Shuckle89
Smash Apprentice
Hello everyone,
Took me some trouble, but I got my hands on one of those demos. For everyone who hasn't played the game yet, I would like to tell my experiences.
First of, the game looks stunning. I don't know what it is, but there is something that feels and looks different and it's a great improvement.
The options in the demo are obviously very limited. There are only two game modes: single player (vs AI) and a multiplayer mode (online vs people that are within close range. Haven't been able to do that, since I don't know anyone else nearby with it). Besides those modes, there are only 5 characters (mario, pikachu, link, megaman and villager) and only one stage, battlefield. Also all items are on and can't be turned off.
Now, the gameplay feels very familliar. People may have said it's faster than brawl, but it actually feels very alike. Actually, it feels almost cheap. It feels as if there hasn't changed much in between brawl and well, this one. Kind of like those fifa games where you pay for pretty much the same game. At least, that's as far as the veterans go. Still, I loved brawl, so even though it doesn't feel very different, I don't mind it that much.
What did seem differently is that it takes more time before you can actually move after getting knocked away. Luckily the recovery on most characters is pretty good so it's alright. Ofcourse also the ledge game has changed a lot, because you can now always grab the ledge, even if someone is already hanging there. That, and obvious visual upgrades.
About the characters:
Link feels almost the same. The only differences I've noticed really, is that it's dash attack is different. Instead of his horizontal sweep he now has a vertical one. It's slower, but it seems to do a little bit more damage.
That aside, his recovery seems better. The upB covers a bigger distance and obviously his grapple hook is far better for recovery.
So it's not possible to use bomb arrows or something like that.
Pikachu, well, it doesn't really seem to be any different. So far I haven't found a single difference.
Marios cape seems to have a shorter duration. Other than that, he also seems very much the same.
About the new characters villager and megaman, there is a lot more to tell.
First of, they both seem rather weird. Both characters have a habit of having projectiles on their A moves. At least megaman also has projectiles on his B moves, but villager seems kind of reversed.
Megaman:
Megaman has a ton of projectiles. His B shoots a weak projectile with a long cooldown (I actually do not really see the point of it). It can be fired in every direction (left, right, up down) and, just like toon links arrows, it stays a little while after hitting the ground.
His down B is a projectile shield. 4 green leafs fly around him, blocking a projectile each. The leafs can be fired straight forward. It's not a bad projectile as it can't be powershielded (since they are 4 projectiles), but it leaves megaman vulnerable, as he can't do anything for as long as those leaves fly around him. Every button will fire them away, so no options there.
His side B is pretty much sticky bomb. It shoots a rocket that sticks to any opponent. After a while it explodes, but touching an opponent in between means that the bomb will now stick to you.
His up B is pretty much sonics up B.
His A moves are more impressive. His jabs are three projectiles you can fire in a row. They kind of work like falcos laser but don't travel far.
His forward tilt seems to do the same except he will now move while doing it.
His dash attack works like luigis dash attack. It's a multi-hitting move that throws opponents upwards at the end.
His up tilt seems pretty strong. He jumps into the air and leaps his arm into the air, throwing any opponent close to him also in the air. You can kill kill lightweight enemies with it ~100%
His down tilt is pretty much a dash. It seems more fitting as his dash attack, but on megaman it's a down tilt. He covers quite some distance while staying low on the ground (can be used to dodge projectiles).
His forward smash is like samus' B. Which is also strange. At full power it will travel pretty far and do a lot of damage. Luckily it can't be carried around like samus.
Down smash is a beam of fire in front of him and one behind him. Multihitting&seems more of a defensive move than a move to kill with.
Up smash also is a multihitting move that throws enemies upward.
His arials are pretty decent. Fair looks like a meteor spike but isn't. It just knocks enemies away.
Down air also looks like a meteor spike but isn't one either. Could be wrong, as it's hard to test without training mode, pesky moving opponents and every time grabbing items when you jump up (and press a). It can hit twice. Megaman punches downward while shooting a projectile. Both can hit the opponent and deal decent damage.
His neutral air is the same has his jabs (kind of easy, three times the same move). He shoots a projectile like falcos laser.
