Each successive release in the Super Smash Bros. series has delivered a bigger cast than its predecessors, and that was no different in this generation's Wii U and 3DS entries. Masahiro Sakurai has often talked of the pressures this brings, along with the expectation of more general content from one release to the next.
Even on day one the current entries had the biggest roster yet, but it's easy to be blasé and underestimate how much DLC we had, too. The regular additions ultimately brought us seven new fighters, along with an extensive list of stages and Mii Fighter outfits. In fact, buying all of the extra content costs more than the core game itself, which is a topic we've debated in the past.
In any case, there's been a lot of DLC, and a trailer from Nintendo of Europe does a nice job of highlighting that. It focuses on the seven DLC characters and is mostly cuts from existing videos; check it out below.
Comments (50)
What a ride, what a ride... how will they ever top this entry I do wonder.
I love that all of the DLC feels like optional add ons, as opposed to part of the core experience.
I've bought some DLC and ignored the stuff I didn't like.
I feel like Smash Wii U gave me a complete experience, and the DLC was icing on the cake.
@Shiryu
This. (Seriously, that comment is all there needs to be said.)
@CharlieSmile I've never felt pressured into buying the other stuff either, no greyed out pictures on character select making my coompletionist streak die inside
The several year hype train has come to a close. Now please let other games get more DLC this year like MK8! (As well as FE Fates actually being released in Europe...)
One interesting Spin-off of smash that they could do to keep making Smash games without having to top the predecessor in content (i.e., not a replacement of the original-style smash, but in addition) is to make themed Smash games. Rather than jam every Nintendo franchise into one game, they focus on delving in depth into a single franchise using the same Smash core gameplay.
For example, consider a Pokemon Smash. You have the basic smash formula, with all Pokemon characters and stages. Maybe have 25-30 characters. You tweak the items to make it a more poke-centric experience--different types of poke balls, potions, equip items, etc.
Then, with that core experience in place, you focus on other features--for example, a trainer customization mode, where you can customize a pokemon trainer character to use three pokemon, i.e. Brawl. You can customize his appearance, the custom moves of the pokemon, etc. Then you throw in tournament modes based off the Indigo League Silver Conference, etc, with prizes being character/stage unlocks. Also have a Battle Tower mode, probably as a replacement to Classic, where you have to beat consecutively-more difficult matches without losing in the style of the games. Other features could include a slot machine for coins, a stadium-editor, etc.
The key for this game would be to make it FEEL like Pokemon, not Smash with a pokemon skin. The characters, stages, items, and game modes would go a long way towards this, but you would also need this to be reflected in the presentation. For example, have an option to turn on a Pokemon-style announcer from the original series. In certain modes (like the tournament mode) you could also have an option to have small cut-scenes that depict trainers throwing out the pokemon onto the battlefield, reacting to wins and losses, etc.
The wild ride that has been (and hopefully will still be) Smash Bros is memorable. This trailer is kind of bitter-sweet, since the train has finally taken a stop.
Along with Mario Kart 8, I felt this DLC to be worth it. It's what it's supposed to be : extra content, not necessary to enjoy the game, since it's already complete.
And the amount of work that Mr Sakurai and his team have put in this is truly inspiring. I honestly believe Smash Bros to be the Ultimate Crossover title that some games strive to become and don't quite make it. It has broken the boundaries of gameplay, genres, franchises, companies and even platforms.
This is probably my favourite game of all time, or at least one of them.
Now, I'm just hoping Sakurai is having a good rest.
They went really crazy with the Smash DLC. I'll just buy a GOTY version someday.
I like the way Nintendo handled the MK8 DLC. Two packs, priced reasonably, that added a ton of content to the game.
@Grumblevolcano For some reason, the French FE Fates official website has February 19th as a release date. It's probably a mistake, but still.
http://fireemblemfates.nintendo.com/fr/
On the DLC look of things in Smash. The DLC is a costly, and sometimes I think DLC fighters were power creeping after every character. Mewtwo is the worst, Lucas, Roy, Ryu was the best, Cloud dropped down to a degree but none the less the best and perfect DLC, then two power houses recently dropped in on us. I'm not gonna say 'pay to win', but Characters like Bayonetta and Cloud who are better in competitive and in features make me regret buying Mewtwo.
It's not fair that the rest of the cast is boring and you scheme features on characters you have to buy just to learn and get good with, but may not ever actually use.
