Are you going to miss Subspace?
I receivedSuper Smash Bros.for the Wii U in the mail yesterday. The plan is to start capturing video of it as soon as I’m able, so if there are specific things you want to see from the game, let me know. We’re also talking toGonzalo “ZeRo” Barriosabout streaming it with us. Hopefully that will work out.
There is a lot I want you to know about the newSmash Bros., but we’ll have to save most of that for next week’s review. I can tell you that it’s great, but not in a way that completely replacesMelee, Brawl,or even the 3DS game. The Wii U title has very different priorities than past entries in the series. It does many things better than anySmash Bros.game has ever done before, but not everything.
Gaming has changed a lot in the past six years. WhenBrawlwas released in 2008, 2D co-op action platformers were relatively hard to come by on consoles. This was beforeLittleBigPlanetandNew Super Mario Bros. Wiibrought the genre back to the forefront. There was a gap in the market for that kind of game, andBrawl‘s Subspace Emissary mode did a good enough job of filling that gap, offering up large areas to explore, things to jump on, secrets to uncover, a cute little story, and some awesome boss fights from a variety of Nintendo franchises. That Pokey boss fight is still one of my favorite things from the last console generation.
That gap in the market is gone now, andSmash Bros.‘s prior inclusion of campaign focused experiences is gone with it. Smash Run on the 3DS game offers a little taste of it, and the inclusion of multiple enemies from various Nintendo titles helps to give it an “all-star crossover adventure feel,” but it’s nothing compared to Subspace Emissary. The variety just isn’t there.
Even Adventure Mode inMeleegave us a broader look at Nintendo’s various games, with Mario style platforming, a ridiculous take onF-Zero‘s “racing,” aMetroid-timed escape run, and aZelda 2inspired exploration segment. I played throughMelee‘s Adventure Mode countless times back when the game was first released. You’d think it would get old, but just being in the “interconnected world of Nintendo” was enough to keep me happy back then. I think it probably still would now.
So far, the Wii U title has only touched on that feeling with Smash Tour and Event modes, but they aren’t exactly “adventures.” They are just new ways to package theSmash Bros. fighting experience, which is what most diehard fans of the series want anyway. While I’m sure just about every existing fan of the series will love the new game, I wonder how many will feel like a little something is missing.
If Nintendo offered a separateSmash Bros.campaign-style adventure, as either DLC or a stand alone release, would you be interested? In the past, I wouldn’t think something like that was likely, but if Captain Toad can do it, maybe Subspace Emissary can too.
