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| Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (2014) |
Right off the bat, the best thing about this game is the roster. Even before DLC, this roster is fantastic. All of the returning characters feel like they have a good reason to be there, and the majority of them have been given enough tweaks to make them feel revamped from the previous game, but not so many that they feel completely different to how they do in previous games. In terms of the newcomers, this feels like the strongest batch yet. There's a solid balance of characters that feel like they should be there (such as Greninja, Palutena and Little Mac), characters that are there specifically for fan service (such as Mega Man, Rosalina and Pac-Man) and characters that are bizarre and really shouldn't fit but somehow do (like Villager, Wii Fit Trainer and Duck Hunt Duo). The DLC fighters are also all worthy inclusions, with returning favourites Mewtwo, Lucas and Roy, and 3rd-party characters Ryu, Cloud and Bayonetta. Cloud specifically is a huge deal, and I remember being stunned for an hour after seeing that announced. Speaking of which, this isn't necessarily related to the game, but I just love the way they chose to announce newcomers in this game, with each one getting their own special CGI trailer. These were always so hype, and I'm glad they returned for the Ultimate reveals.
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| Battlefield |
The gameplay for the core Smash battles feels like the most refined in the series, and this holds true for the Wii U version, too. It's faster than Brawl, but not nearly as quick as Melee, and it's a good balance between the two, especially for handheld play. This is the perfect game speed for translating Smash to a smaller screen, which is true for the stages as well. There's nothing to the scale of Temple or New Pork City, but there's still a decent amount of variety on display here. There are even a few stages that are among my favourites in the entire series, like Rainbow Road, Mute City SNES and Arena Ferox. Vertical scrolling stages have been abandoned, which is a good thing, since they were consistently the worst stages ever. The art direction is also an upgrade. They went for a more cartoony style, which just works so much better for Smash. The characters that previously benefitted from the more realistic style (mainly the Fire Emblem characters) have adopted a more 'anime' style, and it works a lot better. The colours just pop a lot more in this game, and they've even taken the art style in a different direction from the Wii U version. The characters all have distinct black lines around them, helping them to stand out against the backdrops, and it just looks great. I'm glad this didn't translate to the Wii U version, but for handheld, it works out great.
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| Rainbow Road |
Speaking of the 3DS, one of the great things about this game is the way they were able to transfer Smash over to a handheld system without compromising too much of what makes Smash Bros. Smash Bros. Granted, there were a few sacrifices here and there, the Ice Climbers sadly had to be abandoned since they didn't work on the system, but overall it works really well. The game runs at a solid 60 frames-per-second, or at least the player characters do. Some background elements or non-playable characters run at 30, which does keep the game running smooth, but overall the developers did an amazing job of making sure the game runs smoothly 100% of the time. Using the 3DS system as a Smash Bros. controller takes a bit of getting used to, but it's far from unplayable. In fact, once I'd gotten accustomed to the control scheme (made easier by the fact that you can customise your control layout) I really liked it, and I found myself on many an occasion using the 3DS as a controller in the Wii U version of the game, which is a thing you can do and it blows my mind that that's a thing.
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| Gerudo Valley |
Sadly, where the core gameplay doesn't quite suffer from the port across to a handheld system, the amount of content on offer is somewhat lacking. There's not that much music, at least when compared to Brawl, and especially when compared to Brawl there are a lot of modes that were dropped without any replacements. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does make it feel like half a game. Classic Mode is stripped back a little, there's no Stage Builder, no Break the Targets mode, there's just less game here. There's an exclusive mode called Smash Run, which is fun once you learn how it works, but it's not much fun to play over and over again with every character, like the game asks you to do. It takes a long time to play with barely any variation and not a lot of rewards on offer. I think the thing that I'm the most disappointed about is the number of unlockables in general. This is the Smash game you'll be playing the most by yourself, especially when compared to the other instalments, so it makes sense to offer a lot of unlockable content to work away at. There are 10 (out of 50+) unlockable characters, and even less stages to unlock. This never made sense to me. Go all or nothing. Unlocking the entire roster, especially one this big, should feel like I've gone on a truly immense journey, and I should feel a true sense of accomplishment by the end. Unlocking the full roster in this game didn't make me feel any sense of pride, accomplishment, or anything. It just felt like I finished the game's job for it, which is a little wrong.
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| Zero Suit Samus vs Master Core |
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (2014) is definitely a stripped-back title, but one I'm glad exists. The core gameplay and roster is enough for me to really enjoy it, even if the single-player content is a little lacking. 8.5/10.
Next, it's Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
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