The fine folks at oprainfall love us some niche game goodness, be it RPG, Puzzle, Platformer, Racing, Fighter or any other genre. We love trumpeting the call of underappreciated or unknown titles to our loyal fans. However, it is a safe bet that each and every one of us has a little love for some mainstream games. One in particular has captivated many of us. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? It’s called Smash Bros.
That said, many of us are foaming at the mouth (not literally) for the upcoming 2014 release of Smash Bros for the Wii U and 3DS (still wish it had a better subtitle). Whether we primarily use Mario or Sonic, Kirby or Olimar, or even Ganondorf or Bowser, we are beyond eager to get our mitts on the freshest, and hopefully best, new entry. But what, you ask, can we do to make the time pass quicker? Well, speaking strictly for myself, I am very visually motivated. I love me some pictures and screenshots. So I often find myself checking out the official site daily and taking a gander at what is new. While I often have to wait long and hard for a dramatic new character release, Sakurai-san provides many pretty pictures to help bide my time. So in this segment, we will recap you with what you might have missed this week, be it new character details, returning favorites or just shiny, shiny pictures.
Monday brought us this fine screenshot, displaying two of my least favorite characters. Before you get up in arms, hear me out. I like the Zelda series fine. It is entertaining, classic and one of the best that Nintendo has to offer. However, as far as balance goes, Link and Toon Link are at the far extremes of the spectrum. Link is slow, methodical and tricky to use. Many have mastered him, but I am not one of them. Toon Link, on the other hand, is a whirlwind menace, charging around and generally being a nuisance. Though I respect them both being in the game, I am far from their biggest fan.
The interesting thing to note here is how much more cartoony Toon Link looks, and how much more realistic Link looks. In previous games, they resembled each other far more. I also note their swings are differently colored, one green, one blue, one jagged and one smooth. I hope this visual distinction means their move sets might be more different from each other this Smash. A faint hope, I know, but I am nothing if not an optimist.
I found Tuesday to be far more interesting. Villager looks to be the next Mr. Game & Watch, with a varied and mischievous move set based around stunning and generally messing with his opponents. Wii Fit Trainer is equally compelling, given her generic look and athletic capacity. It’s not surprising to have two newbies facing off, but I do appreciate that the 3DS version looks to have a classic Mario-style stage. My take away from here is how, even on the 3DS, the graphics look smooth and detailed, despite the exaggerated black outlines around characters. I fervently hope both these characters are half as interesting to play as they are to look at.
Wednesday. Sigh. Much as I might not be a huge Toon Link fan, he is far better in my estimation than Fox. It probably doesn’t help that I didn’t like the controls in Star Fox, but I found Fox in Smash to be cheap, annoying and derivative, given that he had not one but two clone characters. I say that the only way they should allow another Star Fox character in the future is if they let in Slippy. I can envision a completely different moveset from the spastic space frog. Barring that, though, here’s hoping this screenshot is showing off the only Star Fox character to show up in the new Smash.
Thursday’s screenshot was by far the most interesting. We’ve know for a while that Wii Fit Trainer was going to be one of the new characters. What we did NOT know is that there is going to be a male version! I’m gonna go ahead and guess that this is merely a costume swap. However, if there are going to be two Wii Fit Trainers with different movesets, then I would be intrigued. How would they play differently? Would the male trainer be slower and stronger than the lithe, quick female trainer, ala Ike and Marth? I doubt that’s the case, but I’ll enjoy daydreaming until Sakurai reveals the truth.
And then we have Friday’s image. Perhaps the most boring of them all. Don’t get me wrong, I like Pit and really dug Kid Icarus: Uprising. I would just be more interested in seeing the 3DS version of the character. We all know how Pit controls on the Wii game, but how will Pod weapon using Pit from Uprising differ? Oh well, at least it’s a dynamic shot of everyone’s favorite angel.
Before I forget, a special thank you to our very own Brodie Dayton-Mills from our graphics team for the fantastic featured image! Until next week, keep on playing games and have a Smashing Saturday!
