The modes that had seen their origin in single-player modes only were relegated to the "Games & More" section. That includes Classic, All-Stars (though that one has a multiplayer option this time around) and Stadium.
CLASSIC
Giants, metal versions, team fights... You can faace anything. |
Speaking of difficulty, Classic modes up to Brawl had only 5 options: Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard. Things were switched up here, using instead an Intensity system very similar to the Fiend Cauldron from Kid Icarus: Uprising. The difficulty can be anywhere from 0.0 to 9.0, with 2.0 being the basic difficulty and the player having to pay to increase/decrease the difficulty, with even more having to be spent the closer to 9.0 you get (it costs 80 goldor to enter Intensity 3.0, but 2200 for 9.0!). I originally hated that idea because it meant you got few to no rewards half the time when you played the mode on easier difficulties, and the amount required for 9.0 felt ridiculous – then again, as I improved I realized the goldor rewards increased along to the difficulty, so playing through later difficulties would net enough goldor, fairly quickly, to take on 9.0 without much hassle.
Another major difference: Previously, one could also select the number of stocks (lives) they had to go through the mode, from 1 to 5. Here? No such thing. Instead, you have two stocks on each battle. On one hand, it means that you are allowed one death per battle – on the other, it means that even if you become reasonably good at the game on later difficulties, you’ll still only have two stocks every fight, even against the final boss (whereas in past games, you could reasonably reach Master Hand with still five lives).
Now, take all of the little annoyances I described in Parts 1 and 2 regarding items and stages, and apply them here. Can’t turn any of that off in Classic, oh no! NPC fighter? Stage boss? Scrolling? One-hit-kill items? The dozens of bombs? Everything has the potential to ruin your day. Really makes you wish you had 5 lives.
When you make a boss that has 6 different forms, maybe it's time to tone it down a little. |
Jesus, it's a damn good thing you win so much stuff with this mode! |
In short, Smash 3DS’s Classic Mode is a good overhaul in order to be made simpler and shorter, and it has decent ideas, but it can be extremely annoying at times, much more so than in previous entries of the franchise. A combination of the many hazards added here (in stages, items, and so on) and a few decisions regarding gameplay make this a mode I don’t really hate per se, but it has led me to rage-quit multiple times. As with everything bad I have to say with this game, a couple tweaks would have solved most issues.
(Also, in writing I try to remain calm, but whenever I am playing this mode on Intensity 9.0 I swear I'm cursing like a fucking sailor. Tells you how difficult and annoying it can be... In fact, I actually succeeded yesterday, the day before this part's release.)
ALL-STARS
"I can't wait to beat up a doggo, a robot, my worst enemy, the Hero of Time and his princess, a space hero, and the Princess I have to save every other week!" |
16 down, 30 more to go! |
There isn’t much to say about this one; very few changes compared to prior games. Why change a winning formula? I like it. I love that the characters are fought in chronological order, too. It can get tough, but it requires no entry fee in goldor and that alone is a win for me. Also of note, All-Stars and Multi-Man Smash can be played in multiplayer.
STADIUM
You like to customize your fighters? Good! You get to beat up thousands of them now! |
Beat up more Miis than your clone! |
"Quit staring at me with those puppy-dog eyes, Sandbag!" |
You'd think attacking a bomb wouldn't be too smart. |
Mass destruction! |
(Oh, and the Solo portion also has a Training Mode, as usual.)
CUSTOMIZATION
This is where you can edit any character to your liking, depending on the customization items you collected so far.
For regular fighters: You collect equipment to change their base stats. You can then equip up to three of these items to any fighter. These won’t actually appear on them in-battle, they will however have some effect on the battle. These can upgrade the character’s Attack, Defense or Speed, but careful – each item will mainly increase one stat, but will also decrease another stat… Note that some items will also give the ability to summon an item to be used in battle – particularly useful in, say, Smash Run.
You can also find new moves that you can then apply to the character’s B-button attacks. Three options are available for each directional input, so you can mix-and-match moves until each character plays exactly as you’d like. There’s a way to test these new moves on a Sandbag stage included within the mode. Lastly, you can also find powers and apply them to the character, but unlike others, these can only be used in Smash Run. Each item has a certain weight, and each character has its own carry weight limit. Powers include instantly equipping an item to the character, increasing their defense temporarily, other bonuses, stuff like that.
