Topic: Super Smash Bros. for WiiU (& 3DS)

[MisterE13]

I remember reading that in previous Smash games replays were coded as a list of the players actions with everything else acting around it as it would have originally. Patches that change the way moves work or the way AI reacts could therefore completely change the replay.

[Fatty The Hutt]

For fun, and to try it out, I bought the game through Nintendo's website. It works! A download code was sent to me, I redeemed it online, on the website, remotely, with my NNiD and the game started downloading automatically to my Wii U. Very cool.

[nickmitch]

IT'S LIVE, YOU GUYS!!

THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!

[MagicCow64]

Some drunk early impressions during smoke breaks:

Game looks damn good.

Menu navigation is fucking nonsensical.

It sucks that the game doesn't remember your ID between different modes. This is mainly a problem because:

I'm playing this on the gamepad, and ****, I can tell in my bones how much better a GC controller would feel. My order got screwed in an Amazon glitch, and now I don't know when I can get an adapter.

Characters tried:

-Jigglypuff: Started with my old main from Melee, who didn't click in Brawl. Doesn't click here either. Perhaps Amiibo bait. Like that the spin goes quicker.

-Wii Fit Trainer: This character seems not to have gotten much attention post 3DS release. Feels jerky to play, but I'm sensing some affinity. Have no idea what's going on with the specials.

-Pacman: I started classic with him but got so wigged out within 30 seconds that I exited. This is for later.

Update:

-Tried the rest of the new starting roster characters. No big stand-outs, but I'm surprised that Robin feels pretty good to play as; I'd assumed the technical elements of the specials would make this character moot for me. Still hating Gamepad controls and getting constantly frustrated when I forget to assign my initials/re-mapped controls on the character select screen.

-Online: Played 4 or 5 matches online in both For Glory and For Fun. One, is there no way to play stock matches with strangers? If not, then the online loses much appeal for me, as I really do not jibe with time matches. Two, I'm getting tons of lag and pretty frequent screen stuttering. I'm not freak about this stuff, but things were pretty choppy, and there were several network errors on both the WiiU OS side and the Smash side when trying to find matches (though no disconnects when actually playing).

[broodwars]

Only put a little bit of time into my copy, enough to use Mega Man to send Rosalina (fittingly) into a Black Hole of death a few times. It's late, and I'm just too tired for any more play of a game like this. I don't care for the new Classic mode use Timed rules, as I play Stock-only. The Mario Galaxy stage is a bit too big, but it's nice. Oddly, I really like the New Super Mario Bros. U stage. It's constantly changing and you frequently have to switch up your tactics, which is just what I liked about a stage.  Overall, the game seems solid enough, and it can't be understated how much better this game feels without the 3DS' gimpy circle pad holding me back. I'll probably love it just as much as I did the previous games when fatigue isn't clouding my experience.

[UncleBob]

Set up an 8-player computer match with all the Koopa Kids (and Bowser Jr.) while I registered the game and redeemed my soundtrack reward.  Yay!

[Shaymin]

Tried an online match - had a few hitches but perfectly playable. (Though my judgment may be clouded by the fact that I was really feeling it with Shulk.)

From all reports, it's not a complete gong show, which puts it in the top class of multiplayer games released this year.

[nickmitch]

It'll be interesting to see how the online is this weekend and through the holidays.

If it's fine now, it should only get better over time as traffic evens out.

[Ceric]

Set up an 8-player computer match with all the Koopa Kids (and Bowser Jr.) while I registered the game and redeemed my soundtrack reward.  Yay!

Unless they ganged up and beat the ever living snot out of Bowser Jr. I say the AI is broken.

[UncleBob]

Actually, he was the first to go (99 Stock, 2.0).
Wendy won with like five lives left to go.

[Ceric]

Actually, he was the first to go (99 Stock, 2.0).
Wendy won with like five lives left to go.

Shaymin will be pleased by that result.

[Khushrenada]

Actually, he was the first to go (99 Stock, 2.0).
Wendy won with like five lives left to go.

Shaymin will be pleased by that result.

We're all pleased by that result.