Up air also shoots a projectile. a tornado. It can be used to finish kills.
His Bair is a multihitting attack that doesn't seem to have much knockback or damage.
Grabs are straight forward. He can either throw up, backward or forward. Each of them does low damage and low knockback.
Overall: He has a lot of weak projectiles. His moves are mostly multi hitting and can be annoying, but I don't think he's very good (at this point). His killing move is pretty much only forward smash (which, I have to admit, is pretty amazing). At high percentages he can also kill with downsmash and upsmash, but they're nothing special.
Villager:
Villager is everything I had hoped he'd be and even more. His neutral B pickpockets any item near him. He can even pickpocket items he's holding in his hands for later usage. It doesn't disappear, so he can save them for the perfect moment. It can use any projectile against his opponents.
His down B is a 4-step move. First, he plants a seed. Second, he waters it so it grows. Third he uses his axe to cut it in half. His fourth attack finally makes it fall over.
Now, after reading this, I thought; this move is useless. Perhaps in a multiplayer mode where no one is paying attention it can be used, but other than that, it will be crap. Now, this far from the truth. The 4 steps can be done quite fast. I think it requires about the same amount of time to fully charge a smash.
Besides that, it can be done in between the fighting and doesn't require to do all 4 steps right away.
As if that isn't good enough, it is even useful while doing those steps. Planting those seeds will do nothing, but watering it will throw enemy opponent near it into the air. Cutting it in half will do the same and doing the fourth step will obviously do a lot of damage and knockback. There is even a change it will drop an item (fruit that can heal, or pieces of wood, I believe).
Now, it isn't all good. The three disappears quite fast if not attended. I believe in 20 seconds or so the tree will disappear. It also has a smaller range than I expected. Also, it obviously can't be used into the air, so it isn't useful at all times.
His side B summons a rocket. Now, you can either hold the button and jump on it, or use it as a projectile. When jumped on it, it can be used as pretty much unlimited horizontal recovery (after a while it will fall slowly, so you can't reach the other side of the screen when you start at the full right). It also does a lot of damage/knockback when you fly into an opponent. But, it has quite a bit of lag afterwards (easily punished) and jumping off of the rocket will leave you into helpless state, so it is also is quite punishable then.
Something to look out for (and will probably become his counters) are characters with reflection moves, such as marios cape. When used rocket as recovery, you're very vulnerable to those reflections. A reflect means you'll turn around, flying to a certain death, as jumping off the rocket will leave you into helpless state (like I said). You can't do much but die.
UpB is a lot like pits original upB but better. You can fly freely around for... about 3 seconds. Which is a lot. You have two balloons. When one of them pops, you will travel slower but can still recover. When both are popped, you fall down.
like I said, the A moves are pretty much projectiles.
His Jab is pretty much a single b*tchslap. Even though it isn't a combo move, it can be done fast and is incredibly annoying.
Forward tilt is pretty weak. He hits opponents with a parasol and doesn't seem to be very interesting.
Dash attack makes the villager fall over, dropping a plant. The plant acts as a projectile, as it travels as if well... you'd fall over.
up tilt is a weak looking move, which is actually quite strong (unexpectedly). He sweeps around with a piece of wood and hits twice, throwing enemies up.
Downtilt is a weak move that pretty much does a single bit of damage to opponents right in front of him/below him.
His forward smash summons a bowling ball that he drops. It does good damage and acts as a projectile, hitting everything below him. Can be used as ledge guard.
Down smash will put enemies in front and behind of him into the ground. It does also a bit of damage (but doesn't spike those who are close in the air).
Up smash shoots a rocket that explodes. It seems more fitting as a up tilt as it does little knockback and just hits a multiple times a bit in the air. Nothing special.
his up air will put a turnip into the air. Little knockback, little damage.
His down air will do the same but behind him. Doesn't seem very good.
His forward/back air seem to be pretty good. They fire a projectile which covers some range, does decent damage and good knockback. Since they aren't officially a projectile, they can't be reflected.
When he does his neutral air does a frontflip. Does okay knockback and low damage. It doesn't seem like an attack though. More like an animaton.
His grabs aren't that good. They seem like they have big range (as he's using his net) but it's rather slow and not that big range&the throws aren't very strong.
