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Smash Bros Character Checklist: The Yoshi Series

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If you were to ask me who my favorite video game character was, it would be Yoshi. Without a doubt in my mind, the green dinosaur who doubles as transportation for small babies and large plumbers would be my number one choice. Ever since the days Yoshi’s Story and picking him as my character in every Mario game imaginable, he has been my favorite.

So naturally, Yoshi has been my main fighter in almost every Smash Bros game (I say “almost” because the original Smash 64 introduced me to Kirby, and I was obsessed with playing as him back then). Sure, I love playing as the likes of Mega Man and Lucas, with the occasional play session with Falco and Dark Pit. But Yoshi is always my first choice, and probably my best character as a result.

Though because of this, it’s always disappointed me that Yoshi has been the only representative for his game series for FIVE Smash Bros games. But I guess that’s for a good reason: who else do you need to represent Yoshi besides Yoshi? Who else COULD you get to represent his side-series of platformers?

My thoughts have occasionally wandered over to the Baby Mario Brothers. Teaming up Baby Mario and Baby Luigi as an Ice Climbers-like duo character is an idea I’ve heard tossed around from time to time. And admittedly, it COULD work. The Baby brothers have shown in the past that they can put up a fight in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. But something about putting a couple babies in a fight against adults and fighters several times their size feels… wrong.

So if not the babies, then who? The Yoshi series doesn’t exactly have a large cast of characters to pick from. Well, how about the series’ main villain? No, not Baby Bowser! We already have a tiny Bowser as a fighter. I mean the REAL main villain!

I’m talking about the Koopa Troop’s number one sorcerer, Kamek!

CharacterChecklistKamek

Yeah, I know, a few of you might be scratching your heads at this pick. Kamek? A Nintendo All-Star deserving of a spot in the Smash Bros roster? Well, he IS the primary antagonist in the Yoshi’s Island series, and a prominent secondary antagonist in several other Super Mario games. He is one of the Nintendo bad guys, and I think he would fit in well alongside the other Smash fighters.

Plus, my desire for Kamek as a playable character stems from another source. In a sea of Smash characters who fight with their fists, swords, and lots of tools and tech, there’s a surprising lack of fighters who use some sort of super natural power as their primary form of combat (not including Pokemon, of course). Sure, most characters have some form of super power in one or two of their moves. But Smash Bros needs a fighter who’s all about using MAGIC! And Kamek would be a perfect fit for that spot.

Magikoopas are capable of using a huge variety of magic spells, after all. They can teleport, shoot fire, create clones of themselves, heal wounds… all sorts of neat things you could draw from for a Smash Bros moveset! And Kamek has proven himself to be stronger than the average Magikoopa on numerous occasions. He can use his magic to power up even basic Mario and Yoshi enemies into giant bosses, and he even has a broom he can fly around on! Isn’t that cool?

I even came up with a neat property for a Neutral-B Special move for him. The standard Magikoopa magic spell (you know, the one that looks like a bunch of shapes?) not only can deal damage to an enemy, but is capable of transforming objects into enemies. So what if it could do the same thing to items and projectiles in Smash Bros? You could transform a bomb, missile, or banana peel flying at you into a Goomba or Koopa that would then get in your opponent’s way! It would make for in interesting way to fend off enemy attacks, other than the standard Down-B Reflector or Counter move.

And his Final Smash would be best part of all: sending his opponents into another arena where they are promptly destroyed by a giant Baby Bowser. It would be amazing and glorious!

Yeah, I know Kamek making a playable appearance in Smash Bros is a long shot. He has a LOT of other more likely character picks to contend with. But maybe the good folks developing Smash Bros for Switch have decided to give the Yoshi series and Magic-wielding characters a bigger part in the next game. Who knows, it could happen!

So what do you think of my pick? Do you think Kamek would make an interesting fighter, or should he remain a side-villain? And if not Kamek, who would make a good Yoshi series representative? I’d love to hear what you want to see in the next Smash!

That’s all for the Smash Bros Character Checklist for the time being, though. I’ll see you in the next post! Sparky is signing off for now.

Smash Bros Character Checklist: The Donkey Kong Series

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You could say that Nintendo owes a lot of their success to a gorilla. If not for the original Donkey Kong arcade game in 1981, the world today might not have the Super Mario series. And if there were no Mario, Nintendo might not be the household name that it is.

