A lot of us here at Entering the Infinite have been waiting for this game since we all found out that Brawl was not the boon we had first viewed it as. While the game definitely played a big part in the development of gameplay, the glaring flaws of the online play and the dissipation of the level of competition left us wanting more. As such, we’re going to give you a collaborative review so you can see it from multiple perspectives. Let Hobbs, Bobby & Mike give you the breakdown and how we feel about the game.
-Hobbs-
As someone who clung to the intensity of Melee as Brawl became the mainstay in most of my friends’ houses, I was both anxious and reserved about the potential this new installment held. My anxiousness stemmed from the hype associated with the new characters, the better graphics, and the mobility of a handheld Smash while the bitter taste of Brawl held my hype in check. As stated in my first article on this site, this game may very well be the one that begins to pull Nintendo from the brink of extinction. As such, let’s see if my list of demands was fulfilled.
I got this mainly for the For Glory Mode
What’s New?
With one of Nintendo’s biggest franchises being ported to a handheld for the first time, I was a bit apprehensive as to how the game modes would be ported and what features would be included to take advantage of this mobile mayhem. Rest assured, you need not share this concern. Game modes are plentiful while avoiding the somewhat convoluted Subspace Emissary missions from Brawl. Mainstays like Classic mode and Home Run challenges return while introducing some new features like the street smash which is reminiscent of a game of bumper cars in Tiny Toons Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland. Smash Run is something Nintendo seems to have put a lot of stock into but takes a little too long for my taste and never truly seems fair based on the fact that criteria for success is never consistent. The Target Smash rebirth feels a little phoned in but is still pretty addicting all the same. Overall, they nailed the feeling and essence of what should be a Smash while introducing new twists on a fan favorite. 9/10.
Graphics
The first thing you’re going to notice as you boot up this game is how tight the graphics appear despite the size of the screen. The stages, both new and old, have been beautifully rendered and faithfully recreated to represent their characters’ home worlds. This makes the models used for the characters feel right at home. Midbattle, the gameplay progresses smoothly and clocks in at 60 FPS, while assist trophies are at 30 FPS. The prioritization of gameplay in this respect makes me happy they went this route. The only complaint I have is that I wish I didn’t have to stare at my hands for so long – my neck started to hurt after looking at such an odd angle for so long. With nothing truly negative to say, I give graphics a 10/10.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack here is superb. Whether you’re into the new characters like Dark Pit and Shulk or classics like Mega Man and Sonic, you’ll think you’re actually playing an excerpt from those games. I particularly love the sound effects they’ve used with everyone; jumping with Mario and landing with Mega Man yields the same sound effects you heard as a kid sitting at your NES. Some wonderful medleys and remastered works join some of the already-established staples and make this music to your earholes. I’ll give it a 9/10 based simply on the fact that I’d rather have some of the original tracks than the orchestral pieces, though they are expertly done.
Gameplay
The biggest concern I had knowing the plights of Brawl was the online play. The Wii wrote checks its tiny white ass could not cash and I was hoping that Nintendo added funds before bouncing another check. Fortunately, they seem to have cobbled up some funds to at least pay me for the initial insufficiency. Online play is a double edged sword; I have had great experiences and less-than desirable ones. On the Wii, ALL of my experiences were negative, so this is already a step in the right direction. I have had good experiences in the 1 v 1 For Glory mode – very little lag if any at all and typically good competition. However, when adding more players, whether it be For Fun or For Glory, lag becomes a problem, as one may expect. It’s typically not terrible, but I expect better after being let down before. Being someone who see the online primarily for the 1 v 1 For Glory mode, I give this a 7/10.
35/40 = 87.5% B+ All in all, I love the game and can easily look past its pitfalls. I highly recommend it and think it’s a game that sells systems.
-Mike-
When Super Smash Bros. was announced for the 3DS, I was highly skeptical that Nintendo would be able to make the game play well on a handheld. I was concerned about the screen size, the controls, & roster size. After playing, I can say that this is everything I hoped for and more from a handheld Super Smash Bros.
What’s New?
