Super Smash Bros. Wii U: What We Want

Name multiplayer games you’d expect to see at any given party. Was a Super Smash Bros. title one of them? Congratulations! You haven’t completely failed at socialization. But in case you’ve been living under a rock since 1999 or so, let us bring you up to speed: Super Smash Bros. is a ridiculously popular game series about Nintendo characters beating the ever-loving hell out of one another.

We’ve heard almost nothing on the new Smash Bros., apart from 3DS-Wii U cross-platform connectivity. And then, of course, the expected rumors (subtitles like Rumble and Universe kicking around, fan speculation regarding Ridley and Ghirahim—neither of which we would mind). But there’ve been no concrete details yet, leaving much of the new title open for speculation. On that note, let’s talk about what Nintendo should or shouldn’t do with its upcoming sequel.

Balancing Act

It’s no secret that Masahiro Sakurai worked on character balance by himself with Brawl. This didn’t exactly work out: Longtime Smash Bros. fans maligned the poorly balanced characters and slower fighting. One group banded together to form Project M, a Brawl mod running on the Melee engine. Project M features revamped move sets and mechanics—and it removes that obnoxious tripping mechanic.

Nintendo can learn a lot from Reverge's efforts with Skullgirls.

Good thing Sakurai’s confirmed he’ll be letting his staff in on the action to make all the characters more competitively balanced. But why stop there? Skullgirls developer Reverge Labs is putting the game through its paces pre-launch, involving players in fighting game tournaments across the country in extended play tests to root out balance issues. Sakurai’s team could learn a thing or two from the indie studio.

The Clone Wars

All practically the same guy.

You know what the worst thing about Melee and Brawl was? Clones. It was OK at first; Mario and Luigi had similar move sets from the beginning, and that was fine—for twin brothers. And then Melee hit, and we got Marth and Roy, Capt. Falcon and Ganondorf, Fox McCloud and Falco Lombardi—and so on. Brawl only exacerbated the problem. The third time out, there were not one, but two Fox clones. And Ganondorf was still a clone! Giving every character a unique identity is important for a fighting game, and the last two Smash Bros. titles didn’t quite deliver.

Big Reveals

The Brawl website took a lot of fun out of finally playing the game. Almost nothing was new to us by the time the game hit shelves, and the wait for “Japan Time” every week was tedious and annoying—not to mention often disappointing. This time around, Nintendo should spread out the reveals and show us less when it does. An element of mystery adds to the anticipation and, for most of us, makes popping that disc in for the first time more fun.

Obviously Nintendo should still reveal sufficient content. If any significant gameplay changes or new modes are coming, you bet your ass we want to know. But characters, stages and items? We can wait until launch. And please, if the infamous site should make a return, don’t announce stupid things like the Paper Fan.

Communities

If there’s one thing Mario Kart 7 did really well, it’s user-made communities wherein players can set their own special rules. A feature like this is a given for any future Nintendo game with a strong multiplayer component. Addition of communities would be great for online matchmaking. Want to play a stock match without items on a specific stage? No problem. With communities, you could choose any game type that suits your fancy and play with a consistent, like-minded group. Casual players can stay in their comfort zone, and hardcore tournament players can duke it out in a more challenging environment.

If It Ain’t Broken, Mess With It Anyway

Some custom stages were nice, despite bare-bones options.

Customization is becoming more prevalent in multiplayer games. Brawl built upon Melee’s ideas and laid its own impressive groundwork, introducing stage-building and stickers, which let players fight in self-made maps and augment their characters’ abilities in certain game modes. What we’re saying is that more never hurts: Add more assets and obstacles to the stage editor, allowing players to build their own Nintendo-themed stages, rather than the plain toolset Brawl featured. Give stickers even more effects, so players can further customize characters for single-player game modes.

Improved Online

Nintendo hasn’t traditionally placed much emphasis on online play—a fact that its multiplayer-driven recent titles have suffered because of. Brawl, in particular, often suffered from lag—and hackers. Mario Kart Wii had its share of problems, too. What Nintendo needs to do is improve stability and buckle down on hackers. And, of course, there are the aforementioned communities, which would allow players of all skill levels and preferences to find groups to play on preferred stages with rules that suit them.

And while 3DS functionality is on the table, let’s talk about StreetPass. The obvious starting point? Sharing high scores with everybody you meet. But Nintendo should take it farther than that. Give us the ability to share stickers, trophies, coins and custom stages. More importantly, allow for cross-platform unlockables—if we unlock characters or stages in the Wii U version, let us use our Nintendo Network accounts to simultaneously unlock them for 3DS. 

A Challenger Approaches

Rayman doesn't need limbs to kick butt.

This seems like the simplest and most obvious concept: Seeing new things in Smash Bros. games is great. And new characters are a good start. Let’s see some new faces! Characters like Ghirahim, Ridley or Little Mac would make great additions to the roster. And what about guests? Playing as Rayman would be fantastic, and there’s no better time now that Rayman Origins has had time to blow our minds. Mega Man wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. Capcom sure as hell isn’t showing him any love, but maybe Nintendo will step up and give the fans what they want.

Flying Solo

Some fun bosses aside, Subspace Emissary was pretty lackluster.

Let’s face it: Smash Bros. hasn’t had the best single-player content. Melee and Brawl had exponentially more than the original, but their campaign modes—yep, even Subspace Emissary—left a lot to be desired. The platforming was simplistic at best, doing little more than padding out the space between fights. The new Smash Bros. should integrate the best aspects of recent titles like Super Mario Galaxy 2, Donkey Kong Country Returns and Kirby’s Epic Yarn for truly inventive platforming to match its superb fighting mechanics.

So, what do you want to see in the new Smash Bros.? Have an idea we missed? Think we didn't take it far enough? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Aaron Kinney
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