PC review: Lethal League

Lethal League is neither a particularly complicated nor expansive game. But it is a game that knows what it’s all about, and strives to offer an energetic and fun party format that pits players against one another in intense, high-stakes racquetball matches. Drawing its rule set from arcade fighting games and utilizing an experimental technopop soundtrack that would make Jet Set Radio fans proud, Lethal League is truly a one-of-a-kind experience.

The rules are straightforward – players try to smack a ball around a two-dimensional space in order to K.O. one another and be the last man standing. The ball is able to bounce off the walls, floor, and ceiling, and successive hits to the ball will increase its speed, which can reach an absurd velocity. It’s a risk-reward system – jumping in the ball’s path to smack it back at your opponent gives you a chance to knock them out of the ring, but at the cost of placing yourself in the ball’s path of destruction. Multiple hits from a single player will reward them a power move, which varies from character to character, but includes a bounce, the ability to stop the ball and relaunch it at a new trajectory, and even pass through the walls to strike from behind.

Each of the half-dozen playable characters boasts a different degree of mobility, speed, and agility, making the selection process prior to a match more complicated than simple aesthetic appeal. On that note, the characters bear cel-shaded designs with comic book sensibilities, while stages are largely urban, all of which matches well with the aforementioned soundtrack direction. Menus are simple but clean, and character animations on the whole look smooth. Hit detection is about as perfect as anyone could hope for in a game that falls into a such a grey area between genres.

While the default mode pits all four players against one another, there is an option for team-based matches. Lethal League even includes an alternate game mode that requires players to aim for targets instead of one another, though this mode is admittedly less enjoyable than the default scoring system on account of the tense risk aspect being almost wholly removed. A single player mode progresses in strikingly similar fashion to the Classic Mode of the Super Smash Bros. series, while online play is presented for players who do not have opponents readily available to play nearby. Lethal League may not be a very big game, but it knows what it’s aiming for, and – for the most part – hits high notes.

My rating: 8 (out of 10)

Wii U review: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Boasting the same roster as its 3DS counterpart, the latest Super Smash Bros. has arrived on the Wii U, and sports the same frantic action coupled with a solid blend of the play styles of the previous two entries in Nintendo’s all-star fighting series. Plenty of familiar faces return, while a few have been cut from Brawl’s offerings, and a couple have been split into multiple characters – such is the case with Sheik, Zelda, Samus, and Zero Suit Samus, each of whom now have an extra move or two. The newcomers are some of the most bold and varied additions to the roster in the series’ history, with the Animal Crossing Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Pac-Man, Mega Man, Palutena, and Little Mac, joining the fray, among plenty more interesting additions.

While Smash played well on a handheld – better than most would have anticipated – it feels more at home on the Wii U. The Pro and Gamecube controllers evoke tight, smooth responses from each fighter, while the Gamepad and Wiimotes, despite having slightly less orthodox spacing and button layouts, fill their roles in similarly solid fashion. Stages and characters are generally easier to keep in focus in all their high-definition glory, though this can change drastically in some of utterly massive stages designed for the new 8-player Smash mode.

While the 3DS Smash Bros. offered up a solid variety of stages, the Wii U’s brand new arenas are better, by and large. The Kalos Pokémon League sets players on a medium area of ground with small variable platforms, and throws a few environmental hazards like fire, water, giant swords, and the occasional legendary Pokémon into the mix to keep players on their toes. The winding courses and mobile platform representing Mario Kart 8 are effectively a stand-in for F-Zero, whose only stage in this Wii U version is the tried-and-true Port Town Aero Dive from Brawl. Skyloft builds off the basics of Brawl’s Delfino Isle, albeit with many larger areas to set down in, while both Pilot Wings and Donkey Kong’s Jungle Hijinks offer simple yet refined design points.

While nearly every newcomer to this Smash Bros. has a stage to call their own, it is unfortunate that some of the series veterans get left out in the cold, so to speak. There is no new F-Zero stage beyond the 16-bit one exclusive to the 3DS version of Smash, and Kirby’s only two Wii U stages are the massive Great Cave Offensive, suitable only for frantic bouts of trying to keep sight of your own fighter in 8-player Smash, and the Halberd, which was easily one of the best stages to come of this game’s Wii predecessor. Each of the new stages does hold up solid with the quality and variety fans have come to expect from the Smash Bros. series, though.

The returning stages, on the other hand, are a bit of a mixed bag. Smashville, Kongo Jungle 64, and Port Town Aero Dive all play as wonderfully as they did during their respective debuts, while Donkey Kong’s 75m is obnoxious and poor in design. The claustrophobic setup of Luigi’s Mansion and bland emptiness of the Bridge of Eldin both make for strange choices as well, though Melee’s Hyrule Temple, which has long been an unnecessarily large stage, finally sees some more practical use, thanks to the inclusion of 8-player Smash matches.

With regards to 8-player Smash, certain stages were designed with this larger number of players in mind, like Sonic’s Windy Hill and an even larger version of the classic Battlefield stage, appropriately named Big Battlefield. Other stages are reserved for smaller numbers of players, and cannot be accessed for 8-player Smash. Online play proves generally more solid and connections more consistent than in the 3DS version, a welcome improvement that will hopefully only get better as time goes on.

The core experience of this latest Super Smash Bros. is a majorly impressive achievement for Sakurai and the rest of the creative team behind it, as it contains the most balanced roster of fighters since the original N64 version. Final Smashes, one of the most polarizing additions to Brawl, make a return, and have largely been retooled for the better. Characters with previously over-powered Final Smashes, like Pit and Ness, have been granted significantly toned-down replacements, while others have been swapped for more practical options, like Luigi’s vacuum cleaner and Zero Suit Samus firing upon foes from a safe distance inside her gunship. Others still have seen previously perfectly reasonable Final Smashes ditched in favor of still-plenty-effective and well-balanced moves that align more closely with some of their latest outings, such as Kirby’s giant sword he wielded in Return to Dreamland and Lucario’s Mega Evolution, parallel to Charizard’s own. It’s a far more intelligent showing for this mechanic that was previously able to tip the scales in matches so drastically that it almost certainly spelled one-hit K.O.s from particular characters.

Classic and All-Star modes both see a return, the latter being almost entirely unchanged from every Smash Bros. prior, a gauntlet run of matches against every other fighter on the roster, this time in reverse chronological order of their debut in the video game industry. Classic mode, meanwhile, sets the players’ chosen character trophy on a base that they can freely move about, and tackle different sets of opponents based on which fighters they will be up against, how many, which stage they will be duking it out on, and what sorts of rewards will be granted upon winning the fight. On top of these match-specific rewards, players can stop a roulette to earn further rewards, though losing two lives and being taken to the ‘continue’ screen will result in one or more of these rewards being taken away. The higher the difficulty setting, the better the rewards typically are, but also the more that will be taken away should players fail.

When selecting fights, players need to be mindful of their designated rival character, who is randomly selected at the start of each classic mode run. This rival will generally put up more of a fight than its CPU counterparts. Facing it early on can grant a sort of safety net, but yields less in the way of rewards, while waiting until the last possible minute to face off with it means a more challenging battle for a better haul. Occasionally, one of the CPUs will be kicked off the base by a more challenging foe who will take on either giant or metal form, which again, yields greater returns for players who best them in battle. Classic mode will, however, always cap off with a multi-man battle against a team of Mii fighters, and Master Hand/Crazy Hand/Master Core thereafter.

