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Smashdate! #3 a little guy with a powerful punch is warming up in the Blue corner, the next contender is sporting some interesting new mechanics as well as snazzy green shorts. We’ll also be looking into a few of the other stages that we can piece together.
[*ALARM*]
A Challenger Approaches
Little Mac
It’s time to touch gloves and come out fighting! Little mac has been upgraded from a mere assist trophy and is ready to go toe to toe with all the other superstars. His short stature and incredible speed will make mac a hard target to hit, although from the release trailer his jump/recovery height seems to be very unimpressive but what else can we expect from a professional boxer. Mac seems to be geared towards keeping his feet on the ground and dishing out the smash attacks. An interesting feature of Mac’s fighting style is the addition of his KO meter. This meter act’s in a similar way to DK’s star punch allowing Mac to charge his haymaker and deal an instant smash, unlike DK, Mac can’t store his charge so will deal his damage as soon as you release the button. This means allot less freedom and a more strategic attack, but one that deals all manner of damage and insta-kills.
One quick bit to mention about Macs announcement video is that he transforms into Mega Mac he has a rainbow aura similar to the Smash Moves of brawl. So it seems very likely that the special Smash Moves will be making a comeback.
The Stage is Set:
Wii Sports Studio
Everybody’s favourite characters home turf looks just as interesting as she does. With little to no features bar a couple of floating platforms this glorified yoga studio looks to be a good stage for a balanced fight. although the lack of a drop off may frustrate more seasoned players.
Green Hill Zone
The Blue Blur’s opening stage is back for another battle, not a lot of info can be obtained from these screen shots other than the stage being set in Sonic Lost Worlds. But if the brawl stage is anything to go by a dynamic shifting stage may be what we get.
Spirit Train
Our first 3DS stage here on Smashdate! Straight out of Toon Link’s series this mystical rail way spans the length and breadth of Hyrule. With bright popping colours and a cute little conductor this stage definitely has the Toon Link charm. As for the stage mechanics it looks like a scrolling base that’ll give players a chance to recover if they’re fast enough. Will we see varying speeds like ice mountain in brawl we will have to wait and see.
Round 3 of Smashdate! Had a couple of TKO’s with some interesting additions to mechanics, stages and characters. And I don’t know about you guys but I’m super excited to see these new mechanics come into play.
After the final bell has rung and the bout is over for now I’m still sat here clutching my moustache wax, hoping, praying that my trusty main will be reviled ready for the championship bout.
Another detail revealed during last night’s Nintendo Direct is the upcoming launch of another spin-off Pokémon game for the 3DS.
Pokémon Link: Battle!, known in America as Pokémon Battle Trozei, is the 3DS sequel to the DS game Pokémon Link/Trozei, which featured match-three style puzzles using Pokémon faces. Battle! sees you doing the same, playing out match-3 style puzzles with Pokémon – but this time, the puzzles take the form of Pokémon battles that progress based on your performance in the game. Burst the right number and type of tiny Pokémon heads and you deal damage to your opponent.
Pokémon Link: Battle! will feature all known Pokémon from Generations 1 through to the present day Gen 6; and all of them will be “befriendable”. The game will launch on the 3DS eShop in the UK on 13 March.
Now Metroid, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Punch-Out!! among new titles to get the Remix treatment.
Remember NES Remix – the Wii U eShop Download that, as I put it at the time, “first remembers classic NES Titles… then screws with them”? After the surprise announcement and rapid release of the original game in December, perhaps it should come as no surprise that in a Nintendo Direct last night, Satoru Iwata once again surprised us by announcing its successor.
Like the previous title, NES Remix 2 takes another selection of classic NES games; and sets you specific challenges to complete in each, both using the original title’s gameplay and then in “altered” versions, where whole new twists are added to radically change the game you once knew. This time around, the titles focus on the later era of the NES, such as Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, Punch-Out!!, Kirby Adventure, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Metroid, among others. The game will also feature a new “Championship Mode”, which was left unexplained.
As well as being a game made up of mini-games from other games, NES Remix 2 is also going to include a full-length game in its own right, in the form of “Super Luigi Bros.” Super Luigi Bros. is a fully playable, reversed version of Super Mario Bros, where you now play as Luigi throughout and can take advantage of his higher jumping ability; and in a new right-to-left viewpoint instead of the classic left-to-right.
NES Remix 2 will hit the Wii U eShop on 25 April, price TBC.
SEGA has announced the third title in the Nintendo Exclusivity deal. The title is “Sonic Boom”, a Wii U and 3DS game set to tie in with the upcoming Sonic Boom CGI television series.
While this puts to bed questions any rumors about the nature of the third Nintendo exclusive, it’s also causing a bit of a stir. The main issue seems to be the design of the characters which is…unique. Thats if you are being charitable. Personally, I think they are terrible, particularly Knuckles. As one of my own station colleagues pointed out, it was always nice to have Knuckles be the strongman character without being BUFF. Yet now, he’s an overblown block of muscle perched atop tiny toothpick legs.
And lets not even get started on how trashy Amy looks. REALLY SEGA?
Furthermore, this is yet another example of SEGA continually sticking their foot in their mouth. After categorically denying rumors that the sign at the Nuremberg toy fair showing a new Sonic title were incorrect, they turn around and unveil a brand new title. Its literally like the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing.
I’m a long time SEGA fan, but even my patience is beginning to wear thin. First they deny that something exists. Then they tell us it does. To top it all off, they don’t confirm or deny that it will be on PS4 or XBOX ONE. They CLAIM it’s a Nintendo exclusive. But we all know exclusivity in the console world lasts about as long as a stack of twenty dollar bills in Vegas. Bottom line, SEGA is making themselves look almost as dumb as Microsoft did at E3 last year with the XBOX ONE. We all know they are making a new Sonic game. We all know its going to be coming out soon. So when information gets slipped, don’t deny it and then turn around and confirm it. We aren’t stupid! Just say “Yep. You caught us! New Sonic Game! Free plushies for everyone! Oh, and we’re sorry about Sonic 2006. The developers responsible have been fed to Shigeru Miyamoto as a sacrifice so they would keep Sonic in the new Smash Bros!”
After some very disappointing games (looking at you Sonic 2006) and the blatant cash cow milking of the Mario & Sonic Olympic game’s series, I’m beginning to wonder if it might not be time to put the Blue Blur out to pasture for a bit. or forcibly wrest control of the character from SEGA. If the past few days have been any indication, they sure don’t know what they are doing with the franchise!
Shovel Knight is a platform game in development by independent developer Yacht Club Games for the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, and personal computer platforms.
The game is expected to be released on March 31, 2014.
