Super Smash Brothers – Nintendo 3DS

I was looking forward to this game a lot but not trying to get my expectations to high seeing as it is the first time for a smash game on the 3ds. Glad to say I was pretty accurate, but it was a little better than I thought. My only gripes are I cannot change the movement from the circle pad to the Dpad which I was really hoping for (if you know of a way to do this that I missed PLEASE let me know). My grips on the pad are worn down so my thumb slides off easily, so this may be a personal thing. My other issue is the lag of online play. My internet is pretty good and I generally have a low ping, with a high download and upload so I dont believe that to be the problem. Also, I had my phone turned off like some people recommend. Regular play felt quite smooth through every session. I had no issues with any setting, amount of players, or items that slowed down my system or felt out of place from my play so far.As for everything else I was very happy. There are a good amount of features and content especially for a 3ds game. Classic, all star, home run, and a few other game modes are back along with a few others. Smash run is a blast and I’m going to be playing a lot of it with my friends and family. I feel Nintendo is great at enhancing older ideas with new flare and this is no exception. Like I said, classic mode is back but you can choose between 3 paths… and you can change the difficulty based on how much gold you would like to spend. Not only that but at the end credit sequence you have a different mini game to complete, and I find this one particularly fun! There is also a new trophy rush game that I find entertaining as well. With all of the great modes you will have to see for yourself!The character roster has grown immensely, though I felt a lot more came unlocked than in previous games. I personally enjoy unlocking them but I was happy to be able to jump in with my favorites right off the bat as well. They have a nifty customization feature that allows you to change your Nintendo fighters stats AND abilities if you desire. The ability changes are alterations of there normal ones with some enhanced effects or small differences in general. A neat idea as you can pit your Mario up against a friends Mario and see who’s the better plumber :).In battle items are growing more interesting as time goes by. There are so many new ones I can’t possibly name them all (not that i can remember them anyway) but a few that stand out are the addition of the Master Ball which very often holds a legendary Pokemon in it, a 1up flag that either gives you a point in time battle or a stock in stock battle, and the gust bellows(I think) which pushes people around like Mario’s water cannon.I am sure i missed a lot of stuff in my review and made a few mistakes, however I highly recommend this game to anyone with a 3ds that loves to smash. Just for reference I have the fire emblem: awakening special edition 3ds. My brother has a 3ds XL and both systems seem to play about the same, except of course he has a bigger screen

I’ve spent a few hours with this game as of me writing this, and what can I say but man, this is a fun fun game. I wasn’t previously a big fan of the Smash Bros series, mainly because I wasn’t good at it and because I never had an N64 or Gamecube. Being a big fan of the 3DS though, this is the perfect chance for me to try it out in full finally. The game looks fantastic, and has tons of ways to play. The classic mode is a fun way to kill time while being introduced to the many characters that started it all. The local multiplayer so far with a few friends is flawless, and I’ve had a couple of online bouts that may or may not have gone well.GraphicsThe game runs at a very smooth 60 frames per second, even in it’s 3D mode. And I normally don’t play my games in 3D mode, but with this game the effect is very subtle and comes out looking very crisp. It’s very quick action and it doesn’t lag once. The cinematic final move scenes are awesome to watch even though they sometimes take a bit of time. I’m using the standard sized 3DS, which at times can be difficult to make out. However, I’ve tried the demo on the XL version, and it is levels above the tiny screen.GameplayBeing new to Smash Bros, this is a total first time impression on my part. The gameplay grows on you, and fast. When I first started playing the CPU was too much for me to handle. A few battles in, and I started to win more consistently. However, in classic mode you can choose how difficult you want the gameplay with higher difficulty giving better rewards, for all those experienced players out there. That is currently a challenge for me. Some reports stated that analog sticks were being broken due to the nature of the gameplay, but so far I haven’t found myself overly abusing it. No more than any other game anyhow. The only hiccup I’ve had so far was the fact that I’m still finding it difficult to pick up items. I might be too close to them or too far, but many a time I’ve missed it by just a millisecond after trying super hard to grab it. Also, this might just be me, but using x and y to jump felt a bit odd and took some getting used to.Pros- Smooth graphics running at 60fps- Huge character list, plus the hidden set of characters- Tons upon tons of unlockables, such as trophies and new abilities- Variety in gameplay modes will keep you entertained for a while- Massive amount of items to use and unlock during battle- Some items can be super fun to use (Nintendog)- The ability to customize your characters move set, which is new to the series.Cons- That annoying “GO” image that takes up the entire screen when the match starts. Precious seconds count.- With a smaller screen, you sometimes lose your character in all the action. This happens even more so with 4 characters at once. This might be more of a problem on the smaller 3DS.- A little hard to grab items at times.OverallThis is a solid game. And that’s coming from someone that came into the whole Smash Bros thing thinking that he was going to hate it. It’s easy to overlook the flaws in this because it’s really just a fun game no matter what level of game mode you’re looking for. From single player, to local multiplayer, to online multiplayer and street pass it’s got you covered.

