Full on disclosure. If you're reading this at all, you know what Smash Bros is about and you never had any inkling it was about brothers who super smash stuff. You know full well it's about a roster of popular Nintendo characters along with a few non-Nintendo characters duking it out. I say popular, but I mean some are only popular in Japan or just popular enough to make the cut. While most characters you will recognize, there are quite a few you'll only barely know enough just to name. You'll know characters like Bowser Jr. to a degree, but might totally gloss over he was the main villain in Super Mario Sunshine and completely not get why some sort of dark Mario keeps painting the screen as his Final Smash. Or you might like Captain Falcon, but barely played any F-Zero games. For these transgressions you can be forgiven (not that these are any sins) because the game barely cares or deals with any story and just picks small elements from characters to build up their attack pools. That's right, this is like a Virtua Fighter game where the only story which takes place is in your head. Smash Bros. 4 eschews with the obligatory story campaign like Brawl's Subspace Emissary and just goes for the insanity of a huge roster of characters, a plethora of items, and a new 8 player smash mode, which was not featured in the 3DS version of this game. There is a solo campaign, but it is more reminiscent of the original Smash Bros in how it is bare bones, fight so many battles then the combat team (Fighting Mii Team in this one) and Master Hand. If you have played the 3DS version of this game, you won't find too much different or surprising except for how the solo campaign has exchanged the multi-path system for a weird board top sliding statue system where you get to sort of pick who you fight. You might feel that this game is just a slightly larger (and more enjoyable) version of the 3DS version, and if you're like me you own both anyway because you can't get enough of this game. So let's talk about some of the good and bad of the game.
The character roster is huge as I have previously mentioned. The largest in Smash Bros. history with a whopping 5,000 characters (clearly not that many), 17 of which are new to the series. You might feel the roster is a tad bloated and that all these characters would weight down the game, but the opposite is true. Aside from the Mii Fighters, all of the characters definitely feel unique (except for maybe the clone characters like Pit and Dark Pit but I mean from one another) and they all are surprisingly fun. I had as much fun with Palutena and her slow telegraphed weird attacks as I did with Mega Man and his lack of punch. And the characters are fairly diverse in terms of speed, power, range, how they attack, if they can counter, how they soak up damage, how you can be tricky, etc.
I take it back, I did not like Diddle Diddy Kong. I just could not get a feel or enjoyment with that character.
Characters like Little Mac are big risk/reward characters for being fairly light, but powerful and fast with large charge ups and a unique meter which gives him an instant (usual) KO uppercut when full. Characters like Danky Kang Donkey Kong are slow and lumbering with a weird charge up punch makes up for it by having extreme power and range with his long gorilla arms and fashionable tie. Olimar of the Pikmin series has a very unique Pikmin inspired attack pool where he plucks different Pikmin from the ground (3 at a time) and each Pikmin he throws does something different, though most usually latch onto an enemy face and pound them in. And the uniqueness doesn't stop there. The Villager from Animal Crossing, Palutena, Mega Man, Duck Hunt, and others have weird tactics and abilities which are fun and when mastered are fatal. Which brings me to the next bit.
Smash Bros Wii U is a very accessible game. It can be played by beginner and master alike and both will have fun at the same time. There's enough give that some players won't outright be dominated no matter how skilled the other is, but enough skill to master that the better skilled player shouldn't lose to something silly. And this is really good because this means people like my girlfriend
with very little gaming experience can hop on and actually enjoy
herself, and this is what a huge roster and great balancing mechanics can do. It can allow newcomers and oldcomers to come to the same table, laugh it out, and just have plain old competitive fun with one another without one side feeling overburdened by the other.
"Well Mak, this sounds like some sort of kid's game which appeals to the casuals and not the serious gamers people keep telling me it does. I'm out!"
Well, if there's anything I can say about that I will have to say it through the immortal words of the Boganella shotgun, "Rack off ya dog!" And I seriously mean it. If this is the attitude you hold towards this sort of game, then you've replaced a critical component of "fun" in video games and replaced it with "shit eating". Video games can be technical and mastering them and their systems is fun, but if you look to a game and say it's simply not sophisticated enough for your supremely fine tuned technical skills and therefore terrible, then you can go sit and spin on your no fun knob and leave the rest of video game players alone because this game IS fun. This game appeals to both "casuals" (as loathsome as a word that is) and "hardos" (which sounds equally ridiculous as if it were some badge like "Army Ranger"). There is very little about this game which isn't fun, and most of it is relegated to when you pick up a trophy in the solo game only to find out it's not a new trophy. Or when I get random placed into Diddy Kong. Or if I'm random placed on the Great Cave Offensive level which is so big I can't stand it.
So there are a few bad things. Trophy collecting which I sort of mentioned earlier. Trophy collecting becomes this all absorbing thing to do as it serves in the form of achievements in some ways and just fills your time with quick spurts of joy in others. Trophies aren't bad, and their intent is great. The problem is the multiple methods in which to get them. After each combat you receive coins which can be used in the trophy store to purchase trophies. The problem is there are other ways to get the trophies and the system just randomizes which ones you get in every way that isn't a store purchase. The solo campaigns allow you to get trophies as an award for either challenging certain characters or as a roulette bonus, and if you went to the store and spent all your hard earned coins on some sales and what appear to be rare trophies it really sucks when you get a copy of these trophies and only end up with as little as 400 gold despite blowing 850 on the trophy. It sucks, but this is nitpicking hard because while it does sort of change the way I play the game in trying to make matches longer and such it really doesn't change anything about the game otherwise. It double sucks because you lose gold for buying special orders passes and then get copies and blah blah blah. Some might tell me, "Mak, did you enjoy the coin launcher which was also a gamble?" And I would say "No." I would then be told, "But this is free." And I would agree. But it's the difference between putting quarters into an egg machine and knowing the risk with the launcher game as opposed to getting a gift from your parents who knew you already bought something and they simply gave you more of it. First world problems at their finest.
