Thoughts on Smash Tour

Smash Tour is the primary exclusive mode in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. It's the counterpart to Melee's Adventure Mode, Brawl's Subspace Emissary, and most certainly ... for 3DS' Smash Run, but it doesn't quite fill the same gameplay niche as any of those. Instead it operates as a sort of Mario Party equivalent, allowing players to run around three fairly small, fantasy-inspired boards while collecting characters, competing in various Smashes, and sabotaging each other's victory. Ultimately this culminates in a final battle where the fighters you've been collecting thoughout the round serve as your stocks (lives). Victory goes to whoever can complete this final Smash with the highest score. Sounds pretty cool right?

Too bad its held back by a plethora of bizarre creative decisions. Most people will cite the randomness of the mode as its biggest downfall, but that's actually only a small part of the problem. Smash Tour comes across doughey cinnamon bun with no icing: half-baked. That's really disheartening for something which is supposed to be the main draw of the game. Smash Tour and Event Matches really are the only things keeping SSBfWU from being a full-priced HD upscale of SSBf3DS. More attention should have been given to it on that basis alone. The sad thing is how easily Smash Tour could have been made great.

Right off the bat you have the maps, which don't represent any specific game world. Kind of a huge step back for a franchise built to celebrate Nintendo's IPs. I get that every iteration of the franchise has had some unique content, and that's fine. These generic Smash Bros. maps are cool as being just that. Would It really have hurt to include a few more boards, though? Even if we only got... let's say nine so they could be presented at twelve (that is, the number of characters in the original Super Smash Bros.). A Super Mario Bros. board, a Legend of Zelda board, Kirby and Pokemon, why not an F-Zero board? That would be neat.

The developers wouldn't even have needed to do that to make Smash Tour a worthwhile mode. All they had to do was look at the kinds of options they already have in the other modes and maybe look at what made the early Mario Party titles fun and successful. First off is the clarity. In Mario Party the spaces are large, larger than the characters walking on them. This helps players to identify at a glance what each space will do to them or to the board. Blue spaces will give them money, red spaces will take their money, green spaces will trigger an "event". In Smash Tour the spaces do things, they have symbols... but those symbols are far too small to discern. Players are expected to study the board while traveling, while all sorts of nonsense is happening around them. This is really difficult to do, even moreso because the spaces are constantly changing the effect they'll have on players and some spaces have a random effect on player's stats that can be either good or bad at the whim of the game. Something here needs to be changed. Either the spaces need to consistently perform the same function or they need to be easier to identify. How would I have done it? Well...

In Smash Tour the primary objective is to collect power-ups which will enhance your stats in battle. There are six categories each with their own identifying symbol and color: a green boot for speed, a yellow wing for jumping ability, an orange boxing glove for attack strength, a red comic book explosion for special attacks, a purple hammer for "arms" which (I think) enhances the weapons you use, and a blue shield for defense. These icons all float on the spaces of the board, making everything look really busy and cluttered. It probably would have been a better idea to just make the space's color reflect the stat it would enhance. Step on a red space? Get better special attack. This would have really cleaned up the board and made the play area much easier to take in. Character icons and trophies (which serve as items) could still float on their spaces as those are actual collectibles, but there's no reason for all these stat boosts to be hanging around.

The biggest pain in the neck when it comes to Smash Tour also happens to be one of the most fun aspects under the right conditions: enemy encounters. Nabbit, Ridley, Banzai Bill—all of these and more will sometimes walk onto the map. They each serve a different function and it can be fun adjusting your tactics to their appearance. The problem is, their appearance is completely random. Sometimes players can find themselves inundated with chance encounters, other times they'll go weeks without seeing that damn Metroid. This is a problem, and one the Mario Party franchise managed to avoid in its very first outing. All that had to be done was to include a color representing, instead of stats, an "event". Stepping on spaces of this color (let's use black) would trigger Metal Face somewhere on the map, would cause Kamek to change the checkpoint locations, etc. The specific event triggered could be random, but allowing players to know when one will be triggered and allowing them to actively have a go at this trigger would have made the game (and its associated Challenges...) a much more bearable experience.

