Five Things I Thought About Super Smash Bros for Wii U.

Well, it’s been about a month now since Super Smash Bros. for Wii U was released and I finally feel like I’ve finally played enough of the game to be able to write my style of review for it. As you can probably expect, I am a fan of the series and I really enjoyed, and will continue to enjoy, this new Smash Bros. game. The following are just some of the things that stuck out to me the most while playing the new game.

1. The Graphics Are Spectacular

Not very surprisingly, the first thing that stuck out to me about this new installment was just how beautiful it was. The graphics in this game are wonderful. The characters are expressive and are modeled well, the stages are all expansive and detailed, and the additions of some visual cues during the fights really help make this game both amazing to look at while not being too hard on the eyes. Though in Smash Bros. for 3DS I would once in a while lose track of my character, I didn’t have this happen during any of my fights on the Wii U version despite the amount of detail present in every stage and the sheer size of some of them. Simply put, the game is just beautiful all around.

2. There’s So Much To Do!

There are a lot of things to do in this game. Aside from doing matches with your friends in local and online multiplayer, you can take on challenges, collect trophies, take on Master or Crazy orders, play Classic, Event, and All Star mode, and so much more. My personal favorite mode of the bunch is Event Mode as most of the challenges are fun and some are kind of difficult, especially if you go for the special reward on all of them. Regardless, clearing each Event feels like an accomplishment and it’s nice to get a little reward (whether it is equipment or a trophy) after each one. I also like that you can play many different modes with two players, which only doubles the fun. Though the 3DS version left you with a lot to do, this version really seems to top its portable predecessor in all the various ways you can play.

Five Things I Thought About Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire have been out for almost two weeks in North America and I’m still playing the games as much as I can trying to explore every nook and cranny of the new and improved Hoenn region. The game’s been a lot of fun and it’s no surprise that I’ve really enjoyed playing it. The following is a general review of the game that goes over five key things that I thought while I was playing the newest installments in the Pokémon series. Don’t worry, if you haven’t played the newest games yet, this “review” of sorts is free of any major spoilers.

1. The Graphics Are Wonderful

It’s funny how seamlessly Game Freak managed to transform the look and style of the R/S/E Hoenn in these new 3D games. If you played the original games, you’ll have no problem recognizing all of the familiar areas despite the graphical leap forward. Everything looks so classic, yet so new at the same time. Tiny details, like the waving of the grass, the Pokémon in the overworld, and the wide array of colors used to give life to the world really go a long way and fans of the older games will really appreciate it. Aside from just the overworld, though, the 3D trainer models look great and even better than they did in X and Y. Their movements and expressions are fluid and expressive and really add a lot to the experience. Speaking of the trainers…

2. Every Character Has a Distinct Personality

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire truly stand out in terms of character development. Each unique character you meet from your rival to the Elite 4 all have distinct and memorable personalities that are only enhanced by their expressive faces and movements. True standouts in this department are the previously flat characters of Courtney (she in particular I found to be both creepy and awesome at the same time), Tabitha, Matt, and Shelly. While the Magma/Aqua admins were never super memorable in R/S/E, they really stand out here. They not only have more interaction with the player and involvement in the story, but Game Freak really went out of their way to make each of them unique. The same can be said for your two rivals, Brendan/May and Wally, as well as the gym leaders. It’s unfortunate many of the gym leaders don’t do much but battle you, but even in the short time you see them, they make their impression. The gym leaders and Elite 4 also each get their own cinematic introduction that really helps get you hyped for each battle. Special props to the introduction and battle with Norman in particular which set the stage for your dramatic fight against him perfectly. I hope future games take as many steps as these ones did to help establish their characters because I think it’s something that fans young and old can appreciate.

New Pokémon ORAS Trailer Featuring Info from December CoroCoro Scans

Well, that was fast. A brand new trailer was released today that shows off all of the information that we learned from the CoroCoro leaks yesterday. Only, this time with a little more detail. As I stated yesterday, I’m using the “Continue Reading” tag to hide spoilers if you want to keep yourself in the dark, so again, there’ll be no specifics unless you click below and choose whether or not you want to read them.

Anyway, if you want to know more, click below to read about my thoughts and opinions on this new trailer.

