Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS Impressions

Last week, Dual Pixels was invited by Nintendo to visit their New York City headquarters to demo upcoming titles. Within minutes of arriving, not only was a quality game of Super Smash Bros. available at the palm of our hands, but also at the leisure of  the conference room chairs. This piece will cover Dual Pixels’ impressions of the upcoming title Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS.

Super Smash Bros. 3DS

Overview

Fans currently hope that the first portable installment of the Smash Bros. series will entertain and amaze. I can confirm that the prototype of the game will not dissapoint. Old and new players alike will have a warm welcome from familiar characters and new entries, as well as some new stages. Within minutes of being situated in Nintendo’s conference room, a colleague and myself were setup with the “Smash Run” mode of Super Smash Bros. for 3DS. Smash Run is a new mode in the series and will be exclusive to the 3DS. In this mode up to four players have five minutes to fight alone through a battlefield. While fighting, defeated opponents will drop power ups. Once time runs out, the single player or group will battle, relying on the acquired power ups. In the photo below you can see how the power up system works.

The green boot represents speed, the yellow wing represents jump height, the orange glove represents attack, the red star represents special technique, the purple hammer represents arms/item, and the blue shield represents defense.

Smash Run is a great addition to the game franchise, and I was hooked. Having five minutes to jump and defeat was easy enough, and by doing this simple mechanic the experience changed as my player was upgraded. Taking the train into New York City 5 days a week with fellow Nintendo fans, I could see this brightening up my morning commute. Not only can I kick my friends’ you-know-whats in regular battle, I now have Smash Run to humiliate them more!

I had the pleasure of playing with 4 new characters, all of which added a new competitive edge to the game. I played against Dual Pixels’ Editor-In Chief, Brandon Brown, in a 2v2. We played on a brand new stage, the ‘Nintendog’ stage. While you are battling it out on this stage, a Nintendog will ‘play’ with you as well. As the round progressed, toys were dropped in and taken out added a nice dynamic to our setting.

Graphics

The graphics on the 3DS were great as well. Nintendo developers did a great job maximizing the graphical aspect of the game without hindering performance. Although we were reminded that the version of the game we played was only a prototype, the graphical superiority and smooth performance at this point was promising.

Controls

The Super Smash Bros. for 3DS controls are going to take some getting used to; however, I wouldn’t say they are bad. I found myself having trouble adjusting, but after some getting used to they are fine.

Overall Ratings

Dual Pixels awards Super Smash Bros. for 3DS an impression score of…

Graphics- 8/10

Gameplay- 9/10

Controls- 8/10

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Overview

Parallel to it’s 3DS counterpart, familiar faces eased me into the transition of the newest Super Smash Bros. installment. Although we all enjoy what is familiar, life is better when we step outside our comfort zone. Nintendo allows players to do just that with new characters and new stages. Assuming Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is simply a HD revamp of Super Smash Bros. Brawl would be incorrect, but forgivable. It’s new characters and stages the core gameplay concept has remained the same; however, there are two things that highhandedly set this installment in the series apart from the rest.

The two elements; new challengers and GUI. The new GUI is more dynamic, similar to a fighting game. New challengers add new moves, making it harder to escape your enemies. In this game you have to deal with your problems head on. These two things together bring the Super Smash Bros. series closer to the fighting game genre. Despite the “No comment” I received from the Nintendo employees I was meeting with, the game proves this is what the gaming giant was aiming to appeal to fighting game players. The game doesn’t confirm this belief on it’s own. Reggie sent a video message to Evo participants this year wishing them good luck and encouraging them to pickup Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, showing Nintendo is interested in the fighting game community.  

Graphics

What I think will impress many is how Super Smash Bros.  for Wii U captures the glory of it’s predecessors, and in HD. The characters and arenas were sharp as a tac. Initially the stunning graphics diverted my attention from the game.

Gameplay/Cotnrols

The gameplay was impressive. The game moved quickly, and with the HD you would expect some sort of bump down of the performance. The controls were easy. There was no transition from Melee in terms of controls.

Overall Ratings

Dual Pixels awards Super Smash Bros. for Wii U an impression score of…

Graphics- 10/10

Gameplay- 9/10

Controls- 10/10

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Fans reached out to Dual Pixels on Facebook with questions about the game. I chose two questions to answer, which can be found below.

Q1: Will any of the mechanics return from Melee?

A1: Yes. I would say it mainly resides with the moves of familiar challengers, but Super Smash Bros. for Wii U has taken on a whole new feel.

Q2: Will there be voice chat for either version?

A2: I’m not sure about that actually. I will reach out to Nintendo on this.

(Check back here for an update about question 2).

Do you want to have your questions answered about the game? Let Dual Pixels know! Tweet @DualPixels, or @FuelForNerds (my Twitter), with your questions or post on our Facebook page wall.