Last, but not least, in this poorly planned playmode: the lack of customization and the extreme monotany of the mini-games included. I suppose these are two separate issues, but I feel like they tie into each other pretty well. Tackling customization first, Smash Tour should be subject to the same customization options available to the standard Smash mode. Players should be allowed to designate what items can appear in Smash matches, the frequency with which they appear, the stages which the game is allowed to randomly thrust players into, and the duration of each mini-game. As it stands now, mini-games have a very short time limit, which really hinders the experience. Smash Tour also features enough unique gameplay to have its own list of customizable functions. For starters, players should be permitted longer runs. Currently the maximum number of turns any single game can be played for is twenty-five. There is no reason this should not be able to go up through infinity (I can see drawing a limit at nine-hundred ninety-nine) with the players able to (in infinity games only) launch the final Smash at any point they choose. Players should also be able to designate what kind of mini-games can appear throughout the round, and what rules the final bout should follow. Should it be point-based as it currently is? Should it be all about collecting the most characters and see who's the last-man-standing in a stock match? Well, that should be up to the player.

Mini-games, as I've been calling them (although there's only three actual "games"), are triggered when one or more players bump into each other during a turn. This is fine. Awesome even. It's a really cool mechanic, and it works as a way to differentiate itself from the end-of-turn mini-game formula common of the genre. However, the mini-games offered are severely limited. Really, there's only three types: a Home-Run Contest where players compete to bat poor Sandbag the farthest, a single round of Target Blast where players compete for the highest score, and a handful of Special Smash battles that pretty much dominate the mini-game selection. The concept of using Special Smashes for mini-games is great, it's excellent... There's more they could have done with it (everyone is metal, everyone invisible, etc.), but the selection that exists now is generally fine. However, there should have been more non-Smash mini-games, particularly in a game which is full of that stuff already. Some of the Event Matches could have been adapted into great mini-games. Seeing which player can survive the longest while preventing a swarm of Mr. Game & Watches from boarding the Great Fox, competing to complete 10-Man Smash in the shortest time, battling hordes of minions (the likes of which were already programmed for Smash Run) for the highest score, Smash Run itself would have been an exceptional mini-game. On that note, it would have been a cool excuse to bring back the more creative levels of Super Smash Bros. Melee's Adventure Mode as footraces of some sort. There was that Mushroom Kingdom level, and the maze in the Temple of Time, that one level where you have to outrun the F-Zero racers? Those would have all made great mini-games for Smash Tour and would have been an excellent way to prevent the game from being flooded with pretty typical Smash matches. I mean, this is a distinct mode for a reason. It should feel like one. While I'm thinking about bringing back past elements, why not the boss battles? Even the Stage Bosses from SSB4 itself. Bring back the Petey Piranha battle from Brawl. Just... who can kill the boss first? That would have been awesome!

That's probably the best way to sum up my thoughts about Smash Tour. It could have been awesome.

Stages of Smashing Success! - Part One

All three instalments of the Super Smash Bros. franchise have introduced their own shiny new stages to the battle, but most of the battlefields from before have been lost between games. Sure, some stages are carried over as "Past Stages", but the ones that return are only a small taste of the former glory found in the previous games. In the future I'd like to see Nintendo do away with this concept of "Past" Stages and simply revive previous stages, either with slight adjustments or almost completely as they were before. Of course, I don't think every stage should be revived. Over the next three days I'm going to take a look at the stages of the present and past and put forward the ones I'd like to see in the future.

The original Super Smash Bros. had nine stages for multiplayer and an additional three for the single player game, and one bonus stage for the "How to Play" video that, regrettably, was never playable at all. While three of these stages (Yoshi's Island, Dream Land, and Congo Jungle) returned in Melee, two of them were almost revived in newer stages (Yoshi's Story, and Green Greens) and no original Smash 64 stages were revived for Brawl. This is an awfully sad state to leave these stages!

All images from SmashWikia.

