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Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Direct August 2018
Reviewed: 08/21/2018
Additional
Commentary: 09/25/2018
Okay; who's been watching Thug Assassins again?!
Well; now that Ducktales 2018's first season is over and Della Duck is on the moon and alive and somewhat well, killing any hope for a Della/TaleSpin crossver, the show is no longer amusing to me. I'm not saying that it's awful; in fact, the recent episodes were great actually. However; as I mentioned on Live Journal, it's completely overshadowed by one of my other loves: Nintendo. Why? Because of Super Smash Brothers Ultimate and the awesome epic mess it has turned into. You ever get the feeling that Sakurai has taken the opinions of some of the worst offenders to heart and is now pissed off (especially since he had medical issues during the development of Smash Brothers for Wii U/3DS) that now he's just focused on making the ultimate Smash Brothers game? If so, this is beyond great now because this has been amazing, in ways that I didn't think was possible in Smash. And the best part is; they clearly aren't done yet because I'm betting on a late October Smash Brothers Direct since the buildup looks like a condensed version of the Wii U/3DS build up to release. So, for the first time since the 50-Facts Direct for Smash Brothers for Wii U/3DS, I'm going to review both Smash Brothers Directs and some bonus stuff. This one will cover the August Smash Brothers segments. Since these are commercials for the game, they will not be rated....So let's rant on shall we...?
So, welcome to the Super Smash Brothers Direct, or as I call it: Super Smash Brothers: THUG ASSASSINS~! Now, you would think that this is completely nonsensical and everything. WRONG! Here is what happened in the first three minutes of this Direct. This was unique! This was unique! No, not really; it was unique in a way, but I'll explain that in a moment. So we begin the Direct with the second appearance of the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate opening sequence as shown in the Ridley reveal trailer. Then we head outside near a castle AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) and it is a dark and stormy night. A person dressed up in a white cloak with a hood walks up and into said castle. Somehow, this convinced fanboys that this was from Fire Emblem because Sakurai bias, am I right? Sakurai Bias is that he loves Fire Emblem, Kirby and Kid Icarus, the later making sense since he created Kid Icarus: Uprising. Anyhow; it's raining and the man suddenly hears Luigi screaming. Why Luigi is even here is a mystery to me and furthermore, why is Luigi's Poltergust been upgraded? Luigi of course is in a constant panic state because there are two mummies stalking him. Luigi fires the Poltergust which fires a plunger into the mummy's face. Would you be in shock if I told you the mummy no sold it? Luigi panics and bails as we head into the room and we have the Medusa Head statue and now it's absolutely clear that this is Castlevania. Now, the real question is: Which Belmont is it? The 4chan leak I mentioned in the previous rant claimed Simon Belmont and the reason was due to his popularity in North American. Ummm; that's because Captain N: The Game Master was a thing, most gamers didn't care much about the video game version of Simon, they cared more about the cartoon character, who was basically a prototype of Darkwing...Duck! I picked Richter Belmont as the favorite if it was a Belmont, or Alucard because he's more popular than either one of them and Symphony Of The Night was the best selling game of all of Castlevania. Luigi bails as the statue turns into Medusa as Luigi runs, trips and falls on his ass taking several bumps along the way...
Now, this has been so far, your standard Smash Brothers reveal as Luigi comes face to face with Death (or Death God in Japan). The grim reaper everyone. And then something new happened; something I didn't think would happen on a Smash Brothers trailer. Death scares Luigi, Luigi panics so much that he dies of shock, Death takes his scythe and whacks the holy living soul out of Luigi and then steals it! Apparently; Luigi was killed right on-screen in a gratitious way. Apparently?! Luigi was literally scared to death and Death stole his soul. Death murdered him! That's the end of Luigi in Smash Brothers! They put him down! See, this is not the first time someone on Smash Brothers Ultimate has been assasinated. Remember Mario and Mega Man got killed by Ridley in the first reveal trailer of this new game? Sakurai's not messing around anymore! Yeah; but, no one cared about Mario nor Mega Man because Luigi was the butt of all jokes and people felt bad about it. That's why this moment got instant heat and notority. BBC reported on this for goodness sakes! Sure; BBC is no CNN (which is funny considering how CNN reported on Nintendo Labo); but it's hardly an unknown news organization. So Death has Luigi's soul and then gets a morning star right in the jaw and broke his jaw actually with gore effects. This was caused by the hooded man; who takes off the cloak, and it's Simon Belmont as a remix of the famed Vampire Killer theme plays. The leaker got almost everything right and Nin10do Ultra completely no sold this whole thing because he's not stupid, playing or being. We get footage of Simon Belmont cracking whips, throwing Axes, Crosses and Holy Water. Later on; I was surprised that all of the references got through. He also twirls his whip around for fun and his Final Smash featuring whipping someone into a casket, slamming the lid and then rises into the air as stylized crosses (probably to tone down the curfixication references) hit it. I also noticed that his Vampire Killer weapon has a handle shaped like a actual cross. I didn't expect that either. Death got KO'ed in one shot by the way.
