(Image courtesy of Nintendo)All stages, all items, all the time. An old friend of mine had the game system — if there was a Smash, we were there.
All six of us, rotating controllers and having a go at the winners. Winning or losing hardly crushed the amount of fun we had with accidental suicides or those last-minute smashes to salvage your last life. We reveled in victories that gave us bragging rights for another few minutes or so before one guy's Captain Falcon slapped myMewtwo upside the head with a baseball bat.
When Brawl came out, my love of the series powered forward while the others moved on. The Subspace Emissary gave me a reason to keep going without my buddies, but it wasn't hard to find good people to play with online — even if the fans were heavily divided between this and Melee.
And you know, I'll always dig Brawl for being the first Smash game that I owned. But it's time for something better. Way better.
"Super Smash Bros." for the 3DS continues the formula of the past iterations — reach into the nooks and oft-unmentioned crannies of the Nintendo-verse for a huge roster of characters and let them loose against each other for no apparent reason. Add guests such as Sonic the Hedgehog for a garnish to that massive mixed bag.
The Smash Bros. roster on the 3DS takes a 10-man jump to 49, up from 39 characters in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl." Despite a few character clones crawling their way back onto the field (looking at you, Lucina), the great mechanics of the game give each fighter their own feel and strengths.
Newcomer Greninja is an attractive mix of speed and power that is enthralling to play (thus making him my main), while Little Mac is a rushdown fighter in every sense of the word. Wild additions such as Wii Fit Trainer and a certain dog bring something to the table each time. Old fighters feel new again as well, with Meta Knight no longer the overpowered fury he was in Brawl. Link feels stronger overall, with new attacks to make kills with him much easier.
For me, Robin is the more interesting new addition, with a technical risk/reward mechanic that's a lot of fun to play with. Just like the Fire Emblem universe he/she comes from, each of their specials have a limited use and will break if used too much. They replenish eventually, but it makes for a tense experience when you've exhausted almost all of your options in a fight.
Graphically, the game's cel shading is not only beautiful, but it also somehow manages to keep the fighting at 60 frames with no lag in offline matches. Stages maintain unique quirks and instances, keep up the variation seen in the roster with no compression from past iterations. For those that don't, for example, want to get waylaid by events such as flying karts in Rainbow Road, all stages can now be played flat a la "Final Destination." Great for when you want to hear the "Mute City" theme without having to avoid getting launched by the racetrack below.
With no lag, however, comes sizeable zoom to fit four characters on one screen. While it isn't game-breaking, I found it easy to lose myself in more hectic matches, especially with stage events happening simultaneously.
The gameplay as a whole feels weightier and faster than "Brawl." I went back for a couple matches on my Wii, and everything, from movement to even the quickest strikes felt like being stuck behind the old lady from "Ferris Bueller" by comparison. It's not quite as quick as "Super Smash Bros. Melee" was, but it's a nice balance of that and "Brawl" to make it it's own. Fans of Melee and Brawl (and detractors of the latter's floatiness) should find a much stronger and technical game here, even if it doesn't quite match the speed of the former.
As a whole, the game is a tightly packedtimesink. Besides the usual Smash mode for you and a few friends to get together, all the previous modes such as All-Star and Stadium have returned,with a new addition called Target Smash. Challenges are also new, giving you incentives to complete certain goals for prizes.
The arcade mode-style Classic has been revamped, allowing you to increase the difficulty by betting in-game coins for better rewards (which I'll get into later). From there you move point-to-point on a map picking your fights to the final boss battle.It's a heck of a lot more fun than past iterations even with bonus stages gone, and itfeels more organic for the series andarcade modes for fighting games as a whole.
Smash Run is a fun, if not slightly tedious, new addition to the game. In it, you make your way through a side-scrolling dungeon, attacking baddies and mini-bosses to gain statpowerups for a final showdown against other fighters. It's entertaining enough for a few long bus rides, and fun to see how far you can take your character, but soon you'll find yourself running though similar rooms on repeated plays (interesting since the place is so massive). On top of that, itcan get damn hard quickly, even with items such as health regeneration and energy beams to give you a hand.
The rewards I mentioned earlier are not only trophies and gold, but equipment for another new addition: customizable fighters. You can outfit characters with gear based in speed, defense and strength, and give them new moves to take into the fight.
Mii characters can get in on this as well, but it's a little different. You'll pick from a gunner, swordfighter or hand-to-hand brawler, each with their own set of moves. It's a lot of fun seeing you or your friends throwing down with the Nintendo greats, but there's not too much room for them in the game as they and other custom characterscan only be used in Smash and Classic modes. It's not a mark against the game, and once you gather enough moves and gear you'll spend a good while tailoring fighters to your needs.
However, while playing through different modes will unlock new equipment sparingly, Smash Run is, unfortunately, the better way to get new gear and moves.
Online mode is here too, with ranked and unranked matches divided between For Fun (items on) and For Glory (items off, flat stages only). The sad part is that it has potential to be a entertaining as hell, but right now, there's way too much lag to fully enjoy a match. It's disappointing to say that, as it maintains the series' spirit of "one more match" with players eager to keep going fight after fight. One For Fun fight I had took place on the WarioWare stage, and it was hilarious to see four players, from wherever in the world, try to follow the demands onscreen while still fighting.
When I finished this review, I immediately picked my system up for another round of Smash. With so much to do, see and do again, Smash Bros. on the 3DS is a beast of a game and a fine addition to anyone's library. With the biggest roster, modes upon modes, tons of unlockables, and tweaks to the gameplay there's nary a time that you'll be bored or wanting for more. Gripes and missteps aside, it's a fun game to own, and one that'll keep the spirit of the series alive — even after the Wii U edition comes out. "Super Smash Bros" comes highly recommended.
Reach the reporter at Damion.Julien-Rohman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @legendpenguin
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