Super Smash Bros 4

Well, that was definitely quite the Direct,

Spoiler: Direct Spoilers I guess

and I'm happy for Cloud and Bayonetta (although I don't really like the addendum of her being the "best option that could be considered" from the Smash Ballot results)... but Corrin seems kind of like we got cheaped out on. Especially given that there were so many other options available. C'mon, Ninty!

That said, all three of the new characters look like they have incredible potential. @Flamezone commented during our live watch of the Direct that Bayonetta looks like she is very true to the actual games she appeared in, which is neat. That said, she looks super broken, if also quite badass. Everything seems to combo into everything else!

 

That Direct, y'all.

Spoiler

Bayonetta looks sick. I hope I can pick up her learning curve haha

 

The Super Smash Bros Direct!

Spoiler

Well, I don't even know where to begin! I guess I could say I was right when I said that the characters released alongside Cloud had to be "out of this world." Well, they definitely were! I don't think anyone saw this coming.

This direct was a bittersweet experience for me. I felt like I had HUGE expectations coming into the direct, like, Cloud being released, you just sit back and wonder what the hell could POSSIBLY be next!? I agree with Eebit that Corrin feels like a cop-out/advertising scheme. Nobody asked for another Fire Emblem rep, and nobody expected one, but atleast his character looks really damn cool to play. Even though I love Fire Emblem, I would have preferred King K. Rool, Simon, or Banjo over him, so it's kind of a disappointment in that regard, but still looks neat.

Bayonetta though! Yes, I recently played through Bayonetta 1 and 2 for the Wii U. I wholeheartedly recommend them, definitely within the Top 5 Wii U games of my personal list, and her character looks absolutely impressive. Stayed true to the games themselves, it really looks like they ported how she plays in the game directly into Smash, with her chaining combos, her appearance/effects, they way she even attacks all looks true to the actual game, which is incredibly impressive.

What I don't understand though is if she really IS the ballot winner, how could she possibly have been this finished by now? Did they go ahead and start working on her BEFORE the ballot even finalized? Did they not truly tally up all the votes at the end of October and see who actually won? Did they just forsee Bayonetta winning back in April or something? I don't understand, I feel like her being the Ballot winner is a huge lie. It also makes the ballot seem rather pointless, like why run something for that long just for one character that looks like she wasn't actually the result of the ballot? All over the internet I heard cries for King K. Rool, Snake, Shantae, Shovel Knight etc., but Bayonetta was certainly never that loud. It's weird to me.

Anyway, I had mega-high expectations. In my mind, I imagined that they would announce Cloud, and two mystery fan-favorites, and a new stage. And then later on next year they would have 1-3 ballot winners announced periodically between regular directs. I just felt like the ballot being run for as long as it did had to have been for something, but I guess that something was just Bayonetta, haha.

Anyway, it's not like I'm entitled to anything. In fact, I am absolutely grateful that we even have more Smash content that we can buy (a little sad about the February release as well), but I can't pretend that I wasn't a little bit disappointed. People in Twitch chat also felt hurt that the characters they really wanted (King K. Rool, and Geno) got the Mii Costume treatment. I'm really rooting for the existence of Smash 5 in the future, I personally feel they'd have to be crazy not to, and I hope that it will be as crazy and as fun as a time that Smash 4 has been. Hopefully Smash 5 is just a console release, and then they really go all-out without having to make it equivalent to a mobile console. 

Sorry for the rant, and I hope I don't come off as whiney! I just went in with too high of expectations, and was a tiny-bit let down. Still more than happy to buy Smash content however.

 

Spoiler

My thoughts are basically @Eebit and @Flamezone amalgam, but let's sprinkle some Jonno gusto in here, nonetheless! 

Beginning with Corrin, anyone who knows me knows that I love Fire Emblem with a flaming, symbolic passion. :5 Even I can say, though, that I'm surprised in Corrin's announcement and was not expecting, or even particularly wanting, it whatsoever. The character looks badass to play as and I will definitely even consider bringing them into the fold as one of my major players as their style seems unique enough from the other FE characters, but in a sense that still seems acclimated towards my particular play style, but I was definitely not expecting it from a mile away. If we were going somewhere promotional with this, I actually would've expected and preferred the Inklings over Corrin by a longshot, but I can't complain much. I really like how Corrin is turning out and can't wait to play as them, even though it does feel a bit strange to me that we have 6 Fire Emblem characters fielding out there without K. Rool, Dixie, Ridley, Wolf, Ice Climbers, more Zelda characters, and so on and so forth around.