Also; there is a new stage called Dracula's Castle as they showed Werewolf, The Creature and Fleaman (from the original Castlevania; only with their original names instead of the names given in the NES version.). Fade to black and we see Simon literally walking into Dracula's Castle just like in Castlevania and here's where things get interesting: We see Dracula's stage in full profile and notice the casket in the background? Well; in the next shot we see Dracula and he's standing in front of his throne and the stage looks nothing like the stage we saw before. Wait, what? This has lead to a couple of theories and I'll discuss those later on. Dracula appears and he acts like Dracula and seemly is dominating Simon. Then the scene goes from actual gameplay to a pre-CGI sequence as Simon is about to be burned to ashes; when suddenly, another man in blue gear shows up to block it. This guy starts whipping the scene and proclaims: Begone! You don't belong in this world, monster! Yup; it's Richter Belmont and this completely woke up the crowd, along with the song Divine Bloodlines. Hydro Storm~! And Alucard appears! Oh lord; they are all here, so I wasn't all that far off. Dracula gets uppercutted as we fade to white with the Smash Brothers logo and we use the Cross to indicate Castlevania complete with the stage clear jingle. The closing sequence is Luigi's ghost is hovering over Luigi and there is window in the background. Suddenly; the mask of Camilla appears and in another surprises, her eye is pouring bloody tears out. Okay; the blood looks purple, but I didn't think Nintendo would allow that at all. One more thing: Some people have stated that Camilla will not transform into her true form like in Rondo of Blood due to it being too risque. Ironically; Dracula X has Anette on top of a skull and he's not in any risque position at all. Luigi sees her; cut to outside the castle and Luigi screams again. Nintendo Switch logo sequence and we head back to Sakurai's office as he has now bought two new chairs, one yellow and one purple.
He welcomes us to this new Direct after DISPLAYING A MURDER, THE END OF A MAN'S LIFE~! Nintendo's claiming that Luigi is not dead, no one bought it anyway! We do a full recap of everything we saw in the direct and listen to some new remixes as well. He has the longest reach of any fighter in the game and is a bit slow with the whip. The Final Smash is named Grand Cross. Also of note; during the Final Smash, Simon actually speaks. More on Dracula's castle (the first one) as we discover that it's the darkest of stages. I think Bayonetta might have something to say about that one. The candle sticks give out items, like in Castlevania. Most of the monsters have been seen before in the trailer, including Dracula in shadows and light. However; the last monster reference is not named; but it clearly looks like Dracula Kid! Also; there are 34 music tracks for this stage alone! There is even one from Castlevania: Bloodlines; but none for Harmony of Dissonance. Then we get Dracula's Castle again, only this time it's the one with a throne as Dracula comes in. I love how Sakurai claims that it's Simon's mortal enemy, even though this Dracula is clearly from Rondo of Blood; judging by it's attacks and the ability to transform into a monster who is straight out of Rondo of Blood. Apparently; only time will tell when you can fight Dracula. Some have interperted it as you fight him under the right conditions. I interperted it as carny talk for "I'll tell you in a future Direct because it ties into one of my most important aspects of the game that I cannot announce at this time." At minimum; I suspect we are getting a boss rush mode because this Dracula fights way too much like in Castlevania. When he transforms; he shows a black bat German Iron Cross. I'm shocked that Shaft isn't involved yet, since Shaft played a huge role in Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night. Hmmm, what if Shaft was Tabuu all along. Yeah; I'm overthinking this, but Smash Brothers does that to me. Oh; and Alucard is an Assist Trophy and fights way too well and varied as one. He can also be KO'ed as well. I have a thought about this; but I'll save it for later because the next boss announced plays into my thoughts.
Richter is also recapped and he's an Echo Fighter and this is where Sakurai's house rules become flexible because some of Simon's moves are from Richter, so who's echoing who in this setup? We also get the new logo which is the Castlevania logo and Richter's victory pose which is straight out of Rondo of Blood. Oh; and now it's time to introduce two new Echo Fighters, basically because they have three original fighters (Simon, Ridley, Inklings) and two echo fighters (Daisy, Richter), so I suspect one new original character to be announced later on in this Direct. So, we introduce Echo Fighter #1 as we head to Castle Seige and it's Chrom, another one people were wanting in some form. He is basically an Echo Fighter for Roy, but borrows some elements from Ike and his Final Smash has been changed completely, which means Robin's Final Smash will probably be similar to Chrom's now. Echo Fighter #2 is Dark Samus, another one that most were expecting, as DS is a villain and one of the first characters made in America from Retro Studios (sort of, Nintendo still had approval) to appear in a Smash Brothers game as a fighter. Dark Samus is much floatier than the original as we are basically shown who is the original and who is the Echo Fighter. Also, in the character select screen, we discover that Echo Fighters can be seperate; or bunched together with their original and those can be switched with a button press. Sakurai also states that all designs for the fighters in game will be shown before the game is released, so there will be no leaks like last time with the Shulk/Duck Hunt Dog leak.
