This week marks a very special Smashing Saturday segment. For one, it’s the last one of year 2013, and second, it happens to mostly coincide with the holiday season! We here at oprainfall hope you and your loved ones all had a great time over winter break, and hope you’ll join us when Smashing Saturdays returns in 2014! A couple cool reveals happened this week, and we’ll top it all off with a very festive Character of the Week. That’s enough rambling – let’s get Smashing!
Monday’s screen picked up from the Rosalina reveal from last week. Apparently, the regal space princess is quite tall, but according to Sakurai, she boasts an anti-gravity effect. Presumably this means she’ll be very light and easily smashable, much like my favorite princess Peach. Hopefully her height advantage will give her more reach than the Mushroom Kingdom monarch. Either way, Mario definitely seems to like taller women…
Tuesday’s screen also picked up from last week. In the Rosalina reveal, they showed off a Mario Kart-esque Rainbow Road track, and lo and behold, Rainbow Road is now a new 3DS stage! Much like in previous games, this will be a constantly changing course, probably like previous F-Zero stages. Here’s hoping it is just as hectic and fun!
Wednesday was simply adorable. The theme of this screen is yellow characters, obviously. Pikachu and Luma I expected, but I am happy to see the return of Starfy, presumably as an Assist Trophy again. Though I would have preferred Starfy being playable, I’m glad to see the other son of Sakurai make a comeback.
Thursday was where things got even more interesting. First Wii Fit Trainer, then Rosalina, and now Princess Zelda has been confirmed to return to Smash! Not that I had any doubt the transforming princess would be returning, but it’s nice to see all the same. What is especially interesting is found in her picture gallery on the site, where it shows off the armor she wore in Spirit Tracks. Not sure if this is a new Assist Trophy, a new attack or what. But color me intrigued. Now all they need to do is announce Ness is returning…
Not much to say for Friday’s pic. Sakurai simply announced that no new pics will be forthcoming until January 6th, and wished everyone a happy new year. I can only hope he has plenty of other surprises in store for 2014, including a release date. In the meanwhile, I’ll leave you with a fantastic and festive Character of the Week by Raymond. Nothing says Christmas quite like an ornament-shaped Brawler…
Character of the Week
Okay, so previously I’ve said that I almost always play Smash Bros. games as Samus, but there are a few exceptions to this. When you’ve played these games as much as I have, and with such an enormous selection of characters, you have to mix it up sometimes. Knowing me, it can’t be just any fighter, it has to be as unique, weird, and unexpected as possible. For me, no character fits that description more than Jigglypuff.
Now I know what you’re thinking, this is just a troll character that I probably use just to annoy people rather than legitimately win. You may be right, and knowing that Rollout is my favorite move probably doesn’t help my case, but hear me out! Jigglypuff actually has a well-rounded moveset, and was considered one of the top tier characters of Super Smash Bros. Melee. However, like Samus, she was nerfed for Smash Bros. Brawl. I don’t know what it is about characters that are gutted in the latest release after being considered excellent fighters before, but I seem helplessly drawn to them (Kirby is another great example).
Those of you familiar with my play style know I love aerial combat, so floaty characters like Jigglypuff are a perfect fit. Her aerial physics are amplified by moves such as Pound, which interrupts enemy attacks, provides decent knockback, and provides a jolt of movement to Jigglypuff: perfect for the mobile fighter. If she’s on the ground, it’s to take a well-timed nap next to an exposed enemy with Rest. And let’s not forget Rollout. You might be surprised to hear an aerial player enjoy this move so much, but I’m not one just to sit on the ground and leave myself open while Jigglypuff revs up her high speed assault. No, given how light and floaty Jigglypuff is, she may be batted up in the air a lot, but when she comes back down nothing induces terror like the sight and sound of Jigglypuff spinning around faster and faster. Once she is unleashed, she bursts at top speed towards the enemy… and her kill.
So sure, for me Jigglypuff may just be for fun and to offer some variety, but isn’t that what Smash Bros. is all about? There are obviously characters that are strictly for novelty, and I have no doubt myself that tiers do exist in the games. But even the most dismissed characters can be mastered to their maximum potential to stack up against worthy foes. These masters of Smash Bros. have to have a little fun every now and then, and nothing says fun like dominating the field with a puff ball everyone thinks is too cute to fight.