The Miis are the new representatives for all forms of Multi-Man Smash found in the additional Stadium content, including time-sensitive matches, 10 and 100-man matches, and two other modes that pit players against highly aggressive Mii fighters and throw a rival CPU into the mix respectively. Home Run Derby makes its return, largely unchanged from the last time around, while the new Target Blast mode combines the basic idea of launching an object ala Home Run Derby with the old Break the Targets mode. The object of Target Blast is to chain as many targets as possible from the bomb’s explosion radius and the environment objects that are launched as a result of it for a high score.

Event matches also make a comeback, some being locked early on due to their requiring use of bonus unlockable fighters. These matches play out in a manner not unfamiliar to veterans of Melee and Brawl, with silly scenarios made up for the sake of adding interesting rules into the mix. On the whole, these latest event matches are easier than in previous installments, with a few sprinkled throughout that will prove a test of patience through trial-and-error runs. Some event matches do lack clear instructions, however.

Filling in a similar spot as the 3DS version’s Smash Run, the board game setup of Smash Tour provides lightning-fast matches with rules that range from relatively normal to borderline-ludicrous. Players will move around the board, collecting extra fighters and power-ups as they go, and using trophy powers to set traps and shuffle their opponents around the board, or even grant themselves an edge in a fight, such as starting off with a particular weapon or shrinking one of their fellow players with a poison mushroom. The fighter players will use in each match is predetermined, so there is no real way to gain an edge with relying on a particular fighter, and losing a match may see one of your fighters fall into the hands of another player. Smash Tour is entertaining for a brief run, and more conceptually interesting than its Smash Run counterpart on the 3DS, but it’s not the sort of game mode most players will devote a great deal of time to.

For completionists who want to unlock every trophy, soundtrack tune, and optional character ability, Master Orders and Crazy Orders set players up with very specific rules in order to reap these rewards. Tickets in Master Orders can only be purchased with coins, and range from straightforward time and stock matches against a handful of low-to-mid-level CPU fighters, all the way on up to high launch power, double speed Smash matches wherein each combatant has but one life. Crazy Orders, meanwhile, takes this concept one step further, combining it with the gauntlet run sensibilities of All-Star mode, as players race the clock to see just how many matches they can fit into a ten-minute span. Tickets for taking on Crazy Orders can be racked up quite quickly in Classic mode, and once a run of Crazy Orders starts, players can select one of three matches to attempt, which become increasingly more challenging as the rounds progress. However, damage taken is carried over from one match to the next, with slight heals occurring automatically between each bout. With all these factors in mind, carefully planning your next move in Crazy Orders is crucial, and playing to the strengths of whichever character you selected is typically advised, though not always a guarantee to victory. When the timer is nearly at zero, the damage counter high enough that another battle seems ill-advised, or the challenge factors being offered less-than-ideal for a fighter, Crazy Hand can be challenged in a match where both parties begin with a predetermined amount of HP, and attempt to whittle each other down from there. The more Crazy Order challenges completed before facing Crazy Hand, the more difficult the match will be, with extra CPU fighters taking to the Final Destination stage and even Master Hand joining in the fight.

There are an abundance of unlockables in the forms of soundtrack tunes, trophies, and stat boosts for the Miis and custom fighters. While the quickest ways to gather these is through Classic and All-Star Modes, some can only be acquired by clearing spaces on the Challenges board, accessible from the main menu. By and large, the challenges in this new Smash Bros. are far more reasonable than those included in Brawl.

Mii fighters are divided into three categories – Gunner, Swordfighter, and Brawler, who – as their names imply – focus on close-quarters punch and kick combos, mid-range swipes of the blade, and distanced shots respectively. Attributing defense, offense, and speed-boosting stats to these Mii fighters, as well as customized versions of the remaining roster members, can drastically alter the way they control in battle, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Some of the stat boosts unlocked can even start players off with certain items at the beginning of a match, or grant slightly multiplied damage dealt to foes, though these sometimes include tradeoffs that mean a fighter may be slower in battle or start off with a predetermined amount of damage already taken to their HP counter. The movesets for Mario, Donkey Kong, Mega Man, Samus, Captain Falcon, Fox, and so on can be swapped for new abilities, typically offering one option that carries out a faster but less damaging attack, while the other is a slower but heavier hit. It’s a great addition that makes battles less predictable, and allows a greater level of depth in the way players can strategize, without breaking the already solid balance between fighters.

Launching alongside this Wii U Smash Bros. are Nintendo’s collectible Amiibo figures, physical counterparts to the in-game characters. While only twelve were made available at the time of the game’s launch, they all operate in the same basic manner – they can be scanned via a chip that is help over the Gamepad controller, and brought into the game as CPU fighters. The difference between these Amiibo fighters and the traditional CPU fighters is that the Amiibos can be fed different stat boosting abilities, and will gradually learn better strategies for countering human players over time. Amiibos can easily rack up a large amount of experience points early on, while the progression slows as they ascend to higher levels. A low-level Amiibo is a relatively easy opponent to overcome, while an Amiibo at the max level of fifty can put up a serious challenge.

Plenty of classic and remixed tunes accompany each stage, while the graphical presentation is solid, though not nearly as impressive as other recent Wii U releases. From a distance, the textures on stages like Yoshi’s Woolly World and Xenoblade Chronicles' Guar Plain look decent enough, though pausing the game and zooming in for a closer peek reveals textures not nearly as polished as what other console exclusives have offered up. On the other hand, the lighting effects and colors in the Pikmin Garden of Hope, Mario Kart 8’s Mario Circuit, and the Kalos Pokémon League look more in line with the quality players would expect of a current-gen HD console, and these minor visual inconsistencies may be the result of this Smash Bros. being built off the same engine used for 2008’s Brawl. Slight oversights aside, this Wii U version is the most fun Super Smash Bros. has been in years, sweeping gimmicky elements aside in favor of deeper fighting mechanics and a superb roster.

My rating: 9.25 (out of 10)

3DS review - Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

It may be hard to believe that it’s been six years since the last installment in Nintendo’s crossover fighting franchise was released, but now Super Smash Bros. has found a home on two of Nintendo’s consoles. While we won’t be able to get our hands on the Wii U entry until November twenty-first, the 3DS version of the game has already turned plenty of heads for the simple fact that it is a handheld version of the beloved fighter.

This latest Smash Bros. may be running on the same engine that was used for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but the two titles boast play styles that are only so similar. Gone are the inexplicable and unpredictable tripping mechanics, and less gimmicky are the characters. Both of these aspects make for a more enjoyable fighting experience, which is only enchanced by the inclusion of what is easily the most well-balanced roster since the days of Melee. Some players have already taken a liking to a handful of characters for competitive play, but relatively simple downgrades to Meta Knight and Pit as well as slight upgrades to Sheik and Zero Suit Samus leave a major impact on the overall feel of the game. Meanwhile, newcomers like Robin, Mega Man, and the Animal Crossing Villager feel right at home in the company of veterans Mario, Donkey Kong, Captain Falcon, Kirby, and many more.

