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Masterpieces

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The masterpieces in the English version of Brawl.
The masterpieces as seen in Brawl.

Masterpieces (名作トライアル, Masterpiece Trial) are time-limited trial versions of classic Nintendo titles in which the characters of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U have appeared. Masterpiece come pre-installed with every copy of the game for free. Masterpieces are actually the entire ROM files of the games run on an emulator, almost identical to the same games available on Virtual Console. This means players are allowed to progress as far as they possibly can within the time limit. When said time limit runs out, a message appears to notify the player of the trial's conclusion. In the Wii U version of Smash 4, this message also includes a link to the Nintendo eShop, where the player was able to purchase the full, Virtual Console version of the title they just played. The game then returns to the masterpiece selection menu. To save time, Masterpieces skip games' title and opening sequences. Certain Masterpieces start at specific points of the game that are relevant to the Smash game they appear in, such as the Donkey Kong Masterpiece starting at the 75m level, while games that supported saving have some built-in saves set to various points of the game. The time limit varies from game to game.

List of masterpieces[edit]

This is a list of the masterpieces in the Super Smash Bros. series. NES games show up as FC and SNES games show up as SFC in Japan, except for the noted cases where a NES game shows up as FDS instead.

Key Starter Unlockable Japan Only
Masterpiece Platform Universe Super Smash Bros. Brawl Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Balloon Fight NES Symbol of the Balloon Fight series.Balloon Fight No Yes
Donkey Kong NES Symbol of the DK series.Donkey Kong Yes Yes
Dr. Mario GB MarioSymbol.svgMario No Yes
EarthBound/Mother 2 SNES/SFC EarthboundSymbol.svgEarthBound Yes Yes
F-Zero SNES FZeroSymbol.svgF-Zero Yes Yes
Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem SFC FireEmblemSymbol.svgFire Emblem Yes No
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light FC FireEmblemSymbol.svgFire Emblem No Yes
Ice Climber NES IceClimberSymbol.svgIce Climber Yes No
Kid Icarus NES KidIcarusSymbol.svgKid Icarus Yes Yes
Kirby Super Star SNES KirbySymbol.svgKirby No Yes
Kirby's Adventure NES KirbySymbol.svgKirby Yes Yes
Kirby's Dream Land GB KirbySymbol.svgKirby No Yes
Mega Man 2 NES MegaManSymbol.svgMega Man No Yes
Metroid NES MetroidSymbol.svgMetroid No Yes
Pac-Man NES PacManSymbol.svgPac-Man No Yes
Pilotwings SNES PilotwingsSymbol.svgPilotwings No Yes
Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream NES PunchOutSymbol.svgPunch-Out!! No Yes
Star Fox 64 N64 StarFoxSymbol.svgStar Fox Yes No
Super Mario Bros. NES MarioSymbol.svgMario Yes Yes
Super Mario Bros. 2 NES MarioSymbol.svgMario Yes No
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels NES MarioSymbol.svgMario No Yes
Super Mario Kart SNES MarioSymbol.svgMario No Yes
Super Mario World SNES MarioSymbol.svgMario Yes Yes
Super Metroid SNES MetroidSymbol.svgMetroid Yes Yes
The Legend of Zelda NES ZeldaSymbol.svgThe Legend of Zelda Yes Yes
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64 ZeldaSymbol.svgThe Legend of Zelda Yes No
Wrecking Crew NES WreckingCrewSymbol.svgWrecking Crew No Yes
Yoshi NES YoshiSymbol.svgYoshi No Yes
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link NES ZeldaSymbol.svgThe Legend of Zelda No Yes
Total 14 24

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

When a masterpiece ends in Brawl.

A total of 14 Masterpieces are featured in this game (12 outside of Japan). Masterpieces are sorted in-game by their Japanese release date, even in international versions of Brawl. Unlockable Masterpieces are highlighted in grey and Japanese exclusive Masterpieces are highlighted in yellow.

NES games show up as FC and SNES games show up as SFC in the Japanese version of Brawl, except for two cases noted below where a NES game shows up as FDS instead.

