A few days ago Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct dedicated to the upcoming Super Smash Bros. So, what did we learn about the game from it? Well, lets recap.
New Characters:
While most of the characters shown off during the Direct were returning characters, there were a couple of new ones to show off, as well as some new features and major changes to existing ones. On the returning character's end, Sheik and Zero Suit Samus have been confirmed; however, they are no longer tied to Zelda and Samus respectively. Both characters are now completely stand alone, and their move sets have been opened up a bit more because of that. Although this also means players who mained Zelda in Melee or Brawl or Samus in Brawl may have some challenges to overcome. After all, these characters were just split in two. As for the new characters, only one is truly new, while another is yet another split character who has become a stand alone.
In Smash Bros Brawl the Pokemon Trainer character fought with three Pokemon which could be switched out at any time. Well, now one of them Pokemon has broken off on their own, with their move set increased. That Pokemon is Charizard. Other than the fact that he is now stand alone, with more moves at his disposal, not much is known about how he has been changed. His Mega Evolution from the newest Pokemon games shows up as well, but how it is used is still unknown (although it may be his Final Smash).
The second newcomer, is in fact a newbie, but it too is from Pokemon. Greninja is the final evolved form of the water starter in Pokemon X and Y, and he now joins the brawl along side Charizard, Pikachu, and Lucario.
Custom Move Sets:
Custom Move Sets is a feature which was mentioned before in past interviews and announcements, but it was also a feature which was never confirmed to be in the final release; it was more along the lines of being a "possible feature." Well, that all changed with this Direct. It has now been confirmed that Custom Move Sets will be in the game, but they will be limited. They are for offline play and online play with friends only, and cannot be brought into the standard online modes.
Online:
When it comes to the online modes, this time around there are three. The first mode is a "for fun" mode where you play on random stages with items turned on. It is a non serious mode, which is very much like the "Player Match" system found in other fighting games. The second mode is a lot like the "for fun" mode; however items are turned off, and the matches are much more serious. It is your standard Ranked styled match which many fighters have, As for the third and final mode, it is your standard friend match. Here you make the rules, and you can fine tune almost every aspect of it; just as you could in all previous games offline (and online in Brawl's case).
On top of the online fighting modes, Smash Bros will have a ranking system of sorts, but it'll be based on your skill level in general. It was also confirmed that the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game will both have online. The online mode will also run off of your Nintendo Network account, so it is possible to report players for cheating or abusing the service.
Smash Run Mode:
Smash Run Mode is a 3DS exclusive feature inspired by the City Trial mode in Kiry Air Ride. In this mode four players are thrown into a massive open map, where they must explore, kill enemies, and collect power ups to upgrade their fighters. The map itself is a lot like the open world maps found in the Metroid series, and enemies which appear in it are randomized. Players are only given a set amount of time to upgrade their fighters though, and at the end they are thrown into a battle. If this mode will have other mini games at the end besides a standard vs mode like in Kirby Air Ride, is yet to be seen.
Stage Bosses:
Another new feature is the inclusion of Stage Bosses. Somewhat like the Chimera seen in the Mother 3 stage in Smash Bros Brawl, Stage Bosses are enemies which show up in specific stages to fight you and the other fighters. One example of such a boss is the Yellow Devil in the Wily's Castle stage, which, just like in the Mega Man games, can only be harmed by hitting its eye. The boss also has the same attack pattern seen in the classic games, which can be a challenge to dodge. If you decide to actually fight this boss is up to you, but whoever defeats it will be able to use its explosion as a weapon.
Well, that about covers it! A few new stages were shown off as well, but most of the information released wasn't anything truly new. It was shown off how the 3DS version of the game will only have two songs per stage however, while the Wii U version of the game will have the large selection as seen in Brawl. We also learned that the 3DS version of the game will be released this Summer, but the Wii U version will have to wait until next Winter.
