Welcome to the Saturday Smash-Up, a weekly recap of all of the new and exciting information from the week in Smash Pics of the Day. What am I talking about? Well, here’s a primer: Since the announcement of Super Smash Brothers for Wii U and Super Smash Brothers for 3DS back at E3 2013, project director Masahiro Sakurai has been posting daily updates on SmashBros.com, just as he did with Super Smash Brothers Brawl during its development cycle. The update is just a screenshot from one of the two versions, but Sakurai provides a small description of the screen on the Super Smash Bros Director’s Room Miiverse page. Sometimes we see the announcement of a character (most recently with Lucario on January 31), other times it’s just a goofy pose. Check back here every week for a week’s worth of Smash updates, Sakurai musings, and Fanelli reaction.
As the first month of the year comes to an end, Sakurai has graced us with five more glimpses into his highly anticipated game, making each day without it harder and harder to bear. This week we saw Rosalina’s attraction skills, a brand new Beetle, and yet another returning character. Read on to get caught up!
Monday, January 27, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. Rosalina’s down special move, tentatively called the Gravitational Pull, sucks up items and weapons. Weapons will be disabled when using this move, of course. You have to shake the Wii Remote to perform this move in Super Mario Galaxy, but you won’t need to do that in this game.“
Editor’s Thoughts: We saw this move in her reveal trailer, where she picks up a Green Shell and hurls it at March right after using this technique. The item-pulling thing would be great if competitive folks actually used items, so I bet the Luma can be summoned back to Rosalina’s side with this move too. How else is she supposed to get it back when she Luma Shots it into the fray?
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. The Beetle item from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a comical item that grabs characters and carries them into the air.“
Editor’s Thoughts: What a neat new item! When I first saw it, I thought adult Link had himself a new move, but hearing that it’s an item makes the Beetle even better. I wonder if it will struggle with the heftier characters on the roster, though watching it pick up Dedede will be pretty funny.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. You can find this statue of the Goddess of Light in one of the stages. She’s watching over the arena.“
Editor’s Thoughts: I looked at this picture, read the Miiverse post, and immediately thought of this. Sakurai is obviously aware of the rumored leak, and he’s playing with us with posts like this. You have to hand it to him; he knows how to get us going. Aside from the statue, this is a Kid Icarus stage on Wii U, which means it’s based on the original NES game. This tells me that Sakurai could choose ANY game in a series for a stage, not just the newest one, and that’s a great thing.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. Both Link and Pit use bows, but when they fire simultaneously, their arrows meet and cancel out closer to Pit. Besides attack power and projectile speed, there are many elements that affect tactics, such as accuracy, vulnerability after attacking, and even seemingly unrelated features like a character’s physical abilities.“
Editor’s Thoughts: Let’s talk mechanics! Sakurai seems to be pulling out all the stops to balance this game. He’s taking a character’s physical attributes into effect, for cripes sake! Of course, this now means that Peach picking up Dedede and throwing him into the air will no longer make sense, but hey maybe ol’ Toadstool is stronger than we think.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. The heroic Aura Pokémon, Lucario, joins the battle!! We’ve increased the influence of Aura this time, so a damaged Lucario is truly a force to be reckoned with. Lucario joined the battle for the first time in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which was released six years ago. The production staff of Brawl worked really hard to expand the character roster–without their efforts, Lucario probably never would have joined the battle.“
Editor’s Thoughts: I’m REALLY conflicted on this. On one hand, Lucario was one of my strongest characters in Brawl, and having him back gives me an edge right from the get-go. However…I was very much looking forward to Mewtwo’s return in this new Smash game, and while Lucario’s inclusion doesn’t completely kill that possibility, the odds are definitely slimmer than before. Regardless, Lucario is a cool character, and it’ll be interesting to see just how amped his Aura powers are. Check out the rest of Lucario’s gallery here.
Those are the weekly updates from the mind of Sakurai, and the closer the game gets to release, the more excited I get. This coming week could bring anything, but I refuse to predict a Nintendo Direct because I’ve done that the last two weeks and I’ve nothing to show for it. When you guys are ready to Directly give us info, Nintendo, you let us know.
Before we go, it’s time for the Song of the Week! At the end of every week, I’m going to post a Nintendo tune that I’d like to see make it into either version of Smash (especially if My Music returns, WHICH IT SHOULD). I’ll take requests for songs on the GamerNode Twitter page or on my personal one (remember the #SaturdaySmashUp hashtag!), so let’s jam to some sweet music every Saturday.
This week, I’m choosing a tune to represent my most wanted character. This guy was an Assist Trophy in Brawl, which doesn’t really do him justice. He’s had a new game come out since Brawl too, so he’s a bit more prominent in the minds of the gaming faithful. Little Mac, you Punch-Out powerhouse, you deserve a spot on the main roster! There’s already a boxing ring stage, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s revealed to be the WVBA Arena!
Until next week, Smashers!