Peach's Castle, as featured in the original Super Smash Bros., is a stage that floats in the sky far above the actual Princess Peach's Castle. What's cool about this stage is that it actually features some kind of tiny tower in the background as part of the floating ballroom, so it indicates that this stage could be some kind of guard tower or aerial bunker. Just fun to think about, yeah?

The stage contains elements from Super Mario 64 as well as one hazard unique to Super Smash Bros.: the bumper. It's a small stage with a lot of charm and two primary battle areas. Being used as the first allied round in the single player mode, Peach's Castle was designed with four-player battles in mind which makes it a solid pick for a game so focused on multiplayer.

*As a cool aside, it would be nifty to see this stage floating in the background of Princess Peach's Castle much like you can see her castle beneath this stage in Super Smash Bros. It might also be cool to include randomly generated battles happening on the background stage. Just a thought.

Donkey Kong's home base in the original Super Smash Bros. was a little floating island with fun elevator platforms and rocket barrels in the middle of the dense woodland known as the Congo Jungle. Here he towered to gargantuan proportions and served as a mid-boss in the single player game. The stage actually reappeared in Melee as a Past Stage, so it has only been excluded from one game in the series so far. That's for good reason. This stage, like most of the other Super Smash Bros. stages is really fun to play on. It has an old-school aesthetic charm that keeps it in the hearts of many.

Hyrule Castle, not to be confused with the later Hyrule Temple, is probably the first stage anybody new to Smash 64 is likely to see. It's kind of the "Welcome" mat for the whole game. Like its Zelda II-inspired successor, Hyrule Temple has the good fortune of being one of the largest stages in the game. It features a number of interesting architectural decisions, such as a purposeless point protruding from a flat level roof, but who am I to judge? I absolutely love this stage, right down to the micro tornadoes that spawn to hound players across the stage.

Planet Zebes never returned in the two Smash Bros. sequels, but it did have a spiritual successor in Brinstar which showed up for both Melee and Brawl. While Planet Zebes didn't feature the awesome destructible platforms of its offspring, it did start the Metroid-stage obsession with rising lava (or acid). It also provided a wider and more diverse playing field than Brinstar and even had a Q*bert throwback in the stage-scaling elevator off to the right.

Yoshi's Island, which is more inspired by the N64 "let-down" known as Yoshi's Story (quick aside: I love Yoshi's Story. And Yoshi's Island DS. Ya'll need to get over yourselves.) than it is by its namesake Yoshi's Island, actually reappeared in Super Smash Bros. Melee alongside its nearly identical twin Yoshi's Story.

Knowing how similar these stages are, with the only real difference being that Yoshi's Story features a more boring platform layout than its predecessor and some cool vanishing clouds, I'd like to see both of these stages return as a single stage under the Yoshi's Story name. I'd rather see this layout replace the boring one from the Yoshi's Story stage, but also work in the Flyguys and vanishing cloud platforms. If they wanted to get completionist about it and include both stages, they could incorporate a page-flipping gimmick for the storybook platform where each page features a different layout.

Actually, I'd like that. That's a really neat idea. The players could have to rush off to the vanishing platform to avoid being page-flipped. It'd be neat. Nintendo do this. Do this right now.

Probably the coolest and most original and not-stupid Pokémon stage is Saffron City, which has been wrongly ignored by all people employed by Nintendo. But I assure you, it has not been neglected by fans. This stage is always one of the first to crop up in fan lists, fan games, and Brawl mods, and it was definitely in the top ten custom stages when the Brawl stage builder was discovered. There's a very good reason for that: this stage rocks.

For starters, it's set in an identifiable place representative of the first generation of Pokémon games. It isn't in some obscure floating stadium in the middle of nowhere and it isn't some kind of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade rip-off. This is in god damn Saffron City. No ifs, ands, or buts. To be honest,  it was probably replaced by Fourside when Melee rolled around, but there are enough differences between the two of them that they feel like totally different areas.

Probably because they are.