Bayonetta is freaking awesome, though as Flamezone said, I question the validity in the claims that she is the unequivocal ballot winner in Europe and ranked so high in the States. No doubt were people talking about her, no doubt is she a brilliant addition, but how could they have brought her to this level of seeming completion in her build so quickly when the ballot had just ended in mid-October? I'm calling something fishy; perhaps they snapshot the ballot at its median point and just rolled with the results then? Nevertheless, she was certainly worth the wait for the shocking reveal and is definitely a character that I will be playing as. She looks way too overpowered to not have a climax good time with. 

Overall, I can't complain. I can nitpick, but it's moot when we were given such a fantastic game as Smash 4. Yes, the flaws in our perceived "Sakurai logic" are more obvious than ever, but I feel like this will continue the more expansive Smash becomes. We have an amazing roster, despite glaring omissions, we have an expansive set of stages, despite some poor design choices here and there, and I'm confident that, yes, there will be a Smash 5, and it will be just that much the better overall experience. The gameplay is fine-tuned and the show on display is as zany and vibrant as ever. I appreciate the surprises that Sakurai has tossed our way by giving us one last pile of bones to play with, by our so choosing, with the DLC fighters and stages and I, for one, will gladly purchase Cloud, Corrin, and Bayonetta upon their being made available.

It makes me feel even that more excited for the future. There's a good place for the likes of K. Rool, Inklings, the Ice Climbers, Wolf, and pals to jump on into the fight, and they're all super obvious, no-brainer decisions that will be capable of bringing more excitement down the road. In the mean time, dealing with these surprise, potentially one-off characters brings some real zest to the experience, and I'm more grateful for that than I would've been if someone like K. Rool were tossed in now. I would've opted for the return of Snake for our final surprise, but that's just my own, personal wishes speaking. Better luck next time, Boss.

 

Corrin & Bayonetta were certainly two characters I did not expect to see revealed. Corrin because well, Corrin who? Yeah sure his game has been out in Japan for 6 months or so but not worldwide and we won't even have it here before he's released as DLC. Personally I'm just not a big fan of that. It's one thing for an advertisement character like that to get in the base game. Like Roy for Melee. (Though I read recently that apparently Roy's game was initially scheduled to release before Melee) But when it comes to DLC, which Sakurai had pretty much said was going to be all for the fans, I don't like the idea of a character being included who hasn't even seen a worldwide release yet. That's one reason why I thought Shovel Knight was laughable. Yeah he had a lot of support, but his game hasn't even released in Japan yet! At the very least he's going to be a unique fighter. I don't think anyone can deny that. Well, Counter. But at this point we might as well expect any new characters Sakurai adds to future Smash games will have a Counter. -_- But did we really need a 6th Fire Emblem character who is essentially just a walking advertisement? No. No we didn't. There are several other franchises in Smash that could have used a bump in reps. Star Fox and Donkey Kong for example. And the Zelda series has had essentially the same roster since Melee if you just swap out clone Young Link for clone Toon Link. I'll buy him sure and I'll at the very least clear Classic and All-Star mode with him. But I'm not excited for him.

Then there is Bayonetta. Who is apparently our Balllot winner? What? I gotta admit, I don't buy it. "Of realizable characters" Okay, if by that Sakurai means something like some of the joke answers like Shrek or Goku actually got high numbers then maybe. Or if there were characters that he just couldn't envision a good moveset for or unique niche for them like say Princess Daisy. It's also possible that the top choice was some 3rd party character that would have been too difficult to get negotiations for, or from a franchise that already has a 3rd party rep and Sakurai didn't want to give them more. I've seen a lot of people in tears that we didn't get Snake. Which I can understand that frustration. But considering the current situation between Konami & Kojima, I'm not really surprised. Like Corrin, Bayonetta is very unique and has a strong shot at being one of the best characters with her combo potential and I think that's great. But I call bullshit on her being the number 1 choice worldwide. My theory, and I thought this would be the case when the ballot was still going on, that they'd look at the Top 20 and then pick a "winner" from that group of whatever character they most wanted to make. 

That all being said, the Smash 4 hype train has been one hell of a ride and it's sad to see it pulling into station after so long. But of course, that just means it's time to speculate on the future once again just like old days on Mercurious. 

There was something I got to thinking about recently. What if, since the NX is supposedly coming out next year, what if Nintendo asked Sakurai to make a port of Smash 4 for the NX? Whether the NX is backwards compatible or not having a port of Smash on it would help the boost the system's sales straight from the get go especially if it had a few extras that Smash Wii U/3DS don't have. So I got to thinking about what I would want in a port like that and I created a 15 bullet point list. Feel free to share your thoughts.