Overall: He's a bit of a trick of all trades. Even though he doesn't really have official projectiles (except side B), he has a lot of moves that act like one. He has combo potential, high damage moves (tree/smashes) and can be everywhere due to it's long range (forward smash/dash attack). That, and his amazing recovery (possibly best in the game) makes him quite possibly a threat to everyone.
Okay, so that's the characters. Now the items. Personally, I'm not fond of items and would prefer to turn them off, but that's not possible, so here I go.
To my surprise, there are a few items I think are actually pretty fun. A tornado summoning sword is one of them. There are a lot of different items and they are pretty well thought of, really. What I absolutely don't like about them, is that there are a lot of items that kill you in one hit. Or pretty much, anyway. Sure, they are usually easy to dodge or hard to obtain (if you want to use them yourself), but at first you find yourself dying a lot because you have no clue what just happened. There are one hit killing guns, there is a rocket that kills you in one hit, the homerun bat, ofc, that acts like ganondorfs warlock punch on stereöids, a drill that pushes you off the screen if you got hit by it once, some sort of insect that picks you up and carries you off screen and a weird airship does the same thing. Overall: they are kind of well, lame. Perhaps if you're into that kind of thing it's fine, but I personally don't like it, as you die very easily, especially in 4 players matches due to the chaos.
About the 3ds: or well, actually 2ds in my case.
I have to say: I expected the small screen to suck. But, that's not the case. It isn't even bothersome. What is, however, are the sucky controls (imo). To shield and grab you make use of the L and R button, which are not only harder to reach than the original game cube controllers, they also are harder to press. I find myself hardly using them at all, since by the time I've pressed them, I already got hit by the thing I wanted to shield from. That, coupled with the tab jump that can't be turned off (so no easy up tilts) make it quite annoying. That is the only downside I can find really. I plan on buying a 3ds xl when super smash is released for the 3ds and hope it will be alright then, but so far it's not that great.
Let's see... I may have missed something. I hope it's of some use.
For anyone who read this and wants to know something about the things that are in the demo, feel free to ask. I'll check it. Have a nice day!
Took me some trouble, but I got my hands on one of those demos. For everyone who hasn't played the game yet, I would like to tell my experiences.
First of, the game looks stunning. I don't know what it is, but there is something that feels and looks different and it's a great improvement.
The options in the demo are obviously very limited. There are only two game modes: single player (vs AI) and a multiplayer mode (online vs people that are within close range. Haven't been able to do that, since I don't know anyone else nearby with it). Besides those modes, there are only 5 characters (mario, pikachu, link, megaman and villager) and only one stage, battlefield. Also all items are on and can't be turned off.
Now, the gameplay feels very familliar. People may have said it's faster than brawl, but it actually feels very alike. Actually, it feels almost cheap. It feels as if there hasn't changed much in between brawl and well, this one. Kind of like those fifa games where you pay for pretty much the same game. At least, that's as far as the veterans go. Still, I loved brawl, so even though it doesn't feel very different, I don't mind it that much.
What did seem differently is that it takes more time before you can actually move after getting knocked away. Luckily the recovery on most characters is pretty good so it's alright. Ofcourse also the ledge game has changed a lot, because you can now always grab the ledge, even if someone is already hanging there. That, and obvious visual upgrades.
About the characters:
Link feels almost the same. The only differences I've noticed really, is that it's dash attack is different. Instead of his horizontal sweep he now has a vertical one. It's slower, but it seems to do a little bit more damage.
That aside, his recovery seems better. The upB covers a bigger distance and obviously his grapple hook is far better for recovery.
So it's not possible to use bomb arrows or something like that.
Pikachu, well, it doesn't really seem to be any different. So far I haven't found a single difference.
Marios cape seems to have a shorter duration. Other than that, he also seems very much the same.
About the new characters villager and megaman, there is a lot more to tell.
First of, they both seem rather weird. Both characters have a habit of having projectiles on their A moves. At least megaman also has projectiles on his B moves, but villager seems kind of reversed.
Megaman:
Megaman has a ton of projectiles. His B shoots a weak projectile with a long cooldown (I actually do not really see the point of it). It can be fired in every direction (left, right, up down) and, just like toon links arrows, it stays a little while after hitting the ground.
