Super Smash Bros., one of my favorite franchises of all time, what's there to say that hasn't already been said? The cast of characters, the amazing stages to fight in, and having a blast with friends. These are the elements needed to make an amazing multiplayer fighting experience. Fighting is much more fluid and faster than Brawl. Smash Bros. for Wii U delivers all of that and then some with new characters, customizations, amiibo, and a few new game modes that will push your skills to the max. The best part is that the characters are far more balanced (with the exception of Little Mac). A couple characters have been nerfed, but for the right reasons. Gliding has been removed completely, so, sorry Pit and Meta Knight fans. Also, there is no more edge-guarding. There is Smash mode, where you can just beat the tar out of CPUs, or have a friend (or friends) join in and duke it out. New to the game is Special Orders, an extremely addicting mode where you can choose between Master or Crazy Orders. Master orders cost less coins to participate and rewards are minimal, but if you're man or woman enough to step into Crazy Orders, beware, the risks are extremely high, and it's quite expensive to participate. However, the game gives you chances to win Crazy Orders Passes, which let you get into Crazy Orders for free. Stock up those passes, because you don't want to waste all your hard earned coins. Also, make sure you don't lose when you're in Crazy Orders, or else you'll lose some of the equipment/coins/special moves you've worked for. The payoff for completing Crazy Orders tasks is well worth it, and is a great way to stock up on equipment, special moves, and costumes for your custom Mii characters. Finally, one of the greatest additions to its gameplay, is the ability to do Classic, All-Star, Event mode, etc with more than one player. This means unlocking character trophies much quicker, along with stocking up on all sorts of goodies for your characters. Challenge mode is back in full force as well, along with new co-op challenges. Also new to this game is being able to change movesets and stats for all characters. There are many different combinations you can use for each character, and with 10 save slots for each character, the possibilities are almost endless. Final Smashes have thankfully been downgraded a little bit for some characters, making matches much more tolerable if you can't get that Smash Ball for yourself.
With all of the good things, it isn't without its share of faults. First off, Smash Tour is horrible. It is literally a poor man's version of Mario Party. You move across a game board powering up and getting other fighters to join you. It's boring, annoying, and pointless. Also, the advantage this mode gives to the CPU is far too unfair. There are also a couple minor hit detection issues, most notably with the larger characters. Sometimes if you're too close to a fighter and you're trying to line up a normal or Smash attack, the attack will go right through the other fighter. Then, there's the CPU Opponent AI. This is extremely noticeable in Classic 9.0 difficulty and All-Star mode. Nintendo certainly took note of All-Star mode and 9.0 difficulty in the 3DS version being fairly easy, because it isn't anymore. All-Star mode is brutal on hard mode. The 3 CPU characters you're fighting all at once will annihilate you. There are 7 stages in All-Star mode, and only 4 healing items. You have to fight 6-7 characters in one stage. If you can't wait until after Stage 2 to use a healing item, then you're screwed. There are also far too many fighters that can counter now, and the CPU loves to counter a little too much. It is also way too easy to lose track of yourself in matches of 4 or more players, even with your name over a character. Speaking of 4 or more players, this game didn't need matches with 8 players. There is far too much happening on the screen all at once, and you'll end up being unable to find where you are, or getting your butt kicked by 2-3 other characters before doing any significant damage. If you want a fun experience, 4-6 players and nothing more. With up to 8 players, they had to compensate with a few bigger stages. There's just one problem, some of the stages are far too big. The camera is zoomed out so far that you can barely recognize any of the fighters. Finally, the control. The Wii U Gamepad and Classic Controller Pro are just okay. Still, they both pale in comparison to the Gamecube controller's preciseness.
I will admit that some of these things are nitpicks. But, even with its flaws, the game is still fun to play, and is a decent addition to the Wii U library. If you're a Wii U owner, go ahead and pick it up.