Smash 4 History Smash Bros Cast Ep.5

April 6, 2018

1588

Episode 5

Smash 4 History

Developer: Bandai Namco and Sora Ltd
Release Date:
- 3DS
  - Japan September 13, 2014, US October 3, 2014 and EU October 4 2014
- WiiU
  - US November 21,2014, EU November 29, 2014 Japan December 6, 2014

Development

During E3 2011, Smash was announced for the WiiU and the 3DS. Development for the game didn’t start until October of that year. At E3 2012 there was no mention of the game which confused and disappointed some fans because of it being announced a year earlier. Shortly after E3 during a Nintendo Direct it was announced that Bandai Namco was along with Sora, Sakurai’s company, would be developing the game. At E3 2013, Sakurai began posting photos of the game regularly on the miiverse. At first they seemed to be random screenshots with no info, but eventually that changed and he began including more info. December 5th 2014, was the last post and you can see all the archived Miiverse posts here. July 2nd, 2012 Sakurai posted a white board drawing to Twitter showing off a number of characters that would all end up in the game. The picture has been removed from Twitter but can be seen here. Zero Suit Samus, Wario, Sandbag, Pit, Pikmin, Pikachu, Mr. Saturn, Mr. Game and Watch, Meta Knight, Marth, Mario, Luigi, Link, Kirby, Fox and Donkey Kong. Initially Sakurai said there would be a single player story mode, but it was later dropped.

Gameplay Changes

One of the biggest changes was the speed of the game. Melee is extremely fast paced and frantic, Brawl was much slower, Smash 4 was faster than Brawl but still slower than Melee.
Melee is an extremely combo heavy game and high level players could easily punish players that left themselves open to it. Smash 4 allows for combos but not to the extent that Melee does. Getting yourself out of combos is much easier in Smash 4, but not as easy as it was in Brawl. Bridging the gap between casual and hardcore is what Smash 4 set out to do, but that does end up making the competitive matches less interesting to watch than Melee.
The much improved online did a much better job catering to players. The casual could play with friends and the hardcore could play For Glory matches. Lag can still be an issue but it’s much better than Brawl.

Competitive scene

Melee’s high level competitive play is unmatched when watching pros play and the skill gap sets players apart. Most Melee players have stuck with Melee because Smash 4 is still more like Brawl and less like Melee. In spite of that Smash 4 has still made its way into the tournament scene.

Character list for Smash 4

Reception

Smash 4 on 3DS is sitting at a 85/100 on Metacritic. The small screen and lack of single player hurt the score some. Some circle pads were also damaged from gamers pushing on it too hard on them. Smash 4 on 3DS is the 8th best selling game on the console at over 9 million units sold.
The WiiU version is a little higher at 92/100 it’s the second highest rated Smash game, Brawl being number one. Smash 4 on the WiiU is the 4th best selling title with almost 5.5 million units sold.

My History with Smash 4

I picked up both games at launch, but the WiiU version didn’t get much play time. I was lucky enough to get the GameCube controller adapter at launch without a preorder, but never picked up the Smash Controllers. My boys were really into to shooters when Smash launched so we didn’t play much together. The younger one did have the game on 3DS so we played that periodcly. Fast forward to 2018 and I can’t put the game down. This game is my regular stream rotation, my son has even started streaming his 2DS on twitch.tv/gavin454. We are competing all the time and it’s awesome having someone in the house to compete with on one screen.

Smash Practice

The last week for me has been all about practicing
I streamed Smash last Saturday and went head to head with viewers. I learned a lot from watching players with higher skill level fight it out.
I was given some advice on stream about Mario’s combos and have been really trying incorporate them into my arsonal.
I have seen massive improvement playing as Mario, I still have a ton to learn, but seeing improvement is what this is all about.
Find a sparring partner and ask for feedback. Ask them if you are too predictable or areas that they think you can improve in. Practice specific moves or combos with them.
Record yourself or save replays and watch them, really critiquing your move choices and look for areas that could use some improvement.
Focus on an area to improve and don’t move on until you feel like you’re getting it.
Have fun!

Smash Resources

Checkout RichaadEB’s Metal Melee

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