I know this is a bit belated. But here are my general thoughts on the direct from last Tuesday

Overall, this was a really good direct. And I’m even more excited for the game then I already was. The only bad things I can say are the possibly big character deconfirmations (There are those who will still believe Ridley has a chance with the possibility of the playable Ridley being a different incarnation then the boss one or something like the Toon Link-Alfonzo thing) Play and now there’s a bit of insecurity based around the Pokemon representation. Charizard is alone now, ok. Maybe this means Ivysaur and Squirtle are our unexpected cuts and the Pokemon Trainer himself isn’t coming back either. It’d certainly a cut I did not expect, but can see why. The reason Shiek and Zero Suit Samus are separate characters is probably because they had a hard time with Transformations/Character Switching on the 3DS version. So they had to reduce Pokemon Trainer to only a single pokemon, and the most popular one of the three was Charizard. But the Pokemon Trainer shake-up is not the biggest source of insecurity in the Pokemon representation. It was definitely the inclusion of Greninja, maybe this is because I haven’t paid that much attention. But I have never seen Greninja as a potential Smash Bros. newcomer because I don’t remember a single promotion about it. But I suppose that’s because I don’t exactly follow Pokemon that well, since Greninja is the final evolution of the Water starter from X&Y. Though while there is still possibly some room for both Jigglypuff and Mewtwo to return if Sakurai considered the Pokemon Trainer from Brawl as 3 separate characters. Things have suddenly got a little more uncertain in regards to the Pokemon representation.

But otherwise, it’s great to finally see Yoshi. Plus those worried that Zero Suit Samus or Shiek weren’t going to return can now rest as not only are they back. But they’re completely separate characters now. I believe this officially means that ZSS is the 2nd Metroid rep, and Shiek is the fourth Zelda rep announced. Meaning all that’s left now is Ganondorf unless we have another Greninja situation with Zelda. If that happens, then suddenly we might have another Mario rep coming up too.

I think what surprised me that it wasn’t the characters that hyped me most from the direct. Instead it was: Revamps to the Online mode, Final Destination mode for all Stages, Custom Movesets, and Smash Run. More so the latter two. But the first two are going to be a sigh of relief for those who play online or are more competitive-heavy then I am. Banning stages are now a thing in the past for Smash 4. Even Melee, the far more popular game with Competitive Smash players had most of it’s stages banned from tourneys for one reason or another. We finally have a Smash game that we can truly say is catered to all kinds of Smash Bros. players. The reason Melee and Brawl have split the fanbase because those who preferred playing competitively found Melee to be the better game. While those who play Smash for fun and/or love a game with more content likes Brawl more. With Smash 4, it has elements of both. This game may actually unify the split somewhat. People will always be split over Melee and Brawl. but when it comes to Smash 4. You can play it however you want to. I know you can still play Melee for fun, and Brawl competitively. So it’s kinda had that always, but Smash 4 with the ability to make all stages like Final Destination with absolutely no hazards or strange stage design will truly define the game to be for all types Smash players. Whether you’re a Smash newbie, Smash veteran, casual, competitive, you name it. You can play it however you want.

On Smash Run. I love how it’s a combination between the Subspace Emissary with much more actual Nintendo enemies other then just Goombas and Koopa Troopas and the City Trial mode in Kirby Air Ride. I loved City Trial, and to have something like it in Smash was a very welcome idea. And definitely makes me want the 3DS version when that comes out this Summer.

But the best part of the direct by far is the custom movesets. It’s like, if you’re dissatisfied with your favorite character’s moveset. You can change it to something more your liking, we don’t know much yet about the options that the Custom Movesets have. But it’s definitely something very intriguing. Granted I’m sure it’s something that tournament people might have mixed feelings about, as maybe they’ll just use what the characters are default. But it there’s some unbalance in the roster, maybe someone dedicated to finding a way to make the characters have great balance between all the characters can make an official tourney version of every character when they have experimented enough with Custom Movesets where suddenly there’s a way in-game to make most if not all characters to the point where you have Project M levels of balance. We have yet to learn more about this. But this really does have potential, now there are ways it can go wrong like it might be too easy to suddenly make some characters broken if there’s a way to abuse it. But it’s not usable in Online for the exception of Mutual Friends, so it’s not necessarily a big deal unless you have friends who prank you by making their mains too powerful with this. We don’t know enough about it yet, but I love this idea so, so much. And I can’t wait to know more.

I think overall I got a lot more then I was expecting. And that’s a good thing. This is looking to be the best Smash Bros. like I hoped it would be. Not that is much of a surprise for me. Because each new Smash Bros. I say is better then the last. Some disagree with me about Brawl being better then Melee, but all the Smash games are awesome in their own way. So really 2nd place out of the 3 Smash games already out is not a bad thing. The series continues to smash expectations in a good way. And I’ll be waiting for both Summer and Winter of this year for both versions of the newest iteration of Smash Bros. ^^