Smash Nintendo Direct August 8 august 10 AM EST

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Ok, I needs to talk with y'all.

I'm a fighting game vet. But I never owned a Smash Bros before.

Smash seems to be a new beast for us old fogies. I know the answer is just 'repetition', but how do you advise getting into Smash? Is there the triumvirate of Grapplers, Zoners, and Vortex Smash characters, or is there a whole new way to define characters?

Speaking as someone who adores the series and is pretty decent at it (but not hardcore)...Here's the skinny, IMO.

The best way to get into Smash? Pick a character you think is cool, go into a match, test out your 4 special moves and your smash attacks, then see how far vertically and horizontally your double jump and Up Special can take you, and then just play a whole bunch. Then branch out to other characters you find cool, or ones you've fought who have nifty special moves. Before long you'll be pretty decent at the game.

It's really not hard to get into. As long as you get the gist of "rack up damage % on enemy, then hit them with whatever moves I have that have strong impact" and "Use double jump, and whatever special moves that give me the most horizontal or vertical motion, in order to get back onto the stage after being knocked off", you're gonna be A-Ok.

See, Smash isn't a traditional fighter. While there are some elements of Grapplers/Zoners/Rushdown type characters, this isn't all that important outside of the highest tier of play. Yes, Palutena can keep people at bay with a ton of projectiles and reflectors, and yes, Fox and Sonic can approach real fast to lay down the hurt, but it's not quite at essential to the genre as other fighting games.

Smash is more of a platformer game expressed as a fighter, with so much potential for random chaos (depending on the stage and what items you've enabled) that it's basically a goofy party game except at higher levels of play. The goal is not "Find opening and then combo combo combo", it's more about reading the battlefield (Other players, hazards, and items) and then doing a series of smaller skirmishes across the stage until your enemy's damage % is high, at which point you go for the kill.

Honestly, it comes pretty naturally to you after an hour with friends, at which point you're pretty much good to go to become a good player.

TLDR: Don't worry too much. It's not a game you need to spend hours in training mode to be good at. Just pick toons you think are cool and you'll get good pretty quick.

 

[Sonmi]

I've got pretty much all I want from Smash Ultimate at this point.

All that's left for it to be the perfect game for me would be a functional Online Tournament mode.

Porky Minch and Slime as playable characters would make the whole thing even better, but at this point, I'm fine with the roster.

 

[Erttheking]

Dark Samus playable?

Fuck the hell yes.

Between that, the stages, the awesome music (I smiled like a madman when it was said the music team were fans of the Castlevania music, they GET it), the fuck load of stages (Stage transitioning was a master stroke of genius) and that one stage they haven't announced yet (story mode, PLEASE be story mode) this game looks, well, fucking amazing.

Slightly worried that some of the assist trophies seem a tad OP, but honestly it's barely a blip on the radar.

 

[Sonmi]

and that one stage they haven't announced yet (story mode, PLEASE be story mode)

There's only one character fighting Rathalos on that "stage" and there doesn't seem to be any pits, I'm fairly sure it's a boss fight in an adventure mode.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Ok, I needs to talk with y'all.

I'm a fighting game vet. But I never owned a Smash Bros before.

Smash seems to be a new beast for us old fogies. I know the answer is just 'repetition', but how do you advise getting into Smash? Is there the triumvirate of Grapplers, Zoners, and Vortex Smash characters, or is there a whole new way to define characters?

Speaking as someone who adores the series and is pretty decent at it (but not hardcore)...Here's the skinny, IMO.

The best way to get into Smash? Pick a character you think is cool, go into a match, test out your 4 special moves and your smash attacks, then see how far vertically and horizontally your double jump and Up Special can take you, and then just play a whole bunch. Then branch out to other characters you find cool, or ones you've fought who have nifty special moves. Before long you'll be pretty decent at the game.

It's really not hard to get into. As long as you get the gist of "rack up damage % on enemy, then hit them with whatever moves I have that have strong impact" and "Use double jump, and whatever special moves that give me the most horizontal or vertical motion, in order to get back onto the stage after being knocked off", you're gonna be A-Ok.

See, Smash isn't a traditional fighter. While there are some elements of Grapplers/Zoners/Rushdown type characters, this isn't all that important outside of the highest tier of play. Yes, Palutena can keep people at bay with a ton of projectiles and reflectors, and yes, Fox and Sonic can approach real fast to lay down the hurt, but it's not quite at essential to the genre as other fighting games.

