The latest update for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate went live Tuesday night. It came with a bunch of character adjustments and for the first time in the history of Smash patching, character notes for each character that was affected. That's great, especially for the competitive crowd but with this new update came our potted boy. Girl. Thing. Creature. Whatever you wanna call it. Point is, Piranha Plant has landed.
We weren't expecting Piranha Plant to show up until February with the next wave of Smash Ultimate amiibos (of which the plant is a part of) but lo and behold, he sprang out of his pipe early to sink those teeth into many a cheeks.
Prepare your cheeks for they are about to get them hard claps.
The butthurt was strong when Piranha Plant was firs announced during the November 2018 Smash Direct. So much outcry of "What a waste of a character slot!" and "They let a words-unsuitable-for-the-ears-of-children into the game but not Waluigi?!" And of course, "No one asked for this!" That last one is one that I'm hating the more I hear it and not just in regards to the subject of one of Mario's oldest enemies getting a spot on the roster. I mean when it comes to gaming in general. It is thrown out there so dang often that simply hearing it whenever someone doesn't get their way irritates me. It wreaks of sickening entitlement.
OK, so many people didn't ask for the plant. Myself included. I also didn't ask for King K. Rool, Ring a Ding, a killer Dark Man Stage arrangement that doubles as a Mega Man 5 Medley, the sickest photo features in a Smash game to date and so much other stuff Ultimate has given us. Just because "No one asked for this!" doesn't mean it is going to turn out bad nor does it make it bad by default. It amazes me that with a game like Ultimate, a game dripping with so, so much, people can still get bent out of shape just because X character isn't part of the roster. Cry me a frickin' river. There are 75 characters in this massive game. Reaaaaallly hard for me to be upset knowing that.
For so long, Fire Flower was a weapon used against him. Now, Piranha Plant is using the very weapon that was the bane of his existence.
Alright, now that the mini rant is over, let's talk about the best plant that has ever been planted.
Piranha Plant has been a reoccurring enemy in the Super Mario games since the original Super Mario Bros., moving in and out of pipes as an obstacle for Mario and Luigi to always keep in mind when making their way through a level. It wasn't until Super Mario Bros. 3 where they would see major upgrades like shooting fire and launching spiked balls into the air since that game onward, they would only get more and more diverse as more subspecies were added. The improved visuals of Super Mario Bros. 3 really did wonders for Piranha Plant too. Those big lips became a major standpoint point of the creature's design. Even as a child, the thing just gave off this coolness vibe that I felt I just had to respect. The fact that the thing doesn't have eyes actually adds to that. I always got the feeling Piranha Plant was acting so smug whenever he crept out of those pipes with that smile before shooting off a fireball. I get the feeling that a great deal of that same attitude was transferred over to him in Ultimate. Have you seen Piranha Plant's victory screens? That thing knows he is too cool for school and everything else.
Sometimes ya gotta give them chompers a rest. That's when you start shooting fools.
Despite being a heavy character, the plant can move around the stage at a pretty adequate speed. Sptooie is a really nice projectile for hitting players towards the top of the screen and is oh so much fun to use to gimp someone's recovery with. Poison does can do a surprising amount of damage and while your opponents can jump over, the move let's you control the stage. Any move that forces your opponent to take evasive action can easily work in your favor.
Plant's recovery. Yikes, this thing's recovery SO GOOD. There have been times that I've been so far down near the blast zone that I thought I was a goner but Plant's up B brings me right back to the stage. Even better, the swirling leaves will damage any opponent they touch! It is even possible to KO someone early from the top of the stage with this move, giving player's Smash 4 Bayonetta nightmares all over again.
PROTECT HIM AT ALL COSTS!!!
I thought Piranha Plant would be a fun character just from his debut trailer alone but now that 've got my hands on him, I see that he's a really, really, reaaaaaahhheeeeeheeeeeeaaaally fun character. I'm not sure if I'll main him. I'm still adjusting to his move set as I am a lot of characters in Ultimate (Zelda, Daisy, the Inklings, the Belmonts) but I will say that the plant is a character I can see myself spending a lot of time with. I'm glad it turned out be an even better character than I thought he would.
