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I'm legit surprised that there isn't a thread up for this already o_o.

Anyways, I've been eager to get other Smash enthusiasts thoughts on the game as well as potentially line up some matches as time goes on! I'll be posting my friend code in a few hours once I get off from work and I can get ahold of my system. I've been playing the game heavily, both solo and online and I feel I've got a pretty good grip on the game thus far. I would prefer to avoid the 'this isn't Melee/PM' arguement because quiet frankly, it's agonizingly painful to listen to. My local fighting game group has been spouting it since the damn Demo was released, and I really can't stand it when people aren't even open minded about a game/franchise that has no intention of going back to 'what it was'. I like Melee, I'll put that out there. I love every edition of Smash Brothers (Even Brawl), and I do play competitive Project M at the local level (Have yet to achieve progress to go to the big leagues! D: )

Anyway, so far here is a list of my pros and cons for this particular installment:

Pros:

- Roster Size - HUGE! Now granted, I have my gripes with some of the choices, but in the end, I really can't complain about this. The biggest roster to date, and the potential for each character wasn't wasted (With a few exceptions). Each character (other than respective 'clones') feel great and play in unique ways, a great continuing trend. A lot of franchises are getting some spot light, old and new, and it feels damn great to see some of these new faces to the series.

- Game Feel - I'll be honest, this game feels FANTASTIC. While not 'on crack' speeds like Melee, but not quiet Brawl slowness, it meets a nice middle ground between the two installments. Obviously, some characters break the mold and put the pedal to the metal. Greninja and Little Mac in particular are some swift and pressure putting characters. Character attacks all look good and feel great to perform.

- Music - Another amazing round of music for the series. It's one of the areas Smash Brothers really does shine. The remixes are always a blast to listen too, and just hearing some remastered oldies makes me super excited every dang time.

- Modes - Plenty of modes to keep you going! A re-envisioning of Classic mode opens up some new doors to newcomers and veteran players alike. You select initial difficulty of the mode, but you also are allowed to pick various 'pathways' that grant further difficulty or lack there of. The AI in the game isn't too terrible either, making a lot of fights pretty challenging! All Star mode returns and is still just as much of a pain as ever! A gauntlet of enemies with a restricted amount of health restoring items in between matches. But making it to the top never felt so good! Smash Run is by far one of my favorite modes in the game. Taking all sorts of elements from Subspace Emissary, you and 3 other friends (or AI) run around a level, defeating various minions from Nintendo, Sega, Capcom and Namco's past, collecting power ups and collectibles along the way. Each power up puts points into one of several stats and enhances your overall power. At the end of the 5 minute run, you and your foes will be pitted in one of various end game battles with various stipulations, such as enchanced smashes or launch power, a regular stock or timed match, tallying as many minion kills within the time limit, or even a sprint through a level to the end flag. You have your classic Multi-Man matches, a re-envisioning of Target Smash, Endless Melee, and so much more! Online has For Glory (No items, final destination like stages, ranked matches) or For Fun (Smash as intended, items, regular stages and their hazards, etc)

- Portability - This is a big pro for me. I'm often not at home, either working, visiting friends or family. So having what is easily my favorite franchise in the palm of my hand, any time, anywhere, is simply amazing. Playing via local Wifi or online is a huge pro as well, being able to find opponents virtually anywhere, anytime. Big, big, big. A solid move by Nintendo. And with a console version in a month or two, it allows them to nail both demographics easily, giving players the more 'competitive' experience when playing at home or at a venue.

- Customization - This is an awesome addition to the game. Whether it becomes a main stay or even used much at all will depend on your groups. Finding those altered attacks is really an exciting feeling, and can change how your character works to a great degree. It allows you to throw curve balls so to speak at your opponent, making match ups difficult to predict. Example being Pac-Man (My new main). His ->B is the Power Pellet. But his two alternates are a faster and further reaching pellet, but he noms them a bit slower. Or the alluring pellet, where it doesn't reach as far, but has a 'black hole' effect and pulls nearby enemies to the dot, to be attacked easier. Not HUGE changes to the move, but enough to really mess with your opponent! Then you can also increase stats via gear, in a manner similar to the sticker system from Brawl, except limited to only 3 items per character instead of how many stickers one can fit on the bottom of their trophy base. If this part gets used much, I'd honestly be a bit surprised. It's neat, but I think custom moves will be used more. It's the thought that counts!



