As per usual, Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai has updated his Miiverse profile, this time with some shots of a new Star Fox-themed stage exclusive to the Wii U version of the game.
The stage is called “Orbital Gate,” a clear nod to a mission from the GameCube title Star Fox: Assault. Though the game’s critical reception was a bit lackluster by Nintendo standards (Namco handled the majority of development), it’s a title that is remember fondly by GameCube owners as one of the only Star Fox titles to offer both Arwing and Landmaster missions, actually allowing players to battle on the surface of various planets. Rare’s Zelda-like Star Fox Adventures also took players out of the cockpit, but in a far different manner — a discussion for another day.
Orbital Gate’s Wii U exclusivity isn’t a surprise given its looks (check out those screens!), and Nintendo describes the stage as “pretty hectic” on its Facebook page. As the battle progresses, team Star Fox wages an air assault against hostile missile launchers, until the threat is vanquished and the stage resets itself. It sounds pretty cool, and is the sort of experience that the 3DS version, try as it might, can’t quite manage to deliver.
Related: Super Smash Bros. (3DS) Review
In other Smash news, a modder has managed to get a GameCube controller working with the 3DS version of the game — check out the video here for more info. I don’t see myself trying this since GameCube pads are already officially sanctioned in the Wii U version (not to mention off-screen play on the GamePad that can substitute for your 3DS at home), but perhaps the hardest of the hardcore will want to give it a try.
