Tom Powter previews Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS at EGX 2014…
When you sit down with Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS, don’t be worried. Don’t be concerned. This is the same Super Smash Bros. you’ve always loved – just condensed into a tight, portable little package. That, in itself, is perhaps the greatest compliment Super Smash Bros. 3DS can receive.
Arriving at EGX yesterday, the UK’s biggest games show, I had already firmly decided Super Smash Bros. was going to be one of the games I played. Having already had the demo for some time, I wanted to use another character – one that was unavailable to me on the limited demo. So naturally, I sat down with three others and picked my favourite character, Bowser. The character select screen is crisp and colourful, with individual blocks representing each playable character. The lack of any names on the character select screen is a bit strange at first, but the full body renders of the characters make great use of the bottom screen of the 3DS.
What you need to understand though is that despite being on a handheld, this is very much Smash Bros. Choosing your character will result in a booming declaration of their name from the announcer, something that has been a Smash Bros. tradition since its humble beginnings on the Nintendo 64. It’s these little touches that make Super Smash Bros. 3DS feel like part of the family.
Speaking of characters, there are lots to choose from initially – Smash Bros. regulars like Mario, Link and Pikachu are all playable, while some newcomers are also available from the off, like Little Mac, Rosalina and Mega Man. In fact, the starting roster is perhaps larger than I had expected, coming in at around 36 characters and featuring characters that I felt for sure would be unlockable, like Pac-Man, Robin from Fire Emblem and Xenoblade’s Shulk.
Enough of that though, it’s the gameplay that’s important. First and foremost – it feels like Smash Bros. I can imagine the controls being tricky to get to grips with at first, as I certainly found when booting up the demo to begin with, but after a while it all comes naturally to you, especially if you’re a seasoned Smasher. Unfortunately, after choosing Random in the stage selection, we ended up with Mushroomy Kingdom, a returning stage from Brawl and quite possibly one of the worst stages in the game.
Even so, the graphics were fantastic and colourful, with characters moving at a smooth 60 frames per second. The gameplay is fast too – not Melee fast, but faster than Brawl. Combos also seem easier to pull off than in Brawl. All in all, from the small amount of time I’ve spent with the game so far, the gameplay looks to have been refined and tweaked to be the best it’s ever been.
From what I’ve been able to play so far, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS is looking to be great. The graphics are detailed and character models look great, while the core gameplay has remained as fluid and action-packed as ever. I hope to have a full review of the game soon, so stay tuned for that.
Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS arrives on October 3rd – less than a week at time of writing!
Tom Powter
Originally published September 27, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
