Let me start off by saying this: I love video games, but I hate fighting games. I’ve always figured I hate them because I didn’t grow up playing them religiously like my peers, and I never had the chance to develop a competitive edge. You see; my friends are a group of gamers that are quite competitive. If you can’t keep up with everybody else, it’s a lot simpler just to cut your ties with that game and find something else.
That’s what I did for years, so when I found out that Super Smash Bros. was coming to the Nintendo 3DS I was quite interested. I wondered if this could be the game that finally levels the playing field and allows me to fully enjoy and immerse myself in fighting games.
The only way to figure that out was to get my hands on the game, and that’s what I’ve been doing since the demo was released to Club Nintendo Platinum Members on Sept. 12.
Since I started playing the demo, I’ve played with longtime fans of the series and I’ve heard their thoughts on the game and developed my own thoughts to complement theirs. The overall consensus is pretty straightforward; Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS contains elements of previous titles in the series, but the speed of the game has been slowed down.
This is obvious when gamers first pick up the 3DS, because the controls feel a lot different than the console counterpart. The buttons are smaller, the control stick is less robust and the controls are somewhat cramped. Movement speed is slowed down to create a better 3D experience, and combat has been tweaked accordingly. While these things may not seem appealing, they work quite well to balance the game on a mobile platform.
I think that this slowness has enabled more users to pick up the game. This is good news for two reasons: the first being that people who have always wanted to play for recreational use, such as myself, can find more enjoyment in the series, and the second is that it gives Nintendo an opportunity to tap into a new generation of gamers.
The thing that I’ve always admired about Nintendo is their ability to use mobile devices to help children experience the same franchises their parents grew up on. This is great because it gives the industry the ability to shape a new generation of gamers while simultaneously showing the next generation the fun that their parents pioneered before them.
In its current state, the game doesn’t have a lot to for me to judge, but it has enough to get me excited for the final release. The demo contains six characters and one stage. The settings cannot be altered so matches are limited to two minutes, but that’s more than enough time to school some friends over local play.
Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS is set to be released in North America on Oct. 3. Expect a review to follow shortly after release.