Icon Name Platform Duration Unlock Criteria Notes
Masterpiece-DonkeyKong-Brawl.png Donkey Kong NES 0:30 10 hours of play time Starts at 75m.
Masterpiece-IceClimber-Brawl.png Ice Climber NES 0:40 Starts on first level, with Popo.
Masterpiece-SuperMarioBros-Brawl.png Super Mario Bros. NES 1:00 Starts in World 1-1.
Masterpiece-TheLegendOfZelda-Brawl.png The Legend of Zelda NES 2:00 Immediately starts from the beginning of the game and skips the title screen.
Masterpiece-KidIcarus-Brawl.png Kid Icarus NES 1:30 Starts on first section of Underworld stage.
Masterpiece-FZero-Brawl.png F-Zero SNES 0:40 Unlock Captain Falcon in The Subspace Emissary Starts at first Mute City race, with Blue Falcon.
Masterpiece-SuperMarioWorld-Brawl.png Super Mario World SNES 2:00 Play on the Yoshi's Island Melee stage three times Starts at Yoshi's Island 2 with Mario.
Masterpiece-SuperMarioBros2-Brawl.png Super Mario Bros. 2 NES 1:30 Win five brawls with Peach. Starts at World 1-1 with Peach.
Masterpiece-KirbysAdventure-Brawl.png Kirby's Adventure NES 2:00 Starts in Vegetable Valley.
Masterpiece-FireEmblem-Brawl.png Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem SFC 3:00 Starts on Chapter 1 of Book 1.
Masterpiece-SuperMetroid-Brawl.png Super Metroid SNES 3:00 Includes saves for battles against Ridley.
Masterpiece-EarthBound-Brawl.png Mother 2 SFC 5:00 Starts at the opening cutscene.
Masterpiece-StarFox64-Brawl.png Star Fox 64 N64 3:00 Has access to all menu features including the Main Game, Training Mode, and VS. mode. VS mode is only one player regardless of how many controllers are plugged in.
Masterpiece-OcarinaOfTime-Brawl.png The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64 5:00 Use Toon Link in ten brawls. Has save files for beginning of Young Link and Adult Link sections.

Interestingly, while Masterpieces are intended to promote the Virtual Console's version of the game, Mother 2 had no Virtual Console release in any region at the time of Brawl's release. It is the only Masterpiece in any Smash game to have this distinction.

Scrapped Masterpieces[edit]

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[edit]

When a masterpiece ends in for Wii U with a game available on the Wii U eShop.
When a masterpiece ends in for Wii U with a game available only on the Nintendo 3DS eShop.

Masterpieces return in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. A total of 24 Masterpieces are featured in this game (23 outside of Japan), 15 of which are new. New features include a timer displayed on the right side of the screen, the ability to pause the Masterpiece without using the HOME button, the ability to stop the Masterpiece without the reset button (as the Wii U does not have a reset button), and less lag due to advancements in emulation technology between releases. NES and SNES Masterpieces feature a prompt to purchase the game from the eShop before and after the demo, while Game Boy Masterpieces tell the player after the demo that they can purchase the game from the 3DS's eShop. All Masterpieces that were carried over from Brawl now have longer time limits, with the exception of EarthBound/Mother 2 whose time limit stayed the same.

Smash Wii U also introduces third-party Masterpieces, chiefly Mega Man 2 and Pac-Man, and Masterpieces that do not represent a character, as Pilotwings represents the stage of the same name and Balloon Fight officially represents Villager's up special move (as Villager using the move appears on the game's portrait instead of a Balloon Fighter).

Masterpieces are now sorted in-game by localized release date, so Japanese, North American, and European versions list them in a different order. For example, non-Japanese versions of the game list the release date of Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels as 1993 (the year the SNES Super Mario All-Stars made the levels first accessible outside of Japan), and European versions of the game list the release date of EarthBound as 2013 (the year it became available on the eShop). In the list below, they are ordered by North American release date (except for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light).

As above, NES games show up as FC and SNES games show up as SFC in the Japanese version of the game, except for the noted cases where a NES game shows up as FDS instead. Interestingly, in non-Japanese versions Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is listed as a NES game (and not as an FDS, SNES, or VC game) even though it was never released on the NES. Unlockable Masterpieces are highlighted in grey and Japan-exclusive Masterpieces are highlighted in yellow.

