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Link steps up to bat in new Super Smash Bros. screenshots
In the latest pictorial tease from Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai, we're introduced to the new, black home-run bat. According to Sakurai, this new bat is "so powerful that your eyes might bug out," a sentiment that would seem hyperbolic if it wasn't for Donkey Kong amply demonstrating exactly that kind of ocular ejection. While this image doesn't tell us much about the latest incarnation of the home-run bat, it's good to see the classic weapon return. No matter which Smash Bros. entry you pick up, you can always depend on the bat to be an intuitive weapon that doles out huge amounts of punishment and has a tendency to launch characters into the stratosphere. Past the break you'll find a second image which shows just that. Now that the bat has been confirmed the question becomes whether or not the upcoming Wii U and 3DS Super Smash Bros. sequels will feature the fan-favorite Home-run Contest. Unless Sakurai generously reveals the game mode in an upcoming screenshot dump, we may not see an answer until those games debut later this year. [Image: Nintendo]
Super Smash Bros. Wii U gets Super Mario Galaxy-inspired stage
A new screenshot on the Super Smash Bros. website has revealed that a stage inspired by Super Mario Galaxy will appear in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. game for Wii U. The stage will feature gravity-based gameplay according to a post from Game Director Masahiro Sakurai on the game's Miiverse. "The pull of gravity emanates from the center of the planet, so this will require using brand-new tactics," Sakurai wrote. Since the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game have different stages - and thus, no cross-platform play - it's unclear if the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for 3DS will also get the Galaxy treatment in any way.
Toon Link adds a dash of cuteness to Super Smash Bros. roster
It's official: The cel-shaded incarnation of Link made famous in games like the recent The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD will be among the fighters featured in Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo of Europe broke this news on its Twitter account, though it failed to mention any details beyond the confirmation. Toon Link will most likely play similarly to his more "adult" incarnation, though given this version's history with the Smash Bros. franchise, it's seems safe to assume that he will remain a lighter, more agile version of Link. Super Smash Bros. is currently slated for release on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS handheld at some point during 2014.
Nintendo developer video compares Super Smash Bros. on Wii U and 3DS
Nintendo has released a new developer video detailing the differences between the Wii U and 3DS versions of its recently announced cross-franchise brawler Super Smash Bros. Director Masahiro Sakurai notes that "the total number of characters [in the Nintendo 3DS version] is the same as the Wii U version, but some of the stages will be completely different." In addition: "In the Nintendo 3DS version, there will be more stages based on handheld games, while themed stages from home console games will be on Wii U." Both games also boast a unique graphic style. The Wii U release focuses on primary colors and visual effects, while the 3DS version has cel-shaded characters in order to make them easier to see. The Super Smash Bros. official website profiles every character announced so far, including newcomers from Animal Crossing and Wii Fit. Super Smash Bros. is set to launch in 2014.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS coming in 2014, brings Megaman along for the ride (video)
Microsoft's got the Xbox One, Sony's got the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo? Nintendo's got Megaman. In its pre-E3 broadcast, the console maker has announced that a new version of party favorite Super Smash Bros. will be arriving on the Wii U and 3DS at some point next year. The company has taken the chance to freshen up the smashing lineup, adding the Villager from Animal Crossing and adding Megaman from, er, Megaman to the roster. If you'd like to see the announcement trailer for yourself, head on past the break and scrub forward to the 34 minute mark where it's now available in its standalone glory. Follow all of our E3 2013 coverage at our event hub.%Gallery-191051%
Super Smash Bros. coming to 3DS, Wii U in 2014; Mega Man joins fray
During this morning's E3 Nintendo Direct, as promised, the Big N showed off the new Super Smash Bros. It's apparently just called Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. The company announced the game will launch in 2014. New characters not seen in the series before were The Villager from Animal Crossing and Mega Man has joined the crew. Previous combatants also shown included Mario, Kirby, Pikachu, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus and Bowser.%Gallery-191099%
Smash Bros, 3D Mario, Mario Kart in pre-E3 Nintendo Direct
In lieu of an E3 press conference, Nintendo is going to present a Nintendo Direct before E3, showcasing the "new Smash Bros., 3D Mario game, Mario Kart and other Wii U titles." The company previously announced that all three games would be playable at E3. This means for those not attending the show, the games may be playable at Nintendo's special Best Buy E3 demo extravaganza (note: fullness of "extravaganza" is TBD). The most recent Nintendo Direct held last week covered the company's summer plans and Hedgehog snuggles.