Overall, Smash DLC could have been handled differently and maybe more respectfully.
All those characters were worth the purchase. Every last penny.
Woo Bayonetta and returning favorites!
Simply beautiful.
@WireWare That's the canadian site. 19/02 is the release for NA, of which Canada is a part. http://www.nintendo.fr/Jeux/Nintendo-3DS/Fire-Emblem-Fates-1026071.html is the European french site.
@KO-Cub Yeah.... no. I have picked Ness from the very first time I decided to play smash bros. back in the n64 days and have taken my time to master the character, so even if I am online against a very powerful character like Ryu, Cloud or Bayonetta, I usually perform well against them just relying on my skills. Your comment just seems like an irrational tantrum on your behalf for being constantly beaten by those characters.
@FRANKLIN_BADGE
To be fair, Ness has always been considered pretty high-tier in this game. http://www.eventhubs.com/tiers/ssb4/
@AlexSora89 @Shiryu
Simple. Remaster it for NX and add more characters.
@Splatburst It would certainly be a welcome addition, but it would not be a revolution.
@Shiryu They won't. At least not for a long time.
Hard to believe the hype train lasted for nearly 5 years.
Hard to believe the hype train lasted for nearly 5 years.
The Smash Bros. DLC was awesome. They put huge work in updating older characters and making sure the new ones were balanced and felt individually crafted. For now, I just want to enjoy what's there without thinking about the future of the series. We've already had so much on this front.
Too bad the majority of it (mii costumes) were junk. They should have spent that time developing alt costumes for the non-mii fighters. For shame.
Once the DLC started, they really went crazy with all of the extras. It was all so exciting. Kind of a shame to see its all over, even though the end was inevitable.
Really, the only thing that's still missing for me personally is the Inklings as playable characters. But at least there's Inkling Mii costumes.
.. okay, granted, I would like some other characters besides Inklings to be playable as well, but they're not necessary for me to make this feel like a 'complete' package. Well, maybe aside from Ice Climbers and Wolf not returning, cause really I think they should have.
But regardless, it's still amazing how much content this game has brought to the table. Even though I don't 100% agree with every character that made it in, there are still sooooo many dream match-ups are possible with this roster, it's almost absurd. Sakurai and his team have really earned some rest.
I'd pay $15 to unlock it all. I feel that's more than enough for the content provided. I still feel Mario Kart 8's DLC was worth more.
@FRANKLIN_BADGE - Okay.
I only went for the characters and stages...don't really care for the Mii costumes. o.o
I just wish they would organize the character select screen. It was okay at first (though I have to question why Dr. Mario is in the clone corner with Lucina and Dark Pit when he's a returning character and is arguably more different from Mario and Luigi than Toon Link is from Link, and it was also weird that Shulk is kind of treated as a third-party character when Nintendo actually has more ownership of Xenoblade than they do Pokémon) but now you've got Fire Emblem characters spread out in four different places (Fire Emblem section, clone strip, beginning of DLC strip, end of DLC strip), you've got first-party characters in between the third-party characters, and Pac-Man's over in the clone corner on the Wii U now.
This game will still be known to me as Smash Bro. Universe!!! Love to see what they do next!
It's pretty crazy we got so much DLC fighters within a year, I'm satisfied with them. Haven't bought every stage or Bayonetta yet, but I'll buy them at some point. I wasn't really that interested in the Mii Fighter costumes outside of the Splatoon and Monster Hunter ones.
@Haz Yeah, but as every Ness gamer will surely tell you, facing Ryu and Cloud (especially Cloud) is such a challenge that the match could go either way, as they possess the appropriate moves to counter Ness, and even if Ness is higher on those tiers, it means nothing if they can counter you.
In terms of content, no one can argue it's not d*mn impressive. I don't actually like playing the game particularly but for fans this must be one of the most satisfying and constantly rewarding games out there. Mind you, a lot of that stuff is paid extra content, so there is that to consider.
@Shiryu Bring back Adventure Mode, throw in Inkling and Ice Climbers while keeping all the cast of 4. Game topped.
@C-Olimar What, no love for Snake?
@Shiryu I never really played as him in Brawl, but now that you mention it, if they brought back him and Wolf we really would have the ultimate Smash Bros (sorry Ivysaur and Squirtle).
