It's time to talk about Nintendo's premier crossover fighting games.

For those of you who don't know the first thing about them, Super Smash Bros is a series of fighting games on Nintendo consoles, boasting a diverse cast of Nintendo characters (and a few guest fighters from other companies, like Sonic The Hedgehog). 

This is unique compared to other fighting games because the object of the game isn't to deplete a health bar, but rather, to send your opponent flying out of the arena. Each character has a % meter that rises the more they take damage. The higher the %, the farther they'll fly. At 200% you're almost guaranteed to fly out of the arena unless the attack is just a light slap.

My best character in the first two games has always been Yoshi. With his ability to charge forward and head-slam the opponent while still maintaining speed, he can control the battle by keeping the enemy unable to guard themselves, shuffling them around until the moment of the KO. 

The series (particularly the second) is infamous for having very strict tiers among the players and lots of exploits that make tournaments darn near impossible to win without sticking to specific characters and making use of said exploits.

It was for this reason that the third title in the series, Smash Bros Brawl, was made to be a lot more slow and floaty, crippling the ability to pull off reflex demanding combo moves in order to make it more friendly to casual gamers. While I do appreciate that, I think they made it a little too slow and floaty, making Yoshi so awkward and clumsy that even Peach has become a more usable character for me. They also added this ridiculous mechanic where if you run around constantly, there's a chance you'll randomly stumble and fall on your rear, leaving you vulnerable to a hit.

And now we get to the big news the world is raving about, the upcoming new titles for the Wii U and 3DS.

According It's been confirmed that this one's speed will be somewhere between Melee and Brawl, less slow and floaty but not as hardcore as Melee. They also got rid of that random stumbling mechanic. 

So far the only known differences between the Wii U and 3DS games are the stages. The Wii U title will have stages that reflect the console games (like the Skyloft stage in Zelda: Skyward Sword) and the 3DS game will focus on stages based on handheld games (like Lumious City from Pokemon X and Y).

I'm kind of baffled that  Greninja has been made a playable character, I always thought it was the least popular of the Kalos starters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70WzzeaIq5w

At least there's hope for my best character to return to form.

OMG! I love this series! I own all of them!! (expect for the first because my brother sold our N64 back in the day. I then got it on the wii, my brother took it when he moved out. I need to buy a copy for my wii.   )

Smash Bros: Pikachu was my character. I didn't bother to try others.
Melee: Fox and Link are my characters. I am a master at Fox and this game. I played this game so much back in the day. It's my favorite version out of the current three.
Brawl: Link, Fox, and Pit. Sometimes I try to play as Ike, but god he is so slow. I really like playing this game, but you like you said the characters move so slow and they awkward to control. I had no idea they did this for casual players. Kind of makes me mad because with the Smash series you get better as you play.

I'm looking forward to playing the new installments! I will get both versions. As for Greninja I don't know about you, but I know that starter is quite popular because well it's a ninja. Besides I think a ninja will fit quite nicely in a smash game. His move set looks cool. I love how Charziard will be a whole character in this and you can mega Charziard on your friends. XD

True. Greninja didn't receive as much backlash as Delphox. The most controversial thing about him was that his tongue is his scarf. It's kinda gross.

Also, it's been confirmed that the 3DS version will be released Q3, while the Wii U version will come out in Q4. That means Smash Bros 3DS will be out in time for my birthday~

Now all we need is Mewtwo to be brought back into the series (and not play as horribly as he did in Melee and everything will be skippy.

More female characters would be nice though. The Wii Fit trainer was an odd, but interesting addition. I'm kinda bummed that Midna from Zelda: Twilight Princess was made into an assist trophy instead of a playable character. Jill from Drill Dozer would make a great playable character too.

It's a little odd that they separated Sheik/Zelda and Samus/Zero Suit into different characters, but maybe they'll toughening each one to the point that they won't need to swap forms.

Am I the only one who doesn't care that Mewtwo isn't playable? 

I like the idea that Sheik and Zero Suit Samus are their own characters. I thought it was annoying that you had do a special combo to play Zero Suit Samus or get Samus's final smash.

Mew Ami wrote:

Am I the only one who doesn't care that Mewtwo isn't playable? 

Yes. 

I don't know if you were a 90's kid, but Mewtwo was kind of a big deal when I was growing up, so being able to play as him in Smash Bros... was a big deal.

Unfortunately he sucked worse than any of the other characters, even Pichu.

I'm a 90s kid. I was born in 1990. XD 

I thought Mewtwo was cool, but as a kid I liked Mew better. I still do. 

He sucked in Melee and I really don't care that he was taken away. I was upset that they took away Roy.

Mew is also very special but Mewtwo was the downright FEARED back in the days of Red and Blue, so it was disappointing that he was made so pitiful in his first fighting game appearance.

I actually forgot about Roy. Yea I was bummed that they replaced him with Ike. I like Ike but honestly.... it's SO DIFFICULT to hit anyone using him. I think he's better for four-person matches and I always brawl one-on-one.

I love Ike. He has an awesome final smash. Sadly he's so slow >.<. 

I guess I never felt the mightiness of Mewtwo since I never got to catch him in my Yellow game as a kid.

Rosalina is someone Nintendo seems to be really loving lately, as they've added her to the roster in every Mario Kart game (including giving her a baby form in 8) and she's playable in Mario 3D World.

Palutena, the goddess from Kid Icarus is an unexpected addition, but a pleasing one considering the small amount of playable ladies. I see now why Pit's Final Smash is different in this one, as she appeared in the background of that stage.

Pac-Man? That just caught me completely off guard. I should have expected more third party characters but HIM? 

Not sure how I feel about Zelda and Sheik being separated into different characters. I hope that's not their way of saying "Look! We added more female characters!" without actually bringing something new to the table. Same goes for Samus.



I'm still holding onto hope that Jill here will be added to the playable roster. She has yet to be confirmed if she's coming back as an assist trophy. Little Mac was an assist trophy in Brawl, but now he's playable. Then again, he's been in more than one game, which isn't totally obscure.

In her little mecha tank Jill is rather clunky. It would be interesting to have a female fighter who leans more on the heavy and powerful side, rather than always being quick, weak and easy to knock around.

I heard Little Mac fits nicely into the game as playable character. As for Pac man a lot people are saying it's a great thing because the big 4 from 1980s are in the game together. I think I got that right? As long as I can play as Link or Fox I don't care who's added to the roaster. Although I wished Roy never got the boot. 

I'm excited for the Miis actually. My friends and I can make Miis of our OCs and have them duke it out! It will be a lot of fun. I'm confuse why you can only play with them offline and online friends only.

So now the Smash Bros game is spreading to Japan and that means the roster has arrived. Spoilers below.

Spoiler:

A gamer I watch on youtube has a Japanese 3DS. The game looks great! Still getting the U version first because pokemon gen 3 remakes are a higher priority over Smash 3DS.

I've read the reason they removed Ice Climbers was because they couldn't get the AI to work properly on the 3DS version, and they didn't want there to be characters exclusive to the Wii U version.  I can't remember the source, though, so that could just be a rumor.  I never used Ice Climbers, but it's sad to see them go after having them in two previous games.

Really? :/

That's what's been circulating.  Again, I can't remember if my source was word of mouth or actually reliable..