EARLY REVIEW: Smash Bros 3DS has rekindled my long-lost adoration with portable gaming.

It would be a late night after completing tiring homework assignments set by my teachers and being on the edge of resting my eyes and falling into a deep slumber; it was then when my two brothers would both recruit each other with a simple question of “Smash?”, yet we all knew what the question “Smash?” entitled.

Whether it being on the N64, Gamecube or the Wii, it had become a ritual of a sort for our daily nights to result in a tedious yet exhilarating session of this clear masterpiece Nintendo had published. Whenever I think of Smash Bros, I think of these pleasant distant childhood memories, something perhaps which will never fade from me. Had it not been with my brothers, my friends during the day would have also asked “can we play Smash Bros?” and we’d witness similar experiences. However now, it’s been almost a good year since I’ve last played Smash Bros on the Wii, not because I’ve grown out of my child/teenager phase who would once become ecstatic when playing the game, but just due to me knowing that I can expect a new addition to the series so very soon.

Today was a wonderful surprise for me, during the Nintendo Treehouse stream, it was announced that Smash Bros for the 3DS would have playable demos, yet it hadn’t occurred to me that I’d be one of those people who’d receive a demo for it! After giving away three of my other codes which rapidly ran out as soon as I uploaded the article, I headed straight to my 3DS to download my own personal code and experience the much awaited demo for myself. It’s worth bearing note that not only had I not played a  Smash Bros game in a while, I’ve neglected my 3DS for quite a few months now without any real motivation to begin playing it again. In fact, I do have actual games still in their packaging which I haven’t touched yet, but due to my odd prioritisation of my PC and console games first, the 3DS became just a hazy memory rather than a handheld console which I actually own. It was at that moment in the start-up screen, I realised how much of a fool I was for leaving my 3DS aside.

The demo is restrictive in a sense that you only have the ability to play the Battlefield stage, with selected characters and no customisation to your battle rules. The demo grants players an option to verse players via local-play, unfortunately it was something I could not test seeing as I had no one nearby at the time with a 3DS to play with. Hence, I headed straight to a solo game with three opposing CPU characters. My initial thoughts were to make these CPU players be at an intermediate level of ‘7’/’8′ due to me being accustomed to Smash Bros gameplay for a while now; the AI were dumb, restrictive and practically jumped off the map for me, there wasn’t much of a challenge and I felt slightly disappointed – it wasn’t until I reassigned the CPU to be a ‘9’ in difficulty that they surprisingly began to test my abilities. Here, the AI were the most intelligent I’ve ever seen them be, it felt as though I were versing actual live players with their tactical attacks and they really forced me to actually work hard to win the game.

The demo itself demonstrated to me just how well the traditional console game works on a smaller screen, the characters are visible and the level designs are beautiful for the 3DS’s capabilities. It’s also worth noting that the 3D effect really works for the game, I hadn’t found it a distraction to the gameplay at all, but rather it added depth to my experience. I could easily imagine me bringing my 3DS outside to my daily travels as I commute on public transport, playing the game would cause me to have actual excitement during my travels (and perhaps aggressive yet awkward cursing too), but it’s something which I definitely intend on purchasing; not only that, but the game itself has ‘rekindled my long-lost adoration’ which once belonged to portable gaming, I love my 3DS and I’ve realised “I’ve made a huge mistake” by neglecting my precious console. I’m sorry 3DS, I promise to never do that again.

A full review of the game will be uploaded with the full official release, but as of now these are just my early initial thoughts of the game. I’m now hoping Nintendo replicate their 3DS demo with the Wii U so I can play the version of the game I’ve been most excited for!