His down B is a projectile shield. 4 green leafs fly around him, blocking a projectile each. The leafs can be fired straight forward. It's not a bad projectile as it can't be powershielded (since they are 4 projectiles), but it leaves megaman vulnerable, as he can't do anything for as long as those leaves fly around him. Every button will fire them away, so no options there.
His side B is pretty much sticky bomb. It shoots a rocket that sticks to any opponent. After a while it explodes, but touching an opponent in between means that the bomb will now stick to you.
His up B is pretty much sonics up B.
His A moves are more impressive. His jabs are three projectiles you can fire in a row. They kind of work like falcos laser but don't travel far.
His forward tilt seems to do the same except he will now move while doing it.
His dash attack works like luigis dash attack. It's a multi-hitting move that throws opponents upwards at the end.
His up tilt seems pretty strong. He jumps into the air and leaps his arm into the air, throwing any opponent close to him also in the air. You can kill kill lightweight enemies with it ~100%
His down tilt is pretty much a dash. It seems more fitting as his dash attack, but on megaman it's a down tilt. He covers quite some distance while staying low on the ground (can be used to dodge projectiles).
His forward smash is like samus' B. Which is also strange. At full power it will travel pretty far and do a lot of damage. Luckily it can't be carried around like samus.
Down smash is a beam of fire in front of him and one behind him. Multihitting&seems more of a defensive move than a move to kill with.
Up smash also is a multihitting move that throws enemies upward.
His arials are pretty decent. Fair looks like a meteor spike but isn't. It just knocks enemies away.
Down air also looks like a meteor spike but isn't one either. Could be wrong, as it's hard to test without training mode, pesky moving opponents and every time grabbing items when you jump up (and press a). It can hit twice. Megaman punches downward while shooting a projectile. Both can hit the opponent and deal decent damage.
His neutral air is the same has his jabs (kind of easy, three times the same move). He shoots a projectile like falcos laser.
Up air also shoots a projectile. a tornado. It can be used to finish kills.
His Bair is a multihitting attack that doesn't seem to have much knockback or damage.
Grabs are straight forward. He can either throw up, backward or forward. Each of them does low damage and low knockback.
Overall: He has a lot of weak projectiles. His moves are mostly multi hitting and can be annoying, but I don't think he's very good (at this point). His killing move is pretty much only forward smash (which, I have to admit, is pretty amazing). At high percentages he can also kill with downsmash and upsmash, but they're nothing special.
Villager:
Villager is everything I had hoped he'd be and even more. His neutral B pickpockets any item near him. He can even pickpocket items he's holding in his hands for later usage. It doesn't disappear, so he can save them for the perfect moment. It can use any projectile against his opponents.
His down B is a 4-step move. First, he plants a seed. Second, he waters it so it grows. Third he uses his axe to cut it in half. His fourth attack finally makes it fall over.
Now, after reading this, I thought; this move is useless. Perhaps in a multiplayer mode where no one is paying attention it can be used, but other than that, it will be crap. Now, this far from the truth. The 4 steps can be done quite fast. I think it requires about the same amount of time to fully charge a smash.
Besides that, it can be done in between the fighting and doesn't require to do all 4 steps right away.
As if that isn't good enough, it is even useful while doing those steps. Planting those seeds will do nothing, but watering it will throw enemy opponent near it into the air. Cutting it in half will do the same and doing the fourth step will obviously do a lot of damage and knockback. There is even a change it will drop an item (fruit that can heal, or pieces of wood, I believe).
Now, it isn't all good. The three disappears quite fast if not attended. I believe in 20 seconds or so the tree will disappear. It also has a smaller range than I expected. Also, it obviously can't be used into the air, so it isn't useful at all times.
His side B summons a rocket. Now, you can either hold the button and jump on it, or use it as a projectile. When jumped on it, it can be used as pretty much unlimited horizontal recovery (after a while it will fall slowly, so you can't reach the other side of the screen when you start at the full right). It also does a lot of damage/knockback when you fly into an opponent. But, it has quite a bit of lag afterwards (easily punished) and jumping off of the rocket will leave you into helpless state, so it is also is quite punishable then.