Similarly, the stages offer a great deal of variety, with the sizes of most ranging from small to medium. Battlefield and Final Destination see mere aesthetic changes, while the latest F-Zero and PictoChat stages are very slight variations on their predecessors. The designs of the Nintendogs Living Room or Find Mii stages may not boast the flash and flair or interactivity of environments like the Unova Pokemon League or Fire Emblem Arena Ferox, but this handheld version of Smash Bros. seems often more concerned about functionality than flamboyance. A large portion of these stages (nearly one-third, in fact) are re-used from previous Smash Bros. games, but are far better suited for the series’ 3DS outing than some of the Melee stages that were carried over to Brawl.

Classic mode returns, with little change to the long-established pattern of squaring off against CPU fighters, be they metal, giant, or in a continuously spawning team. Before the start of each match, however, classic mode does allow you to select your path, the suggested difficulty of each match indicated by green, blue, and red paths. In the vein of Kid Icarus: Uprising, Classic mode allows you to gamble more coins to take on greater challenges on higher difficulty settings and reap greater rewards. All-star mode similarly remains largely unchanged from its Brawl counterpart, as you face off against multiple CPU fighters at a time in what is (more or less) the chronological order of their video game debuts, starting with Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Mario, and working all the way on up to Greninja, the Wii Fit Trainer, and the latest Fire Emblem characters.

Training mode still allows you to test out Smash’s many items and stages, as well as hone your abilities in chaining combos (now made more easily identifiable thanks to a successive hit counter and damage percentage numbers that pop up when your character makes contact with an opponent). Stadium sees the return of both the Home Run Derby and Multi-Man Smash, and again, little has been changed on either of those fronts – 100-Man Smash, Endless Smash, and Cruel Smash have you taking on hordes of Mii Fighters, but the concept remains the same. New to this Smash Bros. is Target Blast, something of a hybrid between Home Run Derby and the old Break the Targets mode. In Target Smash, players will have a brief window of time to deal as much damage as possible to a bomb, which they can then launch at a series of targets, blocks, smaller bombs, and occasional bonus trophies and abilities in the hopes of knocking these objects into one another and chaining a high score. Think of it like Angry Birds, except that you have but two successive shots to take out as many targets as possible.

Smash Run operates similarly to Kirby: Air Ride’s City Trial mode, as players have a set amount of time to explore every nook and cranny of a gauntlet-style stage, taking on grunt enemies from many of the game series represented in Smash Bros. How you choose to dispatch these foes, which paths you take, and how many secret rooms you discover influences which stat boosts you will receive, which are then factored into an endgame challenge, be it a vanilla Smash bout or something more directly related to your newfound upgrades like a footrace through a multi-layered course.

Custom versions of each character can also be crafted from a separate menu, and can be used in some of the game’s various modes. These customization options not only include boosts and tradeoffs for a character’s speed, defense, and offense, but alternate moves as well, all of which can be collected as rewards through Smash Bros.’ many game modes. Custom Mii Fighters take this concept a step further, allowing you to give them steampunk outfits, samurai armor, or a mech suit, and designate them as belonging to one of three classes – Brawler, Gunner, or Swordfighter.

Challenge panels make a return from Brawl, though the early sets are decidedly easier than in the previous installment, asking that you play three matches as Meta Knight, hit just over 2500 feet in Home Run Derby, customize a handful of characters, and so on. Later challenge panels do up the ante, though this Smash Bros. is more generous with the number of hammers you earn that can be used to knock out most any space on the board. The rewards for completing these challenges include Smash stages, Mii Fighter stat boosts, sound test tracks, and trophies. While trophies can also be collected from the single player modes, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS introduces both a Trophy Shop and Trophy Rush mode. The Trophy Shop’s offerings will rotate frequently, even slapping a discounted price tag on some, and can be purchased with either in-game coins or 3DS Play Coins. Meanwhile, Trophy Rush is a more robust and fast-paced evolution of Melee’s Snag the Trophies, as players must break down blocks before they stack too high in order to fill a meter to initiate a feverous stream of coins and trophies to fall from the sky, all while avoiding electric balls and explosives. Betting more coins at the start of Trophy Rush will net you more time to try and improve your collection, but any fall out of bounds will subtract fifteen seconds from your remaining time.

One of Brawl’s biggest shortcomings was in the highly unreliable online play. While this new Smash Bros. certainly improves on its Wii predecessor’s faltering, it too is far from perfect in this aspect. Some matches are spot-on, and only once in a blue moon does the online play teeter into the realm of being wholly unplayable. More often than not, however, this multiplayer mode lags just enough to be a constant annoyance. The Streetpass mode known as Street Smash is underwhelming as a top-down ‘bumper cars’ sort of matchup, wherein the goal is to knock other player icons off a small platform. While Streetpass features of any 3DS title are hardly the highlight of the experience, something that was more interactive or dealt out greater rewards would no doubt have been better received.

The 3D effects, while still a cool feature as in nearly any 3DS game, are not utilized for much beyond the added depth perception of stages. It removes potential distractions from the equation, but compared to many other games on the system, does feel a bit underwhelming, especially when the character models are so small compared to their surroundings. On the whole, however, the visuals are thoroughly impressive – bright colors on the Animal Crossing Island pop, metallic textures in Super Mario’s 3D Land glisten, and all of the character models have such fluid and highly-animated motions to match their super-tight controls. Personally, I have only found myself losing track of my own character in Smash on two or three occasions since launch day, but for those concerned with being able to see who’s who on a handheld device, the character outlines can be thickened from the options menu.

For those concerned that Nintendo’s beloved fighter might lose something in translation or fail to work on a handheld entirely, you can lay those worries to rest. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS is the best entry in the series since Melee, even surpassing the Gamecube classic in many respects. With so much to do and so many characters to play as, it’s easy to pour hours upon hours into this title and not become even the slightest bit bored with it. The easy settings may be a bit softer for younger players and newcomers to the series, but on a higher difficulty, Smash Bros. for 3DS carries on the tradition of those Smash titles that came before it. If this handheld entry is but a taste of what is to come from its Wii U counterpart, we’re sure to be in for a real treat. With that in mind, this is a great release all its own, and a standout entry in the already stellar lineup of the 3DS’ library of games.

My rating: 9.25 (out of 10)

XBLA review: Skullgirls Encore

Fighting games have never been my specialty, which is a bit of a shame, considering how cool I find many of the character designs in series like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. It’s simply been the case that, much as enjoy watching others play fighting games, I’ve never been particularly skilled at the genre, save for a few oddball exceptions like Street Fighter III: Third Strike and the Smash Bros. series (the latter of which I hardly consider to be a traditional fighting game). Skullgirls was brought to my attention a couple of years back when the gang over at Two Best Friends Play talked it up as one of the most bold undertakings from a small studio – a fighting game developed for those who love fighting games, but with artwork that was entirely hand-drawn.

