by I've put this off for way too long now, so here's my review for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS! Now, before you start reading...this review is going to be slightly different than my previous ones. I guess you'll just have to see what I mean as you read through it!
Gameplay
If you've played a game in the Super Smash Bros. series before, you can pretty much skip this section, as the Nintendo 3DS version, in terms of the way you play, is nearly identical to that of previous installments. (which is both good and bad depending on how you look at it)
If you haven't...Smash Bros. is a fighting game in which Nintendo all-stars are pitted against each other. Your goal is to fight against the other player(s) to knock them off the stage, earning you a point. The more you hit them, the higher their percentage becomes, making them more vulnerable to your attacks. You can use both normal Smash attacks which all characters have, and special attacks specific to your character. There are 52 characters in the game, and a good majority of them have very unique movesets, as well as many different stages, and items that can come across your way, so there's a lot of different ways to fight. (of course, you can choose to set off items if you wish)
There's also a variety of modes to play, but I'll get into that later. This gameplay style works very well, so I honestly believe there was no need for change. However, it is starting to get just a bit stale. I still enjoy playing the game all the time, but I do think eventually it will become old after spending many hours playing it. (which also makes me hope that the next game changes it up a bit) Regardless, it's really fun, and is at least unique from pretty much any other fighter available.
Graphics
Smash Bros. is beautiful on the 3DS, especially in 3D, everything seems to pop. There are a few stages that look pretty dated with their textures, however, especially with stages returning from other games like Corneria from Melee. It just looks kind of weird for these great, modern looking character models to be fighting on a ship that looks like an N64 model. For the most part though, it looks great.
Sound
The sound quality is exactly as you'd expect from a 3DS game, fairly high quality. The music is taken from all kinds of Nintendo games (as well as a few third party games) most of which being remixed. There's a good number of songs here, but I was annoyed that there's no way to choose songs that play the most as there was in Brawl and the Wii U version. Most of the songs are also remixes from the previous games.
Characters
Here's where we get to the different stuff. The playable characters play a major role in Smash, and are usually most people's favorite part of the series: playing with the new characters. The new game has 52 characters, including 16 brand new ones. Most of the returning characters feel identical, like almost nothing has been changed with their movesets. It would've been nice to see a few more changes in their moves, but they work fine as is, so it's not all that big of a deal. On the other hand, there are some very interesting new character additions. Just to name a few, Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, and Duck Hunt are characters you would never expect to see playable, and yet there they are. Being that they are very unique characters, however, they are some of my favorites to play as. My favorite overall, though, is Robin. His/her mixed swordsman and mage moveset is very interesting and fun to play with.
Stages
This section may not apply to you if you're the kind of person who prefers to play very competitively on Final Destination only. Otherwise, read on.
Super Smash Bros. generally has a wide variety of stages to play on from the different Nintendo game series. While the 3DS version has less stages than some of the previous games, there's still quite a few to keep you going for awhile. The brand new stages are pretty unique. Some of my favorites include Spirit Train, where you ride on the train from Spirit Tracks with train parts constantly switching around. There's also Balloon Fight and Dream Land, and Golden Plains, which offers an interesting new way to play the game. Almost every new stage in the game is great, but a few felt kind of bland, such as Tomodachi Life, which has a very basic layout and barely has anything going on.
What's worse, however, is that the game offers many stages from previous games in the series rather than only including new ones. Unlike a series like Mario Kart, where older stages are revamped to feel completely new, the older stages in this game feel largely unchanged. In fact, some look like they haven't even been updated graphically, which was a disappointment. However, the stages brought back from Melee and Brawl are still great, so it's not all that big of a deal really.
Smash Run
Smash Run is a new mode exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS version of Smash Bros. While many seem to be underwhelmed by it, I actually really enjoyed it. After playing regular Smash battles quite a bit, it's nice to play a different type of mode.
How it works is that you are placed in a giant world to explore with many enemies from different Nintendo series. Throughout the world you must defeat the enemies to gain special powers that can increase your attack power, speed, jump height, etc. There are also some challenges hidden throughout the map. At the end of 5 minutes exploring the map and defeating enemies, you'll participate in a final battle. This final battle may be a simple Smash battle, or something unique. You get to keep all of your special powers collected throughout the main battle, and use them to your advantage in the final one.
I thought this mode was fun. My only real gripe with it is that it can only be played locally, which is unfortunate as it would likely be a fun mode to play online.
Online Play
Of course, the game offers an online multiplayer mode. In online play, you are given the option to play "For Fun" or "For Glory." "For Fun" lets you play with up to 4 players on any stage, and "For Glory" only lets you play on Final Destination with 2 players. This is a great decision, as it gives more competitive players a way to play without taking away the fun from more casual players by only playing on the one stage.
Generally, the online play works fairly well with no lag when playing with friends. Unfortunately, it doesn't fare as well when playing with people worldwide. I found myself getting quite a bit of lag while playing with random players, and at times it was unbearable. After Brawl, you'd think the online would be improved, but it really hasn't been, which is a disappointment.
Overall
I really enjoyed Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. As a handheld addition to the series, it's very good. However, I can't deny some of the characters feel very similar, some of the stages are bland, and the online multiplayer can be unbearable at times. But in the end, the game was very fun and kept me playing for at least 35 hours (and I likely will play A LOT more than that in the end) I really enjoyed the game.
