Okay, so let's face it, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS is a big deal. Ever since the humble beginnings of Smash on the Nintendo 64, we've been able to duke it out with friends and foes alike from not only the Nintendo universe but from various other ends of the gaming spectrum as well. Popular characters such as Sonic, Pac-Man, and even Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles make it in time for a Smash of epic proportions in their most recent installment. We've been able to face off with others in a melee and go into an all-out brawl in the past, but Nintendo is coming full circle to give us the Smash we have all been waiting for.
When I first got my hands on this game, I was psyched. This was going to be the first step into the handheld world for Smash. However, that did not mean I was going to be a blind fanboy. Like some of you, I had reasons to be skeptical about how well they would be represented on the smaller screen. Would the chaotic fights that made the past Smashes so popular be given the proper justice they deserve on the 3DS? Based on the first trailer they had for these games, I didn't think so.
Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U - First Trailer
The outlines were way too thick for my taste and it almost gave a very cartoon-y look (even by Nintendo's standards) to a game I came to for brawls. However, as the game's hype developed more and we got a look at gameplay from other angles, it was obvious that some things had changed. The outlines were starting to disappear, but they didn't go away completely. It was at a tasteful average I could live with now. Even though it wouldn't make or break my purchase, the outlines becoming an option was a nice touch for this game.
I powered on my 3DS with Smash Bros. lying nicely in its port, and I ready to settle it in Smash with some of my friends who were just as dedicated as I was to this series. However, the controls for this one were a bit hard to adapt to. Your circle pad will be going through some abuse from being treated as a hardcore video game controller. Any of you who know what kind of maneuvers are required from Smash know that a flick of the stick can mean the difference between life and death (or at least one stock). There's an option to disable 'tap jumping' in your settings, leaving you with the alternative of the default Y or X button to jump. This is more useful for those who are willing to adapt to a new control scheme rather than those who have played hardcore since the 64 age.
For those of you new to the Smash universe, this game will be your best jumping point as far as play-ability goes. The graphics are a lot smoother than you would expect from a 3DS, especially if you put in the extra money for the special edition Smash Bros 3DS XL (comes in Red and Blue). The roster is varied and includes a lot of old faces from the other installments of Smash. However, Smash Bros for 3DS also sees a great deal of new faces, both familiar and unexpected. One of the most popular newcomers is Pac-Man, a golden sphere-like creature made popular from the game named, you guessed it, Pac-Man. He brings a very retro-like feel to the game, bringing back the 8-bit colors and even donning his flattened, faceless appearance from his very first game as his Final Smash.
This edition of Smash Bros. doesn't include the kind of story mode we saw in Brawl, where we could fight against the evils of Subspace without a second thought. However, that doesn't take away from the new innovations that have been introduced in the solo game modes. Even if you don't have friends to Smash with, you'll find a lot of enjoyment in these modes:
Classic:
Classic is a game mode known by even the oldest Smash players, as it has proven to stand its ground as one of the most enjoyable game modes throughout its iconic series. Classic consists of a series of challenges that you have to endure, fighting against countless opponents in multiple scenarios. Sometimes, you will end up facing off against a Giant character with allies on your side. Other times, you'll go head-to-head with a metal opponent that's extremely harder to launch off of the screen. However, at the end, you will always face off against the infamous Master Hand. Defeating this white-gloved boss got you bragging rights at the playground in the 90's, but the modernized version of Smash is bringing an entirely new challenge to the table.
In Smash Bros. for 3DS, you can choose your difficulty for a price. In the past, you were able to choose from up to five different difficulties by name, but this game offers it in the form of a number. You can go from 1.0 to 9.0, with 9 being the absolute hardest difficulty you can face in Smash. You can start out at the average difficulty, 3.0., without paying a cent. To go higher or lower than 3.0., you will have to pay a sum of golden coins that you accumulate by playing the game. Don't be intimidated by the price, it is fairly easily to gain. Once you choose your character and difficulty, you'll be faced with three paths right off of the bat. There will be a blue path, a green path, and a red path. These represent easy, medium, and hard challenges respectively for your character. The harder the path you take is, the more gold you will be able to earn for beating that challenger. Before the fight begins, a roulette will appear and prompt you to press A. You can earn trophies, gold, custom equipment and moves for characters, or even nothing from this roulette. You will earn the gold from your path and the reward shown on the roulette upon beating the challenge.