This Mii looks even more ready for battle than she did before. |
It’s a decent idea, but I don’t use it much. I kind of like the characters as they are… then again, I am not very competitively-minded, so customizing a character to perfection isn’t a thing I’d do all that much. But it’s there, and I appreciate the addition of it for the people who’ve been hoping to improve characters to their liking. Also, whenever one turns on the Custom feature in any mode where it’s available, (I may be wrong but) I feel like CPU opponents also improve, so you can be at a disadvantage. Also, a LOT of headgear and outfits are DLC-only.
Shout-out to the Amiibo menu, which I couldn’t really enjoy since I don’t have the 3DS variant that would allow me to scan Amiibos, and the Options menu, which has everything you’d expect. It does have a few additional features I haven’t mentioned yet, such as turning on/off outlines around the characters so that you can see them better on the small 3DS screen.
VAULT
Let's be honest though - if you come here, it's probably mostly for trophies. |
The Vault has everything else you’d expect; any photos taken during matches and videos recorded; game records and statistics regarding all modes and player preferences; a complete Sound Test with all music tracks in the game as well as all the little voice clips from the 50+ fighters, allies to be summoned with items, NPCs and so on; and lastly, a Tips section that gives helpful advice to the player.
Trophies, now, are divided in 4 sections:
- Gallery, to view trophies earned so far and read their descriptions;
- Hoard, to view all trophies in the same area, all together in a bunch;
- Trophy Shop, in which 6 trophies will be made available to purchase with goldor, the in-game currency, or with Play Coins, a different currency collected by the 3DS while the player is walking around in real life with the console turned on. Sometimes, discounts may be applied. The Shop may be selling trophies you already have, but the ones you don't will be shadowed on the top screen;
- And finally, Trophy Rush.
Trophy Rush is a mode in which you pick a character, then add seconds to a timer by paying goldor (the minimum is 30 seconds for 180 goldor, but it can be increased up to 2 minutes 30 seconds, paying 6 goldor per additional second for a maximum of 900). Jesus, everything’s expensive in this game.
Trophies! Gimme! |
When the gauge is full, crates will be replaced by pentagons containing coins, trophies or customization equipment. Those are easy to break, but their shape makes them easy to lose into the pits on either side of the platform. At the end, you get a score along with all the rewards earned. Why a score, no idea, but hey, if it encourages you to try and improve each time… Sure, why not. I think it’s a decent mode to replace the Coin Launcher from Brawl, especially considering this one feels more in line with the spirit of Smash – you control a character and use attacks to break stuff.
Aside from that mode, trophies can be earned in pretty much all of the other modes in the game, usually as random drops or as rewards (in particular during solo modes). For the record, Smash 3DS without DLC contains 685 trophies, and 707 with all DLCs included. And, still following the theme, most of them hail from games on portable consoles.
FINAL WORDS
As the previous… er… ~8000 words can attest, there was a lot to cover in this game. I hardly even had time for jokes, that’s how much there was! I was also trying to keep this down to 3 parts, though with all I had to say, I could’ve made it to four.
That's a lot of characters. I like that. |
Most modes are fine; the base ideas are decent, but the problems are always in the minute details that can make or break one’s enjoyment of them, and I felt that there were many elements here that could have been implemented better. Some things are troublesome or annoying, especially in Smash Run and Classic… but most problems could have been solved with simple tweaks and changes, or by adding more options. It’s not a deal-breaker in the end, these modes can still be plenty fun, but these flaws do get on my nerves at times.
This thing will never stop following me and killing my fun, stupid Yellow Devil! |
If you own a Nintendo 3DS, I can safely say this is a must-have; in spite of its flaws, it’s a truly impressive game fitting all this content on a cartridge. Smash’s reputation also precedes it, it’s an extremely popular franchise, and so finding fellow owners of the game to play with shouldn’t be a problem. Even if you’re not planning to play with others, the game is still filled to the brim with single-player possibilities. Of course, finding other players may be trickier now since Super Smash Bros. Ultimate came out last year and a lot of Smash fans may have moved on to that one… But the Nintendo 3DS is not going away just yet, either, so it's a reasonable assumption that you can find others to play Smash 3DS with, IRL or through the Wi-Fi Connection.
Phew! That was a long one. What am I planning to review next...
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