Super Smash Bros 3DS

Let the smashing begin…

So I have been a huge fan of the Smash Brothers series ever since the days of melee, still my all time favourite Gamecube game. When I heard that the new Smash Bros was coming to the 3ds I knew it would be a hit as having portable smash is great! However does this entry live up to the others in it’s series? Let’s find out!

If you don’t know what the Smash Bros series is, basically you get a whole bunch of Nintendo characters or characters that have been on a Nintendo console, put them in an arena and let them duke it out to become the ultimate smasher! There’s no story for it, no context, just see who would win in a fight between Mario and Sonic! Sadly the ‘story mode’ from brawl is no longer present, instead returning to the old classic mode instead. The selection of characters this time around is very intriguing as not only are new Nintendo characters added like Bowser Jr and Greninja, but also strangely characters that are pushing the limit for calling this a Nintendo game such as Megaman and even Pac-Man! This iteration of Smash introduces the largest amount of characters in a single game, and the best thing about this is that there are only a few clone characters (characters that have the exact same moves as another character). This means that most of the characters in the game are unique and you can get to finding out what your favourite is. (P.S, Mine is Little Mac).

These are just a few of the characters you can play as!

The game itself looks rather good for a 3DS title. The small screen is obviously going to be a problem, especially for such a hectic game like Smash Bros, however the design decision to0 give the characters very obvious outlines to help distinguish them from the background is very much appreciated and helps to alleviate the chaos somewhat. The choices of stages are unique in that many of the stages are actually based on games specifically from the handheld Nintendo consoles such as a Nintendogs stage and a Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks stage. Another cool feature is the addition of the Omega stages, which are version of each stage that consist of only a single platform, meaning that if you want to avoid all the hazards and platforms of the stage and just want a simple arena to duke it out in then you are in luck! Finally the sound design is very well done, containing many new tracks from all sorts of games and making each character sound as good as they can be. Unfortunately I do miss the epic orchestrated pieces that Brawl contained however the sheer amount of songs available in this version can make up for losing some of the epic songs.

The gameplay of Smash is a bit different to normal fighters. Instead of aiming to reduce a health bar to zero you instead must rack up damage on your opponent based on a percentage counter. The aim of this is to make the enemy more susceptible to being knocked off the stage itself, if you get knocked off the stage then you lose. This means that a player with a high percentage of damage can still do serious damage if he is skilled enough to dodge attacks and keep offensive pressure up. This core gameplay is maintained well in this version and many people believe it is an improvement on Brawl’s mechanics. There are a few extra modes added this time around, the most obvious of which is the new Smash Run mode. Basically you are tasked with traveling around a huge map and defeating various enemies to gain stat boosts on things such as attack and speed. Once the timer runs out and you have collected your boosts you then are taken to a final battle with other computer controlled enemies to either do a normal fight or do things such as a race. This interesting mode helps to bring in some of the story mode elements missing from the game and is a fun new addition however unfortunately there is only one map, I would have wanted to see a few different kinds to at least change the formula a bit and make it feel less repetitive. Finally there is also the slew of old modes such as classic mode, all star mode, home run mode etc. These all return and help to give the game some more play-time as you try to beat high scores, get better rewards, and of course collect trophies which are characters and items from different games in trophy form, with some descriptions for each of them. The gameplay of Smash is always addicting and you will often find yourself just spending hours fighting just for the fun of it, even if it becomes repetitive.

The Wii Fit trainer and the Animal Crossing Villager just hanging out…

The game does have flaws however. As mentioned repetition is probably the biggest problem with this game as while there are plenty of modes a lot of them don’t have the same kind of depth and fun as the main smash does and thus you will think of them as simple mini-games rather than full blown gamemodes. This is also compounded by the fact that some of the characters, while interesting additions, are not that fun to play as while brawling. This usually means you will stick to your favourite and eventually just get bored of the constant fights with the same characters. Finally the 3D aspects for this game are quite frankly, dreadful. There is so much going on and the gameplay is so fast paced that having the 3D on will just try to encourage you to focus your eyes on a single point, which won’t work and you will just end up hurting your eyes if you try to do so, especially considering the small screen size. I have kept the 3D off for most of my time playing the game, and I would encourage you to do so too.

All in all then the best way to put this is that it’s ‘Just another smash bros’. If you love the series then you will love this one, but if you don’t love the series then this one will not change your mind. It’s a good step forward for the series and I am expecting the WiiU version of this game to be even better. I guess there is only one way to find out, FIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!