Skullgirls Encore fits the bill of a fighting game designed for the most hardcore fans of the genre, with character motions that are arguably some of the most fluid in its class, and a high degree of mobility for nearly all eleven of its playable fighters. While that number may not seem a particularly impressive representation for a fighting game roster, it provides the most balanced roster I’ve personally come across in the genre. Each character has varying range and offensive power in their attacks, but they also have effective means of countering each of their fellow fighters.

For example, Big Band, one of the latest additions thanks to the extra Indiegogo funding, is a massive half-man, half-band wearing a trenchcoat. He takes up an insane amount of space on the screen, and is, by default, a large target. He’s not particularly fast, but can take hits like a champ and can deal out some decent damage via hits from the trombone slides, cymbals, and timpani drums concealed beneath his coat. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Frankenstein-esque cat girl Ms. Fortune lands rapid-fire claw strikes from both the ground and air, and can launch her head from her shoulders as a projectile. She ranks among the most fast and agile of all the playable fighters, but is appropriately not the most durable.

Stages such as a dimly-lit research lab, a calm neighborhood street, and an eerie chapel will be revisited a number of times over the course of each character’s story mode. And while none of the stories last particularly long, each of the cast members is provided ample time to develop into someone interesting and given a reasonable motive for either seeking out the Skull Heart for their own ends or attempting to destroy it. As they all converge toward this one key artifact, the characters of the Skullgirls universe will cross paths with mobsters, mad scientists, and – most importantly – one another. The endgame is surprisingly deep for such a game, however, and with three more playable characters on the way, there are no doubt many more surprises in store for this one-of-kind world.

In truth, the art style does wonders for Skullgirls. It not only sets the game apart from the competition, it reinforces a degree of dedication to shaping the overall quality of the game rarely seen from studios these days. While larger studios map their launch plans around paid DLC release schedules, Skullgirls has opted to offer these first two new fighters free of charge, and they feel like they have had just as much time in playtesting as all the rest – in short, they feel like they were designed as part of the core cast from the outset, despite the fact that this was obviously not the case. The bright cartoony visages of Cerebella, Squigly, and Valentine are a breath of fresh air in the modern era of video gaming, and the soundtrack being heavy on America jazz influences doesn’t hurt either.

Skullgirls is a game that is equal parts form and function, and it excels at both. It is one of the most polished fighting games I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing, while also proving easy to access for those not long-since devoted to the genre, thanks to its intuitive control scheme and intelligently laid-out tutorial mode. The degrees of difficulty maintain a very natural progression, while the classic horror film-inspired characters squaring off in art deco environments proves an utterly bizarre but entirely welcome hybrid. Skullgirls Encore plays fast, plays smooth, and does surprisingly well in outshining giants of its field in more ways than one.

My rating: 9.25 (out of 10)

Little Mac joins the roster for new Super Smash Bros.

This announcement comes as no surprise to me, really. When R.O.B. debuted in Brawl and Mr. Game and Watch made his return, I felt Little Mac would make a perfect addition to the selection of retro Nintendo characters within the Smash Bros. universe. I mean, after all he is a fighter to begin with, so it only makes sense, though I am glad to see that the development team incorporated some combat mechanics unique to Little Mac in the upcoming Wii U/3DS releases. This Little Mac reveal follows hot on the heels of a number of other Smash Bros. roster confirmations, including the return of Zelda and Lucario, and the debut of Super Mario Galaxy's Rosalina.

Mewth24's Smash Bros. 4 wishlist - part three

Now comes the part of this series where I talk about the stages where the fighting will actually take place. Keep in mind that some of the new stages I would ultimately like to see are dependent on the inclusion of the characters I previously mentioned in my roster wishlist. Most of the following points are simply arguments I wish to make about the design of a few stages from previous Smash Bros. titles as a collective.

Personally, I've always been a fan of stages that include environmental hazards and moving platforms. I know not everyone is a fan of these, and there are some that I feel are more enjoyable to play and just plain better designed than others. I certainly don't hate Melee's Rainbow Cruise, but it requires that you constantly be on the move, which is obnoxious in comparison to the breaks between vehicles in Big Blue that require you pay attention to your footing. I could certainly see a Sin and Punishment stage designed after the second level of that game, where the characters are stable on a platform that moves about the armada of ships, in a style not unlike past Star Fox levels or even Brawl's Battleship Halberd. A few standstill cannons or other methods for the stage to fire upon players in the midst of a skirmish makes fights all the more entertaining.

That said, I realize that many players prefer the standard stages with a few platforms and zero influence from the environment itself. Battlefield's design is tried and true, and even Shadow Moses proved relatively tame with little more than destructible towers on either side of the stage. Again, I enjoy these stages, and I feel that Nintendo has delivered a solid balance between the standard stages and those with environmental hazards in each Smash Bros. release. However, there are a handful of stages that I find incredibly annoying due to their size and layout. Specifically, I'm talking about Hyrule Temple and New Pork City. It is true that there are other stages in Melee that are quite large, like Fourside and Brinstar Depths. But the former is rather open and the latter constantly rotates, discouraging players from sticking to one spot. Hyrule Temple, however, is a stage that - due to its design incorporating platforms, a tunnel, and pillars for players to hide behind - caters primarily to campers and cowards. The whole point of a four-player fighting game is for the matches to be frenetic, and designing a stage with so many hiding spots/escape routes removes this fun factor. On the other hand, New Pork City seems to have been designed as some sort of successor to Fourside, but the stage is in fact so large that once characters spread out far enough it becomes difficult to track one's own character.

The option to construct your own stages in Brawl was a really neat and unexpected inclusion on Nintendo's part. However, there were only so many pieces allotted and a limited number of ways to place them on a stage. While the stage builder should be retained, Nintendo can certainly do a lot more with it. Aside from new pieces, they could include both new color palettes/themes for the environments (as Brawl only had three to choose from) and the ability to include timed environmental hazards (like the lava spouting forth in Norfair and) or slight/temporary changes in the stage's design (like the extra floating platform that shows up from time to time in Smashville).

With regards to the story modes/single player experience, Subspace Emissary was a great way to springboard off Melee's Adventure Mode. Though it did not feature a perfectly crafted story, a game like Super Smash Bros. does not necessarily need one, as the experience is meant to cater to fans of all Nintendo franchises. Keeping the story simple, yet still creative and fun is great, while offering up the option to revisit Classic Mode caters to fans of the original Super Smash Bros. Boss Battle Mode was quite fun and carried a decent challenge factor, while Home Run Derby and Multi-Man Brawl were only altered slightly from their previous iterations. I can really only complain about All-Star Mode, in that it lost some of its challenge factor during the transition from Melee Brawl. The game did not spawn new foes fast enough during the matches where you were to take on three or four opponents, and not a single one of them felt overly powerful, even on the harder difficulty settings.

