7 Things That Super Smash Bros. 4 Needs To Have

4. REMOVE TRIPPING AND FINAL SMASHES

Super Smash Bros. Melee is a legendary game. The second game in the franchise single handedly propelled the Gamecube into a must own status, and it remained one of the few titles worth getting throughout the console’s lifespan. The game’s multiplayer mode, and its deceptively complicated and deep mechanics made it a favorite for competitive tournaments and for game night parties alike. And while Brawl was certainly good, more so for its sheer scope and volume than anything else, it was heavily criticized for messing up the fine mechanics and balance of Melee.

If the fourth Super Smash game is to find favor with the audiences, then, it needs to revert to Melee’s style of gameplay. Most importantly, this necessitates the removal of some randomizing elements that were introduced in Brawl to make it more appealing to the Wii’s casual audience. This includes, but is not limited to, trippings and final smashes. Whereas final smashes in particular were fun to execute and were excellently animated, there is no denying that they broke the game.

Some other changes that need to be reversed include how every character felt so floaty and slow in Brawl. Control in Melee was crisp, each character super fast, and hyper responsive. Brawl’s greatest crime, perhaps, was messing that up. Super Smash Bros. 4 needs to return to what made Melee’s mechanics so good, and largely ignore any changes that Brawl made. If at all things like Final Smashes are to be included in the next game, then they must be fixed so that they don’t mess the balance of the characters up.

3. MORE AWESOME MUSIC REMIXES

One reason why we all play Super Smash is to get the chance of hearing some of our favorite music from long held Nintendo classics in full orchestra, gloriously redone for a modern game. In many cases, this is one of the primary draws, since many games, like Zelda, Pokemon, Kid Icarus, and until recently, Mario and Donkey Kong, have never had an orchestral score. Listening to all our favorite tunes from Nintendo’s game redone is a blast, and often induces goosebumps.

The fact of the matter is, Nintendo’s games always, and without exception, have great music. It’s a glorious legacy built over nearly three decades, and such heritage needs to be respected. The Super Smash Bros. game have always done an excellent job at that, and things can only improve if they continue doing so in the future. Especially in the next game, more remixes from some less heard but no less loved classic Nintendo tunes, as well as some remixes of third party franchises, the mascots of which are included in the next game, will go a long way towards earning it lots of nostalgia points.

2. GAMECUBE CONTROLLER COMPATIBILITY

Okay, so this one is a bit tricky. The Wii U is, disappointingly enough, not going to be backwards compatible with the Gamecube. This much was confirmed at E3 2011. However, what was not clarified was whether this also meant that the Wii U won’t accept Gamecube controllers.

It is important that it does, actually. Most hardcore games on the Wii offered gamers to use Gamecube controllers instead of the Wii’s rather imprecise motion controls, and since the Wii U, which only ships with one tablet controller, seeks to regain the hardcore audience, it is important for it to allow Gamecube controller compatibility.

No specific game needs that more than Super Smash. Playing Super Smash Bros. on the Wii with the Wii Remote, or the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, was borderline impossible. The Classic Controller fared slightly better, but it still left a lot to be desired. No, the only way to Smash Bros., the only way it’s been since Melee hit the scene in 2001, was to play it with the Gamecube controller.

It actually makes sense, if you think about it- rumors allege that the Gamecube controller was built around Super Smash Bros. Melee, and it shows. The last two games in the series have had a perfect control scheme on the Gamecube controller- the Gamecube controller has become integral to the games by this point. It is therefore of imperative importance that the controller is supported in some form or the other with the next game. I don’t care, maybe release a new Gamecube controller that is compatible with the Wii U if you have to but playing Super Smash Bros. without Gamecube controller will feel wrong, not to mention blasphemous.

1. CROSS COMPATIBILITY WITH THE 3DS GAME

For the first time ever, Super Smash Bros. is making an appearance on a Nintendo handheld. Apparently, it’s going to be the same game as the Wii U one, but it will be different in that it will have lesser characters and lesser stages, but more ‘innovation’ and ‘game changing features.’ Wonder how that will work.

One of the only things that has been confirmed about these two games, and especially with respect to each other, is that the games will interact with each other in some form. An example that we were given talked about building up a character in the 3DS version of the game, and then uploading him into the Wii U game, but there are more possibilities. For example, one form of interaction could be the 3DS acting as a controller for the Wii U game.

But the most exciting functionality that could be introduced would be cross platform play. Being able to play against Wii U players with my 3DS game would be awesome, especially if this feature can also include online play. Of course, there are considerations such as the 3DS’s more limited gamepad compared to the Wii U’s jack of all trades controller, and the potentially less number of characters and stages that the 3DS game will have, but it can, and probably should, be done. It would be a triumphant vindication of the handheld-console connectivity feature that Nintendo was touting back in the Gamecube days, and it would be the best way to sell the hardcore on the idea.

Well, there we have it

What do you want in the new Smash Bros. game? Sound off!