Super Smash Bros for Wii U review: Nintendo fighter is the total package

Release Date: November 28 (Europe), November 21 (North America)
Platforms available on: Wii U
Developer: Sora / Namco Bandai
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Fighting game

How times change, eh? Super Smash Bros for Wii U is pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a Smash Bros game - and if this were just a few years ago, I wouldn't have been happy with that.

But gaming has moved on to a world of penny-pinching and rationed-out content, so a very Nintendo game made in a very Nintendo way isn't just good - it's welcome. Refreshing, even.

Super Smash Bros for 3DS is great, but as we said in our review, it's not the same as getting everyone around the TV and hooting with delight as you thwack each other as Jigglypuff.

Reintroducing that element, as Super Smash Bros for Wii U does, makes it the total package.

Super Smash Bros for Wii U mixes the simple with the complex so effortlessly it's almost absurd.

And it really is the total package - there is so much stuff packed away in the menus of Smash Bros.

You can play through in the old-fashioned, straightforward single-player mode if you want, taking on Master Hand in a final battle that will require many a restart and cause much irritation.

Or you can have a few pickup games. Or an eight-player brawl. Or play through a board game version of the game littered with power-ups, pickups and impromptu battles. Or a one-on-one match against a chum. Or a one-on-three match against people you don't actually know online.

Or maybe you want to use Nintendo's new challenger to the Skylanders throne - amiibo. Tapping your figurine - which are bought separately, and compatible with multiple other games - on the Wii U GamePad brings your character into the game.

From there, you can customise and upgrade their abilities, resulting in a completely personalised character that you can take with you anywhere you go - and with a quick tap you can introduce them to a match on any Wii U around the globe.

As a side attraction to the main event, it's pretty neat, but there's so much else alongside it, it's verging on ridiculous.

I haven't even mentioned the classic Smash Bros content, such as the Home Run Challenge (hit a sandbag as far as you can). There's so much stuff.

There's plenty to do if you're playing on your own, though only one of these modes - Special Orders, where you follow instructions from Master Hand (win a battle in a certain time, for example) - is actually new.

It's fun for a bit, but ultimately not the sort of thing you'll be putting any real time into. The others are returning modes, with All-Star mode now available from the outset - can you beat every other character in the game with limited stamina and just one life? Probably not, but hey.

If you're buying Smash Bros for single-player alone, there's a fair bit to it, but it's not worth it. Multiplayer is where the meat is. Endlessly customisable battles against anything from one to seven other players means it's hard to get bored.

And if you don't like a rule? Change it. Obviously everything can be played 'vanilla', but messing about with the basic game state, lowering gravity and making everyone miniature for example, does bring more longevity.

Once you've picked what you want to actually do - and it could take a while, with Smash Bros's menus within menus (again, so much stuff) - it's time to get to the main attraction; battering each other in a whimsical, silly atmosphere full of characters hailing from far and wide.

Some who even self-confessed gaming experts (hello!) don't recognise. It is an eclectic cast, to say the least.

So you choose your character, be it Mario or Samus, Pikachu or Sonic, Wii Fit Trainer or the Village from Animal Crossing, or any of the other dozens of combatants - including a bunch of hidden, unlockable characters.

Then you get into it. And you remember why Smash Bros is such an enduring series.

It mixes the simple with the complex so effortlessly it's almost absurd. While it's not a situation where the experts will lose to the beginners - at least not on a regular basis - Smash Bros is very much a game where everyone can have fun regardless of ability level. It's very Nintendo in that regard.

The fact you can have so many players - up to eight (local only) - is another factor that makes Smash Bros so appealing to so many.

Basically, in the midst of the insane battles going on - the chaos by way of bedlam - there's just pure, unfettered joy. Eight people around one telly, thwacking each other with fists and feet and umbrellas; I'm sounding more like an old man with each passing day, but you really don't get many games like that anymore.

This accessibility even bleeds through into the control schemes. You can use the Wii U GamePad, though it's in no way the best manner of playing the game; a standard Wii Remote, a Wii U Pro Controller, a 3DS console or - best of all - a GameCube controller.

It's not just an exercise in fan service - it's an example of what happens when a company that really cares about putting out a truly great product does just that. Kudos, Nintendo.

With a separate adapter plugged in, up to eight of Nintendo's pads from its (cult) classic console can be used. There has to be a control method that appeals to everyone in there - SSB really is a game for everyone.

With so much going on, so much to do, so much fun to be had in the seemingly mindless brawling, so wide an appeal, such presence and character in its presentation, there really isn't anything you can do other than recommend Super Smash Bros wholeheartedly.

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It's not just an exercise in fan service - it's an example of what happens when a company that really cares about putting out a truly great product does just that. Kudos, Nintendo.

There have been enough reasons to pick up a Wii U now that saying, 'Super Smash Bros is a great reason to pick up a Wii U' feels unnecessary. At the same time, it is true: Super Smash Bros is a great reason to pick up a Wii U. So go and do that.

Note: Super Smash Bros for Wii U's online functionality was unavailable at the time of writing the original review, so here are our updated impressions post-launch:

In short: online is really good. It's not quite as comprehensive as the offline modes, but there's plenty to choose from online - singles or teams, against friends or randomers, for 'fun' or for 'glory' (unranked or ranked, basically), a worldwide conquest where you pick a team and try to help them win... there's a lot.

It doesn't really go beyond your traditional fights, mind - no minigames or silliness here, bar the odd rule change - there's no items allowed in some matches. But seeing as that's the core appeal of the game, it makes sense for it to be the only thing available online.

There's even a spectator mode - which is alright, not so amazing in its own right - but in Smash's spectator mode you can bet gold you've earned on who you think is going to win. The payout is based on their win ratio, so someone with 100% victories isn't going to get you much back, while someone who's never won will get you 10x the amount.

Frankly, I got a bit obsessed with that - it's gambling but without any actual evils or risks of gambling. And it's an excuse to watch people far better at Smash than you are play the game. Bliss! Overall, online in Super Smash Bros for Wii U makes an already brilliant game even better.
Super Smash Bros. Wii U screenshots