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WiiU

North America

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U E3 Hands-on Preview

by Justin Berube - June 10, 2014, 1:32 pm EDT
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Will this highly anticipated Wii U title be a smash hit?

The wait is over and Nintendo has finally allowed us to get our hands on the highly anticipated Wii U version of Super Smash Bros.. At a glace, the base game is exactly how you remember it in the past iterations: Nintendo's greatest all-stars are pitted against each other in different arenas and try to knock one another off the screen.

For the E3 demo, 20 characters are available to choose from (the same characters available in the Smash Bros. Invitational) and short timed matches with items are played. All matches are also played with a GameCube controller.

You may, however, be wondering how this version of the game feels in comparison to the other titles in the Super Smash Bros. series. After playing several matches I feel that the Wii U game feels like a modified version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but before you jump to conclusions let me elaborate. Smash on Wii U is faster than Brawl and lessens the "floaty" feel of the characters. As a result, the characters have a heavier feel to them than in Brawl. Additionally the speed of a player's character when fast falling seems to have been drastically increased.

Returning to a ledge, after being knocked off, also feels more like Brawl at this point. Recovery moves still let players "latch" to the edge of the stage and seem to be somewhat forgiving. With that said, the increased weighty feel of characters, along with the increased fast falling speed, do make it harder to recover than in Brawl. I know many people felt it was hard to die in Brawl, so this may be a healthy compromise that players will come to accept.

The demo is filled with a mixture of stages. Some are neutral, and don't seem to move too much, while others are more dynamic in ways similar to the Isle Delfino and Castle Siege stages from Brawl. Luckily, as far as I'm concerned, no Pokéfloat type levels are here, but I know they are coming.

The items also appear to be a healthy mix of new and old. The new Bullet Bill item appeared to be extremely powerful and as soon as I threw it it launched across the screen knocking out many foes in its path. Awesome.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is also an extremely gorgeous looking game. Really, the images and videos online don't do it justice and the HD graphics really put the older versions to shame.

I'm sure you're wondering about how all the characters feel as well. At the time of the writing I haven't tried them all, but I will make a few early comments. Mario feels very familiar and was a nice safe choice for beginners. Rosalina & Luma seem to be a very hard character to learn, but I am extremely interested in learning how deep this character really is. Little Mac, as predicted, is a power house with limited range and recovery abilities. Mega Man may have a ton of projectiles, but he seems to have a lot of animation delay after preforming them (he also has a Proto Man color scheme). Pikmin & Olimar's new recovery, using the Flying Pikmin, is fantastic, but the fact that he only has three Pikmin out at a time will take some getting used to.

Those wanting more in depth impressions of each playable character should keep checking back to NintendoWorldReport.com for a full impressions list coming in the near future.

Overall, this should be taken as an extremely early look at the game. Smash Bros. is not an easy title to give first impressions for considering the massive number of variables in the game, including balance, which take thousands of hours to really comprehend. Bottom line, the game is damn fun and you should all be excited to play it.

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WiiU

Game Profile

Dairantou Smash Brothers for Wii U Box Art

Genre Fighting
Developer Namco Bandai,
Sora
Players1 - 8
Controllers & Accessories Wii Remote
Wii Nunchuk
Wii Classic
GameCube
Wii U GamePad
Wii U Pro Controller
Amiibo

Worldwide Releases

na: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Release Nov 21, 2014
PublisherNintendo
RatingEveryone 10+
jpn: Dairantou Smash Brothers for Wii U
Release Dec 06, 2014
PublisherNintendo
eu: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Release Nov 28, 2014
PublisherNintendo
Rating12+
aus: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Release Dec 06, 2014
PublisherNintendo
RatingParental Guidance
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