Super Smash Bros. (Spoiler: Snake Kills Ganondorf)

[Treasure Goblin]

The main thing I think a new player should focus on is movement in this game. This game clearly shows its nintendo roots by being a hybrid of a platformer game as well as a fighting game. So why is movement so important? The aim is to knock the opponent off the stage rather than to deplete their health bar. This means positioning relative to the stage is extremely crucial. A smash attack that hits towards the right will likely not defeat the opponent if you are standing on the left side of the stage. Likewise, an attack that hits upwards is more likely to KO when you are on a platform above the main stage rather than on the ground. Therefore, a good player will always be mindful of where they are on the stage and use that to their advantage.

 

Another reason movement is important is because many attacks will hit your opponent away from you. This means to effectively follow up an attack, you must be able to quickly close-in on your opponent so you can continue the assault before they have a chance to re-orient themselves. This means mastering the timing for jumps and dashes or rolls, and also being able to read which direction your opponent is likely to move to try to avoid you. 

 

Getting used to shielding and dodging is also important. If you want, you can add my friend code and we can practise together, since I'm in Australia too so the lag will be minimal.

 

Thanks!

I already jump a lot because I jump in every game all the time, but I probably need to be more aware with my horizontal movement.  I also get so carried away with everything else (incessant jumping) that I completely forget to use my shield most of the time.  I sometimes seem to not pull off smash attacks, but I think this might be a problem with me being too gentle on the circle pad and it not registering.  

I'd love to practice with you!  My wifi is down at the moment but that should be amended today or tomorrow anyway - friend code is 1177 - 7809- 9087

[Sno]

Nintendo more or less just confirmed DLC characters for Smash 4 in their latest NIntendo Direct.

MewTwo will be the first one, assuming they do more, and will be free to owners of both versions.

[dium]

Yeah, I'm more excited by the idea that Nintendo may continue to develop things for Smash after release than I am for Mewtwo specifically.

[Twig]

Sorta hope they do Ice Climbers even if it has to be exclusive to wee woo because 3DS can't handle it. Shame to lose such a unique character. Couldn't give less of a shit about Mewtwo, but, yeah, I'm excited about the prospect of DLC in general. I can only assume DLC has gone well for them up to this point. I'd be curious to see the MK8 DLC numbers even with it not actually released yet (?)

[RubixsQube]

I'm just excited for an 8 person version of this:

 

 

stick with it.

[tegan]

Sorta hope they do Ice Climbers even if it has to be exclusive to wee woo because 3DS can't handle it. Shame to lose such a unique character. Couldn't give less of a shit about Mewtwo, but, yeah, I'm excited about the prospect of DLC in general. I can only assume DLC has gone well for them up to this point. I'd be curious to see the MK8 DLC numbers even with it not actually released yet (?)

 

Now that we know that the Wii U can do 8-player matches, it would probably have the exact same problem with Ice Climbers that the 3DS one has: rendering 16 complex player-controlled characters probably just isn't doable on that hardware.

 

Also, Mewtwo won't be available until Spring of 2015. I hope they do the completely goddamn ridiculous Mario Kart 8 thing where they still put him on the character select screen just to remind you that he's coming.

 

In all seriousness, I hope Mewtwo's available for people who don't want to buy two copies of the same game. Even if I have to buy his Amiibo to unlock him or something.

[Twig]

I'm gonna go ahead and state right now that I find it very very very difficult to believe the Wii U wouldn't be able to handle eight Ice Climbers.

[BigJKO]

5-player Smash!

 

6-player Smash!

 

8-PLAYER SMASH!!

 

[Cleinhun]

MewTwo will be the first one, assuming they do more, and will be free to owners of both versions.

I want to clarify that, as far as I know, he will be free if you own both versions, not that he will be a free character that will be available on both versions. 

[eRonin]

Thanks!

I already jump a lot because I jump in every game all the time, but I probably need to be more aware with my horizontal movement. I also get so carried away with everything else (incessant jumping) that I completely forget to use my shield most of the time. I sometimes seem to not pull off smash attacks, but I think this might be a problem with me being too gentle on the circle pad and it not registering.