If you’re into fighting games like Street Fighter, or just a veteran Smash bros. player this is a must-have game on the Nintendo 3ds; the flagship game(The type of game that you can literally buy a system just to have).Graphics – 5/5All of the visuals in the game are seamless: from the items, assist trophies, pokemon, to the final smashes and lush level designs. All(I mean all) of the characters were designed with love and care that you become attached to them–Even the weird ones such as unlockable characters or characters like Pacman are designed in such a way that they find a home in the Smash brothers universe. There are no glitchy graphics and the hit boxes are very accurate. Even the Mii fighter charcter is integrated well (although I wish you could of been able to use them on online modes as well).Gameplay 4/5There are many game modes to choose from. Most of them are worth playing especially Smash Run, Classic Mode and Online modes. There are many game modes where you are able to collect trophies and other valuable items such as alterations of characters’ moves and other customizable items to create custom versions of characters. A drawback however is you cannot use these custom items (and Mii Fighter) on most (if not all) of the online smash modes. Another drawback from the online modes is that you are at the mercy of players who tend to have a terrible wifi connection. But when all players have good connectivity, that’s where the fun begins!All of the mechnics are balanced in this game, where as characters like Bowser or Lucario felt uncomfortably slow in Smash Bros. Brawl, now get a slight speed boost. Lucario’s extreme speed move actually hits players, which is a welcomed feature. Characters such as Sheik, Peach, and Zero Suit Samus are slightly stronger as well. Overall many characters have moves that are simply different or edited from Smash Bros. Brawl in which many are welcomed. Other features removed from Brawl such as characters simply tripping or ledge hogging(players grabbing on a ledge before you got on a ledge in order to kill you) makes for a game that is more competitve rather than having cheap tactics and random slip ups.Apparently the 3ds version will also allow you to link it with the Wii U version and also allow for a free download of a recently announced character, Mewtwo in spring if you have both versions. So that’s also a big thumbs up.Music – 5/5This game has some of the greatest soundtracks in video game history. You get to hear the Green Hill song from Sonic 1 while you’re winding up a forward smash punch with Sonic to knock out a defensless floating Mario who just used his recovery up special. You got a game with a multitude of very talented composers such as “Tales of” Series – Motoi Sakuraba, Final Fantasy XIII – Masashi Hamauzu, Kingdom Hearts series – Yoko Shimomura, and plenty more. If you played any of the games in those series, you won’t be disappointed as far as the music goes. Although there are some silly songs lol — yet those songs fit the context of the levels and are still composed with great care.Sound Effects and Voices – 4.5/5The sound effects are very good at times while some of the sounds are cheap. Such as a beam blast from Samus beam shouldn’t sound like a toy laser gun lol. Perhaps it was to compensate for handheld systems semi-poor frequency response in the low end of the sound spectrum (in other words sounds such as bass). Most of the voice actors are good and fit the characters. However some of the voice actors, such as the one for Sonic from Brawl were preferred(in my personal preference).Controls – 4/5Surprisingly for a game that’s been on consoles (per say) that’s been brought to a handheld, the button response is amazing. It definitely takes getting used to but it is fairly accurate. It’s still can use some tweaks however, because when you want to use a up recovery with Greninja, sometimes you catch yourself using his shadow sneak–the difference between you winning the match and your opponent laughing at you for missing the ledge and you falling to your oblivion. You have the freedom of changing most of your controls, which is neat. But there’s only so much you should change, because the control layout is standard from the other Smash Bros; replacing the C buttons of the previous consoles with X and Y. If you use the small 3ds(like me) you start to feel the strain on your fingers around 1-2hr+ of playing the game so maybe a bigger 3ds system would be reccomended.Final Thoughts:If you have a 3ds. Buy it; you’re getting a video game console game on a handheld 10-20$ less than the console price. This game is actually worth more than the price, and has crazy replay value. Don’t take my word for it lol, check interviews on Gamespot or IGN. If you don’t have a 3ds and have a Wii U, then wait for/buy the Wii U version cuz it’ll probably be just as good. But then again, you can’t really plug in a Wii U in a long car ride/plane ride to another state/another country. Kids will definitely love it–you can’t go wrong. Veterans will appreciate it. And I’ve been playing Super Smash Bros. since the very first one on Nintendo 64 and I have to say, it’s come a long way. It’s just as fun as the ones on consoles. So like I said in the beginning of the review, it’s worth buying the handheld system for and I can see it being played by many people for years to come. Pure greatness.

