Wow, I was NOT prepared whatsoever for the last character to be Sora from Kingdom Hearts to be revealed as the last DLC fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Though it wasn't a character I was hoping to be in the game, I felt that he has the tools, the history, and the following to make a great addition to the roster; however, I gave zero thought about Sora making it in because he was locked behind Disney copyright gates. What a magical trailer. What an absolutely amazing choice for the last DLC fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Here's what I wrote on Facebook:
(3.5 hours before the Stream):
[Pre-Smash Presentation Rant] - Do not read if you don't want any preconceptions or expectations out of the character reveal.
The final Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC Fighter Presentation will air on October 5th, 7AM PT. No matter who it is, it'll break the internet. I'm still hoping for Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden, but I don't think that's a particularly good choice for a last DLC. A mind blowing reveal would be Master Chief from Halo. A lot of fans still want Sora, but c'mon, Nintendo would have to deal with Disney. If Nintendo wants a shocking and meme-worthy reveal, then Waluigi (and the reveal would be him breaking out of the trophy capsule).
...But what if Nintendo went for the marketing route for the last character? They did put one in Season Pass 1 (Byleth from Fire Emblem Three Houses), but they put two in Season Pass 2 (Min Min from Arms and Pyra/Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2). Would it be possible that they'd put a third one in, and as the last DLC fighter? If that's the case, I'd love to see the Howard siblings from Astral Chain in Smash. Astral Chain's combat is unique that's unlike any other character, leading to a dynamic moveset and playstyle. Also, I just really loved that game (albeit, I still haven't finished it...). This was the character I predicted and wanted when Season Pass 2 was announced. As much as I would like the Howard siblings in Smash, I imagine it would cause a huge uproar within the Smash community (relatively unknown and an obvious market towards Nintendo's games).
Regardless of who Nintendo reveals as their last DLC character, Super Smash Bros. 4 (3DS/Wii U) and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate delivered some of the most exciting character reveals in gaming history and I'm happy for all that it has given us.
See you guys on in a few hours!
(Right when Sora was revealed):
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?! SAKURAI TRULY IS A MIRACLE WORKER! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!
(After waking up from getting more sleep):
[Post-Presentation Thoughts]
This was the one impossible dream I thought Nintendo and Sakurai could not fulfill as it was locked behind Disney's copyright gates. Sora from Kingdom Hearts is definitely one of the most requested characters for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I'll admit, upfront, that I am not a fan of Kingdom Hearts. To reiterate, I WISH I was a fan so I could appreciate the reveal that much more as I've listened through all the music, own every Kingdom Hearts game, BUT I never played through a single one yet...
As the trailer started and the Smash logo blaze withered into a tiny flame, I actually thought it was Demon/Dark Souls which I thought would be a surprising choice. But when Mario throws the flame and it zooms in on the Mickey head keychain for the keyblade, my heart skipped a beat and I was in disbelief. Of all the choices for the last character reveal, Nintendo and Sakurai managed to bring the impossible dream come true character. As that keyhole opened up and Sora drifts into the rest of the Smash Bros. roster, the orchestrated version of Simple and Clean/Hikari plays as I fight back tears (I may not have an attachment to the game or characters yet, but I've listened to that song for half my life by now). Sora's character model looks absolutely incredible and his moveset looks like so much fun (he is going to be annoying to fight against). So how did they manage the whole Disney thing? Seems like Square-Enix, Disney, and Nintendo all agreed that they'll have everything Kingdom Hearts in Smash EXCEPT anything Disney: characters, music, level references, etc. Sora is truly worthy of the last character reveal and the whole experience (of watching the trailer) was kind of magical.
Aside from that, I was also extremely shocked about Doom Slayer added as a Mii Outfit (I am absolutely buying that). Also, it was announced by Sakurai that every Kingdom Hearts game is coming to the Nintendo Switch, albeit through cloud streaming.
It was a bit sad seeing everything coming to an end. The final character reveal, the final smash presentation, and possibly the final game. Perhaps Nintendo will make more Super Smash Bros. in the future, but it's hard to believe any of them ever matching the sheer amount of content and company collaboration as this one. I hope Sakurai can take a break and do something he wants to do: work on a non-Smash Bros. related project (a new game), spend time with his family, or maybe finally get some actual rest.
Thank you Nintendo, Sakurai, and all those involved in the making of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It's been some of the most exciting moments in gaming history.
(And now some of the best reactions I found in no particular order):
These reaction videos are some of the best ones we've seen throughout the years of Smash character reveals with the sheer amount of joy and overwhelming happiness from the fans. Man, what a wild ride. I'm looking forward to playing Sora on October 18th. I should really get around to playing the Kingdom Hearts series, but man...10 games is kind of intimidating...
So the day before the Nintendo Direct and the start of E3's Show Floor opened up, I wrote this post on Facebook:
"I know it, you know it, Sakurai hinted it: there's going to be a Smash Bros. DLC character reveal on tomorrow's Nintendo Direct. The question is, who is it going to be? There was that rumor that the protagonist of Dragon Quest XI was going to be the next character. There was another rumor that suggests Nintendo was working with Square-Enix on a character so maybe DQXI Protag is true, or maybe it's Sora? Maybe it's a Hunter from Monster Hunter to battle the Rathalos? Maybe it's something crazy like Dante from Devil May Cry? Maybe it's Phantasy Star representation? The last time I mentioned Phantasy Star, the series wasn't relevant, but as of yesterday, it's EXTREMELY relevant! Maybe it's a surprise indie character like Gunvolt from Azure Striker Gunvolt or Miriam from upcoming release (next Tuesday!) Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night? Maybe Nintendo thought "screw what Sakurai said, we're putting in Goku!"? MAYBE IT'S MASTER CHIEF FROM HALO? With how things are right now, it's very difficult for Nintendo to make the next character reveal as exciting as the last one. These character reveals can be polarizing. As excited as I was for announcements like Cloud, Bayonetta, and Simon/Richter in the past, I noticed there were a decent amount of people that didn't care for the characters or were upset about it. The reality of it all is that the character reveal tomorrow is going to disappoint someone...I just hope it's not me..... Maybe it's Banjo-Kazooie or Crash Bandicoot like everyone wants and then I'll be left wondering how I feel about it.....?"
This is what I wrote a few hours after watching the Direct:
"Luigi's Mansion 3 looks pretty fun. The first game was both entertaining and frustrating. So while I'm interested in 3, I'm not excited for it. LoZ - Link's Awakening remake looks cute. I'm still not sure how I feel about the art style, but it should be just as fun as the original. Trials of Mana; Seiken Densetsu 3 Remake! Now THIS was the one announcement that got me super excited. Omg, it looks so good. I was also surprised to see they're bringing over the Mana series collection. I've never played Seiken Densetsu 3 (even though I have a fan-translated rom sitting on my hard drive since high school.....) so I'm thinking of picking the collection up. Fire Emblem: Three Houses already pre-ordered, so nothing more to say. No More Heroes 3. Ugh, I wish I had bought No More Heroes 1 & 2 back on the Wii. They were hard games to find and when I did find them, they were kind of expensive. I know it's a series I'd enjoy. It's cool they're making a 3rd one in the main series. Contra Rogue Corps. I've been wanting another Contra game forever, but I have to admit that this one looks kind of ugly. But it has online co-op, so that's good enough for me. I just hope the PC version also has online co-op. Daemon X Machina. I had my pre-order canceled by Amazon for some reason. It might have been done so for all those who pre-ordered it with the 20% off deal so now I have to pay full price. I am super interested in the game, but not sure if I want to pick it up at full price after playing the beta..... Panzer Dragoon. I'm so confused. Is this a Remake? A Reboot? Or an entirely new one? Omg, I'm so ready for Astral Chain. Already pre-ordered. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order does look fun, but I have no one to play it with..... Cadence of Hyrule. As much as I like Crypt of the NecroDancer, It's a stressful game. I'll keep this game in mind, but it'll be lower on my priority list. Animal Crossing: New Horizons looks cute. Probably lower on my priority list considering I never have time to play Animal Crossing games (I barely touched the last one I bought). Oooo, LoZ - Breath of the Wild sequel. I'm reminded that I really should continue playing through Breath of the Wild..... Okay Smash Bros. Time. The Hero. I feel annoyed that this was leaked months ago and that it was accurate. Seriously, leaks are ruining these reveals. I also feel sad that I'm not a super fan of Dragon Quest, having played all the games and really feeling a deep connection to the series. I've always wanted to get into the series, but feel overwhelmed by the amount of hours I'd need to put in to finish it all. I've played a few spin-offs and really liked them and have no doubt I'd enjoy the main series. Still, I thought this was a cool reveal with nice cinematics. His moveset looks like a mix between Roy, Link, and Robin. An even nicer touch, it looks like we get different skins with the protagonists from Dragon Quest 3, 4, and 8 from the default 11. And I know the smash community is sick of sword characters, but I love swords so I'm happy enough with the addition of this character. I think I'd be way more excited if I was a super fan (and I wish I was). Despite that, that main theme! I never get sick of hearing it! Despite not being a super fan of Dragon Quest, I feel like the main theme is one of the greatest, most memorable and iconic themes in videogame. Banjo-Kazooie. I.....had a feeling Banjo-Kazooie was going to make it in. They were an important part of the N64 and really set the bar on what a 3D Action-Adventure game was capable of. And it's obvious there's desire for them in the community. So I felt they had a higher chance of being added to the roster over anyone else. Here's the thing: I used to hope that they would add Banjo-Kazooie in the past because they have a strong tie to Nintendo's history and they have a lot of moves for a somewhat interesting moveset in Smash. HOWEVER, ever since Cloud's announcement, I feel like the possibilities were limitless. All of a sudden, there were a lot more interesting characters that could be added in instead. So it's cool that they added in Banjo-Kazooie, but I also couldn't help but feel like the moveset they've shown are a bit bland. Maybe I'll feel differently when I actually play them. Overall, both characters for smash are cool additions to the game, but I also have to admit that they didn't cause the same amount of excitement in me that Joker from Persona 5 did. As for the rest of the direct, I'm interested in Luigi's Mansion 3, LoZ Link's Awakening, No More Heroes 3, Contra Rogue Corps, Daemon X Machina, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Cadence of Hyrule. I'm already sold on Trials of Mana Remake and collection, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Astral Chain. So overall, I thought it was a good direct showing quite a few games to look forward to."
