Interesting thing to note is that the Punch Out main theme is called Minor Circuit. (Although this one is the POWii one, not the remix we heard in the direct)
I think this probably means Major Circuit and World Circuit themes from PO Wii are in. (Wii U version, that is) I hope so, I LOVE the Major Circuit theme.
Oh damn, I thought SSB4 was gonna be an October release for everybody but I guess I wasn't paying enough attention to the dates.
How is the online play?
Is at least an improvement from Brawl's?
Yeah, I assumed I was missing something so I didn't bring it up earlier, buuut...
If everyone's recovery being so good means everyone can get back to the stage easily, doesn't it also mean that you shouldn't be afraid of chasing people off stage?
Oh damn, I thought SSB4 was gonna be an October release for everybody but I guess I wasn't paying enough attention to the dates.
How is the online play?
Is at least an improvement from Brawl's?
Well, time to lose myself in the land of remixes.
N's Castle into the Black/White credits theme? OH YES! Always said that credits theme was battle worthy.
That dumbfounded face. "I've been hitting him with FAir for days and yet he recover, but he lands a clean hit with a uncommonly used Side-B and I die! WTF GAME!"
I enjoy the large blast zones in FFA because living for high percentages adds to the chaos and fun. I understand how it impacts 1v1 but it doesn't seem to be that big of an issue. Let's how much it truly impacts as people get more used to the meta and mechanics of Smash 4. Switching to two stock is already helping out.
I think 3 stocks 8 minutes would be a good fit. At five minutes, would go to time out really often.
Actually, how do you guys feel about timeouts? In other fighters, the time limit is lower, and timeouts aren't really considered horrible stalling situations or what ever, they're just another thing. If Smash checked stock/percent instead of sudden death, would you be in favor of lower time limits?
I am sure people will adjust and figure things out.
This is melee.. This isn't brawl. It's it's own game with its own quirks that you have to adjust to and figure it out. What worked it previous games may and probably won't work here.
This is generally how most fighting games work on a sense.
That dumbfounded face. "I've been hitting him with FAir for days and yet he recover, but he lands a clean hit with a uncommonly used Side-B and I die! WTF GAME!"
I think 3 stocks 8 minutes would be a good fit. At five minutes, would go to time out really often.
Actually, how do you guys feel about timeouts? In other fighters, the time limit is lower, and timeouts aren't really considered horrible stalling situations or what ever, they're just another thing. If Smash checked stock/percent instead of sudden death, would you be in favor of lower time limits?
8 minutes would be okay but looking at the pacing of this game, it might drag on a bit too long. Campy style players would drag the matches on. 5 minutes imo seems a bit more balanced or "in between" that.
I know what you mean though. But it still feels very much like Brawl to me. The aesthetics are different, and most moves feel better because of the visuals. There are obviously some mechanics changes with the edge and air dodge landing, but for the most part, it's Brawl. It feels very much like an (improved) iteration of Brawl to me.
I really do look forward to seeing how the meta develops though. I'm confident it will turn out better than Brawl. And honestly Brawl was already really fun, even if it didn't meet lofty expectations.
Yes, it definitely is, with the whole fresh bonus thing I think still being part of the mechanic. When a move gets stale you're going to want to use other moves to make the staled move back to normal and a move that hasn't been used at all seems to have a lot of KB. It seems so random because nobody knows what is supposed to KO and what isn't for most of the cast yet.
Also, edgeguards are going to be sub-optimal for awhile because of having to adjust to the 3DS' controls.
Take this match currently going on (or just ended). The first death was <1 minute in the game, Samus gets knocked off the stage once and can't recover. Next death, Samus knocks Lucina way off to the right, she recovers right into a forward smash and instantly died. Next death (game), Lucina killed Samus in one shot with a normal attack
8 minutes would be okay but looking at the pacing of this game, it might drag on a bit too long. Campy style players would drag the matches on. 5 minutes imo seems a bit more balanced or "in between" that.
The argument I usually see with this is that with a lower limit, it would make players more likely to camp in an attempt to run the timer, since it's already almost done. With 8 minutes, it can seem like there's too much time left, and make players more likely to fight. Do you think that's at all valid?
I'd be pretty ok with 5 minutes, but it would mean a lot of matches would go to time, even when both are being aggressive.
Yes, it definitely is, with the whole fresh bonus thing I think still being part of the mechanic. When a move gets stale you're going to want to use other moves to make the staled move back to normal and a move that hasn't been used at all seems to have a lot of KB. It seems so random because nobody knows what is supposed to KO and what isn't for most of the cast yet.
The argument I usually see with this is that with a lower limit, it would make players more likely to camp in an attempt to run the timer, since it's already almost done. With 8 minutes, it can seem like there's too much time left, and make players more likely to fight. Do you think that's at all valid?
I'd be pretty ok with 5 minutes, but it would mean a lot of matches would go to time, even when both are being aggressive.
I'm not sure at all, just making a safe guess. Why would they take that part out of it but keep everything else (including how hard it seems to hit your move after you've used it once)?
I know it's just a lvl 9 cpu, but just in the demo I've killed Mega Man and Mario quite a couple of times as Link just by going out there when they were at 60 %-ish and landing a DAir. And coming back on the stage, and going back out again if they managed to live still.
Very true. That and playing actual people has a strange effect on how you play. Even if you know what kills, the unpredictable human player makes you lose your senses when you're noob and you go for whatever hits instead. Seriously, it's day 2. People need to calm down in expecting advanced meta play in such a new game.
Disclaimer: I can't read Japanese, so I may have missed certain effects that are hard to test (such as shieldbreaker properties) and I don't know the names of the custom moves so I've completely made them up.
