It's been a week since the Smash Bros. Direct, and we're still not done with our coverage!
There's just so much to see that the old Analysis Machine is being put into overdrive.
And it's a good thing too since not only did we get the new character reveal of Greninja,
but a better look at all of the other newcomers.
So it's time for them to step into the spotlight so we can see what secrets and hidden details
they might be hiding.
But as always, be sure to check out our previous Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS coverage not
only on Greninja, but the biggest secrets and the 3DS version's new mode Smash Run!
So let's see how these newcomers play, starting with the Wii Fit Trainer.
What's unique about the Wii Fit Trainer's spotlight during the Direct is that it only
focused on two of her specials every other newcomer showed off every special move and
their Final Smash.
However, thanks to previous footage, details, and even scenes from the Direct, it's not
like we don't know what those will be.
So let's break it down.
As Sakurai stated, the Wii Fit Trainer's down special will be Deep Breathing.
Unlike a lot of moves in Smash Bros, it is designed as a buff for the Trainer, increasing
the strength of her attacks.
However, the circle that appears when she uses the move is timing-based and not automatically
done.
We can see proof of this when both the male and female Trainers perform the special.
She succeeds and he fails.
It's even possible to see their exact timing if you slow down the footage.
She activates just a little before the line reaches the red circle while he does it just
a little after.
This probably means that the timing is relatively forgiving, as long as you activate it before
it enters the red circle.
Activation is likely done by pushing the down special again.
And this move can even be done in the air, as long as you're not hit out of the animation.
The Trainer's neutral special is the Sun Salutation which is a chargeable solar energy ball.
It can actually be easily compared to Samus's Charge Shot since it can also be saved for
later use or even stop charging partway through by dodging.
Whenever the Trainer starts charging again, she picks up where she left off.
She also has the same sparkles around her as Samus when she's saving the energy for
later use.
What does make it unique is how it can be further powered by using Deep Breathing beforehand.
And though the Wii Fit Trainer's up special was not highlighted in the Direct, it was
seen being used multiple times.
The move uses hula hoops to lift her upwards and looks to have some horizontal movement
to it.
It can be used offensively as well, but we're curious whether the hoops are still offensive
as they slip off of her at the peak of her height?
Could they be used as an extended hit?
Finally, her side special looks to be the Soccer Ball.
While we're not completely positive, it looks like the arc of the ball can be changed slightly.
Sometimes it goes straight ahead while other times it has a more direct downward arc.
Interestingly, every time she uses the special in the trailer, she's performing it in the
air.
We believe that Soccer Ball actually causes her to leap into the air to use the special.
Perhaps maybe even its power and angle are determined by how long she charges it up,
if it can be charged at all.
Otherwise, we can see a wide range of normal attacks that the Wii Fit Trainer will utilize.
Her neutral attack punches forward but can actually hit opponents behind her as well.
We also see a split-second example of what could be her side or down attack.
It looks to hit to the left, but it's so low to the ground that it might be her down tilt.
Next up we get to see a few of her throwing animation.
When she tosses an opponent up, it's almost like she's preparing to spike a volleyball.
Even her follow-up attack matches the animation.
Meanwhile, her down throw looks like a violent game of leap frog.
Next up we can see examples of her up air, neutral air, and back air animations.
And there's even evidence of one of her combos where she thrusts her arm, then knee, and
finally her whole body.
Finally, there are the animations we've seen many times before like her smashes, her dash
attack, and her dodges.
But before we move on from the Wii Fit Trainer, there are a couple of smaller things to note.
For one, Sakurai has confirmed that both the Male and Female Trainers will have the exact
same reach and height meaning that players will need no learning curve when switching
from one to the other.
Secondly, the Trainer gives us one our best looks at hopping's return to Smash Bros. It
almost appears to home in on Luigi as her animation shifts to him to accommodate her
jumping near him.
And finally, it looks like the Wii Fit Trainer will be able to wall jump.
She's off-screen but looking at her animation, it's obvious that she's hanging onto a wall
before jumping away.
Up next is Mega Man, who has an incredibly diverse moveset that Sakurai showed off in
great detail.
First up was his slide which is his strong down attack.
