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 Ike on May 23rd), 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.
The clock ticks…days pass…we inch ever closer to the second week of June, when the entire video game industry will be knee-deep in the E3 trenches. There’ll be plenty of information to absorb in those four days, especially where Super Smash Brothers is concerned. This week was pretty light, nothing to get steamed about (heh), but that’s to be expected I suppose. On to the updates!
Monday, May 26th, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. Here’s a look at the revival platforms. The color of the bottom mechanism changes from yellow to red to warn you how much time you have left before you drop into the fray.“
Editor’s Thoughts: The platforms used to just flash white before dropping a player into battle, so the fact that there’s some color involved makes things a little easier to see. Sakurai is all about these tiny little changes, but I think all of the little tweaks will make a major impact.
Tuesday, May 27th, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. The rocket belt from Pilotwings lets you fly upward by jumping. This is a really useful item for characters that have weaker recoveries. By the way, is that cape fireproof?“
Editor’s Thoughts: I sure hope it’s fireproof, for Ike’s sake. This is a really neat idea for an item, as it could really help those characters who are vertically impaired (LITTLE MAC). I look forward to gliding around with it.
Wednesday, May 28th, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. Characters that have heavy damage slowly start to emit steam. When your opponent starts to get nice and smoky, give ’em a solid attack!“
Editor’s Thoughts: So what you’re telling us is that the more we beat on our opponent, the more steamed they get? Interesting. If only food worked like that…
Thursday, May 29th, 2014
Sakurai: “Pic of the day. You can charge up Ike’s Eruption attack by holding the button down, but remember to release it right before it fully charges to avoid recoil damage. Let go of the button at the moment the sword shines!“
Editor’s Thoughts: Few situations were more satisfying than a perfectly timed Eruption attack when using Ike in Brawl. I’m sure it’s just as satisfying this time around, too. I still can’t believe he’s back in the game.
Friday, May 30th, 2014
Sakurai Pic 1: “Pic of the day. Here’s a first look at the bottom-screen display for the Nintendo 3DS. Your name will appear in the area above the accumulated damage. And if you tap one of the fighter displays…!“
Sakurai Pic 2: “…You can highlight that fighter on your screen. This is useful when you want to get back at a particular opponent. You can also highlight yourself if you need to keep better track of where you are. This is a great benefit to having your own individual screen.“
Editor’s Thoughts: Hey, this is pretty awesome. I like the full body images showing on the bottom screen, and the tap targeting is pretty awesome, but counterproductive to the whole “online penalties will be assessed to those targeting one player consistently” thing. Oh well.
Nothing really special this week, but believe me; the information is coming, and it is coming fast. One more full week to go, then the fun begins!
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.
I’ve had this song stuck in my head for the last week, so now it’s your turn. Let’s hope a Donkey Kong level will feature it in some capacity.
Until next week, Smashers!
