Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (Part 1)

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

I haven’t reviewed a lot of games on Nintendo consoles lately; blame it on the overabundance of games I own on Steam. Also, whenever I get a hold of my Nintendo 3DS, it’s usually to play some more Pokémon Ultra Sun (and that one will hopefully get its own article someday). I almost forget that I have other games for the portable console, isn’t that odd? It’s not like I don’t have some big name games either, as I also have the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon. However, for the Nintendo experience, nothing beats good old Smash.

Jump, slash, run and swing your way to victory!
Or not.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (AKA Smash 4), released in North America on October 3rd, 2014, comes from a relatively awkward yet recent era of Nintendo’s history. Ever since the N64, the company has felt the need to release a Smash title for each new generation of consoles. How can we blame them? Every new Smash game feels like a celebration. Masahiro Sakurai’s work on the massive crossover is something worthy of praise, and the numerous additions to the series over time have been, for the most part, well-received (whether it be characters, modes, options, gameplay mechanics… well, except tripping in Brawl; fuck tripping). So, of course, the Wii U had to have its own Smash. And yes, they went all-out; roughly fifty characters, the first instance of DLC characters added to the series, more franchises referenced, more non-Nintendo-borne characters joining the fight.

With that said, I am not too knowledgeable with Smash for Wii U, I never got a chance to play it and experience its modes. I was actually intrigued by the double release for that generation of consoles. Two Smash games released together? And the first entry of the franchise onto a portable console? Sign me up, right? That’s what I thought. And so, once I saw Smash for 3DS at a reasonable price, I bought it.

Smaller screens, smaller stages.
Let's get fightin'.

When the topic comes to Smash, I sincerely refuse to call any game of the franchise outright “bad”. As always, I tend to acknowledge the successes far more than the failures, and even though I have my gripes here or there (read: tripping, no, I’m not letting that one go), these games always seem good to me, if not outright great. People on the competitive fighting game scene might beg to differ, seeing how Melee was the sacred child of the Smash franchise for so long and there’s always been tweaks to physics and character movesets that tend to make these players prefer a Smash game (read: Melee) over another. I am in no way qualified to be a part of the competitive scene; Heck, I can barely get myself to find other people to play this game with. Admittedly, the strength of Smash games is that they’re so chock-full of content, you could never play these games with others, yet still have a good time for months. My own experience with the game allows me to make a relatively complete picture of all it contains, and what I think of each mode. There’s a bit of hindsight in there as well, considering Smash Ultimate was released in 2018 and we now have a more recent release to compare Smash 3DS (and Wii U) with. Still, I will try to rely more on personal experience than comparison with other games of the series.

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

That's only a fraction of the available trophies.

First things first, I’m impressed that they managed to fit so much in a 3DS cartridge. There’s everything you’re used to when it comes to Smash: A huge selection of playable characters, stages, items, guest stars (if you want to call the Pokéballs’ Mons and Assist Trophies that), modes and collectibles. Every time I go back, I realize how much there is, content-wise. Wows all around. As usual, the starting roster is already quite impressive, but it only gets better from there once you start unlocking characters and find out there’ll be about fifty faces on that screen to pick from by the end.

The first downside to having so much content on a single cartridge is that the loading times may feel long as a result. I did feel like there was a lot of loading in Smash 3DS, but considering everything that’s in there I’m willing to give that a pass. An understandable weakness. I would probably less forgiving if I played in multiplayer and encountered lag, which I guess is a possibility. Two points that will also pop up frequently, a fair trade for the console's technical limitations: A lot of options and modes are missing; no Events, no Tournaments, no Special Smash, but that's alright. Also, a lot of modes seem to have been made shorter, which I assume is due to the Nintendo 3DS's battery. Can't have modes that go on for too long, one's play time is fairly limited before they need to recharge the portable console again.