The Hero from Dragon Quest XI had a strong reaction from Japan while Banjo-Kazooie was a huge deal in the West. I'm happy to have both characters, but wasn't nearly as excited as everyone else. It was nice seeing their reactions and being happy for them.
Oh, except for the announcement of Phantasy Star Online 2, I pretty much reacted the same way.
Oops, I totally missed making a post in October. I can't say I was particularly busy last month as progress for work was slow (finished one audio project) and so was progress on finishing games (finished 5 on record, but 3 of them were extremely short). I don't see myself fulfilling much of my New Year's Resolution, but I'm still working hard to get as close to it as possible. Much of October was mis-management of time, being distracted, and creating lots of characters in Soul Calibur VI. I've barely played single-player in SC6 as most of my time is spent in character creation and playing online with friends.
Besides that, I've started making plans to go on a trip to Japan three months from now. One of the things I really wanted to do out of High School or College was study abroad in Japan, learn the language, learn the culture, and change while I was there (hopefully to become more independent and responsible for myself). That never happened and I often wondered if I still want to do it. It definitely wouldn't be the same anymore as I've changed and so has Japan. So at the very least, I want to visit Japan and experience a tiny bit of it before Olympics 2020 Japan as I'm sure the country is bound to change after the event. Hopefully plans go smoothly and I'll finally get to experience Japan first hand.
Nintendo finally aired their last Smash Direct this past Thursday. Near the end of October, I was hungry for more information on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I wanted to know who the last characters were and what that mysterious mode that was blurred out is supposed to be. Before Nintendo even had a chance to announce a Direct, news reports were blowing up on a supposed "leak" that revealed the last characters being added to Smash Bros. Ultimate. In retrospect, I should've known the leak was fake considering how perfect it seemed. The "leak" was a snapchat picture of all the characters, but it was blurry. Based on that blurry picture, fans speculated that the remaining characters joining the roster were:
-Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog)
-Banjo-Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie)
-Isaac (Golden Sun) "WHY COULDN'T THIS ONE BEEN REAL, DANG IT?!"
-Ken (Street Fighter) "This was the only real one"
-Mach Rider (Mach Rider)
-Geno (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)
-Chorus Kids (Rhythm Heaven)
-KOS-MOS (Xenosaga)
Aside from Mach Rider and Chorus Kids (and maybe even KOS-MOS), all of these characters were highly requested characters by fans during the Smash ballot back on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. I would've been pretty excited and happy for all of these characters. Alas, this was not the case and it caused quite the drama.
So the Direct started out really strong by revealing two new characters: Ken Masters from Street Fighter (an Echo Fighter of Ryu), and Incineroar from Pokémon. The inclusion of Incineroar hinted strongly that the leak was fake. It caused quite a sinking feeling for me and many others when Sakurai said that these were "the last two fighters to join the roster". "Surely, there has to be more?" was going through many people's minds. It went on to talk about Amiibos and then led up to talking about the mysterious mode "spirits" where a large number of characters from many different games act like "equipment" from SSB4 for the player's character to use in Spirit mode.
I liked the idea of seeing so many different characters show up. As the direct explained the gameplay, I thought to myself "this sounds like a mobile game". It sounded potentially fun, but possibly grindy as well. Spirits can be caught, trained, fed, sent out to find treasure, etc. Its main gameplay is essentially a glorified events mode where the player must fight opponents with specific conditions and scenarios and references the spirits. What I like about all of this is all the RPG aspects that gives the player a sense of progression by collecting and getting their characters stronger.
I have mixed feelings about how Online gameplay is handled. Online will allow more flexibility on specific rules the player wants to be matched up with, but it'll also make finding matches potentially more difficult. The ranking system will be universal all around rather than having a specific "ranked" mode (which was For Glory in SSB4). Match making will prioritize making matches closer to where you are to minimize lag. Overall, the changes give the player more control over what kind of match they want to play online.
And then Assist Trophies showed up with the first one being Shadow the Hedgehog, which means he won't be a playable character. They show cased new assist trophies such as Yuri from Fatal Frame from Wii U. And then immediately after that they showed Isaac from Golden Sun, a character I was really hoping on being playable for once. They showed some other cool ones like Guile from Street Fighter, Dr. Wily from Mega Man, and Tiki from Fire Emblem.
The direct talked a bit more about different modes, options, gallery, and Mii Fighter customization and costumes. Then it revealed that they already planned on 5 DLC packs, with each one containing a new character, a new stage, and additional music tracks to go along with it. Unfortunately, they're not going to tell us who are what they are. So it's like every other fighting game where they ask you to put down money on content we don't know anything about. ($5.99 each or $24.99 for all five). If you do buy the season pass, you get Rex's costume for Mii Fighters, additional music from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and characters from it show up as spirits. This made me sad that Rex/Pyra didn't make the cut as playable characters.
So when it got to the part where Sakurai mentioned working on something that isn't completed yet but will be free for those who purchase the game before the end of January, I didn't know what to expect. Many people expected/hoped that it was another character with some individuals believing that it was going to be Geno. I normally watch reaction videos for Smash directs to see other people get excited for the same things I'm excited for. But this time around, I went to see how others felt about the reveal of Piranha Plant as a character. For me, I was only mildy disappointed and confused. But man, were some people upset. The common reactions I saw from watching reaction videos were:
-Incessantly screaming "WHAT?!"
-Being very angry and screaming "WTF?!"
-So shocked/confused that they just stare with a blank expression
-Laughing hysterically
-And the rare one was seeing some of them cry
Here are some of my favorite reactions to various parts of the direct:
Shadow and Isaac deconfirmed
Rex/Pyra deconfirmed
Piranha Plant
Rex/Pyra deconfirmed
Piranha Plant
Piranha Plant
Piranha Plant
Poor Jacob.....
Arnold one of the very few people happy to see Piranha Plant
At the very least, the ended with a high note at the end showing a cinematic from Spirits' Story mode, gameplay footage of it, and the reveal that the main theme has lyrics. Despite some mild disappointments from this last direct, I am so excited to play this game and to see what the future holds for it.
