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That's pretty far up the thread, so it might be missed. I recommend you repost it down here.
British animu convention.
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS & Wii U Thread XI: Where 90% correct equals 100% wrong
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That's pretty far up the thread, so it might be missed. I recommend you repost it down here.
British animu convention.
That Brown Guy
Member
Finally going to play Smash today! Hyper Japan yo!
MaverickHunterAsh
Member
Aaaand I'm off to Hyper Japan! Time to finally get my hands on Smash! I will be playing both versions. Hopefully, most people will flock to the Wii U demo, so I have more 3DS time.
Anyway, impressions soon! ;D
Have fun!
do not tempt me dammit, i want to sleep.
Alright, alright. Fine.
So you start up Melee, what's the first thing you see? It's a statue of Mario, and then you see some weird technical magic sort of shit crawl up it bring it to life
That sparkly ring of light doesn't look very "techy" to me
Then you got the cool intro movie, and you never hear the song again until next time you play the game. The title fades in, then followed by the technical magic circles that presumably is what crawled up Mario and everyone else and turned them from figures into fighters.
What brought Mario etc to life was a white ring of light, these are fine color-changing lines.
And this is how the whole menu is themed, with that sort of technical stuff. Everything looks very digital, you got circles that look like the circles crawling up the trophies in the background.
Which imo doesn't fit the vibe the opening gives. After seeing the opening "techno" certainly was close to the least I expected to follow
It's cool. You don't really notice it, because it's not like distracting and it's kinda subtle, but at the same time your brain kind of does. So whenever you're navigating the menus and stuff, it feels like you're just setting shit up to bring the characters to life. It's really fucking cool to me, and it's something I feel the whole game was really well themed around. When you start a match or die, the fighters arrive on platforms that look like that technical magic shit. When you play on Battlefield or Final Destination, they look like stages made out of that technical magic shit. And when you play the multiman melees, the enemies look like that technical magic shit. It's really well themed around it in my opinions.
I'll give you that. After the opening the game stays pretty consistant with the techno style. Which is the whole reason I called the Menu design of Melee boring in the first place
Sure, there's no symbols or fun shapes in the menu, but it's still really clear where to go, because the text is really clear on where to go.
Also, and this is more of a sidething-I like the way the character select screen isn't perfectly even rows. It's cluttered and busy, and suggests a game with more going on in it by being busy. And that's good for a fighting game, to feel busy like that, because it's pretty fuckin' action packed.
Now, the other thing about Melee, is that I feel it's more cohesive, and this is because it's the first time seeing almost every character in this game is being seen in good 3D for their first time. So, instead of having to build the game around artstyles used in other games, or even being able to reference artstyles in games that lookes as good as gamecube games, they have to build a lot more shit from scratch. And because of that, they were able to build it around a more cohesive, semi-realistic (but not overly realistic) artstyle. And this shines through the whole game. The artstyle feels a lot more like 20 characters being imagined in the same universe for their first time, and it really blends well together.
Can't say I agree with this point. Your implication here is that the cast of SSBB doesn't follow a cohesive artyle, which I don't think is true when SSBB (especially during the time before PSASBR released, but also already before) was praised for managing to include even characters like Solid Snake in the game without them looking completely out of place and fitting into the artstyle nicely. I also think that Melee was targeting about the same amount of (let's call it like that, although I hate that word) "grittyness" as Brawl and was just limited by being a launch game on weaker hardware, it just couldn't display finer details and as a result the characters look more like plastic toys. But when you look at the actual colors also, they (take Samus for example, dark orange and bulky suit) are much closer to Brawl than to SSB4 (most colorful SSB game by far) and (also see points below) the stages reflect it as well. The perfect example is the Adventure Mode Legend of Zelda stage, which is more serius in design than anything SSBB has to offer
Now, let's compare this to Brawl-not really 64, because I'll be completely honest, I don't really play 64 often. Brawl feels like it has two different artstyles heavily conflicting with eachother-a really cartoony one, and a really realistic one. The menus, a lot of the music, some stages (the Animal Crossing, Electroplankton, and Pictochat ones, for example), and many of the characters look like they were going in a more cartoony and relaxed direction. Yet, at the same time, the main theme, the SSE, some stages, and some of the characters look like they're going in a much, much more serious, realistic direction. And it just sort of conflicts for me. Some of Brawl feels like a serious, action-packed game, and others feel like a more relaxed, more fun game. And while I like both, and both are absolutely fine things to have, I don't feel they work very well together.
