Super Smash Bros.

It seems that pretty much since the first Smash Bros. on the N64, fans have been clamoring to see certain non-Nintendo characters appear in the series. Well, for Mega Man fans at least, that wish was first fulfilled in the version released on the WiiU and the 3DS.

In addition to actually playing as Mega Man in this game, it is possible to dress your “Mii” fighters as various characters. The Mega Man series related Mii outfits are all DLC (that is, you have to pay separately for them) so I’m not going to attempt to make a list of them here as they are being added to all the time and this page would quickly become out of date. As of this writing, you can find the list (along with pricing) on the official site.

On a personal note, I have a really hard time controlling Mega Man in this game. I don’t know whether it’s the general looseness of the controls, or if it’s because I’m trying to play him the way he plays in his console games, or something else. Either way, for the most part I haven’t gotten good at doing anything but button-mashing yet—which also means I’m likely not going to have detailed game hints to offer either.

I haven’t done a full review of the game yet, so as of yet this just consists of a list of some observations that came to mind while I was playing:

• It’s a shame there are no funny awards and stats after battles like the N64 version. That was one of my favorite features of the original game. (This game does record statistics and then hides them on the 3DS version—scroll down to see them. But they’re not nearly as funny.)
• This game suffers from severe Namco Syndrome. It’s not just a matter of what direction you’re pressing on the game pad at the time, but with precisely what timing you pressed the direction versus the attack button. This makes any strategic use of special attacks impossible until one gets extremely good at the controls.
• Amusingly, if a match’s timer runs out while a character is in the middle of one of his special attacks (“Final Smash”), the attack is canceled and the ensnared victims are spared.
• Mega Man’s main sound effects (shoot, land, etc.) sound like they come from the NES era, possibly at a higher sampling rate.
• In this game Mega Man uses some of the Master Weapons the way the Robot Masters themselves do, rather than how the weapons are used in their original games.
• Mega Man does some intricate things with the panels on his body for some of his attacks (such as the Spark Shock one). Hard to see unless you zoom in.
• Mega Man doesn’t talk. (Reminds me of an old, old strategy guide I once read that claimed that Mega Man can’t talk, but probably this is an homage to how silent he was in early NES games. Although the panels and his expressionless eyes kind of lend theory to that strategy guide...)
• Mega Man’s first alternate color change is red and white. Just saying. The last one is Metal Blade / Thunder Beam color scheme, notable mostly because it’s used so frequently throughout the series. (Curiously he doesn’t have a Bass color scheme...well, admittedly, that one would be hard to do with only two shades to work with—unless they added trim used only by that color scheme, which actually might have been kind of cool.)
• When Mega Man is KO’d he explodes into classic spheres.

This assumes you are using the default 3DS controls. This details only the regular moves. The special attacks are in the next section.

- Standard Attacks

• - Standard arm cannon. Very limited range. Mega Man can fire up to three times rapidly, but once you pause in shooting, he has to go through his animation of putting his arm back down before you can fire again. Can shoot while in the air. If you press this while Mega Man is dashing (the faster run), he does what is effectively a Top Spin instead. The Top Spin attack can launch.
• + - If you tap in the direction you are facing and press (a “Smash Attack”), Mega Man fires a super-shot (complete with the charge sound effect if you hold ). This has the same range as his arm cannons, which means not far, but it does better damage and can launch. If you just hold the direction button and press , Mega Man simply fires his regular arm cannon (he can do this while moving). However, if you are in the air, tapping + (assuming you are facing right) will cause Mega Man to slash a Flame Sword. If you tap + (meaning, the opposite direction you are facing), Mega Man uses a Slash Claw instead, and he turns around briefly to use it, but when he lands, he’s still facing forward.
• + - If you’re in the air, fires an Air Shooter straight up (just one though, not three). If you’re on the ground, this produces an attack similar to what Spark Man does (touches two electrode-arms over his head and produces electricity around his body briefly). You can charge this one by holding down the buttons. It primarily hits enemies above you, and it launches. If you manage to hold without jumping (such as by holding it while landing, or by disabling -jumping in the options), pressing in this situation will do an uppercut.
• + - If done in the air, Mega Man shoots his own fist straight downward, ala the Super Adapter or Mega Arm. If you are on the ground and you are ducking, Mega Man will slide in the direction he is facing. Nicely enough, he does not slide off ledges. If you come to the edge of a ledge, he just stops against it like it’s a wall. (The same holds true for his Top Spin attack.) The slide is considered an attack if you hit someone with it. If you are just standing still when you tap +, Mega Man leans down with his arm cannons near the ground and produces two flame jets on either side of him, ala Flame Man. The timing on executing this one is extremely finicky, but like the Spark Shock one, it’s a useful clear-out move and also launches.

