Super Smash Bros. on the 3DS: Gameplay, Features, and Characters

Super Smash Bros. 3D

Many people want SSB on a Nintendo handheld but are divided on whether it could be done well. I’m in the section that wants it and thinks that it can be done correctly. In this post I’m going to explain to you how I would make a SSB game on the 3DS work and play correctly. I’ll then go into detail on the features, characters, and stages I would want in such a game.


How It Would Play:

• In-Game:

The reason people are afraid of a SSB game on the 3DS is because of the screen size. There’s a lot of action going on and the stages are huge. That doesn’t even include item drops, where the final smash would appear, and assist characters.  I understand these concerns but there are ways to make it work.
To do so would utilize both screens on the 3DS. The top screen would be where most of the action takes place. Instead of the top screen showing a static camera shot of the entire stage, it would be a slightly zoomed in perspective on your character. It would leave enough real-estate to see characters approaching from any side. This way your character isn’t the size of a pin and impossible to see. It allows you to know where you are and still have some breathing room.

The bottom screen would have a map of the stage with markers tracking all four players. It would also display alerts for when items would drop or when the final smash lands.

I do think that assist characters should be left out of this iteration. I can’t imagine the 3DS having the power to handle them along with everything else at the same time. It would also take up a lot of screen space and confuse everyone playing. It would be much cleaner without them.

The analog circle is perfect for movement and the many face buttons would continue to be used as the attack buttons/jump buttons. The L and R buttons would remain as shield buttons.

• Character Selection:

During game set up the touch screen would be where the players would choose their characters and set up what items will be used. The top screen will display the four chosen characters and what teams they’re on.

Features:

• Multiple Modes:

Naturally one of the coolest things about Smash Bros is the amount of modes in the game. Besides standard versus there’s a tournament mode and a lot of variations on standard versus. Modes like stamina mode or lightning mode, etc would definitely have to make a return.
I wouldn’t even mind seeing some new modes. Maybe team tag mode set up very much like an MvC3 game but with only two characters (and no assists). It’d be a nice experiment in my opinion. I would also love to see a “big head mode”, but that’s the nostalgia talking.

• More Mini Games:

Currently there are only three “mini-games” in the SSB series. There is the Home Run Contest, Target Breaker, and 100 Man Melee (and assorted numberings). These games are fun and all but why not add more? Also, let’s give Home Run Contest a purpose shall we? There’s has never been any reason to hit that sandbag as far as possible except to brag to your friends. It should be tied to a character unlock or something useful.

• No More Story Mode:

That Subspace Emissary mode was easily the mode confusing and boring thing I’ve ever had to do in a SSB game. It was very long and not a whole lot of fun to play. The bosses were kind of cool and some of the stages were actually fun but it didn’t play very much like a SSB game. It also took all the fun out of unlocking all the characters and sort of just handed them to you as you played, with one or two exceptions of actually having to seek them out.

• The Return of Arcade Mode:

What I really want is the return of standard arcade mode. Give me nine (or even more) stages with littered with bosses and random encounters (like team battles or giant enemies). Sure, this was included in the last SSB game, but it felt like an afterthought and unimportant compared to Subspace Emissary mode.

A co-op mode would be fun as well. It would have to be limited to two players so there’s still room for the actual enemies. Just amp up the difficulty of the opponents and everything is balanced. This way there are more options for people who want to play together, but don’t want to just play a simple versus match.

• More Boss Battles:

Speaking of arcade mode, the coolest part was fighting the exclusive boss characters that you could see in the rest of the game. I’d like to see more bosses with different variations of them in arcade mode.

• Street Pass:

Super Street Fighter IV 3D is already using the street pass feature for their figurine battle. Winning gets you more coins which you can use to purchase better figurines and in game art (along with other bonus content I’m sure). I would want SSB 3D to do the same thing.
You’d select one character that your 3DS would use during a street pass battle. Winning would gain you coins that could be used to level your figurine or buy bonus content. This bonus content would include hidden stages or characters that you could alternatively unlock through normal play if you wanted to.