I'd love to practice with you! My wifi is down at the moment but that should be amended today or tomorrow anyway - friend code is 1177 - 7809- 9087

Hey my friend code is 3969-5180-1975 have you got time on the weekend to play? I mostly play as Villager or Captain Falcon.

[tegan]

I'm gonna go ahead and state right now that I find it very very very difficult to believe the Wii U wouldn't be able to handle eight Ice Climbers.

 

Sixteen, but now that I've slept on it, you're probably right and I'm just full of shit.

[dium]

I can imagine it being a pain in the ass to implement. But that's not a hardware limitation, and a lot of things are a pain in the ass to implement.

[Twig]

Sixteen, but now that I've slept on it, you're probably right and I'm just full of shit.

The Ice Climber numbers sixteen, and the Ice Climbers number eight!

 

It's also worth noting that it's not the number of on-screen characters that's the real problem (after all, you can have eight Rosalinas, or four on the 3DS) - it's the AI. I'm totally willing to believe that the 3DS has trouble with that AI computation, but the Wii U is obviously way more powerful than the 3DS. Bonus, it's not really doing all that much more, computationally speaking - graphics card is handling the bulk of the work in the bump to HD - so it should have more than enough power leftover to handle up to eight AI partners.

[Treasure Goblin]

Hey my friend code is 3969-5180-1975 have you got time on the weekend to play? I mostly play as Villager or Captain Falcon.

 

Cool I've added you - sent you a PM too  

[eRonin]

The best Smash Bros ad of all time just got better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bSrvDv1hNo

 

Warning: 4 minutes of your life that you can never top.

[tegan]

I hadn't even realized before that that ad continues the weird Samus/Pikachu relationship that Brawl started.

[BobbyBesar]

Is that intended to be a depressing tale of obsession? It sure reads that way.

[Sno]

So the next patch will include balance updates.

This, apparently, will also break compatibility with any saved replays, which i find fairly upsetting.

[eRonin]

Someone showed that Luma takes 13 seconds to respawn in the Wii U version, so the 3DS version will probably be changed to match that. It is currently 8 seconds.

[Griddlelol]

Why are they talking in Japanese? Did they only budget one commercial? 

 

Amiibos really intrigue me. They reinforce the idea of having a "main" in SSB, which I think is pretty cool. That said, I'm only hearing bad things about SSB 3ds when it comes to online play. I'll have no one to play with at home, so I was seriously hoping the online would be great for the WiiU version. Maybe fighting games just can't be done online. 

[Sno]

There are definitely a handful of fighting games that have really great netcode, ArcSys's games always stand out to me, but it's obviously a pretty tremendous hurdle to overcome. With regards to the 3DS version of Smash 4, the conditions online seem to have actually improved a fair bit over time. Based on how Namco had provided low-latency multiplayer for their own fighting games, my suspicion is that the online play for Smash 4 is built up on a dedicated server infrastructure, and now that we're out past the launch rush for the game, that things have eased up considerably on it. Four player matches can still be rough, but two and three player matches have often been going off without a hint of lag. I still run into people with bad connections in random matches of course, but against friends - from all over the continent, to be clear - with reliable connections, it's been pretty smooth sailing. With these same friends, fights played closer to the game's release were often a total mess. The first few days were pretty solid, but the online play deteriorated rapidly and stayed that way for a few weeks before recovering.

[Griddlelol]

That's good to know. I guess people have just been exaggerating as usual. I will probably get smash U, but I'm definitely going to wait for a couple of weeks for the online community response.

[BobbyBesar]

That's good to know. I guess people have just been exaggerating as usual. I will probably get smash U, but I'm definitely going to wait for a couple of weeks for the online community response.

As much as Nintendo has a variously weird or non-existent online-multiplayer presence, they've been running Mario Kart MP online for a while now with no real complaints as far as I'm aware, so it seems they have a pretty good handle on the infrastructure required.

 

Smash is much more twitch-y, of course. But they aren't totally new at it.

[Griddlelol]

There's a huge difference between a kart racing game and a fighting game. Even with MK8 I've seen shells hit and a second or so after the hit actually registering. With a non-competitive game that's fine, but in Smash you need to have that instant input. 

[TheLastBaron]

For what it's worth I get lag even in local multiplayer.