Smash is more of a platformer game expressed as a fighter, with so much potential for random chaos (depending on the stage and what items you've enabled) that it's basically a goofy party game except at higher levels of play. The goal is not "Find opening and then combo combo combo", it's more about reading the battlefield (Other players, hazards, and items) and then doing a series of smaller skirmishes across the stage until your enemy's damage % is high, at which point you go for the kill.

Honestly, it comes pretty naturally to you after an hour with friends, at which point you're pretty much good to go to become a good player.

TLDR: Don't worry too much. It's not a game you need to spend hours in training mode to be good at. Just pick toons you think are cool and you'll get good pretty quick.

Dude, I've seen the highlight reels. Smash moves in a kinetic speed that I can't think of ONE single fighter that comes close.

It's daunting. It's the first game in a long while that look completely daunting. And I used to play Punch Mania: Fist of the North Star

 

[totheendofsin]

I can't believe Luigi is fucking dead

seriously though Simon was kind of expected but Richter, Chrom, Dark Samus, and MOTHER FUCKING KING K ROOL completely caught me off guard, at this point I'd be fine if there were no more characters but Sakurai implied there were still more to come

people are now speculating that the characters dying in the reveal trailers is actually going to tie into some kind of story mode

 

[Hawki]

I'll be honest, the cinematic trailer looked more interesting as a potential Castlevania game.

Anyway, haven't played SSB since Melee, so don't have a horse in this race, but I can't help but wonder why there's yet another set of guest characters while other Nintendo IPs have no playable heroes in Smash Brothers still.

 

[Yoshi178]

That was Amazing.

Masahiro Sakurai is quite possibly the greatest video game developer of all time!

 

[Yoshi178]

Ok, I needs to talk with y'all.

I'm a fighting game vet. But I never owned a Smash Bros before.

Smash seems to be a new beast for us old fogies. I know the answer is just 'repetition', but how do you advise getting into Smash? Is there the triumvirate of Grapplers, Zoners, and Vortex Smash characters, or is there a whole new way to define characters?

Speaking as someone who adores the series and is pretty decent at it (but not hardcore)...Here's the skinny, IMO.

The best way to get into Smash? Pick a character you think is cool, go into a match, test out your 4 special moves and your smash attacks, then see how far vertically and horizontally your double jump and Up Special can take you, and then just play a whole bunch. Then branch out to other characters you find cool, or ones you've fought who have nifty special moves. Before long you'll be pretty decent at the game.

It's really not hard to get into. As long as you get the gist of "rack up damage % on enemy, then hit them with whatever moves I have that have strong impact" and "Use double jump, and whatever special moves that give me the most horizontal or vertical motion, in order to get back onto the stage after being knocked off", you're gonna be A-Ok.

See, Smash isn't a traditional fighter. While there are some elements of Grapplers/Zoners/Rushdown type characters, this isn't all that important outside of the highest tier of play. Yes, Palutena can keep people at bay with a ton of projectiles and reflectors, and yes, Fox and Sonic can approach real fast to lay down the hurt, but it's not quite at essential to the genre as other fighting games.

Smash is more of a platformer game expressed as a fighter, with so much potential for random chaos (depending on the stage and what items you've enabled) that it's basically a goofy party game except at higher levels of play. The goal is not "Find opening and then combo combo combo", it's more about reading the battlefield (Other players, hazards, and items) and then doing a series of smaller skirmishes across the stage until your enemy's damage % is high, at which point you go for the kill.

Honestly, it comes pretty naturally to you after an hour with friends, at which point you're pretty much good to go to become a good player.

TLDR: Don't worry too much. It's not a game you need to spend hours in training mode to be good at. Just pick toons you think are cool and you'll get good pretty quick.

Dude, I've seen the highlight reels. Smash moves in a kinetic speed that I can't think of ONE single fighter that comes close.

It's daunting. It's the first game in a long while that look completely daunting. And I used to play Punch Mania: Fist of the North Star

Smash Bros fighting is more comparable to Sumo Wrestling in that all you're doing is racking up the opponent's damage and trying to knock them out of barrier rather than KO them.


as for what fighters, the characters are all different and all have their unique traits. even the echo fighters feel different to the characters they're echoing. for example Lucina is Marth's Echo fighter, she has the same moveset as Marth, but Marth has a critical point where he's strongest attacking at the tip of his Sword and it's better to play with him at a distance from your opponent.

