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 Little Mac on February 13), 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.
This week had a little bit of everything, from a new Assist Trophy and Pokemon to new moves to a new mechanic that I find really interesting. We didn’t get any new characters for the first time in three weeks, but we don’t need one of those every single week, now do we? Let’s not get greedy! On to the pics!
Monday, February 24th, 2014
Sakurai: “The twin rocketbarrels are back, now with the ability to launch along more horizontal trajectories. They can also come off when opponents hit them mid-boost.“
Editor’s Thoughts: Diddy’s Up Special sounds awfully similar to how it was in Brawl, outside of the horizontal flight paths. It’s a cool move, but we’ve seen it before.
Tuesday, February 25th, 2014
Sakurai Pic 1: “Pic of the day. There are actually two versions of the boxing ring stage! This ring is the Smash Bros. version…“
Sakurai Pic 2: “…and this one is the Punch Out!! W.V.B.A. design. King Dedede really likes fighting in the ring, doesn’t he?“
Editor’s Thoughts: Dedede sure does like fighting in the ring! He’s been doing it since we first fought him on the Game Boy! Personally I thought the Smash Bros Arena was just a place holder for the WVBA Arena, but having two is pretty cool too. I wonder if the Smash arena is Final Destination?
Wednesday, February 26th, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. Now consecutive standard attacks will always transition into a finishing move. This is Fox’s finishing kick after his standard combo attack.“
Editor’s Thoughts: Now THIS is interesting. Sakurai is referencing when a fighter has a neutral move with multiple hits: Fox’s kicks, Sheik’s arm thrusts, Link’s stabs, etc. Instead of just looping ad infinitum, the flurry in one giant attack to separate the two combatants. That oughta change some strategies.
Thursday, February 27th, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. Once again, Waluigi’s Assist Trophy joins the collection!! …Which also means he’s not a playable character. Just because you try hard doesn’t mean you’ll make it into the battle.”
Editor’s Thoughts: More like Waaaaaaaaaaluigi, AMIRITE? Thursday proves that A) Waluigi will never make a roster outside of a kart racing or sports game until he stars in his own release and B) Sakurai hears our requests loud and clear. Was he talking to Waluigi himself, or was he addressing the legions of fans in the Miiverse comments? If it was toward Miiverse, can Sakurai next tell that guy who keeps requesting the Powerpuff Girls to take a hike? Yeesh, every day with the Powerpuffs, it’s absurd!
Friday, February 28th, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. Dedenne’s hard at work too.“
Editor’s Thoughts: …and legions of people who follow Smash but haven’t played Pokemon X or Y screamed “RAICHU?!” before realizing that’s not Raichu at all. That’s a new Pokemon from X and Y called Dedenne, and he’s an electric mouse Pokemon since there weren’t enough of those already. Here he’s attacking in an X formation, and he’s hard at work too.
This week got into the nitty gritty a little bit, which is fine. It’d be best if we learned about important new mechanics before the game is plopped into our laps, wouldn’t you say? Everything else was pretty standard fare, hopefully next week we’ll see something a little more exciting. New stage perhaps? It’s been a while for that.
That’s all for now, but 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’ve been really into music from Sonic the Hedgehog for some reason, and with Windy Hill Zone from Sonic Lost World being a Wii U stage, I’m thinking some classic Sonic music may sneak into the game at the last minute. If that’s the case, I submit this:
Until next week, Smashers!
Comments are closed.