Hey everybody, first I want to get this out of the way. There was one thing I asked most for my B-Day that I wanted the most: A grip for my 3DS. You see, my one concern with the 3DS version of Smash is I was concerned that the shape of the 3DS was going to make it difficult for me while playing Smash for a long time. My hands start to feel sore after a while of playing Mario Kart 7, and Smash Bros. requires more hand movement then Mario Kart does. Here’s some visual pics I took of the grip with the 3DS in it:
As you can see, it makes my 3DS feel more like a console controller. As a result, it instantly feels a lot more comfortable in my hands. As the last picture says “Get ready to Smash” I am certainly ready to Smash. I did also get some headphones so I can play in the Library. So yeah! I’m set to play wherever I go.
I’ve also enjoyed my time with the demo. It’s only 5 characters and one stage, but it’s enough to give me a solid taste of what’s in store when I get the 3DS Version on October 3rd. Regarding how I am with each character so far, I’m a great Pikachu (But Pikachu’s been one of my mains since the very first Smash Bros. So not really a surprise) I was pretty decent with Link, and Megaman. I’m ok with Mario. But for the life of me I can’t figure out Villager. Though it’s not because he’s a bad character, just that Villager probably just is far from my preferred playstyle. I’m going to be playing it at least once until the game is out. For those who couldn’t get a code, do not worry as there will be a limited version (With only 30 uses, but that only applies to closing out of the game. It doesn’t mean you’re only allowed 30 matches) of the demo playable on Friday. So a lot of people will be able to get some experience and get a handle of the 3DS version. I like this demo because we can get better accustomed to how the 3DS control before the full game even releases. As of course the 3DS version has a different control then what most Smash players are used to, and it is the first time Smash Bros. is on a Handheld as opposed to a home console. So giving us a taste of how it works to answer the question if it can work at all. And so far it works very well. The Wii U version will naturally have better control, but for the 3DS version it’s definitely better then what some may have feared. It should overall be a really great game, and it’s main appeal won’t just disappear when the Wii U version releases. Because it’s Smash Bros. on the go. Me and plenty of others will have the ability to play Smash both on the go and at home. With really cool perks of having both versions as well. And both having unique things about them. October 3rd will only be the beginning of what’s in store to do with Smash 4. And we’re less then 3 weeks away!
But anyway, I also want to give my thoughts on something that has received closure recently. And that is the final roster. I’m not going to talk about already confirmed characters. Just the ones that we now know are in the game. Now technically we already know all of them thanks to the leak since as it turns out, the leak was the full roster all this time. I will start with the veterans, then the Newcomers, the Cuts, and overall thoughts on the roster and my anticipation for this game.
VETERANS
Wario
He was a pretty obvious returnee. Though he’ll be unlockable this time around as opposed to being a starter and one of the first newcomers confirmed for Brawl. Not really much to say Wario was never a character I played too often, and as I said it was pretty obvious he was coming back. We saw the W symbol and everything. Good to see the ol’ fat man back
Mr. Game and Watch
Maybe I should just say that a majority of the Newcomers unconfirmed were pretty obviously but I thought I’d still note something on each. Mr. Game and Watch should be a staple just for being the oldest character in the Smash series (He’s even slightly older then Pac-Man, the end of the Pac-Man trailer notes this). And it’s cool we can have a 4-player match of Pac-Man, Mr. Game, and Watch, Mario, and Donkey Kong as the oldest characters in the roster. It’s just awesome to see the early days of gaming get representation in this game, it just gives Smash a higher purpose.
Ganondorf
We knew Ganon was going to come back in some form, just a shame that he’s still the Captain Falcon clone he was in Melee and Brawl. I hear Ganondorf is Sakurai’s main though, so I suppose he didn’t want to change him too much partly because of that. Cause he’s used to him as he is already.