Now comes the issue that many a Smash Bros. fan has debated over since Brawl's release: what to do with the Final Smash moves? Personally, I like the idea of Final Smashes from a conceptual stage - they make matches more exciting as players scramble to grab them and simultaneously attempt to keep one another from reaching them. However, they are incredibly unbalanced in Brawl. Pit's Final Smash is basically unavoidable, and will instantly kill most anyone on screen, regardless of how much damage they have already taken. Meanwhile, R.O.B. and Donkey Kong have very underwhelming attacks that can only gain a moderate range and deal relatively little damage in comparison to everyone else. Assuming Nintendo is going to keep the Final Smashes at all, they need to be evened out - either everyone gets an instant K.O. move, or they simply get a temporary power-up of some sort. Frankly I'm more inclined toward the latter. While a tussle over Final Smashes that instantly clear the stage of fellow fighters would be fun for a while, I think many players would ultimately get fed up with them and simply turn said items off. However, a temporary invincibility (ala Ghirahim's ultimate form, which I mentioned in the previous part of this series) or limited use of a powerful attack (ala Travis Touchdown's tiger form) would allow the strategic element to be retained and decrease the likelihood that players become flat out frustrated with matches. If Nintendo decides to completely remove the Final Smashes, it would not completely alienate players - there were two games prior to Brawl that functioned well without them. But I think that Nintendo and Namco could really make the experience fun and fresh by toning down these Final Smashes and evening them out.

Mewth24's Smash Bros. 4 wishlist - part two

Let's assume that all of the characters I mentioned in the last post end up getting removed: Wolf, Ganondorf, Toon Link, Lucas, Wario, Diddy Kong, Lucario, R.O.B., and one of the Kirby characters. This would open nine spots on the roster. Mind you, what follows here is my own personal wishlist, and is not necessarily a representation of what the greater Smash Bros. fanbase might want. However, I do have reasons as to why each of these characters would make for a good fit on a Smash Bros. roster.

As I mentioned last time, there seems to be a trend with the Smash Bros. games altering their presentations of certain characters with their most recent releases - more specifically, I made mention of the Legend of Zelda games, and how Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf's appearances have changed from one game to the next. If the next Smash Bros. game were to adopt a Skyward Sword aesthetic, there's a good possibility that Ghirahim would make an appearance in place of Ganondorf. In Skyward Sword, Ghirahim's tactics relied heavily on swordplay and firing small projectiles. In one of the game's most important cutscenes, he was shown to be capable of erecting a barrier for a brief period of time, and he is also capable of teleporting short distances (which could be integrated as either a jump move or an over+B move). Finally, Ghirahim alters his physical form over the course of the game, making his arms more durable, which could be included as a time-limited move to grant him greater defensive and offensive prowess. Assuming Nintendo wants to keep Final Smash moves in Smash Bros. 4, Ghirahim could either be granted temporary invincibility via his final form seen at the end of Skyward Sword, or (going the more overpowered route) be able to summon the imprisoned for a brief period, allowing the beast to stomp about the stage.

Though Earthbound is probably the game most fans of Smash Bros. are least intimately familiar with due to how difficult it is to come by nowadays, I applaud Nintendo for attempting to better represent the Earthbound/Mother series in Brawl. As I mentioned in the previous part, I felt Lucas' inclusion was entirely unnecessary, but I would love to see another character worked into Smash Bros. 4 - preferably one who has a strikingly different moveset from Ness. Jeff appeared in Brawl as an assist trophy and shot off fireworks, and I think his reliance on weapons could make for a very interesting contrast to Ness' PSI abilities. Admittedly, I'm not nearly as familiar with Earthbound as I am with most other Nintendo franchises, but I think including at least one other character from the game that offers something different from what Ness is capable of would make for a more interesting and diverse roster.

Though I think the Pokémon series is well represented through the presence of Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and the Pokémon Trainer, I would not be surprised if Lucario's spot on the roster is opened up in order to make room for yet another Pokémon. Though Mewtwo and Lucario represent psychic and fighting types respectively, their body types and size are similar, and they even share a few similar moves. A Generation V Pokémon who would fit well with this trend is Zoroark, a dark type famous for his ability to create illusions and mask himself as other Pokémon (and even people, as seen in Pokémon Black 2/White 2). N's Zorua/Zoroark was relatively important to the plot of Black 2/White 2, and he was the first Generation V Pokémon to be officially revealed. Granting him the ability to temporarily disguise himself as opponents (which would either wear off after a short period of time or after he were to take enough damage) as well as a few dark type attacks would allow him to follow the trend established by Mewtwo and Lucario as a mostly close-quarters fighter with a few ranged attacks. At the same time, the sixth generation of Pokémon games will be released by October of this year, so it is entirely possible (perhaps even more likely) that this spot would be filled by a Pokémon representing the new games.

Nintendo has a history of including one or two characters per Smash Bros. game that have not been in any major retail release in quite a few years. In the original Smash Bros., this was Samus Aran, whose only appearance on the N64 was in said beat-'em-up game. Melee saw the return of Mr. Game & Watch and the Ice Climbers, while Brawl revamped Pit. Keeping with the trend of incorporating NES-era characters into Smash Bros. (whether as a teaser for upcoming revival projects or simply for nostalgic purposes) Balloon Fighter trophies, stickers, and music have all previously appeared in Smash Bros. titles, and the incorporating of the game's main character would prove interesting, to say the least. Some of these NES classic characters have a tendency to control unusually, like the Ice Climbers operating as two characters under the control of a single player, and designing the Balloon Fighter as a highly agile fighter with little in the way of defense would add an extra degree of challenge for those seeking it. Sometimes the strategies used by more competitive Smash Bros. players are largely dependent on the unorthodox characters in the roster.

While I did say that I do not expect Wario to make a return, I do feel that the WarioWare games are sort of unsung heroes among Nintendo franchises and ought to be represented in Smash Bros. 4. Kat and Ana are two ninjas who could effectively operate in a similar fashion as the Ice Climbers, with one player controlling two characters, though they would be angled toward quick strikes and offense more than defense. On the other hand, 9-Volt would fit in better with the standard weight class and could dish out a variety of moves inspired by retro Nintendo games, as is his calling card in the WarioWare titles.

Capcom is well-known for making tons of crossover fighting games, as well as notorious in the video game community for their habit of making a buck off of everything possible, earning them the moniker "Cashcom". Regardless, Megaman is a hero familiar to many an owner of Nintendo consoles, and carries a similar aesthetic appeal as many of the fun and colorful Nintendo mascots. He's already seen plenty of skirmishes across other fighting games, so adding him to a Smash Bros. roster would not require much work. Throw in one of his more powerful abilities gained from a Robot Master as his Final Smash and the blue bomber would fit right in.

Travis Touchdown, on the other hand, would be a bit more bold an inclusion. His crude nature and explicit language would have to be toned down for any appearance in Smash Bros., which is just as well since few of the characters spend much time speaking anyways. However, there are still plenty of clever ways his comedic nature could be retained for a story-driven mode like Subspace Emissary: his habit of picking his nose, his sometimes cynical nature, and his general goofy behavior as an outwardly awkward otaku. His collection of beam katanas would provide him with a variety of attacks - Blood Berry providing decent range and acting as his standard means of attack, the Rose Nasty slicing up, down, and all around in a series of consecutive swings, and the Tsubaki Mk-II carrying out a slow but powerful up+B/down+B smash move as Travis leaps up and forward to slam its multiple beam blades into a foe below him. His grabbing a foe could be followed up with one of his many wrestling moves to inflict further damage, though at the cost of leaving him open to attack from others for a few seconds. As for his Final Smash, the most logical answer would be to allow him temporary transformation into Tiger form to inflict significant damage on the other fighters. Though the No More Heroes games do not have as strong a following as many of the other series currently incorporated into the Smash Bros. series, it does have a highly devoted fanbase, and there are plenty of people who would love to see Travis Touchdown make an appearance, even if only for one game.

