Super Smash Bros. (3DS) Review - Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Portable editions of big-budget console blockbusters have rarely dazzled in the past, but that hasn’t stopped Nintendo, Sora Ltd., and eccentric Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai from not only cranking out the first HD Super Smash Bros. game via the upcoming edition for Wii U (which is likely undergoing fierce bug testing as we speak), but a fully functioning 3DS counterpart. I’ve played both versions at trade shows, yet the concept of a 3DS Smash Bros. somehow continuously boggled my mind from the moment I parted ways with the E3 kiosk until just last week when I downloaded my digital copy for review. Can you really, truly miniaturize a juggernaut like Smash Bros. for portable play? Technically, it should be possible. But what about what Smash is, what it stands for, its history, how it makes you feel — that’s what I’m interested in. And that’s what I went into this looking for.

When it comes to ticking checkboxes, you can put your fears at ease. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS targets, ticks, and obliterates every last one, no holds barred, no exceptions. This is the Smash Bros. gameplay experience you’ve come to expect fully intact, and from a technical standpoint (both in terms of visuals and gameplay responsiveness) it never outright disappoints. This is the part where you stop and release the stress-breath you’ve been holding for the past six months. It’s alright, really. I’ll wait.

I will admit, booting up 3DS Smash is a bit of a surreal affair, and proceeding from the intro-less, silent title screen (the game is CGI cutscene free, just as Sakurai promised) left me slightly lost and unsure of what to do. This is nobody’s fault but my own; my Brawl muscle memory of jumping straight to standard multiplayer is so cemented that it’s easy to forget that Super Smash Bros. is one of the most fleshed out and feature rich experiences in gaming. The main menu is a series of portals wherein dozens if not hundreds of hours of gameplay await you, and even if you were to fly solo from launch day until the next Super Smash Bros. releases six years from now, it’s unlikely you’d run out of things to do. As per usual, Smash is the ultimate choice of video game if you can only bring a single one to a desert island. It seems like people are always asking that question.

The game’s trademark content assault makes assessment a challenge, so I’ll start with what matters — actual fighting on the Nintendo 3DS. Fighters’ responsiveness to button presses and inputs is on par with what I’ve experienced in Brawl, only differing where the Wii U version also intends to. This comes as little surprise since the games are designed to play identically, and if you were worried that Smash on 3DS would play like the console editions’ ugly stepsister, then don’t be; in that sense, it feels perfect. This is the most important thing for a portable Smash Bros. to do, and the team at Sora Ltd. have pulled it off. No stuttering, no compromises, no slowdown or dropped frames — it just feels like Smash. That alone is praiseworthy.

What doesn’t “just feel like Smash” is largely physical, and try as I might, there’s no getting past the fact that the 3DS in its current form is not the ideal Smash Bros. controller. Trust me, I’m not one of those Wavebird-only maniacs either; I’ve enjoyed Brawl with GameCube, Wii Classic, and Wii Classic Pro pads, all of which I’ve found more than adequate (the latter is the best in my opinion). Not only does the 3DS dig into your palms as you play (I imagine the XL is slightly better about this), but it lacks both a C-stick and enough triggers. This is no small omission, and though Nintendo’s New 3DS should solve this next year, I simply can’t factor that into a review when trying it out is effectively impossible for Westerners at the current time. Despite nailing the miniaturization of Smash Bros.’ fighting engine, there’s no denying that my own abilities are hampered by a lack of quick aerial execution and having to shield and grab with separate hands. It’s a pain, and despite tremendous responsiveness otherwise, is one reason I’ll probably play on Wii U more often than not when Smash-ing from the comfort of my own home.

Still, the sheen of new Smash is strong, and everything from the menus and sound effects to the crafted-with-care fighter colors and skins exudes quality, especially compared to what you more commonly find on a sub-HD handheld. Single player modes are numerous, and the 3DS exclusive Smash Run, special battles, activities like Trophy Run and Home Run contest, and a returning Classic mode all join forces to form an awesome and alarmingly vast array of things to do. Of course, the Classic mode comes complete with “giant” and “metal” opponents, massive armies of swarming foes (this time it’s the Miis who are out for blood), and the all-powerful Master Hand. I’ll admit, the sentient white glove isn’t as terrifying as childhood made it out to be, but I’ll tell you what is terrifying — Crazy Hand. I’ll let your imagination run wild until you see for yourself.

Certain modes contain more depth than others, and I was surprised to find that the re-imagined Classic mode is what engaged me the most. Single player modes utilize gold as a currency, and it can be earned and spent in various ways or accrued gradually just by battling. In Classic, you can pony up more gold to access tougher difficulties, which in turn net you better trophies and items. That’s right, items — as in actual, equipable gear you can earn and wear to alter your fighter’s abilities, stats, and even special moves. A run through Classic mode on level four with Mega Man, for example, netted me an alternate up-special, allowing the boyish ‘bot to latch onto the claws of the bird-robot Beat instead of bounding from his faithful dog Rush. The hot-swappable specials aren’t game-changing, but they are fun, and allow for customization that Smash Bros. hasn’t really ever had before. Combine that with more colors and skins than entries prior, and suddenly it’s possible to invent a look and feel for your fighter that’s unique and original. I look forward to taking this a step further as I earn more items and moves, but so far I’m sold on the idea.

Luckily, for multiplayer and standard exhibition you can toggle customization on or off, so there’s no pressure to toil away earning unprecedented extras if you want to keep things old-school. If you and a friend have both souped-up particular fighters this way, though, then keeping customization on is a fun option that adds both depth and neat elements of surprise. It’s unlikely that any one player will master each of Smash Bros.’ 49 fighters, and as such a player could feasibly witness an unexpected custom-special he’s never seen before months or even years into owning the game. I find that concept particularly compelling, and if Nintendo ever decides to put out Smash Bros. DLC, the possibilities will be damn near endless.

