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The fourth installation of Super Smash Bros is finally here! Each version of the game that has come out has provided countless hours fun so you can imagine my excitement when I finally got my hands on this game. To no surprise this game lived up to my expectation and once again I found myself totally engrossed in the game. For those of you who are new to the series Super Smash Bros is a fighting game that pits Nintendo characters (and a few that are not such as Pac Man and Mega Man) against each other. The goal is to knock the other opponent out to have the most number of KO’s, to be the last one surviving, etc. depending on the rules of the match.
The controlling scheme is the same across all the characters, i.e. the B button is for your special moves, A button is for standard attacks, etc. and so if you know the scheme for one character you’ll be set for the rest. Now the difference is what the character does when you do the input and the timing of it. For example a standard B attack with Mario is his fireball, but with Link he’ll bring out his bow and arrow, which you can charge up. Thus you’ll have to have different strategies depending on whom you use. In total there are 48 characters in this version; 36 of which are in your starting roster and the other 12 are unlocked through various conditions or by having an “x” number of battles. One new feature is that you can customize your characters and even create your own mii fighter and customize its appearance and moves.
As for the modes of this game classic mode and all-star mode make a return. A difference however, is that in classic mode you choose the path you take and so you’ll have a choice as to who your opponents are or maybe taking a road that contains extra coins and trophies. In higher difficulties you also get to choose whether you face Master Hand alone or you can choose to take on Crazy Hand and Master Hand. In higher difficulties they also switch it up and you’ll get a surprise on who your opponents will be, but I won’t spoil that you’ll have to get there on your own; I’ll just say that it really spices things up. As for All-Star mode it works like in previous games, but you fight characters in chronological order of when their respective games were first released or that the character is introduced. Other modes that return are multi-man smash, target blast, home run contest and a brand new one called Smash Run. Smash run is an online mode where you and three other plays go through a maze like stage defeating characters to pick up power boosts. This goes on for 5 minutes and once the 5 minutes are up you get to fight the other players based on the power boosts you collected. On paper this sounds like a great idea, but truth be told I was annoyed having to go through this 5 minute ordeal only to have a 2-ish minute fight afterwards. Moreover, another thing that seemed off was the layout of the menu. It felt like it was a bit scattered; first starting the game I felt like if I was going on a scavenger hunt just to play Classic Mode.
Another issue I had with this game was that when I would have a 4-player match it would be hard to keep track of my character or sometimes not know exactly what was going on because the screen was so tiny. I learned quickly to stick to the one on one battles or even three player matches were ok. This is hardly an issue of the game itself, more that the 3DS is limited with its size. Undoubtedly this will not be an issue with the console version.
Regardless of these minor issues I had a ton of fun playing online against other players across the globe or even playing solo trying to obtain as many trophies as possible. The new characters are a welcomed addition to the veteran fighters. Nintendo isn’t afraid to throw in a ton of characters and introduce new game modes, even if the execution was a bit off. I would definitely call the Nintendo 3DS version of Super Smash Bros a success, I cannot wait for what is in store for the Wii U version.
Check-out Screen Shots from the game:
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