Demo impressions to C&P into main Impressions thread

[Vortok]

Point of this thread: I have to use a PS3 for web access for the next few days, and the character limit per post (PS3 limit, not smashboards) is enough for about 2 paragraphs. Thus, I'm posting in this thread for it to be C&P'd into the main Impressions thread when I'm done.

kilroy offered to copy 'n paste it (along with others) so I'll be PMing him when I'm done (so don't get antsy and C&P individual posts into the other thread, k?). So this thread is basically a giant clipboard ^_^

Anyways, time to start. I'll be starting with characters.

 

[F@lc0-san]

Thanks Vortok.

 

[Mikagami]

Thank you!

 

[kilroy]

*puts on stenographer glasses*

 

[Vortok]

Mario
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The majority of Mario's moves have stayed the same, near as I can tell. For those still in the dark, his dair is in fact the Mario Tornado. There was some question about mashing the button or holding it. I tried both, but neither did anything such as making him hover/go up/change his trajectory. Down B in midair just starts charging FLUDD. The knockback, when I hit with it (usually the far part, didn't hit someone close to me with it) was pretty minimal. So you won't be blasting people across the level with it, near as I can tell. I couldn't figure out how to charge it while shielding. I'm almost certain his fair is two hits, like we saw in the Nintendo World Video. He still has all his Melee costumes, that I could see. Overall, I'd say he's gotten an upgrade vs. Melee.

 

[Vortok]

*is totally not doing this to inflate post count*

Diddy Kong
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Up B = Barrel recovery, of course. It is chargeable in midair. Down B throws bananas. Dunno if you can aim it, but when I tried it he just kinda tossed them wherever (such as up and behind himself while falling midair). Neutral B is, of course, the Peanut Gun which is chargeable. I may've been one an angle or something (which in and of itself would be weird for it to make a difference) but he seemed to shoot kinda high. Definately not horizontal like, say, Fox's lasers. Side B is kinda a leaping grab. First off, what we thought was his nair in videos is not. It cancels into that with B pressed again. I landed on Bowser with it, but he just kinda sat there for a bit and then fell off, so apparently you have to press something after that (too busy trying other characters to play Diddy again to learn more). His nair is a mid-air cartwheel, more or less. His fair is basically Marios bair. -- lol, this is the limit for the PS3

 

[Vortok]

Ike
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He hits like a friggin' semi truck. As most know, Up B is basically Kirby Cutter. Neutral B is the charge up. Seems it can charge really long (Roy long). He stabs the sword into the ground, rather than slamming it like Marth/Roy. Side B is a chargeable dashing slash. Seems to have decent power, but definately less than neutral B. Down B is counter. Seems to have Marth's knockback length. Saw him counter out of the middle of Pit's side B combo. D Smash feels kinda like M/R's, but hits higher above the ground as well. F smash is basically an overhead blow. I remember up tilt is different, but don't remember exact animation. Dair and fair have decent power to them. Back throw is like Sheik/Ganon, with the Leg to kick them. In sudden death, it KO'd Zero Suit Samus (doesn't say much, lol).

 

[Vortok]

Pit
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Neutral B arrows are curvable more than once (curved it twice on Eldin Bridge at people on the other side, shooting across the gap - wasn't right at the edge), and they travel pretty fast. Up B = free flight (not jumps, just hold a direction to move there). Side B is a forward dash with him spinning his weapon to combo with it. Seems to act slightly different (less movement, I think) in the air, but I didn't see it much in midair. Down B has him crouch slightly and pull out a shield that nullified whatever attack I saw hit it. Dunno it's true usefulness. Up smash = slightly slower version of Link's Up smash (triple slice). Don't remember too many more specifics, though he felt pretty balanced overall. Various costumes include black, blue, green, red, and gold with matching wing colors.

 

[Vortok]

Metaknight
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He's a friggin' beast, but he didn't seem overpowered. Neutral B tornado combos for great damage. You can tap B (dunno about hold) to move around and even gain height, though I was in "disabled" state after while I dropped two feet back to the platform. It's quite manueverable. Down B makes him vanish for a half second and then reappear (going down to the stage if midair, moreso than just fall momentum). Didn't hit anyone with it. Side B is that sword torpedo combo of doom. Can be curved up or down (if you start in midair). Good damage. Up B moves him up about Luigi Up B distance, and then he does a loop into a glide. Normal A moves are a mix of combo and strong hits (F smash knocks people pretty far). Holding neutral A makes him slash like crazy, has good priority, and hits in front and behind. It actually interrupted me when I tried to use Link's F smash on the back of a Metaknight doing the hold neutral A.

 

[Vortok]

Fox
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He didn't seem to be nerfed too badly. Most of what I know has been posted by others, so I'll make this a bit more general. Holding A = rapid Jab. Tapping A = rapid kick. So there's a difference. Someone asked if you could jump out of his side B - answer is no. Near as I could tell, you're in the disabled state after most characters major recovery moves (other than Sonic).