Falco
I figured he was likely, he’s really popular with casual and competitive people alike and he just has seniority over Wolf even if he’s less different from Fox then Wolf was. I kinda hope Falco’s Final Smash actually has him “prefer the air” and not use a Landmaster
Jigglypuff
HA. The Original 12 survive for the 3rd time! Seriously, I was tired of all the people saying how Jigglypuff shouldn’t come back. Whether you like her or not, it’s part of the tradition, not many fighting games always cherish tradition the same way Smash Bros. does. The Original 12 has this etched in stone permanence feeling to them ever since it turned out Ness wasn’t being replaced after all in Brawl. I really feel the return ability of a character is ordered you like this. You appear once, you’re interesting, you appear twice you become beloved (You’re not invincible from being removed, but your cut would hurt pretty big), but you appear three times or more then you’re a staple of the series. And that includes Jigglypuff.
ROB
Brawl’s Mr. Game and Watch is back! Now ROB isn’t quite as popular as Mr. Game and Watch is. But I’m personally glad he’s back. While his effect on video game history is rather debatable. Because by all means the true savior of the Video Game industry might have very well been Mario in 1985 with Super Mario Bros. ROB may have at least been part of the catalyst though, as Nintendo came up with the ingenious idea of using a Trojan Horse to disguise their gaming system as a toy for children in a time where the entire video game industry was in decline that could have possibly destroyed any possible future Video Games had. While ROB’s games weren’t that good, it was still a clever idea that even if only just a little… helped save Video Games. Though there is one thing that will be kinda cool with ROB in Smash 4, you know the Amiibos? Well if one for ROB comes out, then we could have a ROB buddy that works with our console again, even if not the exact same way. But nonetheless it will feel like ROB is truly back in more ways then one.
Ness
As with Jigglypuff, Ness wasn’t going any where thanks to his Original 12 status. I’ll talk about this more when we get to the cuts, but when Lucas seem to threaten Ness’ spot in Smash Bros. in both Melee and Brawl, it looks like the shoe was on the other foot as this time Ness’ was the one that prevailed because his appearance in all the previous games gave him seniority. Which certainly gives some perspective because there was a time where I legitimately thought Ness was gone thanks to the whole “Up Until Now” debacle during Pre-Brawl. I actually felt really sad when I thought Ness wasn’t coming back, and get this. I’ve only played like the first few minutes of Earthbound and nothing more. And I didn’t even feel this sad when we found out Mewtwo wasn’t coming back even though by all means I like know more about Pokemon then I do the Earthbound series. When it turned out Ness was back in Brawl after all, I was so happy that I decided to play him a lot more in Brawl. And I actually ended up liking playing him enough he became one of my mains. So Ness just has a but of a special history in particular for me. And I am certainly going to see how he fares in Smash 4
Dr. Mario
And our last veteran in the game… is admittedly someone I am certainly not too happy in seeing back. Up until a certain Newcomer came up in Smash 4, Dr. Mario was my least favorite inclusion in the entire series. I would of rather Melee had not included Dr. Mario so we could have a nice even 24 character roster. There just wasn’t much point to him to me, as character wise he should of just been an Alt. Costume because it’s still Mario. Fighter-wise he’s actually slightly better then Mario, but that just makes you ask why they didn’t just give those properties to Mario in the first place. It also feels sort of hypocritical that characters like Dr. Mario and Lucina are separate characters, but Alph and to a lesser extent the Koopalings are all alts of Olimar and Bowser Jr. During Melee’s development, Sakurai stated that he felt it was weird to have Dr. Mario throwing fireballs. Which brings me to something that Project M did with Dr. Mario that would be the ideal idea. They made him an alt, and they even managed to make the fireballs into Pills with the sound effect and everything. Besides that they also gave Mario the best properties of Melee Mario and Melee Dr. Mario to encompass one single Mario that can really compete. And let me tell you I’m not one of those who would say Project M is the best Smash Bros. because I don’t consider it a separate game as I see it as just a mod. And I’m one of those who would defend Brawl as the best of the three games prior to Smash 4 as I feel each game gets better then the last. So when I say there is something that there is something the official games should do that Project M did, then it’s just that ridiculous to me.
