Day and date have been announced -
September 22nd, 2009 (
source)
Also, IGN's
previewed the game, and spoke of some significant changes from Brawl in it:
"For the most part TMNT Smash-up is blast, as long as you
shove away the preconception that it's a full-on Smash Bros. clone. You don't have smash-out attacks, and life bars take the place of percentage-based damage, but there are a lot of similarities. For starters,
you've got a basic attack (A button) and heavy attack (B) to make use of. Every direction – we're talking up, down, straight sides, and
angles – are all tied to different attacks, with the A attack being quicker jabs and combos and B being larger, slower attacks that yield huge results. You can sprint by double-tapping, attack out of a sprint, dodge/roll, and even block and evade. Blocking too much puts you in a vulnerable state though, so like Smash Bros. it's as much about evasion and positioning as anything else.
As for the turtles themselves, each controls very different, and – like Tournament Fighters – each uses different combos. This also rings true with the other playable characters in the E3 demo, including Shredder (very slow and powerful), Splinter (faster than Shred-head, but a bit weaker), and the agile ninja-like April (fast with decent range). Raph, Leo, Don, and Mike also have their own properties, and
with actual combos for each fighter the game is more about learning a few key fighters that you dig and sticking with them. I got the hang of Leonardo after a bit, but when switching over to my favorite turtle in the bunch (Raph) had no idea what I was doing.
There's a lot of depth here for players looking to learn the intricacies of each character, and unlike Smash Bros. you can't just grab any random character, check out their B, up-B, and down-B and be pretty much set. Yeah, there's more to Smash Bros. then that, but
with TMNT you've got a lot of hidden combos and special attacks similar to something like Tekken or DOA. Oh yeah, and you've also got grabs and dodges for stopping turtle players (the blocking type…not the green dudes) and spammers respectively.
We'll see how the game shapes up from here on out, but thus far it's pretty entertaining. The life meter means you've got more direct combat and less of the whole smash-based, tense "am I alive or dead?" moments, but
the game also has a larger emphasis on combo attacks and character memorization. With a nice blend of smooth animations (surprisingly strong) and a decent amount of fan service this one looks to be an obvious choice for TMNT fans, though we're not sure if the Smash crowd will latch on."
So it seems like they're putting less emphasis on accessibility than Brawl did. I sincerely doubt the game will have hadouken-like maneuvers, but I am excited to hear that they're putting more emphasis on stringing attacks together and character nuance. Still, if Brawl's any indication, pre-scripted combos could also get you into a lot of trouble if your opponent DI's out of or evades them.