At this point the Smash franchise can run on DLC and balancing updates. Seriously what more can be done other than adding more characters and stages and then a graphical update to download each generation? Transfer your purchases over to the next game much like Pokemon Box is doing for the Pokemon generations.
Next vid: nintendo reminds us of just how much it costs
How much? Game is €59.99 and DLC is €76.19 so it's €136.18 on Wii U. That's how much. For many people, it was so unacceptable when only Sony and Microsoft did this.
@Adamario Shulk isn't treated as a third party character. He's along with the other stand-alone series fighters and is at the very end of the list next to Wii Fit Trainer due to being the most recent stand-alone character franchise (and thus the "final" one). If you notice they order the stand-alone series chronologically using release points, like this:
Mr. Game & Watch (Game & Watch) > Little Mac (Arcade/NES) > Duck Hunt (NES) > R.O.B. (NES) > Ness (SNES) > Captain Falcon (SNES) > Villager (N64 Japan/GC USA) > Olimar (GC) > Wii Fit Trainer (Wii) > Shulk (Wii)
With a full roster including Miis, Mr. Game & Watch and Little Mac are at the very top after the DK reps possibly since there's free space. Duck Hunt is also oddly placed before the string of Kirby > Star Fox > Pokemon, but right under that come the franchises with only 1 rep each. You probably get the point now.
Since Shulk is the latest choice out of the two Wii games (Wii Fit coming before Xenoblade) he goes last out of the bunch, THEN the third party characters, though with a proper full roster the clone trio come after Shulk and THEN the third party characters, which shows he's not even considered 3rd party. If he were, he'd be after the clones, don't you think? I'm sure that if Shulk wasn't in the game, Wii Fit Trainer would be the one right next to the clones/3rd parties instead. It's just a matter of how they placed characters for this game.
Well, the DLC does cost quite a bit more than the game now if I remember correctly... and the DLC content is a fraction of the game
@sWiTcHeRoO Now that I check, he's actually after the clones on the 3DS, but before them on the Wii U.
http://www.ssbwiki.com/images/5/5b/SSB3DS_Character_Select.jpeg
http://www.ssbwiki.com/images/9/9e/SSBWiiU_Character_Select.jpg
I still haven't bought all the stages, not in a big hurry to get those but I may get the rest of em later.
@OneBagTravel ok
@KO-Cub ....What on Earth are you talking about
They really bent Smaah fans over & took them for a ride. I'm just glad the madness is over!
@Detective_TeeJay - (Okay, let's dive in detail)
Sakurai was all about making DLC worth the buy. He said they would scheme things into new characters to make them worth buying,playing and to freshen up the game. Look at Ryu, Cloud, Bayonetta and their features no other characters have. Now look at Metwo and Lucas. For some DLC characters these two, they fit the rest of the normal cast like they should have been in there from the get go. They might be cool, but not as good as RosaLuma or Diddy that came with the game. They might not be worth your money also since they aren't as good as Ryu or fun and cool as Cloud. I wouldn't mind any of this if you could get your money back or trade DLC characters like Mewtwo for Corrin, but you can't.
This is what I meant by 'power creep'. As DLC went on, the characters creep up the tier list and the newer ones feel like they're worth the money for the newer features they bring to the game, compared to the first few DLC characters, that looking at now, aren't so worth it with few features and nothing new. Like I said, characters like Cloud and Bayonetta make me regret buying Mewtwo.
Do you get where I'm going?
@KO-Cub I highly doubt this is intentional. Mewtwo and Lucas are both returning characters, and you know how Sakurai feels about changing established characters' movesets (see: Ganondorf, and also Dr. Mario upgrading from alt status).
Whether or not Corrin and Bayo being high tier because they're paid DLC is something that can't be proven. We can butt heads about it but I doubt any of us will convince the other of of our point.
@Adamario That's pretty weird. I honestly haven't touched the 3DS version in the longest time since switching to Wii U so I forgot it was even like this.
Still, I'd take the Wii U one as the more consistent since it can use screen space better than the 3DS.
Didn't buy a single character. I know most Smash fans were happy with the DLC roster, but I was disappointed at so many RPG characters — particularly from Fire Emblem, a series I have never been interested in — when Nintendo has such a vast roster of more universally-known and beloved characters at their disposal that they could have brought to the game.
@DrkBndr Whoops. Nevermind then.
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