Oh and have you seen Kirby when he takes Piranha Plant's power? The first time I saw my favorite pink cream puff in Plant garb, I about died from cuteness overload. Kirby's plant look alone justifies Piranaha Plant being in Ultimate.
2017. By this point it had been 10 years since the last mainline Metroid Prime game. One of the many reasons E3 2017 was considered outstanding for Nintendo was the annoucement that Metroid Prime 4 was in development for the Nintendo Switch. The fandom went ballistic over this wonderful news. Even though Retro Studios wasn't handling the development, the fact that a new Metroid Prime game was being made was cause for celebration.
E3 2018 has came and went and there was absolutely nothing to show for Metroid Prime 4. Not any trailers, no new screens, zilch. This got people wondering just what was going on with the game's development, myself included. I thought that perhaps we'd get something at this year's E3, but Nintendo surprised us with information regarding Metroid Prime 4 much, much sooner.
I imagine the initial response to this news before giving it some time to sink in was a little something like this.
Development for Metroid Prime 4 has been scrapped entirely in order to start from the ground up because Nintendo was not happy with the way it was currently going. This update comes as a bitter sweet pill to swallow. According to Game Informer's Imaran Khan, Nintendo had development teams spread out across different countries. Perhaps other companies make games this way but this is Nintendo we're talking about here, a company that should have zero problems get all development staff under one roof, so unless spreading out development is absolutely necessary, having all staff in the same building should be the default way to do things. Then again, I'm not a game developer nor am I the head of some corporation ranking in millions of bucks, so what do I know? Regardless, Metroid Prime 4 is now in the very capable hands of Retro Studios, the team behind the first three Prime games.
This scrapped development pushes the game back considerably. We have no release window for when the game will drop so it could be years before a release date is given. Heck, we've probably got a serious wait on our hands before we even see a trailer now.
Still, this scratched development isn't without good reason. Whatever state the game was in, the results were less than satisfactory for Nintendo so I firmly believe they made the right call. Nintendo makes some pretty bizarre decisions but this certainly isn't one of them. As you know and countless others have said, so many games get released these days in a very sorry state only to be patched up later. Or they get released in an awful state and are left that way just so the publishers can rake in dough off of initial sales. A terrible business model, yes, but one that is sadly heavily operated upon.
You know, Metroid Prime 4's troubled development reminds me of the original Metroid Prime. Development for that game was not that smooth at the beginning with fans and critics alike being highly skeptical of the game being adequate, let alone a rousing success. Yet despite the hardships leading up the game's release, Metroid Prime went on to be a critically acclaimed title and proved that Metroid could work in the third dimension. I like to think history will repeat it self with Metroid Prime 4. It will take a few years, but better to wait for a quality product than get a rushed one sooner.
Perhaps it is because I've been working on blog posts late in the morning hours and I'm tired, but I've been noticing that a few of my posts have gone up without being finished, including this one. So if you happen to come across any unfinished posts, my apologies.
Ahem, this week, there's music from an old soda mascot and some music you can here in that one crossover fighter I've been playing like crazy, but no new arrangements from said game. That makes two weeks in a row I've gone without including a new remix from it. Can we go for three? Eh, I have no idea.
In 1993, by some chance, I happened to rent Cool Spot. Without reading any reviews. Miraculously the game did not suck, which was major bragging rights back then (still is to some degree). The game had very fluid animation and a top notch soundtrack by Tommy Tallarico. Fun fact, the man cannot read music but that has never stopped him from composing it.
You wanna hear one of the greatest, classic gaming soundtracks of all-time, Street Fighter II is a good pick. With the CPSI and CPSII, it comes int two versions if we're strictly speaking about coin-op version. Between the two, I have my preferred versions but you really can't go wrong with either. Near as I can tell, every stage theme from both versions of the coin-op soundtrack is in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Remember when New Pork City was the biggest stage in Smash? Now we have Great Cave Offensive and Paultina's Temple to put it to shame. I've actually been playing a few matches on New Pork City in Ultimate in the battlefield form and those Mother 3 arrangements are really growing on me. Tough call on whether I think this or Porky's Theme is the best, but both are really, really good I catch myself picking them on other EarthBound stages.
