As promised, Nintendo yesterday delivered a bevy of new details about Super Smash Bros for Wii U, delivering information on features and game modes through a live stream.
The 3DS version had been the focus of most reveals leading up to its launch, so this is the largest dump of Wii U info we've gotten yet. The reveals included the board game-style Smash Tour: World Smash, eight player battles, playable Mewtwo, and more.
Those three announcements garnered among the most attention, understandably. Mewtwo will be available in both the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game. If you buy both, you'll get him for free in the spring--otherwise, you'll have to pay up. Ridley will also appear, but sadly for fans, not as a playable character: he'll help attack players and pick sides on the Pyrosphere stage. The eight player fights are Wii U-only, and need to be played out on special larger stages that can accommodate the larger number of players.
The 4 Best New Super Smash Bros Players
The Smash Tour mode was mentioned earlier this week in Amazon's listing of the game, but yesterday provided the details. Up to four players can travel around a game board by spinning a wheel and using items to collect powerups to be used in a final battle--a little Mario Party, a little Smash Bros. Plenty of other details were revealed beyond these three--here's an overview of everything Nintendo showed off yesterday, and you can rewatch the event video below:
Custom Stage Creation: Use the Wii U GamePad and its touch screen to build your own stages and eventually share them with friends and other players online.
Amiibo Figures: You can add "figure players" to the game by touching the toy statues to the GamePad. The amiibo figures can gain levels and equipment as they battle, and you can have amiibo fight one another, and they will bring you presents from the battles they partake in.
Importing Fighters: This one is pretty cool--you can import your customized fighters from the 3DS version into the Wii U game. This includes their powerups and equipment.
Controls: If you'd like to, you can use a 3DS as a controller for the action on TV. A controller will no doubt be better as the handheld is not ideal, but I suppose this would be helpful for those short on GameCube or Wii U controllers.
Soundtrack Offer: Everyone who buys both the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U versions of Super Smash Bros. and registers both games on Club Nintendo by January 13 will receive a two-disc soundtrack of music from the games. This is the same way you register for Mewtwo on both versions to receive the fighter for free.
Masterpieces: This menu gives players a peek into the past lives of some of the Super Smash Bros. characters. Players can play cut-down versions of the characters' greatest games, which sounds like a pretty awesome inclusion that nobody would expect to be in the game.
Stages: The Wii U version will have the most stages of any game in the series. The expanded Big Battlefield (presumably for the eight-player battles) makes its debut, as well as The Great Cave Offensive, based on the underground labyrinth of Kirby games. The Jungle Hijinxs stage, based on Donkey Kong Country Returns, lets players fight in the foreground and background.
Modes: Finally, here's a look at many of the game's modes, which include both old and new offerings. The descriptions are provided by Nintendo:
- Special Smash Mode: Players can customize battles with unique parameters.
- Coin Battles: Players compete to collect coins from other players.
- Stamina Matches: Players fight until their hit points reach zero.
- Classic Mode: One or two players fight through a series of battles and advance as long as they survive. Many random events can shake things up, and players can adjust the intensity settings. The more difficult the game, the greater the rewards.
- All-Star Mode: Like in the Nintendo 3DS version, opponents appear in chronological order. Only this time, the newest fighters appear before the older ones, and two players can battle through this mode together.
- Event Mode: One or two players take on set character- and theme-based battles. Clearing stages helps players see the way forward.
