Today is the 2nd year anniversary of Smash for 3DS in the United States and Europe! Let us know how you feel in the comments below, or on Twitter!
I suppose it can be said “time flies”. It’s already been two years since the long wait for the fourth installment in the Smash Bros. series. Although the wait was over, speculation kept going on, with the Wii U version taking longer to release as well as the possibility of DLC being up in the air, thanks to data mining discoveries back then.
I remember the displeasure over certain fan favorites not making into the game, but many remained hopeful thanks to the prospects of DLC. It is fun to think that such a ride would last until early 2016 and certainly no one back then would think the likes of Cloud or Bayonetta would ever make it into the game, let alone Corrin, whose game hadn’t even been announced back then!
As for the game itself, it was really nice to finally play Smash Bros. on a handheld. Like a dream come true. Although some game modes and characters didn’t carry over from previous games (something slightly amended by DLC), it still felt satisfying overall. Some complaints of mine included the lack of more new stages on the 3DS version, as it relied on previous stages significantly, itself a byproduct of the existence of the two versions, each with different stages.
Still, the fact it was Smash Bros. on a handheld mitigated many of those less positive aspects. Wherever I could be, I could bring Smash with me anytime. What’s not to love? In addition, Smash Run remains one of my favorite game modes of the Smash series as a whole. Of course, the lots of new content and characters to discover and try out were also worth the wait as these kept me playing. To this day, Smash Bros. for 3DS remains one of my most played games on the console, so I’m hopeful for another handheld Smash game in the future.
The release of Smash for 3DS was a lot of fun. I quickly put in over 200 hours into the game before the eventual Wii U release with all the various modes and interesting characters. Smash Run was fun, but I enjoyed completing all of the challenges. Before the U.S. release, I was actually translating the requirements on a thread on SmashBoards in order to help non-Japanese speakers playing the game. I also wrote about the unlock system (And follow up),and scavenged the text/graphics from Kaphotics’ various dumps (Here’s all the tips) of the game files, posting the first evidence of DLC being possible. It was pretty exciting, and I quickly became deeply involved with the speculation community.
To be honest, I played the 3DS version a lot more than the Wii U version. I enjoyed the Wii U version for it’s multiplayer, and controller (nothing beats the GameCube controller for Smash). However, doing all the single player challenges with every character made me not want to re-do them on the Wii U version as I felt that I’ve already did it! I think it’s a big shame that there isn’t more connectivity between the two — such as syncing progress/ unlocks. Speaking of unlocks — the custom moves and equipment. Man, that’s such an counterintuitive system. If they at took out the custom moves/hats you’ve already unlocked out of the pool then it would be at least manageable.
Either way, I’m glad Smash for 3DS exists. It’s great to have Smash on the go, and I play it from time to time when I have some time on the train (perfect game to have digitally).
It’s amazing that we’ve come this far. From the ESRB leaks to the displeasure of not having Mewtwo back in the game(for me) to Roy/Ryu’s files being found in this version, it’s clear that the 3DS version of Smash is an important part of what is collectively the fourth Smash game if you consider both versions as one overall package(which I do). I’m still grateful to have this version, as I wouldn’t own a Wii U until June 2015 and the 3DS version of Smash kept me satisfied for the longest time. It’s still a good fallback when you’re on the go anyway, so it’s not like the Wii U version completely invalidates it.
Two years of Smash’s first venture into the world of portable consoles was in all meanings of the word, a success. The fun and excitement of Smash Bros. is captured excellently by director Masahiro Sakurai. The new characters are better than any other entry (Ryu! Cloud! Bayonetta!), the art is magnificent, and even the competitive aspect has been fined tuned to accommodate more player bases. Even with hardware limitations (Ice Climbers cut! Only two tracks per stage!) the game is a blast to play at home or on the go, with friends or just by oneself. It’s also hard to believe that development for Smash 3DS only ended in this year! This day also marks my own entry to the world of the Smash Bros. community, October 3rt, 2013 (the day I joined Smashboards). By making it this far, I can say it’s been a worthwhile ride. Here’s to two more years of Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U… and beyond!
To me, looking back on it, the games feel kind of bloated. Super Smash Bros for 3DS is a good game mind you, but the game feels often like a mess. When you look at both Super Smash Bros Melee and Super Smash Bros Brawl, the games feel well thought out. Everything was pieced together so perfectly. But the current generation of Super Smash Bros just focused on piling things onto one another without any regard with how its all supposed to fit together.
I think the best way to understand it is to look at the stages. Between both games there are about 50 plus stages. That’s the most the series has ever had. But they don’t mesh well together. I think the Super Smash Bros Brawl stages worked better and were more memorable because they better thought out. Super Smash Bros for 3DS/Wii U just had so many that they started blending together. Some even had similar motifs as most of the Wii U stages all transformed or toured an area. It also felt like modes were just placed on top of modes. None of them were that noteworthy on their own. And some were just changed in bizarre ways just to be different (such as Classic in the Wii U).
Also (and I’ve said this before), I feel like the games didn’t celebrate Nintendo like they should. There are just way too many third party characters that they are just meaningless. It takes away from the celebration of Nintendo. I’m fine with none, but I think it worked better in Brawl because it was something special. It was limited. There were 2, not 6.