A game that has been put on blast by both fans and critics, I still say that Sonic Forces is not atrocious game it is often made out to be. There is not only Forces representation via Spirits in Ultimate but music as well. Of course, Fist Bump is part of Sonic's music selection but also Sunset Heights. I would have loved to see Space Port and other tracks but Sunset Heights is still a good choice.
For all of the licensed music in Gran Turismo 2, my favorite tracks are the original music, which has a fair amount of relaxing, jazz pieces. Oh and then you've got this Moon Over the Castle theme that fakes you out with that gentle piano intro before kicking things into high gear.
I know I've been talking about Smash a lot the past few Favorite Tunes, but with the series crossover nature, it is also a gateway to other franchises. Case in point, Smash 4 put the Style Savvy games on my radar through the inclusion of a remix and an original song. Both of those songs were I played highly in Smash 4 and the same is being done with Ring a Ding in Ultimate, a super lively track from the latest entry in the Style Savvy series.
History has always been an intriguing subject for me. I always love to look into the past of my favorite movies, books, shows or games and see how they came to be. The history of Nintendo's massive crossover series is quite fascinating to say the least. To say far more, well, read on, reader.
Smashing Beginnings
An early image of what would go on to become the biggest crossover series in the history of video games.
It was the fifth generation of console gaming and after winning the previous two, Nintendo found themselves struggling against Sony's PlayStation, ironically, a system partially born out of a broken partnership when Nintendo stabbed Sony in the back. Sony's 32-bit disc based baby was killing it and while the Nintendo 64 was still moving units, in the end, the PS utterly crushed the N64. Even though this was a tough time for the Big N, the company did turn out some fantastic, ground breaking games on the system. Super Mario 64 was the 3D platformer from which all others were judged for years to come, GoldenEye 007 did a marvelous job of demonstrating just how viable FPS games could be on consoles, and The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time is often hailed as one of the greatest games ever created. It was on the N64 that a very, very different style of fighting game was born and while the budget for the game was low, it would go on to spawn a juggernaut franchise for Nintendo.
Dragon King: The Fighting Game began development began in 1998 and was directed by Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai, who would later be joined by his colleague and future Nintendo President of Japan, the late/great Satoru Iwata. Placeholders for the fighters were a bunch of generic-looking no names that would go on to supply the move set for a certain captain. Sakurai's idea for fighters was unthinkable because he thought it wouldn't get approval: he wanted the fighters of Dragon King to be Nintendo characters such as Mario, Yoshi, Donkey Kong and Pikachu. Nintendo was a very different company back then, so one could see why Nintendo characters beating each other up probably wouldn't fly with the top brass. And yet, the idea was approved. Sakurai probably knew that giving Dragon King more appeal would help it sell and tossing around some nameless polygons wasn't gonna cut it. Nintendo's characters are known far and wide and it definitely helped supply the game with far more personality than it would have had otherwise. I'm guessing someone (perhaps Sakurai himself) thought that with the Nintendo characters inclusion being green-lit, name change was in order. Good thing, too, because Dragon King: The Fighting Game does not roll off the tongue very well. For all the digging I've done, no one seems to know how the name Super Smash Bros. came to be, but it sounds a heck of a lot better than it's initial name.
One-on-one fights were possible in the first Smash...
...But one of the biggest draws was the four player free-for-all battles.
I still remember the first time I'd ever heard of Super Smash Bros. It was in an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (those magazines that use to rule video game news and reviews back in the day). I'm guessing they were previewing the Japanese version because the full title I recall was "Nintendo All-Stars: Smash Bros." Nintendo's characters had made appearances in other games before, but never like this. This was a full blown crossover. It was so strange looking at screen shots and seeing Nintendo characters whaling on each other. And yet, I knew it was a game, I wanted. Strange as it was, it sounded so cool to play as Mario, Samus, or Link in a fighting game unlike anything else.
Super Smash Bros. released in Japan on January 21st, 1999, with the American release on April 26, 1999. At a time were fighting games getting more and more complex, Super Smash Bros. kept things super simple, while still being innovative. Adopting a two button system, every single character's special moves are executed the exact same way across the board. The only difference being using a different character would offer different results. Inputting up + B for Mario would have him perform a rising super jump punch that would land multiple hits if it connected with an opponent. Using the same input with Kirby would see him unleash Cutter, one of his many Copy abilities. This simplified control scheme meant anyone could pick up and play the game and yet each character still felt different.
