I was a recent guest at Namco Bandai studios. I'm not going into much detail as to how or why.
Here is some general information:
- I played the game on Friday, Januray 17th.
- I played a recent build but it was NOT FINAL. The guy was very specific and said there will be a lot of changes.
- I am not a native speaker of Japanese, and my guide wasn't going to ask many questions for me. I was only sure of the above bullet.
- When I asked if I saw the final roster, I was answered with grins. Again, not a lot was answered for me.
- I asked how far into development the game was. Answer: "It's developing."
- Two developers were showing me the build, along with my guide.
- I DID NOT SEE ANY OTHER MODE BESIDES THE FOUR PLAYER VERSUS.
- I played 2 four player matches. It was me, my guide, and the two developers.
- One developer was using the Gamepad. The screen was only mirroring what was on the television.
- I used the pro controller, as did everyone else.
Characters:
I DO NOT KNOW IF I SAW THE FINAL ROSTER.
Besides the announced cast, here is who I saw on the character select screen:
(Note: I did not take a picture, I am going from memory. I was so overwhelmed I could have forgotten someone).
Veterans
- Wario
- Yoshi
- Mr. Game and Watch
- Meta Knight
- Falco
- Ness
- Lucas
- Captain Falcon
- Diddy Kong
- Ice Climbers
- Mewtwo
I did not see Snake, Jigglypuff, PKMN trainer, etc. on the character select screen. Yes, I did not see Ganondorf on the screen. He's my main Brawl and I was disappointed I didn't see him. I did see Mewtwo.
It should be noted that none of use played as Zelda or Samus. I don't know about Sheik or ZSS, but I don't recall seeing Sheik sharing the portrait with Zelda like in Brawl.
Newcomers
- Chrom
- Issac
- Shulk
- Adam (from Other M...)
- Dixie Kong
That was all that was on the character select screen.
Before we get into gameplay, here are some tibits:
- I did not see any other screen besides the character select, stage select and victory screens. We did not even change the rules, so I didn't see any rules screen.
- We played a 2 minute match twice.
- The character select screen was very close to Brawl's. The portraits used the character renders that you would see on the website.
- One interesting thing I noticed is that instead of the names being above the characters, they are now below.
- A new orchestral version of the music that played during the E3 trailer was the music used on the select screens.
- There was no announcer.
Stages
- I saw about roughly 20 stages on the screen. However, we immediately went into Battlefield.
- I did look at the pictures on the screen as the stage loaded, here's what I saw:
- I saw what appeared to be a glimpse of a Fire Emblem stage. It sported a castle, but not one from Zelda.
- Speaking of Zelda, I saw the pirate ship from Brawl on the screen.
- There was also a Kirby yarn themed stage I caught a glimpse of.
- Battlefields day and night cycles seemed quicker.
- We also played on the Skyloft stage. It was much like Isle Delfino. The stage stopped onto of the bazaar, which I don't think has been seen.
- Another version of that E3 theme played on Battlefield.
- A new version of the theme that plays when you fly through the sky played on Skyloft.
- ^That right there.
Gameplay
- It is closer to Brawl than it is to Melee. I couldn't wavedash.
- Falls were quicker.
- As expected, the B button did special attacks and A did Smash attacks.
- The right stick acted like the C stick.
- I chose to play Rosalina in the first match. I forgot who was who but I played against Bowser, Wii Fit Trainer and Fox.
- Rosalina was silent. Wii Fit Trainer spoke Japanese. Bowser and Fox were reusing their Brawl sounds. (Fox was, oddly, speaking in English for some reason.)
Rosalina
She was more difficult than I expected. Neutral B summoned a Luma. It was green the first time. I'm not sure if color of the Lumas mean anything. I had trouble keeping up with where Rosalina was and where the Luma was. I had trouble controlling the Luma and where I wanted it to go. I was very confused. Her down B brought in a lot of items that I used to throw at people, which was basically my main method of attacking. Speaking of...
Items
- Gardevoir is back.
- Waluigi is back as an assist trophy.
- Torchic is back.
- That seal starter Pokemon (I forget the name) came out and threw bubbles.
- Bandanna WaddleDee is an assist trophy and throws spears.
- The new Nintendog stayed on longer than the old one. Had the same animations.
- Moltres was back.
- Bomb Ombs were back.
- Party Balls were back and they dropped food.
- Food was back.
- Heart Containers looked more like TP incarnations than SS.
- Bumpers are back.
- The Pikmin rocket worked like Olimar's FS, except on a smaller and quicker scale. It flew up, all around and crashed into the ground.
- Franklin Badge is back.
- The new bomb that makes an X shape is deadly. The X spun around rather quickly.
- I didn't see that Steel Diver item.
- I saw another new item. Forgot what it does and what it looked like (sorry!)
- Sandbag appeared, but I didn't see him drop anything.
- Cracker launcher is back.
- Bowser got the final smash. He still turns into Giga Bowser.
I played as Marth in the second round. Opponents were Villager, Dedede and Dixie Kong. Villager was silent as well, DDD and Marth reused voice clips from Brawl. Dixie Kong used Diddy's voice clips from Brawl, it sounded like.
Marth
Virtually unchanged from Brawl. I got the Final Smash in the second round. Marth still used his same FS, however it did not kill someone at 16%. I was shocked.
Dixie Kong
I didn't play as her, but she could hover around like in DKC2. Her grab also seemed really strong as her forward throw KO'd me. A lot of her moves seemed original, to me.
The results screen was like the one at E3. It showed the characters render and said "Bowser wins!" and "Dedede wins!"
No one was clapping and there wasn't a final score. No music played either. It went right back to the character screen.
It was fun, but too soon to say anything. I'm glad I had the experience.
If you want a pic of the Namco office, I have some. It doesn't show much though. Just a lot of people in chairs.
I could go into more detail about the actual office, if you'd like. It was fun, I saw a lot of Tekken machines and played against someone.
I should point out that I did not see Sakurai.
Thanks!
Let's see how the game turns out!