Segment 1: More Stages
I'm going to make this much easier for everyone and give you the link to the Stages section of the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate website. Also, here are the stages that haven't been confirmed for Super Smash Brother Ultimate:
Smash 64: Planet Zebes, Sector Z.
Melee: Icicle
Mountain, Mushroom Kingdom Melee, Mute City, Pokefloats
Brawl:
Rumble Falls, Pictochat 1 (?Pictochat 1 might be disconfirmed if the
drawings in PC1 are combined into Pictochat 2.)
Wii U/3DS:
Pac-Maze, Rainbow Road, Jungle Hijinx, Miiverse, Orbital Gate,
Pyrosphere, Wooly World.
Disconfirmed: Flat
Zone 1, Flat Zone 2 (Both stages because Flat Zone X is basically
both stages combined).
There are a number of surprising returning stages in this game. One is Hanenbow which I figured had licensing issues. Fountain Of Dreams water reflection effects are awesome now. Metalface is back as a boss in Gaur Plains. Most of the stages announced and shown were already known at this point because Nintendo made no effort to hide them in the screen shots. Brinstar Depths is shown for the first time though. Sadly, Magiciant's birdmen are still sprites instead of the 3D models. Gamer returns. The stage, not the player. We also get to see Final Destination for the first time, which looks like a lifeless version of Battlefield with a lot of red lines. Then we fade to black and finally get the first full look of New Donk City Hall. Basically; it's a tower. The music is Jump Up, Superstar! without the lyrics. But wait, some of the band is shown in platforms and a few of the fighters tag them and out comes Pauline on a platform. Cloud tags her and then the song goes from no lyrics to Pauline singing the song for real. When the platform comes down from the tower, it is at such an angle that everyone should have been KO'ed on the spot. Logic break, people! I cannot wait to see how this gimmick would work when a different song is played, most of all one with different lyrics. Also, the old Smash 64 stages are coming back as there are now 103 stages in Ultimate, 100 if you discount Battlefield, Big Battlefield and Final Destination. They also showed the stage selection screen and Sakurai claims that every stage has three different versions of it and the total surpasses 300. Now; here's a problem: Battlefield, Big Battlefield and Final Destination already have their Battlefield and Omega modes by proxy. So, what would be the Battlefield alternatives for Battlefield and Big Battlefield? And what would be the alternative Omega mode for Final Destination? Are these stages only having two forms? This was never addressed. I originally penciled in Big Battlefield as the alternate Battlefield stage and it's Omega mode to be part of Final Destination. That would make the most sense and save a stage slot. But alas...
Now, I think for Battlefield, the alternate BFM might be Miiverse now! It's Battlefield with a Miiverse motif on it. Sure, Mii Verse loses Omega mode, but it's not like Miiverse was a great stage anyway minus the pictures gimmick. As for Final Destination; how about a revamped version Meta Crystal from Smash 64? I have no clue about Big Battlefield's alternative though. So, we see Golden Plains and we discover that all 103 stages are ready from the start. Also; as expected from the E3 demo; the stage hazards can be toggled. Also, like the fighters, the stages are in chronological order of Smash Brothers game. And there is one more thing left as we head to Brinstar as Pac-Man, Fox, Roslina, and Link are having their usual battle and then suddenly, the Castle Seige morphing effect occurs out of nowhere. Wait, what?! Suddenly; the stage reappears as Skyloft and this was the biggest surprise of the entire Direct right there. We discover that you can now have battles in which you can play in two stages rather than one. You can only select one additional stage to morph into, but it can be any stage you want, even if it's in Battlefield or Omega. It can be randomized, or timed to one minute. Stage morphing is not really new since Castle Seige's gimmick is the same thing, only with three stages. However; I wonder if additional stages will morph without the player's say? We already have Echo Fighters. What about Echo Stages? For example: Brinstar morphs into Planet Zebes from Smash 64? Corneria morphs into Sector Z from Smash 64? Sector Z and Corneria are similar to each other. Mushroom Kingdom 64 morphs into Mushroom Kingdom Melee? Heck; this might even explain Dracula's Castle having two versions. One final thing before I go on; there is an official Smash Brothers video demonstrating the new morph as when the stage morph; the song's title is also shown. (I mention this because the E3 demo doesn't reveal that at the beginning of fights.) So, we also get the new Rules Set Menu for the first time. So, not much of note; except Time Battles can be shown to at least thirty seconds of time. I'm wondering about Custom Balance though; what is it? Maybe customized moves are still around after all in some form. Huh. Also; you can turn off pausing the game, too. They show off three more examples of stage morphing, including two where they fast-forwarded the morphing. I don't know why; maybe for time of the video. They showed off Paper Mario and Mute City SNES during this.
