Nintendo is having quite the day today, dropping some whopper announcements on its audience during the latest episode of Nitendo Direct. Not only did we learn about a new Zelda title, NES Remix for retro fans, new info for Yoshi's Island, Kirby: Triple Deluxe, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, we also learned of a new addition to Super Smash Bros.
After debuting in Super Mario Galaxy, with appearances in the sequel, another in Super Mario 3D World, and a few Mario Karts, Rosalina is the talk of the town, and the latest new character to hit Super Smash Bros. with her cuddly constellation component, the pint-sized star Luma.
As you might expect, Rosalina sports a variety of cosmic themed abilities (even her standard jump is a moonsault), able to wreak havoc with her wand without breaking a sweat. Below, you can see her sending Fox on the type of flight pattern normally reserved for an Arwing.
Similalry, Rosa can also summon a black hole and use its pull to bring things closer, and some of her smash attacks actually form small galaxies, a dazzling sight to behold.
Rosalina on her own certainly isn't to be trifled with, but don't forget about Luma. Like in Super Mario Galaxy, there's a wide range of the colorful stars coming to Smash Bros., each with its own power. Some will protect Rosalina, another prefers melee attacks, while another shoots star bits at opponents.
Given the fluffball Kirby's penchant for star surfing, expect the two characters to get along smashingly. You can have a peek at them and Rosalina in the trailer below.
Now, some of you may have noticed the background in the above shot of Rosalina tossing around Fox like a ragdoll. Old school gamers will recognize the skull and bones design of the structure as none other than the infamous Dr. Wiley's fortress of the Mega Man series, the building the blue bomber has decimated time after time in close to a dozen games. Here's a closer look.
Given its recognition, this will be the stage for Mega to call home. Like it was in the series, the stage is littered with tricks and traps, including one of the most heinous boss creatures to have ever come forth, causing unknown amounts of broken controllers and profanity-laden verbal assaults. See for yourself below.
That segmented monstrosity is the Yellow Devil, one of the fortress bosses from the original Mega Man, and for gamers in the heyday of the NES, he was one of the biggest pains in the ass there was. Players were forced to dodge pieces of it as they flew from one side of the screen to the other, re-forming itself. Once it was re-assembled, players had but seconds to pelt the monolith in its one weak spot - the eye. Skilled players could get off a few shots, but it hardly ever seemed like enough, as it would soon began disassembling itself, forcing players to repeat the process in a marathon boss fight. More often than not, most players exploited a glitch to make the fight considerably easier.
It's unknown if the yellow bastard is just a background piece, or if it'll be a genuine threat, able to damage brawlers. If it's the latter, I'm not stepping foot near that stage for fear of flashbacks.
So...with all this new Super Smash Bros. info, surely we're closer to the game's release, right? Earlier this month, the idea caught on that the game had a release window of this Spring. Unfortunately, this was incorrect, and Smash Director Masahiro Sakurai was quick to reject the alleged release date on Twitter. Apparently the erroneous information was the result of either a misquotation, or possible translation error. Whatever the cause, players have only the ambiguous timeframe of "sometime" during 2014 in which they can expect Super Smash Bros. to arrive.
Rosalina and Luma join Toon Link, Mega Man, WiiFit Trainer, and Animal Crossing's Villager as the newest Super Smash Bros. characters.
Counting them, the current roster stands at 18, with returning brawlers including Peach, Captain Olimar, Luigi, Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Bowser, Pit, and Sonic.
Super Smash Bros. is slated to hit both the Wii U and the handheld 3DS some time in 2014. Cross-play between the two systems will not be featured.
