Super Smash Bros Nintendo Direct Stages, AT's, and PokeBalls

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

The Nintendo Direct is over and the information presented in the 39 minute preview of Super Smash Brothers Wii U & 3DS is vast. We've broken down what we learned and have an overview of the exciting new aspects of the best fighting game series of all time. Keep an eye out for Smash 3DS hitting shelves this summer and Smash Wii U coming this winter.

Stages​

Sakurai went into stages and showed both previously revealed 3DS stages and some new stages such as Balloon Fight as well as the veteran stage Jungle Japes. He also showed the Wii U stages but none of them were new. The stages between broth platforms are different as previously mentioned. Sakurai also brought up Yellow Devil who will become a stage mechanic and hazard in the Skull Castle stage, His weak point is the red eye and delivering damage to it will cause it to deliver a powerful attack to all but the person who first attacked it. Thus making it a race to defeat and cause him to attack.

Confirmed Stages

• Balloon Fight (3DS)
• Find Mii (3DS)
• Jungle Japes (3DS)
• Halberd (Wii U)
• Final Destination (Both versions)
• Final Destination like All Stages (Wii U)
• Pokemon League - XY (Wii U)

​

Sakurai teased fans by showing Pyrosphere and a shadow of Ridley. Ridley has often been the point of contention due to him potentially being a boss element on the Pyrosphere stage. Many aren't sure what to make of this development but Ridley supporters are holding on that Ridley will appear as a playable character.

Also notable is the fact that players can now play on pre-existing stages that resemble Final Destination. Final Destination is considered the ultimate competetive stage and is a mainstay in many tournaments due to its straight forward design without any hazards or gimmicks. Masahiro Sakurai and his team to this idea further and made it so players can play on Final Destination-version of pre-existing stages. This is only available for the "For Glory" mode online.

Items

Sakurai introduced us to some Items that have yet to unveiled as well as items we have yet to see in action.​

New Items

• Fire Bar
• Back Shield
• Bombchu
• Rocket Belt
• POW Box

Returning Items

• Smart Bomb
• Beam Sword

Sakuria also confirmed that the Ore Club will spawn tornadoes when charged up.

Assist Trophies​

Sakurai covered Assist Trophies - and crushed many hopes and dreams. Aside from the previous Assist Trophies that Sakurai showed us, he also showed us a number of returning Assist Trophies such as Saki Amamiya from Sin and Punishment, Knuckle Joe, Devil, Lyn, and Dr. Wright. There were some entirely new assist trophies: Midna, Dark Samus, Chain Chomp, Elec Man, and Color TV Game 15. Not much was there for Dark Samus supporters but at least she is in the game. Same with those that supported Saki, Lyn, and Midna.

New Assist Trophies

• Midna
• Dark Samus
• Elec Man
• Pong\Color TV Game-15

Returning Assist Trophies

• Samurai Goroh
• Lyn
• Saki Amamiya
• Knuckle Joe
• Devil
• Dr. Wright

Previously Revealed Assist Trophies

• Waluigi
• Skull Kid
• Nintendog
• Ashley
• Isabelle
• Mother Brain

​

Pokemon

Finally, following the Assist Trophies, new Pokemon and Pokeballs were revealed. Sakurai showed that there will be Pokeball varieties - a much needed change in the Smash Bros. Universe. The Direct covered a lot of the new Pokemon as well as some that have appeared before.

New Pokemon

• Arceus
• Keldeo
• Meloette
• Eevee
• Fennekin
• Gogoat
• Victini
• Kyurem
• Xerneas

Returning Pokeballs

• Meowth
• Goldeen
• Metagross
• Staryu
• Entei
• Electrode
• Deoxys

In the end, this Direct showed us a lot of new information as well as previous information we knew but have yet to see in action like -

• Skull Kid turns the stage upside instead of summoning the moon.
• Ashley causes a purple cloud to appear on the stage.
• About the Yellow Devil
• The nature about the various stages.

To view the Direct, please watch the video below

Venus of the Desert Bloom is one of the staff members for the SSB Wii U/3DS Boards and SWF's #1 Tali Fan, Follow me on Twitter @VenusToBloom​

 

[SpiderMad]

Looks nice

 

[BigHairyFart]

I am appalled that they didn't have Skull Kid cause a giant moon to come crashing down on fighters.
Also, can I just say:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
THE HYPE IS TOO REAL

 

[MugenLord]

For those who might have missed this piece of information around 10:30 of the direct video he stated that there will be final destination versions of each stage online "For Glory" meaning that the stages will have no hazards and a fixed camera like FD. Watch it if you don't believe me.