Classic mode has been enhanced in Smash, the player gets to pick a path for each battle, easy, normal, & hard, with each path providing a different amount of coins & enemy types, mega, team, free for all, and each path provides an increase in awards for winning the fight. Classic is set by default to a difficulty of 2, to increase or decrease the difficulty, the player must wager coins, but in doing so receive a great reward for increasing the difficulty, lesser reward for decreasing the difficulty. The Smash Run mode I’m not thrilled about, it’s fun, but for gimmicky. You pick your character, defeat little enemies for 5 minutes gaining stat boosts and then fight the 3 computer players with the stat boosts. Not a huge fan of this mode. All-Star mode allows the player to fight characters from Nintendo eras, the thing is the characters aren’t very strong and it feels like a mini x Man Brawl. The damage you received carries over eras. It’s a fun mode to fight each character in the game. The new characters & stages are a blast to play with; they did a great job with Mega Man. When he dies, they show the Mega Man death graphics, his moveset is a great flashback to Mega Man powers, and his final smash shows various versions of Mega Man. For What’s New, I give a 10/10.
Soundtrack
Like with previous entries the soundtrack for Smash is expansive and highly enjoyable. Each stage uses music from an entry of the game it is from. I was playing the Mushroom Kingdom stage, the first time playing it, I was able to enjoy the Super Mario Brothers 1 stage 1 track, the next time playing it, Super Mario Brothers 3 music was played. The Mega Man stage may have some of the best music in the game. I usually turn my volume off when playing my 3DS, but when playing Smash, I make sure it is on so I can enjoy the soundtrack. I give 10/10 for the soundtrack.
Controls
The nice thing about the controls for Super Smash Bros is that the control scheme matches that of the Melee & Brawl, when playing with Gamecube controller, entries of the series. B special attacks, A regular attacks & smash attacks, Left Bumper grab, Right Bumper shield, d-pad taunt. My one complaint about the controls, that will probably be solved by the new 3DS & the introduction of the C-stick, is that it’s tough to perform a smash attack when you want to. It seems like at times when you try a smash attack, the 3DS believes you are trying to do a dash attack. Another downfall, this falls more on the console, is that the game is causing a lot of circle pads to break, either the rubber falls off or the plastic beneath it snaps. I’ll give controls 9/10
Gameplay
I have tried playing only a handful of online matches, but each time I have tried, I have had some sort of issue. I tried playing a “For Fun”, unranked match, match the other day and kept receiving an error, I then played a “For Glory”, ranked match, after selecting my character, I suffered some serious lag during the match countdown. I tried playing a “For Glory” Free For All match on a different occasion, and received the same error as with the “For Fun” match, I was able to play a “For Glory” Team match, but did deal with some lag during the actual match. The error I am receiving seems to be a popular error with others online, it is Error: 018-0501 which appears to be a server issue. A fun little mode for online is the Conquest mode where for every 3 or 4 days, Nintendo sets 2 fighters against each other, if you use one of the players for online, you earn points, which net you rewards upon completion, coins and custom parts. Online play for me so far has been very shaky, but local multiplayer where a friend hosted has been much better and smoother. I did receive some lag this way, but it was not very noticeable. The local multiplayer is a great mode to play when at a friend’s house. I give online play 8/10.
I wish there was a little more variety to the roster. Is there really a need for Link & Toon Link, Pit & Dark Pit, and Mario & Dr. Mario? I get that they have different stats, but it would be nice to see more variety in characters and movesets. I also wish they updated some of the final smashes of the older fighters; Kirby received a new one, but for the most part, the older characters have the same final smashes.
So in total, we are looking at 37/40, 93% and if we average the ratings out a 9.25 out of 10. I really enjoy this game and I do not see this game leaving the 3DS or 3DS case anytime soon. It’s a great game to play whether you have a couple of hours or only a couple of minutes to play. With a wide range of characters, new and old, unlockables, characters, stages, and trophies, and challenges to complete, there is plenty to do in Super Smash Bros for the 3DS. If you do not own a 3DS, get one to enjoy this game, and if you already own a 3DS, then definitely get this game.
-Bobby-
The title “Super Smash Bros” has always been something I’ve equated with a good time. Countless evenings with friends, setting up tournament style brackets, learning the ins and outs of our favorite players, and raging about who spams with characters too much. The Smash Bros series is a staple in what I’ve come to love from video games, and being slightly let down when Brawl was released, I had high but cautious expectations for the newest installment for the 3DS. And I have to say, it’s been almost impossible for me to put down.