I went into this Direct with low expectations and came out of it being way more excited for the game than I thought I'd be. What I expected was 2 echo fighter reveals (an echo fighter is a character based off an existing character's move set) and some feature updates. What we got instead was 2 highly requested new characters, 3 echo fighters, and a TON of information regarding stages, music, items and modes. I don't record my reactions, but I'd like to take the time to do a play-by-play of what I was thinking so I can look back at it one day and remember how happy I was on this day.
00:06 - Castle? IT CAN'T BE?!
00:12 - LEATHER BOOTS, IT'S SIMON!
00:16 - *Doors open* I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY'RE STARTING THE DIRECT WITH THE ONE THING I'VE WANTED TO SEE ALL THIS TIME!!!
00:30 - OMG, Someone hired Luigi for the wrong job! And Mummies, it has to be Simon!
00:40 - MEDUSA, IT IS SIMON BELMONT, YES, YES, YES! *Trying really hard not to scream*
01:02 - OMG, So violent!!!!! Man, Nintendo isn't messing around no more!
01:11 - HERE WE GO!!!!!!!!!
01:22 - *Trying SO HARD to not cry!*
01:35 - Whoa, dive kick into Forward Air!
01:38 - Chain swinging from Super Castlevania IV!
01:48 - Whoa, what the heck? When did Simon ever do that? *This made sense after seeing Richter*
01:53 - Omg, what a throwback. That walk, those staircase, THIS STAGE!
01:57 - That's a cool stage hazard
02:08 - WTH?! IS THAT RICHTER?!
02:14 - *muffled scream* HGGGGGGGGGGGN!
02:28 - OMG, ARE WE GETTING ALUCARD, TOO?!
02:36 - Oh, guess he's an assist trophy.....
02:52 - Omg, that's beautiful
03:42 - D'aw, Pichu is so cute~
04:18 - Oh man, "Out of Time" from Castlevania 1. I can't wait to hear the other songs.
04:48 - What? Which enemy is that? (People suspecting Kid Dracula)
04:56 - *Sees list of music tracks, starts getting emotional again*
05:42 - *Sigh* Alucard would've been an awesome character to play, too.....
05:48 - Omg, this music~
06:06 - *"Bloodlines" starts playing* Man, I can't believe we get Simon AND Richter!
06:48 - WHAT? MORE CHARACTERS?! I hope it's Chrom and Shadow the Hedgehog!
06:54 - YES! WE GOT CHROM!
07:08 - Oooooo, he's an Echo Fighter of Ike!
07:15 - Wait, Blade Dance with reverse grip? Is he an echo fighter of Roy? *Looking at it now, it's not even reverse gripped. So Marth's move?*
07:25 - Lol, so many Fire Emblem Sword wielders. I'm happy.
07:38 - Kraid's Chamber? *The music*
07:42 - Aw dang it.....please be different *fears it's an exact copy of Samus*
08:15 - Dang it, I didn't see anything different.......
09:24 - Lol, they brought back Brinstar Depths. Did fans really want this?
10:07 - Oh wow, that's Final Destination? Looks cool.
10:18 - Okay, of course we get a Mario Odyssey Stage.
10:58 - Whoaaaaa, that's Fountain of Dreams? Awesome!
11:26 - What? Over 100?! That's amazing!
12:06 - Oh thank goodness you can turn off Stage Hazards.
12:34 - WTH?!...........
12:40 - Okay, stage switching in-between battle, that's pretty cool.
13:48 - Wow, that is a crazy amount of songs!
15:36 - Oh nice, I don't have to switch between character select, rules, and then back again
16:05 - Whoa, picking a stage before the character? Crazy. Gonna be hard to get used to.
16:25 - Oh wow, they changed Sudden Death. They really care about the competitive side!
16:42 - Whoa, a Final Smash meter would be like a Super gauge like a real fighting game! Can we make this legal in competitive smash?
18:12 - Smash down sounds like a fun mode
18:35 - Wow, I don't know if I'll use all this, but it'll definitely be useful for video analysis and tutorials
18:42 - Oh please be like old Classic Mode
18:57 - Oh good, it is
20:15 - *Brain is starting to wander because tired and getting fed with so many new information*
21:34 - WTF?!
21:38 - Awwwww dang it, he's an assist trophy........DAAAAAANG IIIIIIIIIT!
22:11 - LOL, Mario's expression!
22:22 - GRAY FOX! *Thinking about Egoraptor's Metal Gear Awesome flash video*
22:27 - Oh, it's Nikki! How cute~
22:33 - Omg, Shovel Knight is in Smash!.....kinda.
22:47 - Omg, how do you avoid that?
22:55 - Aw dang it, Ashley is still an assist trophy. Oh well, wishful thinking.....
23:03 - Xenoblade Chronicles 2 enemy?
23:12 - Waaaaaait, isn't he from Monster Hunter.....
23:18 - Oh wow, Monster Hunter is represented in Smash?
23:45 - Please look better.....
23:53 - Ugh, okay, I guess it's somewhat better. They're still using Games & Mor.....wait, what's the blurred out thing?
24:03 - Aw really? *Too tired to think at that time, but now I'm thinking it's Adventure mode*
24:21 - Did the screen just shake? Someone messing with the camera?
24:25 - What in the world? It happened again.
24:29 - OMG, THERE'S ONE MORE CHARACTER REVEAL!
24:46 - Omg, they did it.....They brought King K. Rool. Jeez, they're really going down the list and trying to please everyone! I hope Sakurai isn't working himself to death with all this.
25:08 - There he is!
25:12 - .....Wait, what?
25:18 - LOL, WHAT A TROLL! There's no way this is a prank. He has to be in. This is good reaction video material right here!
25:24 - YEAH, GET OUTTA HERE DEDEDE!
25:27 - Well, not super excited, but I'm happy it's him and not someone obscure.
25:30 - LOL!
25:38 - Oh good, he has his Captain K. Rool outfit. I'm going to use that one.
26:05 - Omg, this remix is soooooo good!
26:54 - Wow, what a crazy direct. What can they possibly show next to top this?
And then two rants I had on Facebook:
Okay, it's been a day so I think it's safe to talk (gush) about yesterday's Smash Bros. Direct.
I honestly went into the Smash Direct with low expectations and debated whether I really wanted to wake up at 7AM in the morning just to watch it. The E3 reveal for the game lived up to my expectations: Bring every character back, change the mechanics to the game so it feels fresh, and introduce one new character that I care about. But for some reason, it still felt underwhelming and I wasn't THAT excited for the game.
This Direct changed my mind. The E3 trailer said "not to expect too many new characters" and the subject of "Echo Fighters" made me believe that most of the new characters will be these clone characters. So I expected 1-2 Echo Fighters with a few content reveal like stages and items.
I didn't expect them to start the Direct out with revealing the one character I wanted most in Smash Bros. for the past 17 years (other than Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden). When I saw the Castle, I already started wondering. Then I saw the boot and started freaking out. I still wasn't 100% sure, but as soon as I saw Medusa, I was positive. When Simon removed his cloak, I was holding back tears and trying SO hard not to yell (my mom was still sleeping). It was so surreal and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I'm already ecstatic but still out of it because I couldn't sleep the night before and had only 3 hours of sleep at the time, and all of a sudden I see the blue outfit and he shouts "Begone! You don't belong in this world, Monster!" I flip the heck out and try not to scream "RICHTER!" while going HGGGNMMN with my mouth covered. Then I was so excited that I thought they also added Alucard, but no name intro so I sadly accepted the fact that he was an Assist Trophy. They showed the list of 34 songs for Castlevania and I started becoming emotional again (I freaking LOVE the music to the Castlevania series).
When they got to Echo Fighters, I was hoping to see Chrom and Shadow the Hedgehog. I was excited to see Chrom and was super happy to see that he had a mix of Ike's moves and Roy's moves (reverse grip during dancing blades) and not just a complete clone like Lucina (I really hope they changed her up more). I had feared Dark Samus being one of the characters for the concern that she'd be straight up Samus with a different look. And from the trailer, it looked pretty dang similar to Samus (other than idle animation). If there are some noticeable differences when I play the game, I'll be pretty happy with the character (I liked Dark Pit more than Pit in Smash 4).
They revealed a bunch of new settings and modes that really shows that they care about the competitive side of Smash as much as the casual side. The one thing that really stood out was the Final Smash Meter. Can we make this legal in competitive smash? I feel like it's such a waste to have all these cool Final Smash attacks and never see them other than play casually (and even then we still might not get to see them). I love this idea and hope to see it used in tournaments.
