In a bold move from the development team, Sakurai-san has revealed in his pic-of-the-day for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS that the elusive Namco Special Flag will have an unusual and potentially controversial effect on gameplay.
If you're in a regular timed battle the flag will grant you an extra KO to add to your score, and if you're in a stock match you'll get an extra life to fiddle around with.
Taking into account the competitive community's backlash against the Smash Ball – considered by many as an easy, talentless way to rack up points – this may not be terribly well received. On the other hand the Smash Bros. guru mentions that the item's effect will only activate if you manage to raise it long enough. Despite this being a vague statement it at least sounds like the item won't be extremely easy to abuse.
Here's the official lowdown ad verbatim:
Pic of the day. If you manage to raise this Special Flag for long enough, an additional KO count will be added to your score in a time match, or you'll get an extra stock for a stock match. When this appears on the stage, the fight for the flag becomes a fierce battle of tactics, which makes things pretty interesting.
Time-consuming features have appeared before in the series, such as Fox's hidden taunt where he calls upon his Arwing-piloting chums, and not forgetting how you can switch between Samus and Zero Suit Samus without the aid of a Smash Ball in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Perhaps the execution of this item will be seen in a positive light, perhaps as an achievement of good timing and positioning – only time will tell.
What do you think about this new item, does it add a new dimension of tactics in your eyes? Will you simply be turning the item off permanently? Do feel free to tell us in the usual place.
[source miiverse.nintendo.net]
Comments 31
I like stuff like this. It makes smash bros the chaotic, fun smasher that it is. If you want a classic beatemup, smash is not the game to ask for these elements.
Anyways, as long as everybody has to hold the flag with the same criteria it can not, by logical extension, be an unfair gameplay element. Unexpected and impactful, yes (that's part of the fun), but the same rules apply to everyone whichever way you take it.
Chaotic FUN!
@erv completely agree!
If shenanigans didn't exist in your Smash matches, this will definitely bring some for your battles.
Wow I like this item even more. Makes the fight over the flag more fierce and interesting.
Eh, you're sort of implying the competitive community will be annoyed by the existence of such an item, when we couldn't care less about what items are in the game for the purposes of tournament play. Now, for casual play things might be different, as a lot of Brawl's items weren't as well balanced or fun as the ones introduced in 64 and Melee.
The Smash Ball in particular was only ever (briefly) relevant to high level play because it was the only means of gaining a super move in the game. However, some characters have an easier time of grabbing the Smash Ball, like Zelda, while others have horrifically over-powered Final Smashes - Sonic comes to mind. Not to mention the very random spawn rate, as well as erratic movement patterns. While I imagine certain characters would benefit from the introduction of Smash Balls, they introduce too many random variables to the match and shifts the focus from fighting the opponent to attacking the Smash Ball.
Why would competitive players have an issue with this at all? Items are off during competition. It's irrelevant to even bring competitive players up during this post. I play competitively and have no issue with this. I'll definitely use items from time to time to have some more casual fun, but this will never be an issue. This whole post was silly, they should have just explained what the flag does and left it at that.
This should be another game mode, not a general item.
Not a fan of this item... I think it's too overpowered, even by Smash standards. But that's okay, because I can easily just switch it off.
@FlaygletheBagel pay attention, it takes a long while to build up to be able to get the effect its a risk rewards item that takes strategy.
@birthgirth When it comes to competitive players with Smash Bros if it doesn't have to do with the competitive scene they think its completely useless. that's why their not in charge of this game.
RALLY X!
I've always wanted Stock Balls (like the kind from Subspace) to be a rare-spawning item, akin to the golden hammer. So I'm okay with what the item does.
It's just the fact that it's the Namco flag that bothers me.
@JSaario that is an incredibly ignorant statement for you to make. Competitive players don't desire items to be completely out of the game or wish that certain items weren't added. Thinking something is useless and thinking something isn't appropriate for skill-based competitive play is very different. Articles like this and comments like yours help create extremists on both sides. It's like saying "Casual players roll their eyes at Battlefield because it's a neutral stage and has no hazards. " And yeah, neither casuals or competitive are in charge of the game. We don't desire items out, we only desire being able to have the flexible movement of the characters...everyone should desire that. I'm not talking specifically wavedashing by the way, I'm talking being where you want to be rather than where the game mechanics want you to be.
If people don't like it luckily SSB has option to turn it off. That's the beauty of this game, you can have it your way.
I think Smash Bros U will be release on November 1st , because the Gamecube controller will be out then. it is officially stated on the GAME website. Why else would they release it early? (or a hint to GCN and N64 Virtual console )
I obviously shouldn't read NL right when I wake up. I read the article title as if there was a New Super Smash Bros. game, akin to the New Super Mario Bros. games.
Very interesting how the Rally-X flag works. It'd be oh-so-satisfying to knock it out of one's hands just as its about to fully raise up.
I love this. This is the kind of chaos I live for in a smash bros game.
My chance at survival!
Pikachu and Pac-Man's expressions are priceless. I imagine that many players will don similar ones.
Everybody will go completely crazy to try and get their hands on this.
Definitely interesting.
@Franklin That makes 0% sense, but okay.
I've always wanted an item like this! Yes!
Ill probably try it out a couple of times when i have friends over but most likely ill turn it off
I think this adds something fun to the gameplay. People who have a problem with it can easily turn it off.
@KeithTheGeek
Wait, so if I play with items, that automaticaly makes me a casual? Even though I've been playing Smash Bros almost non stop since the early 2000s? Playing with items does NOT mean it is a casual way of playing.
''Hardcore'' only means you play a lot and you're good at the game, that doesn't include playing without items, cause even they require certain skill to use, specialy in a chaotic match, you will have to pay more atention to dodge those throwable items whle fighting others.
As long as they keep individual item toggling in the game, this is fine. This also makes the Maxim Tomato and Heart Container seem way more imbalanced as game-changing items, so I think I'd be okay playing with this on sometimes.
This really interests me, and I rest assured that at the end of the day each item can be turned off individually. The amazing customization of this series really prevents any truly horrific game-changers.
@RaphaBoss don't forget, "Real men fight with items" - straight from the man himself
@Bizzyb ... I don't want to say that
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