Cons:

-Evasive Maneuvers - I'll admit that the game is geared towards defensive play this time around. Rolling and Sidestepping are pretty powerful, and hard to punish at times. You can also Air Sidestep as well, as many times as you want, with no risk of entering a Freefall state. This can make games feel like they go on for an eternity of your all skilled in the workings of the games. But in counter argument, baiting people into a roll and punishing is pretty easy as well, making up for it.

- Loss of Edge Hog - While I don't weep over this too much, it was in fact a pretty major competitive element in the Smash franchise, and it's loss can be accredited to a lot of the 'slowdown' the game feels like it has. Being able to deny edge use is a tried and true kill method in this game, and with it's disappearance, I do fear that this Smash may not make it well in my local area in terms of a tournament scene. I would love to play this game to a high degree. But it can't be done if my local TOs don't feel the interest is high enough.

- Levels - Some of the new levels are awesome. I personally love Rainbow Road, and the Boxing Ring from Punch Out! Kirby's Gameboy stage is awesome as well, and Earthbound even got a nice new stage. But, in the end, for this edition of the game, the stage select feels a little too reused. A lot of returning stages. Not a real BAD thing, but I'd like to see more of those stages we were promised with being handheld throwbacks. :(

- Online 'Host' changing - So, what I've figured out is that the loser of a match will become the new host of that match. In a group game, whoever finishes last, becomes the new host. This can be a total nightmare at times. I'll start a game as the host, and we have a flawless match with little to no lag at all. If I come out on top, my opponent now hosts. What this now means is if his connection isn't as good as mine...we will have some pain staking moments. Granted, this is the horror of online play anyway. And to be fair and honest, the amount of matches I've had that are intolerable countable on one hand thus far (out of 50 or so online matches). Just be weary and accept/remember that online won't be a smooth groove every single time.

Final Score: I gladly give this game an 8 out of 10. It's fantastic overall, despite the 'less competitive' nature of the game. My local area is full of die hard Melee fans, so I often hear the trope of 'Not Melee, therefore I won't play' and it really gets my goat. No one is asking Melee fans to give up Melee as their competitive game. But to blatantly boycott an installment, especially with a majority of them not even having picked up the game and TRYING it, really is unbelievable and bull headed. It's aggravating. I try to talk to them about it, but all they can do is list the 'bad' things about the game, but wont admit to the good things. "Because I can't edge hog, I won't play. Because I can't clear the stage in 3 steps of my character, I won't play. Because I'm a little floaty in the game now, I won't play'. Plugging their ears and shouting LALALALA is childish.

I for one, and very happy with how the cast plays out in this installment. Everyone feels pretty viable (Notable exceptions in my current tinkering being Rosalina and Luma, Ganondorf, Palutina thus far). Granted, most characters feel like they have a solid counter pick. Little Mac for instance is a surprising counter to spacers at times. He is insanely quick, and can keep them off their feet, and even has a counter. (Just don't let them get you off stage or your probably done :p)

Uhg. Ranting. Anyway! Share your thoughts with me! Is this a game you plan on picking up (3DS or otherwise) and what do you think of the game as it stands!?

I liked the demo, but I can't play it for long. Makes my carpal tunnel flare up something fierce. I played for maybe an hour, and my hands/forearms were numb and stiff

 mega_bassist wrote:
I liked the demo, but I can't play it for long. Makes my carpal tunnel flare up something fierce. I played for maybe an hour, and my hands/forearms were numb and stiff

D: Dats sadness. I was hoping they would let Circle Pad Pro be usable, to allow a wider grip so it wasn't so clustered for players who legit have a rough time with the DS's size. :( I suppose just waiting for the Wii U version eh?

Melevolence wrote:

 mega_bassist wrote:
I liked the demo, but I can't play it for long. Makes my carpal tunnel flare up something fierce. I played for maybe an hour, and my hands/forearms were numb and stiff

D: Dats sadness. I was hoping they would let Circle Pad Pro be usable, to allow a wider grip so it wasn't so clustered for players who legit have a rough time with the DS's size. :( I suppose just waiting for the Wii U version eh?