Of course Donkey Kong himself has had plenty of his own adventures without the plumber’s help. Even though he’s a regular cast member of Mario spin-off titles such as Mario Kart and Mario Party, DK has a well recognized game series of his own. They take the form of several arcade and Game & Watch outings in the 1980s, and the beloved Donkey Kong Country series that began in the 1990s.

Since he has his place at the origins of Nintendo’s video game empire, it’s no surprise Donkey Kong was one of the characters picked to be in the original Super Smash Bros. He and his little buddy Diddy are now mainstays of the series. But surprisingly, they’re the sole representatives of the Donkey Kong games, even though the series has a rich supply of characters to choose from.

Dixie Kong was intended to be a playable character in Super Smash Bros Brawl, and was meant to be teamed up with Diddy Kong like in her game of origin. However, that idea didn’t pan out, and Dixie has remained on the sidelines to this day. That being said, there’s always hope for her to make an official appearance as a playable character in Smash, and she has plenty of support behind her. However, my choice for a playable Donkey Kong character is someone a bit more… villainous!

Who’s the meanest, greenest crocodile you’ve ever had to face in a series of brutal Super Nintendo games? Why, King K. Rool, of course!

CharacterChecklistKRool

The cry for the King of Kremlings to be playable in Super Smash Bros is a strong one. I know I’m not the only one who would love to see him make an appearance on the roster. We got at least a LITTLE close when he was turned into a wearable costume for the Mii Brawler character. But as the main antagonist of the Donkey Kong series, K. Rool absolutely deserves a full playable spot in the next Smash Bros.

While heavy-weight, brutally powerful characters sporting fangs and claws are no stranger to the Smash Bros roster, K. Rool has a lot of points of inspiration for his moveset that could set him apart from the likes of Bowser and Charizard. He’s used plenty of projectile weapons before (including his own crown, which behaves like a boomerang for whatever reason), giving him some potential long-range options that other big characters lack.

King K. Rool has fondness for different personas as well. In several of the games he’s made an appearance in, he’s taken on different names and likenesses, and he changes the way he fights accordingly. In Donkey Kong Country 2, he took up the guise of Kaptain K. Rool, wielding a giant blunderbuss. In Donkey Kong Country 3, he became Baron K. Roolenstein, sporting a helicopter pack for easy maneuverability. And in Donkey Kong 64, he was heavyweight-champ King Krusha K. Rool, emphasizing his brute strength. Any one of these disguises can be used as inspiration for K. Rool’s moveset (as well as inspiration for alternate costumes, perhaps?).

Throughout all of his games, King K. Rool has shown himself of strong, durable, agile, smart, and wildly creative, leading to all kinds of potential for him in a Super Smash Bros games. They only issue with including him is that in more recent games like Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze, he’s been set aside for other villains to take his place. It’s been about 10 years since he’s had a starring roll in a Nintendo game, the most recent of which is Mario Super Sluggers. But even though he’s not as prominent of a Nintendo villain as he once was, I’d say it’s high time he made a comeback! Here’s hoping he finally shows up again in the next Smash!

So what do you think of my pick? Do you think K. Rool deserves a shot at Smash glory, or are other Donkey Kong characters more worthy of the spot? Let me know what you think!

But for now, I’d say that’s all for me. Thanks a lot for reading, and be sure to be on the lookout for the next entry in my Smash Bros Character Checklist! This is is Sparky, signing off!

Smash Bros Character Checklist: The Mario Series

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I. Freaking. Love. Super Smash Bros. Ever since I first saw that glorious commercial for the original game on Nintendo 64, I knew I was in for something amazing. To this day, Super Smash Bros remains my favorite video game series, and each game just keeps getting better.

To many gamer’s surprise, Nintendo announced the return of the series on the Nintendo Switch almost out of nowhere the other day. Everyone knew it was going to happen at some point, but I don’t think anyone expected an announcement for a Smash Bros game to happen before E3. The trailer was just a small teaser, and didn’t tell us much, aside from the addition of the Splatoon Inklings to the character roster. But regardless, it was enough to get the hype train rolling once more, and get everyone speculating about who’s going to make the cut in Nintendo’s next huge crossover fighting game.