- Final Smash

• As with all characters, if you have a Smash Ball active (Mega Man is glowing), pressing will activate the Final Smash instead of his normal special attacks. Mega Man shoots what is effectively a Black Hole Bomb straight forward a short distance; he must tag someone with this in order to get the rest of the attack. Assuming he snags someone in the black hole, the special attack animation that everyone has seen in the YouTube trailers activates, with all of the other series Mega Men coming in to join in the fun. This attack is called “Mega Legends” by the game.

Mega Man comes with a set of default special moves, as marked below. You can only customize his weapons in certain game modes, and you have to unlock most of his moves before you can use them.

- Neutral Moves

• Metal Blade: (default) Tosses a blade that pierces through characters but sticks to terrain. If you press and then quickly press a direction while Mega Man is just starting to move his arm, you can control which direction he throws the blade, but the timing on this is ridiculous. It seems you can only have one Metal Blade on the screen at once, so if you try to shoot a second before the first disappears, you just get a puff of smoke. A Metal Blade that hits terrain sticks around for a few seconds; you can actually pick it up like an item and toss it again. When you do this, hitting something with the blade now launches. So it may well be advantageous to deliberately chuck them at the ground and then pick them up again. (I haven’t checked yet whether other players can pick up your blades, but I imagine they can.) You can fire Metal Blades while in the air, though due to the lag between when you press the button and when he actually throws, they can be difficult to line up properly.
• Hyper Bomb: Tosses a bomb forward in a high arc. As with the Metal Blade, you can influence to some degree where Mega Man throws this by pressing a direction after pressing but before he throws the bomb. Pressing will cause the bomb to practically land at Mega Man’s feet. Unlike the Crash Bomber, however, it does not appear that you can hurt yourself with these bombs. You can use this while in the air, but due to the long delay in pulling out the bomb, Mega Man is likely to land before he actually throws.
• Shadow Blade: Chucks throwing stars. Like the Metal Blade, you can aim these. The Shadow Blade boomerangs, so it has more limited range. It can hit on the going and the coming back, however.

+ - Side Moves

• Crash Bomber: (default) Throws a bomb straight forward. This attaches to people and the environment and explodes after a few seconds. You can hit yourself with this if you stand near the explosion. Also, the bomb can be exchanged from one person to another when two characters come into contact with each other. (Mega Man himself is not immune to this, so beware.) It seems you can only have one Crash Bomb on the screen at once, so if you try to shoot a second before the first disappears, you just get a puff of smoke. You can use this in the air; same thing as with the Metal Blade applies.
• Ice Slasher: Fires a projectile straight forward. Has limited range, but the range is slightly longer than your arm cannon shots. These shots can freeze fighters, but it doesn’t happen all the time; it’s possible you have to wear them down first. Also, in my experience the freezing aspect does not seem to work on most (if any) of the enemies in Smash Run which is where you’d most likely be using this.
• Danger Wrap: These bombs drift upward in an arc. Useful for hitting things above you. Not at all useful for hitting things on the ground in front of you. You cannot hit yourself with these, even if you try; they simply go right through you. As with most of the weapons, you can only have one of these on the screen at once.

+ - Up Moves

• Rush Coil: (default) Mega Man summons Rush and jumps off his back. This can be used in midair. If Rush lands on something solid, then he’ll stick around long enough for Mega Man to come back down and bounce off him again. But if you do this over a pit, Rush will fall into the pit (poor Rush) and you only get one bounce out of it.
• Tornado Hold: Mega Man produces a tornado at his feet that buoys him upward. If you do this in midair, the tornado starts at Mega Man’s present location and boosts him higher from there. The tornado can also be used to attack, because it will damage enemies who touch it.
• Beat: Mega Man grabs Beat, who flies him up into the air. You have a couple of seconds to control where Beat flies him before Mega Man lets go and Beat teleports away. I have not yet found a way to cancel this early. This one is pretty much only useful for comebacks and battlefield positioning, as it does not damage foes that I have seen. But it does give you more control over where Mega Man goes than his other two comeback moves.

+ - Down Moves

• Leaf Shield: (default) Pressing this causes Mega Man to put up a shield around himself. If the shield is already active, pressing any attack button shoots it in the direction Mega Man is facing. You can activate this in midair. Each of the four leaves has its own collision and if it strikes another character, it will deal a tiny amount of damage and disappear. The shield also disappears automatically after a few seconds pass.
• Skull Barrier: Produces a shield that reflects enemy projectiles. Lasts a couple of seconds. I have not done a lot of experimentation to discover exactly what this will protect you from. The delay in activating it, and its short duration, also make it difficult to use strategically. Unlike the other shields, this one will not damage enemies directly on contact, unless you throw it.
• Plant Barrier: A very short-lived shield, similar to the Leaf Shield except the flower petals do not go away when they strike things. As with the Leaf Shield, if you press or while the shield is active, Mega Man will throw it in the direction he is facing. This doesn’t go very far either.