Man, they didn't just show a few stuff. They showed a LOT of stuff. Stages, music, modes, settings, items, new Pokémon, and new Assist Trophies. My heart skipped a beat when Zero showed up. Then I realized he was an Assist Trophy (Zero was high on my list of who I'd want in Smash) and then my heart was crushed a little. The Assist Trophies were cool. I felt bad for all the people who wanted Shovel Knight as a playable character. Seeing Rathalos makes me want Monster Hunter in Smash. She was super fun in MvC:I mechanically, but can't say I liked how she looked along with a lot of other things in that game. So it'd be cool if we get a Monster Hunter character in Smash. The teased mode on the main menu makes me believe there's an adventure mode, and that makes me really excited.
I thought the screen shaking was a mess up with the camera, but then it happened again. The lead up made it pretty obvious it was King K. Rool. I loved the trailer for it in how it made it look like him and then it was King DeDeDe playing a prank. Nintendo knew people would make reaction videos and that trolling was great material for reaction videos (linked Nairo's reaction). K. Rool wasn't a character I really wanted (at least compared to other potential characters), but I'm happy with his addition. I love the arrangement of his theme, it's so nostalgic to hear it again.
Sakurai also said that all characters will be shown before the official launch and they have some more to show in the future. Who else could they add that's hype? Since they catered towards us older gamers with Simon/Richter and King K. Rool this time, maybe it's something for the newer gamers? Monster Hunter character? Rex/Pyra/Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2? Gunvolt from Azure Striker Gunvolt? My mind is going crazy right now. But I'm convinced, I'm super excited for SSBU now.
[Another rant on Wednesday's Smash Direct]
I can't even begin to express how elated I was to see that Simon and Richter Belmont were going to be added to the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
While I was binge watching reaction videos, I was *somewhat* surprised with the responses. What I wasn't surprised about was a lot of people hamming it up in front of the camera and cheering for a character (that some admitted) that they knew nothing about (which can be borderline painful to watch but still fine because Etika's videos are like that and I love his videos). A lot of people have been talking about Simon Belmont the past 2 weeks and it was apparently slightly leaked (I had no idea about it, which I'm glad I didn't) so a lot of YouTubers already suspected his reveal.
What I was surprised about was everyone being blindsided by the reveal of Richter Belmont and having the genuine reaction of "WHO IS THAT?!" I always thought more gamers knew who Richter was over Simon because of how Symphony of the Night's opening had become such a meme on the internet (I quote it quite often and in fact, I think "my favorite quote" I wrote on facebook from 10 years ago is still there). But then everyone knew who Alucard was. How is it that everyone knew Alucard and not Richter since you have to play Richter in the first 10 minutes of SotN? Then it occurred to me that people might know Alucard from the Netflix adaptation show of Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse (which I was pleasantly surprised with for the first season).
I'm not mad, but I was a bit sad that most reaction videos didn't know who Simon or Richter was and/or never played a Castlevania game. It's okay though! When Marth and Roy were added in Melee, almost no one knew what Fire Emblem was in the West (there might have been hardcore gamers who imported back then). Now Fire Emblem is one of the most prevalent IPs Nintendo possesses. With Simon and Richter being added to SSBU, people are talking, researching, and making videos about them and the Castlevania franchise! I don't have faith in Konami making an honest to goodness Castlevania game (or any game for that matter) any time soon. But with this revitalization of the Castlevania name, perhaps we can get one in the future.
It feels a bit lonely being excited about these two characters on my own, but at least 2 other of my friends were just as excited so I could share the hype with them!
And finally, reaction videos!
I can't wait to see what else they've got to show us!
It's almost been a week since my last post. My lower back still hurts when I sit for too long, but I can't tell if it's a muscle pain or nerve pain. The pain would often lead down to the back of my right thigh. I still feel random pains around my upper back, chest, abdomen, legs and arms, but they're often sharp nerve pains that last a second or two and then disappear. My stomach acid problems still persists and so I think I'm going to try to go to the gym today as getting a good work out at the gym has solved my stomach problems in the past. I'm still getting a mild, numbing headache everyday and I'm starting to wonder if it has anything to do with my teeth. I actually need to get my wisdom teeth pulled out as they're bunching up my other teeth, which can lead to frequent headaches. The coincidence here is that I've been having headaches starting after my back started hurting really bad. Whatever the case may be, these ailments are wearing down on me and I feel really exhausted each day. Also, I've been waking up a lot throughout the night the past 3 weeks. Sometimes it's because it gets too hot or cold, a few times it's been nightmares, and other times it's just waking up all of a sudden. I'm conscious and can bare the pain throughout the day enough to work again, but it's been tough. I might work a bit more on my current remix today, but I just finished watching the Smash Bros. Documentary that I've had on hold for 2.5 years and really wanted to talk about Smash Bros for a bit.
I watched the first two or three parts back 2.5 years ago, but then held off on it for so long and not knowing when I'd have the time to watch it. Because I wasn't feeling well during Nov-Jan this past Winter, I've been watching a lot more videos. I eventually took the time this past week to watch the rest of the documentary that I missed. It's a really interesting insight on how competitive Smash Bros. came to be and the progression it had in the competitive scene. I really enjoyed it and feel like I understand the pros that I watch on stream a little better now that I've seen their history with the game. But the reason why I'm writing today isn't to talk about the documentary, but rather my own experience with the game and its franchise.
I remember when Super Smash Bros. was first announced for the N64.
It was shocking and exciting to hear about a game which pits all our favorite Nintendo characters against each other in a 4-player fighter. I didn't have an N64, so I couldn't get the game. But I had a friend that told me he got the game and that I should come over to play. I went over with my sister and he and his sister and I got together and played in the living room and played Smash Bros. The very first character I played was Samus because Metroid was one of my favorite games from the NES and I fancied the idea of shooting missiles, bombs and beams. I remember falling to my death a lot the first few times I played. I was very confused but so delighted to see so many iconic Nintendo characters in one game. There was Mario from Super Mario Bros, Link from the Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Samus from Metroid, Kirby, Fox McCloud from Star Fox, and Pikachu from Pokémon which was getting extremely popular at the time. As my friend unlocked more characters, it revealed Captain Falcon which I was very confused with. "Who was Captain Falcon?" Then I found out he was from F-Zero which I thought was very strange because I didn't know they had actual characters in the game (I didn't play it, just knew about it). Then my friend mentioned he unlocked "NESS" and I thought he meant "NES", perhaps an original character. Then he mentioned there were the blues brothers when he unlocked him. I immediately realized it was a reference to Earthbound of which I only knew of from the Nintendo Power magazines (still a game I haven't played yet). I never knew the main character's name was Ness, but there he was. Super Smash Bros. became one of the most played games whenever we saw each other every other weekends at my grandmother's house or their house. We would occasionally play Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64, Pokémon Stadium, and some various games he'd rent, but we definitely played 007 Goldeneye and Super Smash Bros. the most. We played enough where I felt like I was really good at the game. The first time I realized I wasn't that good was when my friend and I teamed up to go 2v2 against my distant cousin's cousins and lost miserably. My friend played Captain Falcon while I played Luigi. We had no strategy, no understanding of the mechanics at a deeper level, and no synergy while playing. I only thought of using Up+B while my friend old thought of using B. "How could we have lost so badly?" That was my first taste of someone that bested me in smash, and perhaps the only time for the N64 Smash.
The year is 2001, and Nintendo had announced their new console: The Nintendo Gamecube (formerly known as the Nintendo Dolphin) with the launch title being Super Smash Bros. Melee and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. I played THPS3 a LOT, but still felt like THPS2 was a bit better. But what I couldn't have imagined was that I'd be still playing Super Smash Bros. Melee even now every once in a while. I had begged my parents that year for a Nintendo Gamecube since I missed out on the N64 entirely and really wanted the new Smash Bros. I remember turning it on and watching the opening for the first time. Every level we went to, I would pause the game to pinpoint what specific game the song was from. And one of my favorite early memories of the game that's still very vivid in my mind was challenging Marth for the first time. "Who is this guy? I've never seen him before!" But I paused the game and listened to the music and instantly fell in love with it. The arrangement of "Together we Ride" and the "Main Theme" of Fire Emblem is possibly still one of my favorite arrangements in the Smash Bros. franchise they've created.