In order to present a rounded experience, the characters I have presented thus far would have to be offset with the inclusion of a couple of slower characters. In the past, the tradition has been to couple heavy characters with slower motions, but I think having at least one character break from that play style would not be a bad thing. I know some other Smash Bros. fans would like to see Bowser Jr. included, and while I can honestly say that I'm not opposed to the idea of having a small and slow-moving character, I feel that the Mario series is well-represented as is, and I think Namco and Nintendo could do even better by including a strange combination: a standard weight character who moves around the stage at a rather slow jog/run, has an even balance of ranged and close-quarters moves, and whose jump moves are quite limited. Specifically, I am talking about Saki and Airan from Sin and Punishment, a title that was, until its Virtual Console release, a Japanese-exclusive. I suggest the developers include either Saki or Airan, but not both (again, for the sake of avoiding clone characters). It would not be the first time the Smash Bros. series has catered to fans of a series that has seen limited release in the U.S. - Melee included Marth and Roy before the Fire Emblem games really caught on stateside, while Lucas is from Mother 3, which never saw a U.S. release.

There would also need to be at least one more slow and heavy character to balance the experience. I don't have one specific character in mind, but I do feel there are certain franchises that are underrepresented. For Donkey Kong, this character could be K. Rool, a character that many other fans have asked for in the past. His variety of combat methods across the Donkey Kong games would open up plenty of options with regards to his moveset. Samurai Goroh of F-Zero has had cameos in both Melee and Brawl via trophies, stickers, and even an assist trophy. Meanwhile, Fire Emblem's Hector could focus almost entirely on heavy close-range swings of his axe, while the weight of both this weapon and his armor would limit his jumping and speed.

The third installment of this series will focus on the gameplay at large. There are a few alterations I would like to see with regards to how the different game modes are handled and the difficulty factor that accompanies them. I also have a few ideas on how to handle stages in the future - no drastic changes, but a few complaints that I have about a handful of stage designs. And of course, I couldn't properly cover Smash Bros. without giving my own input on the topic of the Final Smash moves.

Mewth24's Smash Bros. 4 wishlist - part one

With the next entry into the Super Smash Bros. series currently in development, I decided it was time to make my own wishlist regarding what changes I would like to see in the fourth game. The game is being developed by Namco, with Nintendo still being heavily involved in the process. At this time, Namco has said that they are hesitant to include characters from any of their own games (Tekken, Pac-Man, etc.). This likely stems from the fact that the Tekken games are much different fighting games that the Smash Bros. titles, and there is no doubt a challenge in trying to sell new, non-Nintendo characters in a game that is all about the Nintendo brand. However, Smash Bros. Brawl opened the door to newcomers Sonic and Snake, characters owned by SEGA and Konami, respectively, and I think it is certainly possible that other non-Nintendo combatants could enter the ring in Smash Bros. 4.

One thing that was made clear by Namco shortly after they announced their involvement with Smash Bros. 4 was that the roster size would likely not be changing from Smash Bros. Brawl's thirty-five playable characters. So we can assume is that there will be at least a few characters that will not be returning for the next game, in order to make room for new fighters. I think the first fighters to be cut would be the clone characters, which have been a point of contest among fans since the release of Smash Bros. Melee. Clone characters are defined as characters whose move set is strikingly similar to another fighter, though their weight, speed, and offensive/defensive capabilities may differ. For example, Falco is a lighter and faster clone character of Fox, while Ganondorf is a slower and heavier clone character of Captain Falcon. Frankly, I was rather surprised that Falco made the cut for Smash Bros. Brawl - despite how much I enjoy playing as him, he didn't seem all that different in the third game, and the inclusion of Wolf made me question just how necessary it was to keep Falco around. I don't know that I am convinced that Falco will be cut from Smash Bros. 4, due to his popularity in the fanbase, but I can't imagine that Wolf will return. If Falco does make a comeback, I think his moveset will likely be reworked to some degree, and hopefully (assuming Namco chooses to keep the Final Smash moves in the fourth game) his Final Smash will be different from Fox's (I'll get into my thoughts on Final Smash moves in greater detail later on).

Though Falco's return is a matter I am still on the fence about, there are a few characters I highly doubt will return: Wolf, Ganondorf, Toon Link, Lucas, Wario, and Diddy Kong. The first four characters are clone characters. Wolf, Toon Link, and Lucas are easily the least necessary fighters in Smash Bros. Brawl, and perhaps even in all of Smash Bros. history. Their movesets are too similar to the characters they are cloned from - even Young Link from Melee had fire arrows to set him apart from Adult Link. Meanwhile, Toon Link is simply there to cater to fans of the Wind Waker aesthetic. Lucas' moves are almost identical to Ness', with one or two slight discrepancies. The same could be said for Luigi in relation to Mario. However, I can't imagine Nintendo approving the removal of such an iconic mascot of their flagship series. While Wario and Diddy Kong both presented something new and unorthodox to the experience, they seem like characters who would be difficult to build upon in future releases, and I feel they will be one-hit wonders in the same fashion as Dr. Mario was in Melee. With Pikmin 3 just around the corner and Kid Icarus: Uprising still fresh in people's memories, it's only smart for Nintendo to keep Olimar and Pit in the mix. That said, I think Pit is easily the most unbalanced character in Smash Bros. history, due to his insane knack for recovering from falls and ridiculously overpowered Final Smash, and needs to be reworked significantly before the fourth game releases.

The Zelda characters tend to represent whichever Zelda game is most recent. With any Zelda WiiU news currently far off, it seems likely that the next Smash Bros. would include a Skyward Sword Link, as the original Smash Bros. and Melee both featured Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask Link(s), and Brawl featured Twilight Princess Link. Zelda's presentation would be drastically different if she were to adopt a Skyward Sword look, so it may also be possible that the Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess looks may simply come in the form of alternate colors/costumes, while the movesets remain largely unchanged. However, Ganondorf is not in Skyward Sword - instead, the role of primary villain falls on the shoulders of Ghirahim, who would make for a very different and interesting fighter, due to his reliance on projectiles, his sword, and his highly durable arms.

Two characters that I think have a slim chance of returning are Lucario and R.O.B. Lucario will probably be swapped in the same manner that Mewtwo was (though I don't understand why Mewtwo was dropped in the first place; I thought he was a great Pokémon to add to the roster). The question is, with the Pokémon Trainer being introduced in Brawl, will Lucario be replaced by another Pokémon or someone entirely different? I feel that R.O.B. will likely follow the same path as Wario and Diddy Kong, but I never expected Mr. Game & Watch to return after Melee, so I can't be too sure on this one. Meanwhile, I expect only one of the newcomers from Dreamland to return, not both. Dedede is more or less a heavy-hitter version of Kirby, while Meta Knight is a light defensive close-quarters variant. Meta Knight's unusual flight patterns and style of attack make him a more likely candidate for dismissal, but Dedede is a more direct clone of Kirby.

