Nintendo is taking a lot risks with the newest entry in the Super Smash Bros. series. By now you know that the game will be released on the 3DS and the Wii U. The 3DS version comes out next month and is already available in Japan. The good thing about the 3DS version coming out first is getting used to the controls on the handheld gaming system. Why? Because Nintendo has confirmed that you will be able to use the 3DS as your controller on the Wii U version.
It's a great decision. While I got used to playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii with a WiiMote and Nunchuck, it never sat quite as well as the GameCube controller or even the original N64 controls. Worse still was the WiiMote only controls that forced you to use a D-Pad and only two buttons in a fighting game.
The 3DS does have the circular slide pad, four buttons, and two triggers, so the controls optimized for the handheld version should transfer nicely to the Wii U version. The releases both have the same roster of characters. The big difference is stages. The 3DS version focuses on handheld Nintendo titles while the Wii U version focuses on console titles.
Here's the bad news about those amazing 3DS controls: Japanese players are already breaking the slide pad right off. You fight to hard and the pretty like circle snaps right off. It's like breaking TVs with the untethered WiiMote all over again, only on a system with a ton of games you want to play (apologies from a tried and true Wii and Wii U fan).
The 3DS release is also showing off one unexpected glitch that's getting players 24 hour bans from online multiplayer. It appears that if you choose Princess Peach and go into battle, you might get banned. There's no official explanation for the glitch. Peach's ability to randomly pull items out of the ground seems like the best guess, as the new Super Smash Bros. features the ability to equip characters with items before battle. This is not allowed in online multiplayer matches and might be causing the glitch.
Then there's the...interesting design choice for the handheld version. Peach's skirt, rather than revealing underwear as it's done in all Smash Bros. releases so far, shows a portal to a dark dimension of madness Lovecraft himself couldn't have dreamed of. Or, you know, a pitch black shadow if you jump. Either way, strange choice. There had to be a way other than gaping black hole to preserve Peach's dignity.
The best Super Smash Bros. news of all it the upcoming release of a playable demo. Tomorrow, 3DS owners can download a sliver of the game's content to test out before the game is released on 3 October in the US. You won't be able to unlock additional content, so no one can wreck you with [redacted for spoilers] and humiliate you with that character.