I'd also like to make a decent point regarding his shine. When I tried to jump cancel, it wouldn't work right away and had a delay before you could jump, like I posted earlier. Others at E for All discovered that you can jump-cancel if you hold B down. Stuff like that bodes well for those wanting more "skill" and deeper combat. If it's like this for one move (where a casual player would probably just use it on the ground, someone a bit more savvy would know to use it midair, and even more advanced players would know to hold B to jump cancel), what are the chances that the rest of the game will have similar nuances?

 

[Vortok]

Sonic
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His dash is insanely fast. Probably the fastest dash speed Smash has seen so far. Neutral B is a homing spin dash. It'll rise into the air as you charge it, and then home in on someone (or just go a little bit forward). Up B is the super spring board. You can attack (normal or special) after it. You cannot jump after it. Down special in midair is the diagonal "falcon" kick. I didn't remember until too late to test if it gives you your jump back. Down special on the ground is a chargeable spin dash that you charge by pressing the special button a couple of times. It can change directions, and keeps going after you hit someone. Side B I didn't get the hang of, so I only did weak hits with it. Aerials are a mix of single hits and combo hits (like a lot of aerials combo hit in SSB64). D smash is a spin dash back and forth to either side. Alt costumes are different colored wrist bands. Black wrist bands just = dark blue Sonic, not black/shadow.

 

[Vortok]

Peach
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Peach felt a little different, and a little nerfed, but still a good character overall. Her nair, fair, and bair still performed well, and the bair might even have increased power/knockback. Turnips are still very useful. Neutral B/Toad -seemed- to come out faster than it did in Melee. Didn't hit anyone with it. She still has her Daisy outfit, though it's not quite as obvious during play (very obvious at character select screen). Forgot the others, though I wanna say I saw a variation of the white/wedding dress.

Pikachu
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Spent most the match I played as him messing with Airdodge mechanics and crawling (think you can crawl backwards). His moves in general are the same. Only has four costumes again. Normal, trainer hat, green headband, and blue Pichu goggles.

 

[Sonic The Hedgedawg]

green headband

WHAT!?!?! WHAT ABOUT JIGGLYPUFF!!!! OH NO!!!!! MY MAIN!!!

 

[Vortok]

Bowser
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Yes, the gold and black Bowser looks utterly pimp (it also caused me to forget his other colors). Near as I could tell, practically all of his A moves are the same attack (can't say about strengh dif... not exactly a Melee Bowser expert). His fair has a visible "slash" effect in front of it, and as reported his side B looks pretty sweet, and it's intelligent slightly as I did it facing the edge and he jumped back towards the level (instead of doing a powerbomb suicide). I didn't hit anyone with the flame breath, unfortunately. His down B seems to have a radial effect, as I landed on one of the side platforms on Battlefield, and a character standing below the platform got hit and knocked off the stage. He seems to have better range overall, and just feels "larger" as a character. I think I tested all his ground normal attacks, and the animations were roughly the same. Definately feels more playable than he did in Melee.

 

[Vortok]

Link
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Like Gold 'n Black Bowser, Dark Link looks like teh leet pwnzorz. Overall, Link isn't changed too much. His Up B is chargeable on the ground, but not in the Air. I think it may've lost some of it's initial KO power (much like normal smashes vs. chargeable smashes), but it still has pretty decent knockback. Seems more focused on the initial hit, so may be even easier to punish this time around. Boomerang is a solid hit with mild knockback if it hits directly. Didn't notice much from the whirlwind. Bombs and arrows are there, but I didn't use them very much (as half of the two matches I played as him was testing L cancel). His forward smash swipes a larger area in front of him, instead of the narrower slices he did in Melee.

 

[Vortok]

Donkey Kong
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Like Bowser, he feels "larger" overall and looked like he had slightly better range. Down B still does nothing midair. If doesn't combo on the ground unless it has a weird sweetspot (pretty sure the Metaknight we saw combo'd in a vid was crouch cancelling) Side B looks to act the same in midair, as far as stopping/slowing your movement. F-throw will stick up a character so that you can carry them with you. Seemed improved overall.

Yoshi
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Unless you count down B (or there's some special way, akin to Fox's shine), Yoshi cannot double jump cancel anymore. The boost on his Up B eggthrow is indeed small (though there's vid that shows a Yoshi doing three in one jump from the ground) but it remains to be seen how much it'll help with recovery. Fair and dair look the same.

Spent most of match with his Final Smash (got two, as I was playing vs. CPU), so not much more on his attacks. Speaking of which, Final Smashes are next.

 

[Vortok]

Ok I lied, forgot about Samus somehow.

Samus
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If you've watched the Gamespot video, you know most of what there is to know about the basics of Samus. I actually didn't see/play too much if Samus. D-smash still has excellent power.

Zero Suit Samus
-------------------

Saw even less of her, though I did see an alt color with what looked like a black (instead of blue) suit. Also has great range with her whip.