I don’t want to say the games are bad. The games did a lot right too and it obviously helped to create this site. But now that the dust has settled it’s a little clearer to judge the game for what it is. To place it next to the other Super Smash Brothers games. The game is good, don’t get me wrong, but reflecting on it and looking at the other games, it seems more manufactured that genuine. It doesn’t feel as special.
- Smash Ultimate Development Timeline - May 16, 2020
- Straight from the Source: Koji Igarashi on Castlevania in Smash, Bloodstained - October 16, 2018
- Sakurai Discusses Isabelle, Echoes, and Newcomers - September 26, 2018
It was surreal to have Smash be available on a handheld.In the end, however, the 3DS version felt a lot like a $40 demo for the Wii U version, as my friends and I pretty much never play the 3DS one anymore. In retrospect, I can’t help but somewhat resent the 3DS version for holding back the Wii U one, such as losing the Ice Climbers and transforming characters (although I’m glad that this one is gone). I think we can safely assume that the 3DS version also took time and effort away from the Wii U version that could’ve been used for more stages, characters, and/or modes (something better than that abomination called Smash Tour, at least). I don’t hate the 3DS version or anything, but I feel that one can’t get the true Smash experience on a handheld, and that the time and effort used to create the 3DS version could’ve been put towards improving the generally preferred Wii U version.
I had a lot of fun with the 3DS version (both the Japanese and eventual English) release, but then only played the Wii U primarily for challenge completion as the online multiplayer can only take you so far.
…I still never got the unlock all hats challenge either, I refuse to use a hammer on it, yet the RNG for getting those hats is terrible… xD But my 3DS one is 100% complete!
I’m kinda in the same boat as SmashChu, albeit for some different reasons.
Smash For, while a great game, didn’t hold my attention for nearly as long as Melee and Brawl did at the time of their respective releases. There’s no single major issue I have with the game but several more minor ones that add up and ultimately hold the game back.
On the positive side of things, the core game is great. The base game’s batch of newcomers struck a great balance between characters from Nintendo IPs with no prior representation, additional characters from already present franchises, and third party guests (though the picks for DLC were a bit more questionable). I also thought there was good balance of predictable choices and more shocking ones across the board. In addition, these characters brought the most varied and interesting assortment of move sets and play styles of any Smash game. 8-player Smash was an absolute godsend.
Unfortunately past that the game falls into a series of blunders, the biggest of which for me being how the two versions were handled. In my mind there were two ways to make the multiple versions work: either make two completely different games (likely meaning at least one version would have to move away from being a traditional Smash experience) so that there’d be adequate reason to ask customers to pay full price for both, or make both versions identical so you could just buy one version (depending on if you wanted a better looking experience or a portable one) without felling like you were missing out on anything important. What we ended up with was two games that were the same at their core but had a fair number of exclusive pieces of content, most notably stages. They weren’t different enough that I felt I got two game’s worth of content for buying both, but they also had enough exclusive content that it bothers me I don’t have access to everything in one single game. I’ve basically not touched the 3DS version since the Wii U version came on account of it better suiting the way I play and having more content overall. However I find myself wishing I had access to the 3DS stages and Smash Run on the Wii U, leaving the experience feeling incomplete even though it clearly isn’t.
Beyond that most things added or improved in these games have some annoyance that really hampers my enjoyment of them.
Online with randoms is much more functional now, however you can only play on random stages (in the game where stage hazards are more intrusive than ever) with items on (in the game were more items have the ability to kill at low percents than ever) or only on final destination with no items whatsoever. There are also three characters who can’t be used against randoms online.
Custom moves are a neat idea, but tied to an absolutely abysmal random drop system and also lumped together with equipment which I don’t care for at all.
The stage builder is capable of creating more intricate stages than it was in Brawl, but it isn’t nearly as intuitive and lacks a lot of really simple feature you’d think ought to be there, like the ability to move a piece after it is created.
DLC adds some nice additions, but just getting the 7 fighters and 8 stages in a single version will run you as much as the entire 3DS version which is pretty absurd (other games being worse doesn’t make this okay).
Smash Run is fun and handles enemies better than any previous game, but it lacks customization. I really wish there was a way to play some of the end events without having to go through a round of Smash Run, or at least a way to choose what event you would play after a round ended. Not an actual problem with the game but I also wish they had done more with the enemies created for Smash Run because they were handled so well. It feels like such a waste to restrict them to a single side mode and have them all but entirely absent from the Wii U version.
Smash Tour had some neat ideas, but is too much of mess overall to get much enjoyment out of, kinda like Smash For’s extra modes as a whole.
Everything else Smash For offers outside of the core experience is either something a previous game did just as well if not better, or something too small to amount to much. Melee and Brawl both had an abundance of new things to do outside of the main game on top of a solid core experience. Smash For nails to core experience, but outside of that tries to do too much at once and can’t seem to really handle any of it all that well. Smash 4 is by no means a bad game, its my current go to Smash game to play with friends, but it felt like a small step forward for the series rather than the huge leap Melee and Brawl were.