Super Smash Bros. Wii U, 3DS to be showcased at E3
The world gets its first look at the new Wii U and 3DS Super Smash Bros. games at this year's E3. In this week's Direct broadcast, Nintendo announced series designer Masahiro Sakurai is to debut screens of the new entries at the LA expo in June. Sakurai then clarified the news on Twitter, hinting there'll be more of the inter-icon fracases than just screens.Sakurai tweeted he'd like to show both the Wii U and 3DS versions, and that, while "other games" have had visuals shown, he'd like to "release something better." It would be a bit surprising to only see screens, given Melee and Brawl both were first showcased with trailers at E3 expos.Nintendo also announced new Wii U Mario Kart and 3D Mario games are in development, and are to also be shown off at E3 2013. In their case there'll also be playable demos at the expo, but at this stage that seems a pipe dream for the new SSB games.
Harada 'pulling back' on idea of Tekken characters in new Smash Bros.
Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada is "not really sure" if Namco Bandai should include Tekken characters in the next Super Smash Bros., he told NowGamer. Namco is co-developing Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS with Nintendo, and the title is a "big priority for the company," Harada says.Namco has "a lot of people" from many of its franchises developing Super Smash Bros., but fans have been most curious about Tekken staff involvement in the new game, Harada says."The fans, rather than asking about Tales or Gundam or some of our other franchises, the fans abroad saw Tekken as one of the key words and took off on that," he says. "We're not really sure at this moment but when thinking of the playerbase who is playing Smash Bros., maybe Tekken characters is something they wouldn't want, so I've been pulling back on that a bit. But I don't know."One of Tekken's characters, Heihachi Mishima, has been confirmed for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Sony's take on a Smash Bros.-style game. Namco's main staff is currently focused on finishing Tekken Tag Tournament 2, but it will support Super Smash Bros. in some capacity, Harada says. If any of the Tekken characters do make it into Super Smash Bros., we're personally hoping it's this one.
Here's some wonderful Smash Bros. whiteboard art from Sakurai's team
We don't know how far in development Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U is, but we know for a fact that the staff at Sora Ltd. is at least thinking about the series. And by "thinking" we mean "doodling on a whiteboard."Studio head Masahiro Sakurai tweeted the above whiteboard portrait, explaining that the staff drew it, and it's "excellent." They were smart enough to make Kirby the center of attention, which is always a good move when the guy who created him is your boss. But check out flying Luigi!
Namco's Smash Bros. team includes Tekken, Tales, Soulcalibur staff
A pair of statements on Nintendo of America's Nintendo Direct site offers more detail on Namco Bandai Studios' involvement with the next Super Smash Bros. game, coming to Wii U and 3DS. Director and Sora studio head Masahiro Sakurai (who appears to have gotten even younger) said that the team started development after the announcement of the project. "Currently, the prototype prepared by Namco Bandai Games and Namco Bandai Studios' special team looks pretty good, and it's working great," he said.Namco Bandai Studios' Masaya Kobayashi named some of the staff from Namco's side who will work on the fighting game, also describing their pedigree. "Yoshito Higuchi, the producer and the director of the 'Tales' series, Tetsuya Akatsuka, producer and director of 'Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs.,' the art director/sound director of the 'SoulCalibur' series, the main development team staff from the Tekken series...and that's just for starters." Kobayashi lists Ridge Racer games, We Ski, and Go Vacation as his own representative works.If having a random mishmash of Namco staff working on Smash Bros. concerns you, remember that Brawl had a lot of programming done by Game Arts, whose history of shooters, Lunar, and Grandia games is even less obviously transferable to fighting game expertise.
Nintendo brings in Namco Bandai to work on new Smash Bros.
During today's Nintendo Direct press conference, president Satoru Iwata revealed new details on the upcoming Super Smash Bros. game currently in the works for 3DS and Wii U. Sakurai will return, but this time he'll have some help from Namco Bandai and Bandai Namco Studios. Two Namco individuals in particular were singled out: producer Kobayashi and Tales series director, Yoshito Higuchi.
Sakurai: 3DS/Wii U 'dual support' is 'key' for next Super Smash Bros.
The Smash Bros. franchise has remained relatively unchanged for the most part since 1999. Each iteration adds new stages, characters and graphical improvements, but the core gameplay remains effectively identical in almost every way that counts. This strategy has worked well enough over the last 13 years, but apparently its sustainability is on the wane."There is a certain dead end we come to if we just expand the volume of the game," said Smash Bros. creator and Nintendo legend Masahiro Sakurai during an interview with IGN. "I intend to change direction a little as we go ... The key to that's going to be its dual support for 3DS/Wii U."Sakurai corroborated previous statements that the next Smash Bros is still quite a ways away, saying that he's "really just getting started" and that development is still going to take time. "But," he concludes, "I'll come up with something that uses that link as the game's central axis, so I hope you're looking forward to it."