And so we get to my second point of criticism: I hope I’m not alone on this, but I felt that the main menu here was confusing. There seems to be a big focus on multiplayer, or at least multiplayer modes, since regular Smash, Smash Run and Online (with the first two including both single- and multiplayer options) are accessible from the first level of the menu, along with the menu of achievements and the mini-menus for the StreetPass and Wii U connectivity. Everything else, including the Solo modes, are stuffed into "Games & More" along with multiplayer options for Solo modes (All-Stars and Multi-Man Smash), customization, the vault of collectibles, the options, and the Amiibo menu. It’s all organized in a really strange manner. I can understand since the devs had to fit all of these options on the small screen of the 3DS. I also get that they may have favored the multiplayer options over the rest, but still – it’s odd to see the Solo mode relegated to a secondary menu, while the Challenges are on the main menu.

From now on? Each mode gets its own section. First is…

SMASH

Hard to actually show the difference in the game's physics
using still images. Here, look at how big the big guys
are now compared to the average Mario-sized Mario.

I don’t have much to say here, it’s pretty much the same as it ever was. The only difference is that the Solo and Multiplayer Smash options are separate, depending on whether you want to play a match by yourself or with friends. I assume that’s because you’d need to connect with other players of Smash 3DS in order to get a multiplayer match going. As usual, pick a fighter, pick a stage, set the rules just as you want them, and you’re ready to go. You do unlock extra rules after playing the game for a short amount of time. Do you like time-based matches, do you prefer stock battles? Would you like to set everyone’s handicap at 300% to make this a sudden death? Maybe a little bit of all that? Nothing else to say; it’s always been that way. So that’s fine. Of course, the 3DS’s limitations meant having a maximum of 4 fighters in a battle compared to its companion Wii U release’s 8 (in some conditions), but that’s not really a complaint.

Among new additions to mechanics, now an opponent that's
been KO'd will leave a trail the color of the fighter that
KO'd it. You can now figure out who KO'd who!

I would probably need to be more knowledgeable in terms ot Smash mechanics to truly discuss differences between this version and past ones. I do know that Brawl's physics were a little slower, in order to encourage a more party-like gameplay opposite from Melee's much more technical, fast-paced physics. This time around, I could feel like characters had their own differing weights, it was noticeable in how they moved or played, how their speed differed, and how this affected the outcome of battles. It also felt a lot faster, pace-wise, than Brawl. By the dev team's own admission, they were trying to combine the best of both worlds by having the party-like atmosphere of Brawl with the mechanics, better and more suited for competitive play, that were in Melee. I'll let better players than me be the judge on whether it worked, and whether it was a good idea. A few graphical differences were made as well, mostly regarding the size of characters when compared to each other in the roster and previous versions.

Smash is known for some of its modes, yes – but what do people really care about when it’s time to talk about any new entry in the series? Well, the roster, of course! It’s at the basis of everything Smash. Along with the famous Nintendo figures (and an increasing number of third-party fighters as well), items and stages keep getting added to double down on the massive crossover’s list of references. I figured I would close Part 1 of this review with a look at, and what I think of, the roster as well as the items of Smash 3DS. Stages will be in Part 2.

THE ROSTER

To say that Smash 4 (on both versions) went all-out would be an understatement. Up from Brawl’s ~39, Smash 3DS/WiiU ups the number of combatants to… um… depending how you look at it, 46 to 58. That’s a lot, and it certainly felt impressive at the time. 

So many faces  I can barely remember all their names.
Doesn't help that most Fire Emblem folks all look
like average shoujo protagonists.

Let’s break down the “46” first, I’ll explain the “58” later. Of these, 34 are returning from any of the previous Smash games. The original 12 are still there; Dr. Mario, Mewtwo and Roy return from Melee (the latter two as DLC), and most folks from Brawl are also here again. The absentees? Wolf O’Donnell, Snake, the Pokémon Trainer (Charizard’s in, but Squirtle and Ivysaur aren’t). Oh, and the Ice Climbers, due to the technical limitations of the Nintendo 3DS (though it means they were also out of the Wii U version). Toon Link is still in as Young Link’s replacement, and Pichu is yet nowhere to be seen.

