comic parody, Ronic (a recolor of Sonic) asks Mario and Mike to come on a journey that will "span eighty-two comics and in the end will only really benefit me." Eighty-two comics later...
• Butt-Monkey: Jeff.
  • Even when he's not there. His statue is used as a coat rack here.
• Carnivore Confusion: In "Misteak."
• Distant Duet: "Lonesome Lullaby". Except Zelda can't sing because she's been turned to stone.
• Edible Ammunition: "Considering it only shoots COCOA PUFFS" APRIL FOOLS
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Sometimes a strip will be titled with nothing but the comic number.
  • And...
• Fishing Minigame: The subject of "Oh! A Bite!"
• Furry Confusion: None of the recurring... "wild" Pokémon seem to have a problem with Pokémon trainers. In fact the recurring Squirtle Hammer Bro and "some off-the-street Ivysaur" playing the roles of Red's Pokémon if they must appear together in a Smash Bros. comic.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Played with here.
• Heroic Mime: All Links except the one from Minish Cap retain this.
  • Skyward Sword Link apparently speaks as well.
  • In one of the two times Ness doesn't, the flavor text reads "Ness doesn't talk. Who is this."
• Hurricane of Puns: The Dead Rising 2 comic is about this, until Chuck gets a call.
  • Similarly, this one.
  • Whenever Crazy Hand speaks. AND THEY'RE ALL ABOUT HANDS.
• Hypocritical Humor: In "Aw, Suit."
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Jeff.
• Indy Escape: In "B-eat It." Well, Ninten and Lucas escape, at any rate. Ness can't, thanks to his game's aversion of Sprint Shoes.
• Infinite Canvas: Almost all the comics are vertically oriented. Even when they're ELEVEN PANELS long.
• Infinite 1-Ups: Luigi can be seen in the background of one comic pulling this off using Squirtle's shell and a stair-like rock, in a Shout-Out to one of the classic examples.
• Jerkass: Luigi.
• Kick the Dog: Spider-Man has literally done this.
• Large Ham: I am SO fancy.
  • DEFENSE?????
  • They say there's no such thing as a FREE LUNCH...
• Logic Bomb: Literally, in "Arrowdox."
• Oblivious Adoption: Waluigi.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Spider-Man kicked a dog. It's even referenced by name here.
  Spider-Man: There is more to me than this one time I kicked a dog!
• Pokémon Speak: The katydids, realistically enough.
  • Averted with actual Pokémon though, strangely enough. When non-speakers are present, they make noises instead—Bluh for Lickitung and Gwargh for Charizard, apparently. When their speech is meant to be known, no subtitles are used or anything; just the words, sometimes in parentheses.
  • Lucario is only capable of saying "Aura." Sonic goes on to try and teach him more words. He learns to say "Or, uh..." by the time he next gets a chance to talk.
• Removable Shell: Hammer Bro in "Soundproof Walls."
• Stealth Pun: "I'm a natural leader!"
• Take That!: To sprite comics.
• Technicolor Science: The hot springs in EarthBound (1994), apparently.
• Urban Legend of Zelda: invoked Parodied in "What the Truck."
• Wolverine Publicity: While Real Life usually has this for Samus's Varia Suit, SMAAAASH!! has begun to avert it.

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