That exact same criticism could be made of Melee as well. You have the very serious menu design, serious stage design (Battlefield, Temple, Venom, Brinstar (Depths)...) with appropiatly serious OST...and then you have stages like Pokefloats. This clash is just grounded in the original series of these contents. The only real big clash is indeed SSE, which is arguably the biggest flaw of Brawl, although even for SSE you could argue that accompanying the introduction of alien invaders which want to make the Smash Bros. world their own with a more serious artstyle in those parts is fitting.
Also, another side point, fuck the Brawl theme. It mismatches the menus horribly. It worked as the game's opening (except it didn't feel right to match it along a montage of clips from the game instead of its own CGI video), as a theme remixed into other parts of the game, and as the ending theme to the SSE. It does not work as a theme you hear repeatedly and constantly. It's meant to be epic, a celebration, like "holy shit, look at all these characters coming together."
That's entirely subjective. To me the menu remix of the SSBB main theme doesn't feel like it's trying to replicate the epicness of the opening version, with the different instruments and missing vocals it feels far more upbeat, which I think fits the overall menu design.
And, I mean, Melee's main theme is too. But it's actually effective in doing that because Melee's you only hear once every time you play the game. Brawl's you hear 1/3rd of the time you go to the menu, and every time you go to the character select screen, so it loses that effect of being epic, and turns into you wanting the people singing to stop fucking singing.
Pretty sure the Menu remix of the opening doesn't have any vocals.
NOW, in comparison to PSAllStars Battle Royale...there's just no theming in the entire game. It's never explained if it takes place in the same universe, or if the character's are all in a non-canon entry, or fucking anything, and the menus, while also being a list like Melee, do not feel busy at all, do not match the theme of the game at all, and do not in any way get you pumped to start playing a game. Going through them looks like selecting tasks from your computer with a static image of a game character you might like in the background.
Anyways, I've rambled on for a bit, and I'm sure you'll have counterpoints. But this is really why I feel Melee is a more cohesive game, art and music wise, than Brawl (and especially PSASBR).
EDIT:
Thought of a pre-emptive counter point.
So Brawl's menu is more interesting than Melee's, in terms of spacing and icons, but I don't think it works well with the half of the game that's really realistic and serious looking. Melee's really technical looking, and so the list looks more computerized, which, while maybe more boring looking in terms of icons and shapes and spacing, ends up fitting the theme of the game better. Plus, the really busy backgrounds to the menus help the computerized theme to feel exciting and get you pumped up for a match.
(Repost for visibility)
HawthorneKitty
Sgt. 2nd Class in the Creep Battalion, Waifu Wars
Why wasn't it?
Ah yes the late 90's/early 2000's where 3D was all the rage and 2D was shit. 15+ years later, all those 3D games have aged like SHIT and the good 2D games from that era are still a joy to play and look at. Look who's laughing now
While I don't mind the Brawl menus and prefer 64/Melee menus, using the exact same style of menu twice and doing it in such a messy way is disappointing to see.
Also putting pictures on the bottom screen based on the current selection was "quite a task" for the UI designers? Get better UI designers if that's the case...
I hope the WiiU menu isn't exactly the same and uses a somewhat different style.
I can't imagine getting any enjoyment out of only playing smash for 5 minutes, that's barely even enough time to get used to what's going on, especially after having to wait for hours.
Also putting pictures on the bottom screen based on the current selection was "quite a task" for the UI designers? Get better UI designers if that's the case...
I hope the WiiU menu isn't exactly the same and uses a somewhat different style.
I can't imagine getting any enjoyment out of only playing smash for 5 minutes, that's barely even enough time to get used to what's going on, especially after having to wait for hours.
It was also kind of disappointing waking up to yet another 3DS potd but I'm guessing that's going to be more common now considering it's releasing earlier and we're close to release.
I wanted something starfox related. Hate it when stuff gets teased and then you hear nothing else for weeks.