NEWCOMERS
Bowser Jr. (And the Koopalings)
This inclusion came as a surprise to me. I thought the Mario series was done with after Rosalina was revealed. But thankfully it wasn’t. Before Rosalina’s reveal, I always thought there were four possibilities for Mario Newcomers and only one was going to get in. Those four were the following: Toad, Bowser Jr., Waluigi, and Paper Mario. When Rosalina was revealed first to the surprise of many, it was thought that all 4 were beaten to the punch by a much newer character. Things looking further grim when Toad and Waluigi both seem to fall. And there was a point where Paper Mario was considered a possibility thanks to the new stage. But as it turned out, Bowser Jr. would get in the game. Though not on his feet, instead he’s in the Koopa Clown Car. And not only that, he’s technically not alone. All 7 Koopalings are his Alts. So technically the character may as well be the Koopa Clown Car, or Bowser’s children. Which is actually pretty neat, because in some ways. The Koopalings and the Clown Car have more merit to Nintendo then Bowser Jr. by himself does. As both the Koopalings and the Clown Car appeared as far back as Super Mario World (Fun little tidbit: Super Mario World is the first video game I ever played). And while it would be stupid if all 7 got their own spots in Smash (In Mario Kart it’s ok, because Mario Kart roster standards are far lower then Smash Bros. standards) this is a perfectly alright way of including them. Dislike Bowser Jr. but like the Koopalings? Pick one of them! Or vice versa. Either way it’s a surprise addition that even people who dislike Bowser Jr. has warmed up to the idea. And any fans of the 8 children of Bowser can appreciate it even more.
Duck Hunt Dog and Ducks
Looks like even with the Ice Climbers gone, we have another Retro Duo. It’s the Duck Hunt Dog and Ducks! I think a lot of people who’ve played Duck Hunt would of loved to have been able to actually take their revenge on the Dog for laughing at them for failing all these years in an official game. And Smash 4 seems to provide that capability. Though I don’t think he’s in the game just to be the punching bag, otherwise he’d just be in place of the Sandbag. He actually does represent something, and is actually objectively more representative of the NES then Ice Climbers were. Because he’s similar to ROB in that he represents a notable accessory, the NES Zapper. Which came around just about a year prior to Super Mario Bros. and even was once packaged in the same cartridge as Super Mario Bros. By all means it definitely isn’t as important as Super Mario Bros. was to NES and Nintendo itself, but to be honest it works more then Ice Climbers did for a few reasons. As sad as it is that they didn’t seem to make it. And with some other NES characters that are from NES Zapper games, the Dog truly represents the accessory even in his moveset where his standard attacks is actually him dodging bullets coming from offscreen and his final Smash even has him Matrix Dodge a lot of bullets. I think the dog could potentially be a fun character like most surprise retro newcomers have been.
Dark Pit
And now to our final Newcomer… just like with Dr. Mario. I am not fond of this inclusion at all. In fact, Dark Pit is my least favorite inclusion in the series now. Because above all else, Dr. Mario is actually somewhat different enough from Mario. Cause Dr. Mario has the Tornado as the Down+B whilst regular Mario still has Fludd. And Dr. Mario’s status as a veteran alone gives him a little more merit even if I still don’t like him that much. But Dark Pit is much worse, because not only is he a melee-style clone of Pit where’s he’s barely all that different. But he’s from a game that’s only two years old, looks exactly like Pit, and he didn’t play that huge of a role in the one game he was in. Even if it didn’t take all that effort to make him, it still stuns me to see Kid Icarus get a total of three reps when the series was inactive for a long while before Uprising came out. It’s far worse then what some people complain about Star Fox getting 3 in Brawl because compared to the Kid Icarus series, Star Fox has had a fair amount of new game releases. It just feels like Dark Pit is only there because Sakurai developed Uprising. Sakurai having a complete 180 from when he had modesty for the Kirby series that kept Meta Knight and King Dedede out of SSB64 and/or Melee. And I’d like to say again that Sakurai’s logic for Alt. Costumes Vs. Separate Characters just confuses me. Alph is a different character from Olimar, why is he an alt for Olimar when Dark Pit and Dr. Mario are not? It’s just headscratching questions we might not get a clear answer to anytime soon. Just don’t ever expect for Dark Pit to grow on me. Cause it’s just not a good choice.