I love this game!I wasn’t one of the kids fortunate enough to grow up with a Nintendo 64 (my brother and I had the Sega Genesis, which was awesome in its own right), so the only times I ever got to play the original Super Smash Bros was at other people’s houses. But when we eventually got the GameCube for Christmas one year, You can bet we asked for Melee.We played the crap out of that game. It was ridiculous how much fun it was. And growing up with Gameboys (the original “brick”, Pocket, Color, never got an advance but did get an SP, and eventually a DS) neither my brother nor myself ever expected to be able to play a Smash Bros on a handheld one day.Brawl was even more fun, and though the newest console I’ve purchased is still 2006’s Nintendo Wii, I’ve yet to own that console’s Smash Bros installment…But Glory Hallelujah!When a friend of mine wanted to sell his 3DS (which I affectionately call the “Threeds”) I was quick to snatch it up!I remember sitting in another friend’s living room, begging his crappy internet to keep working, spending the entire day watching this year’s E3, and only the Nintendo showing.When the Super Smash Bros for the 3DS finally came out, (and of course I didn’t exactly have the date written on my calender, but I’m pretty sure some friends did) it’s not hard to guess what I did…I went on Amazon and bought it, because my friend who works at the nearby superstore said it was gone immediately.Now, enough of my life story.All this praise aside, there are a couple things about the game that I’m not giddy like a school girl about:1. I really miss the Special fights. You know, the slow-mo fights, giant fights, stamina etc. Now, I’ve been told this feature is returning on the Wii U version, which is all fine and dandy, but I don’t see myself buying a Wii U any time soon, I just can’t afford it.Luckily I have friends who already have one and are planning on getting that version, so I know I’ll get to play them again.2. The other thing that perturbs me is the fact that they keep certain aspects of the game solely for people who buy BOTH versions of their game. As if anyone needs two versions of the same game.Now, I know it’s going to have differences, like the special fights and the 4v4 battles, which I understand why they would keep that feature off a handheld (8 fighters on one tiny screen, regardless as to how big the 3DS XL’s screen is, is too much), but it’s just the fact that they do that at all.I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me but I can’t see myself buying two copies of the same game, even if I do get Mewtwo…(Mewtwo>Lucario) (#Mewtwoforlife)Those things aside, I greatly enjoy this game and it’s basically a dream come true to be able to play it away from a TV and wall plug.I guess this just shows that Nintendo is in the same boat as Blizzard Entertainment:They both know how to get you to spend money.I give Super Smash Bros for the 3DS 5 stars because it’s awesome, deserves it and I haven’t regret the purchase, and don’t think I’m going to.Good job Nintendo, good job.P.S.Pac Man wasn’t as bad an addition as we originally thought. Touche.

Succumbed into the the discounts on DLC when you buy for both the 3DS and Wii U versions (I originally had the Wii U version only) and got this.Honestly controls and responds better than using my Pro Controller/GamePad on the Wii U, that or there is a noticeable increase in latency using wireless controllers with it, or the AI is a bit dumbed-down to be easier on the system. Smash Run is definitely more fun than the Wii U version’s Smash Tour (was a huge fan of Kirby Air Ride’s City Trial and see the resemblance), though they could’ve put the endgame minigames in a separate mode or let you make a game longer than 5 minutes (Kirby Air Ride’s let you extend it to 7, and it had Stadium mode for the minigames; Sm4sh for 3DS has equivalents to neither), since I’d love to play the ones where you dash or jump to the finish line without having to hope that I get that minigame after 5 minutes of Smash Run.The credits minigame after you beat Classic or All-Star where you have to complete the background by hitting the blocks of names is noticeably easier on the 3DS, but the difference in resolution might make that a bit expected.Only drawbacks are that you might mess up your 3DS circle pad from playing this, the overall lack of creative Single-player for both the 3DS and Wii U versions (no Adventure Mode, unique Target Test stages for each character and instead an Angry Birds/Crush the Castle rehash), and how the existence of this version and the cross-platform compatibility with the Wii U version is why there are no Ice Climbers, transformation between Zelda/Sheik and Samus/ZSS, or why Olimar/Alph only get 3 Pikmin (in comparison to 5 in Brawl for Wii) to name a few things, because since the 3DS can’t handle those things, the Wii U version is stunted a bit.As a result of the first one, I can’t play this as much unless I get a new system because the controls stick downward even if the circle pad itself re-centers.