Among the base game’s newcomers (and the DLCs discussed below), franchises making a first appearance here include Animal Crossing, Wii Fit, Punch-Out, Duck Hunt, Xenoblade, and for third-party characters, Mega Man and Pac-Man. The Miis (if you want to include them as a franchise of their own), are here too, available in Brawler, Swordfighter and Gunner flavors. Metroid and Kid Icarus, previously represented by a single character each, have new representatives as well (Samus is split in two characters, while Dark Pit and Palutena join Pit).

Seven characters in total are DLCs: Aside from the aforementioned Mewtwo and Roy, there’s also returning brawler Lucas, and newcomers Corrin (from Fire Emblem), Ryu (from Street Fighter), Cloud Strife (from Final Fantasy) and Bayonetta (from… well, Bayonetta).

Now, why the “58”? Well, some of these 46 characters have alternate outfits that are actually different in more ways than just the color; some of these are bonus character options. Fire Emblem representatives Corrin and Robin are available with both male and female models. So are Wii Fit Trainer and Animal Crossing’s Villager. Then Pikmin’s Olimar has Alph, one of his colleagues, as an alternate costume/fighter. The “holy crap” award, however, goes to Bowser Jr., newcomer from Mario’s side of the family, who has all SEVEN Koopalings as alternate costumes. WOW.

Good thing they all count as a single character.

Gee, I wonder who that is!

One of my favorite aspects of Smash is the possibility to unlock characters as you play, until you get the full roster – I am a little disappointed that there are only 12 characters that may be unlocked by playing the game this time (Then again, the Wii U version has it worse with only 8 unlockable characters). Some of them can be found either by repeatedly playing through Classic Mode on varying difficulties, but all can be unlocked by playing a numberof VS matches. The numbers of VS matches required are much smaller than in previous installments: only 120 to unlock Jigglypuff in Smash 3DS, versus 450 to unlock Wolf O’Donnell in Brawl. On the other hand, fewer characters to unlock means more options from the get-go. I also can’t forget that, of the 46 characters, 7 are behind a paywall.

"Aren't you me?"
"We're separate characters now."
"This is gonna get confusing."
"You have your name, I have my alias. Simple enough."

Another difference that disappoints me a little, but at the same time I feel it was an inevitable change: Characters who were once able to transform no longer can, and fighter transformations are new spots on the roster. Zelda and Sheik are separate characters now. Same for Samus and her Zero Suit form. I guess the alternate fighters as costumes were a good trade-off for that limitation. The other Final Smash transformations remain, however.

Overall, I’m fairly happy with the roster. There’s always the critique of there being too many new faces for one franchise while others are left without new representation. Three more Fire Emblem characters – Lucina, Robin and Corrin; two more from Mario – Rosalina and Bowser Jr; meanwhile, still not a trace of my favorite boy, Mike Jones from StarTropics! Once more, we were given new fighters that were either obvious choices, fan requests, or unexpected additions, and we're finally getting coverage for franchises that had yet to make an appearance. We aren’t missing a lot of veterans either, and the ones who originally had movesets too similar to other fighters’ saw an improvement and new attacks to distantiate themselves from the originals.

It also helps that you can customize all fighters by giving them new attacks, some of which you earn by completing challenges and clearing game modes. Don’t like a character’s down-special? You can swap it for another. I don’t really use that functionality, but it’s there for those who aren’t satisfied with a fighter’s attacks. Customization really is the name of the game here. I'll discuss this further in Part 3.

THE ITEMS

Any idea what to use for the best experience? I know! Only hammers.

The longest enduring meme of Smash might be “No items! Fox Only! Final Destination!” Yet, items are a key element of this crossover party fighter. No less than 71 items exist in the game in order to spice up these scuffles. They range from classics that were there since Day 1 on the N64 to additions paying homage to newer series as well as classics of gaming – and not just Nintendo, either, as Namco-Bandai gets a few references in there, thanks Pac-Man. The item screen in Smash 3DS is split depending on the type of item:

• The Smash Ball for Final Smashes;
• The helper items (Assist Trophies, Pokéballs and Master Balls);
• Objects split in three parts to be collected in order to use their devastating effects (the Dragoon and Daybreak);
• Containers such as crates;
• Items that transform the character in some way;
• Items that allow the character to punch/slash/shoot at others with added effects;
• Items to be tossed around;
• And last but not least, a handful of accessories.