• Online Play:

This one is pretty simple. The ability to play with friends over the internet or locally is critical to a game like Super Smash Bros. All the fun lies in unlocking those characters, and being able to use them while playing with your friends. There’s little to no point in doing it on your own.
I would also like to see the game utilize the DS Download Play like Street Fighter does. It could transfer the game to those who don’t own it and play them online. Then if the host drops, the connection between the other players will remain intact, allowing them to continue playing.

• Connectivity with the Wii 2:

Assuming the Wii’s successor comes out while the 3DS is still relevant, it would be nice to see some interplay between the two systems. Some transfer of characters or stages would be nice. Maybe you could transfer stage music as well? There’s a lot of room for excellent ideas here. Perhaps even using the 3DS as your controller?

• Downloadable Content:

Nothing would make people happier between SSB releases than if Nintendo would put out a few new stages or characters for people to download. All people would need to do is hook up their 3DS to the new Wii console and download them to their system. This would keep people playing the game for even longer and keep things fresh while they do so.

The Characters, Items, and Stages:


It’s time for the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The next three sections will go on about the items I either want in the game or taken out, the stages the game should include, and of course the characters that should be playable.

• Items:

There are fifty-two items in Super Smash Bros Brawl. Like I said, the assist trophies should be taken out because I doubt the system would be able to handle so much on screen at once. Other items are either pointless (pitfall, smoke bombs?) or just repeats of other items (do we really need two hammers?). Otherwise I think the rest of the items are fine. I don’t think any more of them needed to be added to the game.

• Stages:

Many of the stages in SSBB are fun to play. There are a few though, such as Pictochat or Flat Zone that aren’t very fun to play and should either be revamped or taken out completely. I do hope they’ll continue to add classic stages from the older games back into further iterations of Super Smash Bros.

• Characters:

Last, but certainly not least, are the characters. Before I begin, here is a quick rundown of all the characters included in Super Smash Bros Brawl.

Bowser│Captain Falcon│Diddy Kong│Donkey Kong│Falco│Fox│Ganondorf│Ice Climbers│Ike│Jigglypuff│King Dedede│Kirby│Link│Lucario│Lucas│Luigi│Mario│Marth│Meta Knight│Mr. Game & Watch│Ness│Olimar│Peach│Pikachu│Pit│Pokémon Trainer│R.O.B.│Samus│Snake│Sonic│Toon Link│Wario│Wolf│Yoshi│Zelda/Sheik

The characters in a Super Smash Bros game are arguably the most important aspect. After all, these characters are what players are going to be using for many years after the game’s release.

There are many characters on this list that I would love to have removed. I feel that many are clones and others aren’t very fun to play. I do know though that a single subtraction to this list and nearly every Smash Bros player would go bonkers. Even so, the bolded characters are the ones I would remove if I had the power to.

Now, I will talk about the changes I want made to some of the characters and what characters I would like added to the list.

Toon Link/Young Link


I’m not a fan of Toon Link. I think he’s a redone version of Young Link and even less fun to play as. What’s surprising to me is that Young Link is ripe with the potential to become the most fun and diverse character. I am of course referring to Majora’s Mask. In Majora’s Mask there are plenty of – well – masks that Link uses to transform into various beasts and help him get places.

How badass would it be to play as Fierce Deity Link?

 The three masks I see being used in the game would be the Goron mask, the Zora mask, and of course, the Fierce Deity Mask. Link would transform into these much like Zelda transforms into Sheik or Pokémon Trainer switches Pokémon. This would offer various styles of play, as each mask would have its own move set and be powerful in different ways. The one exception would be the Fierce Deity Mask, which would make more sense as a final smash.

Mario

Rainbow Suit FTW!