Segment 2: My Music
Yes, it's back and now you can take it on the go. Splatoon will have at least 23 songs, with four of them shown. The features are more or less the same as My Music for Wii U/3DS; except for the sort feature on top. However; a major house rule change is coming to how music is played: In previous games, the songs are tied to the stage. Now songs are tied to series; meaning, a song from their series will play on any stage as long as it's from that song's series. I cannot wait to see how this applies to certain stages like Hanenbow; which has zero songs, since the stage's gimmick is tadpoles bouncing off objects to make music. Oh; and let's do a dramatic announcement that this game has over 800 songs and probably many more to come. By the way; Menu music doesn't count in the number. We also see Dreamland GB for the first time and we get the first look at the Sound Test option. Metroid has 25 prices of music so far; including one from Metroid Federation Force and Metroid: Samus Returns. Yoshi series has 14 songs, Kirby has 39 songs, Star Fox has 17, Wii Fit has ten, Final Fantasy and Mr. Game & Watch has two songs each, Street Fighter has 36 and Other has 97 songs. We also get the Sounds menu as you can create playlists; which makes no sense unless...you are bringing back the MP3 Player feature Nintendo 3DS has. And that's exactly what they did with the drawn out scene of a person preparing to play the new remix of Luigi's Mansion theme. The only other thing of note is a submenu feature; but that wasn't addressed. We get a shot of the Smash Brothers Music portion of the official website and I recommend this just to play Gangplank Galleon alone. It's awesome! I'll explain why when we get to the big King K. Rool reveal. More selections to come weekly as we head to launch.
Segment 3: DA RULES (FAIRY GODPARENTS~!)
So after Sakurai is shown again, we get DA RULES (FAIRY GODPARENTS~!) section as the rules are selected first this time, then stage and then fighter. You can also select previous rules already used through rule sets. Stamina battles are now part of standard battles; which means Stamina battles can be both stock and timed battles at the same time. Even Smash is becoming a hybrid. There are options for stage rules: Order, Loser picks, Preset Order for player and random, battlefield/omega hybrid, battlefield only, omega mode only for stages. Finally; Sudden Death is officially explained as it's basically the Squid Sisters assist trophy with artistic flames that don't do anything. What they don't tell you is that when the screen is fully zoomed in, Bomb-ombs fall later. Snake beats Roy! This scene was notable for using the Japanese version since it uses Game Set instead of Game. Ooops! Compared to the 50-Fact Direct, Nintendo has done a much better job with continuity and errors. They also show more of the rule sets menu which contains the toggle for items and random stage selection, and there is an advanced rule set option. The Final Smash meter is the one that interests me because once the meter is full; that means you can use a weaker version of a Final Smash without using a Smash Ball. This can be toggled off though. Final Smashes cannot be used at the same time; but that's actually more dangerous because you are use them one after the other.
Segment 4: Battle Modes
Oh; and they are adding new modes to the Smash portion of the game. I should also point out before I go on that 8-player is standard now; it's no longer a separate option like last time. The first mode is Squad Strike which is a 5V5/3V3 Surivior Series-equse style elimination battles. Two players can play all five members of a team; or it can be up to three players or five players a side alternating. Also; there is a local multiplayer version of the Tournament mode seen on-line with Super Smash Brothers for Wii U/3DS. Mario is getting more and more pissed off as this is going on. CPU's can get added as well, up to 16-32 slots are available. Smashdown is basically; play four fighters for one match and then in the second match, you can only select the fighters that haven't been selected. Rinse, lather, repeat. And finally; Training Mode uses a unique stage that is otherwise unplayable. It's straight out of the Street Fighter training modes and some elements were previously used in Project X Zone 2 which featured Ryu and Chrom. One interesting thing of note is that there is literally zero KO zones in the stage. And both Battlefield and Omega stages are in the stage at the same time! Training mode was the best thing in this segment, just because of that. Also; the background even show the mathmatics depending on damage and mass. Finally; they talk about Classic Mode. No, not really. It's basically the old Classic mode after all the fanfare of the Wii U version. It does have a few more stages than 3DS, but outside of the boss marker and treasure markers; there's nothing of note. By the way; the Evil Rambling Mushroom makes an appearance and Kirby has a mushroom on his head. Sadly; they will not bring back title bonuses like in Melee and 64; at least not from the footage that I have seen. It appears that the opposition will not be totally randomized as in previous games either. The gold symbol is a treasure chest, but what is the final red symbol?
