Time to talk big-picture! While it's been interesting the past four days analyzing specific newcomers, today's about what they all mean as a group, and there's definitely a lot to talk about.
Roster Satisfaction - 80%
Let's start with a basic assumption: thanks to the leak, we know
most of the roster, but we do not know
all of the roster. Now I don't have perfect proof of this, but judging by the
leak post-mortem analysis (which is a great read if you haven't seen it), the picture of the locked all-star mode is legitimate and thus the leaked roster isn't complete. This is further reinforced by some of the unusual CSS arrangement choices like the three clones together and Shulk with the third parties, which could prove symptomatic of a roster that isn't fully unlocked. This leaves a good 4-5 more characters that could be in the base game, which could account for certain conspicuously missing characters like Ice Climbers, Mewtwo, and Ridley. Even if the roster doesn't look perfect now, it could still fill out well.
With that out of the way, let's talk about what we
do have. Judging by the leak, we have 12 unique newcomers, 2 clone newcomers, 3 Mii movesets, 33 out of 39 Brawl veterans, and a Melee veteran. That's 48 characters on the CSS plus the Miis, and as someone who was hoping for a 50 character roster, seeing it actually get that huge is awfully satisfying by itself. Also, while we're looking big-picture, I just want to say I love that transform characters are gone. Zelda, Sheik, and Charizard finally get proper down specials, ZSS won't spawn with those annoying armor pieces, and the roster naturally gets larger by properly treating them all as individual characters.
Let's talk a bit about individual franchises. Seven of those 12 unique newcomers are from previously unrepresented franchises, which is just plain awesome. Unfortunately, the existing franchises have also become somewhat unbalanced. Mario has two unique newcomers and a returning Dr. Mario to inflate their ranks, Fire Emblem has ballooned up to four characters despite remaining a niche franchise, and Kid Icarus is inexplicably up to three characters despite having only one brand new game in the past two decades, and not even a terribly popular one at that! Meanwhile, Donkey Kong still only has two characters, Metroid only has two characters, Zelda and Kirby only have three unique movesets (even if the former now has 5 characters thanks to semi-clones), Pokemon is down a moveset, and the retro Ice Climbers are quite possibly gone altogether. It seems like character selection and development priorities could have (should have?) been handled better, even if the sheer number of characters is delightfully high.
Next, our newcomers, who are generally pretty great! Mega Man and Pac-Man are strong third-party additions; Villager, Little Mac, and Shulk bring add some fan-favorite franchises to the mix; Wii Fit Trainer and Duck Hunt Dog act as some unusual but welcome surprises; Robin, Greninja, Palutena, Rosalina and Bowser Jr. are all strong choices for their individual franchises; and Miis have proven to be a quality addition despite plenty of downright hate aimed there way. Oh, and while her inclusion isn't necessarily the best choice for the roster as a whole, I'm incredibly happy Lucina is in the mix, even as a clone. Unfortunately, there are some issues here. First, maybe he proves to have an interesting gimmick, but going in I see no reason why Dark Pit shouldn't just be a Pit palette swap, especially when KI is arguably overrepresented even with only two characters. Two, when combined with a returning Dr. Mario, getting two Mario newcomers feels a bit excessive, even for such a huge franchise. Finally, while I don't want to harp on most missed opportunities, not having Ridley would be a very unfortunate decision that seems to fly in the face of how he's been teased over the past year.
Before I wrap up, a word on our veterans. I'm definitely happy to see the grand majority of Brawl veterans returning, but I remain a bit disappointed that six of them are missing. While they're generally understandable cuts, it'd be a shame to lose four unique movesets, especially in the case of the Ice Climbers given they are two-time Smash veterans. Also, while Wolf and Lucas were semi-clones, they were quite well differentiated from the characters they are based on and, unless they prove more unique than expected, would generally be stronger inclusions than the three clones we are getting (and even arguably Toon Link). I'm left wishing Sakurai had skipped the clones, leaving them as alt-costumes (Lucina included!) and instead refocusing that effort into updating existing characters for SSB4. Perhaps that's not as feasible as simply making clones, but I can dream can't I?
At the end of the day, though, it's a whole lot of nit-picking over what looks like our best roster ever. Almost all of the important veterans are back, most of the newcomers are strong additions, and we've still got some mystery slots that could fill out any remaining holes. My rating is kind of low just because we do still have those unknowns and because of the sheer number of issues I have, however minor, but overall I'm definitely excited to start digging into this roster. With any luck there will be some great characters hidden in those final few slots that help alleviate those concerns and prove that Sakurai's built a roster to remember for SSB4.
Game Direction - 90%
I'm going to try to stay brief after that lengthy roster analysis, so I'll just say that the game's direction is looking solid. Sakurai seems to be listening to fans in how he has crafted the game mechanics for SSB4, trying to strike a balance between Melee and Brawl to help alleviate the concerns of the competitive scene while keeping the game accessible to everyone else. Also, though the massive Subspace Emissary is gone, judging by the 3DS version we'll still be replete with game modes that will keep everyone entertained. Some pain points exist like a plethora of returning Brawl stages on the 3DS version and Smash Run being perhaps overly focused, but I don't want to fault the games too much given there's still we don't know about the Wii U version in particular and that it seems clear most development attention went towards making that version the best it can be. Heck, I was thinking for a while the 3DS version would end up rather bare-bones and it's clear now it will have no shortage of content. Some confirmation of post-release support like DLC would be appreciated to address any faults the base release might have, but judging by what we've seen and without personally having had the chance to try a demo of the game, I'm feeling confident SSB4 will be great.
= -2.5%. ^ but better.
