Dustin puts his knowledge of fighting games to use and puts in his thoughts on some of the new fighters in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS
Yesterday was the day of the big Smash Direct from Nintendo,
and there was a lot shown, to say the least. There was definitely more than I
would’ve imagined (or hoped) to have seen, and overall it’s made me the most
excited I’ve been for the new Smash games since the Little Mac trailer, and at
this point I’ve probably reached a point where I’m very truly excited for the new
Smash game. We got a wealth of information yesterday, from items, modes,
stages, rebalancing of characters, and new characters. And of course, being the
fighting game lover that I am, I couldn’t help but instantly start to want to
theory fight and think about the characters in a more in depth way.
So here we are, covering a couple of characters, and how I
feel they may be in the game’s release and what they could be good at doing in
the game. This will probably be the first part of this, covering more of the
newcomers, and assuming reception is good, we’ll do more in the future!
Little Mac: Little
Mac, so far, is one of the characters I’m really excited about. In a game full
of characters with absolutely jarring and bizarre playstyles, and most of them
not even “traditional” fighters in any way, Little Mac stands out. I have two
thoughts about how Little Mac will probably be played: Mac will probably either
be best for the rushdown monsters who will love to abuse the armor and just be
unrelenting, or a more patient style will probably also be really good for him.
It’s easy to see why a heavy rushdown style will be good,
because Mac has a lot of armor on his moves and needs to get in close to do any
damage. Alongside that, since he has so many moves that can help him move in quickly, his straight lunge and haymaker in particular. Of course, that could also benefit to a more patient, footsies
style of play because he’ll probably be good at going in, getting quick
strikes, and working his way in when he has to. In a way it almost feels like a
parallel between Balrog and Dudley in Street Fighter 4: one has strong attacks,
armor, and quick ways to cover the screen with punches, the other has a lot of
quick hits and combos, as well as a counter. I’m also interested in seeing how
players will take advantage of his aerial abilities, since they’re supposedly
weak, but I have a feeling that as soon as a player can make good advantage of
his air moves, that’ll be when Mac is really opened up, especially since a big
part of Smash is how well one can edge guard from off the stage, and Mac’s on
stage edgeguarding will probably be less than optimal. I also think the K.O.
Uppercut is interesting, but if it isn’t easily comboable or 1-frame, I can’t
see it being super useful in the long run.
As for how Mac will fair in the long run, I can see him
being an absolute monster in the first two weeks to a month, and then either
drop off into mid or low tiers, or remain a consistent, absolute monster
throughout the game’s lifespan.
Wii Fit Trainer: Wii
Fit Trainer became interesting to me with yesterday’s info because of the two
new things that were shown for the character. At first, with the reveal back at
E3 last year, it seemed like Wii Fit Trainer would be a really basic character,
who would mostly be notable from the fact that she was such a surprising
character choice.
But now, with Deep Breathing and Sun Salutation, there’s the
chance for so many more possibilities. At first it sounded like Deep Breathing
and Sun Salutation would make Wii Fit Trainer a stance character, but what we’re
getting opens up so many potential possibilities, I think. Deep Breathing
allows the Wii Fit Trainer to power up her attacks, and Sun Salutation seems
like what could be one of the better projectiles. It seems like, at least, Wii
Fit Trainer will have a strong up close game and at least a decent ranged game,
though will probably be outclassed in both regards. While I’m not sure where
Wii Fit Trainer will land in the tier game, I’m sure she’ll be at least middle
of the road, and a big part of it will depend on how quickly Deep Breathing
activates.
Rosalina & Luma: Rounding
out this article will be Rosalina & Luma, who, as a whole, is probably the
most interesting character to grace the Smash Bros. series. Rosalina & Luma
function as a stand/puppet character, similar to Carl from Blazblue and Shadow
Labrys from Persona 4 Arena. And with Rosalina and her Luma being able to
separate and attack on their own, I feel like that opens a lot of really
interesting possibilities to what she’ll be able to do in the game, especially
in a 1 vs 1 setting. I think that it opens a lot of ways to lock an opponent
down, such as the Luma shooting Star Bits and keeping the opponent shielded,
while Rosalina chips away at the shield or goes for throws between Star Bits.
I think Gravitational Pull will probably prove to be one of
the most useful projectile stopping attacks overall. As it seems quick, and doesn’t
only seem to affect harmful projectiles, but stuff like the F.L.U.D.D., which
makes me think that it’ll be better than a more situational move like Ness’s
PSI Magnet or Fox’s Reflector. She also seems to have a really strong recovery
in Launch Star, but it’ll really depend on if it does damage and if it can be
stopped easily, as that could end up making a huge difference in how strong she’ll
be.
The two big downsides I can see to her will be how strong
her attacks will be without Luma next to her, and her movement. While the
attack part isn’t known, like in just about every other game she’s featured in,
she’s very slow in heavy, which will definitely make creating space to send out
Luma a difficult task. I think Rosalina & Luma will probably have one of
the, if not the highest learning curve to play effectively, but a great
Rosalina & Luma will probably be a monster. Predicting her tier placing
will be tough, but I can definitely see that we won’t know her true potential
until someone really breaks her down. I think that, unlike games like Persona 4
Arena, with the more open setting of the Smash stages, Rosalina’s slower speed
wont’ be *as much* a hindrance, and it’ll also allow her to make greater use of
her Luma as a puppet character.
That's it for this edition of The View From The Sidelines, next time I'll be taking a look at more of the other newcomers that have been announced!
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