Segment 5: Items, Pokeball Pokemon & Assist Trophies
Now, this is the kind of segment I like. Speculating about the fighters is not exciting because everyone makes a fuss about that. I love to dig into the Smash Brothers game itself and see all the references and stuff that everyone else ignores. Because that is what Smash Brothers is about! Banana scene changer and Donkey Kong has found the dreaded BANANA GUN OF DEATH! He grabs it and in comes Diddy Kong clapping his hands and having fun. Don't go there, Diddy! DK has no expertise in firearms! Don't....rats, too late. The Banana Gun fires just one bullet and becomes a banana peel. I'm certain Banana Peels will return in this game by themselves too. Donkey Kong shrugs like an idiot and we officially begin the items segment repeating the item Donkey Kong just used. Also of note: The new Donkey Kong song was extended and not only does it play the Bonus Room song; it also plays the Stage Select from Donkey Kong Country, so it's really a medaly. Next new item is Fire Emblem mainstay: Killing Edge, when it glows, it basically does Marth, Lucina and Roy's Final Smash, only without the Fire Emblem meter. So, we now have Echo Items! What's next? Echo Pokemon? Echo Assist Trophies? Bomber returns and Little Mac is a pro wrestler now. Death's Scythe equals instant KO at high precentages, which is an Echo of several stage hazards (Lava in the Great Cave Offensive, the Squash move in Midgar's stage etc.), Little Mac's KO Punch, Ridley's Heart Kill strike, and maybe a few others. Staff is next; based on the Insight Staff from Kid Icarus. There has been little Sakurai bias in this Smash Brothers, mostly because most of it that came from the previous game is already in this game in some form. Staff does little damage up close, but massive damage the further you are from the user. Rambling Evil Mushroom is an item after mass confusion on weither it was an item or an enemy or an assist trophy. It's like Lip's Stick; only a mushroom that screws up your controls. Duck Hunt Dog is such a dick, as usual. Finally; the Rage Blaster does little damage if your percentage is low; but much higher if your percentage is high. One final note; in the new video where they showed the stage morphing; I was able to confirm that Pitfall and POW Block are returning, as well as Lip's Stick; although I expected that one since the Flower Drain was also coming back.
Next up...we head to Tortimer Island as a red Pokeball has dropped. Who knows what is inside? Captain Falcon approaches the Pokeball. He grabs the Pokeball. He throws the Pokeball. It bounces and out comes... Alolan Exeggutor, probably the tallest Pokemon ever in this entire game and you can use it to make your fighter climb it's stem. If AE can make it; then Doshin The Giant can be an Assist Trophy. He might very well be. We also get our first remix of a Pokemon Sun/Moon song. Abra teleports you anywhere it well damn pleases; this one was shown in the E3 demo. Already seen Solgaleo and Lunala in the E3 demo. The dream is dead as Mimikyu is a Pokemon who has a one-hit KO move. Too bad; it made more sense as an Echo Fighter since it's a poor Pokemon's cosplay of Pikachu. Sad! Pyukumuku counters Bowser Junior's raspberries. And Alolan Vulpix joins and regular Vulpix? There's your Echo Pokemon. I just thought of something: Meowth is coming back; will there be a Alolan version of him in the game; even if it does the exact same move as Meowth? Marshadow also joins in with lots of shadow ghost stuff. And then we get the second biggest surprise in the entire Direct: FREAKING DITTO~! Ditto was going to be in Super Smash Brothers Melee; but was cut out and no one knew what it did. I speculated that it was to mimic the character...and that's exactly what this Ditto does. And unlike previous Pokemon, Ditto can be attacked and probably KO'ed. If that is true, than is it possible Pokemon can be bosses themselves? I know Rayquaza was a boss in Smash Brothers Brawl; but he was never a Pokeball Pokemon. Even funnier; it wasn't a fighter who attacked it, it was an Assist Trophy and it wasn't any ordinary Assist Trophy either. It was...Zero?! HOLY CRAP! And they're playing the introduction music to Mega Man X?! This game really is a PORN~! And apparently; Zero has an English voice and it's not the same one Zero had in The Day Of Sigma; so maybe it was another Fighter's voice? I really don't know. By the way; when they showed Zero again, he clipped right into Mega Man and created a meme out of it. That had to be on purpose. That was really only the third mistake they have made in the previous two Directs.
So, the next one is Knuckles, which was shown at E3 along with a screen shot with Sonic on the official website. Next; the Ice Climbers get a taste of their own medicine from Krystal who got the same thing happen to her as Knuckles. We finally get a little more Donkey Kong represention as we get Klaptrap; who was a previous stage hazard in this game; similar to the POW block. Kapp'en and his evil bus arrives to bump into Mario; Mario takes a bump into the windshield and lands in the back of the bus and gets driven away for the KO. Best...Assist...Trophy...Ever! Where's Isabella? Next up is Chef Kawasaki and he does...Kirby's Final Smash from Smash Brothers Brawl?! Wow; just wow. That gives me hope that Barbara comes back now. Since Snake is back; so is Gray Fox with a new shield. I'm guessing Rob Paulsen's archival voice samples are coming back; unless Rob is going to voice new sample for the game. Highly unlikely; but then again, Cam Clarke voices Corrin and Ginny McSwain was voice director for Pit. The WTF Assist Trophy goes to none other than Nikki from Swapnote; basically doing the Echo version of Pictochat's stage. Sort of. Then, the third biggest surprise of the Direct: Shovelknight is an Assist Trophy! And nothing can KO him; not even the bloody moon from Majora's Mask; who is also an Assist Trophy! I betcha it will work just fine in Great Bay; which is why I think Pyrosphere would still work even if Ridley is a fighter now. It's not like you cannot have eight Ridleys in the same stage anyway now. So, we finally show that the dreams of Ashley being a fighter are officially dead as she is back to Assist Trophy status. However; there is still one more Assist Trophy left and it's the most powerful yet... Scene change to a field that is straight out of Monster Hunter! Uh-oh! A red dragon swoops in and growls and breathes fire as it's Rathalos from Monster Hunter 4! And there is a new stage that looks similar to Dracula's Castle with the throne instead of the casket. Huh. Rathalos is another boss...and he's an Assist Trophy; the first time ever! I have a feeling that he's not going to be the last one either.
