Back in the old days, there was no way to settle a debate like "Who's better - Sonic or Mario?". After much discussion of speed, powers, "coolness", and if you were really nerdy, sales figures and other assorted stats, you inevitably ended up coming to the conclusion that there was nothing to call between them. While Sonic had his speed, Mario could shoot fireballs. While Mario has a profession to fall back on should he ever fall on hard times, Sonic could easily make a career of being a sprinter at the Olympics (there's a game in there somewhere). And while Mario has Peach as his other half, Sonic is always being chased by Amy. No matter which way you cut it, there was nothing between them, and no way to decide a winner.
Until now.
Nintendo's Smash Bros series intends to settle matters like this once and for all, in the most convincing way possible - by letting you take control of the characters for yourself, in a button mashing, fast paced beat 'em up where there can only be one winner. Letting up to four players duke it out as a number of Nintendo's finest (plus special guest stars), Smash Bros is an immensely accessible beat 'em up, that combines pick up and play appeal and simple controls, with the kind of depth that means you can pour hundreds of hours into it without having seen and done everything there is to do.
Still a regular weekend fixture at Everybody Plays towers, Super Smash Bros. on the Wii has been a staple of our weekend ever since its release in 2008, with only a few weeks off. With its short, two minute long brawls between popular Nintendo characters, each of whom have their special set of moves; an insane set of weapons, items and power-ups; and more fan service than you can shake a star rod at, it's a game that's always guaranteed to be a success - which is exactly what Nintendo's latest struggling home system, the Wii U, needs. And so high are Nintendo's hopes for Smash Bros that they'll even be releasing it on two different platforms - one on the Wii U, and one on the 3DS.
The fight is on!
As might be expected, each version has been designed to play to the strengths of the system it's on. While the Wii U one promises shiny, high definition graphics (as seen in the screenshot above), the 3DS version has a more cartoony, cel-shaded style, to help make the characters stand out from the backgrounds on the system's smaller screen - something which we're sure will come in handy when on trips on bumpy trains or planes. With each console's version offering a different selection of modes, different stages to play across, and a number of other tweaks and fiddles, though, the differences between each platform's Smash Bros will be more than just cosmetic - although there's at least one thing that will be the same (at least, as far as we're aware).
It wouldn't be a proper Smash Bros game without a decent line-up of characters, and Smash Bros Wii U/3DS promises to bring a whole host of new faces to the table. While the game will star series staples Bowser, Mario, Peach, Link, Kirby and Pikachu, we've already had the reveals of several brand new characters, including classic platform hero Mega Man, Super Mario Galaxy's Rosalina, the Wii Fit Trainer, the Animal Crossing Villager, and that guy from DS/Wii boxing game Punch Out - with Nintendo adding yet another new face to the roster in recent days.
Pokefans should already be familiar with Greninja, the final evolution of Pokemon X and Y's froggy water starter 'mon, who's leaping into the new game as a fully functional playable character - although the absence of his fire and grass contemporaries seems strange. While not strictly new additions, Metroid's Zero Suit Samus, Zelda's Shiek and Pokemon legend Charizard are all also now confirmed for the game, with each making the transition to being individual, selectable characters, having previously been confined to being special "transformations" of other characters in earlier games.
Each character, both old and new, has their own unique fighting style, with a surprising amount of variety between each brawler. From the speed of Pikachu, whose electric attacks make him deadly from a distance, to the up close, somewhat slower sword play of Link, or the cheapness skill based Kirby, who can swallow other players whole, before jumping off a cliff with them in his mouth, spitting them off the screen to their doom, and leaping back to safety thanks to his superior, floaty jumps, there's a character to suit all styles, whether you prefer to rely on speed and agility, or will happily sacrifice speed for power. There's no one overpowered character, with each having its own foils - although the news that the new games will let you customise your move sets has us somewhat worried. With the previous games having been balanced to within an inch of their lives, the ability to customise move sets, and potentially turn characters into unbeatable power houses has us concerned - although we're going to withhold judgement until we've seen how it works for ourselves. Even if it does let you customise your moves, it probably still won't be able to make the oddly proportioned spaceman, Olimar any less useless-
While the full roster has yet to be unveiled, it's fair to say there's a number of characters that are somewhat conspicuous by their absence so far - and the closer we get to release, the more this has us worried that our favourites will be getting the chop. One of the "bigger" characters so far missing is Captain 'Show Me Your Moves' Falcon, from fan-favourite high-octane space racer F-Zero, who's been a part of the Smash Bros. furniture since the very first game on the N64. We're also a bit gutted by the distinct lack of Ike, an insanely overpowered (if very slow) character from Fire Emblem, the kind-of rubbish Wario and his motorbike, and the slowest-of-the-slow Gannondorf, the ultimate bad guy from the Legend of Zelda series. And sadly, if we're going by what the man behind the Metal Gear Solid series, Hideo Kojima says, gruff soldier Snake is also likely to be a no show - which means our own Sarah is destined to come last forever more, with only Pikachu left in her now depleted arsenal.
