Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Sakurai wrote:Pic of the day. The Levin sword and tomes are Robin's life lines. The Levin sword can be activated by using smash attacks--you can even activate these moves in midair! However, just like in the original game, the Levin sword can be used only a limited number of times before it breaks, at which point it takes some time to regenerate. When the Levin sword is unavailable, Robin fights using the bronze sword. The way Robin launches Arcfire is kind of crazy—he or she calls down a bolt of flame from above, then launches a pillar of fire! By the way, Robin’s tome changes with each special attack.

Sakurai wrote:Pic of the day. We have Nintendogs plus cats! How could we forget them!! Just FYI, there are about five dog breeds in this game. This was me, reporting from the 3DS-exclusive stage, Living Room.

Go Nintendo wrote:The following was translated by a reader from Nintendo Everything...

Robin
- Uses Levin sword for smash attacks and tomes for specials
- If Levin sword breaks it will regenerate after some time as Sakurai explained in the picture of the day
- Side smash: Horizontal cut with Levin sword, thunder effect adds damage; After number of uses Levin sword breaks and you will use bronze sword
- Aerial front: If you input smash midair, you will use Levin sword (while uses last); the magazine advices to pay attention how many times it is used
- Down special: Violet serpent formed spell. If it hits, it will damage opponent and heal user. If hit behind back, healing effect will be greater
- Side special (giga fire): Does large amount of damage. Shoots fire diagonally downwards and if it hits ground, item or enemy, it will burst into upwards pillar of flame which damages nearby area
- Normal special (thunder): According to charging time, it evolves from thunder to elthunder, giga thunder or thoron. Press b to charge and press again to unleash. If you press shield button while charging you can store the charge and
continue where you left afterwards
- Up special (elwind): Launches downwards 2 projectiles and Robin jumps from the momentum. If you use all the uses you can't unleash projectiles or use the jump effect.
- Final smash (double): Chrom dashes in and slashes while Robin uses magic in midair.

Stages
- There is a great variety of "gimmick" stages in this game and this (Ferox arena) is one of them
- At the beginning the stage is flat but there will appear additional platforms
- If you attack supported platform it will shake left and right or even crumble if attacked enough

Lucina
- Lucina is as Sakurai told earlier: same moves as Marth but dealt damage is same for all parts of the sword
- You can attach or detach the mask at the stage entry or with taunt

Other
- There is also small dialogue kind of thing (between editors?) where they hype the Captain Falcon and my unit announcements
- They may also say that they were surprised that Chrom isn't in, and Sakurai himself will explain the reasons at page 176 (unclear)

Go Nintendo wrote:Coming from Sakurai's reoccurring Famitsu feature...

We've just announced two new characters who will be joining the fray in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U. One is Robin, the avatar from Fire Emblem: Awakening, and the other is Lucina, a swordswoman who plays an important role in the same title. I'll skip over the details.

"What? Not Chrom!?" I suspect a lot of you will ask. Of course, Chrom is quite popular, being the protagonist of FE:A and all. However, I chose Robin and Lucina, and I will elaborate on my reasoning.

Robin appears in the game as a Tactician and functions much like a Mystic Knight (note: FF terminology, but equivalent to magic swordsman). I thought to utilize his all-around nature by assigning swordplay to his Smash attacks and magic tomes to his special attacks--that is, allow him to use magic.

His neutral special is thunder magic that grows stronger the larger you charge it. He uses fire magic for his side special, and wind magic for recovery as his up special. Although Robin doesn't use dark magic in FE:A, I decided to assign it as his down special. It isn't the first time I've given moves to a character that they don't use in their respective game in order to capture certain aspects of the original title.

I also implemented the system used in FE:A, in which tomes break after overuse. Likewise, I included a similar system for the Levin Sword, which breaks after a certain number of uses. However, both the tomes and the Levin Sword will quickly regenerate after a set period of time.

Lucina uses the same techniques as Marth, a fighter with whom I'm sure most of you are already familiar. I even went so far as to make their strength, speed, and special attacks almost identical.

However, what sets Lucina apart is the fact that the strength of her attacks is uniform along the blade. Marth's playstyle emulates the elegant swordplay of a fencer by dealing more damage when he strikes with the tip of his blade, but the damage Lucina deals is evened out. Thus, I think that Lucina will be much easier than Marth for novice players to play with.

I played all the way through FE:A and really wanted to include a character from that rich cast in Smash Bros. Naturally, I considered adding Chrom to the roster, but the decision wasn't easy by any means.

At the end of the day, Chrom would just end up being another plain-old sword-wielder like Marth and Ike. Compared with other characters, he lacks any unique characteristics.
Conversely, when the idea of including Robin came to mind, conceiving the character was so easy that I immediately saw how it would work. From standards to specials, grabs to throws, all aspects of his moveset just fell into place. Not only did he possess characteristics unlike other fighters, but he also captured the essence of the Fire Emblem series. It was perfect!

In the end, if a game isn't fun, then there's no point. Of course, it would be really easy to make a game by churning out a ton of similar characters, but that's not how I produce games.

Initially, I had considered including Lucina as one of Marth's alternate costumes. After all, she has a close relationship with him in FE:A. In such cases, even if two characters' names and voices differ, as long as they function the same way, I assign them as alternate costumes. The Wii Fit Trainers, Villagers, and Robin are examples of this setup.

However, even though Lucina shares her physical stats and techniques with Marth, the characteristics of their attacks differ. When two such similar characters function in an even slightly different manner, I give them a separate spot on the roster since that will affect battle records and whatnot. In that sense, you could say she was very lucky to join the fray!

Sakurai wrote:Pic of the day. Here's a Screen K.O. shot. There are also patterns where players will disappear into the sky for Star K.O.s, but as a match's time limit approaches, those K.O.s will not occur anymore.

Sakurai wrote:Pic of the day. Robin's Nosferatu is the first ability in the Smash Bros. series that recovers your damage as it gives damage to others. The attack becomes even stronger if you strike from behind! Robin doesn't actually use this ability in the original game, but we added that element to make the character unique. Who knows--the ideas we use in this game may contribute to the original series.

Sakurai wrote:Pic of the day. Here's the Great Fox from Star Fox: Assault. I wonder what missions it will conduct. It'll probably have fighters running around on top of it without the pilot's consent.