As we've seen before, it can be used as an attack or even to dodge under projectiles.
However, we also see in the Direct that he will not be able to slide off the stage.
Instead, he will slide in place like he's hitting a wall.
Next is his Top Spin dash attack.
There's not too much to say about it except that it doesn't seem to have too much power.
Moving on, we see the Mega Upper, which is his strong up attack.
Just a simple uppercut really.
More interesting is his side smash which takes the form of his Charge Shot.
Not only can you hear the classic charging sound while he's using it, but the smash actually
travels across a part of the stage.
This is potentially the longest ranged smash in the series though based on this clip, it
may disappear shortly after firing it.
The Spark Shock looks to work like most up smashes, but the detail in Mega Man is truly
impressive.
After he finishes the attack, you can see him retract the spikes and release steam.
However, both of his hands stay in their gun form.
The same thing happens when he uses his Flame Blast down smash.
Could the attacks you use dynamically change Mega Man's hands?
Flame Blast also has the added effect of lasting a little longer after Mega Man finishes the
initial animation meaning it could have an effect similar to Ness's PK Fire.
Comparatively, his air attacks look pretty standard: Flame Sword when attacking forward,
Slash Claw when attacking backwards, and Hard Knuckle when attacking down.
It also has the added effect of being a meteor smash.
But it's his up air attack that has us the most intrigued.
The Air Shooter not only damages opponents but pushes them into the air.
This could mean that players could chase after their opponents after launching them and simply
use Air Shooter to push them off-screen.
Then there's his grab, which is the Super Arm.
So far we've only seen Mega Man throw opponents up, but here we see that his attack while
grabbing is to squeeze his opponent.
His side throw will likely mimic the animation from the games, but what form will his down
throw take?
Moving on, Mega Man's specials could all have some hidden depth to them.
His neutral special is the infamous Metal Blades.
In the Direct, we only see him throw it forward and backward, but if the Blades are anything
like the original game, he'll be able to throw them in eight directions.
And if that's the case, directional input would have to come after pushing the special
button.
Will players be able hold it down in order to aim first?
Next is the Crash Bomber, his side special.
In some ways it acts like the Gooie Bomb in that it attaches to opponents before exploding.
The question then is whether the Crash Bomber explosive can be passed on to someone else
by touching them?
Otherwise, what would the delayed explosion be for?
His down special is the Leaf Shield and based on the footage, it looks like it might work
as it did in the original games.
There, it would protect you from damage as long as you didn't move, but as soon as you
did, it would fly off in that direction.
While it could work like that, we don't see Mega Man actually move when he launches it.
Either it was a very subtle gesture on the part of the player, or it's thrown by using
down special again.
Simply as a shield, it looks like it can take four hits from projectiles before disappearing
but there's no evidence yet to how it reacts to physical strikes.
Finally, his up special is the Rush Coil.
It looks to have excellent recovery as Mega Man can move freely in the air.
However, multiple jumps on Rush will actually launch him higher and higher.
The only question so far is if Rush can be dropped on opponents for damage similar to
Sonic's spring, or if he could have other offensive capabilities?
Other players can probably use Rush themselves while he's still on screen as well.
Mega Man's Final Smash hasn't been named yet but it's an absolute treat for fans of the
series.
In it we can see Megaman.EXE, Mega Man X, Classic Mega Man, Star Force Mega Man, and
Mega Man Volnutt from Legends standing from left to right.
Together they fire a beam where each has a different color that likely combines into
one massive rainbow laser.
The question is would this beam be the same size as Samus's Final Smash or even bigger
since it likely can't be aimed?
Once again, before we move on from Mega Man, there are some smaller tidbits to note.
First of all is how prevalent Mega Man's normal shots from the Mega Buster are.
Unlike other fighters, it seems his neutral ground, neutral air, and strong side attack
will all be the same.
The only difference is his placement.
Either in the air, standing still on the ground, or moving and shooting respectively.
Otherwise, it seems like he can only fire three shots at a time, just like the limit
from his games.
The most curious thing about Mega Man though is this scene with Donkey Kong.
Not once does he flinch during the attack.
