Super Smash Bros 4 released a surprise demo for 3DS in Japan, and Smash Invitational E3 champion ZeRo was ready. This is a quick guide on the Super Smash Bros 3DS demo, based on his impressions. ZeRo is still making and uploading impression videos, and you can check out his latest work here.
The playable characters in the demo are Mario, Link, Pikachu, Mega Man, and Villager. Note that no new characters have been revealed at the select screen, although Shulk has been added in.
First, here are some general observations:
The game has combos. ZeRo demonstrated a 6 hit combo with Mario, and revealed that fans have leeway to add moves in between and be creative.
Wavedashing, an advanced competitive technique, is gone.
Ledges have a certain magnetism, which allows you to grab onto them even at a certain distance. The magnetism in the new Smash is smaller than in Brawl, but wider than in Melee. When you use a tethering weapon to grab onto a ledge, and move your way up, you are still vulnerable to attacks.
All the old tricks veteran Smash players developed with ledges have been nerfed, so it’s back to square one. Similarly, chain grabs have been nerfed.
Pivots are a special move in the Smash series. You dash in one direction, and then dash in the same direction, and then immediately dash in the opposite direction. Competitive players use this move to place their character in neutral, giving them opportunities to strike quickly. Pivots are easier to execute, so more players can use the mechanic to play mindgames or control space.
The following are ZeRo’s observations of the specific characters:
Mario
Mario’s color schemes include Wario, Cyan, and Fire Mario.
Mario is agile and powerful. He jumps around high and quickly. He is great at combos. ZeRo already found one 60 % combo. When you play Mario, you will need to put a huge focus on spacing.
Mario’s Fireball slants downward more than in other games. It will still bounce off ceilings and floors to chase opponents.
Mario’s Final smash is a fireball attack that fills out the stage. It is best used from either the far left or far right.
Mega Man
Mega Man has unique mechanics, making him complicated and hard to learn.
To begin, he moves as stiffly as he does in classic Mega Man games. He can use shots to move enemies towards ledge, but the shots aren’t really powerful enough to take percentage from them.
Mega Man has Ryu’s Dragon Punch, but unlike Ryu, enemies float in the air. Mega Man’s DP is powerful enough to shoot enemies off stage.
The charged shot is very effective for keepaway at midrange, with the right timing.
Mega Man has few combos. He does not really have that vital combo starter move that Mario has. It is possible that ZeRo just did not find that move.
Pikachu
Pikachu is generally agile and strong. He can do juggle combos, so easily that advanced players can do them intuitively.
Using Pikachu’s electricity and tail swipe, you can control enemies – grab them, throw them in the air to juggle, or throw them to the edge.
Link
Link has a purple tunic alt.
Link has no clear weakness. He has many ways to attack and set up combos, with weapons like bombs and boomerangs.
Link is much faster here than in other Smash games. He can jump off the stage, and use that jump for stronger recovery from the ledges.
Links throws hit hard, and he can combo with a bomb. Link can also do upward and downward combos. You can do a bomb jump, but this is an advanced technique.
You can maneuver boomerangs to throw characters off stage. Using the wind pressure, surrounding the boomerang, you can thwart their attempts to get back on.
He is currently the best Link in any Smash game.
Villager
Villager does not have much in terms of combos, but each move he / she does is larger than life. Individual specials hit hard, and he / she has a really high jump.
The Tree move is an effective way to make and enemy fall of the ledge. Slingshot, on the other hand, is an effective keepaway move.
Balloon Trip is a superior air move. Zero demonstrated Villager flying from the very bottom of the stage, where most characters would consider the point of no return, and flew all the way back to the stage.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS will be out in North America on October 3. The Wii U version will arrive in winter.