That's the plan. I still play Melee and Brawl pretty often with my buddies. Definitely excited for the new one! Out of the four players I got to use, I looooooved Mega Man.

 mega_bassist wrote:

Melevolence wrote:

 mega_bassist wrote:
I liked the demo, but I can't play it for long. Makes my carpal tunnel flare up something fierce. I played for maybe an hour, and my hands/forearms were numb and stiff

D: Dats sadness. I was hoping they would let Circle Pad Pro be usable, to allow a wider grip so it wasn't so clustered for players who legit have a rough time with the DS's size. :( I suppose just waiting for the Wii U version eh?

That's the plan. I still play Melee and Brawl pretty often with my buddies. Definitely excited for the new one! Out of the four players I got to use, I looooooved Mega Man.

He's an interesting beast :p I've played around with him a little bit, though he for sure won't ever be high on my list of playables XD I love me Mega Manz, but his play style is too counter intuitive to what I normally do XD Pac-Man is right up my ally with his assortment of quick normals and his hilarious specials :p

Waiting for the Wii U version.

 Cheesecat wrote:
Waiting for the Wii U version.

Such a shame! :p This game is such a nice appetite wetter!

 Cheesecat wrote:
Waiting for the Wii U version.

Same here. Now the question is, will it move systems and copies like they hope? I really hope so as my Wiiu is my main console and I love playing on it. I'm just not sure if it will, even as popular as it is.

Melevolence wrote:Final Score: I gladly give this game an 8 out of 10. It's fantastic overall, despite the 'less competitive' nature of the game. My local area is full of die hard Melee fans, so I often hear the trope of 'Not Melee, therefore I won't play' and it really gets my goat. No one is asking Melee fans to give up Melee as their competitive game. But to blatantly boycott an installment, especially with a majority of them not even having picked up the game and TRYING it, really is unbelievable and bull headed. It's aggravating. I try to talk to them about it, but all they can do is list the 'bad' things about the game, but wont admit to the good things. "Because I can't edge hog, I won't play. Because I can't clear the stage in 3 steps of my character, I won't play. Because I'm a little floaty in the game now, I won't play'. Plugging their ears and shouting LALALALA is childish.

I think you've pretty much just described why I don't ever get into discussions about Smash Bros online. I think Brawl has been my favorite of the entire series (I think it still wins slightly over SSB4 just for the lack of the stage builder), I spent probably a few hundred hours playing it back when I had a Wii, I just loved everything that they added to the game from Melee. The stage creator was fun to play around with, the new characters were great, and I loved the Final Smashes just because they added a whole level of frenzy to the game whenever one appeared. But when they announced SSB4 and I started reading comments about the game online, I was shocked to discover that so many people just hated Brawl for some of the things it introduced, things that I either thought were good (Final Smashes being the number one thing) or didn't even notice. It's just a little disheartening to really enjoy a game and find out that a lot of people are very vocal about disliking it.

On the topic of Smash 4: Absolutely loving it so far. I wish some of the characters played differently from one another (I'm still not sure what the difference is between Lucina and Marth, for instance) but there are some great new characters in the roster, the stages are pretty great, and the new modes are a ton of fun. One thing that I thought was a really cool touch was how they did some of the alternate costumes - Robin, in particular, can be played as either a female or a male, because in his/her origin game (Fire Emblem Awakening) he/she can be made as either a male or a female. As I mentioned before, I really miss the stage builder because I liked dicking around with it and would have loved to see it actually get some decent touch-screen controls rather than the finicky GCN controller, but it's still a fantastic game.

 Locclo wrote:

Melevolence wrote:Final Score: I gladly give this game an 8 out of 10. It's fantastic overall, despite the 'less competitive' nature of the game. My local area is full of die hard Melee fans, so I often hear the trope of 'Not Melee, therefore I won't play' and it really gets my goat. No one is asking Melee fans to give up Melee as their competitive game. But to blatantly boycott an installment, especially with a majority of them not even having picked up the game and TRYING it, really is unbelievable and bull headed. It's aggravating. I try to talk to them about it, but all they can do is list the 'bad' things about the game, but wont admit to the good things. "Because I can't edge hog, I won't play. Because I can't clear the stage in 3 steps of my character, I won't play. Because I'm a little floaty in the game now, I won't play'. Plugging their ears and shouting LALALALA is childish.