[broodwars]

Is it just me, or is All-Star mode in Smash U noticeably harder than its 3DS counterpart? I found the 3DS version exceptionally easy, but I'm getting routinely stomped in the Wii U version.

Played a bit of Smash Tour against the CPU. I can't stay I care much for it, given that the whole strategy of running around for 15+ minutes collecting fighters is pretty much ruled near-pointless in the final battle, where the best "score" determines who wins.

I'll say this for Smash U: I've yet to run into a stage I didn't like. There seems to be a deliberate avoidance of the "1 flat plane" or "just 3 platforms floating over an FMV background" design I complained about with Brawl's stages. I've seen a lot of varied designs and stages that constantly change, keeping the fight interesting.

[Luigi Dude]

Just had a chance to play for an hour today but man, this is the real Smash Bros.  Being able to play with the Wii U Pro controller is so much better then the 3DS it's not even funny.  Tilts, I can finally do glorious tilts whenever I want, no more accidentally dashing.  Also being able to use the right stick for instant Smash attacks finally allows me to finally go full Luigi again.  Luigi's Smash Attacks have limited range which makes charging them pointless, hence why using the C-stick/right stick was always important for a Luigi player like myself in Melee and Brawl since you need to do them fast.  The 3DS version fucked a lot of my Luigi play up since it lacked a C-Stick, but now I'm back in business.

Is it just me, or is All-Star mode in Smash U noticeably harder than its 3DS counterpart? I found the 3DS version exceptionally easy, but I'm getting routinely stomped in the Wii U version.

Yeah the computer in general seems harder in this version.  Sakurai seems to have taken into account the better controls and buffed up the AI to make up for it.  Seriously, the first thing I did was transfer my best custom Luigi to the Wii U version, and then when I got enough gold I tried the 9 difficulty on classic.  On the 3DS, I can easily clear even 9 with the Luigi I created but on the Wii U version, I found myself struggling a lot more.  Sakurai really wasn't kidding about the Wii U version being the harder one to complete.

[ObbyDent]

Just an FYI, you can use the C-stick to charge your smash attacks, exactly the same as if you held a direction and the A button at the same time.

[Adrock]

I put a ton of time into the game last night, mostly five-player Smash so I mostly played the same few stages. We used four Pro Controllers and the GamePad so everyone was on even ground as far as controllers go. My friend's girlfriend is just starting to get into Super Smash Bros. and she chose the GamePad because she's a beast at Mario Kart 8 using the GamePad. I basically set-up the controls like the 3DS version: Y = Special, B = Attack, and X/A = Jump. I also switched shield and grab so the ZL/ZR = shield and L/R = grab. And of course, tap up to jump can die in a fire.

My other friend kept bitching about the controller, but I just kept refusing to let him use the adapter and GameCube controler. That was part of the fun last night. We were all having fun, but he was that guy getting frustrated and taking it too far. My brother won most of the matches because he's my brother and that's kind of how he does things. I won a few though mostly ended up second or third.

Anyway, some thoughts on the actual game;

The controls make the Wii U version feel like a completely different game. Perhaps not as sharply as going from Melee to Brawl, but the difference was enough that there was definitely an adjustment period. I'm not stating this as a negative, just felt it was noteworthy.

Having the 3DS version for over a month and a half took away the magic of "ZOMG, I'm playing a new Super Smash Bros. game!" I'm not docking points from the game for that. A new Super Smash Bros. game always felt like Christmas morning to me if that makes sense. You just can't replicate that level of excitement.

I've unlocked all the characters and a couple of the stages. I would have liked an option to connect the 3DS version to automatically unlock all the characters and equipment/custom moves. I think I have three more stages to unlock and I really don't feel like dealing with Smash Tour to get that one.

Speaking of, Smash Tour is pretty awful. I appeciate the effort, but once I unlock Pac-Land, I will never play Smash Tour again. Between the two, Smash Run is easily the better of the two new modes.

I'm glad Event Mode is back, but man, some of those rewards are pretty difficult to get.

**** Ridley. I won the match by just going after him then having him **** everyone up, but Ridley is so overbearing that is presence relegates Pyrosphere to For-Shits-And-Giggles status rather than being a stage I actually want to play one regularly. I said this about the 3DS version: I wish there was an option to turn stage hazards off that didn't force you into the Omega version.