The main attraction of the Saffron City stage is the tiny little elevator compartment on the central platform. Occasionally those doors open up and you can huck one of your enemies right on in there. The unfortunate Smashster will find themselves greeted by a charging Pokémon intent on just ruining their day. I'm pretty sure there were about fifteen Pokémon that couldn't pop out of Pokéballs but could rush from this box. That's awesome.

The only unlockable stage in the original Super Smash Bros. was an early version of Mushroom Kingdom inspired by the second Super Mario Bros. game in Japan (known as Lost Levels on this side of the sea.) Unlock its Melee counterpart this stage wasn't super boring (okay, that wasn't fair. I actually like Melee's stage.) It featured a smaller and more connected elevator platform, a radular POW Block, but above all else: warp pipes.

That's right, you could utilize the classic warp pipe in this stage. There were three, but only two could be entered. Occasionally they'd dump you out of a trap pipe and into almost certain death if you weren't Kirby or Pikachu, but that was half the fun. Each character also had their own "using the pipe" animation, and at nine years old it was my personal mission to see them all.

Not only can the pipes be used to escape from your enemies, but they can be used to murder their sorry faces as well. See, not only is there the one trap-pipe that gets all n00bs at least once, but the warp pipes, in true Mario fashion, are home to famished Piranha Plants. These bastards will chomp on anyone unlucky enough to be thrown at them. I'm quite fond of feeding them.

Metal Mario's Stage, also known as Metal Cave, Crystal Cave, Metal Caverns, and a million other probably-wrong names, is unplayable outside of the single player mode and home to Metal Mario, at this time a fierce shadow equivalent to Super Mario who could whip your ass. Hard. Metal Mario was Master Hand's lieutenant, but that was probably by choice, because Glover Sr. had nothing on this moustached menace.

This stage always had a special charm about it, at least to me. There's a lot of mystery behind it. The evil Metal Mario, the location of the stage itself. It's amazing musical score. For such a small stage, it sure packs a punch. While I've been able to pack this stage into Brawl thanks to the magic of mods it really isn't the same. I'd love to play on this stage legitimately, and sooner rather than later. They gave us Final Destination and Battlefield once Melee rolled around. Its time to finish off the Boss Stage Trio, Nintendo.

I have no doubt Battlefield will return in some capacity. It's been loyal to us through three games, although with a slight change of character each time, and I'm pretty sure it'll continue this streak through another iteration of games. I don't really have much to say in its defense then. I just hope they don't try to mix it up by moving the platforms around or adding hazards. That would kind of ruin it.

Did you read the entry right above this one about Battlefield? Yes? Go read it again, but this time replace all instances of the word "Battlefield" with the words "Final Destination." Trust me, it's worth it.

A cool addition, although not really anywhere near my hype-meter. For some reason I've always wanted to play on this Pseudo-Dream Land level known as "Explain." Unlike the previous three stages, which could be accessed in single player, this stage was completely unplayable without a GameShark. It was used exclusively as the stage for the tutorial video. It's got a very simple design, almost like Smashville, and would make a good area for bare-knuckle, no-item matches.

So there you have it, all the Smash 64 stages I'd like to see show up in the next Super Smash Bros. title. Some more than others, but all would be nifty, even if they're DLC. I know it's almost all of the stages in the game, but I honestly feel like they should have never been left out at all. I prefer games, especially games of this genre, to build on what exists before introducing new elements. Brawl was better at this than Melee, but even that ignored so many of these great stages.

Oh, and for those curious, here are the two stages I don't want to return in the future:

Dream Land - Almost exactly like Green Greens, which I prefer.
Sector Z - Actually, I love this stage. I like the aesthetic a lot more than Corneria. However, Lylat Cruise makes it a little redundant. I'd rather show off as many diverse locations for a series as possible, so I think it would be a better decision to include Corneria over yet another space level.

Return of the Smashing Six!

