Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U Release Date And More Revealed
Nintendo just held a Nintendo Direct on the upcoming Super Smash Bros. game for 3DS and Wii U, and boy, did they really spill the beans. Director Masahiro Sakurai light-heartedly hosted a 40 minute presentation that led off with the long-anticipated release date for the two games. While exact dates were not given, we finally know that the 3DS version would release in Summer 2014, while the Wii U version won’t be out until Winter 2014. Still, that’s earlier than I expected it to be finished, so that’s a good sign.
But what about those two different versions? As previously explained, each game gets many exclusive stages not shared with the other game, based on either games that have appeared on handheld (in the 3DS version) or games that have appeared on home consoles (in the Wii U version). Some stages will be shared, but they’ll mostly be exclusive. (And almost every stage now has a simple, flat, “Final Destination” version to appease the competitive players who refuse to play on any stage other than Final Destination.) More interesting from a technical stand-point is that not only will the Wii U version run at 60fps (minus some additional animations for assisting elements), but so will the 3DS, even in 3D. That’s an impressive feat for such a modestly-powered handheld. And finally, the 3DS version will have a new mode called Smash Run, where players roam a giant dungeon-maze to earn power-ups, then fight each other in a powered-up battle after time runs out.
Sakurai outlined some more features of the improved online mode. There are now two different matchmaking options. “For Fun” features all items and all stages, while “For Glory” is just the boring no-items, Final Destination mode preferred by most pro players. Of course, you can play with whatever customized rules with your friends. I can understand that they probably don’t want to splinter the community by offering too many options, resulting in only certain rulesets being played by the hosts, but I would have liked to see some more robust options. Still, it’ll probably get the job done. Of note is that certain poor behavior can result in a temporary ban from play.
The rest of the video was spent detailing minutia related to items and characters, especially the newer characters. (Mega Man’s Final Smash move is a loving team-up of himself, Mega Man X, Mega Man Volnutt, MegaMan.EXE, and Star Force Mega Man.) Characters who switched to another character mid-game are now separated: Zelda can no longer transform into Shiek and back, and Samus no longer turns into Zero Suit Samus (or vice versa) when using her Final Smash. That led into the surprise of a new character: Charizard, separated from taking turns with Squirtle and Ivysaur as one of the Pokemon Trainer’s three pokemon. (It’s not yet clear if Squirtle and Ivysaur will return as separate characters.) Then, another playable pokemon was revealed, this time entirely new: Greninja, the final evolution of the starting water pokemon from Pokemon X&Y.
Hopefully that overview helps sum up the major parts of the presentation. But the best way to see everything, including Sakurai’s corny jokes, is to watch the full video. This doesn’t offer as much of a graphical leap as the last game, but it’s looking to be very fun. I would be concerned about just how many elements are being shown off before the release, but the same was done with the last two games, and they still had plenty of surprises for players to find.
Source: YouTube