 

[Sqa$]

I feel really bad for all the Metroid fans once Dark Samus showed up as an AT. I felt a little soul death in there.

As far as FOR GLORY goes, I think, as Sakurai said, things are still subject to change. I believe there might be a change to throw in Battlefield-esque maps in the future. It only makes sense since some characters cannot thrive without platforms (i.e. Link and Toonlink).

Some of the new items are cool to look at, but it makes me sad that they will go mostly unused competitively because of RNG.

Retro Stages are cool by me. I liked some of the old stages, so it was cool to see them come back. Overall, I liked this direct. I liked it a lot.

 

[TumblrFamous]

Venus, the Pokemon League is on the Wii U, not the 3DS.

 

[hotdogturtle]

Final Destination is considered the ultimate competetive stage and is a mainstay in many tournaments due to its straight forward design without any hazards or gimmicks.

You might want to specify that this is what Sakurai said, not how it actually is in real life.

 

[The Original Robot boy]

Noooo midnas only a assist trophy instead of a charracter curse you frogman!

 

[Kewkky]

You might want to specify that this is what Sakurai said, not how it actually is in real life.

It's true though, just look at "No items, Fox only, Final Destination".

 

[JCDied4U]

I really hope we don't just get 1 or 2 more newcomers before the practically finished 3DS version comes out. I also hope the more flashy WiiU stages are yet to be shown.

 

[Tryst]

Wait, forgive me if they already have, but have they announced the Blue shell yet? http://youtu.be/7xUWnQu2Grs?t=6m1s

 

[Elite Smasher]

Soooo..... Does this mean custom stages are out of the picture...? That's too bad as they really possessed some potential given better execution and more options.

 

[Rickster]

I think the Color TV Game 15 AT is my favorite one. Thought it was hilarious when the scores appeared and how the "ball" knocks everyone around.

 

[Gamingshellos]

I am loving how we are getting Greninja as newcomer

 

[Ryan.]

Great summary! I love all the content we got to see and how things were organized. Some of the AT/Pokeball disconfirmations were disappointing though.

 

[smashbroskilla]

That wasn't a Samus wave dash at 1:57 right?

 

[SheiKirby]

*Ahem* Please forgive this post.

OH MY GOD CITY TRIAL IS IN SMASH BROS!!!!
MY FAVORITE PART OF ONE OF MY FAVORITE GAMES, SOMETHING I'VE SPENT HUNDREDS OF HOURS ON!!

*dies*

So . . awesome . . Isn't anyone else SUPER PSYCHED for Smash Run!? This is the best thing EVAH!

So much awesomeness . .

Although, not very happy with only two songs per 3DS stage.

 

[abrinx77]

You seem to have missed the Maxim Tomato and Blue Shell, which were both shown quickly in the Direct.
Also, I'm not sure if it counts, but Kirby was using a Star Rod in the Greninja reveal, so that may count as a confirmation as well.

 

[KoRoBeNiKi]

It seems Staryu is now a Legendary.

 

[Foxy K]

An extremely important thing I noticed that was ABSENT, was Isaac from the AT list. They had A LOT of the Brawl ones, but not him. I think he's extremely realistic as a playable character and I hope we'll see him.

 

[Fansmash]

I adore the game ! Amazing, too of news !

 

[TORNADO BUS DRIVER]

Just..yezzz

 

[KidKrimzon]

Why do i feel like Pong is probably the most legit item ever? And then dark samus, the rocket belt, back shield, ore club, and fire bar are utter disapointments

 

[FangnierFernious]

 

[KidKrimzon]

That wasn't a Samus wave dash at 1:57 right?

hah, i noticed something similar in the direct video as well. When they reintroduce the Hal Bird, in one clip sonic is fighting mario, and shortly after KOing him, appears to wave dash to the left.

I feel really bad for all the Metroid fans once Dark Samus showed up as an AT. I felt a little soul death in there.

As far as FOR GLORY goes, I think, as Sakurai said, things are still subject to change. I believe there might be a change to throw in Battlefield-esque maps in the future. It only makes sense since some characters cannot thrive without platforms (i.e. Link and Toonlink).