In fact, he can be seen getting ready to use his Mega Buster.
He's only stopped by a thrown green shell.
Why wasn't he being damaged before?
He didn't have a star and he hadn't just revived.
Could an item be affecting Donkey Kong or is this a glitch?
Next up is the Villager whose spotlight gave a better look at many of his abilities.
First up was his neutral special, Pocket, which is more impressive than we first thought.
It seems like any projectile sent his way can be pocketed and used for his own purposes,
even something as big as Zelda's Phantom Knight.
The only thing we don't know for sure is if he can do the same for smaller projectiles
like Fox's laser or any thrown items.
If we compare it to Marth's counter, which could deflect these things back in Brawl then
maybe there won't be any limits.
Just the skill of the player.
We've also known about the Villager's side special for a while now too, the Lloid Rocket.
This sends out a rocketing gyroid at enemies that explodes on impact.
However, the Villager can also ride the rocket.
At first we weren't sure how this works, but there's a small scene where we see him hopping
on.
This could mean that a simple tap of the side special fires the rocket, while pushing and
holding it allows him to ride the gyroid.
There is still one unknown though.
Does the Villager take damage if the Rocket explodes with him riding on it?
Since it could likely help him with his recovery, could another player destroy it early by firing
a projectile at it?
This would match the concept seen with his up special, Balloon Trip.
As we've noted before, his recovery can be stopped if his two balloons are popped.
What we didn't realize was just how quick they let him move.
Because of the slow pace they showed before, we believed the movement to be automatic.
But now we wonder if the Villager can control the pace by how quickly he jumps.
This would allow him to dodge any rivals trying to prevent his return.
His down special, Timber, is quite different from other moves we've seen.
It actually takes four steps for it to become an attack.
First you have to plant the seed, and then water it to make it grow, then chop it once,
and finally make it fall.
After each of these steps, we see the Villager return to his idle animation which means that
it should be possible for him to do each of these steps in between fighting.
Presumably, all it would take is to return to the spot and press the down special again.
It could be a long-form trap in the same way as Snake's C4 except with even more steps.
Of course, you could just do them one right after another too while other fighters are
busy amongst themselves.
But perhaps the best move in the Villager's arsenal is his Final Smash, the Dream Home.
Why is it so great?
Simply because it confirms Tom Nook's criminal background.
If you successfully activate the Final Smash, which looks to be close range in the same
vein as Captain Falcon or Meta Knight, Tom Nook will appear.
The Villager immediately gives him a bag of cash to build a house around his enemy.
Of course him and his sons build it as shoddy as possible so it immediately explodes.
This is just plain assassination.
Just look at the murderous glint in the Villager's eyes!
There are a few more moves that we see from the Villager.
Including using an umbrella during what could be a side or neutral attack, whacking away
with a stick for his up attack, and using a slingshot for his neutral air.
Other items he uses include the shovel for his down smash which has the odd effect of
burying enemies instead of immediately damaging them.
However this is the perfect setup for his bowling balls, which are likely his side smash.
Finally, his grab is his net and we even see how he will damage opponents when he has them.
He shakes the net back and forth.
Our next fighters are Rosalina and Luma who make quite the unique tag team.
And thanks to the Direct, we have a much better idea on how they actually work.
The key ability of Rosalina seems to be her neutral special, the Luma Shot, which is primarily
used to throw out Luma or bring him back in.
Throwing him out can actually damage opponents, but it's best used to get Luma into the fray.
She doesn't have direct control over him, instead he wanders around on his own until
she performs an attack.
He'll immediately mimic whatever move she did.
Of course, all of his moves are slightly different.
And thanks to Rosalina's reveal trailer, she doesn't even need to physically perform the
move for Luma to attack.
When she's picked up by Donkey Kong, Luma attacks him on his own which means that the
player still input the attack and it responded in turn.
What's most interesting is that Luma seems to jump around a lot.
This could be because he's attempting to be on the same level as Rosalina.
Every time he jumps, she's higher than him, except during the Mario Galaxy stage.
However, this may be because of the unique gravity there.
The best example of this is actually when Donkey Kong grabs Rosalina and walks away.