CUTS
And now for the saddest part of the roster reflection, the cuts. This is only cuts from Brawl. So no Mewtwo, Roy, or Pichu. This narrowing it down to Snake, Wolf, Lucas, Ivysaur, Squirtle, and Ice Climbers.
Snake
Snake’s cut is honestly the biggest shame in my honest opinion. Because without Snake, none. I repeat. None of the 3 Third Party characters in Smash 4 would have ever made it in the game. Sonic would not have had the demand to get into Brawl, because while there would be some demand for non-Nintendo characters anyway. It wouldn’t have been taken as seriously without Snake’s initial inclusion. And if Sonic didn’t get in, Megaman likely wouldn’t have either. And I doubt Pac-Man would be considered as well as without either Snake or Sonic, Brawl would of maintained that the Smash Bros. series was meant to be Nintendo-owned characters only. It’s also a shame to lose such a good moveset for the character with a very great personality that was shown through the Codecs. As much as people say he didn’t fit in Smash, I don’t think there is a true fit for Smash as any character could work with the proper thought behind them. And I can’t thank Snake enough for letting 3rd Parties have a place in Smash. All Sonic, Megaman, and Pac-Man fans should give proper respects to Snake. I think while Ice Climbers will certainly contend for it, Snake will be the most missed of the cut characters from Brawl.
Wolf
This probably hurts the resolve of the Star Fox fans. But as it stood, he was the likely cut if Star Fox shrunk. And shrunk it did. He just didn’t have Falco’s seniority. Despite probably being more different from Fox then Falco ever was. It will feel pretty bittersweet with Star Fox shrinking down to the representation it got in Melee while a new Star Fox comes out next year on the Wii U. But perhaps if DLC happens, Wolf could have a chance to return that way. I feel he’d be one of the top candidates for DLC
Lucas
When Mother 3 still not being officially released outside of Japan isn’t enough. The Mother fanbase gets another blow with the loss of Lucas. As I noted when talking about Ness, it’s certainly surreal to see that Lucas had two chances to take Ness’ spot but because they each got a spot in Brawl. Ness’ seniority made it difficult for Lucas to have high enough priority. So Ness despite being threatened twice, has now been made the sole Earthbound/Mother series rep. I could definitely understand quite a bit of bitterness about this. Especialy since PK Freeze is going to be a custom move for Ness. Possibly meaning that Lucas’ version of the special moves will not be a choosable option for Ness. I always liked Ness more, but it is definitely a shame they couldn’t bring back Lucas. He just isn’t back for similar reasons Wolf is.
Ivysaur & Squirtle
I’m putting them together here since they kinda were placed together in Brawl. And these two are actually the most ok I am with being cut. I didn’t hate them or anything, but really the only reason they’re gone is that the 3DS just couldn’t handle the transformation mechanic. And thus they had to shrink Pokemon Trainer to only one Pokemon. And the most popular of the 3 was Charizard by far and there won’t be fatigue any longer. Yeah it’s a shame they’re gone nonetheless, but if you counted them as three separate characters. That meant Pokemon had more representatives then either Mario or Legend of Zelda. And arguably the Brawl’s choices relied too much on Generation 1. The only Pokemon not from Generation 1 that was playable in Brawl was Lucario. At the very least we got a new Water starter with Greninja. There’s just no successor to Ivysaur.
