- Drew Beausoleil

Super Smash Bros. is a huge franchise that has become a fan favorite and loved by millions. As a big fan of the fighting genre I too was looking forward to playing Super Smash Bros. 3DS...So why hadn't the game connected with me the way I had hoped it would?

To be honest, I really can't quite put my finger on it. Everything is there for a fighting fan such as myself. The game mechanics are great, there are the beloved Nintendo characters from the past and present, excellent level design. But I still feel no connection with the game itself. I've played everything from Street Fighter to Mortal Kombat and even PlayStation All-stars with small comparison and yet I couldn't get into Super Smash Bros. on the 3DS. The screen size wasn't an issues either everything worked great with a smaller screen size.

The premise behind Smash Bros. is rather easy, beat up your opponent to raise their percentage and then finish them off by knocking them off the stage and gain your point. Not complicated but against an on-line skilled player this can be easier said than done. The controls are friendly enough for new players to learn the systems with a few simple button presses while still having the core fighter's return to a competitive game.

I feel the biggest problem for me was there is no story to explain why Mario would be off to fight Samus or other characters for that matter, you are just there to fight the other character. Though this is understandably the point of the game but I felt with the lack of a back story for Super Smash Bros. I didn't have that love I do with other fighting games. The other games have a reason and explain why they are battling against each other which turned out to be my biggest problem with this game.

The character animations look fantastic and with the adjustment of the outline surrounding the character (totally optional) it can look like you're playing each character from their own game. The colours are bright and pop off the screen as you bounce around and protect yourself from others. The environments are the star of the show for me. Each stage was beautifully crafted and well designed as the environment changes and morphs into the next set of plat forming wonders. With so many stages to choose from fans will gush over each stage as they begin to realize where the inspiration for that particular stage came from.

There are plenty of different game modes to choose from each filled with their own set of challenges. Smash of course the most infamous of them all, set as an arena style in an all out battle. Challenge Mode where you choose from several quirky challenges ie. having your character use a baseball bat to hit a punching bag as far as you can to earn points that you can share amongst friends and post on leaderboards, Smash Run, Classic mode and All-Star as you fight it out in a battle royal style every man or woman for themselves. Now if you feel you have mastered your fighting ability with offline try your skills on-line as you learn new techniques from watching others and learn their play style. Online can be great given the right crowd playing against friends locally in the same room, (which was how Smash was intended in the first place) it can also be great to play on-line as well but be warned, when you think you are a good Smash player there are great Smash players on-line and the on-line works perfectly. Simple to jump into and get a match going I was playing within minutes the community behind Smash is very large so finding a match doesn't take long at all.

There are a ton of challenges within the game that will reward you with trophies and other items to keep a lot of players coming back for more. One of the best features of Smash is that for the very first time it is now portable. No matter how much or how little time you have to play, Smash is quick and easy to jump into and earn a few more trophies and finish off a few challenges. There are challenges that will take a bit more time, some will really have you working hard to earn them but others can be beaten within minutes.

I feel Nintendo has truly created a great portable experience that will and has pleased many fans of the Smash community. Great gameplay mechanics, brilliant colour pallet and a rich environment of stages to choose from fans have a lot to be excited for. This just goes to show that some games aren't for everyone but are still great to others.