It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than 6-years since the last Smash Bros game?
*Crowd Reacts*
Okay, so maybe Super Smash Bros. 3DS literally just came out a couple months ago, if you
want to be technical.
And I Liked it.
But for me the, the true Super Smash Bros. experience has always been about getting together
with friends and playing on a giant TV using a proper controller.
Which is to say, Super Smash Bros. Wii U is exactly what the doctor ordered.
So let’s cut to the chase: This game is fun.
Like, a ton of fun
And perhaps nothing exemplifies this better than the addition of 8-Player Smash, which
doubles the amount of maximum participants from past games.
Now I know what some of you are thinking: 4-Player Smash is often crazy enough--8-Players
must be chaos!
And sometimes it is, especially with a full 8 participants on a small arena, and items
turned on.
And that’s certainly part of the charm.
But for those who take Smash Bros. a little more, let’s say seriously, 8-Player Smash--more
often than not--was not only surprisingly manageable, but also, to put into scientific
terms, a metric ass-ton of fun too.
And it helps that some of the stages were seemingly created especially made for that
amount of players, with gigantic arenas like Palutena's Temple and Kirby’s Great Cave
Offensive making for some truly unique-feeling experiences.
Hell, even the returning 75m stage from Smash Bros. Brawl is actually worth-while now thanks
to a few tweaks and the addition of more players.
Although you might want to make sure you’re playing on a larger TV when on some of the
bigger stages since the characters can get pretty small when the camera fully zooms out--thankfully
I had almost no problems keeping track of my character on my 42” set
Now one drawback to 8-Player Smash is that only about a third of the stages are available
if you’re playing with 7-8 people, and just a handful more if you’re playing with 5-6
players.
While I can understand the limitation when playing with the maximum 8 people, the amount
of stages that become unplayable for just 5 or 6 people feels far too restrictive.
It’s just a little disappointing that 2/3 of the stages become inaccessible simply for
adding a single person more
That issue aside, the selection here might just be the best overall of any Smash Bros.
game.
Of course, part of this is due to the fact that some of my favorite stages from past
games return, such as Onett, Delfino Plaza, and Halberd.
But the new stages too, really feel like they go the extra mile, by being perhaps the most
dynamic--and exciting--they’ve ever been.
Take the new Mario Circuit for example, which has you battling it out on various portions
of the the anti-gravity racetrack from Mario Kart 8--during an active race!
Which means you can find yourself in all kinds of unusual positions, such as having the racetrack
directly overhead, or even directly behind you, which means you’ll have to dodge incoming
racers at all kinds of altitudes.
Then there’s Gamer, from Game & Wario.
And just like in that game, you’ll have to keep an eye out for a patrolling mom in
the background.
Because if you aren’t able to retreat to the shadows in time, she’ll send you flying
if she catches you.
And in Wrecking Crew, you’ll actually be able to destroy a building floor-by-floor--but
watch out for the falling barrels that can trap you!
I really could go on and on about how fun and unique most of the stages are, such as
how the travelling Wuhu Island stage is gorgeous and each area you land in feels completely
unique--oh look, there I go again.
But with that said, not every stage is a home-run.
For example, as with the 3DS version, Dr. Wily's Castle is basically ruined by the ever-present
Yellow Devil who interferes way too much with the battle.
And to a lesser extent, the same goes for Pyrosphere and its Ridley boss too.
It’s honestly kind of baffling that, after all these years, there still isn’t an option
to disable stage hazards such as these.
And this is coming from someone who generally likes most stage hazards--but the option would
be nice, particularly in the case of those two boss characters.
Despite that, the stage selection truly is great overall.
Such a sin Mushroom Kingdom U...oh god, there I go again.
I really can’t stop!
And it’s also the largest it’s ever been, although it does lean just a little too heavily
on returning stages in order to accomplish that feat, as Smash Bros Wii U actually features
fewer brand new stages than Brawl did, which is a little disappointing.
Particularly when nearly everything else in the game has has been cranked to the max.
Such as the plethora of modes beyond just Smash matches.
I mean, on top of pretty much everything from Smash Bros. 3DS returning, such as Classic
Mode All-Star Mode, and Stadium events, there are some cool new modes too, such as Special
Orders, which comes in two forms: Master Orders and Crazy Orders.
In Master Orders, you pay an entrance fee to partake in one of three randomly selected
challenges for a chance to win a prize.
Whereas Crazy Orders steps it up a notch, by requiring a massive entrance fee in order
to battle in a series of challenges, with your reward increasing after each one.
But in order to keep the reward, you’ll have to take down Crazy Hand, who you can
choose to battle at any time.
So this introduces a risk vs. reward mechanic in trying to complete more challenges in order
to increase your reward before taking down Crazy Hand to maximize your investment.
But here’s the catch--you only have 10-minutes total which means you’ll have to move fast
in each challenge--oh, and your damage doesn’t reset between rounds, making each subsequent
one a greater and greater risk.
I found both of the Special Order modes to be an interesting--and engaging--diversion,
although I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find Crazy Orders to be incredibly frustrating
at times.
But my favorite mode, besides Smash battles of course, has to be the return of Events
mode, which has you playing through a series of unique challenges, complete with some flavorful
context.
And some of the challenges are really creative, -such as preventing an incoming barrage of
Game & Watches from touching the stage.