Topping the character roster from Super Smash Bros for 3DS and Super Smash Bros for Wii U will be no easy task. The duo of games, collectively known as Smash 4, had a huge 58 character roster, with 8 additional fighters being represented as alternate costumes for existing characters. Smash Bros for Switch promises to be gigantic, and everyone has their own thoughts on who’s going to be joining the fray. And of course, that includes me.

So I’m starting off what I’m calling the Smash Bros Character Checklist, where I talk about characters I would like to see join the battle! I’m going to be going through the existing represented Nintendo games, series by series, and discussing who I think from that series would make a good addition to the cast. These aren’t going to be detailed analyses of what the character’s complete move-sets would be or anything; just my general thoughts on what the characters would play like, and why I think they should be included in the game. And starting us off, of course, is the Mario series.

Now, the main series Mario titles already have plenty of representation in the Smash Bros titles. There’s Mario and his Doctor counterpart, his brother Luigi, the lovely Princess Peach, and Mario Galaxy’s Rosalina. We also can’t forget the big baddie Bowser and his son, Bowser Jr. If you count the fact that the seven Koopalings also serve as Bowser Jr’s alternate costumes, that brings the total Mario characters up to fourteen. I think most agree that the Mario series has plenty of representation at this point, so adding more characters almost seems a bit silly.

But… there’s someone missing, isn’t there? A main series Mario character, often playable in games, that isn’t among the other main characters? Why, it’s Toad of course! It seems strange to have every other Mario character under the sun, and not include one of the longest running characters in the series as a Smash fighter. Though there is the small problem that Toad serves as one of Princess Peach’s special moves. So why not make the playable Toad a different Toad? Make it… Captain Toad!

CharacterChecklistCaptainToad

Starting off as a minor supporting roll in Super Mario Galaxy, Captain Toad and the Toad Brigade grew into characters of their own. The sometimes cowardly treasure hunter is now a mainstay of the series, with his own title game that’s soon going to be re-released on the Nintendo Switch. He would be a perfect fit to represent his Toad brethren in a new Smash Bros!

Like other playable Toads before him, I envision Captain Toad as a quick character with a good deal of strength behind his attacks. Though he would most likely sport the poor jumping ability of other Toads as well. Considering he doesn’t have a jump button at all in his game, maybe he should invest in a smaller backpack for his Smash Bros debut?

He would be a lot like Little Mac in a way. But in order to differentiate him from the small-stature boxer, Captain Toad would sport an arsenal of tools from his treasure hunting expeditions. He would have his pickaxe handy for Smash Attacks, and he could even borrow Princess Peach’s vegetable-picking attack for his Down-B Special (perhaps he could occasionally unearth heavy treasures, instead of vegetables, in order to deal extra damage?). The Captain could even make use of his headlamp for a Neutral-B Special, charging the light up to temporarily blind his opponents.

His alternate costumes would be easy to come up with: give him colors representing the other members of the Toad Brigade! He could even have an alternate costume that turns him into Toadette, similar to the gender-swapped costumes of Robin, Corrin, and Wii Fit Trainer. That way you could have another character added to the game, without taking up a spot in the character roster. Plus it would add to the number of female characters in the game as a whole.

Overall, I think Captain Toad would be the perfect choice to fill in what feels like a large hole in the cast of Mario characters represented in Super Smash Bros. He can be a modern AND classic Nintendo character rolled into one! Here’s hoping the development team feels the same way as I do. I’d love to see him make it in!

So what does everyone else think of my choice? Would Captain Toad make a good Mario representative, or do you have another character in mind? I hear that Paper Mario is a popular choice, and there’s always characters like Princess Daisy and Waluigi (though would Waluigi count as a Wario series character? That’s something to think about…). Either way, tell me what you think! I’d love to hear fellow Smash-Fan’s thoughts on the matter!

I’m planning to continue the Smash Bros Character Checklist in the future, so be sure to look out for posts on other characters and franchises I think would be a perfect fit for Super Smash Bros!  Until then, keep on playing! Sparky is signing off for now.

A Call to Arms (Arms First Impressions)

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In the seemingly never ending wait for new content on the Nintendo Switch, there is shining light in the distance, just a couple weeks away: Arms is a Nintendo-made unique spin on the fighting-game genre. Every character has stretchy arms (or some equivalent) and they take each other on in the most intense style of boxing and tests of skill imaginable. And it comes complete with bombs, fire, ice, electricity, robot suits, mummies, laser-shooting-dragon-head attachments, and unidentifiable piles of goo with fists.