Spoiler

1. All DLC [Characters, Stages, Mii Costumes] from Smash 4 Wii U/3DS is included on the disc.
2. Unlock all of a character's Custom Special Moves by clearing Classic Mode with that character.
3. All DLC characters now have Custom Special Moves.
4. New Mii Costumes which I'm not going to fully detail because holy hell. [Moogle hat, Tingle costume, Star Force Mega Man costume, Professor E. Gadd costume, Pokemon Trainer costume, etc.]
5. All Wii U stages are on the disc.
6. All 3DS stages are on the disc. [With the exception of Flat Zone 2 since the Wii U version gave us Flat Zone X containing both Flat Zones in it]
7. Includes 7 new stages: 
Saffron City [Smash 64]
Fountain of Dreams [Melee]
Venom [Melee]
Bowser's Castle
Gangplank Galleon
Mumbo's Mountain
Gyromite [Based on the NES game Gyromite which R.O.B. was a peripheral for]
Total of 90 stages in the game.
8. More music which I'm not going to detail because holy hell. [And fix the DK Rap!]
9. Includes 3 new characters:
Wolf
King K. Rool
Banjo-Kazooie
Total of 61 characters [Counting each type of Mii Fighter separately]
10. Re-organized CSS because the current one [and even the one at launch] is utter crap. http://oi68.tinypic.com/29fujgx.jpg [A stock FE image was used for Corrin since he doesn't have an icon in the SSB Roster Maker program yet]
11. Smash Run from the 3DS is included with 4-player split-screen action
12. A Melee-styled Adventure mode is included
13. All trophies from the Wii U and 3DS versions are included with only a small amount of new trophies that mostly center around the DLC characters and new characters for the NX version.
14. Break the Targets returns and instead of just 5 basic levels or a different level per character, it has a different level for each franchise. Total of 29 levels.
15. For the game's intro sequence, when the title of the game arrives on screen you finally get to hear those three glorious words, "SUPER SMAAAAAAAAASH BROTHERS!"

Now of course, this is all waaaaaay too much work for such a project and none of it would actually happen, but a guy can dream right?

 

The oversaturation of "Counter" type moves is something that I've been seeing fans become increasingly more vocal about. I believe read in an article once (probably one from SourceGaming) that Sakurai gave the Fire Emblem characters their "Counter" moves so as to emulate in real time the exchange of blows that characterizes the Fire Emblem games -- whenever you initiate combat, you and your opponent each get a chance to strike, as long as you're in range. I thought that was really neat and not something I had even given any morsel of a thought.

It does seem like that is cheapened somewhat when (it feels like) a big portion of the roster has a Counter-esque move. Maybe that's just because we have (what feels like) a big portion of the roster is comprised of FE characters as well. I'm not mad about the "oversaturation" of them; the FE games are very neat, and definitely a big Nintendo franchise. The "generic animu swordsman" argument is not one that I have even remotely entertained... although FE could definitely have used more than just the swordsmen of the franchise, in my opinion.

With so many characters that were up for "vote" on the big Smash Ballot, it was bound to happen that many people were going to leave dissatisfied. It's too bad that they only gave Bayonetta the nod out of the many characters on the roster, but she does look quite awesome and I appreciate her inclusion. Corrin, however... well, Nintend could learn a lesson in timing. As one of the FINAL two characters we are going to be receiving for Smash 4, you'd think we'd get someone a little more... well, universally recognizable. Or appreciable. Bayonetta? Not my first choice, but awesome. Corrin? Exactly as @Zantok said -- Corrin who?

Swap Corrin's announcement with Ryu or Cloud and people would surely have gotten over it by now. But I think one of the most stinging facts about the last Direct that left me with a sour taste was not who we are getting -- because even if I know nothing about them, Corrin does look pretty neat, if not lackadaisical in the personality/flavour department (and goddamn is the female voice annoying) -- but who they chose to be the last two. Having such an unknown character as one half of the final reveal was not a smart choice. People are going to remember the package of Bayonetta and Corrin as disappointing because of the huge buildup that was the Ballot. And to only get one character, and another that is "supposed" to be a bonus but ended up not being relevant to the "greater community's" interests... well, that's kind of a bad move on Ninty's part, in my opinion.

It is ultimately sad to see the DLC hype train be pulling into the station. It means that the sun is setting when it comes to Smash for several years to come until the next Smash begins to rise on other side.

 

Well said @Eebit. If Corrin's announcement had been swapped with Cloud, people would have still been meh at the Corrin announcement but not as much as we were when he was actually revealed. Then if Cloud and Bayonetta were revealed on the same day, well, the Internet might have imploded. Hell it was already close to erupting after just Cloud's reveal but those two both on the same day would have been insane. There is another point I want to bring up though about the way DLC has been done for Smash. On the whole It's been great but I want to talk about character selection. 3 of the characters have been 3rd Party characters and this just bugs me for some reason. In Brawl Sakurai only put in 2 3rd Party characters and said something along the lines of them needing to be a very special case in order to get in the game. With vanilla Smash 4 we lost one but gained two more and suddenly we had three of the biggest long-time 3rd party icons in gaming history. Now I'm not saying we shouldn't have gotten more than those three. I think in a roster of 51 characters that it would be fair to have four or five of them be 3rd Party. However. What I have a problem is that out of the DLC that we got we had 3 cut veterans, 3 3rd Party characters and 1 new Nintendo character whose game hasn't even released worldwide yet. See the problem? 