The fighting in Smash was also much more comical than other fighting games. Loud, crunchy, cartoonish sound effects were heard when connecting hits on opponents. When fighters were KO'd they woulld sometimes soar off into the background and fade out as twinkle or smack up against the TV screen, adding a element of humor. The method of knocking out fighters was also vastly different from other games in the genre. There were no health bars to be found in Smash, rather the game used percentage meters. The more damage fighters take on, the higher the percent increases, making it easier to knock a fighter off stage Just because you got sent flying didn't mean you couldn't return to the stage. All fighters can perform multiple jumps, bringing them back into the game, so long as they weren't too far away from the ledge.
Stages in which players fought on weren't just random backgrounds but every single level was modeled after themes from the games the respective characters came from. Mario and Luigi's stage took place at Peach's Castle, Samus had Brinstar, Kirby had Dream Land and so on. Each stage also had a type of hazard that players would have to avoid or send their opposition into. Hyrule would spawn random twisters that launched the player upwards, Whispy Woods would try to blow players off stage and random Pokemon would come out in Saffron City. Randomly appearing items also made things pretty interesting. If you threw a Pokemon, you could get aid from Blastoise or Staryu. If you were unlucky, Goldeen would pop out and do nothing. Beam Swords, Ray Guns, Fans, the Hammer from Donkey Kong and several other items could litter the battlefield to turn the tide in your favor. All of this ensured that Super Smash Bros. was an insanely chaotic game and with the option for up to four players at once, it was great for multiplayer. Players that didn't want items on were taken into consideration with the option to disable them being included.
When all was said and done, Super Smash Bros. was the fourth best selling game on the N64 and a sequel would release a little over two years later and a very ambitious one at that.
A Bigger, Better Sequel
With a short development period of only thirteen months, Super Smash Bros. Melee was released on the GameCube in 2001. Melee was a massive step up from the original Smash 64 not only in terms of visuals and sounds, but in gameplay and content. Melee was much faster (the fastest game in the series in fact), had a roaster of 26 fighters over the first game's 12, had way more stages and wealth of modes to ensure that it would be a very long time before players ran out of things to do.
Bowser and Peach were two of the many new fighters added to the Melee roster.
Melee introduced a new adventure mode felt like a homage to classic platforming and action adventure games. Homerun Contest was a simple mode where you would rack up as much damage on Mr. Sandbag and then take a crack at him with the Homerun Bat to see how far you could make him fly. Multi-Man Melee had several modes in and of itself where you could spend three minutes KOing Wire-frame fighters, see how fast you could defeat ten or see how long you can last against an endless onslaught of them. All-Star was an endurance mode where you would take on the entire roster with only a single life and limited health recovery items.
Melee was responsible for getting gamers acquainted with some of Nintendo's (at the time) more obscure characters with the several newcomers to the roster. Popo and Nana, the duo that makes up the Ice Climbers had not been in a game since Ice Climber on the NES. One of the last characters players could unlock, Mr. Game & Watch is one of Nintendo's oldest icons, even predating Mario. He was also the oddball character that no one saw coming and began a trend that would continue with each new Smash title. I'd wager most Nintendo fans and gamers had no clue who Marth and Roy were and the two's inclusion probably helped spark interest in the Fire Emblem series, a franchise that now enjoys steady releases outside of Japan.
Among the copious amount of new content to Melee, Trophies were a fan favorite. [Image from The Mushroom Kingdom.net]
It wasn't just new fighters in the roster that had players asking questions about who these characters were. Melee gave birth to trophies, unlockable and purchasable (with in game currency) figurines with information about each one. These ranged from tons of know characters to a plethora of less known and to many players, unknown characters from Nintendo's rich history. The inclusion of these trophies made Melee feel like one had their own Nintendo museum.
For all of the new content and character's Melee added, however, perhaps the game's greatest contribution to gamers was that it lit the fire for competitive play. Despite the game being close to 20 years old, Melee still has a thriving competitive community. Not only is the game at Evo every year, but each Smash game to follow has had it's own competitive scene.
