After work I went and played the new Smash today at BestBuy LOLOLOLOLOL @ the line up stretching around the block. I didn't even bother waiting in line, I snuck in thanks to the help of ppl I know and got to play. I got to play the game for quite a while on both platforms and this is my review:
This game is basically Brawl 2.0 except a little faster (this means that when this drops aint gonna be one nigga on the IC that will stop me I'm sorry but yall have no idea LOLOLOLOL), the game is fairly balanced out and will present slightly newer metagames. Many were expecting it to be like Melee - nope, it's just a faster brawl. All the characters that were low tier in the old game are much better and all the characters that were top tier are even better.
Character Analysis
Marth is MUCH stronger and has virtually no change, he's basically his old self w/ minor tweaks. Fox will rise back to the top of the tier list after losing it in Brawl to Falco. Fox can juggle and he no longer falls fast, he can rack up a lot of damage very quickly and his grabs can KO except for his Up-Grab & D-grab, he's like his melee version. The Princess & her Luma are tricky, on the one hand she's floaty but the Luma seems to change colors and be able to do some very interesting things, I sense that she'll either be GOAT tier or bottom tier depending on the player. Little Mac is broken PERIOD, his punches have so much priority, he can plough through any attack just by attacking, even his standard atks can KO (his tilts, he's the Snake of this game), his recovery is fuckin trash but it doesn't matter - a very good Little Mac player can control the stage and center himself well enough until he's able to KO and w/ Little Mac he doesn't need 100+ percentage to KO he can do it from 50-70ish. Kirby got better but his F-grab no longer chains into Up-air, his B-grab however, can be chained into his Bair & if the character is big enough or falls fast enough he can setup more combos, hammer time comes out faster & his PK cutter is still the same. He hasn't changed much other than being faster, not sure if he'll be top tier against the Luma's, Foxes and ZSS' of the metagame - he's definitely a good beginning character tho. ZSS is dope af and is going to be a problem, she's virtually the same except all her issues from last game were fixed and she hits much harder than ever. Pit is gonna be a problem, he can't glide anymore but he has far better kill moves and hits like a truck. Megaman is trash, more like a bad excuse of a keep away character but I think (at least I HOPE) like Sonic he's not finished, Megaman fun as hell to use but not for competitive metagame. Bowser got better, Link I'm not sure about, Mario is more like his melee counterpart, Wii Fit character has a lot of potential but I can't call it, Sonic got much better, Greninja is ok but I felt he was underwhelming, Samus is still the same, Zelda got waaaay better, Villager is ok, Pikachu is even better, Sheik is fucking awesome, Cpt. Olimar is trash juice and prolly the worst character in the game thus far, DK got better (he wasn't bad in Brawl but he got better this time around). Overall, Little Mac, Fox, ZSS, Lucario, Marth are going to be top tier without a doubt.
When this drops I think I'll prolly pick up Fox
Gameplay
Noticeable changes were that it's harder to combo, and some of the stages with no edges I can tell are going to be banned due to DK & Bowser and Little Mac being able to walk characters off stages or pound characters off w/ very little effort. Also players will have to wait for the Gamecube controller connector b/c on the Wii U controller the A & B buttons are on different sides - tho it's not a big deal (I think you can change it) it does make the game a bit weird at first and takes getting used to.
If you liked Brawl you'll ABSOLUTELY LOVE this game, if you hated Brawl and/or preferred Melee or Project M then you're not going to like this game. It's basically Brawl but smoother, faster and more competitive, it was built for online play so I'm not surprised. They didn't change too much and added enough to keep the player enthralled. I'd definitely recommend and off the strength of the demo I'd say a solid 10/10. The 3DS version was actually much more fluid than I thought, it works and is cohesive. I would recommend both versions. It's a bit more challenging b/c of how the L & R buttons are placed but nonetheless I thought it was fucking GREAT.