Transmog Inspirations: WoW meets Nintendo, part 2
I give up. I can't for the life of me create a transmog for Princess Peach. I've tried and I've tried, but there just aren't enough pink clothes in the World of Warcraft to piece together a convincing Peach. I'm sorry, Mario, but you're going to have to settle for some other princess. Princess Poobah? Princess Theradras? Princess ... I can't think of any more. Someone call Anne! Anyway, this week I decided to put together a few more transmogs based on Nintendo characters. A lot of readers were asking for more, so I made one for Princess Zelda, Toad, and Roy (you know, from Fire Emblem and Super Smash Bros. -- everyone loves Roy!).
Breakfast Topic: What could WoW borrow from console games?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Does anyone remember when Blizzard said it wanted to add Animal Crossing-style fishing to WoW? What about the idea of a more personalized daily experience for the Molten Front? MMOs are great, but console games still offer a few things that could add some additional depth to genre, and Blizzard already knows this. Personally, I'd love to see combat get revamped to be more like Monster Hunter. Dodges and attacks are based on real skill, not arbitrary stats (though damage taken and received is still stat-based), plus enemies have specific parts you can hit to eventually break or cut off pieces of a creature. I mean really, wouldn't it be cool if a whole raid focus fired on Nefarion's neck in order to chop his head off and haul it back to Orgrimmar? Or what about random power-ups appearing, à la Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros.? You're just running around the game world, and suddenly a giant sword appears, increasing your damage dealt by 1,000% and giving you a single move that constantly fires up for 15 seconds. Take that, murloc scum! What kinds of console-like features would you like to see Blizzard implement in WoW? Enemies that can be knocked out and dragged? Randomly appearing pipes to secret treasure caves? Open-world, mounted combat?
Super Smash Land (Smash Bros. demake) now available for download
It's been a long wait, but now you can finally get your hands on the Super Smash Bros. demake that caught our collective eye back in February. Super Smash Land is currently available for download over on Piki Geek. A labor of love from Dan Fornace, Super Smash Land features eleven different stages and six brawlers (including Mega Man!), a classic Arcade mode, multiplayer for up to four people and a Polygon Team-style Endless Mode. Heck, there are even online leaderboards! ... What are you waiting for? This is the full game. Go play it!
Super Smash Land demake trailer and demo show off Game Boy charm
Dan Fornace recently published a new trailer and demo for his long-time pet project: A Game Boy-style "demake" of the Smash Bros. franchise titled Super Smash Land. Check out the infinitely charming trailer here.
Monster Hunter Tri has occupied over 50 hours per player on average
Monster Hunter Tri has already sucked away over a million hours of gameplay time from users, according to stats from the Nintendo Channel. In just 63 days from release, the monster hunting epic stole a full million hours from users who reported logging in to the game over 330,000 times. The high number isn't necessarily a record breaker (Super Smash Bros. has garnered 100 times that, and players have spent 17 billion hours on Xbox Live), but where Monster Hunter Tri stands out is the per player duration: players of the game have spent an average of 52 hours in the game so far. By comparison, Super Mario Galaxy 2 has eaten up 1.8 million hours of free time over 710k times, but the average time played there is about 20 hours -- more players, less time each. There are only four games ahead of Monster Hunter Tri in terms of played-per-person time, and all of them have been out for much longer. In other words, monsters aren't the only thing being hunted in this game -- free time had better watch its back as well.
Master Chief crash lands onto Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The modders at Kitty Corp: Meow Mix, the group behind the remarkably awesome Cloud Strife appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, have worked their inexplicable magic once more, bringing a decidedly non-Nintendo character into the frantic fighting game. This time around, it's the Halo universe's quintessential badass, Master Chief -- or rather, a re-skinned version of Captain Falcon, who is fully decked out in Master Chief's armor. (We really hope he asked permission before trying it on.) You can check out a video of Master Chief's moves in a playful sparring match against Cloud just past the jump. Enjoy that video, because it might be the closest to a 3D version of Mushroom Kingdom Fusion that we'll ever get. [Thanks, Ike!]
Cloud Strife hacked (and slashed) into Smash Bros. Brawl
Up until today, our biggest problem with Super Smash Bros. Brawl has been that it doesn't have enough introspective, spiky-haired RPG protagonists. That's all changed, thanks to a group of modders known as DasDonkey Team and Kitty Corp: Meow Mix. Final Fantasy VII protagonist Cloud Strife -- along with his trusty Buster sword -- has been faithfully recreated in surprising detail here in Nintendo's franchise fight-em-up with custom animations and attacks. We won't pretend to understand the motivation behind the implementation (with these mods, we so seldom do), but hey, we're not complaining. The more, the merrier! Head past the break to check out some video of Cloud in action. [Via GameVideos]
