Following in the footsteps of last week’s Dedede reveal, this week was very penguin centric; which is a good thing. What was less of a good thing was the lack of MORE character reveals. Regardless, we have some fun screenshots to share, plus a brand spanking new Character of the Week that is sure to appeal to all those rabid Pokefans out there. Are you excited? You should be. Let’s get Smashing!
Monday was a glorious start. I mean, what better way to start your week than with a hammer-wielding penguin? The Miiverse post reiterated that Dedede has the most powerful side smash attacks in the game, as seen by him KOing two Brawlers at once! Poor Marth and Toon Link are hitting the stratosphere, and it looks quite painful. I remember the timing on this uber-attack was tricky for me, but it looks super effective nonetheless.
For some reason, I got overly excited by Tuesday’s screen. I thought it was super cool that Rosalina had a halo, until Sakurai ruined it with a dose of reality. This screen doesn’t prove Rosalina is an angel, but rather shows off the differences between her and Luma’s attacks. Apparently this is a Saturnian Ring, for her strong up attack. Granted, it’s splitting hairs a bit, but I still say boo on Sakurai for the distinction.
Wednesday broke my brain a bit. At first I got super excited, as I thought it was a new playable character reveal, until I realized it was just an assist trophy. She looked familiar, but all Sakurai had to say was the following coy remark – “Who’s the girl next door, living in the haunted mansion? You’d better learn my name because it’s…” This drove me crazy, until I realized I recognized her from Wario Ware: Touched! This assist trophy is none other than witchy Ashley! Not sure how she’ll contribute as a trophy, but it should be suitably crazy. What really made me excited about this trophy reveal was that it makes it more likely that Wario might return in the next game! Granted, I wasn’t the best with the bike riding, face-chomping, fart-propelling miscreant, but I have to admit his unique style alone makes him worthy of inclusion. Fingers crossed for his eventual reveal.
Not much to say about Thursday’s pic. It’s a great screen, but all it does is illustrate the size difference between Mario and the big boys. Not that their size has ever helped them against the overpowered plumber before, since the well balanced Brawler usually mops the floor with slow, heavy types. Maybe that will be different in the new games… Also, I love how happy Dedede looks in this picture.
While Monday’s screen made my heart soar, this one made it sink. Poor Dedede, helpless before the fury of Zelda! Even worse, Sakuri is urging her to finish him! Madness, since Sakurai is the godfather of all things Kirby related. Perhaps he just likes powerful women? Regardless, that’s what this week had to offer. But that’s not all! We have a special Character of the Week by our own Kyle Emch for you! Keep reading to see what he has to say.
Character of the Week
KYLE: Mewtwo is another playable character from Melee that got cut from the roster in Brawl. He is the second character that fans have been begging to see return before and since Brawl was released. And that’s for one very simple reason: he’s friggin’ Mewtwo. He is frequently depicted as the most powerful Pokemon in existence. When I discovered that he was a playable character in Melee via unlocking him, I was stoked! I couldn’t wait to be able to play as the greatest Pokemon of all. Unfortunately, that’s not what ended up happening 9 times out of 10.
I didn’t play as Mewtwo nearly as much as I have as Roy. That’s mostly because there were a few faults I had with the character. I found his Side-B and Down-B attacks, Confusion and Disable respectively, were rarely useful. Or, at the very least, they were significantly less useful than Shadow Ball and Teleport. He was also very slow yet very floaty and light, which always felt dissonant to me. Of course, when I learned what Mewtwo’s speed stat in the Pokemon games was, it made even less sense.
But I always felt that, with a little refinement, Mewtwo could be a really awesome playable character. His Shadow Ball was a pretty good ranged attack and Teleport was pretty good for recovery. Plus, since Mewtwo is a badass psychic, he was a god with items. I get the feeling that this was the main reason why items were banned from competitive play; so that Mewtwo wouldn’t completely destroy his opponents in every single match.
That’s why I was hoping that Mewtwo would be one of the characters that returned to Brawl. Unfortunately, once all the characters were revealed, I was disappointed when it was revealed that Lucario would replace Mewtwo. How could they replace Mewtwo, one of the most powerful Pokemon in existence, with this Pokemon? I mean, Lucario was a badass, but he’s no Mewtwo. I got over it once I actually played as him. From a gameplay standpoint, Lucario is better than Mewtwo. But it’s just not the same.
While Mewtwo has gotten a significant revision in Project M, I’m still hoping for an honest-to-goodness comeback for this Pokemon. Given his recent appearance in the latest Pokemon movie where he was one of the main characters, it stands to reason that he may return to Smash Bros. in the latest installments. Perhaps his Final Smash would be him undergoing a Mega Evolution, given how the mechanic was featured in the film and is now all the rage in Pokemon X and Y. It may come at the cost of playing as Lucario (who I actually like, despite replacing Mewtwo), but if Mewtwo is done well, I’ll be okay with it.