Another bad thing is sometimes I can't seem to pick up items I run by, and this has several times cost me in combat trophies, pokeballs, etc. Not really bad, because it adds to the intensity when my friends have the same problem. The computer I wish also shared this.
My only other problem is a couple of levels which are just way too big, such as The Great Cave Offensive. Normally big levels are not a bad thing for me as they allow lots of fun. But some levels are just too big, and while they probably are meant for 8 player fights they make four player fights boring draws because it takes forever to find a combatant and just draws out the length of time. So as long as I avoid those levels I'm perfectly happy, but I have been known to raise a vote to simply reset the fight to get a different level and it has pretty much always been unanimously accepted. But aside from these things, the game is great.
My final problem is the loss of some characters. From Brawl we lose the Ice Climbers and Pokemon Trainer. The official reason for the Ice Climbers was something to do with having two characters acting as one being a problem, though Duck Hunt has the same thing sort of going on. The Pokemon Trainer is a bit more obvious. I'll miss the Squirtle/Ivysaur/Charizard in one shift feature which gave you versatility, but let's be honest in saying everybody did their best to just be Charizard all the time. I found myself playing Charizard most often and so it made sense Nintendo ditched the Trainer and just shoved in Charizard. I'll miss the Trainer and his background running, but it makes the most sense development wise.
So now for the scoring...
Graphics: 9.8
Graphics are superb. No chugging, latency, lagging, any of that stuff. Everybody was clear on the screen for the most part and the colors were gorgeous. Much like the beauty of Mario Kart 8, the graphics in this game are top notch. The only problem I really had with the graphics were some of the attacks and statues in play were just...bleh. Mega Man's leaf shield took particular dislike with me. Minor minor flaw, but still worth mentioning.
Sound: 9.8
The sounds are great. Everything makes one, they're all pretty satisfying. The music is grand and catchy and fits the levels. But it's the voices I felt a little bad about. The voices feel all but forgettable, and that's a shame given the work put
into the whole process. There are voice soundboards you can access in
game, and I'll tell you I don't remember more than 10% of them used in
the game. Link has upwards of 30 but I dare defy you to make out more than four. The sound switches up in the menu as you access it and that's
nice. However, it seems weird but I can't remember the game's central
theme like I could with the original, Melee, and Brawl. So... Yeah. This is more nitpicking than anything.
Playstyle/Gameplay: 9
I've stated before my only real problem is sometimes it has problems with me running by and picking up things which wasn't apparent in the previous installments of this series. The characters are fairly balanced, and any imbalance isn't bad because the game is fun and every character has an advantage and disadvantage.
Variety: 9.8
Designs: 10
The assortment of characters is bizarre, as is the selection of stages. While I almost yearn for more stages, the fact you can make your owns stages is fairly awesome and makes up for the shortfall. Also something to include is the Mii Fighter creator. The assortments of designs and configuration is pretty fun, and nothing beats a cowboy hat shooter with a dragon's head for a hand. Also, I loved in a previous game where at the credits you shot at the names Star Fox style and can't say I love the new "fill up the picture" by punching style since some characters just sort of suck with this aspect. "That's because you suck, Mak." Yeah, I do. But this doesn't necessarily make me want to get better at it so much as skip the end sequence altogether. To hell with the potential extra 100 gold. I'm always taunted by being shy two or three gold.
Designs: 10
All these characters are beautifully detailed and they move great. There is plenty of color and detail to the bare glance which makes most of the ruckus easy to follow and keep characters distinct, but if you look closer you see the care and effort put forth by Nintendo to really flesh out all these designs. Stage design is also beautiful and the environments function great from the familiar Brinstar lava raise to the excellent Wario themed Gamer level which has a furious mom checking in on you and if you're caught in her gaze it spells death.
Story: N/A
Stability: 10
Game is great. No graphical glitches I saw. It all worked perfectly as you would expect a Nintendo's hail mary product to be.
Replay Value:10
If you cannot fathom why this got a ten, I would assume you're not quite sure of the point of this game.
Total Score:
9.8
9.8
Final Thoughts:
What can I say? This game is beyond fun. Fun enough that I got my old ass up and took my Wii U to my family's house to share it with them when I'm usually just happy to tell them how much fun I was having alone. Yes, so much fun I had to share the fun. There was literally too much fun for me to have alone, even with my girlfriend playing as well. If I tried to contain it, it would've manifested as some sort of cancer and killed me down the line because the fun was too powerful. Powerful additions were made to this game in the form of Little Mac and Mega Man. I was a little iffy on Brawl, but this game deserves all the points it got. If it weren't my personal job to nitpick things, I would have given this game a 10.
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| Pictured: Destroyers of your free time |
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