Dr. James Rustles
Daxinator
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2008
- Messages
- 4,019
First thing’s first, I want to say that playing Super Smash Bros. hasn’t been without disappointment over the years. As a child, I foolishly believed in all the crazy unlockable characters that didn’t appear in the first game, and I thought all the clones in Melee were a deliberate waste of effort (it wasn’t until much later I found out why they were clones to begin with.) When I first played Brawl, I instinctively knew something was wrong even though I wasn’t a competitive player in any way. The game wasn’t very fast, landing most of the aerials made the gameplay feel sticky, and it was really hard to keep consecutive hits on the other player. The rest of the game felt a little overhyped, especially the story mode.
That being said, I feel like there’s a lot of changes going on that are taking the series in a good direction.
#1 - The development team isn’t focusing on things that don’t matter
Most of you are probably aware that cutscenes and a story mode are no longer in the game. Admittedly, the reason given was dumb, but at the end of the day that isn’t bad news - they can now focus their resources on gameplay instead of spending their time at the drawing board trying to top the cutscenes in Subspace Emissary. For the vast majority of us, the gameplay is what we stayed for anyway. Besides, the cutscenes in Smash Bros. aren’t storycrafting masterpieces - they don’t really touch us on any level except for being visually impressive, and that’s only in passing.
#2 Great diversity of new characters
The three new characters unveiled at E3 were a near perfect trifecta of new characters. We finally have a character most of us have always wanted (Mega Man) as well as a new character that is doing things we have never seen before (Villager) and another character that came completely out of left field and swept us off our roster guessing feet (Wii Fit Trainer.) They’re all amazing in their own way and they all set the bar for what’s to come.
#3 - The core gameplay looks like it’s improving little by little
Sure, the game is no Melee - but the game is still looking like it could hold its own. The gameplay seems faster overall and there are a lot of hints that Sakurai is going to try new things with old characters, like Bowser’s new aggro style and Pit’s Raptor Boost 2.0 and huge shields. He’s even outright suggested that Peach, who looks very much the same as she always has, might be getting a makeover! Finally, Sakurai is bringing in more people for balancing the game. He’s previously admitted that Brawl had issues with character balance because they had been neglectful. So while the game may not be exactly like Melee with its hitstun and ATs, I’m confident that we’re going to have a game with more balanced tournament-viable variety than ever before. And there’s no more tripping!
#4 - Nintendo is slowly being dragged into the 21st century
I don’t think Nintendo is going to risk screwing up the chance to make use of online services. The Wii U needs sales and they’re likely going to help bring the Wii U’s connectivity prowess up to speed with modern consoles and PC gaming. They probably won’t reach current gen levels, but we can at least expect a much better online experience with the new Super Smash Bros. in terms of connection strength and game options. Sakurai has even hinted we might get DLC, so we can keep getting our official Smash fill without worrying about the next title release for any kind of update.
I apologize for all of the positivity, but I felt the need to express my thoughts, as I really do hope that the next Smash Bros. doesn’t proves me wrong. So far it’s looking like it is going to be an amazing entry in the series.
Maybe.
Stop fretting, people.
That being said, I feel like there’s a lot of changes going on that are taking the series in a good direction.
#1 - The development team isn’t focusing on things that don’t matter
Most of you are probably aware that cutscenes and a story mode are no longer in the game. Admittedly, the reason given was dumb, but at the end of the day that isn’t bad news - they can now focus their resources on gameplay instead of spending their time at the drawing board trying to top the cutscenes in Subspace Emissary. For the vast majority of us, the gameplay is what we stayed for anyway. Besides, the cutscenes in Smash Bros. aren’t storycrafting masterpieces - they don’t really touch us on any level except for being visually impressive, and that’s only in passing.
#2 Great diversity of new characters
The three new characters unveiled at E3 were a near perfect trifecta of new characters. We finally have a character most of us have always wanted (Mega Man) as well as a new character that is doing things we have never seen before (Villager) and another character that came completely out of left field and swept us off our roster guessing feet (Wii Fit Trainer.) They’re all amazing in their own way and they all set the bar for what’s to come.
#3 - The core gameplay looks like it’s improving little by little
Sure, the game is no Melee - but the game is still looking like it could hold its own. The gameplay seems faster overall and there are a lot of hints that Sakurai is going to try new things with old characters, like Bowser’s new aggro style and Pit’s Raptor Boost 2.0 and huge shields. He’s even outright suggested that Peach, who looks very much the same as she always has, might be getting a makeover! Finally, Sakurai is bringing in more people for balancing the game. He’s previously admitted that Brawl had issues with character balance because they had been neglectful. So while the game may not be exactly like Melee with its hitstun and ATs, I’m confident that we’re going to have a game with more balanced tournament-viable variety than ever before. And there’s no more tripping!
#4 - Nintendo is slowly being dragged into the 21st century
I don’t think Nintendo is going to risk screwing up the chance to make use of online services. The Wii U needs sales and they’re likely going to help bring the Wii U’s connectivity prowess up to speed with modern consoles and PC gaming. They probably won’t reach current gen levels, but we can at least expect a much better online experience with the new Super Smash Bros. in terms of connection strength and game options. Sakurai has even hinted we might get DLC, so we can keep getting our official Smash fill without worrying about the next title release for any kind of update.
I apologize for all of the positivity, but I felt the need to express my thoughts, as I really do hope that the next Smash Bros. doesn’t proves me wrong. So far it’s looking like it is going to be an amazing entry in the series.
Maybe.
Stop fretting, people.