Like in past games, you can turn on/off every item individually to customize the battle as you see fit.

My first problem here: Unlike past Smash games, you can’t set a rate at which items appear: It’s all or nothing. No gradation. If I recall, in Brawl one could choose a frequency at which items would spawn; None, Low, Medium or High. Melee had even more options. Here? On or Off. Have fun seeing either not a single item, or loads of items. I'm not sure I can blame console limitations here, either, as I think it would have been simple to implement.

Other observations:

Majestic! Silph worke dovertime to produce so many
Master Balls!

-I like that Pokéballs and Master Balls are now separate items, so you can play a match with nothing but Legendary Pokémon (and the occasional Goldeen) appearing if you want to. At the time of Smash 3DS’s release, Gen 6 had just come out, while Gen 5 came out after Brawl’s release, so both get some representation – roughly 13 Pokémon from those two Gens, along with many fan favorites returning. The new Assist Trophies are pretty cool too, by the way. I was very surprised to see Pong among the allies one could summon.

When I said BFG, I meant it.
That's one big freaking gun if I ever saw one.

-A number of Final Smashes (FS) have changed from Brawl to Wii U/3DS. I leave it to the metagame to decide whether all of these changes were good things; though generally, new Final Smashes tend to make a bit more sense on the characters using them. Charizard, Mewtwo and Lucario gain access to their Mega forms, Luigi now uses the Poltergust, Pit equips himself with the Three Sacred Treasures instead of calling an army of angels, R.O.B. swaps his diffusion beam for a BFG. Zero Suit Samus has a new FS of her own, since Samus’ original FS involved her ditching the suit or putting it back on after attacking.

Boss Galaga is one of the reasons why I'm starting to
believe in the "No Items, Final Destination" meme.
I'm not quite at the "Fox Only" part, though.

-Smash had no shortage of ultra-deadly items in the past three entries (the Hammers, some Assist Trophies and Pokémon, among others), but Smash 3DS literally introduced two items with the potential to insta-kill characters. First is Boss Galaga, taken from the famous arcade classic. When launched, it will fly around with a tractor beam. A player caught in the beam will be dragged upwards into the upper blast line. Unless the captured character is punched out of the beam or wrestles out, it’s gonna die. Guaranteed. A second item, the Lanayru Beetle, does a similar thing, also dragging a fighter upwards to kill them once it catches them. Multiple times have I been killed in Classic because the enemy got to either of these first and threw it at me. This is the new tripping for me; this ruins battles. This can turn the tide of battles in unfair ways. I hate these items.

The last time I fought winds this nasty, I was battling Wario!

-The ability to push enemies away wouldn’t seem that great in a fighting game, but in Smash, where you just need to send someone too far in any direction, it’s too good. The Ore Club can create tornadoes after successful smash attacks, while there’s an entire item, the Gust Bellows, dedicated to pushing others away. These two can coexist in one battle. Trap someone close to a side blast line, and keep pushing them towards it, and boom, easy win. Urgh. Not as bad as the insta-kill items, but still really goddamn annoying.

-So. Many. Bombs. Too many, in fact.

Using screenshots from the Wii U version...
Is that cheating? The items remain the same...

Although, there’s a number of good additions among the items (the Super Leaf, Spiny Shell, Special Flag, Rocket Belt, POW Block, Drill and Boomerang are ones I like). I do like that they keep adding items from franchises that either had very little or no representation at all, some obscure series in particular. I don’t have good words for every new item, but while I bitch and moan about details, most additions are actually good.

In Part 2: The Stages, Streetsmash, the Challenges, and Smash Run. ->