Some of the new items are cool to look at, but it makes me sad that they will go mostly unused competitively because of RNG.

Retro Stages are cool by me. I liked some of the old stages, so it was cool to see them come back. Overall, I liked this direct. I liked it a lot.

aw... I can toonlink pretty well on FD...

 

[Foxy K]

aw... I can toonlink pretty well on FD...

Yeah, don't listen to him. The Links love FD. Projectile spammers love FD.

 

[NFTsmasher]

That wasn't a Samus wave dash at 1:57 right?

No, just very little landing lag straight into a regular dash.

 

[GamerTimeUS]

No Pokemon Stadium and where's Pokemon League stage

 

[ReddMudkipz]

Are you guys gonna play with items on? I think ill use them until I unlock everything or get pissed at the RNG.

 

[*Risen*]

Someone should add the star rod item to the list of confirmed items. Its in the Greninja/Charizard trailer, and someone shoots it at Charizard. I think Link or Kirby is holding it. It wouldn't make sense to put an item that doesn't exist there.

 

[Sqa$]

Yeah, don't listen to him. The Links love FD. Projectile spammers love FD.

Well, it's not awful to play on FD, but I find that Link does very well on Platform Stages in comparison to flat stages.

 

[ECHOnce]

Wait, forgive me if they already have, but have they announced the Blue shell yet? http://youtu.be/7xUWnQu2Grs?t=6m1s

Dang what the heck xD doesn't look very impressive at all from that scene, but nice catch

 

[Wasp]

R.I.P. Dark Samus... you've been crossed out in my sig now...

 

[xzx]

Instead of Dark Samus they could have done SA-X instead.

 

[Delzethin]

Is it just me, or does the dev team seem...misguided with their idea of making a "Final Destination version" of every stage? Its perfectly flat surface and lack of platforms give a major advantage to characters with strong ground games, grab games, or spammable projectiles, and to a lesser extent it helps characters with weaker air games. Hell, even those of us who haven't been very active realize FD is definitely not the series' most balanced stage (in Brawl, that honor went to...Smashville? Yoshi's Island?).

I like how they're trying to appeal to the competitive community, and I appreciate how they're extending an olive branch after some of the things that were said during Brawl's development. But maybe they could do a little more research and realize they'd be much better off making "neutral" versions of the more complicated stages, and not Final Destination clones?

Then again, there was that disclaimer at the beginning that said some things were still subject to change, so maybe they'll catch on?

 

[Sqa$]

Is it just me, or does the dev team seem...misguided with their idea of making a "Final Destination version" of every stage? Its perfectly flat surface and lack of platforms give a major advantage to characters with strong ground games, grab games, or spammable projectiles, and to a lesser extent it helps characters with weaker air games. Hell, even those of us who haven't been very active realize FD is definitely not the series' most balanced stage (in Brawl, that honor went to...Smashville? Yoshi's Island?).

I like how they're trying to appeal to the competitive community, and I appreciate how they're extending an olive branch after some of the things that were said during Brawl's development. But maybe they could do a little more research and realize they'd be much better off making "neutral" versions of the more complicated stages, and not Final Destination clones?

Then again, there was that disclaimer at the beginning that said some things were still subject to change, so maybe they'll catch on?

We can definitely hope.

 

[Kewkky]

I wouldn't say there's a balanced stage in Brawl. All characters benefit from different things, so even stages like Smashville will largely benefit some of them (like gliders, for example). In my personal opinion, the most balanced stage would be Battlefield, but that's just my opinion. The whole stage is static, there's platforms to avoid powerful ground games/projectile spamming, and the blast zones are not too close or too far. Not to mention that the ledges are just fine, with no "lip" that characters can get caught under while trying to recover (leading to avoidable deaths). And just like with any other stage, the center is the most powerful area (exploitable by any character), since you have the most stage control from there.

FD may not be super balanced, but it still is. If the stages in the for Glory mode vary slightly in that they're not FD copies through and through, and some of them actually have stationary platforms of sorts, then all will be well with the world.

 

[Toon]

I'm about to buy the wii u just to play smash 4. I'm so hype.

 

[TechMage299]

The true New New Pork City

 

[PAPCGyE]

Wait, forgive me if they already have, but have they announced the Blue shell yet? http://youtu.be/7xUWnQu2Grs?t=6m1s