While it seems that plenty of fans are divided about Rihanna’s Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show performance (some loved it, some were disappointed, and many were distracted by her baby bump reveal), one group of viewers is having a field day with Photoshop thanks to her high-wire act.
Rihanna began and ended her set standing on a platform that was suspended high over the field. Her dancers flanked her on similar platforms. And for a certain kind of fan, the whole setup wound up looking vaguely familiar…
RIHANNA LOOK OUT pic.twitter.com/WU6gwLCa6y
— Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) February 13, 2023
That’s right: Rihanna’s a Super Smash Bro. now (give us the DLC, Nintendo!).
For those who don’t know, Super Smash Bros. is a Nintendo fighting game series that brings together characters from the company’s most popular properties (Super Mario Bros., The Legend Of Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Starfox, to name a few) to beat the hell out of each other on… suspended platforms hovering over a bottomless pit. The goal of the game, unlike many fighting games, is for fighters to throw their opponents off the stage — the last man (or Pokémon or anthropomorphic animal or whatever-the-hell-Kirby-is) standing wins.
So many fans had a ball making the same Nintendo-related jokes and adding graphics from the game, but there’s one, clear winner here:
OK, since it’s easy to for anyone to slap a few characters onto a pic, I took it a step further #rihanna #SuperBowl2023 #SuperSmashBros #smashbros pic.twitter.com/2FpvItjuYX
— Bry Paz (@artofbrypaz) February 13, 2023
Check out more fans enjoying Rihanna’s high-flying Super Bowl performance below.
Respect to Rhianna for performing in a Super Smash Bros stage pic.twitter.com/oXrHsFue0t
— Rob Sheridan (@rob_sheridan) February 13, 2023
The Rihanna x Super Smash Bros DLC goes hard #SuperBowlLVII #HalftimeShow pic.twitter.com/9FXcc4mcWd
— SLUURP (@sluurptv) February 13, 2023
New Super Smash Bros stage just dropped #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/6OtFmCIq2C
— Stein (@steinekin) February 13, 2023
Super Smash Bros really came a long way #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/lPR4e6I7Ql
— Team Secret (@teamsecret) February 13, 2023
Sorry guys I had to #rihanna #superbowl #supersmashbros #smashbros pic.twitter.com/RM4CjB1dYH
— Bry Paz (@artofbrypaz) February 13, 2023
huge Smash Bros Level feeling to this halftime setup
— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) February 13, 2023
The Super Smash Bros. intro really gets me every damn time. https://t.co/vrdZJ0kTcs
— Lai Frances (@laifrncs) February 13, 2023