Mario has had very little changed in his move set. I would like to see some of the suit additions from SMG make into his character’s move set in Super Smash Bros. The cloud suit could help him jump higher; he could burrow through the stage with the drill suit, and the rainbow suit could be his final smash.

Alucard



For many years the Castlevania franchise was one of the prides of Nintendo. It would only make sense to include their staple character in the next Super Smash game.

He'd be one of the more epic additions to the SSB roster, don't you think?

 Alucard would play as a fast character with decent range. I imagine as a combination of Marth and Ike. He’d have Marth’s speed and Ike’s range. His attacks would have to be subdued though, so he isn’t too powerful.

Isaac

There's also room for more classic Nintendo characters, right?

The Golden Sun franchise is fairly new compared to most Nintendo franchises, but it certainly deserves to shine just as much. I know most of the characters here have swords, and so to make Isaac a little different his main attack should focus mostly on his magical abilities. His final smash would involve the ability to trap a single player in vines and attack them continually.

Mega Man

The people want Mega Man! So where is he?

No third-party character aside from Sonic the hedgehog has been asked for more.  Mega Man seems like an easy fit too. He’d play more or less like Samus, utilizing his mega buster. He’d be faster than Samus, but have less attack strength. His final smash would be a giant laser attack or something similar.

Ryu

HADOKEN!

In my opinion, nobody fits the Super Smash series better than Ryu. His moves are very simply and could translate very easily into the playing style of SSB. His hadoken gives him ranged (but limited) attack capacities and his final smash would involve a brief transformation into Evil Ryu, heightening his attack and speed.

And that’s the end! I hope you all have enjoyed reading this. I would also like to hear your thoughts on this piece. Do you have a wish list of characters or features you’d like added to the new Super Smash game?

If you have any constructive feedback on my writing, please feel free to leave that here as well. I’m always looking for ways to improve!

Inception as an Allegory for Filmmaking

My friends and I are big fans on Inception. We see its faults, such as droves of exposition, but otherwise we think it is a spectacular movie. While sitting in the cafeteria at my community college, my friend and I were discussing the film. This was when he brought to my attention the fact that Inception was an allegory for film making. To my surprise, as he explained it, it made perfect sense. Now ladies and gentlemen, I shall share what I have learned with you all. Hope you all enjoy it!


Leonardo DiCaprio - Cobb (Director)

Leonardo's character,  Cobb is the man behind everything that happens in the film. He's the one who assembles the team and calls all the shots. Like a director this is his tale and his goal is the one everyone is working towards.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Arthur (Producer)

Arthur is the man who seeks out others to join the team as well as finds out all the information he can on the mark. He scouts the locations and is second to Cobb.


Ken Watanabe - Saito (Executive Producer)

Saito the one who funds Cobb's expedition like a producer of a film would give money to the director to make his film.

Tom Hardy - Eames (Actor)

Eames is the method actor, cast in the part of the mark's assistant. He learns his mannerisms, inflections, etc. By the end he has literally become that person.

Ellen Page - Ariadne (Screenwriter)

Ariadne builds the world that the dreams take place in much like a screenwriter crafts the world in which his characters inhabit.

Dileep Rao - Yusef (Tech)

Yusef is the man with the tools. He creates and gives Cobb what he needs in order to sedate the mark for as long as they need and get the job done. A tech person is the one who create the tools needed for the director to get the shot he needs/wants.

Cillan Murphy - Robert Fischer (Audience)

Robert Fischer is the mark. The entire story has been crafted for his benefit. With a movie audience, it's the teams job to help the audience forget they are watching a movie and draw them into the experience and lose themselves in it.

Marion Cotillard - Mal

Mal's character has no predefined role in the crew of movie making. Instead she represents that a director must never put too much of himself into a project. There needs to be a clear, defined path for the movie to take. Putting too much of your own ideas and mucking with what's preset screws things up.

And that's all! I hope you found this relatively interesting. If you have any questions, I'll be sure to answer them in the comments section.