My sister would get impatient with my consistent pausing and listening to the music, but I'm shocked that it's left such an impression in my memory of that day playing it for the first time with her. I think my first character for Melee was Pikachu. They had changed them a little and I had no idea what I was doing. The game was faster, smoother, and bots were harder. I felt like everyone was weaker as it took more hits to smash someone out. It was difficult adjusting to Melee, but Smash N64 felt slow after I got used to Melee. I would continue on playing classic mode, events, adventure mode, and unlocking all the characters. With Melee, I felt like I didn't play it with my friends as much as I did with the N64 one. We were all growing up and had more homework and responsibilities during High School. I eventually stopped playing it as much and only played when friends were over. I was still able to best most of my friends in 1v1, but those were friends that didn't have the game and/or didn't play videogames very much. When a few of my sister's friends started coming over often, I'd play smash bros. with them. That's when I lost a lot of matches and realized how much further in experience they were compared to me. I still had fun and still thought of the game as being pretty casual for all to play.
Fast-forward to around 2007-2008, the local game store is holding a Smash Bros. Melee tournament with the grand prize being an Xbox 360 or Wii. I didn't know there were tournaments for Smash Bros. I wanted to participate and see how it was like, even though I knew I wouldn't get far. It was a doubles tournament with team attack on, something I never tried before. I told a friend that I made that worked at another game store about the tournament and played him and realized how good he was. I asked him to be my partner for the tournament and he agreed. Eventually, he messaged me and said that he wouldn't be able to make it due to some family issues. I asked my friend that lived down the street from me if he wanted to try it out. He was a bit hesitant as he was much younger and felt he wasn't very good at the game. I just told him it was for fun because I didn't think I was very good either. So we both signed up for it and practiced. I wanted to make an extra effort to try to get better within the week that I had, so I looked up guides and videos. That's when Smash Bros. had changed for me. "I've been playing this game wrong for nearly a decade!" When I looked up stuff on Smash Bros., I realized that Smash Bros. has been played professionally for years now in a underground sort of way. When I watched videos of those tournaments, I noticed that everyone were using the attacks from the "A" button. Up until then, I have always used the "B" button skills to whittle down an opponent by raising their percentage and THEN using the "A" button to smash someone out. I was in such disbelief on how ineffectively I had been playing the game for nearly 10 years. I was also shocked at how incredibly fast everyone was moving around on the screen. They were also playing 4-stock matches when I've been used to playing 10-20 stocks (which last really long in retrospect). I wanted to know how and why they were moving so fast because it didn't even look like the same game I've been playing all those years. Then I was hit with a bunch of terminology I've never heard or seen before: SHFFL, Wave-Dashing, Fair, Nair, Bair, edge-guarding, gimping, shining, etc. All this new information about the game was mind-blowing. I couldn't believe the things you could do in the game:
"You can use Fox's reflector as an attack? You can chain grab? You can perform combos?" I was just so fascinated by the intricate executions of high level players that it changed the game for me. I had been mostly a Marth/Roy and Pikachu player at that time, but learning so much from what I researched I picked up Fox and gave him a try. I spent hours practicing wave-dashing, shines, edge-hogging, off-stage follow-ups, and just trying to adjust to using normal attacks rather than using specials. I then practiced with my friend who was a Samus player. We were awful and can hardly beat the bots with team-attack on as my friend's missiles often killed me or I accidentally smash him out. We arrived at the store and went up against our first duo of young boys who looked half my age. The first thing that happens is one of the boys walks off the stage. Needless to say, we won decisively. Our second match, we went against boys around my friend's age who was about 5-6 years younger than me. I just remember one of them being Dr. Mario and constantly juggling me with dash attacks while I tried to avoid my friend's missiles. I eventually got shot out by my friend's missiles and I remember getting caught underneath the stage of Final Destination (making it difficult to grab the ledge accurately, they fixed this problem in Smash 4). We lost and I shook their hands, congratulating them. I wasn't upset or salty, but rather really excited. There was still a lot of room for improvement and a lot I can still learn from the game. In short, that one tournament and research I did on professional smash bros. opened up a whole new spectrum for me on how to play the game. The game was nearly a decade old and it was suddenly fresh, new and exciting again for me. My sister had partnered up with one of our friend's boyfriend and got up to 2nd place in the tournament losing to two of our other friends that participated. It was a fun and lasted the whole day. It was already dark and night out by the time we got back to my house, but all I could think about was playing more Smash Bros. My sister was sad and apologized to me saying "I wanted to get the Nintendo Wii for you". I told her it was okay, I had fun, and that she did great climbing all the way up to 2nd place. Ever since that day, I've had this drive and interest in Smash Bros.
The trailer for Super Smash Bros. Brawl is probably one of my favorite trailers for videogames.
So many years have already gone by without another Smash Bros. I was already in college and didn't think much of a new Smash Bros. But when one was announced, it caused quite a stir. There was finally a Smash Bros. to replace Melee! I loved that trailer so much I watched it over and over. The very first thing I noticed was how grandiose the music was compared to the past 2 iterations. "This sounds like something Nobuo Uematsu would compose for a Final Fantasy game!" I looked at the credits at the bottom of the page and sure enough, his name was there. How could we not get excited about another Smash Bros. game? It revealed Meta Knight, Pit, Zero Suit Samus, Wario, and then when it already got your excitement level up, you hear a very familiar *beep* *beep* sound from the Metal Gear Solid series. By that point, I was wondering "what's going on?" When Snake popped out of the box, I was in such disbelief I didn't know what to do at that point. It made sense to me since Snake was on the original NES with Metal Gear 1 & 2. The one character that made me excited above all else was Sonic the Hedgehog. The old classic rivalry between Nintendo and Sega was about to be represented through the form of their mascot characters duking it out in Smash Bros. It's too bad Sonic sucked. I played him for a very long time and still didn't like how he turned out. He was fast, yes. But he had very few kill options which made it really difficult to end a match. I think the first character I played on Brawl was actually Pit, though. I was excited for Pit's inclusion as Kid Icarus was a game I played quite a few times on the NES when I was younger; however, I wasn't exactly ecstatic (maybe I was, I don't remember). All I knew was that I wanted to play the game, and it took 2 years before it was released from the announcement trailer. In short, it was a really fun casual game but a really awful competitive game. Everything was slower, random slipping was part of the game (and can't be turned off), everyone felt even weaker and required more hits before smashing someone out (unless you were Ike), and the cast of characters were torn vastly in the tier list with Meta Knight being god tier (never left that spot). I had a lot of fun playing the game in free-for-all and team matches with a bunch of friend or playing all-stars, boss rush and subspace emissary (adventure mode) with my sister. Subspace Emissary was the greatest thing about Brawl. It was great how they took the ideas of Adventure mode from Melee and really expanded it by a large amount. But when it came down to play more seriously with friends, it wasn't really that enjoyable. The slow-fall and random slipping was the worst part of it. I ended up not playing Brawl nearly as much as the previous Smash Bros. games because it released right before I moved out for University. I participated in a local tournament for Brawl just for fun (I just wanted to play Smash Bros.) when I was still in University and lost in the first round. The TV had an input delay, I didn't get to practice, and I didn't know much about competitive Brawl. Despite all that, even if the TV didn't have an input delay and I knew a bit more about brawl, I wouldn't have won anyways as my opponent had a solid understanding of the game compared to me (maybe practice might have improved my chances). It was in that little tournament that I realized why everyone was complaining about Meta Knight. The top 3-4 players in the tournament all played Meta Knight. I still didn't understand WHY he was good, only that everyone that wanted to play at the highest competitive level for Brawl played Meta Knight. When I finally graduated and came back home, I played Smash Bros. Brawl every once in a while. But I also would go back to Melee every once in a while whenever I had the urge to play it. But I kind of lost the drive to play Smash Bros. unless someone asked me to play with them. Brawl was supposed to have online play, but it was so awful that it was unplayable with even my friend that lived down the street from me.