It's hard work losing every match, you know.
While the characters may stay the same though, the stages you fight across will not, with the 3DS having levels based primarily on handheld games, while the Wii U focuses more on games that have featured on home consoles. While the 3DS version will let you battle with Bowser in the Nintendogs living room, on the Wii U, you'll be pitting yourself against Pit in the Skyloft from Zelda Skyward Sword - although we do wonder why the Wii U has a level based on Pilotwings Resort (a 3DS game)...
Other new additions across both formats include 'boss stages', in which an infamous character (such as Megaman's Yellow Devil) will pop up at random during a match, and take out their frustrations on everyone within whacking distance, perhaps in a somewhat similar way to Dialga/Palkia and their immensely powerful Hyper Beam attacks in the Wii game. For most of the levels in the game, there'll also be an alternate 'Final Destination' form, based on the (apparently) rather popular Final Destination stage from the previous games - a simpler stage with only a single long platform in the centre, devoid of lifts, environmental perils or scrolling scenery.
But the differences between the 3DS and Wii U versions don't stop there, with at least the 3DS version confirmed to have it's own exclusive mode (we expect confirmation about the Wii U's modes will follow at a later date). The 3DS-specific 'Smash Run' mode begins by plonking up to four fighters into a dungeon, where they have five minutes to fight computer controlled enemies and find items to power up their characters. Once the time is up, its then up to the fighters to duke it out in a more traditional Smash Bros-style brawl, using the weapons and power ups they found earlier. As for the Wii U, we wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo bring out their whole 'asynchronous multiplayer' thing, and have one player with the GamePad unleashing items, distracting other players with huge Nintendogs and other such interferences, whilst the other four fighters attempt to brawl as usual - although of course, this is purely speculation.
INFINITE DONKEY KONG!
Unfortunately, while there will be some elements of both versions that link together, you won't be able to play online against friends on a different console - Smash Bros. matches will be limited strictly to 3DS vs 3DS and Wii U vs Wii U. Going online, you'll have a choice between playing 'For Fun' in the regular item-loaded matches on a selection of random stages, while the more competitive 'For Glory' uses the new, simpler Final Destination stages and foregoes items and power ups completely, becoming more of a clean battle between characters than a race for the nearest baseball bat, football or Mr. Saturn. That said, Smash Bros has always been a game that's worked best in local multiplayer anyway, and on this front there's likely to be no change, with the Wii U giving (at least) four players the chance to get in on the action with only a Wii Remote each, while we're keeping everything crossed that the 3DS will support single card download play, letting up to four people with their own 3DSs play together with only one copy of the game.
However, we'd be lying if we said we weren't a bit concerned about the distinct lack of any sort of (so far announced) mode that mirrors the Wii's "Subspace Emissary" - a mode which we played to death in the previous Wii game. Essentially a story mode that you could tackle in two player co-op, the side-scrolling platformer take on Smash Bros, akin to the much-loved Kirby and Mario games, kept us entertained for hours, as we scoured the twisting, turning corridors in search of elusive collectable trophies and stickers, beating up the baddies, and learning how to play as every character on the roster as we went. Smash Bros games have always had a reputation for being packed to the gunwales with things to do, stuff to collect and bits to complete, to the point where you can be playing them for years without even touching the multiplayer (not that you'd ever want to do that, but still), and still not have seen all there is to see - so we'll be keeping our fingers crossed that the latest Smash Bros won't be skimping on the content side of things.
Still, with giant gaming expo E3 now only mere months away, we'll likely have our answers before too long. Nintendo undoubtedly has plenty of tricks and reveals up their sleeve over the weeks and months to come, with the the 3DS version set to be out sometime this summer - hopefully in time for the holidays (and our annual commute to German trade fair, Gamescom) - with the Wii U game catching up several months later, in the winter, presumably in time for Christmas. If Nintendo play their cards right, this could just be the game to turn the ailing Wii U's fortunes around. Fingers crossed it does.