Oh, and there’s even a second set of stages available exclusively for 2-player co-op too.
I found this mode to be a lot of fun, and I couldn’t help wanting even more Challenges
after beating the 50+ solo ones.
Something else that returns from Brawl is the Stage Creator, and it’s both better
and worse than before.
The good news is you can create pretty much any kind of platform layout that you can imagine,
thanks to the ability to straight-up draw one of any shape on the GamePad.
The bad news is that the ability to add interactive elements is extremely limited, with moving
platforms, cannons, and springs being about the extent of it.
The selection is even more limited than Brawl’s Stage Creator, which also had Ice Blocks,
dropping platforms, and Spikes that you could add.
Despite this, the editor is still pretty powerful, as you can see here in my recreation of Hyrule
Castle from Smash Bros. 64.
But as you can also see, it also looks barely looks the part, as the game only has 5 themes
to choose from, which makes all of the custom stages feel very samey.
And the process of creating a stage isn’t exactly the most user-friendly either.
Why can’t I drag and drop platforms around that I’ve already created, instead of having
to delete them and recreate them somewhere else?
Oh, and though there is a grid you can overlay on the canvas to more accurately create your
stage, the lines aren’t actually all thick enough for them to be rendered on the GamePad’s
low-resolution screen accurately, making them harder to use than they should be.
With that said, it’s still a neat feature that allows for a lot of potential,
But perhaps the game’s biggest new mode is something called Smash Tour, which is basically
the Wii U’s version of Smash Run.
Except this this time, you power up your fighter--or fighters in this case--by collecting power-ups
on a board game.
And not just power-ups, but fighters too, which represent the characters & amount of
lives you’ll have in the final battle at the end of the game.
But that’s not the only battle, as you’ll engage in a variety of Special Matches throughout
the game whenever you encounter someone else on the board, which allows you to steal their
fighters in turn.
It’s a neat idea--particularly the Final Battle, which really should be its own mode
as I love the idea of being able to play as different characters within the same Match.
But here’s my problem: the whole thing is nearly incomprehensible.
The game’s director even said himself that it’s difficult to convey in words--and he’s
not kidding.
It’s unintuitive, unnecessarily complicated, and visually confusing.
There is just a ridiculous amount of stuff happening at once-- one after another.
In a single round, you’ll have random pre-turn item drops, split-screen item usage, to the
simultaneous dice-rolling and real-time player-movement, which is accompanied by whatever items you
and your opponents decided to use--such as being launched all over the map.
And if anyone encountered anyone else on the board, that means you’ll then have a Smash
Bros battle too, where even more item effects will take place.
Basically, I think I finally understand how my Dad feels when he watches me play a normal
round of Smash Bros, in that I had no idea what was happening.
Now granted, after a few games, Smash Tour finally did start to make some sense but it
never ended up clicking for me.
The entire thing felt too chaotic and random--as if nothing I did really mattered.
Add this to to the fact that it’s nearly impossible to explain to your friends in a
succinct manner while making sense, and you end up with a mode that I found to be more
trouble to play than its worth.
I mean, why would we bother with Smash Tour when we could just play Smash instead where
we’re guaranteed a good time?
And it’s actually for that exact reason that my indifference to Smash Tour doesn’t
really matter.
While I would have obviously liked to have enjoyed it more, it’s an optional mode that
doesn’t detract from the rest of the game at all.
And thankfully, as I said before, the core gameplay in Super Smash Bros. Wii U to be
fantastic.
The roster of characters is huge and fun to explore, the controls feel fantastic, and
I can’t imagine playing a future Smash Bros. game in which 8-Player Smash isn’t an option.
Oh, and then there’s the Amiibo support, which allows you to power-up a custom fighter
to the point that it becomes a real menace on the battlefield.
And I haven’t even talked about the game’s gorgeous visuals--which run at 1080p and a
rock-solid 60fps.
I seriously only experienced a handful of instance of slowdown in over 70-hours with
the game, and always under some pretty extraordinary circumstances.
With the odd exception of the pause screen, which almost always slows down when you zoom
in close.
Oh, and then there’s the game’s excellent soundtrack, which is hundreds of songs deep,
including a ton of fantastic remixes of both new and classic Nintendo songs.
Just listen to this:
Pretty great, right?
And that’s just 1 of over 400 songs in the game.
So clearly, there’s a lot to do in Smash Bros. Wii U. And while not every mode was
a home-run for me, they also didn’t need me to be.
I expect one thing and one thing only from Smash Bros: and that’s to have a Smashing
good time with friends--and Smash Bros. Wii U delivers that in spades.
So as you can probably guess, I Loved Super Smash Bros. Wii U.
It’s simply a blast to play with friends...as long as you’re not playing Smash Tour.
However, I should mention that online multiplayer was not functional at the time of this review.
Now I realize for many of you, that will likely be a huge component of the game, so rest assured
we’ll be covering it in the future.
But for me personally, since I’ve always found Smash Bros. to be best locally with
friends in the same room, the online functionality--and whether it even works well--has no bearing
on me loving this game.
But with that said, we will be covering its real-world performance as soon as we’re
able to.
Thanks for watching and make sure to stay-tuned to GameXplain.com for more reviews and other
things on Super Smash Bros. Wii U too.