Tyler's Game Reviews: Super Smash Bros. for 3DS

Hey, guys. It's me, Tyler. Welcome to Episode 2 of Tyler's Game Reviews. For this episode, I'll be reviewing Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS, released on October 3, 2014. For those unaware of Super Smash Bros., I'll fill you in.

Super Smash Bros. is a series of fighting games that was that brainchild of Masahiro Sakurai, creator of the Kirby series. The series got its start on the Nintendo 64 in 1999, and ended up becoming one of Nintendo's most successful franchises. It got several sequels like Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube, Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii, the 3DS installment, and we'll have an upcoming installment for the Wii U scheduled this November.

The concept of Super Smash Bros. is a crossover between various characters from Nintendo franchises like Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Metroid, Star Fox, etc. Unlike most fighting games, where the objective is to beat up your opponent to deplete their health bar, Smash takes a more unique approach; You have to knock your opponent(s) off the stage. You do this by attacking your opponents and building up a damage meter (which is measured in percentage by the way), which gradually rises as a fighter take more damage. The higher the percentage, the farther the character flies off the stage. You can use items to help you achieve victories and you can also uses Final Smashes (a mechanic introduced in Brawl), which are devastating finishing moves that you can perform after destroying a Smash Ball. Keep in mind that some are harder to knock off than others. Up to 4 players can compete in these games. 

Now on with the review. Developed by a collaboration between Sora, Ltd. and Bandai Namco Games, and published by Nintendo, Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS marks the series' debut on a handheld.

PRESENTATION:

There are a total of 51 characters available in the game, 39 of which are available from the start. The roster includes well-established veterans like Mario, Pikachu, Donkey Kong, Samus, and Fox, as well as newcomers like the Villager from Animal Crossing, the Wii Fit Trainer and Little Mac from Punch-Out. There's even third-party characters like Sonic the Hedgehog (returning from Brawl), Pac-Man, and the heavily-requested fan-favorite, Mega Man. Also, for the first time in the series, you can now play as your Miis with three distinct styles: Brawlers, Swordfighters, and Gunners, each with customizable moves, attributes, and appearances. However, to avoid potential bullying, Mii Fighters can only be used online in matches between friends. Due to the limitations of the 3DS, Characters like Sheik and Zero Suit Samus are now separate characters while the Ice Climbers had to be removed from the game.

There are 34 stages in the game. Most of these stages are based on games from Nintendo handhelds. Not all are available from the beginning. If you press the X button while in Stage Select mode, you can pick an Omega version of any stage. An Omega version of a stage is essentially like turning the stage into a Final Destination-esque stage. This feature can help add to the variety of the stage.

The menus are well-organized and remind me of Brawl and Kirby Air Ride. Solo modes like Classic Mode, All-Star Mode and Training have been relocated to a section called Games & More. That's also where you customize your characters, listen to music, look at trophies, and mess with options.

Now let's talk about the graphics. The graphics are some of the best I've seen on the 3DS. Everything is bright and colorful, and just overall pretty to look at. I may be in the minority here, but I think the 3DS could potentially be a portable GameCube, but again, I'm probably in the minority about this.

But anyway, to make the characters easy to see on a small screen, the fighters have a thick black outline, which changes color in Team Battle. If this bothers you, you have the option to make the outline thinner or turn it off altogether. 

The audio department is no slouch either. A lot of the songs featured are either original pieces for the game, remixes of songs from other franchises, or the original songs from the series they hailed from. And let me tell you, it is awesome! Some of favorite tracks are "You Will Know Our Names" from Xenoblade Chronicles, a remix of the Melee main menu theme, and the Mega Man 2 Medley. Even better is the "Play in Sleep Mode" option, where if enabled, you listen to music while your 3DS is closed.

GAMEPLAY:

If you've played the previous games, you know the deal. Beat up your opponent until they fly off the stage. You can either fight until either the timer runs out or you're the last man standing. But there are also some other modes like Classic Mode, All-Star mode, Training, StreetSmash (requires StreetPass), an Online Mode (which we will get to later) and Stadium Games, like Multi-Man Smash, Target Blast and Home Run Contest. There are also a Challenge Feature, where you can unlock prizes by achieving certain challenges. 

Exclusive to this game is Smash Run, where you navigate through an environment and beat up enemies and collect power-ups to increase your stats within a 5 minute time limit. Then you and three competing opponents will fight in a random match whether it's the traditional Smash fight or a race. I personally don't really care for this mode, because fighting enemies to collect power-ups can feel like a bit of a chore sometimes. But hey, if you already have the game and enjoy Smash Run, then more power to you. I mostly use it to unlock custom moves for characters. That's right, customization isn't just limited to the Mii Fighters, you can also customize the characters' attributes, specials, and powers, like a faster Ganondorf with his Sage Sword. I mostly do this to differentiate the clone characters. But like the Mii Fighters, Custom Movesets cannot be online with strangers and is only allowed with friends. This was done to avoid game-breaking combinations. 

Now let's talk about the Online. It's safe to say that this Online Mode is an improvement over Brawl. There are two modes of play: With Friends and With Anyone. As I mentioned, Mii Fighters and Custom Movesets can't be used on With Anyone mode. Within With Anyone mode there are two modes of online play: For Fun, which enables items and disables Final Destination, and For Glory, which disables items and can only play on Final Destination or Omega Stages. The big difference between the two is that wins and losses are recorded on For Glory mode. Nintendo is also taking measures to prevent griefing by temporarily banning griefing, with the bans getting worse the more they grief. However, if you just want to watch battle, there is a spectator mode where you can watch battles and bet gold. Online's not without it's flaws however. There's still some lag from time to time. Even when I'm doing multiplayer offline via Local Play, there's still some lag, but that usually depends on the stage. Also even with the outlines, there have been times when I couldn't always keep an eye on my fighter. That is especially bad if there's 4 fighters on the screen.

CONTROLS:

The controls are really good. Everything is mostly responsive and that's important. You use the Circle Pad to move, the B button is your special attack button, A is your tilt/smash button, X and Y (as well as hitting up on the Circle Pad) are your jump buttons, L is to grab, R is your Shield, and the d-pad is your taunt buttons. If you don't like that configuration, you can change it in the Options menu. That being said, the controls are not perfect. The Circle Pad does a decent job but it's not the most accurate. There have been times when I was falling off the stage and I wanted to use my up-special to recover but I ended up using my side-special instead or ended up in a position where I couldn't save myself. Although you can reconfigure buttons, you can't reconfigure how you move.

FINAL VERDICT:

Overall, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS is an impressive handheld debut. It's not without its flaws but those don't really affect the game too much. Even with the problems I mentioned, it's still fun to play, especially if you have friends to play with.

And so, I give Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS a 9/10. Awesome.

With that said, I'm Tyler and thanks for reading my review.