Over the past couple weekends, Nintendo has been running a special demo version of the game called the Arms Global Testpunch. Nintendo Switch users from all over were able to get a taste of the game, playing online against other players experiencing the game for the first time, myself included. So, I felt like it would be fun to voice my opinion on the whole thing! There was only so much players were allowed to experience, but the online sessions I did manage to jump in on were a lot of fun.

Let’s get started on this little analysis, shall we? I’ll divide up different subjects about the game, and lists the pros and cons I feel were presented in the demo.

  • Graphics and Music: 
    • Pro: This game looks really, really good. It’s nice and colorful, it runs smoothly, and the characters and stages all look unique and are a joy to see in motion. The music is equally great, and the main theme can stick in your head pretty easily (as a good main theme to a game should).
    • Con:  I can’t think of any major negative aspects I would think are important enough to bring up. Some of the character designs didn’t seem quite as good as others (I don’t really care much for Ribbon Girl or Helix design-wise), but that’s really a non-issue.
  • Gameplay and Control
    • Pro: Your basic Arms match is a one-on-one fight, you and an opponent in the ring together. The standard fighting game rules apply: knock your opponent’s health down to zero, and you win! And with unique character abilities and a bunch of different styles of weapons (called Arms, of course) you can attach to you stretchy limbs, finding the combination of fighter and tools that suits you best is an experience of its own. There’s also two-vs-two gameplay where you team up with a partner, and a boss battle mode of sorts where three players join forces to take down a baddie called Headlok (who is literally a giant metal head that locks himself onto another fighters body. Get it? Headlok?). But there’s also a target punching mode, volleyball, and a basketball game where you use your opponent as the ball. It’s a good variety, to say the least!
    • Pro: The game has multiple control modes, and the one mainly featured in the demo is what’s called the “Thumbs Up Grip” mode. You play holding each half of the Joycon controller in your two hands, and you play the game mostly through motion control. You dodge, block, and punch all through the movements of your hands, and it’s AWESOME. This is motion control done right, making you feel like a part of the game! Of course, if you’re looking for something more standard, there are normal controller options too. But I feel like the true way to play is by swing your own fists! It makes for a good workout that way, too!
    • Con: I’d say the main problem with the controls is that maybe the game can be a little TOO sensitive in Thumbs Up mode at times. Like I mentioned, your movement, defending, and fighting are all done through the motion control. In the heat of a fight, depending on how you move your hands or the direction you hold the controllers in, you could end up blocking or throwing out a grab when you didn’t mean to, and it could cost you the game. You have to pay veeeeery close attention to what your hands are doing. And when your adrenaline gets pumping in the middle of a fight, that’s not the easiest thing in the world. Perhaps a normal control style can be more suitable for this game? I suppose it depends on the player.
  • Online Play
    • Pro: A big issue with Nintendo games in the past is the sometimes shoddy online play. Even the recently released Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is reportedly having issues. That being said, this doesn’t seem to be the case with Arms. The demo, after all, was online play only. And every motion of the controller, every button press, and every impact of my punches felt spot-on with no delay (not counting the occasional lagging connection with an opponent). Of course, this could change once the game is released and more people are playing online more regularly, but as it stands, Arms might be the best online experience for a Nintendo game to date.
    • Con: At least, it is the best when the game doesn’t randomly drop you. I had this strange issue where every 20 minutes or so, I would be given an error code and kicked out of the online lobby, even when I was in the middle of a fight. It could have been an issue with my internet, or maybe just an issue with the demo itself. And even when I did get kicked, I was able to jump right back online almost immediately with no problem. So I’m not sure what was up with that. I’d be interested to hear if other people experienced the same issue. Hopefully it doesn’t persist when the full game launches.

And that about covers my opinion on Arms so far! Overall, aside from the occasional oddity, it made a really good impression. Even if you didn’t manage to catch the demo periods, I would highly recommend picking up the full game when it launches on June 16th! I know I am.

Thank you for reading my little blurb on what could be Nintendo’s next smash-hit game. I would be well deserved for this to become a best seller for the system! Until next time, Sparky is signing off!

(I might even have a main fighter already! Mechanica is my jam!)