This process repeats for a few matches until the second to last portion, where you face off against a team of ten enemies. The most common team would be the Fighting Mii Team, which consists of Miis from all three branches of customability: Gunner, Brawler, and Swordfighters. After taking care of all ten of them (they're particularly easy to launch), you can face off against Master Hand. On higher difficulties, you can even take on his more disturbing counterpart, Crazy Hand. If you crank up the heat a bit higher, you might even be able to face off against the brand new adversary introduced in Smash Bros. for 3DS, the Master Core.
All-Star:
All-Star is organized a bit different than the past installments of Smash. This time around, it is organized by the year that each character came out. This is essentially allowing you to fight through the history of Nintendo, which is a pretty amazing feeling once you reach the end. This mode, unlike Classic, only had three difficulties that don't cost money to experience: easy, medium, and hard. This All-Star mode is also available from the beginning of the game, but gradually gets more difficult and rewarding as you unlock the hidden characters in the game.
There isn't really much to this mode aside from the fact that you get to fight against all of the characters you have unlocked so far in the order of their release. It's good for people who want to test their endurance against the Smashers of the game.
Stadium:
The Stadium mode actually branches off into three other modes: Multi-Man Smash, Target Blast!, and Home-Run Contest. The Multi-Man Smash allows you to fight against various Miis under different conditions. This can go as far as attempting to take out 100 Miis to defeating more Miis than your rival, but one of my personal favorites is the Cruel Smash. This is where you fight against the most powerful computer-generated Miis that this game can create. Even defeating one of these powerful CPUs can earn you bragging rights among Smashers.
Target Blast! is a mode that makes its first appearance in Smash Bros. for 3DS. The point of the game is to damage a bomb that has the number 10 on it. Once you begin to move, it will count down from 10. You must damage this bomb as much as you can and launch it to the right before it explodes. Once you launch it, it will fly into a series of targets and wooden pieces, gaining you points and possibly custom parts with each destroyed object. You get two tries per session at this mini-game, keeping the same environment throughout both tries. This is perfect for those who want to practice at getting a lot of damage in quick.
Home-Run Contest is a staple game mode that allows you to hit and abuse a Sandbag before launching it off the platform with a Home-Run Bat. For those of you not familiar with Smash, the Home-Run Bat is most powerful when charged up with a smash input. If anyone unfortunate enough to be in your way gets hit with this bat at full power, it is an almost guaranteed K.O. You have 10 seconds, similar to Target Blast!, to damage the Sandbag as much as you can. Once launched, it will count how many feet you were able to smash it away from your platform. Try to get the farthest distance possible!
Although the Solo modes are very attractive for anyone interested in this game, the real merit will always lie in the Online modes. This is fairly simple: you go online and you Smash with other people. However, you can choose to either battle with friends or with Anyone. When you battle with friends, you will be able to use custom characters as well. However, with Anyone, you will not get the same treatment.
When fighting With Anyone, you can either fight for Fun or for Glory. For Fun is obviously just for fun, allowing you to use all kinds of items and play on any stage aside from Final Destination. For Glory is a little more intense than that. For Glory will record all of your wins and losses in Smash, won't allow the spawning of items, and will only pick stages in their 'Omega' forms (this makes any stage into a Final Destination-form with no platforms aside from the middle, flat one). You can participate in four way Smashes, 1 vs 1, or in Team Battles when fighting for Glory.
All in all, whether you play alone, with friends, or with complete strangers, you can't really go wrong with Smash Bros. for 3DS. Just make sure that you reinforce that circle pad, turn those outlines down, and never disconnect from a Smash if you're losing.