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 the Smash Bros Direct Five on April 8th), 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.
Not every week can be a Smash-travaganza of crazy news. This week things settled back down into normalcy, giving some cool screens but nothing groundbreaking. I guess Sakurai thinks we can only handle so much in a given month. Here’s what we saw:
Monday, April 14th, 2014
Sakurai Pic 1: “Pic of the day. Here’s a very, very new fighter in the upcoming Smash games, Greninja. Greninja’s sophisticated moves are extremely fun to use once you get used to how it controls!“
Sakurai Pic 2: “The side special attack Shadow Sneak is a move that makes Greninja suddenly disappear and ambush opponents. If you press and hold the button, Greninja will move a greater distance. Another unique feature is you can move Greninja around freely while charging up.“
Editor’s Thoughts: I’m still amazed that we’re even talking about Greninja in Super Smash Brothers. He looks so cool, and he’s such a cool surprise. Of course, the Mewtwo crowd probably won’t be too thrilled if he ends up getting the shaft, but Greninja is still pretty awesome.
Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. This is the final destination version of Gerudo Valley. No more surprise visits from Koume and Kotake, and the bridge is gone. There are no distractions and there’s nowhere to run. And the score that plays in the background is “Gerudo Valley.” You can make most stages turn into a final destination. Depending on the stage, it might be floating in midair or perched on a cliff.“
Editor’s Thoughts: The idea of giving most of the other stages a “Final Destination” version is brilliant. Now pros don’t have to just stare at the same old Final Destination like they’ve had to before; now they can choose their favorite arena and fight there instead. I’ve noticed, however, that pros at other fighting games like to have their matches in the training levels since they spend most of their time training. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again here.
Wednesday, April 16th, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. Ready now? Together with me!“
Editor’s Thoughts: Oh Sakurai, you so silly with your upside down poses. I sure do love goofy screenshots like this; they give this development team a human side we don’t normally see from the makers of the games we love.
Thursday, April 17th, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. Tac (on the left) steals your charged power. If you’ve charged up a lot, he might steal a ton of it. Chase after him quickly to get it back!!“
Editor’s Thoughts: Damn that infernal TAC! He’s been stealing my abilities since Kirby Super Star! I didn’t like him then, and I don’t like him now…although I always appreciated that he is a burglar…that is a cat…which makes him a cat burglar. Hooray literalist humor!
Friday, April 18th, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. The 3DS version will have roughly the same types of Assist Trophies and Pokémon. Just roughly…“
Editor’s Thoughts: The thing to pay attention to here is the emphasis on “just roughly.” That could mean that the 3DS version will be missing some Assist Trophies and Pokemon, which makes getting the Wii U version that much more important. But let’s be real: how many of you reading weren’t thinking about purchasing both to begin with?
See? Nothing too groundbreaking. I don’t expect to see much of anything new (outside of maaaaaaybe a veteran character or two) until E3, which is quickly approaching. Before you know it, we’ll be flooded in all kinds of gaming news.
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 WE NOW KNOW IT IS WHOOPEEEEE). 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.
That Balloon Fight stage on the 3DS is pretty cool, and it’s basically a shoo-in that we’ll hear the main Balloon Fight track on that stage. But what about the second track that Sakurai mentioned each 3DS stage will have? For that, I elect this awesome retro tune from a game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo:
Until next week, Smashers!
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