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At long last the new Smash Bros game was released for the Wii U; I’ve been playing a lot on the 3DS version, but I could not wait to get my hands on this bad boy. If you’re interested in reading about the 3DS version you should click here. So Super Smash Bros is a fighting game that pits Nintendo’s well-known characters and some lesser-known characters against one another. In total there are 48 characters with a 49th having been announced for Spring of 2015 as a DLC. It’s amazing to think how far Nintendo has come from it’s first installment on the N64 having just 12 characters to now 49, or 50 (52?) if you want to include the Mii fighter as one or three different iterations.
Gameplay
This iteration, like the one on the 3DS, Wii and GameCube uses the same button scheme; i.e. “A” is your standard attacks “B” are your special attacks, R/ Z are your block/dodge and grab buttons. What varies is that each character does a different action depending on the input; for example, neutral B for Mario is a fireball, but if you press B with Captain Falcon he’ll take a few seconds to unleash his powerful falcon punch. So depending on the character you’re using you’ll have a very different strategy; you may choose a quicker character like Sheik or Fox delivering quick hits to overwhelm your opponent or you can choose someone like Donkey Kong or Bowser where you’ll deliver much more powerful hits, but have slower movements.
Apart from the returning button scheme, Nintendo brought back Classic, All-Star, Event and Stadium Modes. A difference, however, is that they decided to included a Co-op mode for when you are playing with friends. In this iteration they also included a mode called Smash Tour where you can play with three other friends in a pseudo board game-esque game where all players move around a board collecting characters, custom parts etc. and at the end you fight each other using those characters you obtained. Overall it’s a refreshing new mode where players won’t be able to spam you with the characters they always use, but it’s a bit slow. When I think of Smash Bros I think of chaotic fast fun, not a slow game.
Speaking of chaos, they included an 8-person smash mode as well. When I first heard of this mode I was a little skeptical on how it would play out, but it was absolutely amazing. Smash is already chaotic, but with the addition of adding even more players makes it all the better. By far I’ve spent most of my time playing this mode. Even writing this review is a tad difficult because all I want to do is to boot up the game and play for the rest of the night. Another mode to mention they added are Special Orders where you wage coins in order to compete in challenges and then gain rewards. It’s a fun mode to play, but still the one I found myself playing the most is playing 8-player smash or regular 4-player smash with my friends online.
Display:
Super Smash Bros for the Wii U looks absolutely beautiful; I was absolutely blown away at the attention to detail. Each character is amazing as well as the stages. You should pause the game every now and again just to see how impressive it is. Sometimes you forget how beautiful it is when you are so engrossed with all of the chaos.
The only con I have for the display is the menu. I described it in the previous review for the DS version; it just seems really scattered and when you first pick it up it can be a little daunting. Now after playing it for many many hours I have it more or less figured out, but sometimes I do need to think on how I can get to that specific menu.
The Verdict
So should you go out and get this game? If you have the Wii U and have the time then yes absolutely it is a must have. There are a ton of new characters, a ton of unlockables and a ton of modes to play with. If there is one game to get this holiday season then this is it; it’ll provide you or if you get it for someone countless hours of entertainment.
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