Around the time I graduated from University, online streaming started to get really big in the videogame community. People would be playing games while talking to their viewers live. I never cared too much for watching competitive matches in videogames. I watched a StarCraft match on TV when I was in China and didn't have anything better to do and found it to be really boring. Why was it fun to watch competitive matches? I didn't get it. In my first year of University, one of my friends brought me to BlizzCon and we watched the tournaments for Warcraft 3 and StarCraft. It was there that I understood what it was all about. On TV, you watched the game from the commentator's view which doesn't show the individual actions of each player. At BlizzCon, there are 3 screens: The two opponents and the commentator's spectator view. Much like my reaction to how fast players moved in Smash Bros. Melee, I was awestruck by how quickly the players were playing these RTS games. They were setting buildings, ordering units, executing abilities, ambushing, countering, and body blocking all so quickly. They were playing anywhere from 20-100x faster than I would normally play. I'm really slow at RTS games where I would have to read all the descriptions and requirements. So it was then that I started to become a bit more interested in watching professional gaming competitions. After College, streaming started to become common. A lot more tournaments and special events were being streamed on sites like Twitch. Conventions like E3 were being streamed. But one of the best ones was EVO, the grand stage where players from all over the world gather together to play Fighting Games of all kinds. I don't remember if I watched EVO in 2010, but I think 2011 onwards I watched a bit of it while working or playing games. In 2013, Smash Bros. Melee made it to the EVO floor show and it was an important event to get people excited for the game again. I remember watching Grand Finals for it and watched Mango climb all the way up to the top to win it, it was exciting. It was also in that tournament that I learned about wobbling where you can infinitely pummel an opponent in a grab state with Ice Climbers. The community for Smash Bros. Melee was stronger than ever and it really created an awareness for its community since then. I really got into watching EVO more and more every year and last year was the first year where I watched all the matches intently and really enjoyed the matches for all the games that were played there.
Super Smash Bros. Wii U / 3DS was announced and I was both excited and scared at the same time. I was extremely excited to see Mega Man as one of the characters and I still play the heck out of that character even now. But my concerns were with the result of Brawl being so casual. Smash Bros. Melee was almost banned from being Stream at EVO 2013 because Nintendo didn't want any of it but quickly changed their mind following community backlash. How were they going to make this next Smash Bros.? I got more and more excited for the new Smash Bros. as new information on the game trickled out every month. Shortly before the launch of Super Smash Bros. 3DS, I found out about a mod called "Project M" where it turned Brawl into a game that was closer to Melee. I tried it out and loved what they did with it. I especially loved the changes to Sonic and played him a whole bunch. I was very disappointed with Sonic in Brawl and really wanted Sonic to shine in Smash Bros. Sonic felt a lot more viable and well-rounded in Project M than he was in Brawl. So despite it being a mod, Project M was essentially its own game. There are tournaments held for it and players can play online if they wanted. I play it once in a while, but not often since there isn't anyone to play with. So Super Smash Bros. for 3DS finally released and I went crazy over that game. I spent hours unlocking characters, creating Mii Fighters, and playing online with friends. Ever since the very first Smash Bros. on N64, I've always dreamed about having a Smash Bros. on handheld to play on the go. I honestly didn't think Smash Bros. on 3DS was going to be any good because I didn't think the hardware could handle it. The game went far beyond my expectations in what it was capable of. Online play works pretty well and I can play with my friends who live in different cities from me. What also surprised me was how they embraced competitive play. Sakurai was pretty adamant about creating a party game for smash so that everyone can enjoy it and not only the most hardcore players. They really thought long and hard on how to appease both the casual audience and the competitive audience for this iteration of Smash. Out of all the praises I could give Smash 4, it would be how satisfying the game felt. Landing a smash attack, recovering back onto the stage, performing a combo; everything felt really good when playing the game. When they announced having DLC in the game, I was a little disappointed with Nintendo and their stance on "delivering the complete package" be broken. They came out with Mewtwo, Lucas and Roy; they're all returning characters from previous iterations of Smash Bros. Then they released Ryu, which was unfortunately leaked and didn't have the impact that Nintendo wanted out of the announcement. I was super happy to have Ryu part of the character roster. Then the unthinkable happened: Cloud from Final Fantasy VII was announced to be part of the character roster in Smash Bros. Maybe I've become more emotional in the past few years, or perhaps it was just the greatest thing I've ever seen; the announcement trailer for Cloud was one of the most exciting news I've ever seen for a videogame to have moved me to tears. And then it happened again a month later when they revealed Bayonetta as the last DLC character. I hate DLCs. I hate how a lot of publishers get greedy with cutting out content to sell them separately or to release half-baked content for money. That in turn often makes me avoid DLCs if I can help it. So I've never been more happy to purchase a DLC for a game than I was when buying the DLC characters for Smash Bros. I considered the circumstances and decided that Smash Bros. is a game I'm going to be playing for years like I have with all the previous games, so I think the DLCs would be a worthwhile investment. Out of all the games I own, I often get the urge to play Super Smash Bros. the most.
Right now, there is a lot of talk about the Nintendo NX. Within that discussion of a possible new console by Nintendo is a rumor about a new Smash Bros. game coming out with that console. Some speculate that it'll be a port of the newest Smash Bros. with all the DLCs included. If it really is a new smash bros. it'd be the perfect launch title for the new console. So to sum it all up, I loved the Super Smash Bros. series. Even coming from a more casual perspective of the game growing up, I think the competitive aspect is what kept the interest for the game alive for so long. I don't ever plan on entering tournaments or becoming pro, but it's an uplifting experience to practice at a game you love so much and find yourself improving. I don't know if we'll get anymore Smash Bros. as Sakurai has wanted to stop making them a few times, but I'll always treasure the memories I've had playing the game with friends. I imagine I'll still be playing Smash Bros. for many years to come.
So not taking the medicine anymore last weekend was a bad idea. In 2 days, I had a really bad reaction and I continued to feel sick the following week. I'm still taking it right now since I'm still having burning sensations and generating air in my stomach. I went to the gym yesterday and ran 4 miles in hopes that heavy exercise will help me (because it has the past few years every time I had stomach problems). So this makes it week 8 of feeling ill. I'm tired and feel small pains all around my body. Taking medicine for so long can't be good for my body. Hopefully this week's worth of exercise will bring me back to my normal self by next week.
It's been a crazy week. My sister and her boyfriend were back so I got to spend time with them. We spent a lot of time playing Wii U. Throughout last week, my great aunt and her boyfriend came back to visit, there was dinner for my aunt's anniversary, then dinner for my parent's anniversary, a Christmas Eve party, a Christmas dinner, having lunch with friends, dinner with seeing relatives, and then one last dinner before my sister and her boyfriend has to go back home. Now that all the events are all over, I'm focusing on recuperating, recovering from this 8-week long ailment, and trying to finish a certain amount of games. I've been keeping track of how many games I've completed every year so I can get through more of my backlog of games. Last year, I reached 132 and I'm only at 123 at the moment. So I'm hoping I can finish enough short games the next few days before New Year's and beat last year's record. Afterwards, I'm going to focus on finishing The Guardian Legend Remix Album, work on some new remixes, and finishing some games throughout January. I didn't really feel like I relaxed in December, so I want to do so in January.
Now to share some Bayonetta in Smash Bros. Reaction videos:
This has been an interesting, awful, and exciting year. It was great that we got Camera Obscura finally launched, but it was met with disappointment. I was hoping to lead a healthier year, but fell ill multiple times. We lost great individuals like Monty Oum and Satoru Iwata. Final Fantasy VII Remake was finally announced. Shenmue 3 was announced. Koji Igarashi kickstarted Bloodstained. Mighty No. 9 was delayed. There's just so much to talk about 2015, but I'll leave it for another time. I just wish to be healthy again for 2016.
First and foremost, I want to say that I'm almost back to full health. I'm going to stop taking the Chinese medicine tomorrow and see if I have any stomach reactions. I feel my heart flutter just a tiny bit once or twice throughout the day, but otherwise I don't experience it nearly as much as I did before. Hopefully I'm finally back to normal. I'm closing in on 7 weeks of being ill...
