A Strategy Guide for your Strategy Guides
We are back after our glorious holiday break, and we are ready to conquer 2015. Then again, we can destroy anything until we clear off those pesky Stacks of Shame. We will bury those….oh look, Elite: Dangerous!
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Of all the fighting games out there, I believe none are as chaotic and insane as the Smash Bros. series. This is no different for Super Smash Bros. on the WiiU and 3DS. The amount of fun this game is providing me is making it one of my must own titles for 2014. Sweetening the pot is this wonderful Super Smash Bros. strategy guide from Prima Games.
When it comes to fighting game basics, Prima Games put a heap of info in here. Not only does this guide detail the fundamentals of spot dodging, fast fall, tilt attacks, and so on, but the authors included notes that draw attention to how some moves change based on various characters. I found this section to be a solid refresher.
An evil Link costume…HECK YEAH!
The one added item to this section is a small area dedicated to the Amiibos. I was totally not ready for this. It’s a nice bit detailing what the Amiibos do for this game, and why anyone might want to invest in the figures. It’s also nice to see all of the launch figures in once area. Anyone on the fence over this latest Nintendo add-on craze, this might be the final push needed to get a character or two, if you can even find them now.
With the basics done, it’s off to the characters. I found this area to be pretty standard fare. Each character has a small stats block detailing the number of jumps, wall jump, wall cling, and crawl stats. Each attack contains a small blurb on what it does and how much damage it produces.
What I found most useful is the strategy portion for each character. Let’s say that I wanted to try out Duck Hunt, but wasn’t really feeling the mechanics for said fighter. The strategy section gives me a good place to start and what attacks I might want to focus on over others. The tips might seem basic, but they are very useful when trying to master more of the fighters.
Following the massive character section, the stages now get their time in the spotlight. Each stage has a small screenshot and a blurb detailing what to watch for in how the stage works. Anyone wanting to know how to unlock the hidden battle grounds will want to pay attention to the very beginning of this area. What I like most about this section is that the stages are broken down between the WiiU and 3DS versions. Complimenting this is that the tab navigation queues on the side is color coded, thus making it much easier to quickly skip one console section for the other. It’s a small detail, but one that saves a good bit of page flipping.
Up next are all the items, and man are there a lot of friggin items in this game. This is one area where the repetition of the info was a bit much. The guide breaks down the items by their types, and lists the items fitting that type. After that, each item gets a blurb of detail, and again, the item type is listed. It’s a bit redundant, but it’s a small section, so nothing that makes it harder to read or navigate through the guide.
I covet thee.
Now for the section I spent the most amount of time in: Game Modes. There is a lot to do in both versions of Super Smash Bros. and this is why this area is still my best friend. I mean, all of the unlocks are listed here, and I had to unlock everything! This also covers things such as challenge details, enemies, battle items, the shop, and so on. Yes, for the 3DS crew, this also tackles the Smash Run mode. While this area is a bit scatterbrained in the organization, it is probably the most useful part of this guide. While I’m still working to 100% the game on both my WiiU and 3DS, this will be by my side until that task is completed.
As I mentioned before, the only big complaint I have with this guide is that some info is repeated at times. It’s nothing major, but it did sometimes feel as though my wife was “reminding” me to take the trash out…again….for the sixth time. There is also a timeline of the Smash Bros. series on the last page, and I felt this would have been better spent with some art from across all the games. Smash Bros. has a rich history, and having some bonus content on that would have just sent this guide to the next level.
You know, Prima Games impressed me with this guide. They could have just kicked a guide out covering one version of Super Smash Bros., but they didn’t. They waited for both games to drop and then released this guide. The amount of info they put in here is ridiculous. Regardless if you’re a seasoned veteran or completely new to the game, there is something in this guide for everyone.
Authors: Nick Von Esmarch, Reepal Parbhoo
Publisher: Prima Games
Editions Available: Paperback and Collector’s Edition
Acquired via Publisher
As this is the last episode of the coffee break for 2014, Keri and Chris tackle their favorite video games and strategy guides from the year. It’s been a wonder with so much to be thankful for. We hope your holidays are totally kick-ass and your new year entertaining and safe. We will see you in 2015!
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So much fun!
I’ve had a lot of gaming experiences this year. Just thinking back, with the PC/PS3/PS4 versions of Diablo 3, I can’t even begin to count the hours of time I have sunk into that game. I’m currently racing around in both The Crew and Mario Kart 8 thanks to the new Hyrule DLC! There there are the countless hours I have sunk into RPGs like Dark Souls 2 and Tales of Xillia 2. 2014, you have been such a great year to for me.
Thinking back on it, I’ve had a good amount of gaming experiences. Yet, there is one that I still look back on and laugh, and that is when I was playing TowerFall Ascension. For those that might not know it, Keri and I joined Blake and Ross for a few rounds of this game during our Extra Life event. Maybe it was because we were exhausted. Maybe it was all the junk food coursing through my veins. Whatever it was, I have not laughed so much in such a short period of time. You know, maybe it was actually because we were all sitting around the television, controllers in our hands, doing battle and talking smack. It was almost like being a kid again and fighting with my best friend in Super Street Fighter II Turbo.
While I have visited a good amount of digital worlds, nothing makes me smile like that morning with the four of us. It makes me wonder what 2015 will bring. There are plenty of games on the horizon that I am excited for, but what will give me that one memorable experience that I’ll most likely take to my grave. Which will make me look back in a few years, smile, and be thankful that I got to enjoy that moment? Only time will tell, but I’m pretty sure that moment will be complemented by good friends.
What about you? What was that one video game experience that made 2014 a great year for you?
DAMN IT!
There is a lot of stink over games requiring an always online connection. My first real experience with this issue was with Diablo 3 on the PC. When I first heard that this game was going to require me to be constantly connected to the Internet, I hated the idea. It felt dirty to me. I thought about the places I have lived throughout my life and realized that some of those places still don’t have a broadband connection. To play Diablo 3 under those circumstances would mean I’d just have to stare at the title screen and cry.
However, I am lucky. Since my college days, I’ve always had a broadband connection. Even when I lived in a tiny town in Missouri, I had access to DSL. Sure, DSL isn’t exactly great, but it’s a heck of a lot better than dial-up. This means that the always online requirement for games would be, somewhat, a non-issue.
This brings me to today. More and more games are starting to require a connection to the Internet. While it still sucks, like this past weekend when the PSN went down and I couldn’t play Destiny, The Crew, or even Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn on my PS4, there are still plenty of upsides to this requirement. For example, in Diablo 3, my friends and I could easily jump into each other’s gamers. It was effortless. It was fun. It almost felt like a LAN party, minus all the smack talk and PC hijinks.
This past weekend, I found myself loving the always online deal. While playing The Crew, I was able to easily help other racers out, just as they were able to help me out when I asked. My friends and I jumped into a few games of Destiny thanks to this requirement. It was fun. It was effortless. It consumed, and still consumes, countless hours of my life. While connection issues still need some work as a whole, I’m finding the games I enjoy the most are those that make me stay connected to the Internet, yet provide me a great experience for having to deal with this headache.
Sure, we can hate always online games, but they are getting better. Internet connections continue to improve. Video game developers continue to make it worthwhile to be online. Love it or hate it, this is most likely where games are headed, and I can say I’ve changed my stance on it. I love the advantages it provides. It’s been enjoyable. Sure, I’ve had some days where I couldn’t play a specific game or two, such as this past Sunday, but those time are rare when I can go months without issue. Dare I say it, but I hope something like the next Assassin’s Creed or Grand Theft Auto requires me to be online so that I might wreak havoc in my friends games…cuz I am a saint like that.