Luma jumps when she's higher up but stops when she falls to the other side.
This also shows that she and Luma can't be too far away.
When she leaves a certain range, he will follow after her.
Rosalina's side special is Star Bits.
They shoot out from Luma in what seems to be a limited mid-ranged attack.
However, because they shoot from Luma, what does that mean if he's gone?
We've already seen that he can be destroyed so is the attack unusable if Luma isn't there?
And if the Luma is gone, how does Rosalina summon another one?
Would it simply be her neutral special?
Next up is her up special, the Launch Star.
There doesn't seem to be much to say about it except that it has an arcing trajectory
that should help her recover easily.
What we don't know is if the attack has any offensive power.
It looks like it would be good for an initial strike, but not much else.
Finally, the Gravitational Pull looks to be a unique down special.
Not only can it deflect Mario's water, but it seems to suck in Lucario's Aura Sphere.
The difference is that Rosalina was in the air at the time.
If she had been on the ground, would it have simple arced over her like the water?
And if this is the case, would she be able to use this tactic to hit other players around
her?
It seems likely, but would it count as her victory or Lucario's?
Also of note is that during the Gravitational Pull, all Luma does is a little twirl.
We doubt that this does anything, but it's cute that they gave him the animation.
Her Final Smash, the Power Star looks to be best used in the middle of a stage.
The individual stars that burst out seem to have good range, and they even ricochet off
the stage if they come into contact with it.
The rest of her moves look good on their own and are obviously enhanced by the presence
of Luma.
Her down smash only hits to the lower right, but with him there, she can cover both sides.
Her combo also has greater range.
We also see examples of her forward and backward throw though it appears that Luma is unable
to grab anyone.
Once again Luma has one last tidbit to show, he's not affected by Mario's cape.
Despite getting hit by it directly, he doesn't turn around and instead smacks Mario.
Could he ignore other reflective abilities as well?
Finally, there's Little Mac who seems to work mostly as we predicted.
He's able to shrug off some attacks, but it's still unclear which ones can actually affect
him.
He's also quite amazing on the ground though terrible in the air.
It's his specials that are truly interesting, especially his neutral one, the Straight Lunge.
This is a chargeable punch that launches Mac forward an impressive distance.
From this clip here, we can see that if it's fully charged, he can cross half of Final
Destination.
But it's the move's connection to his Power Meter that makes this special such a threat.
Originally we thought the Power Meter could only be filled by dealing damage while receiving
damage would decrease it.
It turns out that both will fill the meter.
However, we can see that the clip is once again sped up which means that it will still
take a while to fill completely.
The two strategies against the K.O.
Uppercut is to take out Mac before he has it ready or dodge it when he goes to use it.
According to Sakurai, it's a one-use hit so even if he misses, it will be gone.
His side special, the Jolt Haymaker, also has the unique feature of automatically making
him dodge incoming attacks.
It's how he's able to completely ignore Mega Man's charged Mega Buster and get in close.
It could also help give him some horizontal momentum in the air to help his up special.
The Rising Uppercut is a completely vertical recovery that makes Mac's one of the worst
in the game.
However, it seems to have more offensive power than most other up specials.
Finally, there's his down special, the Slip Counter.
It pretty much works like every other counter and will require good timing on the part of
the player.
We also got a slightly better look at his Final Smash, Giga Mac.
While before we only saw him walking, this time we get to see him throw a few punches
as well.
Based on this little bit of footage, we believe that the Final Smash will enhance all of his
punches but make him noticeably slower.
The rest of his moveset looks to be fast and brutal when on the ground.
He might have some of the strongest smashes in the game if we go by Sakurai's statement
that they're supercharged.
However, we did spot that Mac has a meteor smash in his arsenal despite his poor air
game.
Though we wonder if it'll be significantly weaker than other meteor smashes.
And that's everything we could find about the newcomers in Super Smash Bros. for Wii
U and 3DS.
They all look like great options with different strengths and weaknesses.
It probably won't take long for players to find their favorites.
Of course, if we missed anything, please let us know in the comments.
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Thanks for watching and make sure to stay tuned for even more analyses on the Smash
Bros. Direct and coverage on other things gaming too!