Segment 6: The Wrapup
So we head back to Sakurai's office as we get a dramatic look at the opening menu screen, which includes a side menu where the second option is pixelized out as well as a green menu option on the bottom left. The side menu doesn't have much to note as the letter part is notifications, the gear appears to be options, ? is tips, Switch is syncing and the Smash Home Menu on top. The main menu has the usual which includes Games and More, the Vault gaining main menu status and on-line. The menu look compact and looks sweet, a big improvement from the Wii U version; although I also love that this game's loading times are almost non-existant. That's what having game cards can do. Also, the middle shows the original Smash 64 fighters when you first start the game. The Smash menu also shows Special Smash and a controller sync option and this where I discovered that eight player was standard. Squad Strike and Tourney are part of this. I assume Smashdown is in Games & More; along with Classic Mode. As for the bottom left option, Sakurai basically says that he cannot say what it is until probably the next Smash Direct which is pretty much confirmed for late October, given the build towards release. I should also note that the time is also shown on the bottom right. This is something that should be standard on all games. Brave Dungeon has this as well. There have been many theories on what that green option is; and one Twitter account has claimed that the mode is called Spirits. This is interesting because it plays into the reveals of characters getting killed off, like Luigi. Sakurai always loves to tease as does Nintendo, and sometimes it leads to greatness and sometimes it backfires badly. What is this mode? Many have speculated that it's the famed story mode, and it is going to be a cross between Subspace Emissionary from Brawl and Adventure Mode from Melee. Years ago; this would have been blown off; but since the game is coming out globally, spoilers would be reduced to a minimum this time around; and it's not like Sakurai hasn't used the SSE models before since they were used in Smash Run for 3DS. I wouldn't be shocked if it is a Story mode.
I'm almost certain that we are getting a Boss Rush Mode since they are making a big deal of Dracula and Rathalos. I can see the possible here: Mega Man fights eight robot masters (one of them a former Assist Trophy, Elec Man), then the Yellow Devil and then either Doctor Wily Machine of even Zero as a boss. If Rahtalos can do both; why can't Zero? Sakurai has opened a huge can of worms with some of his decisions and now I believe that anything can happen. How about Little Mac fighting DK or even Doc Louis like in Punch-Out for Wii. I don' know about the other characters, where do you put Cloud into this, or the Ice Climbers. Maybe the Ice Climbers start on Icicle Mountain and climb up until the stage morphs and they reach the Summit. Same with Donkey Kong and Rumble Falls. That way; they can be unplayable stages, but they are still here. Hmm; maybe this opens the door to new fighters no one ever envisioned. Nightmare from Soul Calibur 2? (Heck, how about Ralphael from the same game for old times sakes.) Lenneth Valkyrie from Valkyrie Profile? Both play into the spirits theme really well; and both need a second representive for their third party companies. Lenneth even has Hrist as an Echo Fighter and Hrist gets her time in the sun? And what a hell of a way to do it, in the biggest fighting games of all time? Maybe not all stories have fighting. Maybe some have Event elements like in Event mode (I still believe there will be a separate Event Mode; Brawl had one too). Villager for instance, maybe Isabelle is an Echo Fighter; but the winning conditions are different. There is so much mystery in this mode that it could literally be anything and everything mentioned. So, Sakurai wraps up the Direct as footsteps fall and rumbling occurs which goes on well past the fade to black. What the hell was that about? Well; here we go, it's time for what might be the best Smash Brothers character reveal of all time. If you thought DISPLAYING A MURDER, THE END OF A MAN'S LIFE was the best thing on this Direct, this will change all that...