Lucina isn't as strong as Marth but her strength is all throughout the whole length of her Sword and not just the tip so she can play up closer to your opponent better than Marth.


But overall Agix Dragon said there's no 1 good fighter, they all have they're different strength's and weaknesses. just pick your favourite character, learn how their moves work and practice with them.




some fighters are quick, light and speedy like Shiek and Sonic, others are heavy up close fighter's like Bowser and Ganondorf, others are long ranged projectile focused fighters like Captain Olimar & Samus, and other fighters can reflect projectiles such as Fox and Falco.


the more you practice with a fighter the better you'll know how to use them and knowing how to play a character also helps you know how to counter them as well.

just pick the character you like and go from there.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

That was Amazing.

Masahiro Sakurai is quite possibly the greatest video game developer of all time!

I don't know about that, but what I do know is that he's a mutant who does not age. Some whisper he is in fact getting younger again.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

That was Amazing.

Masahiro Sakurai is quite possibly the greatest video game developer of all time!

I don't know about that, but what I do know is that he's a mutant who does not age. Some whisper he is in fact getting younger again.

Why does he look the oldest at 23?.....

 

[Hades]

Spoiler: smash's fanbase right now

These reveals honestly sound like fan-made mods that would be made back in the brawl days. It's glorious! especially the character reveal trailers, really brilliant animation.

I guess you could say this is smash's Finest Hour.

''Now I have the power, this is my finest hour''

Gosh he really needs to sing this whenever he grabs the Smash ball.

 

[Kitsune Hunter]

Damn, that was a really good direct.

Simon and Trevor were a nice surprise, as well as stage swapping, I had no idea that was a possibility, but I'm glad it was. Also, if that blurred out part of the main menu is what I think it is, then I'm very tempted to buy it day one instead of waiting for Christmas. I mean it has to be a story mode otherwise they wouldn't be building up this hype and mystery around it. Although the real question is it going to be like Adventure mode from Melee or something similar to Subspace Emissary.

EDIT: I meant Richter, got the two missed up

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Dude, I've seen the highlight reels. Smash moves in a kinetic speed that I can't think of ONE single fighter that comes close.

It's daunting. It's the first game in a long while that look completely daunting. And I used to play Punch Mania: Fist of the North Star

This is a weird feeling.

For ages, I've heard over and over "Smash is a casual game, it's not a real fighter, except melee because wavedashing (a glitch) makes it the only one that's not slow as hell", and I've generally treated it that way (somewhat casually), and now I have a fighting game vet here saying that they're worried about being overwhelmed by the kinetic speed.

I'm...Legit not sure how to react here. I feel like my life experience has been counteracted by someone who has had the exact opposite experience. XD

Like...To give my perspective, I get overwhelmed by a lot of other fighting games because of the large amounts of inputs and frame buffers and long combo strings that are needed to be competent, so smash being "launch and jump" based was always easier for me to grasp.

Outside of Smash, the only fighting games I've ever felt decent at (not great, just decent) are the first Blazblue (Where I mained Noel, the easiest character), one of the Naruto fighters (Where all combos are just different strings of A and B alone), and the recent Switch release of Pocket Rumble (which simplifies the 2D fighter down to just the fundamentals. The longest combo is basically 4 button presses and a few simple diagonal stick taps). Put me in front of a Street Fighter or Marvel VS capcom game and I'll get reamed by anyone with even the slightest bit of skill. XD

So...I honestly don't know what to say other than "It's a lot easier to understand and 'read' than most other fighters, don't worry too much", which as you've stated doesn't do anything to help.

...I mean...Technically you can google the "Super Smash Land" fangame, which is a Gameboy-esque de-make of the series and cut your teeth on that, I guess?

Edit: Actually, now that I boot up Super Smash Land again...It actually feels more complicated than the regular smash games, just because the 2 button input scheme makes your moves change completely between the air and ground, where in the proper smash games your special moves remain consistent whether you're in the air or not. XD

 

[Yoshi178]

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

PEPE....Disgusting looking art