December CoroCoro Scan Reveals New Information About Pokémon ORAS

Here we go again with what will likely be the last big batch of reveals about Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire before its release. The latest batch of CoroCoro scans from the December issue show off a bit more information about the games than we know before and likely this will be followed up by an official reveal in a few days. However, with the release of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire so close, I’ve decided to hide any news about the games behind the “Continue Reading” tab so that anyone choosing to remain spoiler-free can choose to do so. In addition, I’ve decided that the week prior to ORAS’ release I will not post any potential news about the game as I will likely be avoiding spoilers myself. As for my review on the game, you can expect that, as well as a review of Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U, about 1-2 weeks following the release.

All right. Enough business. Click below if you’d like to hear about the latest reveals from the December CoroCoro Scan.

5 Mini-Thoughts About the Pokemon ORAS Special Demo

Well, the Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Special Demo is out now, which means that many fans have gotten the chance to step foot into the new and improved Hoenn! Since this isn’t a full game by any stretch, I figured I just present my five thoughts about the demo in an abridged format. So, here it is, five things I thought about the ORAS Demo:

1. It’s nice to see Hoenn in 3D. At least, to see Mossdeep City in 3D. The beaches and trees in particular look really nice. And moving around in the game feels very fluid and smooth. Not to mention, the game felt like it ran faster than even X and Y, though I can’t say for certain it does. Random encounters certainly do start up fast, that’s for sure.

2. Mega Glalie and Mega Steelix are cool. Though the North American version of the demo didn’t feature Mega Steelix, what I’ve seen of it is pretty sweet. I mentioned these two in a prior post, so I won’t say much more on the topic, but getting to use Mega Glalie was fun (though the fact that it seemingly never closes its mouth is a little silly :P).

The Surprise Reveals from the ORAS Demo

Okay, so here’s the follow-up post to the last one. If you want to find out about the newest ORAS stuff from the demo, click the “Read More” button. If not, feel free to just check out my previous post for all of the other revealed information from today. After the demo’s official release in the U.S., I’ll post more freely about this information unless, of course, a trailer or something comes out instead between now and then. Anyway, click on in order to read about the latest reveals.

New ORAS Trailer, Offical Website Updates, and Much More!

This is a big day for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire news! Though we new a lot of this stuff already, there’s still plenty of new things to talk about, so let’s get started!

First off, here’s that trailer we expected to see! This video from Pokémon’s YouTube channel shows off everything from the latest CoroCoro scans including flying, the Pokénav Plus, Latios and Latias, and the new Megas. Though the Pokénav was known about for a couple days, I was waiting for this video to be released in order to share my thoughts on it. I really like it. I’m very relieved to see that so many familiar features from X and Y will be returning to these games as well. I honestly think things like Pokémon Amie, the PSS, and Super Training almost need to be included from here on out in some form or another in order for the games to feel complete.

Additionally, the flying looks really cool. And, am I wrong here in thinking that this is the first time they’ve showed us night time in these games? I’m not sure, but it might be. Nonetheless, it’ll be nice to finally see Hoenn with the day and night cycles it was noticeably lacking in Ruby and Sapphire.

More Megas, Flying, and New Ways to Encounter Legendaries Revealed for Pokémon ORAS!

Another set of CoroCoro scans this month have revealed even more awesome mega evolutions as well as some new information about the game. The new Megs that have been revealed are: Mega Beedrill, Mega Pidgeot, and Mega Latios and Latias. Mega Latios and Latias were discovered by hackers in Pokémon X and Y a long time ago and were speculated to be included in the upcoming games for a while now, but I’m glad to see they’re finally being revealed. They’re almost indistinguishable from each other, but nonetheless, they look pretty slick. I like that they’re purple, a mix of Latias’ red and Latios’ blue. Nice idea.

With these two particular Megas, though, it’s been revealed that you’ll be able to fly on them in the overworld an announcement I did not see coming at all. How cool is that? To make it even cooler, you’ll actually be able to fly on these Pokémon in order to encounter the Gen IV and Gen V legendaries, including Dialga, Palkia, Reshiram, and Zekrom. Supposedly, you’ll be able to encounter every non-event legendary in Gen VI. Wow, that’s pretty generous of them. I’m glad to see they’re making an effort to introduce these legendaries to new players as well as help us complete our Pokédexes without having to replay old games. Flying on Pokémon, however, especially the legendary duo of Latias and Latios sounds pretty exciting. This is like riding a Gogoat, but taken one step further.