Think I missed someone, oh well.

 

[Vortok]

Final Smashes

Some (Pit, at the very least) if not all characters are invulernable during their Final Smash.

ZSS, Peach, Link, Mario - Didn't witness their FS (saw first part of Mario's at the end of a match) so can't comment.

Ike - Close range. If it hits, he and his victim basically go above the center of the stage and Ike goes all omnislash. Looks awesome.

Meta - Close range. Single strong hit. It is NOT a one-hit KO as I saw someone survive. Very strong, though.

Pit - Little punks he summons are annoying and came at you kinda fast. Doesn't last long, but has the potential to do some real harm.

Sonic - The knockback isn't nearly as insane as it first looked in the videos, but it's still decently powerful. Hard to control from what I saw (didn't use it myself).

Pika - Does good damage. Insanely hard to control as even a twitch'll send him half a stage length's away.

Fox - It can hover above the abyss, so there won't be driving off and suiciding that easily. Cannon is good damage.

 

[Vortok]

Bowser - Quite powerful, actually. It's almost impossible to stun him out of a move. At most, you can slow him down. Sounds cliche, but it's true. Watched him do a Fsmash on two characters, while another was beating on him from behind. The fsmash animation slowed/paused midway as he got hit, but it went all the way through (and owned those that it hit).

Yoshi - The flying felt sluggish, but prolly because I'm not used to it. I was only able to shoot left and right. Hits did around 18% or so. And no, for Super Mario World theorists, I couldn't find any type of increased ground pound.

Diddy - I accidentally found a good part of his Final Smash. Had trouble controlling (going up) with it, and the hits didn't seem to do that much damage. Actually coming in contact with characters, though (he IS wearing rockets) did considerable damage and knockback (unsure, might've KO'd someone that was below 80% from running into them).

 

[Vortok]

DK - Doesn't seem to be able to move, and has limited range from what I could see. It's a rythmic button pressing based FS, though. No idea if it just increases the power of each hit, or if it'll increase the power/range/something else of the FS the more times you get the timing right. Can't write off this as sucky quite yet.

Samus - It's **** powerful. 'Nuff said.


Also, on Final Smashes. You can still move around a bit (I believe in slow-mo as it's hard to tell when it's offscreen) while a Final Smash is starting, so you do have a brief chance to get the hell outta the way.

I've seen some characters (Sonic, at the very least) activate a FS in midair. Not 100% sure but I might've seen someone else activate it midair as well.

 

[Vortok]

Stages
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Not a ton here, as I focused more on the characters.

Norfair - Lava flow, near as I can remember, covers three of the five platforms (whether it's from the side or bottom). I remember spawning inside the lava flow (was smart enough to wait for it to go away). It's a tad slower, so it's not quite as "omg where'd that lava come from" that Brinstar sometimes pulled on us in the past.

Delfino - Didn't play it much, but it was very enjoyable with how often it changed. The section with the water isn't death pits. When I was Fox, I basically floated in the water and was able to jump back up to the stage.

Skyworld - Stage goes between extra solid (non-passthroughable floors) to clouds that are almost too easy to pass through. Makes for interesting matches.

 

[Vortok]

Items
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Assist Trophies

Knuckle Joe - This guys *****. He beat the hell outta me as Pit for awhile, before I managed to escape. But then he found me again, pummeled me some more, and then KO'd me.

Little Mac - Stays out for quite awhile, though he didn't have anyone to attack for part of it (didn't charge off the side of the stage right away, though).

Metroid - Latches onto you and does damage. You can shake loose, like you can shake loose of a grab... but it'll just come after you again a few seconds later. Just hope that it's 4-man and there's other targets nearby. Doesn't mover super fast, though.

 

[Vortok]

Poke Balls

Gardevoir - Either coming in contact, or hitting Gardevoir causes knockback. One person got knocked about a stage length's away (pretty sure it wasn't the Poke Ball hitting from the other side), so it's not exactly weak. Almost like a walking, souped up Wobbuffet. Dunno what else Gardevoir does.

Electrode - He's back.

Chikorita - Also back in Poke Ball form.


General Items

Bob-bomb - He's back and basically the same.

Smart Bomb - Miniature bullet bill from Peach's Castle, basically.

Capsules - I do not recall seeing one exploding capsule/barrel/crate.

 

[Vortok]

Spicy Curry - Shoots three constant fireballs in front of you (think kinda like Kirby's rapid fire punch animation, but the area it covers is larger than an average character. The fire, combined with you actually attacking, can rack up damage VERY quickly. I almost never saw it, because the actual item is so small and easy to miss.

Homerun bat - Non-smash attacks seem to be a bit weak. Smash attack almost seems like it takes even longer to come out.

Fireworks launcher - A little hard to aim when you first pick it up (seemed to have an up and down angling to it). If I remember correctly, you can't double jump while holding it.