All the new stages are pretty good. I don't recall outright disliking any of them, just disliking aspects for them. The larger stages like Palutena's Temple are borderline useless with less than seven or eight characters, but for that purpose, it serves it well.

I miss some of the stages from the 3DS version as well as past stages. I would have liked to see more returning stages, especially from the original updated in HD.

Hyrule Warriors makes me really dislike the fact that Midna is not a selectable character in Super Smash Bros.

Bring back Ice Climbers. And Snake. And Wolf.

I've barely scratched the surface of this game so I'll report back after more time with it.

[MagicCow64]

I, too, spent a lot of time with the game yesterday. Either I've permanently lost fine motor ability due to spinal damage, or I just can't get into the swing of things with the standard diamond arrangement of buttons on the Gamepad. No matter how I assign the functions, it never feels fluid moving between jumping, regular attack, and special attack. I even tried the Wiimote+Nunchuk out of desperation, but holy hell does that suck even worse.

Non-related complaint: I am actually not wild about the stage selection.

-This has been said by others, but Yellow Devil and Ridley do completely ruin their stages. Nothing to be done about it. Metal Face, at least, is pretty easy to ignore on Gaur Plains.

- I would have much preferred Brinstar as a classic back-up for a Metroid stage.

-Why is there a Delfino plaza retro stage instead of a 3D World stage or Bowser's Castle stage?

-It blows my mind that they included two Mario Kart stages, two arcade levels, and two Animal Crossing stages in the face of glaring omissions.

-I don't dislike Kongo Jungle, but if they were bothering with 64 stages, only this?

-Great Cave Offensive sucks, as does Palutena's Temple, as does Pac Land.

-Yoshi's Island is a poor retro choice compared to other past Yoshi stages

-I like the Duck Hunt level quite a lot, and Orbital Gate Assault is pretty awesome. But a lot of the new levels feel kind of rote to me, platforms flying between locations. Would have liked more static stages.

I dunno, maybe I'm just spoiled, but I feel like the game could use 10 more stages, even if all were retro choices.

Other observations:

-As others have said, Smash Tour is fucking awful. It's choppy nonsense to play, can't be set to below 15 turns, and is 98% pointless because it all comes down to a somewhat modified time match in the end.

-Classic mode feels a bit bland to me in this iteration, and is also marred by mandatory 5+ matches in most runs. I think 5+ Smash is fine as an available option and to dick around with, but it's really not fun to engage with in a "serious" context, just too hard to play coherently.

-I'm really missing the inclusion of a more robust adventure-like mode. Events are good, but I don't care for the stadium modes this time around, and feel like the game is light on single player content.

Characters: I haven't fully locked in to anyone yet, still playing the field and have yet to try most veterans.
Duck Hunt probably has the most potential for me right now. Really like the timing element on the can and disc specials. Wish the gunman special didn't suck (at least as far as I'm playing). Ganondorf feels even slower this time around, to the point of being useless. I made a Mii Swordfighter, whom I kind of like, except that the forward special I chose is super easy to suicide with. Zero Suit Samus is a trip to play, I could see people getting crazy with her.

[Soren]

Anyone want to sell their Gamecube adapter at hilariously inflated prices, then get a new one when the next shipment arrives? There's a shortage of adapters and the prices on eBay and Amazon resellers are insane.

[Caterkiller]

Sakurai himself basically said Ridley is too big. What on earth do I have to live for anymore?

[broodwars]

Suffered through 3 rounds of the incredibly boring, incredibly random Smash Tour to unlock the Pac-Land stage. Totally not worth the effort, and I'm never playing that mode again. It doesn't matter at all how well you did in the board game phase. I did well in it one round & won the match. Did OK in another round and placed 3rd in the final match, but won overall because I'd knocked out one more CPU opponent than the runner-up did. This last match, I dominated the board game phase AND the final match, but because one of the CPU opponents knocked out more CPU opponents, they won the match. Complete bullshit. And THIS is what Sakurai and his team wasted their time on instead of Adventure mode? **** that.