As influential as Melee was, the game was not without it's flaws. The game's speedy development period ensured that a plethora of issues either weren't fixed before release or went by unnoticed. A few of the game's issues included character specific moves with insane hit boxes, moves that when they connect cause no damage whatsoever, easy infinites, shielding that doesn't even cover the entire character's body upon activation grabs that don't work or a grab that can be used when you aren't even within grabbing range. You've also got several characters that are just leagues better than the rest of the cast. It is highly common to see Marth, Fox, Falco, Shiek, and Jigglypuff in tournaments due to how well they can perform. Because of this, the majority of the roster isn't viable for competitive play, meaning you end up seeing many of the same characters in matches over and over again.
There Will Be Brawl
2006 marked the year that Nintendo would release the Wii and when that year's E3 rolled around, fans had a new game to look forward to: Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The trailer was heavily focused on introducing newcomers that included, Pit, Wario, and Meta Knight among others. When the trailer was seemingly over, fans were greeted to one very unexpected reveal: Solid Snake. For the first time in the series, a third party character was joining the battle. Apparently Snake's creator, Hideo Kojima was/is a big fan of Smash and wanted Snake in Melee but the game was too far along in development to include him.
Snake wasn't the only special third party guest that would be in Brawl. When SEGA became a third party publisher in 2001, Nintendo welcomed them with open arms. Sonic games sold quite well on Nintendo systems and though SEGA refused Sakurai's initial proposal to include Sonic in Brawl, they later allowed it, which led to the game being delayed.
The hype leading up to Brawl's release was massive. After the phenomenal game that was Melee, a title that improved upon the first Smash in every aspect, fans were expecting a lot from Brawl. In a some ways it delivered, in others, it disappointed. Due to the numerous changes, Brawl is the most divisive game in the series.
As much as Melee was loved, especially by the competitive scene, some felt the game was far too fast. Breakneck speeds can be great for a fighting game, but they certainly aren't everyone's cup of tea. Perhaps in response to this, Brawl was a slower, more floaty game than Melee, which turned a good chunk of the Melee crowed off. The slower speed wasn't the only criticism labeled against Brawl. The game also had a tripping mechanic. You wouldn't trip constantly during fights but the fact that such an eyebrow raising feature was there in the first place made zero sense. Even those that liked Brawl hated tripping. Some believe Sakurai implemented the feature just to discourage the competitive scene that Melee drew in.
Brawl also had the most ambitious single player mode out of any Smash game out at the time in the form of Subspace Emissary. Classic and All-Star Modes were still around as well as Break the Targets and Homerun Contest but Subspace was a full blown story mode where the entire 40 plus character roster united to save the world from Taboo and featured tons of cut scenes that were adored by many.
While reducing Brawl's speed may have alienated some Smash fans, it also made the game more accessible to new players and it didn't stop the game from selling truckloads of copies. It isn't uncommon to have some Smash fans tell you this is their favorite game in spite of it's faults.
Handheld and Console Smashing
After a rocky start in 2011, the Nintendo 3DS was selling units at a very steady pace by the time 2013 rolled around. The Wii U, which launched in 2012, wasn't faring so well. Horrible advertisements and Nintendo's poor communication to the masses of what the system was, ensured that the system only sold over 13 million copies in it's four year life cycle. Nevertheless, the Wii U was still given a Smash title, one it would share (or sorts) with the 3DS.
The wait for this new Smash game was about as unbearable as the wait for Brawl. An announcement that a new Smash game was in the works for both systems was made during E3 2011, but development hadn't actually begun until 2012 and the games would not be released until late 2014.
Going by the bizarre titles of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the 3DS version was released first with the Wii U version following a month later. Fans often refer to these titles as Smash 4 to alleviate confusion.
Making the wait for this Smash that much harder was the character reveal trailers. During E3 2013, it was revealed that among the newcomers were Villager from Animal Crossing and freaking jump and shoot Mega Man, making the third party representation that much larger. More Fire Emblem reps were included with the additions of Lucina and Robin and Little Mac had been upgraded from Assist Trophy to a fully playable character. Even that cherry-chasing dot muncher, Pac-Man showed up to throw hands in Smash 4. For the all of the new characters that were added, unfortunately, some were given the axe. The Ice Climbers were hard to get working properly on the 3DS, so the duo was admitted from Smash 4 altogether. Snake was also cut because Konami ran off to frolic in mobile and pachinko land and were overall being a very scummy company. Wolf was also deleted, making one less Star Fox rep. Still, it was difficult to be too bummed about character cuts when the total roaster was made up of 58 characters including Ryu of Street Fighter fame, Final Fantasy VII's Cloud and Bayonetta, a character people claimed was far too sexy for Smash, never mind the fact that Bayonetta 2 was a Wii U exclusive that Nintendo published. Even Metwo and Roy came back as DLC.