With the next instalment of the Super Smash Bros. series approaching fruition there's a lot of talk and rumours floating about. One that happened to catch my eye was about the characters which had been cut between Melee and Brawl. For those who don't know these characters are: Roy, Dr. Mario, Young Link, Mewtwo, Pichu, and Ditto (hang on, I'll explain this.) For the most part the only two anybody cares about are Mewtwo and Roy, but I was actually disappointed that any of the previous characters had been cut, even if I rarely used them. They added something to cast, gave it color. Maybe they were clones, maybe they were poorly programmed, maybe they had no practical application because they damaged themselves everytime you pushed a button, but I loved them anyway.

I am royally fucking excited to have even the slightest bit of hope that they'll return.

Of course, maybe a couple of adjustments need to be made. After all, Young Link was essentially reincarnated as Toon Link and Mario took on the characters of his M.D.-certified counterpart. So what changes would I make to these returning superstars? Well, let's take a look!

Let's start off with Roy. I know almost nothing about him, but let's start with him! Lord and prince of Fire Emblem 6, Roy has so far starred only in Japanese-exclusive titles. Or title, I think. However, we did get to play as his dad, King/Prince Eliwood, in Fire Emblem for the GBA shortly after Melee aroused international interest in the franchise (which is exactly what it was supposed to do.) Additionally, Roy is set to appear as DLC in Fire Emblem: Awakening which is headed stateside very soon.

In Melee Roy was little more than a move clone of Marth. Same animations, same Japanese voice gimmick, same franchise. Pretty similar characters. However, they did play totally differently. Marth was fast and focused on light jabs and damage-building while Roy was slower, shorter, and packed one  hell of a punch. While both he and Marth could charge their attacks, only Roy could create a Din-rivaling inferno with his.

Generally Roy was replaced by Ike when Brawl came around. There are a lot of similarities between the two, but there's no denying greater differences. While Roy was strong in Melee and had explosive sword strokes his physical abilities pale in comparison to the young Greil. Being a middle-ground between Marth and Ike gives him a nice bit of wiggle room to squeeze in on the action. Also, he was supposed to show up in Brawl but was cut due to time constraints (I blame Sonic.)

How would I change Roy if he were to show up in the next game? As much as I hate to admit it, his costume would be changed to that ridiculously stupid one from FE:A. Roy has always been nothing but a commercial, and Nintendo likes to use the most recent iteration of a character in Smash Bros. as evidenced by the changes in Link. This would, however, give him the advantage of a double-sword playstyle, something we haven't seen in the series yet.

I'd want his core gameplay to remain the same. Average speed, average jumping, moderate-to-strong attacks. That's all good. However, I'd like to see his attacks themselves changed a bit. Probably not too much, but maybe they could Ganondorf him a bit. Just make the attacks look different or something.

For sure I wouldn't change his Up B or Neutral B attacks. I'd make them animate to take advantage of dual swords, but as far as how the attacks are executed nothing should change. Some argue that leaving them unchanged would cement his clone status, but this isn't really true. Marth's Neutral B attack changed from an arc-swing to a stabbing move from Melee to Brawl which would make Roy's Neutral B wholly unique to himself. Changing his Up B to animate with dual swords should make it at least look different enough to prevent it from being too cloney.

Side B and Down B can be changed, definitely. For one, both Ike and Marth use Counter as their Down B, and outside of Fire Emblem Lucario does the same. It would be nice to have a little more variety in move pools. I think it would be neat to show off the other aspects of the Fire Emblem franchise with this attack, such as equipable items. It would be cool to have Roy equip something like an Energy Ring to temporarily increase his strength, either for a limited time, until he takes so much damage, or until he is KOed. His Side B could probably remain the same, as it would show off his dual swords pretty well. Alternatively it could be interesting to show off the "Rescue" mechanic of the Fire Emblem series by having Roy drop-off an ally who could perform a move before leaving the stage.

To be honest, I wouldn't change very much about Dr. Mario. I mean, I probably would have if this question was asked prior to the release of Brawl, but with that came a change in the main man Mario's moveset. I mean, it was a little change, but it was change enough. However, I'm sure this threw some people off a little bit, so what I'd like to do is keep Dr. Mario largely how he was before as a throwback to the way Mario used to play. Kind of like how Falco was originally a recast of Fox from the first Super Smash Bros. when Fox was changed up for Melee.

