
Melee has followed the same basic template: more characters, more maps, and more unlockable music and other miscellaneous baubles. AdvertisementĮvery Smash game since the Gamecube's Super Smash Bros. Crack open a floating Smash Ball to unleash a special Final Smash attack that usually spells the end for other fighters who get hit by it. Grab an Assist Trophy and another, more minor character from gaming's past will leap out to lend a hand. Throw a Pokéball and any one of several Pokémon will briefly show up and fight your foes with signature moves. Some particularly special items have special secondary effects that you can unleash by picking them up. These range from basic melee and projectile weapons to rockets that take off and crash into the ground to recovery items that lower your percentage counter when grabbed. These basic mechanics are complicated by items, most of which are pulled from other Nintendo games. The higher your percentage, the further you fly when hit, and once you've flown far enough off the edge of the stage in any direction you lose. In lieu of life bars, each character has a percentage counter that increases as you take damage. Those attacks will vary based on what character you've chosen, the direction the joystick is pointing, whether you're in the air at the time you press the button, and other factors. Each character can perform standard attacks with the A button and special attacks with the B button. game before, let's lay out the essentials (fi you're familiar with the series, just jump to the next section): it's a fighting game packed with plenty of different characters from Nintendo's various franchises, along with an ever-growing roster of third-party characters.

This one won't be a favorite of the hardcore set that keeps the Gamecube controller alive, but it's a surprisingly competent port and a good way to give Smash a reach that it just isn't going to have on the chronically sales-challenged Wii U.

Playing it on the small screen for a week has slowly changed my opinion, though. I didn't really care for the 3DS version of the game at E3, which was shown off alongside the upcoming Wii U version. for Nintendo 3DS (a title that could surely be made shorter and better, but this isn't a review of the name) needs to take a fast, four-player fighter that has always had a whole TV to spread out on and squeeze it down to fit the 3DS' twin screens. This time around, Nintendo is extending the franchise to a portable system for the first time. Like Mario Kart, they often serve as important system-sellers that prompt additional sales bumps for the back catalogue. Since its launch on the Nintendo 64, the games have regularly ranked at or near the top of all-time sales lists for their respective consoles. is a big franchise for Nintendo is an understatement.

Game Details Developer: Sora Ltd., Bandai Namco Games