Smash 4 was faster than Brawl, but not lightening fast like Melee, a game some say was too fast. All stages all supported an omega form, which was great for competitive players and onlookers that were sick of seeing the same handful of stages from Melee and Brawl. This was also the first game in the series to receive patch updates making the meta game shift even further. Unfortunately patch updates would cease near the end of the Wii U's short life span and even with the numerous nerfs she'd gotten, Bayonetta was still too much for many players to handle, making her nearly a universally hated character across the Smash community.
The Wii U version of Smash 4 was the first to allow up to eight players to battle all at once. If you thought four players was chaotic, the frenzy is even greater when eight players and duking it out. Only certain stages were playable on eight player Smash and some stages such as the Great Cave Offensive and Palutina's Temple were made with this mode in mind.
Despite the console version of the game being on a console that was lagging far behind the PS4 and Xbox One, Smash 4 was still a best selling title and helped launch the careers of several YouTubers and bring others a bigger spotlight. Alphara, IntroSpecktive and Keef Crew are just a few of the content creators on YouTube that got exposure or even greater exposure by making Smash 4 content. With the fifth game in the series having dropped recently, I imagine these creators and more are only going to keep growing.
The Ultimate Smash Experience
The Switch version of Smash was nowhere to be seen in 2017. Looking back at the incredible year Nintendo had with their new system, that's probably a good thing because the Switch saw so many heavy hitters that year that a new Smash game coming out the same year as titles like Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild would have been overkill. Especially when you consider what the next and current Smash title has slammed down on the table.
Nintendo threw us a bread crumb of the Smash game that was to come during the March 2018 Nintendo Direct. This had many questioning whether the game would be a new game or a port since Nintendo had been porting Wii U games over to the Switch.
You've heard of phrases like "And the fandom rejoiced" or "And the crowed goes wild!" Those phrases and all others like them are understatements. When we were given more information on the coming Smash game during E3 2018, fans went ballistic. You nee only search YouTube to fine dozens of reactions of people losing their minds over the tagline of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: EVERYONE IS HERE! Every single character that has appeared in a Smash game. Pichu, Young Link, the Ice Climbers. Wolf. Every. Single. One of them. Is in Ultimate. Several new brawlers have joined the party as well including Inkling, Isabelle, Simon and Richter Belmont and the long awaited King K. Rool. The base game for Ultimate has over 70 characters, making the previous game's roster seem tiny in comparison. Five more characters are scheduled as DLC with the first character divulged to be Persona 5's Joker. The remaining four character's is anybody's guess.
Ultimate also brings back tons of fan favorite stages with the option for battlefield and omega forms and the ability to turn hazards off. Without taking the two aforementioned features into account that's over 100 stages. The game does a marvelous job catering to both competitive and casual Smash fans. It runs faster than both Brawl and Smash 4 but not insanely fast like Melee. With a wealth of characters, tons of stages and plenty of options for customization, Ultimate truly does live up to it's name.
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So here we are, twenty years after Super Smash Bros. was unleashed upon the world. The game that originally began life as a low budget, Nintendo-characters only game has since exploded into a mega sized crossover brawler that is a celebration of video games as a whole. Whenever a game in this series is released, it is treated like a huge, huge event. Having a character featured in Smash be it as a playable character, or an Assist Trophy is a quite an honor. At the risk of making my age known, it feels a bit strange to know that I was there for the whole ride. At the same time, I'm happy that Super Smash Bros. was a series I've been able to come into from the beginning and see it evolve to the point that it has. It certainly has been an interesting 20 years for Smash.
Masahiro Sakurai and his team always put in so much effort with these games and while I can't speak for everyone, I truly am greatful for everything they've given us for the past 20 years. May we continue Smashing for another two decades and beyond.