A lot of people have mentioned wanting Dr. Mario to be an alternate costume for the true Mario, and that would be cool. Not my first choice, but still cool. However, this post is my fantasy, so we're going with my first choice! Ha! (Also, from this point on I'll mention potential alternates. Of course Roy already has two costumes mentioned, so that's sweet.) Instead of Dr. Mario being an alternate costume for true Mario I'd choose something probably along the lines of a power-up, like the Tanooki Suit or one of those radular costumes from Mario Party 2. Cowboy Mario would be incredible.

As for Dr. Mario's alternate costume? Well, this would be a cool opportunity to show off Mario's other career-based game: Wrecking Crew. The theme wouldn't exactly match up with the pills and whatnot, but the Doctor and Wrecker persona actually have a lot in common as far as their roles in the franchise are concerned (both are side-game careers, both are non-hero careers, both are Mario...)

I've thought about how to reincorporate Young Link a lot, bouncing between making him alternate between mask forms from Majora's Mask to being the Link featured in A Link to the Past complete with pink hair. Ultimately I've decided on simply bringing over this pure Kokiri Link, complete with Deku Shield and tiny little sword. However, his moveset would be changed quite heavily to differentiate him from Toon Link, who I would leave unchanged.

This Young Link would be all Ocarina of Time. Though he shared this game with his adult self and starred 100% in his own game later on, this Link is clearly straight from Hyrule as he utilized the Hero's Shield in Majora's Mask. In Melee Young Link is seen using both bombs and arrows, neither of which he can equip in Ocarina of Time. While he can use these in Majora's Mask, that's not what we're drawing from.

One item which Young Link can make use of is the Deku Nut, which makes a satisfying replacement to his Side B. I know that Young Link can use boomerangs in Ocarina, but I want to differentiate him from Toon Link and Link as much as possible. The Deku Nut would act exactly like it does as an item, stunning enemies for a brief time (perhaps long enough for Young Link to properly execute a Smash Attack?)

His Neutral B could be similar to the arrow by utilizing the slingshot instead. However, one thing that could make the move a little more different in execution would be the ability to aim the slingshot's trajectory either higher or lower, similar to a game of Angry Birds. This could help to protect Young Link from enemies who wish to jump at him while he is charging his attack.

The most iconic item from Ocarina of Time just so happens to be... the Ocarina of Time. And a fine Down B this would make. For the unversed, tapping Down and B would pull out the Ocarina, and another tap of B would cause Young Link to play a random song effectively being the Scarecrow's Song. Pierre bursts from the ground, damaging nearby enemies. Occasionally he'll bring healing items such as food, which he tosses upon his emergence.

However, the ocarina is much more than the Scarecrow's Song. To those who are familiar with the tunes of Ocarina of Time, holding B after pressing Down B will let them tap the control stick in any direction to play the ocarina. Up, down, left, and right as well as a few other corresponding buttons can be used to play a variety of songs from Ocarina of Time. These are typically only used for aesthetic cameo purposes, such as changing the stage from day to night or making it rain for a short while (which only has further affects in the Distant Planet stage.)

Young Link's Up B will be largely unchanged, although one additional alteration will be made which will separate it from the attack used by his other forms. Once Young Link reaches the crest of his ascent he will take advantage of a Cucco which can help guide him back to the stage as well as slow his descent. After releasing the B button Young Link will let go of the Cucco and drop at an average pace. The Cucco will then either fall into the abyss or, if it lands on the stage, wander for a bit. It will run off and dive away if attacked.

But that's not all that happens to Cucco's when attacked. While Toon Link and Link share a Final Smash, I thought Young Link could do something different. That Cucco he has is part of a rather large flock. A flock that doesn't like when its kind are harmed. By slashing at it, Young Link could unleash a flurry of furied fowl upon his foes.