Ice Climbers
I’m sure other then Snake, the Ice Climbers will be the most missed. Because the fact they were cut still is quite surprising. I suppose we underestimated the limitations the 3DS could have. Cause apparently they couldn’t get it working on the 3DS. We even thought Sakurai mentioning them more so confirmed them because that meant they were trying to include them. Though if it was such a problem, couldn’t they have brought Ice Climbers down to just Ice Climber? As in just Popo or Nana? (I mean with Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, and Robin. It’s not impossible) I know it’d make them very different from how they were. But at least they’d be back in some compacity. But yeah Ice Climbers does hurt because they’re the only character who has been playable in more then one game that has not returned. But this may not even really count because just like with the Pokemon Trainer, they’re only gone because the 3DS just couldn’t handle their main gimmick. Otherwise they would be back for sure. There is rumors that they may end up being Wii U & New 3DS Exclusive. But I just don’t know at this point. I kinda feel just having Ice Climber would be the safer option, with removing the duo gimmick but buffing the solo Climber by quite a bit. Popo and Nana each having 4 alts, and to have them together again, you could have Team battles. But I don’t know how likely that is. The Ice Climbers might really be gone. And I’m sure plenty will miss them.
OVERALL ROSTER THOUGHTS
I just want to say that although I don’t like Dr. Mario’s return nor the inclusion of Dark Pit. I’m overall alright with the roster. It’s not the best roster, well in quantity it is. 49-51 characters is an excellent number. But I think there is such thing as Roster Quality, and I judge that by the Newcomer pool. Let me tell you how I rank each one from best to worst. This is just judged by the newcomers, returning characters are just a privilege in this list.
Brawl’s had the best. A total of 18 Newcomers (That’s including Transformations BTW) that each had their own degree of Merit. There’s no new character in Brawl that’s really too objectionable.
Smash 64 is 2nd. The Original 12 is just an excellent variety. I am very happy when each and every Smash continues to pay homage to the selection by bringing every single one of them back each time. Removing anybody from the Original 12 should be considered the equivalent of an unforgivable sin for anybody who develops a Smash Bros. game.
Smash 4 is 3rd. It’s best inclusions rival or even surpass some of Brawl’s best inclusions. But at the same, some of the more questionable choices leave your head scratching to the point that it’s distracting
And Melee’s is just the worst. I feel Mr. Game and Watch is the best of the choices, and when the WTF Retro newcomer is the best. You know it’s not that good of a pool. Sure Peach, Bowser, Zelda, Mewtwo, and Marth were all fairly good inclusions. And Falco & Ice Climbers were all alright as well. But Melee also happens to have the three worst inclusions of the series (Roy, Pichu, and Dr. Mario) and even ruins the possible potential of a character that would merit something if they actually did have a moveset of their own (Ganondorf).
So Smash 4’s roster is overall a mixed bag. WIth a few on the level of Brawl’s Roster, a lot that are general ok, and at least one that’s worse then any of the Melee inclusions. The quantity will make sure there’s a lot to do, but the overall quality of the roster just doesn’t match up with the choices that were new in each of the odd-numbered Smash games. But I suppose the Roster isn’t everything, we can now just look forward more to the actual game. After the full roster was revealed, I had a bittersweet feeling. A bit of sadness and sympathy for the fans of the cut characters as well as popular Newcomer choices like Ridley. But at the same time, I am happy to know that we finally have closure on a lot of this character speculation. The roster may not be perfect, but the game on both consoles are looking awesome. I am so stoked for this game. The Smash Bros. franchise is my favorite video game franchise of all-time, and Smash 4 looks like it could continue the trend (At least IMO) that every game is better then the last. Cause there’s so much I’m excited for this time around even in comparison to the previous games. October 3rd and the Holidays can’t come soon enough. I hope to see many of my friends enjoying this game as well with me. It’s going to be a blast. ^^