Hey peeps!

We are back after a lovely Christmas holiday, and I’m reviewing…….Super Smash Bros on the Wii U!

Now, Wise One is getting the same game on her new 2DS next week, so I’ll have a review on that next week some time, because if you are a true gamer, or if you feel like getting a weird look from your kids, it is different.

Anywho! We loved it. As a family, we have been waiting to play this game since the announcement at E3. We have a history with the Smash Bros series, and our huge fans. Now, doesn’t mean I won’t be objective to the Wii U or this game.

To start we are a gaming family, and we aren’t picky to one console over the other. We look at the games, including PC. We fell in love with the Wii and the Wii U. Once we had the Wii U we were excited for this game and others. It plays awesome for our family unit.

The reason I’m stating this is because we got some time in before the A button on the game pad broke completely.

Why is that important?

Well, in order to start the game in the beginning, you have to use the game pad. To add to that, you cannot buy a replacement. On the plus side, you can call Nintendo, and send it in for replacement for free during the first year. Afterwards, it’s 170.00 with shipping to buy a new one from them. They did announce that in time you could buy a gamepad separately, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.

With that out the way, we played the game before the game pad had it’s ‘issue’.

For those who don’t know, Super Smash Bros, is a non-traditional fighting game (in my opinion) of classic and new characters from classic and new games on the Nintendo and Sega platforms. You have a ton to choose from at first, and you also have locked characters you can obtain after playing and unlocking certain goals. Pretty simple.

First main point I like is the easy way for anyone to play. I really make it a point for everyone to play including Super Samurai. This game was really easy for him to play with one hand, and was easy for me to pick up. No special buttons to push, just staying on the platform, and fighting others to see who can last the longest. Even granny could play this.

Which leads into my second point.

You can have up to eight players at one time. With a purchase of an extra hook up(110.00), you could have yourself on the gamepad, and seven others on the wii remotes(the wii remotes from the wii are compatable with the wii u) and your old school(gamecube or super nintendo) controllers you can buy from just about anywhere that sells the wii console and accessories.

This appeals to the old school gamer to me. I love my xbox don’t get me wrong, but their is something to be said to the simplicity to the less buttons, the better. That’s just my personal preference. I mention this, because if you are trying to get your older family members to play, and they came up on either of these consoles, it’s an easy sell to get the whole family involved.

Third point is the character selection!

You have a ton to pick from at first. Now, what is awesome to this, is you also can use your own ‘Mii’(a personal creation little person you make on the Wii U), and the new Amiibo statues to boost up your computer characters. They are interchangeable on the Wii U and 3DS/2DS. With all of that, you have plenty to unlock and choose from. I personally can’t wait to unlock the dog from Duck Hunt. Wise one used the Wii fit trainer, and won two rounds with the creepy looking lady. Just with unlocking characters, you have 49 different characters to choose from. Like I said, that doesn’t include the Mii  option. Can’t go wrong there!

Last point, which we experienced yesterday, was online play.

Now, if you don’t have a teen or child in your house, or you ignored the news, you heard about the Xbox live and PlayStation Network being hacked. I wasn’t happy since we got Xbox games as well but we managed. Oddly enough, Wii U didn’t have that problem…….Hmm. I noted that too.

The online play is awesome! Now, I’m not really experienced in the online play, but Wise One lives for it! She loved the little time she got on online play. Of course you have the people who live on this console or use the cheats, but it’s still very easy to use.  You have the “for fun” and “for glory” stages on the game.  In this game you have ‘Omega stages’, is basically where you can clear the obstacles and stage to just be a plain platform. Easy if you want to practice at first to get the hang of the game. Difference is “for fun” doesn’t let you use Omaga stages, where the “for glory” does(in  other words, you can’t use all the stages for fun, but for glory you can).

With all that said, it’s a great family game to play. Yes, it’s violent, in a sense, but no more violent then if you child likes to watch super hero cartoons. No blood, guts, or craziness to explain. Easy for the non gamer to pick up, and with the optional eight player option(if you choose to invest), a great party form of entertainment. Remember, you can use these different controllers to play the game(if you choose to buy those as well):

Wii U game pad, Wii remote, Wii remote with nunchuk, classic controller(super Nintendo controller), classic controller pro, Wii U Pro controller, or Nintendo gamecube controller

Which means if your child has a friend with any of these, they can come over, plug it in and play! I forgot the mention, the amiibos are so cute! Super Samurai got a Mario one, Wise One got Samus, and Ms. Hyperdiva got Pikachu. They can boost the power of these characters, and use them on the 2DS and Wii U. They can be used on the game and online with the game pad.

This game has even more to offer, like collectible and assist trophies, smash tour, event mode, and global smash power, to name a view. It will definitely keep you busy.

I give this game a 9 pows out of 10. It would have a 10 out of ten, if:

a) the a button didn’t break so easily.

b) unless you have the extra controllers, and extra accessories, it will cost you to fully enjoy the game extras

c)I can’t buy an extra gamepad just in case. You have to have a working gamepad to operate the Wii U games in general. Nintendo needs to change that sooner than later. The gamepad needs to be available to be fixed if this is more family/kid friendly.

The game itself is awesome once you get past all of that. In our defense, we use the Wii U a lot for a multitude of things,  but only had the console for a year. If you want to have fun as a family video gaming, I highly recommend this game to get you started, especially if you have non gamers in the family.

~CSM~