Super Smash Bros. 3DS | Review
Developer Nintendo
Publisher Nintendo
Platform 3DS
Release Date Out Now
Grab your hammers, laser guns and paper fans, and get ready to beat all your mates into oblivion. All your favourite Nintendo characters from the past 30 years blast back into the battle royale that is Super Smash Bros, only now, you can smash on the move anytime anywhere. The 3DS version hit the European stores back in October, but we have taken our time to play through it properly and unlock the wealth of content stored away on the little cartridge, here’s what we think.
For those who are not familiar with Nintendo’s all-star beat’em up, Super Smash Bros. has a long history, but the rules remain the same: choose your character, and mash the buttons until you remain as the victor. Simple, right?
Not so fast.
With a maximum of four fighters per match, a plethora of items to gain the upper hand, and volatile stages, it’s anyone’s guess as to how the match will play out – which is what makes it so much fun. No matter how powerful or weak a particular character is, the odds are ever changing, so that a newcomer could defeat even the most experienced of players.
Here’s how it works (Veteran players, move to the next paragraph):
It’s you, and three other fighters, with one goal in mind – smash. Instead of having a health bar that decreases after being hit, players instead get a damage counter, and the more % damage a player has, the easier it is to knock them off stage and score a point. You have two different modes of match score to choose from: Free-for-all, and stock match.
Free-for-all is exactly what it describes – blast the other players off screen in order to get the highest tally at the end with whatever means necessary. If there is a tie-breaker, the tension gets absurdly high with a “Sudden Death”.
You will probably wet your pants the first time you experience a “Sudden Death” match, but don’t worry – plenty more where that came from!
Stock matches are different – each player receives a number of lives. Players that lose all their lives will be knocked out of the match, until there is a victor.
Now, back to the review!
Nintendo’s expertise in creating masterpiece games all share a similar core ingredient – win or lose, the fun never stops. Compared to the other games in the series, the pace of Smash 3DS has found a nice balance between the super fast blitzkrieg of Melee, and the more beginner-friendly Brawl, which means that the pros can keep smashing at breakneck speed, but, more importantly, casual players can also hold their own starting out. The All-Stars of the original games have returned – Mario, Link, Samus, Donkey Kong – while also bringing new blood to the fray, including several Fire Emblem characters, Shulk from Xenoblade, and Greninja from Pokémon.
Playing Smash with a handheld seemed like a dubious decision from Nintendo at first, cramped fingers and smaller screens being the main worry. However, things settle in nicely after the first few matches, and the circle pad more than accommodates for pulling off those epic smashes. Both 3DS screens are also utilized very well in tandem, the bottom screen marking the hit counters, leaving the top free of distractions.
Once you’ve accustomed yourself to the controls, there are a ton of different things for you to try, most notably the new Smash Run. You have 5 minutes to collect as many stat bonuses as you can, by smashing small and large enemies and opening doors and chests. However, if you are blasted off screen, you lose some of your hard earned points. Once the 5 minutes are up, you face off against the other 3 combatants in any given setting – a race, a brawl, a tag team, a smash count to see who can beat the most enemies within a time limit, and more. Speed stats are advantageous in races, and strength and defence stats will serve you better in brawls.
Then there’s Classic mode, where you take your chosen character to fight multiple battles, all the way to Master Hand, the last obstacle – if you beat him, you will receive your characters’ trophy. Even the credit screen, one of the few in the history of video games, is fun to play. All-Star mode is similar to Classic, with a twist – you play up through the years of game characters, from beginning to present.
The much loved Home-Run Contest and Multi-Man is now accompanied by a new game – Target blast. Combining Home Run and the Hit the Target of previous games, you’ll be sure to keep going back to beat your old records. Challenges panels will keep you busy unlocking levels and other goodies, where as Trophy Rush has almost infinite amounts of trophies to collect. An addition to Smash is the new custom Mii fighters. Not just for show, these newcomers can also match up to some pretty challenging foes.
All of the above is just what you can do on your own, without going online. Playing Smash as it is meant to be played, with other people, amplifies the fun. Make sure, though, to be near a strong Wi-fi access, to minimize lag and getting booted out of matches – it can be quite disrupting and very frustrating to experience, especially in a game series renowned for its multiplayer prowess.
Overall: Super Smash Bros. 3DS doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel – rather, it gave it some fresh tyres and a shot of rocket fuel. If you are the proud owner of both a 3DS and a Wii U, you can expect even greater things in the release of the Wii U version of Smash – including linking your 3DS to your Wii U copy of the game.
Being a fan for many years of the series, it’s fair to say that there may be some bias involved with this review, but there’s no denying, Nintendo have delivered exactly what we were all hoping for: a brilliantly fun and hilarious game.
SCORE 5/5
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