Gameplay
If you've played a game in the Super Smash Bros. series before, you can pretty much skip this section, as the Nintendo 3DS version, in terms of the way you play, is nearly identical to that of previous installments. (which is both good and bad depending on how you look at it)
If you haven't...Smash Bros. is a fighting game in which Nintendo all-stars are pitted against each other. Your goal is to fight against the other player(s) to knock them off the stage, earning you a point. The more you hit them, the higher their percentage becomes, making them more vulnerable to your attacks. You can use both normal Smash attacks which all characters have, and special attacks specific to your character. There are 52 characters in the game, and a good majority of them have very unique movesets, as well as many different stages, and items that can come across your way, so there's a lot of different ways to fight. (of course, you can choose to set off items if you wish)
There's also a variety of modes to play, but I'll get into that later. This gameplay style works very well, so I honestly believe there was no need for change. However, it is starting to get just a bit stale. I still enjoy playing the game all the time, but I do think eventually it will become old after spending many hours playing it. (which also makes me hope that the next game changes it up a bit) Regardless, it's really fun, and is at least unique from pretty much any other fighter available.
Graphics
Smash Bros. is beautiful on the 3DS, especially in 3D, everything seems to pop. There are a few stages that look pretty dated with their textures, however, especially with stages returning from other games like Corneria from Melee. It just looks kind of weird for these great, modern looking character models to be fighting on a ship that looks like an N64 model. For the most part though, it looks great.
Sound
The sound quality is exactly as you'd expect from a 3DS game, fairly high quality. The music is taken from all kinds of Nintendo games (as well as a few third party games) most of which being remixed. There's a good number of songs here, but I was annoyed that there's no way to choose songs that play the most as there was in Brawl and the Wii U version. Most of the songs are also remixes from the previous games.
Characters
Here's where we get to the different stuff. The playable characters play a major role in Smash, and are usually most people's favorite part of the series: playing with the new characters. The new game has 52 characters, including 16 brand new ones. Most of the returning characters feel identical, like almost nothing has been changed with their movesets. It would've been nice to see a few more changes in their moves, but they work fine as is, so it's not all that big of a deal. On the other hand, there are some very interesting new character additions. Just to name a few, Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, and Duck Hunt are characters you would never expect to see playable, and yet there they are. Being that they are very unique characters, however, they are some of my favorites to play as. My favorite overall, though, is Robin. His/her mixed swordsman and mage moveset is very interesting and fun to play with.
Stages
This section may not apply to you if you're the kind of person who prefers to play very competitively on Final Destination only. Otherwise, read on.
Super Smash Bros. generally has a wide variety of stages to play on from the different Nintendo game series. While the 3DS version has less stages than some of the previous games, there's still quite a few to keep you going for awhile. The brand new stages are pretty unique. Some of my favorites include Spirit Train, where you ride on the train from Spirit Tracks with train parts constantly switching around. There's also Balloon Fight and Dream Land, and Golden Plains, which offers an interesting new way to play the game. Almost every new stage in the game is great, but a few felt kind of bland, such as Tomodachi Life, which has a very basic layout and barely has anything going on.
What's worse, however, is that the game offers many stages from previous games in the series rather than only including new ones. Unlike a series like Mario Kart, where older stages are revamped to feel completely new, the older stages in this game feel largely unchanged. In fact, some look like they haven't even been updated graphically, which was a disappointment. However, the stages brought back from Melee and Brawl are still great, so it's not all that big of a deal really.
Smash Run
Smash Run is a new mode exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS version of Smash Bros. While many seem to be underwhelmed by it, I actually really enjoyed it. After playing regular Smash battles quite a bit, it's nice to play a different type of mode.
How it works is that you are placed in a giant world to explore with many enemies from different Nintendo series. Throughout the world you must defeat the enemies to gain special powers that can increase your attack power, speed, jump height, etc. There are also some challenges hidden throughout the map. At the end of 5 minutes exploring the map and defeating enemies, you'll participate in a final battle. This final battle may be a simple Smash battle, or something unique. You get to keep all of your special powers collected throughout the main battle, and use them to your advantage in the final one.
I thought this mode was fun. My only real gripe with it is that it can only be played locally, which is unfortunate as it would likely be a fun mode to play online.
Online Play
Of course, the game offers an online multiplayer mode. In online play, you are given the option to play "For Fun" or "For Glory." "For Fun" lets you play with up to 4 players on any stage, and "For Glory" only lets you play on Final Destination with 2 players. This is a great decision, as it gives more competitive players a way to play without taking away the fun from more casual players by only playing on the one stage.
Generally, the online play works fairly well with no lag when playing with friends. Unfortunately, it doesn't fare as well when playing with people worldwide. I found myself getting quite a bit of lag while playing with random players, and at times it was unbearable. After Brawl, you'd think the online would be improved, but it really hasn't been, which is a disappointment.
Overall
I really enjoyed Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. As a handheld addition to the series, it's very good. However, I can't deny some of the characters feel very similar, some of the stages are bland, and the online multiplayer can be unbearable at times. But in the end, the game was very fun and kept me playing for at least 35 hours (and I likely will play A LOT more than that in the end) I really enjoyed the game.
- score:
7.5 Smash Balls out of 10
I really enjoyed the game, but it's flaws kept me from giving it an 8 or slightly higher. I think 7.5 is still a good score, however. It's not amazing as it doesn't do all that many new things, but it's still a good game.