Much of what I’ve described pertains to the new Super Smash Bros. in general rather than the 3DS edition specifically, and that’s a good thing; it means the 3DS transparently fades into the background more often than not. Aside from its lack of buttons, though, there are a few issues I found quite difficult to ignore, and they didn’t lessen the more I played. The first is screen size. Yes, there’s little to be done about this, and owning an XL will certainly help. That said, there are times during fights where the camera zooms back quite far, and unlike on a TV where this often feels awe-inducing and fun, here it just makes me squint. It doesn’t impede your ability to execute moves all that much, but it can make precision grabbing a bit challenging, and impede the ability to see what’s going on in general.

Minor annoyances don’t end there, but at this point in time it’s not possible to determine if they’re specific to 3DS, or if they’ll appear on Wii U as well. Unfortunately, the most glaring of these is the fluidity of online play, and despite trying upward of three dozen online matches (the game is already out in Japan, remember), there wasn’t one instance where input lag was nonexistent. Keep in mind, this doesn’t mean the game itself was stuttering, but it does mean that fighting–though occasionally close–was not once as precise and responsive as the offline experience. I realize many fighting games suffer from similar problems, so much so that Dead or Alive 5 actually includes the option to “simulate online lag” when practicing against the CPU. Still, I went into this expecting Mario Kart 8-levels of online quality (read: flawless input response), and thus far, I’m just not seeing it.

Will the Wii U edition fare better? I really, truly hope so. Smash is meant to be fun, and losing for reasons that aren’t your fault can extinguish enjoyment quicker than you’d believe is possible. After a particularly choppy encounter, I simply powered off the game and played some local multiplayer via the demo instead. Local works brilliantly if your opponent stays within a reasonable vicinity, so there are no worries there.

There were a handful of online encounters that were almost lag-free, and during those I experienced a few brilliant flashes of how and why Smash Bros. online can be extremely exciting. It also helps that the actual organization of the various online modes has been so well designed. Basically you have two options, For Fun or For Glory, the latter of which is an items-off Final Destination test of skill, while the former is a typical, highly hectic team or four-player encounter. For Glory allows both four-player and one-on-one matches, so your options are numerous regardless of what you choose. There will always be players with bad internet connections, but there’s clearly something else that isn’t quite right here — we can only hope a post-release patch or the availability of geographically closer opponents will help solve the problem.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS jams such an immense bundle of content onto its tiny cartridge that it feels almost ludicrous to award it anything but the most sterling of recommendations. At the same time, Smash Bros. is more than the sum of its parts. Modes, minigames, trophy collecting, music hoarding, and even extra 3DS content via Smash Run are all here, but it doesn’t change the fact that I have no C-stick, the audio sounds slightly tinny, and my left hand grows tired after an hour or so due to awkward positioning. And despite the impressively detailed character models and steady framerate Sora Ltd. has achieved, there’s something inherently not-so-epic about Nintendo’s all stars duking it out on a 400×240 screen. By the way, for the love of games, please turn 3D on, even if ever-so-slightly; the resulting jump to 800×240 (400 horizontal pixels per eye) goes a long way toward sharpening the 3DS’s image quality. It’s not suddenly HD, but you’ll thank yourself later once you adjust. With 3D on, textures and certain models surpass the quality found on the original Wii, even if the signature sense of console grandeur remains a bit fuzzy.

There’s way too much to do in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS to discuss in a single review, and I haven’t even detailed the 3DS-exclusive Smash Run yet. It’s basically like the Adventure mode from Melee, except a single, large open area where you can fight enemies and build stats based on how you choose to engage them. When the clock runs out, you jump to a battle with three opponents who’ve been doing the same, and whoever gathered the best stats will have a substantial advantage. I was only able to try this with CPU pals, but I don’t doubt its fun-factor increases tenfold when you play locally with real-life friends. It reminds me a lot of City Trial from Kirby Air Ride, of all things — I guess the Sakurai style is a tough thing to miss.

Spectating for online matches, an in-depth competitive gold-betting system, hundreds of unlockable trophies and challenges with corresponding rewards, smaller modes like Home Run Contest and Target Blast; all of these and more are faithfully reproduced in the latest Super Smash Bros., and there’s simply not space to cover it all. Miniaturizing every last detail is a huge feat, and though we haven’t seen the full Wii U version yet, on paper there appears to be little that’s been forgotten. That alone is a massively ambitious vision-turned-reality, and I don’t know that it’s ever been done before on this scale — certainly not this well.

That being said, there are unseen elements that can vanish when shrink-rays are applied, and despite its comprehensive laundry list, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS undoubtedly loses a bit of the magic and pure, unfettered emotion its Wii U counterpart will no-doubt renew later this year. Melee had it, Brawl had it, and if you concentrate really hard you can find it here too. But it’s elusive, and if you’re playing on the train, bus, or subway, you sure as hell won’t be able to track “it” down, whatever that may mean to you. Such is the nature of intangible things.

Earlier in the 3DS’s life, I played 150 hours of Fire Emblem Awakening and for the first time felt convinced that we don’t need home consoles anymore. After playing Super Smash Bros. on the very same system, monolithic development effort though it may be, I’ve never felt more strongly that consoles really ought to stick around. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS is a faithful translation of the Smash experience that is truly fun to play, and if you lack a Wii U, then there’s little reason to hesitate. If you must choose a single version or don’t often play games on the go to begin with, though, minor shortcoming and absent “wow” factor may convince you to wait until November.