ANYWAYS, Nintendo did what I said they couldn't do and that was to surprise me with a character that I'd be happy with on their last broadcast. "Who can they possibly announce that could top Cloud?!" I had a lot of ideas of who would make me happy like Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden since the original Trilogy was on NES and the newest Ninja Gaiden 3 was on Wii U, Simon Belmont from Castlevania 1 & 2 on NES, Sir Arthur from Ghosts 'n Goblins on NES, Strider on the NES, or Nathan Spencer from Bionic Commando on NES. Other than Ryu Hayabusa, I feel the other characters wouldn't have much of an impact on the rest of the community because of how irrelevant they are now with no new games for them. From the rest of the community, I heard these names a lot: Shantae - The Half-Genie Hero, Shovel Knight, Star Wolf from Star Fox (was in Brawl), Snake from Metal Gear Solid (was in Brawl), Isaac from Golden Sun, Sora from Kingdom Hearts, Phoenix Wright, Banjo-Kazooie, Rayman, Inklings from Splatoon, King K. Rool, Geno from Super Mario RPG - Legend of the Seven Stars, and Tails and Knuckles from Sonic the Hedgehog. So I thought "if they were to top the announcement of Cloud, they'd have to do something really crazy!" I joked with my friends and said they would have to announce someone like Dante from Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Master Chief from Halo, or Hatsune Miku the Virtual Diva! And then *BAM*, it happened:
Let's actually bring this back to the beginning. They started the broadcast with introducing Corrin:
Right when the broadcast started, I saw the characters and was thinking "are they going to talk about Fire Emblem Fates first?" Then I realized that they were introducing the main character as a DLC character. It was a way to introduce the game to the smash fans. I honestly couldn't get excited because I had no idea who this character was. But I was happy for his/her inclusion because it's not a clone character and it's not a returning character we've already seen. It's a new character with new moves and skill sets, so I was happy for Corrin's inclusion but not particularly hyped.
The broadcast continued on and showed what Cloud was capable of and then announced that he was available to buy and download after the broadcast. Corrin won't be available until February. They then showed some costumes that I unfortunately want. I say unfortunately because I've already spent $48 on DLCs and it looks like I'm going to be spending a bit more. The costumes had Geno, Bionic Armor, Takamaru, Ashley, Gil, Tails, and Knuckles (so a lot of the characters fans want added).
Finally, it said that it reached its "climax" (I SHOULD'VE KNOWN IT WAS BAYONETTA RIGHT THERE!) and that they were going to reveal the final character. I was extremely scared going into watching the trailer because I felt like I was going to see a character I was going to be disappointed with like King K. Rool. The trailer started off with Pit punching Bowser and Samus and I immediately got thrown off for a loop thinking it was a Kid Icarus character. My heart sank and I felt a little sad if it really was a Kid Icarus character (even though I would've been happy with Viridi, she's so cute!). Then it zoomed up to the moon and hear the voice "Oh, another Angel. Must have missed one." I recognized the voice, but was extremely skeptical. Then I saw the shoes and flipped out! I lunged out of my chair and screamed on the top of my lungs "OMG, I CAN'T BELEIVE IT!" I don't remember what else I yelled out, but I remember yelling for a good half minute before I just watched with my mouth gaped. I think I yelled out "I'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW" and "OMG, SHE'S SO COOL!" I really cannot put into words how shocked, elated, and uplifted I was when I saw those shoes and realized that they brought in Bayonetta. I felt that Bayonetta had a small chance of being added and I had hoped that she was already a character from the beginning since Bayonetta 2 launched on Wii U around the same time as Smash Bros. 3DS released. But there were so many factors that deemed it seemingly impossible. When Snake was being developed on Brawl, they said that he was "barred from using guns" because it's too realistic and violent (compared to the laser and energy shots from other characters). Bayonetta's game was a mature game with violence, sexual content, and suggestive themes that would otherwise contradict the family friendly environment that the franchise wants to keep in Smash Bros. But NOPE, Bayonetta will stay true to her character and have her suggestive poses, saucy banter, her guns, her disappearing clothes when she attacks, and her infernal climax which has a giant demon chew the opponents up. I'm extremely happy with the ballot choice being Bayonetta. I'm only sad that I have to wait until February to play her.
The past 3 weeks have been pretty awful. On Tuesday, three weeks ago, I was experiencing frequent heart palpitation (skipping) throughout the day. On Wednesday, of which I wrote an entry that day, the heart palpitation was at its worst with heavy skipping, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, blurry vision, constant hunger, and a bad headache. I continued each passing day with problems and then on Sunday that week, my father looked up my symptoms and found that they all led to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). I realized I've been avoiding sugar for a while since I thought it was the cause of my stomach problems. I've also been staying up late a lot without eating in-between the night which lowers blood sugar. Whether I really was low on blood sugar is unknown, but my condition improved the following week when I was regulating my sugar count. But I was still having trouble maintaining my hunger. I had to eat more food and more meals a day. I went to see the doctor which I had made an appointment with over a month ago for a body check up since I haven't had one in 10 years. After checking with a blood test and my physical check up, the doctor said I was healthy and that I should be fine. That was just this past Friday when I went to see him again to review my blood test results. It seems I've been suffering from anxiety as well. By that point, the main problems I had left was always feeling hungry with a lot of gas generating and occurrences of heart palpitation whenever I was hungry or stressed. The doctor gave me a prescription for Omeprazole to regulate my stomach acids so that I won't constantly feel hungry throughout the day and stop it from creating so much air (which made me feel sick). So the past 3 weeks, it's been a roller coaster ride of feeling okay and feeling miserable. I generally feel a bit sick in the morning, then good during the day, and then awful again by evening. Yesterday, I felt pretty good throughout the entire day until night time. I felt so good that I did some recording for my remix project. Today, I've had some occurrences of heart palpitation again because the feeling of hunger won't go away for some reason. It's leading to a slight headache. I also have random body pains throughout my abdomen, arms and legs. It might be a culmination of stressed pent up from the past 3 weeks. But I'm slowly feeling okay again. I really don't want to experience the past 3 weeks ever again. I wasn't bedridden or anything, but I felt so abnormal and nauseated that I couldn't work, couldn't play games, couldn't do anything except watch videos. I tried playing games, but I felt nauseated after a short while. Watching videos allowed my mind to be distracted from all the maladies I've been suffering from. I started playing games again yesterday since I was feeling better. I've been mostly watching videos from Cinemassacre, some Super Smash videos, and a lot of reaction videos to Cloud's reveal in Super Smash Bros.
If I could contain the emotion and feelings I had when they revealed Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII to Super Smash Bros. in a bottle where I could open it and experience it all over again, I would do it and use it every time I felt disappointed or lacked excitement for videogames. This trailer was revealed at the end of the Nintendo Direct stream on November 12, 2015. I watched the 45-minute broadcast feeling mostly unimpressed as a lot of the updates weren't that exciting, announcements were further discussing games they've already revealed, or the new surprises they showed didn't get much of a reaction from me (such as Zelda: Twilight Princess HD on Wii U or Linkle as a new character, although I think she is very cute). So when it got to the end of the broadcast and Reggie says he "senses a trailer approaching", I was thinking "ooo, new game?" And then it started with the first three notes from the opening of Final Fantasy VII's bombing mission and I'm thinking "are they bringing the FF7 remake to Nintendo NX?" It was a very similar reaction to this year's reveal of the Final Fantasy VII remake when I heard the first note from Advent Children in the trailer where I went "Oh hey, it's Final Fantasy VII". And then all of a sudden, the logo for "Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U" showed up and I freaked out going "NO WAY, ARE THEY REALLY GOING TO DO IT?!" And then I saw the "x Final Fantasy VII" logo pop-up. I fell over on the couch screaming "OMG, THEY'RE ACTUALLY DOING IT!" By the time it revealed Cloud's name, I was already sobbing and awestruck with the news right in front of me. FREAKING CLOUD STRIFE IN SUPER SMASH BROS.! This was something I talked and laughed about with my friends back in Super Smash Bros. N64 and how it was "impossible because Final Fantasy VII was on Sony Playstation". I honestly think this made me happier than the Final Fantasy VII Remake reveal. And just in time too since I'll be (trying) to get a Nintendo Wii U this week bundled with Super Smash Bros. and Splatoon. The following week after the announcement, I ended up watching a lot of reaction videos to see if anyone was as excited as I was. I never watch reaction videos because I find them mostly silly. But seeing the raw emotion coming from Final Fantasy fans has been wonderful. What I didn't expect is some very negative reactions from fans of Smash Bros. Comments like "Who's that?", "No, not Cloud, why him?!", or "Ewww, Final Fantasy?" weren't as rare as I thought. I was reminded that there were a lot of people that didn't like Cloud. I can understand why so many people didn't like Cloud for the same reasons people don't like Sasuke from Naruto, but I've always admired the character design of Cloud wielding his iconic Buster Sword. Anyways, here's some of my favorite reaction videos to the reveal of Cloud in Smash Bros.:
(Timestamp: 45:24)
(Timestamp: 44:35)
This is probably my favorite reaction.