What’s New?
The anticipation with every new Smash Bros game always centers around the new fighters, and Nintendo did a solid job of adding a new, eclectic groups of characters this time around. I’ve been branching out from my Smash staples of Samus, Link, and Bowser to explore some of the new additions, finding characters such as Little Mac, Greninja, and yes even Pac-Man a lot of fun. While some new fighters like Wii Fit Trainer and Village I find difficult to use or just plain creepy, with 49 playable characters and 15 fresh faces, there’s a lot of diversity to broaden gameplay and seemingly endless replay value should you want to explore all the fighters. As always, there’s a plethora of new items and stages as well, pulling from a multitude of past gaming classics to create all sorts of new ways to cause mayhem and destruction. Unique to this Smash game is the addition of customization for characters, allowing you to tailor any character’s special attacks and abilities. I haven’t had much of a chance to try these out yet but the concept seems promising and once again adds even more diversity into the game. A small but awesome additional for me was the option to turn any stage into Omega mode, keeping the stage environment the same but with a flat fighting surface parallel with Final Destination. With cool character/item additions and intriguing customization features, I give what’s new 9/10.
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll just watch you while you sleep and devour your dreams.”
Soundtrack and Audio
Not a lot stood out to me here, which can be looked at as good and bad at the same time. The soundtrack for levels and general gameplay keep consistent with themes and reflect well on the game of origin each level is based on, making you feel at home with familiar games. At the same time, the music is generally masked over by sounds of the fray and you have to be playing fairly close attention to notice it most of the time. The sounds effects within the fights are what I’ve come to expect with Smash Bros games and definitely gives off the vibes of familiarity to those who’ve played the game before. It’s gets a little mashed up with 4 player brawls, with player fighting sounds, effects from items, and ambient noises from the levels, but at the same time that adds to the chaotic, frenzied atmosphere you’d expect from Smash games. With not much either outstanding or detrimental, I give soundtrack and audio 7/10.
Controls
This was my biggest area of apprehension approaching this game. I wondered how the transition from a GameCube controller to a handheld system would be, and whether or not any aspects of gameplay would be lost in the mix. Initially, yes, some amount of how I was used to playing Smash was altered. I had difficulty adapting to holding the 3DS so that both the L and R triggers could be easily accessed and I felt like I was near dropping my game system for the first few plays through. But, after some practice and small initial frustrations, the controls became more natural and executing the moves I wanted when I wanted became more fluent. With a slight learning curve involved but overall relative ease of use, I score controls at 8/10.
Gameplay
Here’s the selling point in this game for me. For the most part since getting the game, I’ve been diving into game after game of Solo Free-for-All or Survival Smash rounds, what I feel is the meat and potatoes of any Smash game. This has keep consistent with the solid gameplay I’ve grown to love from previous Smash games and the replay value here is near infinite. Stock battles with two or three CPU opponents has been consistently enjoyable, although the computer AI seems slightly downgraded from previous games. I find that I beat computer players on 9 difficulty fairly handily, apart from those characters that have counter moves, which the computer seems to execute successfully with frequency. Smash Run and Classic Mode are definitely traditional and keep up the board game style story play we’ve seen before, and are a fun way to gather all the collectables and customizations within the game. The Mini Games like Home Run Contest and Target Blast are enjoyable, but lose their replay value quickly to me. All in all, I was looking for a dynamic, entertaining, and challenging game experience with a lot of replay value and variation. 3DS Smash has hit that mark for me and left me satisfied, so gameplay gets 9/10.
Summary
34/40 for a 85%. Anyone with any familiarity with the Super Smash Bros series will undoubtedly find many things to love about this game. It has the same presentation and appeal from previous installments and delivers on what I, as a Smash enthusiast, wanted from this game. The traditional elements of the game that we all love are still there, with a multitude of new characters, stages, items, and gameplay features to explore to keep the game feeling fresh. This is definitely a step back in the right direction for the Smash series, and a must play every Nintendo fan out there. Get this game, you won’t regret it!