This time we come to our favourite female bounty hunter (or is it just "person who does things for free" now?), Samus Aran, now THIS is a character I do know, unlike Zelda earlier, Samus is one of my mains in Project M, and some of her specials in this game have got me pretty excited, not because it makes her like Project M, not because they make her a better zoner, but because they can almost completely change her playstyle.
Neutral Special 1 (Charge Beam)
Samus' default charge beam is pretty similar to what it normally is, takes about 2 and a half seconds to fully charge, if you use it uncharged in the air you instantly fire the minimum charge shot. The charge also increases the distance traveled slightly, with the uncharged version going far and the fully charged version practically going across the screen.
Damage scales from 3% at minimum charge to 25% at max charge, knockback at minimum charge and Maximum charge is a good kill move.
Neutral Special 2 (Slow Beam)
This is for all those people that desire to run past your own ammunition, it takes almost twice as long to charge than the regular charge shot, but it also charges to twice the size.
Stays onscreen about the same duration as the regular charge beam, but it moves so slowly that you're able to use it as a edge guard or combo extender, whatever you please.
Uncharged damage is 4% and knockback is negligible, damage at full charge is 27% and the knockback is about the same as the regular charge beam. The more charged the beam is, the less distance it travels, you can have 3 uncharged shots on screen at once or a fully charged one and an uncharged one.
And yes, you definitely can combo into it, but the timing is tight, shooting it in midair and then dash attacking someone into it works, so does just throwing them at it.
It also looks like a good edgeguard option, put it next to the edge to scare someone then go deep for a dair.
It's hitbox is so big that you can also hit people behind you if they're right next to you, but I think that's character-specific.
Neutral Special 3 (Shotgun Beam)
Takes about the same amount of time to charge as the regular charge beam, but this beam fires no projectile, instead firing a concentrated burst directly infront of you.
Uncharged, the blast does 5% damage and negligible knockback, fully charged does 17% damage and high hitstun, though it's not enough to do anything due to the high endlag, I thought this move might have had shieldbreaker properties, but it doesn't seem to so I'm having trouble finding what the benefit is supposed to be, seems like a complete nerf as is. If anyone has anything else on this move it would be very helpful.
Side Special 1 (Missile)
Usual stuff, tilt special will fire a Homing Missile whereas the smash special will fire a Super Missile.
Super Missile does 11%, Homing Missile does 6%.
The maximum angle change per second for the homing missile is quite low so don't expect it to be chasing people too much.
Side Special 2 (Slow Missile)
Homing version does 2-3% damage, travels slower and has a much better turning circle, allowing it to follow a player very easily.
Super Missile does 11-12% damage, doesn't seem to be any different to the normal Super Missile other than the fact that it moves slower, it doesn't have any homing properties or anything.
You can only have either 2 Homing Missiles or a Homing Missile and a Super Missile onscreen at once, trying anything else will do the animation but not spawn a projectile.
Side Special 3 (Delayed Missile)
In this variant, both missiles will stay locked in place for a second before shooting forwards at a much higher speed.
The homing missile has an unlimited lock-on range and a fast turning circle, but it can only lock onto a player before it's begun moving.
Homing Missile does 3%, Super Missile does 9%.
Up Special 1 (Screw Attack)
Standard Samus recovery move, lack of SDI in the game means it's multi-hit properties are buffed without actually changing too much, has high vertical knocback at the start of the move but not much anywhere else, does around 7% damage.
It also seems to be faster initially when used on the ground, can't remember if this was always a thing.
Up Special 2 (Boost Ball)
A diagonal recovery that hits harder, doing 15% damage.
If you do it grounded, it goes perfectly diagonally, whereas if you do it in the air, it goes more horizontally and ends in a short hop.
Pretty standard customisation, not much to say about it.
Up Special 3 (Shinespark
!!! (don't know if it's called this but it is a bit similar to what a shinespark looks like!)
)
Samus crouches down and then shoots herself upwards, it's a purely vertical recovery unlike the other two moves and does 11% damage, but it only has a hit box on the initial jump and the end flash, anywhere else will not damage the enemy.
The move combos into itself quite nicely and the second hitbox has great vertical knockback.
Down Special 1 (Morph Ball Bombs)
Reports that Samus' Bombs explode on contact have been greatly exaggerated, they're back in their brawl form, exploding after about 2 seconds and doing a measly 5% damage. Knockback is rubbish.
Down Special 2 (Slippy Bomb)
The bomb moves upwards slightly when you use it for some reason, the explosion only does 2% damage but it has a tripping property.
Down Special 3 (Power Bomb)
Drops a much bigger bomb that takes about 3 or 4 seconds to explode, and has a larger explosion, it can also be sweetspotted, doing 9% damage and minor knockback at the edge of the explosion and 13% damage with slightly more knockback at the center.
You've got a good 2 seconds of movement before the bomb explodes, so using this effectively will be the key, if you touch the explosion at all you will be put back into morph ball mode and won't be able to attack, so watch out for that (this applies to all morph ball bombs still)
Final Thoughts
I haven't had much chance to mess around with Samus in Smash 4, but her default moveset and potential custom moveset seems to make her play very differently, anything from a zoner with her defaults to a stage control specialist with all her projectiles that stay on screen to even a close range fighter with bombs that trip and unknown shotgun beams.
I'm looking forward to discovering more about her playstyle in Smash 4, especially this mysterious Shotgun Beam as I'm sure it must have something else to it.
If I was going to pick a loadout right now for samus, I'd go for 2322, I love the slow beam and the boost ball and think there's opportunities there for lots of setups, edguards and combos, with the stage control abilities and the forced tripping.
I recall there was some speculation that Wario might have the shoulder charge as one of his custom moves because his F-Smash is changed. I've unlocked all his neutral and side special customizations, and they're all just modifications of his base moveset.
