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| Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014) |
Okay, to get the obvious out of the way, there's no point in discussing the roster or the gameplay here, since it's all basically the same as it was in the 3DS version. Talking about the graphics... hoo boy, Smash has never looked better. HD suits Smash well, and the added colours make the characters just stand out so well. The characters themselves all have far more personality than they had in previous instalments. Characters like Duck Hunt Duo and King Dedede especially can be downright hilarious in the facial expressions. Something I didn't mention about the 3DS version that holds true here is the new visual effect that occurs when someone gets KO'ed. On the finishing blow, big red and black lines appear around the fighters, sort of resembling how one would illustrate a mighty blow in a comic book. It's a great effect, and it's the small stuff like this that really stands out. As with pretty much anything, it's always the little, irrelevant stuff that is the true indicator of how much effort you put into something, and the same is true in Smash Bros.
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| Battlefield |
The stage roster is far greater than it was in any Smash game before. This game, once again, has some of my favourite stages ever, such as Duck Hunt, Orbital Gate Assault and Kalos Pokemon League, with very few stages I downright hate. Pac-Land gets close, but not enough for me to turn the game off if it comes up in the random stage select. As with the previous games, each stage truly feels faithful to the game it's based off, and the new HD graphics certainly help with that. There are even some larger stages, and I do mean LARGER stages, such as The Great Cave Offensive and Palutena's Temple. While these stages can make regular fights drag on a bit, there is a reason for their inclusion. This game is the first in the series to support 8 players in the one match. There are certain stages this is restricted from, but this seems to be more of an aesthetic concern than a size thing. Battlefield is one of the smaller stages, yet 8 players are allowed on it no problem, but Orbital Gate Assault, which really feels like it should be compatible, isn't, which is probably because of all the stuff happening in the background. I doubt the Wii U could handle it. Anyway, 8-player mode is great, and on the smaller stages it can become difficult to track your character, but it shines in medium-to-large stages.
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| Duck Hunt |
There are more unlockable collectibles than ever before. I specify 'collectibles' since there are fewer unlockable characters and stages here than there were in the 3DS version, and you know how I feel about that. I knocked out all the unlockable characters in a couple of hours, that shouldn't be a thing. Anyway, there are hundreds of trophies to collect, all of which look fantastic, as well as the music. There are about 480 music tracks in this game, and the soundtrack is quickly becoming my favourite thing about the Smash Bros. series. Each track is quality, and choosing the MyMusic settings is becoming more and more difficult with each instalment. The Challenge Board, which returns from Brawl and 3DS, sets out specific tasks to unlock things, and Challenges are another great inclusion from Brawl. While Melee never really told you how to unlock anything, Challenges set it out in a way where it doesn't outright tell you everything from the beginning, but it gives you enough to give you a starting point, which I love. These aren't the only unlockables, however, as each character now has 2 additional moves for each special attack command, and you can customise your fighters this way. This would have been a cool idea, especially adding in the new Equipment functionality. However, since there's no easy way to unlock custom special moves, and it's very easy to just keep unlocking the same move multiple times, it never felt worth it to put the time in and get them all, making the entire feature a little unnecessary.
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| Orbital Gate Assault |
It doesn't help that the single-player modes are at their worst here. It's clear all of the effort went into the core gameplay, as the single-player modes suffer because of it. Classic Mode is unrecognisable, and now features you moving a token across a stone to select the fight to join, all of which are random 2-8 player battles on random stages, with additional elements like Metal battles or Giant battles or Horde battles rarely showing up to spice up the gameplay. It's the most repetitive Classic Mode by far, and I never felt encouraged to go through it with every character to unlock their trophies. Target Blast is the same, with the maps never changing for the fighters, meaning the only incentive to play it with everyone is to get a new high score with each fighter, which is something that wears thin very quickly. Even the new trophy collecting minigame is bland and repetitive. The mode that replaces Smash Run in this game is Smash Tour, a Mario Party style game where you move around a board collecting fighters and raising your stats before a final battle at the end. The mode takes roughly 15-30 minutes and it's not fun. Incredibly repetitive, even. Which is the key word here. Going through and unlocking every last thing in a game like Smash Bros. is always going to be repetitive, but the game should try to make it seem like it's not. Brawl disguised it fine. This game does not. It makes up for it, however, by being the most fun Smash game to play for its core multiplayer gameplay. I have so many fond memories of battles with my friends in this game, it's probably the Smash game I've put the most time into over the years. It's got the best multiplayer content, but some of the worst single-player content.
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| Mewtwo in Master Fortress |
In the end, I'd prefer they get the key multiplayer gameplay right, which is why Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014) still shines as a Smash game. With Ultimate literally right around the corner, I don't see myself going back to this game anytime soon, but it was fun while it lasted. 8.5/10.
Next... the big one. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This one might take me a while to get done.
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