The Directory of Fun

Hey guys, today's post is gonna be another collage of awesome things you may or may not have seen over the last few days.

First up the new Captain America trailer. This is a full-fledged trailer that shows most of what we saw already in the Superbowl spot as well as sprinkling some new bits in there.

On the topic of movies, IGN reviewed Sucker Punch today. It has to have been one of my favorite reviews I've ever read on IGN. The movie was panned, no doubts there. But just reading about how terrible it was fun (in that sort of laugh out loud kind of way). You can find the review here.

For those who play TF 2 and have some bucks to spare, VALVe is holding a promotion with some Japanese hats. The proceeds all go to the American Red Cross fund. All the hats are unique and will only be on sale for the next two weeks. More info at PC Gamer.

Also on PC Gamer is a great article on the 20 ways Blizzard has changed the world. A lot of them are pretty true while others are worthy of a laugh or two. If you're a curious person or a Blizzard fanatic you can go here to read the piece.

Lastly, I want you all to see my favorite video since the last time I had a favorite video. Below is a video made by Joseph Nicolosi for the SXSW Film Festival this year. It played before most of the features as a fake trailer. It is very well done and has a lot of great humor for everything in the Mario universe.

And that's all I've got for today! I just realized that a lot of this would be way more interesting if it was in video form (like a vlog or something). Alas, I have no camera with which to record so I'll just have to stick with blogging for now.

Bonus Video:

Freddiew's latest!

~BEYOND!

Only In Color

 

 

Because I was bored. The last two are old, but they're my favorite. The first one I just did about ten minutes ago. Do you guys like 'em? (I should probably state that the last two photos are ones I've actually taken. The top one is just a still from Lost In Translation)


Small post again today. Before I go though, I recommend that everyone go out and buy Revenge of the Titans off of Steam. It's a great mash up of RTS and Tower Defense. It's super addictive. I'm gonna review it as soon as I finish it.

Small post again today. Before I go though, I recommend that everyone go out and buy Revenge of the Titans off of Steam. It's a great mash up of RTS and Tower Defense. It's super addictive. I'm gonna review it as soon as I finish it.

'till next time!

Review #2 "Paul"

Paul, directed by Greg Mottola and staring Simon Pegg along with Nick Frost, is about two nerds who are at Comic-Con when they begin their road trip across all of the United States' UFO hot spots. Along the way they wind up encountering a real alien, aptly named Paul. He crash landed on earth years ago, helped the government for awhile, then split as soon as he learned that they wanted to probe him. Now he's searching for a way to get back home and he's enlisted the two nerds to help him out. 

The movie is a play of off everything we know about famous sci-fi movies. Everything from E.T., to Men in Black to Star Wars is referenced here. There's even a scene modeled after the cantina sequence from A New Hope. The jokes usually hit their mark, and when they do, it's funny as hell. There are some very, very funny moments throughout the movie. But there are also times when the movie found itself relying on one particular joke over and over again to fill time. Unfortunately this happened to be the most annoying joke of the entire film in which Ruth (Kristen Wigg) learns to curse.

While the group goes cross country with their alien counterpart, they're being tailed by FBI agent Zoil (Jason Bateman) and his underlings Haggard (Bill Hader) and O'Reilly (Joe Lo Truglio). They're serviceable as the villains of the movie, though some of the funniest moments in the movie do involve their characters. The agents are also being directed by an ominous voice for most of the movie. That part is later revealed to be someone you may not have considered at first, but makes perfect sense in the end.

Speaking of cameos, that's something Paul does well. Jeffrey Tambor plays Clive's hero Adam Shadowchild, Jane Lynch plays a crazy waitress, and even Steven Spielberg pops in for a quick phone call. Each has a lot of fun with their part and do actually contribute something to the movie, other than being a one bit joke.