EDIT: Just found this
(Timestamp: 1:46) We can't even joke about this anymore BECAUSE IT'S REAL!
In any case, I hope to make a 100% recovery in time to play some Nintendo Wii U and work on some more remixes along the way.
I was supposed to talk about this in my post yesterday. But I was so excited about everything else I totally forgot to talk about Megaman in Super Smash Bros. 3DS, even though I said I would! But here I am, back again to yell and complain.
First, I want to point out how ecstatic I was to find out Mega Man was joining the roster for Super Smash Bros. If you look at all the move sets and animation for Mega Man, you'll notice that it's a 1:1 representation of Mega Man from his original games:
Not to mention, all the sound effects are the ones from the original. This incredible attention to detail and canon references is the perfect homage to the blue bomber. Now to get onto the matter at hand: playing as Mega Man in Super Smash Bros. 3DS.
I'm pretty sure Mega Man will play exactly the same way in the full version considering the game's already out in Japan and the full game comes out here on Friday. Still, everything I rant about here is based on what I've played from the demo. I will come straight to the point and say "Mega Man isn't very good..." People who have played the demo or the Japanese version of the full game all seem to agree that Mega Man isn't that strong compared to most of the characters or that he doesn't have a good moveset. The main problem is that a lot of his moves puts him in danger more than being the danger. He's his own worst enemy! The other problem he has is kill potential. This is a major problem I had with Sonic the Hedgehog in Brawl (and I'm afraid he might be the same in this one too) in that it was very difficult to finish off a player, let alone trying to damage them. Let's go through all his move sets and take a closer look at his kit:
Note: A = Neutral Attack; B = Special Attack
Ground Attacks A - Mega Buster (Safe): Mega Man can shoot up to 3 small projectiles that does 2%-2.5% Damage. It's not the best, but it's not bad either. You can recover out of the attack immediately and sneak in some extra damage between every other attack using this. It's not very far ranged. Forward A - Running Mega Buster (Safe): So like in the Mega Man games, he can run and shoot at the same time. This can be useful leading into a grab or slide. Up A - Mega Uppercut (Risky): So here we have our first problematic move. It's the uppercut move that Mega Man uses from Marvel vs. Capcom. It does a decent amount of damage (12%) and can KO around 80% or so. The problem is using it. It's an up-tilt move which means you might execute an up-smash or Up-air by accident if you don't do it right. And if you do execute it right but miss, it takes forever for you to recover. You can cancel out of it, you come back down really slow, and you're in the air long enough for the enemy to knock you out. It's a good KO move if you can land it, but there are so many drawbacks on using it that it doesn't seem worth utilizing.
Down A - Slide Kick (Risky): I like this move because you can chain it into or from other attacks. But you can't stop when you start and it's really easy for the enemy to just block grab you since you're locked down to that animation until you're finished.
Dash A - Top Spin (Risky): Much like the Slide kick, you're locked into animation when you start and can easily be block-grabbed. Based on Top Man's weapon from Mega Man 3.
Ground Smash Attacks Forward Smash - Charge Shot (Risky): The familiar charge shot from the series, it does decent damage (12-20%) and is one of the potential KO attacks. But it has a delay before coming out, is slow, and takes a bit to recover from. It's risky to use unless you put your opponent in a position where they can't avoid it.
Up Smash - Spark Shock (Risky): 15-20% is pretty good for this move, but it's not a KO move. I don't understand why this isn't switched with the up-tilt attack. That would make much more sense. It's also a very risky move. The skill lasts for a good few seconds and takes forever to recover from. Based on Spark Man's weapon from Mega Man 3.
Down Smash - Flame Blast (Risky): This isn't far off from Up-Smash. Rather than an attack right above him, it's two flaming pillars to both sides of Mega Man. It does a good amount of damage (17-24%), but doesn't have KO potential and takes forever to execute and recover from. Based on Flame Man's weapon from Mega Man 6.
Air Attacks Neutral Air - Mega Buster (Safe): Mega Buster in the air.
Forward Air - Flame Sword (Risky): I like this skill. It has good coverage, reach, and okay damage (5-9%). It has a slight recovery time lag, but I'd much rather use this than any of the other moves. Based on Sword Man's weapon from Mega Man 8.
Back Air - Slash Claw (Safe): This is, hands-down, the best move Mega Man has. It's fast to execute and recover, it has KO potential, and it has decent range. It doesn't have the strongest knock-back power for a KO, but it's the safest one. Based on Slash Man's weapon from Mega Man 7
Up Air - Air Shooter (Safe): This is a hilarious move that can KO an opponent. Rather than knocking them out of the screen at full speed, it carries them up and out of the screen slowly. It's not too risky of a move, but it's very difficult to utilize effectively because of how slow it travels. Based on Air Man's weapon from Mega Man 2.
Down Air - Hard Knuckle (Debatable): I really like this move, as well. But there are problems with using it. It's a downward spike that has very strong KO potential (I'm able to KO the CPU around 24%-32% using this) but is very difficult to land. The D-air is most effective off stage. It takes about .5-1 second for it to execute, so there's a timing issue. Then there's also the fact that the 3DS doesn't have a C-stick, so if you press down too hard and execute it, you'll be locked in animation and fall at a very fast speed to your death. Even if you don't fall off, there's a bit of a recovery time lag before you can do anything else. It's the most satisfying move that Mega Man has in his arsenal, especially when you successfully land it. Based on Hard Man's weapon from Mega Man 3.
Special Attacks Grab - Super Arm (Safe): Thankfully, Mega Man's grab is really fast. It can lead to some nice setups for damage and KO. Based on Guts Man's weapon from Mega Man.
B - Metal Blade (Risky): Throws a circular metal blade that can be thrown in 8 different directions. It takes a short delay to use, does very little damage, travels very slowly, has no knock-back, and can be grabbed by the opponent to be used against you. What a terrible move. Based on Metal Man's weapon from Mega Man 2. (Looks like there are other weapons for custom later in the full version).
Side B - Crash Bomber (Risky): A slow traveling projectile that sticks to opponents and acts like the Gooey Bomb from Brawl. It also has a short delay before execution and can be used against you since it can be transferred around by just touching. Also a terrible move. Based on Crash Man's weapon in Mega Man 2.
Up B - Rush Coil (Safe): Okay, this is pretty cool. It's kind of like Sonic's Spring where Rush appears and lets Mega Man ascend higher and can be bounced on by anyone. I heard Mega Man can get out of being stun-locked by combos using this, but I haven't confirmed that yet. It's a really good recovery skill and can be used to chase enemies in higher areas for a KO or take out enemies below the stage platform and get back on safely. Based off of the Rush Coil from Mega Man 3.
Down B - Leaf Shield (Risky): You bring up leaves that circle around you that does 1-2% damage for each one that makes contact. Slow to bring up, slow to use, does very little damage, and slow recovery. Another terrible skill. Some have pointed out it might be good for setting up grabs, but using it would give a huge hint to the opponent on what you're going to do. Based on Wood Man's weapon from Mega Man 2.
Final Smash - Rockman Special(Safe): You shoot a black hole and can execute it to stop and grow. If anyone falls into it, the special will go off where 4 other Mega Mans from the series (X [X series], Exe [Battle Network], Volnutt [Legends], Geo Stelar [Star Force]) charge up their blasters along with Mega Man to blast the opponent. Yes, it's a single-target Final smash, but it's pretty cool and a great treat for Mega Man fans.
So let's count: There are effectively (by default, not counting custom specials yet), 8 skills which are pretty safe to use, one that can be argued as being safe or risky, and 10 which are risky by nature due to the vulnerable state that the skill leaves Mega Man in when he executes them. That's pretty bad when more than half of a character's kit is risky to use. Not to mention that most of them don't reap the rewards that come with the danger of using them. I think Mega Man is really fun, and so do many other fans who have played the demo; however, it seems apparent that he isn't as solid as we would hope for him to be as a fighter. I'm still going to try to main him, but I doubt it'll turn out well considering what I went through with Sonic the Hedgehog in Brawl. Hopefully, Mega Man's custom specials make him a bit more viable in a fight. At this point, I don't really care. I just want to play the game! Three more days...