I wanted something starfox related. Hate it when stuff gets teased and then you hear nothing else for weeks.
I think it'll be in "SMASH". I think "Challenges" will just be a challenge board similar to Brawl/Uprising/Air Ride and "Games and more" will be for minigames. Like that Tin Pin Slammer ripoff...and...stuff :lol
Exotoro
Member
ugh
I've been waiting to see the menu ever since the game was announced, can we NOT be disappointed by it?!
jesus hell
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Have we had any confirmation of an Event Mode yet? For 3DS or U?
Delusional people wanting a veteran reveal every day. It's been happening for like a year now. It happened a long time before that with the Dojo. As if these "Pic of the day" posts have ever been anything other than interesting tidbits about the game with the occasional stage/item reveal thrown in.
Delusional people wanting a veteran reveal every day. It's been happening for like a year now. It happened a long time before that with the Dojo. As if these "Pic of the day" posts have ever been anything other than interesting tidbits about the game with the occasional stage/item reveal thrown in.
ElectricKaibutsu
Member
looooooooool, that's amazing XD
Maybe if the Menu didn't look so much like Brawl/KI:U, it would actually be somewhat interesting, as it is it's just more of the same thing we've seen before. There's nothing to talk about unless it's just saying you like/dislike it.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
It's not mostly like/dislike though, it's "Eugh what a boring pic" that we've got for over 12 months now. It's very, very tedious. Something I look forward to ending.
ryanofcall
Member
I think 8,5h? It's 11:30 PDT, right?
Thanks, yeah. It's around 4:30am for me.
Oh, never really cared enough about that to notice it.
Vampirolol
Member
Chances to see a new character reveal during the show?
Aaaand I'm off to Hyper Japan! Time to finally get my hands on Smash! I will be playing both versions. Hopefully, most people will flock to the Wii U demo, so I have more 3DS time.
Anyway, impressions soon! ;D
I think you can only play the Wii U version if you win the 3DS tournament, similar to the Japan Expo in France.
Pretty low to none
powerdrain
Member
Jealous. Wish they brought it to MCM Manchester. I would've been straight there.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
They never bring anything like this to the Midlands! Ah well, only two months and a bit.
Hey, a fellow midlander! I know your pain, sucks eh?
Now THAT I would go to, I love being in london but fuck everything else about going there.
I also fucking hate the North of England because I grew up here, but atleast I can just pop down to Manc on the train and get back in one day for an eight of the price it would cost for a trip to london.
I'd say it's 5% for a veteran and 0.14% for a newcomer.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Well, they bought 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 to Birmingham a few months early, so that was cool.
Error404SwagNotFound
Member
I like those odds!
I'd say we'll definitely get a veteran tomorrow. Maybe not a newcomer, but a vet for sure.
superNESjoe
Member
Excited for the stream but I don't anticipate any newcomer reveals this week. Would love to be wrong though!
Captain Europe
Member
I say 25% for newcomer and 80% for veteran.
That's more than I'll ever get down in Devon.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
I'll just be glad to see new gameplay as always.
Yeah but I mean you get an abundance of cream-clotted fudge, so who wins really?
HawthorneKitty
Sgt. 2nd Class in the Creep Battalion, Waifu Wars
I had a ton of fun waiting hours upon hours in line, playing and chatting with strangers. I even did it twice.
Dang, that sucks. At least now I will associate searing hand pain with fun Smash memories.
superNESjoe
Member
I'm getting the feeling the game will actually be most comfortable on a 2DS, but that feeling just sort of comes from my personal discomfort holding my 3DS XL.
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Dr. Buni
Member
With my small hands, playing Smash on a 2DS would be the worst hell. Or so I think.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
The 3DS version has Smash Run instead of Events Mode maybe. I mean can you imagine? Bleeeeeech.
Pop-O-Matic
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As someone with giant monster hands and tentacle fingers, I can tell you that the 2DS is pretty comfortable.
Dr. Buni
Member
But as you said, you have giant monster hands and tentacle fingers. I have small baby hands, I don't think I could even reach the shoulder buttons when playing with the d-pad in a 2DS.
Modern web design isn't "zazz." I mean you have an "Enter" page in 2014!Nothing wrong with my layout
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