The actors themselves do a rather good job playing their parts. Even Seth Rogen - whose voice is immediately recognizable - has lots of fun playing the alien known as Paul. As usual, Pegg and Frost are the perfect pairing having teamed up before in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Wigg is also rather funny as Ruth, aside from her one joke that gets extremely overused. The only one in the bunch I wasn't overly impressed with was Bateman. The man played his part well, but his character wasn't given much to do other than growl and ask the same questions over and over again.

 

Overall Paul is a very funny movie that's perfect for the nerds. The story is lackluster but in this case that's alright as most of the jokes are funny enough to help you push through to the next one. The characterization is low and all but Wigg's character remain the same throughout the entire film. Would I recommend seeing this in theaters? No, I wouldn't. This is a great movie to netflix when you've got a bunch of friends over and you all want something funny to watch. Besides the great jokes and fun cameos, there's nothing special about Paul.

The Three Levels of the Facebook Phantom Zone

Today while recording my podcast my friends and I got onto the topic of what we do with friends we despise on Facebook. Personally, I put them in what Greg Miller aptly calls, "The Phantom Zone". For me though, there are three levels of the Phantom Zone, each depending on the severity of the crime committed against me (or lack thereof depending on the person).

Level 1:

Level 1 is the "hide all posts" area of the Phantom Zone. You might wondering why I even bother having them on on my FB. Well, for the most part it's due to social reasons. A person I "hate" may be really good friends with someone I'm really good friends with and kicking that person to the curb may cause a rift between us. Therefore, I simply pretend like this person doesn't exist and hide them from my newsfeed. Unfortunately, this means they can still see my Facebook.


Level 2: 

Level 2 is where I put all of the awkward people I meet at my college. I don't know most of them and they've simply friended me because we're in the same class. The few that I do know I put there with purpose. They're creepy, socially awkward (on purpose too X_X), and never, ever shower. It's awful. Mind you, I'm attending a community college so this is what I should have expected. These people go in a special list where they can't see anything on my Facebook except some small details.

Level 3:

Level 3 is where the worst of the worst go. They are on the blocked list, unable to find me in any respect on Facebook. So far there have only been four people to ever be put this far into the Phantom Zone. Three of which, are relatives of mine.

So there you have it! That's how I deal with people on Facebook. How about you? How do you deal with people you don't like, but feel as though you have to keep around in order to stay friends with your real friends?

What Is the Point?

Disclaimer: This post is filled with odd, jumbled philosophical ramblings about life and money. Normally I never get this way, but I was curious about what everyone else thought. Read at your own risk.

Recently I've begun thinking about my life. Not in where it's going to go or how I'm going to get there, but more in a why should I bother kind of way. Before I continue, let me say that this is not in any way a suicide note. Most of you reading this would probably never assume that, but it's best to be sure. What I mean, is why do we live?

Lately I've been thinking about why we do the things we do, and the purpose of our existence. For example, I want to create my own video game development studio. I have a business model I would love to use and it involves a great deal of money. That train of thought led me to wondering why companies exist only to make money. Sure, money makes the world go round as they say, but why? What is the point of making money if it doesn't lead to something more productive?

Consider Activision - I'm not targeting them, they're just the easiest example to reference - they make a Call of Duty game every year. Why? Because they make tons and tons of money. They don't make them because people love to play them. But what is the point of making all that money? Where does it go? Sure, some of it pays for the next game but what about the rest. Does it sit in a vault somewhere? I don't understand what the endgame of it all is.

For me, I see money as a tool. I want to use it to help me create/do the things I love. Sure, having a lot of money would make my life comfortable, but I don't see the need to have excess amounts of it when it could be put to use creating something amazing.

In the end, I'm wondering why do we bother to make money, other than to take care of what we absolutely need to? Do we exist simply to make ourselves comfortable and satisfy corporate greed? What are your thoughts on all this? Am I even making any sense? I apologize if it's very confusing. I sort of wrote as I thought, without any formatting.