So, the reveal opens with various footage of series of heroes fighting villains from Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Kirby (Who Kirby is oddly fighting Meta Knight and not King Dedede. This actually makes sense later on.), StarFox and Metroid with Samus fighting Ridley (not Mother Brain; even though she is in the game as an Assist Trophy) and then the television set goes dead and we finally see Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong in their treehouse after watching television looking bored. Donkey Kong is so bored that he's literally doing Karate Joe's pose from Rythm Heaven. The Chorus Kids seems to get into every fake rumors for years on end and it never happens. Listen; Karate Joe as a fighter; even an Echo Fighter to Ryu makes sense. The Chorus Kids as an Assist Trophy or even Karate Joe's Final Smash also make sense. The Chorus Kids as fighters? Get out of town, forget about it! Not happening. Of course; they are bored because they cannot fight their big bad in Smash, you see. Neither can Cloud; but that's SquareEnix being SquareEnix. (Yeah; "I'm not going to get burned by Nintendo again" is a strong, valid argument. Even more hilarious since SquareEnix is now mellowing out a lot more since the September Direct and Konami is acting more like Square now post-SNES era.) Neither can Ryu, nor Bayonetta. Shulk at least can fight Metalface as a boss though. Anyhow; we finally hear earthquakes and stomping as the apes look out the window and we get a slow, drawn out shot of a shadow of what appears to be the one villain that EVERY FFREAKING SMASH PLAYER wanted so badly. It's finally going to happen! It's....ZIP!
Clamantha: Told you it isn't happening Gregory. LALALALALALALALALALA!
The shadow unzips his disguise and it's King Dedede just to troll on the fans again. Only this time; no one is fooled because Nintendo isn't that stupid to end a Direct on a troll move like that. Donkey and Diddy look like they are saying "What the hell is this?" as Dedede oversells this troll move like the big dick that he is, rapturing in tears like he is being tickled to death. (This needs to be his victory animation; or one of his taunts. It's awesome!) The best part of this; the international version is exactly the same as the Japanese version. Nintendo once censored Kirby happily rapturing in tears in a previous game and anime characters have been censored when they cried. Because in America, toxic masculinity rules! Or something. Anyhow; Dedede continues this and then the shadow returns and MURDERS King Dedede in the back of the head and he goes flying off-screen. (Clamantha: I'm a penguin!) Apparently; we now got our fourth death in these reveal trailers. The Echo Fighter reveals have been much more in line with Smash then the original fighters. So, finally; the trolling is over and out comes King K. Rool with his belly armor and sumo moves. Crown throwning which the crown is an item as Villager pockets it and bails. King runs on all fours a lot and sounds like a legit crocodile now. He also has the greatest Final Smash of all time now: The Blast-O-Matic from Donkey Kong 64's Over Screen and he not only gets to fire it, he gets to destroy DK Island! Wow, just wow! (Yeah; he finally got to fire his lightning gun, like Don Karnage did in TaleSpin with his own Lightning Gun. The reference is so obvious.) All of this while playing a remix of Gangplank Galleon, which is the greatest remix song ever. If you go to the website; the segment that doesn't play during the reveal trailer has a sequence where someone is rapping in the background, literally out of nowhere. Then we get an epic sequence of King, Donkey and Diddy running towards each other -- on all fours no less --, leap up into the air and punch hands with punching gloves causing a nuclear explosion. (This led to people wondering if this will become a part of the game as custom moves. I cannot make my mind on this anymore.) This is the final Smash Brothers game they will ever make, without fail. When the next system comes, just port this game, add DLC and get it over with. You'll never get to this awesomeness ever again, Mr. Sakurai. And even Mr. Sakurai has said as much. So, the reveal ends with King K. Rool seemly defeated on Jungle Japes. The apes celebrate like they won the Wrestlemania main event, completely forgetting what happened in Donkey Kong Country as King stomps them to the ground and taunts them because it is a ruse! It just had to end this way. No word yet if Donkey and Diddy were killed; but unlikely. I don't rate Directs; but that reveal is full monty status right there. (The final scene was simply adding characters to the mural; and they move characters to make space, so anyone trying to figure out new fighters can give that up now. And no, Mr. Saturn will not be a fighter either, despite the only item shown on the mural.)
Bonus Segment: Isabelle - This came from the September Direct that featured Final Fantasy en masse. And to think; Smash Brothers had to follow THAT and ultimately fell flat. Let me say that I warned people that Final Fantasy 7 was coming to a Nintendo platform pretty much when Cloud Strife was announced for Super Smash Brothers for Wii U & 3DS. Funny how life works out in the end. We also got Katamari Damacy; another game people said was impossible for Nintendo, only because "I'm not going to get burned by Nintendo again" was a valid excuse. To a certain extent, it still is. Anyhow; I expected a character reveal from Super Smash Brothers and this was the main event segment. It probably would have delivered a bigger impact if it wasn't coming just moments after Nintendo tore the hearts out of Final Fantasy VII fans who were claiming that the game was Sony's property, not knowing the difference between ownership and licensing. Anyhow; we begin this one with no cross logo; which was apparenty a way to tease us that Nintendo would finally bring out Animal Crossing and it looked like it would be the new Animal Crossing game. Isabelle is the blond female dog furry working on stuff and doing clerk-equse jobs for a long ass whomping time. I just love the "Not actual game footage" part; despite being in an actual video game. So, Isabelle is tired and we even get the iconic box of "Do you continue or do you rest?" and they choose "rest" this time. Isabelle no sells anyway because she's on star fire, or something. She sits down and is not thrilled with Villager attending Pocket Camp and Super Smash Brothers; even have thoughts of being mayor. I don't recall mayor being an elective position in Animal Crossing; so why not? Isabelle then blows it off; when suddenly there is a knock on the door; as we get the video game version of the TOING sound complete with exclaimation mark. So, in comes a pelican dressed in a green uniform carrying the mail. His name is Pete by the way.
