Super Smash Bros 3DS (Nintendo 3DS)

After 16 months of waiting since it was announced back in 2013, the next installment of Super Smash Bros. is finally here. And, as a long-time fan of the series, I'd argue it absolutely lives up to expectation, and is in many ways the best one yet.The gameplay is somewhere between Melee and Brawl in terms of speed. It's quite a nice middle ground, as it's fast-paced enough to be fun, but slow enough for those new to the series to be able to cope. It's also generally a lot easier to recover after being knocked off the stage, which is another useful addition for those inexperienced with Smash. Oh, and the much-maligned tripping has been removed after its debut in Brawl.Considering its platform, the graphics are pretty good. I have a standard 3DS, and only have any kind of problem keeping up with the action when it zooms out to an extreme degree, and even then it's not too bad. It's also worth noting that, by tapping the portrait of an opponent on the touch screen, a target will appear over them, allowing the player to keep track of who they're fighting. Some of the visual cues from the sister game, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, appear, such as red/black jagged lines that indicate a move with high launching power, and puffs of smoke that emit from a character above 100% damage, appear, and they're all very useful.There's a huge amount of content in this game. In some ways, more than Brawl. It has by far the biggest roster the series has seen to date, with around 50 characters. A huge effort has been made to make every newcomer feel unique, and each one brings something new to the table. Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles can switch between five different modes that alter his attributes, such as Buster, which increases damage at the expense of launching ability. Robin, the player avatar from Fire Emblem: Awakening, uses a combination of swords and tomes, and can execute smash attacks in the air. However, his tomes and magical Levin Sword can only be used so many times before they wear out and must be recharged. Then there's Little Mac from Punch Out!!, who is insanely quick and powerful on the ground, but is weak in the air and struggles to recover to the stage. There are plenty more newcomers who are just as interesting, as well as special guest appearances from Capcom's Megaman and Namco-Bandai's Pac-Man, in addition to Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog, who returns from Brawl.The amount of total stages is in the mid 30s, compared to Brawl's 41. However, it's worth noting that each of these stages has a completely flat, hazardless Final Destination version. More on that later. Many returning modes have been improved: series-staple Classic Mode has been revamped to have a slot machine of rewards and multiple paths, while All-Star mode now orders opponents in order of their first appearance. The Home-Run Contest and Multi-Man Smash both return alongside a brand new mode, Target Smash. Target Smash plays a bit like Angry Birds - the goal is to, over two attempts, charge up damage on a bomb and launch it into a tower of blocks, destroying as much of the tower in the process as possible. It's a fun new mode, and I've spent a fair amount of time on it.A notable absence is the Story Mode introduced in Brawl. In fact, there isn't even an Adventure Mode like the one found in Melee. I'd chalk that down to the possibility of a similar mode being exclusive to the Wii U version. However, the 3DS version has a major new mode to make up for it: Smash Run. After kitting up your character with various limited-use 'powers', that, for example, heal your character or make them temporarily invincible, players start in a giant labyrinth-island made up of various different biomes. Their goal is to explore this island to uncover treasure chests and defeat enemies - both of these things will reward the player with stat-boosts. However, a 5-minute time-limit is imposed, resulting in a mad dash to power up as much as possible. Then, once the time limit is up, players duke it out with their powered-up fighters in a variety of different battles, ranging from races to standard battles. I wasn't immediately sold on it at first, but I found it has a great lifespan, as every game feels completely different. I'd take it over Story Mode any day.However, the best addition for me is definitely the level of customisation. In this installment, players can earn custom Specials and equipment in some modes such as Classic and Smash Run. This equipment alters stats, increasing attack while decreasing defence, for example. It can also provide a character with special attributes, such as automatic healing. The custom Specials are alternate versions of each characters' existing specials, such as Crescent Slash, which alters the trajectory of Marth's recovery. There are 8 of these for nearly every character, so there are almost 400 to collect. Other characters, such as the newcomer Palutena from Kid Icarus and the Mii Fighters, have completely different specials instead of alternate versions. The Mii Fighters take this one step further by having three classes (Brawler, Swordfighter, and Gunner) and tonnes of costumes and headgear. All of this can be enabled/disabled via the customisation button on the character select screen. This alone can be a huge timesink - I've probably spent more time making different builds for characters and making new Mii Fighters than I've spent playing some of the gameplay