I think you've pretty much just described why I don't ever get into discussions about Smash Bros online. I think Brawl has been my favorite of the entire series (I think it still wins slightly over SSB4 just for the lack of the stage builder), I spent probably a few hundred hours playing it back when I had a Wii, I just loved everything that they added to the game from Melee. The stage creator was fun to play around with, the new characters were great, and I loved the Final Smashes just because they added a whole level of frenzy to the game whenever one appeared. But when they announced SSB4 and I started reading comments about the game online, I was shocked to discover that so many people just hated Brawl for some of the things it introduced, things that I either thought were good (Final Smashes being the number one thing) or didn't even notice. It's just a little disheartening to really enjoy a game and find out that a lot of people are very vocal about disliking it.

On the topic of Smash 4: Absolutely loving it so far. I wish some of the characters played differently from one another (I'm still not sure what the difference is between Lucina and Marth, for instance) but there are some great new characters in the roster, the stages are pretty great, and the new modes are a ton of fun. One thing that I thought was a really cool touch was how they did some of the alternate costumes - Robin, in particular, can be played as either a female or a male, because in his/her origin game (Fire Emblem Awakening) he/she can be made as either a male or a female. As I mentioned before, I really miss the stage builder because I liked dicking around with it and would have loved to see it actually get some decent touch-screen controls rather than the finicky GCN controller, but it's still a fantastic game.

I know it. The Smash Community can be a harsh one. Especially when it comes to which game is 'the best' of the franchise. The community is pretty passionate, which is nice. Just a lot of times, they come off the wrong way. Each game is unique in their own way, which is what I enjoy about the franchise. Smash 64 is much different than Melee, as is Brawl as is Smash 4. Neither feeling like a .0 version of one another, so to speak.

I will admit, I did play loads more Brawl than I did Melee once it released. I liked the diverse roster, new stages, music, and all that jam. Though Project M remains my favorite of them all thus far due to the nice balances and 'merger' of Melee and Brawl. Characters felt great, the game speed was JUST right for me. The fact it was all fan made is still mind boggling to me even today.

Smash 4 I feel takes the game in a decent direction. They borrowed some stuff from PM, some from Brawl and some from Melee. The roster is as diverse as we've ever seen, and virtually all the characters are unique. (As far as Lucina, she is very much similar to Roy in 'gimmick', where the real difference is how her sword deals damage. Otherwise, she is basically the exact same as Marth. She also feels a little faster, but I could be imagining that). I will say I'm a tad sad they put back in some 'clones'. Lucina being her own character feels iffy to me. Dr. Mario coming back as a stand alone character is iffy, though I suppose he is considered a favorite by many of the franchise, so they threw a bone there. Dark Pit seems purely wasted potential :(

But, all that aside, the game is so much fun. I have a feeling the Wii U version may bring back Stage Builder since the disk will have more space than the cartridges. I hope they expand it drastically though. It was fun for a little while, but felt very, very bare bones before. It has a lot of potential to be something damn fun. The greatest thing that I think a lot of die hard fans are missing is that this game will be able to be patched and updated, unlike previous installments. Balancing can be a thing, as well as potentially tweaking mechanics per feedback. The game can actually evolve for once, instead of being an all or nothing bundle like years past.

It's a bit too early to write the game off as a 'flop' like a lot of doom sayers have been chanting. When the Wii U hits, the more competitive players can get a good sampling of the game. I love the 3DS version thus far, clocking in as many For Glory matches as I can, though I won't lie and say I'm eager to get a Gamecube controller in my hand and play it a little better than I can right now. I need to really try to put Pac-Man through his paces with more precise controls.

The more I play, the more I begin to love (and hate) this game XD I tell ya, my biggest gripe right now is how much priority 'multi hit' moves have. An example is Dedede's air Up A, he spins his hammer around and it hits 5 times I believe. I can't come down safely with Yoshi's down special at all. His move will trump it every single time. I guess the same goes for Shiek's air up A as well. It's rough. Even Pac-Man's down special won't punch through multi hit moves, and Game and Watch's air up A can stop the hydrant's decent. Seems silly. Trying to figure what moves can trump what. Important to figure out who's going to be solid counter picks for whom. Game and Watch and Dedede right now are proving to be some of my hardest match ups when played by a very skilled player. Pac-Man ain't got time for this!