Pete gives Isabelle a letter and the second I see this, I'm like: Uh-oh! I think I know where this is going. If you remember my previous rant: Villager was introduced in Smash when he got a letter from his mail box and it had the Smash seal on the back of the letter. Pete leaves and Isabelle goes to the back and opens the letter. She does the most dramatic slow motion flinging spot you ever see as the Smash logo is on the seal, which makes it official...Isabelle is in Smash Brothers for real! This was actually a really smart character reveal because with Isabelle, they didn't have to spoil nor unintentionally leak anything they didn't want revealed until their final Smash Direct, which is pretty much all but confirmed for the week ending November 2nd; since they revealed the bundles to be released on that date anyway. Plus; by designating her as an original fighter with splash screens and catchphrase, they could throw people off the scent on the major mode in the show because it appears that Isabelle was intended originally as an Echo Fighter an Echo Fighter introduced in this game are mostly jovial; instead of the original characters, which have already seen three Smash characters murdered on-screen (and maybe King Dedede) in the last two major character reveals. So, having a jovial original character is in fact a change of pace. Isabelle was really no surprise at all; she is more over than Villager and she's perfect for Smash. Hey; if Wii Fit Trainer can be in it; so can Isabelle. However; she like Wii Fit Trainer, isn't really much of a WTF character, like Duck Hunt Dog would be; nor Mr. Game & Watch, nor even (if this happens) the evil hands. You can create move sets for Isabelle and be believable even in Smash. So; we get footage of her causing more harm to herself than getting whacked by the opposition. Isabelle has also surpassed King Dedede and Donkey Kong in terms of the goofiest facial expressions you will ever seen. She even stops Sonic with the stop sign and whistle.
She douses the flames of Falco and pops Mario's ear with some party flavors for fun. Pomp Pomps, Loid rockets in the ground, spinning and even a fishing rod ensue. The best one is her recovery move involving a swing and balloons; which is also present in Pokemoin: Let's Go Pikachu/Let's Go Eevee. The final segment of this is Kappn driving Isabelle home with Villager on his Loid Rocket following her and that is that. Watching this out of context was really fun; but after announcing all those Final Fantasy games in the second to last segment of the Direct; this was kind of silly and I was burned out by that time. This was better served shown in it's own segment outside the Direct; but it was a good reveal, if nothing else. And apparently; the rocket explode and Villager vanishes. Wait; so this is how Villager dies in this game? We got a mystery on our hands here. So, after showing the Smash Brothers Ultimate screen; Isabelle jumps down and waves to the crowd and tells everyone that she hopes she is cheered on. Interesting; since there is no sign of "Not Actual Gameplay" here and she's clearly in Onett. So, maybe we will get codecs and conversations after all. Maybe Mr. Resetti will come back as an Assist Trophy. We fade to black and head to someone office featuring the fairest loan shark of them all, Tom Nook! He was just watching the same footage we were and his power goes out. Apparently; this power had been out for a while as he's trying to get his lamp on and it takes five attempts for it to turn over and when it turns over; the entire room is lit. I think this was the scene which got the Direct delayed; which is really dumb in hindsight when you consider that the actual Animal Crossing announcement was literally a ten second still screen. So, Tom Nook is happy about Isabelle being in Smash and now he is hard at work to prepare them to come home and that is that. Tom Nook also has a Switch and probably was responsible for Paid Nintendo On-Line too, knowing him. Or maybe not. If you love Isabelle; you will love this reveal, but I still like it for all the facial animations of Isabelle alone.
THE REVIEW LINE
Welp; this took much longer to write about than I thought and not even half of the game has been revealed yet. The body count is going to rise; I just know it. And despite using a lot of previous models; the more and more I see, the more and more I'm seeing this as a multiple ports of Smash Brothers games blended together that in the end, it becomes a new game by sheer force of will. It's becoming what I describe as a porn~! So, that's it for now until what I suspect is the build to late October/early November when the game will have more details and more stuff left to so. I'm looking forward to it and I cannot wait to play this game now. Maybe Doc Louis will finally get his Assist Trophy; or it might be Spring Man from ARMS. Anything can happen now. Well; almost anything. I doubt Goku is coming since Toei is responsible for their characters, not Funimation. So....
No rating for this one and I'll see you all next time.