modes.Another great new feature is improved usefulness of the virtual currency found in previous Smash games, which can be earned through playing this game's various different modes. It can be spent on trophies, either via the trophy shop, which sells a selection of specific trophies which changes frequently, or via Trophy Rush, a new mode that lets you increase its time limit by spending money, in which the player has to survive while simultaneously preventing falling blocks from building up too high and collecting trophies. With nearly 700 trophies in this Smash, collecting them all will take a while. They can also be used to increase (or decrease) the difficulty level of Classic Mode, in turn increasing the level of rewards the player will gain upon its completion.The online mode is much more stable than Brawl's in my experience. I'd recommend playing it with your 3DS plugged in via its charger, as that seems to improve online performance, perhaps due to it not having to think about power saving. In addition to the usual 4-player free-for-all with items, labelled under 'For Fun', there's also a 'For Glory' mode which turns off items, uses stocks instead of time and restricts players to the aforementioned Final Destional versions of stages. The 1v1 option is great for serious matches, especially as there's even less lag due to the simple stage, lack of items and low number of players. There's also a fun 'conquest' mode, in which some characters are divided up by a particular attribute, such as colour, and split into teams, and players can earn points to trying and win a conquest. For example, defeating Mario with Megaman would earn points for 'Blue Team'. In addition, every mode has a 'Global Smash Power' ranking (GSP) which tells you how many people in the world you've bettered in that particular mode.Finally, there's the usual level of care in the 3DS installment that we've come to expect from Smash games. There's a huge library of music from the game's stages available to be listened to. Players can take screenshots and save replays and customise controls, character outlines, bottom screen layout and more. Try and complete every single challenge in the challenge panel - it'll take ages (believe me, I'm still trying). There are more alternate colours than ever, and a few characters even appear as alternate costumes. Oh, and training mode has returned if you want to hone your skills in private. Also, if you're planning on also getting the Wii U version, there will be some level of connectivity between the two versions. It looks like it will allow the player to transfer trophies, unlocked characters, gold, alternate specials, equipment, outfits/headgear and more, although not all of this has been confirmed.If you're looking for a Smash game to play, but have been put off from this installment due to its portability, don't be. It's as packed with features as previous Smash games, and brings a huge amount more to the table.

Having never played a Smash Bros game before, I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I picked this up, but I am far from disappointed. This game is fun, easy to pick up and very addictive. If you want an alternative to the your usual fighting game, this is it, and it's a must-have for any Nintendo lovers with a wide cast of many familiar faces, new and old. The action is fast-paced, the movement feels nice and tight and you can really feel the power behind attacks thanks to the excellent sound design and physics engine.Despite the arcade style game-play, with over a thousand trophies to collect, over a hundred challenges to complete and multiple highly-engaging modes of play, this should keep you occupied for quite a while. The graphics and music both take full advantage of the 3DS capabilities and the multi-player is a blast, both online and off. One thing I really liked is that it's very easy to start using any character you haven't used before and just try them out for a while to see if you enjoy them. Most players shouldn't have any trouble just using their favourite characters, as they are all fairly well balanced.However the game is not without some flaws. The small size of the 3DS screen can sometimes make 4-player matches a mess as you struggle to keep track of your tiny character. In addition, there have been times when I wanted to use a regular directional(or "tilt") attack and ended up using a Smash attack instead. Or vice versa. This happens because the controls to perform Smash attacks and tilt attacks are very similar-you push the control stick in a direction and tap the attack button for tilts, while for Smashes you have to push the stick and press and hold the button at the same moment. In the midst of a frantic match it can be very easy to do one instead of the other, although practice does help a lot. One other problem is how much the game lags in online matches, especially with 4-players. There have been times when the game has actually had to take a moment to load before the match can resume. You can understand, I'm sure, why that's less than ideal.All said and done, these flaws do not break the game and it's still one of the most fun and addictive titles on the 3DS so far, and the portability means you can Smash anywhere, with or without friends. I would recommend that anyone looking for something a little different try this game, and don't be discouraged if it takes you a few matches to get the hang of things. Any older Smash fans who haven't picked up this installment yet really should, too!