Icon Name Platform Character (or object) on the portrait Duration Unlock Criteria Notes
Masterpiece-SuperMarioBros-WiiU.png Super Mario Bros. NES Mario 3:00 Starts at title screen.
Masterpiece-WreckingCrew-WiiU.png Wrecking Crew NES Mario 2:00 Starts at title screen.
Masterpiece-BalloonFight-WiiU.png Balloon Fight NES Villager (using Balloon Trip) 2:00 Starts at title screen.
Masterpiece-Metroid-WiiU.png Metroid NES Samus 3:00 Starts in Brinstar.
Masterpiece-KidIcarus-WiiU.png Kid Icarus NES Pit 3:00 Starts at the beginning of the first level.
Masterpiece-TheLegendOfZelda-WiiU.png The Legend of Zelda NES Link 4:00 Starts on the spawn tile.
Masterpiece-PunchOut-WiiU.png Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream NES Little Mac 3:00 Clear the "No Mere Sparring Match" event on normal difficulty or higher Starts at title screen.
Masterpiece-DonkeyKong-WiiU.png Donkey Kong NES Donkey Kong 2:00 Begins in the 75m level.
Masterpiece-AdventureOfLink-WiiU.png Zelda II: The Adventure of Link NES Link 4:00 Starts in Zelda's castle.
Masterpiece-MegaMan-WiiU.png Mega Man 2 NES Mega Man 3:00 Begins in the first section of Wily Castle.
Masterpiece-FireEmblem-WiiU.png Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light FC Marth 4:00 Starts on Chapter 1: Marth Embarks.
Masterpiece-DrMario-WiiU.png Dr. Mario GB Dr. Mario 3:00 Clear 10-Man Smash alone with Dr. Mario without taking any damage Starts on the "1 Player Game" set-up screen.
Masterpiece-SuperMarioWorld-WiiU.png Super Mario World SNES Mario 3:00 Starts on the world map of Yoshi's Island.
Masterpiece-FZero-WiiU.png F-Zero SNES Captain Falcon 3:00 Starts in Mute City I, playing as the Blue Falcon.
Masterpiece-Pilotwings-WiiU.png Pilotwings SNES Light Plane (Pilotwings) 2:00 Starts in the Light Plane certification training level.
Masterpiece-Yoshi-WiiU.png Yoshi NES Yoshi 3:00 Clear Solo Classic with Yoshi Starts at title screen.
Masterpiece-KirbyDreamLand-WiiU.png Kirby's Dream Land GB Kirby 3:00 Starts at title screen.
Masterpiece-SuperMarioKart-WiiU.png Super Mario Kart SNES Mario 3:00 Starts in Mario Circuit 1 in the Grand Prix, playing as Mario.
Masterpiece-KirbysAdventure-WiiU.png Kirby's Adventure NES Kirby 3:00 Clear Solo Classic with Kirby on intensity 5.5 or higher Has two save files: one at the beginning of the game and the other at the final Dedede/Nightmare fight.
Masterpiece-LostLevels-WiiU.png Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels NES Mario 3:00 Starts at title screen.
Masterpiece-PacMan-WiiU.png Pac-Man NES Pac-Man 2:00 Starts at title screen.
Masterpiece-SuperMetroid-WiiU.png Super Metroid SNES Samus 4:00 Has two save files: one at the beginning of the game and one in Norfair.
Masterpiece-EarthBound-WiiU.png EarthBound SNES Ness 5:00 Get 600 m./1968 ft. or more in Home-Run Contest Starts at the opening cutscene.
Masterpiece-KirbySuperStar-WiiU.png Kirby Super Star SNES Kirby 3:00 Begins in The Great Cave Offensive.

Scrapped Masterpieces[edit]

  • Unused text in Smash Bros. for Wii U implies the original Super Smash Bros. was supposed to appear as a Masterpiece. This would have made it the only N64 Masterpiece in Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Trivia[edit]

  • Pokémon is the only universe that debuted in Smash 64 to lack a masterpiece.
  • Since EarthBound's ESRB Teen rating exceeds Smash Wii U's ESRB E10+ rating, the prompt when starting up the EarthBound Masterpiece mentions this fact in all[citation needed] North American regions. (EarthBound has the same (or lower) rating as Smash Wii U in Japan, Europe, and Russia. Although EarthBound's classification rating of M is higher than Smash Wii U's rating of PG in Australia, no prompt is shown when starting up the masterpiece in Australian copies of the game.)
  • Within the time limit, speedrunners have been able to beat Donkey Kong (one loop of all levels, albeit only in Smash Wii U), Kirby's Adventure (using a glitch to warp to the credits), Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream (using a password), and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (using glitches to either beat Ganon[2] or warp to the credits,[3] both of which were first done by Savestate).

External links[edit]

Announcement of Masterpieces on the DOJO!!.

References[edit]