[Luigi Dude]

I dunno, maybe I'm just spoiled, but I feel like the game could use 10 more stages, even if all were retro choices.

I'd imagine we will get that many and more thanks to DLC.  For a game like this, I doubt Mewtwo is going to be the only kind of DLC they add.  Stage DLC for Smash Bros is the easiest kind of DLC to implement since stages are much easier to make then characters, plus there's so many from the previous Smash Bros that don't require effort and resources to add as well.  Especially after the Mario Kart 8 DLC which I'd imagine was a big success for Nintendo, adding more stages to Smash Bros is a literal gold mine for them.

[nickmitch]

Anyone else using the Gamecube controller? Personally, I'm loving it.

[Adrock]

I played Super Smash Bros. over a friends' house on Saturday night. We played seven-player Smash primarily and I was forced to use a GameCube controller as there were no Pro Controllers available. I felt right at home (despite being late and not wanting to ask to turn off tap up to jump) though I'm still going to play using the Pro Controller when available. Pressing L+R+A+Start is clearly meant for a GameCube controller and doesn't work well on the Pro Controller.

Eight-player Smash is a nice distraction, but it's too much for long periods. The problem is the way the camera zooms out on large stages. I have a 55 inch TV and it was still difficult to follow the action sometimes. I didn't feel like five-players needed to be a part of that mode. It felt mostly the same as it does with four players and getting locked out of so many stages that could still accommodate one extra player is a major bummer.

The level nine CPUs in the Wii U version are total dicks, or at least level nine Marth was. I couldn't beat him with Busty Samus or Wii Fit Trainer and they're the characters I use the most. I finally beat him using Link by spamming projectiles to distract Marth enough to even get a hit in. Marth was doing things I suppose is technically possible in the game, but no one would be able to pull off 100% of the time. That makes it not fun to play against level nine CPUs.

Pac-Land is a stage that could have been much better if it would just stop scrolling for a little bit. In fact, that's probably my issue with most of the horizontal scrolling stages (vertical scrolling stages are just terrible all around).

I wish there were more static stages. There's always some **** going on in many of the new stages. The background is moving or the platforms are moving or some asshole shows up and you have to deal with his stage breaking bullshit. This wouldn't be an issue if you could make themed stages, but the stage builder still hasn't reached its full potential.

Aw mah gawd, the music.

I still miss the barrel cannon item.

I'm still mighty impressed by the roster. In the next Super Smash Bros. I'd like to see more actual villains. In Brawl, the villains were more anti-heroes than villains, the only actual villainous newcomer was then axed in Wii U/3DS (Wolf). Wii U/3DS introduced a bunch of female characters which evened the roster out. Nintendo doesn't have too many villainous female characters. Off the top of my head, there's Medusa, Veran, Twinrova (since Koume and Kotake show up as stage hazards), and now Cia. Three of them are from Zelda.

I can't think of too many roster holdouts like in past games. Medusa, Midna, Dark Samus, Dixie Kong, and King K. Rool top my list and even then, they're more would-be-nice rather than must-have. And obviously, an easy way to bring in more characters is by making them alts.

I haven't tried online yet. I probably won't play it often anyway. My brother picked up the 3DS version so if anything, that will be the one I play online.

[GK]

Anyone want to sell their Gamecube adapter at hilariously inflated prices, then get a new one when the next shipment arrives? There's a shortage of adapters and the prices on eBay and Amazon resellers are insane.

I gave up looking & settled for the Wired Fight Pad. Costs a little more & my brother is the only one that plays with a GC controller but at least it'll work with other games too.

[Mop it up]

So here's a funny story. Today I've received a package in the mail, confused at what it might be. Before opening it, I Google the address and find out that it belongs to one of Newegg's facilities, so I open it up and find Super Smash Bros. for Wii U inside. After seeing it was from Newegg I then remembered that I pre-ordered this game a long time ago, for $5 off. I figured I could just cancel if I found a better deal, but I guess I can't cancel if I forget! Oh well, since Newegg is tax-free and free shipping, it's still a decent deal compared to anything I would have gotten at a retailer.

Short story shorter, Smash is in hand, but I can't try it out until later tonight.