Young Link doesn't have much in the ways of apparel in either of his starring roles which makes it a bit difficult to outfit him with an alternate costume. However, OoT does offer us this one thing. Normally I hate making alternate characters as costumes (Daisy, for instance) I can make an exception here. The Dark Link featured in Ocarina of Time is noticeably different from the Dark Links seen as costumes for Toon Link and Link. This one is a true shadow, and was even battled in Melee... the same game from which Young Link was last seen! So it would be cool to have Young Dark Link as an alternate costume, utilizing shadow versions of YL's arsenal.

Mewtwo is one of my Melee mains and I was absolutely heartbroken when he was cut from Brawl. It was a decision that didn't make a whole lot of sense. Mewtwo, as a character, is really popular, and really cool. He's just one of those mysterious characters that draws people into him, like Wolverine and Batman. His motivations and goals aren't always clear. He's the villain learning to be good who, more often than not, teases thoughts of returning back to villainy. Because he prefers it.

The sting was lessened some when it was discovered that he was set to return but, like Roy, was pushed off due to time constraints (again, blaming Sonic.) The largest complaint with Mewtwo was that  his floaty programming made him very light and it didn't work well in conjunction with his slow attack style. Now this isn't an issue in most games, but it does shoot him right to the bottom of competitive play. I think with the tighter grasp of programming we have these days this could be fixed with ease and Mewtwo's physics could easily find a nice balance.

As for his moveset, well, nothing really needs any changing. Mewtwo has a solid combat style the emphasizes who he is, and while some of it was adopted by Lucario in Brawl the adapted moves are all very different. People like to claim Lucario is Mewtwo, but the resemblance isn't even superficial. Especially when it comes to the regular moves list. So there isn't a thing I would change about this guy's style. He's got a good one.

The Pokemon video games don't really give the monsters very much in the way of costumes. Fortunately, Super Smash Bros. seems to draw a lot of inspiration from the anime and that opens up a very obvious door for Mewtwo's alternate costume. In his first anime appearance, Mewtwo Strikes Back, Mewtwo is outfitted with armor that focuses his psychic abilities and has become nearly as iconic as the character himself. Menacing and sinister-looking, this armor would make the perfect alternate costume for the Mental Master of Monsters.

Ah, Pichu. Probably the most hated member of the Melee roster. Unsurprisingly, one I miss more than almost all of the rest. When I first unlocked Pichu there was this euphoric feeling that overwhelmed me. I used the character for years before deciding to focus on a more competitive style. It was cute, it was bouncy, and it was fun. It added a little extra challenge and a whole lot of charm to a game that was already full of heart-warming fuzzies.

I'm not sure if I would change Pichu's move pool very much, if at all. I mean, the whole idea behind the character is that it's Pikachu on hard mode. While normally I hate clones, Pichu takes the clone concept and works with it to accomplish a greater goal. While most clones attempt to be "I'm not a clone because--" Pichu says: "Yeah, I'm a clone. But I'm a damn good one."

What I would change about Pichu is the way it looks. Now don't get me wrong, its generic species look would make a beyond adequate alternate costume, but for its primary costume I have something else in mind. The Spikey-Eared Pichu is a specific character who, other than her namesake ear, is identical to any other Pichu. This is the perfect opportunity to squeeze in an obscure character without really tossing the balance of the game whatsoever while making more than a few Pokefans pretty darn happy.

Don't think Ditto was in Super Smash Bros. Melee? Well, you're almost right. However there is an option in Tournament Mode where you can set your character to generate randomly during each round. The icon they use to represent this option? Ditto. Implying that the random character is actually Ditto transforming into the character.

Now, I don't necessarily want Ditto to be the random slot character at all. I'm partial to my own fantasies of the Fighting Polygon Team taking that slot. However, it could be cool if Ditto could transform into any of his opponents. Now of course Ditto doesn't have any attacks of his own in the Pokemon games, but this wouldn't be the first time Smash Bros. invented its own things. So while Ditto wouldn't have any Special Moves, including recoveries, I'd allow him to have his own set of A and Smash attacks, as well as grapples.