5 Things I Thought About Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS

So, it’s finally here! Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS is out world-wide and we finally have the ability to play the game that we’ve been anticipating for months. I’ve been playing the game myself over the last few days and, I’ll say it up front, so far I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s a great game and if you’ve liked the previous entries in the Smash Bros. series, you’ll very likely enjoy this one.

Like I did for Tomodachi Life, I’ll provide you with five key thoughts about the game in lieu of a traditional review that will give a broad, spoiler-free opinion on the game and its features.

5. Being a Handheld Game Has its Pros

I typically don’t have a preference either way when it comes to handheld or home consoles, though I know some games are more suited to being portable than others—like Pokémon main series games, for example. One of the first things people thought of when they heard Smash Bros. would be coming to the 3DS was whether or not it would work. Simply put, it does. The game’s graphics still are crisp and detailed, the animations are smooth, and the game overall runs pretty quickly without any super long loading screens or anything of the sort. Another pro is the fact that the game’s portability gives you the chance to link up to someone and battle from anywhere there’s an Internet connection. Truthfully, the Internet connection can be not-so-great at times and lag during matches is very annoying, but I’ve had only a few instances in which I noticed significant slow-down. Most of the time, everything ran smoothly and quickly and I had no problems and the issues people have been having with their connections may solved over time. And even if you don’t to go on the Internet and do a traditional match, many of the games modes are set up so that they can be played quickly and in short spurts. A round of Classic Mode takes about 10-20 minutes, Smash Run takes about 5-7 minutes, and the mini games such as Home-Run Contest and Target Smash are short and have a mobile game feel when they’re being played on the 3DS. However, even with all these pros it’s important to keep in mind…

4. The 3DS Screen is Kinda Small

The hardest thing to get used to for me was the size of the screen. Since there is so much detail and a lot going on all at once, the screen size may make it hard to play the way that you’re used to playing on a television. Thankfully, the game has features like the outlines around the characters and the damage percentages being moved to the bottom screen in order to help. These features do their job, but the game really benefits from a larger screen. If you’re having a hard time seeing the action on the smaller 3DS screen, I recommend trying the game on a 3DS XL if you can and seeing if your experience improves there. The game is frequently showed off on the 3DS XL and for good reason. It definitely benefits the game, though if you don’t have an XL and you aren’t planning on getting one, the game is still playable on the smaller screen, it just takes some getting used to.

Pokemon ORAS Trailer Shows Off New Megas and Primal Form Abilities + Smash Bros. Release in Japan

As we’ve come to expect, just a couple days after the CoroCoro scans came out, the official Pokémon channel has released a brand new trailer for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire with almost the exact same information as the scans only with a bit more detail. Here’s a link to the trailer so you can see it for yourself!

The trailer clarified the actual ways the new abilities of the Primal forms of Kyogre and Groudon will work and boy do they sound devastating. Groudon’s ability- Desolate Land, as it is called in English, brings about Harsh Sunlight will stop all water attacks and it cannot be taken away by other weather effects while Kyogre’s Primordial Sea ability does just about the opposite by stopping fire attacks and preventing other weather moves from being used. Both legendaries also have a new exclusive move: Groudon has Precipice Blades and Kyogre has Origin Pulse. These moves sound and look powerful and these new abilities are waay stronger than I thought they’d be. These Pokemon are obviously very capable of shutting down just about any weather based team. I wonder if they’ll make any future banned lists. At first glance, Groudon’s ability seems to outshine Kyogre’s (pun intended) as his completely shuts down the type he was 4x weak to in his Primal form. Kyogre’s just blocks Fire types, which can be useful if utilized correctly, but seems to be less practical. We’ll just have to see, though.

The rest of trailer also shows of Rayquaza (saying he’s making his “debut” though he’s hardly new), Mega Camerupt, Mega Sharpedo, and Mega Gallade in action.

Well, that about covers it, however I would like to mention that Super Smash Bros for the 3DS is out now in Japan and there is information about the game going around like mad. I anxiously await the release of the game in the U.S. in just a few weeks, and I know that many people are trying to avoid spoilers, including myself. Though I know quite a bit about the games already, I’m choosing to wait until the game is released fully to give my own thoughts and opinions about it. Also, I do not want to actively spoil the game for those who want to truly be surprised by the character roster, stages, secrets, and the like. Expect a review on the 3DS version of Smash Bros some time after the game’s release in North America and a post on any official news coming from either Nintendo or Sakurai himself.

Until Then,

The Nintendo Nerd