In the next part of this series, I will present my own personal wishlist of characters. I doubt that all of these characters will match up with those most-requested by fans, but I have arguments prepared as to why each character would make a solid entry among long-lasting fighters like Mario and Pikachu.

Anime review: Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest

Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest is a classic representation of a 1990s action flick. It's packed with fight scenes the mount the intensity, and the whole reason the Z-fighters rally to the cause of combating the scientific creations of one mad Dr. Wheelo is because they need to save some of their own. The film begins with the simple premise of Oolong and young Gohan looking to gather the Dragon Balls for themselves, but they end up witnessing an elderly scientist named Dr. Kochin asking Shenron to free Dr. Wheelo from his icy prison beneath a mountain range. Knowing that Gohan wasn't supposed to go on any adventures, he and Oolong make a promise not to tell anyone what they saw so that they won't get in trouble. But word of their trip gets out once the two fear for Piccolo's safety (following his disappearance) as well as that of Bulma and Master Roshi (having been kidnapped by Dr. Kochin).

The film focuses on this small group of characters, along with Krillin and Goku, and the story is more directed because of it. Granted, Bulma fits the bill of a typical damsel in distress, having no real use to the doctors other than bait to get the world's strongest warrior to comply with their demands. For Dr. Wheelo no longer has a body, and he wishes to transplant his brain into that of the world's greatest fighter. Unfortunately for him, the data he and Dr. Kochin collected is out-of-date and lists Master Roshi as the strongest fighter on Earth, when in fact everyone else knows that Goku has long-since surpassed him.

Dr. Wheelo sees this as an opportunity to draw out Goku's potential so he can assess the hero's capabilities. He pits Goku against three products of his own scientific genius, uses a mind-control device on Piccolo, and even reveals himself to be housed inside a giant mechanical body which he believes sufficient to pacify Goku long enough to begin the procedure. Because this film is set early in the DBZ timeline, Goku has not yet tapped into his Super Sayin abilities, and the fights are more dynamic as a result. However, there is plenty of time spent on little more than screaming and monologuing.

The World's Strongest is a decent entry into the Dragon Ball Z film series. It's certainly not the best the series has to offer, but it isn't the worst either. The 'mad scientist' routine is underwhelming, but the decision to focus on a small group of characters from the series' larger cast makes it a practical side story.

My rating: 7 (out of 10)

Anime review: Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon

Wrath of the Dragon begins pretty much the same as any other Dragon Ball Z film - things are peaceful and quiet, aside from Gohan and Videl being occasionally late to class due to their role as crime fighters. That is, until an elderly alien presents Gohan with a music box which he says houses Tapion, a strong warrior. He wishes to free Tapion, but despite the best efforts of all the Z-fighters , the box refuses to open. The group then decides to gather the Dragon Balls and spend their wish on unlocking the music box, much to the alien's delight.

After Tapion is released, it becomes quite clear that danger will follow in his footsteps. He is among the last of his race of people, and despite his best efforts to quell an ancient beast named Hirudegarn by playing his Ocarina, the monster intends to come through a rift to wreak havoc on Earth. Compounding the problem is the fact that the beast's lower body is largely beyond Tapion's control, as it manages to destroy a number of buildings before it disappears, and the elderly alien's intentions of destroying Tapion's Ocarina and granting Hirudegarn absolute freedom.

Tapion is a rather interesting addition to the DBZ universe, as he behaves like a big brother to Trunks, even though he tries his best to distance himself from the young fighter in the interest of Trunks' safety. Tapion is likely the strongest warrior from his home planet, or at least the strongest among the survivors of Hirudegarn's original rampage. His interactions with the Z-fighters actually bears some significance on the greater storyline, as his interactions with Trunks shape his character traits that are displayed in the Android and Cell sagas.

Where the movie most lacks believability is the fact that none of the main characters suspected the elderly alien of anything before opening the music box, despite his constant chuckling and mumbling to himself. These should be immediate red flags to Goku and company. Also, they fail to recognize him as an alien, referring to him as an old man, even though his skin is red and he has antennae on his head. That said, the way that this character and Tapion are worked into the film stands as one of its most original elements.

The film is paced well, offering a sufficient portion of the hour-long run to set up and develop the story before the Z-fighters and Tapion face down Hirudegarn. Goku, Gohan, Videl, Goten, and Trunks all get their fair share of screen time, while Piccolo is absent. Vegeta shows up halfway through the fight for a brief moment before he gets his butt kicked. His absence beforehand is left unexplained and his inclusion is entirely unnecessary.

In typical DBZ fashion, nearly everyone is beaten and bruised before Goku unleashes one of his ultra-powerful moves to save the day. The final moments of the battle with Hirudegarn have tense build up, but with such emphasis on Tapion, it seems like he should be the hero of the day instead. Still, Tapion's relationship with Trunks helps him to become more of a fully-realized character and less of a convenient plot device, and to that end aids Wrath of the Dragon to be one of the more original DBZ films.

My rating: 8 (out of 10)

3DS review: Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition

After the positive reception Super Street Fighter IV received after its console releases, Capcom re-released it for Nintendo’s 3DS, with a few tweaks here and there. Surprisingly, the 3DS is quickly becoming a welcome home to many a handheld fighting game, and having thoroughly enjoyed Super Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition, I figured this was the next logical entry to take a crack at.

From the moment you fire up Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, all thirty-five playable characters are available for use. A wide variety of play styles is accounted for, and every player should be able to find at someone that fits their specific approach to combat. The downside to this is that it significantly reduces the replay value. Were there a handful of characters that needed to be unlocked before use, it would have expanded the gaming experience substantially, but there is only so much that can be drawn from character stories that are comprised of two cutscenes a piece and a trophy collection.

The main arcade mode follows each character’s individual involvement with S.I.N. and Shadaloo, though the majority of the experience is spent in combat. This allows for the arcade experience to move along at a nice pace. The final boss fight against Seth feels both challenging a balanced – a step in the right direction after Third Strike’s lopsided final fight against Gil. Five levels of difficulty are available, and the graduation from one to the next feels consistent and fair. Players can also pick up single matches, either against a CPU or online against another player. The car crushing and barrel smashing minigames are available for play at any time, while a series of challenges can be accessed to hone each character’s individual moves.

The 3D effect is used in two different ways. While viewing in the standard side-scrolling fighter mode, the depth perception increases, better defining the distance between the fighters, the backdrop, and any environmental objects. Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition also allows players to play a match in an over-the-shoulder mode meant to create a more cinematic approach to the fight. While it is an interesting idea, the standard tried-and-true camera angle proves more practical and convenient.

Overall, the game looks quite nice. The level of detail is obviously downgraded from the console versions of Super Street Fighter IV, but the colorful comic book-style character models and their fluid motions make the visuals very smooth. None of the environmental objects move, but backgrounds are decorated with a range of spectators, brightly colored cars, and solid lighting effects. The soundtrack is catchy and presents a variety of musical styles, though it is not as bold and experimental as Third Strike’s.

Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition presents a fun handheld fighting experience. It is easy to jump into, though increasing the difficulty setting will be sure to please veterans of the series. Though the replay factor is somewhat lacking and the number of gameplay modes pretty standard, it is impressive that Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition runs so smoothly on a handheld.

My rating: 8 (out of 10)

Thoughts on Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale reveal

Over the past few weeks, the internet has been abuzz about the possibility of a Sony answer to Nintendo's wildly popular Super Smash Bros. series. Rumor had it that the likes of Kratos, Sweet Tooth, and even Parappa the Rapper would be appearing in the roster. As it turns out, the aforementioned rumors are true, and Sony will be giving players their own Smash Bros. in the form of Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. No, this is not some sort of similar fighting game. It is a straight-up copy of Super Smash Bros.

The game has not been released yet, but based on the minimal footage provided in this reveal trailer, it is pretty easy to see how close the game is to Super Smash Bros. The characters move and behave similarly to Nintendo's allstars. The levels have the same kind of interactive elements, and even the player number logos are copied straight from Smash Bros.

I am not surprised that Sony decided to try and release a fighting game of their own to try and compete with Nintendo. But I did not expect that it would take this long. Sony and Nintendo have been competitors since the 1990s, and it seems like shortly after the release of the original N64 Super Smash Bros. would have been prime time for Sony to cook up a response in the form of their own game. Sony could have been way more creative in their approach. I think the concept of a Sony fighting game is interesting. But this is just pathetic. Shame on you Sony, for taking the lazy route and outright copying Nintendo.

25 Days of Villains - #24: Master Hand

Master of the Smash Bros. Universe, Master Hand is one of the few lead video game villains to have zero lines of dialogue. Howevver, his devious laugh and hand gestures - like a rocket boost, charged flick, clenching grip, and steam-powered fist pound - provide this boss with plenty of personality.

While it is true that Master Hand and Crazy Hand present a greater threat together than either does apart, Master Hand is clearly the more gathered and logical of the two. Crazy Hand flails and lashes out, hoping to land a hit on players. Granted, Crazy Hand's attacks yield significant damage when they land on a character. But Master Hand's move set is much more varied and accurate, thus proving more practical overall.

As far as Master Hand's actual intentions, he seems primarily invested in testing the abilities of every character on the Smash Bros. roster ...by beating the ever-loving crap out of them. If you've played through Classic mode on the Very Hard difficulty setting, you've witnessed Master Hand at his prime. But there is also the possibility that he simply enjoys having the ability to toy with the cast and assume some degree of control over them, as would be evidenced by the intro cutscene to the original Super Smash Bros., wherein everyone starts out as a doll under his control.

Because we really don't know a whole lot about Master Hand, (whether he acts as a sort of judge or is on a maniacal power-trip) it's difficult to gauge just how evil he really is. Still, he's endured through all three of the Smash Bros. titles as one of the most memorable final bosses in any fighting game I've played.

Boss theme:
I actually love all three of the Final Destination themes. But I have a real soft spot for the original - it was a pretty epic way to conclude the single player mode.

XBLA review: Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition

As a genre, fighting games are relatively foreign territory to me. I played a ton of Super Smash Bros. when it first hit the N64, and the same story carried through to Melee and Brawl. The thing I appreciated most about those fighting games was the fact that they were so accessible. True, it would take anyone time and patience to master each and every character, but newcomers could still compete decent enough in a throw-down of Nintendo’s best. Besides that, I only had a few cracks at the arcade version of Mortal Kombat at a local roller skating rink during elementary school field trips. In my early years of gaming (as well as today) my forte was in adventure and platforming games. I was all-too aware of the fact that arcade-style fighting games were largely dependent on players memorizing a list of moves and combos, which differed from one character to the next. That factor probably played the largest influence over my lack of interest in the genre for years to come.

However, in recent years I have rediscovered the genre as something of a beacon for old-school gamers amidst the onslaught of mainstreamed and over-hyped titles (the majority of which happen to be first-person-shooters). These arcade fighters stick with a classic formula, and – while they may provide tutorials of sorts – are not going to hold your hand the entire time. They will dish out one beating after another, and it is up to each individual player to find his or her own unique style of play to combat this. And that is one of the aspects of this genre that I truly admire – the flexibility players are granted through the variety of characters.

Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition is a game from the golden era of fighting games. The characters are varied but still very well-balanced, a result of years of trial-and-error on the part of Capcom and other companies. There is a myriad of different subgroupings to each fighting style. While Elena and Ibuki both focus on fighting from a range, the former does so with kicks and acrobatics, while the latter relies on swift kicks and throwing Kunai. Though Ryu and Akuma might seem like polar opposites skinned over the same move set, it is apparent that Akuma’s energy blasts are not as potent as Ryu’s, while his kicks and supercombos trump those of the series’ posterboy. Despite the fact that there are some striking similarities that can be drawn between some of the characters, it is impossible to find any two that are direct copies of each other.

The arcade mode lasts through nine standard fights, with two minigames thrown in the mix, and a boss fight at the conclusion of all this. Before each fight, players are presented with two opponents to choose from. While these are characters that will have difficulty playing both offense and defense to the player-controlled character, the last couple of choices narrow down to a “lesser of two evils” scenario. Beating the ‘final boss’ Gill as each individual character will prompt a cutscene that explores their story in more specific context.


The combat itself is very fluid. Combos and supercombos are a bit easier to chain than in the likes of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, primarily due to the fact that Third Strike is a past-gen game ported over to a current-gen console with a very different controller than that of the Dreamcast. Players can tweak the difficulty setting at the main menu as they see fit, as well as access training modes to hone their skills both offensively and defensively. The CPU does an impressive job responding to players. Only on rare occasions will it feel a bit cheap. For example, opponents that use blast attacks (most notably Ryu, Akuma, and Urien) do have a tendency to spam these when low on health. Also, players should be aware of how much space they have to work with on any given level, as some of the more physical combat-oriented characters (Yun, Yang, Dudley) may corner them and proceed to mercilessly launch-kick and punch them until their health meter is depleted.

The graphics maintain the traditional look and feel of the side-view and character sprites, but the level of detail presented in each character model and level backdrop is simply gorgeous. This makes a perfect marriage to the soundtrack, which is a combination of hip-hop, techno, and ethnic music. Players can earn points by completing various challenges in game – defeating opponents with 20 supercombo finishes, beating Yang as Yun (and vice versa), etc. – as well as completing the arcade mode each time through. They can then spend these points however they see fit on soundtrack pieces, concept art, and short videos to revisit whenever they wish. There is also an option to upload fights to YouTube, though this seems more of an afterthought with the video quality of these replays set at a 240p default. It would have been a better idea to let players save a handful of their favorite fights to their system's hard drive, retaining the HD quality playback.

Street Fighter III: Third Strike is a great fighting game all around. The final fight against Gill is brutal, and frankly the most uneven aspect of the experience. But the fact that players can jump in and play online is a great addition, and the unlockables are nice for nostalgia’s sake. Players can adjust the difficulty setting as they see fit within a pretty specific skill range, accommodating for both veterans and newcomers to the franchise. The faces may not all be familiar to those who played the previous titles, but every playable character in Third Strike: Online Edition is balanced to perfection.

My rating: 9.25 (out of 10)