Something to look out for (and will probably become his counters) are characters with reflection moves, such as marios cape. When used rocket as recovery, you're very vulnerable to those reflections. A reflect means you'll turn around, flying to a certain death, as jumping off the rocket will leave you into helpless state (like I said). You can't do much but die.
UpB is a lot like pits original upB but better. You can fly freely around for... about 3 seconds. Which is a lot. You have two balloons. When one of them pops, you will travel slower but can still recover. When both are popped, you fall down.
like I said, the A moves are pretty much projectiles.
His Jab is pretty much a single b*tchslap. Even though it isn't a combo move, it can be done fast and is incredibly annoying.
Forward tilt is pretty weak. He hits opponents with a parasol and doesn't seem to be very interesting.
Dash attack makes the villager fall over, dropping a plant. The plant acts as a projectile, as it travels as if well... you'd fall over.
up tilt is a weak looking move, which is actually quite strong (unexpectedly). He sweeps around with a piece of wood and hits twice, throwing enemies up.
Downtilt is a weak move that pretty much does a single bit of damage to opponents right in front of him/below him.
His forward smash summons a bowling ball that he drops. It does good damage and acts as a projectile, hitting everything below him. Can be used as ledge guard.
Down smash will put enemies in front and behind of him into the ground. It does also a bit of damage (but doesn't spike those who are close in the air).
Up smash shoots a rocket that explodes. It seems more fitting as a up tilt as it does little knockback and just hits a multiple times a bit in the air. Nothing special.
his up air will put a turnip into the air. Little knockback, little damage.
His down air will do the same but behind him. Doesn't seem very good.
His forward/back air seem to be pretty good. They fire a projectile which covers some range, does decent damage and good knockback. Since they aren't officially a projectile, they can't be reflected.
When he does his neutral air does a frontflip. Does okay knockback and low damage. It doesn't seem like an attack though. More like an animaton.
His grabs aren't that good. They seem like they have big range (as he's using his net) but it's rather slow and not that big range&the throws aren't very strong.
Overall: He's a bit of a trick of all trades. Even though he doesn't really have official projectiles (except side B), he has a lot of moves that act like one. He has combo potential, high damage moves (tree/smashes) and can be everywhere due to it's long range (forward smash/dash attack). That, and his amazing recovery (possibly best in the game) makes him quite possibly a threat to everyone.
Okay, so that's the characters. Now the items. Personally, I'm not fond of items and would prefer to turn them off, but that's not possible, so here I go.
To my surprise, there are a few items I think are actually pretty fun. A tornado summoning sword is one of them. There are a lot of different items and they are pretty well thought of, really. What I absolutely don't like about them, is that there are a lot of items that kill you in one hit. Or pretty much, anyway. Sure, they are usually easy to dodge or hard to obtain (if you want to use them yourself), but at first you find yourself dying a lot because you have no clue what just happened. There are one hit killing guns, there is a rocket that kills you in one hit, the homerun bat, ofc, that acts like ganondorfs warlock punch on stereöids, a drill that pushes you off the screen if you got hit by it once, some sort of insect that picks you up and carries you off screen and a weird airship does the same thing. Overall: they are kind of well, lame. Perhaps if you're into that kind of thing it's fine, but I personally don't like it, as you die very easily, especially in 4 players matches due to the chaos.
About the 3ds: or well, actually 2ds in my case.
I have to say: I expected the small screen to suck. But, that's not the case. It isn't even bothersome. What is, however, are the sucky controls (imo). To shield and grab you make use of the L and R button, which are not only harder to reach than the original game cube controllers, they also are harder to press. I find myself hardly using them at all, since by the time I've pressed them, I already got hit by the thing I wanted to shield from. That, coupled with the tab jump that can't be turned off (so no easy up tilts) make it quite annoying. That is the only downside I can find really. I plan on buying a 3ds xl when super smash is released for the 3ds and hope it will be alright then, but so far it's not that great.
Let's see... I may have missed something. I hope it's of some use.
For anyone who read this and wants to know something about the things that are in the demo, feel free to ask. I'll check it. Have a nice day!