Super Smash Bros Nintendo Direct

So with Sakurai‘s Smash Direct over, we have a few new things to chew on, at least until E3 rolls around.

This Nintendo Direct is much like the one you saw of The Wonderful 101, instead of Iwata we have Masahiro Sakurai taking the reigns. One of the most important aspects of this Direct would be the release date announcement, or at least the release window. The 3DS version of Super Smash Brothers will come out this summer, while the Wii U version is being released later this winter. This is obviously due to development being somewhat stalled on Wii U, as it’s a bigger game than the 3DS version. Sakurai touches up on the finer aspects of this particular Smash game, such as the mechanics of characters both new and old.

We have some final smashes revealed, such as Rosalina‘s power star that fires in all directions, Kirby‘s Ultra Sword, and Pit’s three sacred treasures. As I’ve said before, it was rather strange that Pit‘s final smash wasn’t shown from the very beginning, coupled with that image floating around the internet showing Palutena. It gets even stranger when you see Sakurai teasing us with what appears to be a Palutena trophy, only to turn out to be Pseudo-Palutena. It’s almost as if Sakurai is hinting at her appearance in Smash, only to keep it a secret until we unlock her. Yoshi is back, only this time his posture is upright, as opposed to his more dinosaur like stance in the older Smash Bros games. He also has a lighter shade of green on him than before.

Yellow Devil is confirmed to be a stage hazard in the Megaman level. What’s particularly neat about him is that you can actually interact with YD. You can kill him by attacking the eye, causing an explosion that will hurt other players. Speaking of Megaman, Elecman is confirmed as an assist trophy. You can now customize character moves, picking from a set of different abilities that can be employed. This is only available to use with friends online, or offline; worldwide online does not support this feature. On the topic of online, this feature in Smash has been expanded upon. You will no longer be facing randoms; your name as well as theirs will be visible, including a tally of how many wins and losses you have accumulated.

Also, some good news for both casual and competitive players alike, there will be two different moves for them to pick from, “for glory” mode and “for fun” mode. For glory is designated for competitive players who want a more serious game; there are no items, and stages resembling final destination will be the only ones playable. In “for fun” mode, stage selection is random, and all items are on. Another significant change online has undergone is the heavy moderation that will be implemented. Players that gang up on others too much will be penalized, those that just drop in and drop out often will also be under scrutiny, and people just goofing off while not fighting ever get consequences. Worldwide is indeed more strict than it used to be, perhaps in response to complaints from the community regarding some shenanigans which eventuated in Brawl’s online. It’s a double edged sword, as we’ll all indeed be under the radar from now on.

Other cool new additions include a 3DS exclusive mode called Smash Run which is essentially Subspace Emissary compartmentalized, changes like Zero Suit Samus being her very own character, and two new characters added to the roster. Charizard and Greninja are going to be joining Smash this time around, hinting towards the possibility of Pokemon Trainer being taken out. Sakurai also points out that both versions of the game will run at 60 frames per second. If you’ve read some of my earlier articles, you probably remember the one about mother brain, it’s confirmed that she is indeed not a boss but an assist trophy. Ridley is also finally confirmed as a non-playable character, with his shadow appearing in Pyrosphere as Sakurai talks about bosses being assist trophies. So for those of you holding out for Ridley as a playable character, this pretty much solidifies it, he’s not going to make it.

Little Mac in particular, is a rather interesting character. Sakurai goes a bit more into detail about him, noting that his recovery and air game are rather bad. However, Little Mac’s ground game appears to be very fast and furious, and his power meter is a mechanic to be reckoned with. He can build it up by connecting attacks and getting hit; once its full, he can unleash an attack that instantly KOs opponents. That’s quite the tradeoff for the other abilities that he seems to lack in. Overall he looks like an interesting character to use, and I can’t wait to get my hands on him. Keep an eye out for more Super Smash Brothers news as E3 draws ever closer.