For this week's Favorite Tune, for the first time in a while, there isn't a single track from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. That makes me both happy and sad at the same time. Its easy tossing in a new remix from Ultimate because the music in that game is so dang good but I realized that including a track from that game every week was taking up a slot for something else that could be there. So enjoy some Mega Man X5 music, Final Fight and some beats from ToeJam & Earl to name half the stuff here this week.
For years, this was the definitive version of Final Fight. And then, Capcom would go and release the arcade version several times over with the latest version being bundled with six other beat 'em ups a la Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle. As swell as the arcade version is, it doesn't have the SEGA CD version's excellent arranged soundtrack from T's Music.
Some cite Mega Man X5 as the beginning of the decline for the X series. It certainly has it's issues like Alia constantly interrupting you in stages, but I've always managed to get quite a bit of enjoyment out of the game. I do like how X5 continued the trend that X4 started, that is, giving X and Zero different opening stage themes.
One of my (and apparently many other people's) favorite characters from the WarioWare series, Ashley is the cutest, monotone sorceress, you've ever seen. Fan demand for her in Smash is high yet she remains an Assist Trophy. Her theme song was remixed in Brawl and has been in every Smash game since. The original version of her song has compressed audio The version used in WarioWare Gold sounds much clearer without the compression.
I wish I could have been exposed to this oddball of a due as a kid, but alas, I didn't get in touch with ToeJam & Earl until adulthood. I also didn't get the chance to play the first game until I picked up the SEGA Genesis Collection and let me tell you, those funky beats are straight up fire. The game only has a handful of tracks, but every single one of them is a winner.
You wanna talk about a Genesis soundtrack that is a total banger? OK, yeah, there's the above mentioned ToeJam & Earl, which I'd wager far more gamers are familiar with, but don't sleep on The Hybrid Front's music. The game was only ever released in Japan and since it is a very text heavy game, I don't see SEGA translating it for western release anytime soon. (Hasn't stopped fans from taking a crack at it, though.)
The SEGA Master System and Game Gear have nearly identical hardware so it wasn't strange to have games looking and sounding similar between the two systems. The Master System in Japan did have an extra sound font referred to as the FM version while most American games did with the PSG version. Midnight Highway just might be one of new favorite OutRun jams. There's a really good arrangement of it in the SEGA AGES version of OutRun on the Switch.
I'm still playing some games from 2018 while glancing at others that I missed. That whole backlog struggle is real. Case in point, I haven't even played my copy of Spider-Man yet. A certain crossover title has taken up a lot of my time lately. That game hasn't stopped me from picking songs for Favorite Tunes. Too much.
If you're having trouble finding Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom in stores, hop online and grab a copy off Amazon. For some reason, most retail chains are carrying extremely limited copies of this game. That is a real shame because this is one of my favorite titles of 2018. This is old school action plaftorming with RPG elements mixed with a modern flair and some really talented game music writers.
These days, our games auto save after every little thing. You kids today. You just don't know the struggle of... the old days. In a game like Donkey Kong Country that started off simple enough, but ramped up in difficulty as you continued onward, seeing Candy was like stumbling across an oasis after trudging for hours in a desert. Candy, DK's girlfriend would save your progress. Unfortunately, you always had to do a few levels in each world before Candy's save point could be accessible. This kinda old school design really stung in late game.
Known as Two Crude Dudes on the Genesis only and only home port, this game was released digitally under the Johnny Turbo's Arcade line for the Switch. Two Crude isn't setting the world on fire, but I don't know many beat 'em ups that let you pick up so much heavy stuff like, say, a car, and chuck onto some sap.
Is that a track from Smash Ultimate? Why, yes, yes it is. Whoever would have guessed. Those of you that may be tiring of the Smash music, my apologies, but I love, love, love, this game's soundtrack. I became acquainted with this track in World of Light when I unlocked Wii Balance Board's dojo. It got me to look up the original track this is based off of, which it turns out is quite relaxing. I think it so awesome that games like Wii Fit U, a game most probably wouldn't think too highly of, got such a lively remix, which is another reason I love the Smash games so much.