It's a gross misbalance in my opinion. The veterans aren't a big deal to me because they were always going to be quicker and easier to make therefore Sakurai could get them out to us faster and then wow us with the new characters later. Three 3rd Party characters though? That seems a bit much when we only got 7 characters through DLC. If we had gotten a total of 10 and no other 3rd Party characters then no big deal. Three out of seven though? No. With Sakurai knowing that the Ballot Winner and Corrin were going to be the last two characters he should have said no to Bayonetta and gone for the next highest character who was actually from Nintendo. That's what would have made more sense to me.  In addition, how many of these DLC characters do we think are even likely to come back in the next game? There's no way all of them will and there is certainly no way that this 58 character roster is all going to come back for the eventual Smash 5. There's just no damn way and I suspect that the DLC 3rd Parties are going to be in some of the most danger of being left behind. Hell, I'd say the safest DLC character is Corrin assuming Sakurai comes back as the director again. All the others though could easily be gone.

Also, sidenote here, but fess up everyone. When Bayonetta's trailer was starting to play you all thought we were getting another Kid Icarus character didn't you? I know I did and I was hoping it'd be Medusa.

The hype train for Smash 4 DLC may be at it's end, but as @Jonno and Eebit know, that doesn't mean shit to people like us. The wheels are already turning as the mind shifts from looking at the present of Smash to the future and the speculation train is getting ready to depart.

 

Oh yeah, absolutely! I thought for sure we were going to be getting Medusa based on the presentation. Bayonetta was a pleasant surprise in the end. Although, that isn't to say Medusa would've been a bad choice... just, again, a poorly thought out marketing move.

 

Oh? I'm curious @"Nebulon Ranger", who would you have picked for a second rep from Namco? The answer I've seen the most to that is Lloyd Irving but some have mentioned characters from Tekken or Soul Calibur.

 

Yo but what if it was Klonoa? I actually would have been quite alright with it not being Lloyd or a SoulCalibur rep -- I enjoy Lloyd in SSF2, and am a decent fan of the SC games (particularly SCII), but I can't help but feel like the latter especially doesn't have one definitive representative that I can see being ported well to Smash. Nightmare/Siegfried maybe, but then you'll probably end up with a lot of complaints about the amount of sword users in Smash... oh wait?

also ps @Zantok if you want to tag someone with special characters or spaces in their username, you need to put @"quotation marks" around their username

 

I would wahoo so hard.

 

I know that Sakurai had contested that Tekken characters were allegedly "too hard to implement into Smash" (paraphrasing here), but I'm not entirely sure if that's the case or if this is just one of those cases of saving something for next time. If Namco were to have a second character licensed into the ring, I don't think it would be too wild to ultimately have it be Heihachi or Yoshimitsu. Yoshimitsu has credit for crossing the boundaries between Tekken and Soul Calibur and could remain representative of each of those series (arguably the most influential fighters only behind Street Fighter) while offering up a unique moveset due to being, well, a cyborg ninja. Heihachi could introduce a grappling-slash-karate form of fighting to Smash that I think would be pretty neat and not at all impossible to ultimately implement if the developers input the right amount of time into it. I think both would make for very scintillating characters if either were to ultimately enter Smash, in the end.

I would absolutely love Klonoa, as well. It took me a while to jump on the boat with him, since it wasn't until the Wii remake of his original game that I had even played a game in his series, but since then, I've played the GBA installments as well and have fallen in love with the vibrancy which the series perpetuates. Lloyd Irving would be perfectly epic in himself, of course - the obvious choice is obvious for a reason, and appealing to another vocal fanbase's hearts wouldn't necessarily be the worst thing to increase buying power for the next Smash (we all know it's coming; it's too much of a cash cow for Nintendo to leave it in the dust and the only question, as always, is if Sakurai will helm the next one or not).

Actually, speaking of the next Smash - what are you all thinking about that rumor that it's hitting the NX at launch? I would lend credence to the rumor, but on the basis that it's more or less going to be a "complete" version of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, with all of the DLC involved and some upscaling up to that rumored 900p that they've been talking about. I would love a totally new Smash of course, but it's way too soon; if it were to hit the NX on launch day, I think that this type of release is the only viable way that that's happening. Personally, I'd buy it all over again if it included all of the 3DS stages and Smash Run with it, too, since I'm not really eager to return to the 3DS version at all now that the Wii U version is out (just as Nintendo planned).

P.S. Do you think that Cloud would return in the next Super Smash Bros. title (that isn't another port of SSB4)?