All of his B moves, however, would be "Transform." Depending on the number of players currently available, Ditto's Special Attacks transform him into a different player character.

Up B - Player 3

B - Player 2

Down B - Player 4

Side B - Enemy 5 (in Multi-Man events)

Ditto's taunt, similarly to Kirby's, would revert him back into his true self so that he may transform into another player if desired. I think the addition of Ditto to the roster would be one of those surprise twists the Smash franchise has been used for. Plus, all of his transformations could have his derpy little face on them and it would be awesome. His alternate colors could correspond with the alternate colors of the transformed character (blue Ditto would become Fusion Suit Samus, for example.) Unfortunately, other than alternate colors, Ditto has never worn an outfit of any kind, so we're going to have to stretch a bit for his alternate costume. I would probably just have him wear a t-shirt. Maybe Duplica's t-shirt.

My Biggest Wish for the Next Super Smash Bros.?

I've talked a lot about Super Smash Bros. in the past, even working on my own Fantasy Smash Project from time to time. In the good old days before every single forum on the internet was a breeding ground for Angry-Asshole Disorder, I used to join in on the Smash fandom by registering and participating in basically every Smash themed forum I could find. Those were good old days. A bunch of twelve-year-olds sitting around fantasizing about the most insane rosters they could imagine, debating whether or not a Paper Mario character would be insulting to the Revolution's graphics, drawing crappy little sprite edit stages and slapping a name over them. Oh, those days.

But here I am years later, still thinking about what would give me the greatest nerdgasm from a future Smash title, and I realize something: I don't need new characters, stages, or items. I don't need a lengthy adventure mode, beautifully reorchestrated music, or added multiplayer modes. These are all great things, and if they get skimpy with them I'll be quite sore, but there is one thing that I feel could advance the Smash franchise, or at least the experience, in so many ways. And with Namco working on the next release(s?) there's actually a decent chance of this showing up.

I want a color editor. I don't even want a full costume creator. All I want is a deep and well-thought-out color editor for the roster. The key factor would be to not have the editor remove the existing alternate color schemes, but to simply add a new one. Maybe you could use the shoulder buttons to scroll through the colors, R being for pre-set "official" colors, and L being for custom colors.

This is all I want to enhance my Smash experience. All I want is to change Mario from red to blue or brown or whatever possible color I want. Grab Soul Calibur's immense color array and shove it next to a Nintendo character. Give me free draw and paint bucket tools, and a "barrier" tool to determine where I want the color fill to stop, and I will be the happiest camper on the planet.

This would create the "deep, new experience" a lot of Smashers are craving, and that Nintendo seems to be clawing for. So I say let's do it. Give us the paint tool, Nintendo. It'll make us happy.

Fact of the Day: Meowth, Mewtwo, Pit, Peach, Bowser, and King Dedede - Premature Smashsters

Meowth, Mewtwo, Pit, Peach, Bowser, and King Dedede were all supposed to have appeared as playable characters in the original Super Smash Bros. title for the Nintendo 64. Unfortunately they were cut due to technical limitations.

Three of the characters--Mewtwo, Peach, and Bowser--managed to make the cut for Super Smash Bros. Melee, the second title in the series. King Dedede and Pit joined the roster for 2008's third entry to the series, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but Mewtwo was cut from the title for unknown reasons. Meowth is the only character planned to originally appear in Super Smash Bros. that did not occupy a playable role in later titles.

Meowth, that's ri-eh? Wha-what?

Don't feel too bad for the Kit Kat, though. Meowth has showed up in both Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a summon who can be called forth from a Poké Ball to attack enemy players. He also appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a collectible trophy.

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?

What kind of game do you think the original Super Smash Bros. would have been with the six cut characters? Especially when you consider how some of them were portrayed at the time. Do you think, considering the track record of the other five cut characters, that Meowth has a shot at showing up in the supposed fourth and fifth installments of the series?

Personally, I hope so. Just so I can shout "TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN" in conjunction with "FALCON PUNCH!"