If you've been going through World of Light in Ultimate, you've probably come across a few fights where "hostile assist trophies will appear." Depending on the battle, one of those hostile assists can be Sukapon, a pink, limbless robot, who actually hits pretty hard. The game he hails from, Joy Mech fight will be added to the NES games, oh, I'm sorry, the Famicom games via Nintendo Switch Online in Japan this month. One of the many Japanese FC games, Nintendo just won't give those of us outside of Japan.
Batman on the NES was one of those rare licensed games that, like DuckTales, was actually good. It was hard, sure, but it was still a quality title with some nice action, platforming and visuals befitting of the dark knight. The soundtrack was also freaking awesome. Everyone remembers Stage 1, but the whole dang score is amazing, some of the best audio on the NES.
Happy new year! We're kicking off 2019 with a brand new feature!
There are times when the central character has aid from friends or allies. The former may be used in a looser sense when it comes to certain entries, but regardless, With a Little Help From My Friends shines the spotlight on those that help the main star on their journey.
Cappy - Super Mario Odyssey
When Mario's cap gets destroyed after his latest scuffle with Bowser during a failed attempt to rescue Peach, Cappy decides to join Mario in rescuing her. The Koopa King also kidnapped Cappy's younger sister, Tiara, so the two have a common goal. Cappy replaces Mario's old cap as the two travel the globe on a grand adventure.
While Cappy may be a temporary replacement for Mario's cap, he is no mere substitute. This sentient cap can be tossed about to pull levers, collect coins and even function as an additional platformer for Mario. Whenever he's thrown, he'll return to Mario like a boomerang. That's all pretty dang handy and crafty players can skip certain sections of a level entirely when combining Mario's crazy jumping abilities with Cappy. If that were all Cappy could do, I'd still be pretty impressed but he has one other amazing skill: capture. Toss Cappy onto the head of an enemy and Mario will be able to take control of them. How does taking control of a giant fist to punch a stone creature in the face sound? Or taking over a Goomba so you won't slide around on ice? How about taking control of a freaking T-rex? I don't think I ever understood how much fun Hammer Bros. had until I was the one wearing their face, throwing the hammers at them. Cappy might just be the most valuable and powerful ally Mario has in his entire series. Sorry, Yoshi, but you're gonna have to step that game up.
Rush - Mega Man Classic Series
Your dog greets you when you come home from a rough day at work. They sit with your on the sofa while you watch Netflix or Hulu. Man's best friend. Yeah, no, your dog isn't that great. The best dog ever isn't made of flesh, but metal. Created by Dr. Light to assist Mega Man on his third adventure, its Rush.
Rush has "real" dogs beat because when Mega Man takes him out for a walk, he doesn't squat in the grass to make a mess, so Rock doesn't have to go through that whole awkwardness that is cleaning up after him in front of others. But wait, there's more! Rush comes with a spring board to launch Mega Man to out of reach places. He can transform into a jet for air travel. Rush is so good that Masahiro Sakurai decided to make him Mega Man's recovery in Super Smash Bros. and you can also use the red dog to help send suckers into the blast zone with Air Tornado. Can your dog do any of that? Of course he/she can't because your dog sucks!
Pepelogoo - Monster World IV
Asha, the first female lead in the Monster World/Monster Boy series is aided by a member of the Pepelogoo species. They come in two colors, and while the yellow ones turn out to be bad news, controlling the people of Rapadagna City, the blue one that accompanies Asha, Pepe, is as loyal a friend as they come.
Pepe can be used to help Asha glide, perform a double jump and because of his initial size, it can reach areas that are otherwise inaccessible to her. Pepe also has an insane resistance to lava, making the help it provides in the Handera Volcano invaluable. Pepe cares deeply for Asha and would go to great lengths to protect her, even at the cost of it's own life.
Enguarde - Donkey Kong Country Series
Say it with me everyone one: water levels suck! You are at the mercy of countless H2O, which means sluggish movement and usually bad swimming controls. Things are a bit worse for the Kong clan. They can't jump on the heads of the sea life like they would the land dwelling Kremlings nor can they chuck barrels at them, meaning conflict has to be avoided entirely. This is where Enguarde comes in.
This aquatic companion makes water levels far more tolerable for DK and company with better movement and a dash attack that dismantles most underwater foes on contact. Whenever you're in a water level, finding Enguarde should be your number one priority. Along with being incredibly useful, Enguarde is as cute as a button.
