I would put money on the fact that none of that stuff is Nintendo making decisions of their own accord for no compensation.
Super Smash Bros
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Also, there's literally no indication of Gamestop NOT distributing stuff like amiibos just because it's Nintendo. As it is, Nintendo kiosks tend to always be present in game stops as far as I have seen (in at least three states I've witnessed).
Additionally, things like amiibo have tremendous potential for sale exclusivity or not. A lot of space is always given to skylanders and disney infinity figures and I can't see these being any different. Shulk figures would have sold just as well in Gamestop with or without this deal.I'm with Foolio that it's probably more of Gamestop dropping a bag of money and asking for exclusivity, because it forces some people to buy it there that wouldn't have otherwise, and it gets people to bother going into their stores so they can keep trying to shove used game sales and game informer subscriptions into peoples faces as much as possible.
But what it winds up doing is tremendously limiting the sale numbers of this figure by keeping it outside of huge markets such as wal-mart, toys r' us, amazon and even best buy.
And what could that also lead to? Best Buy should also get their own exclusivity since they're so loyal!The more I think about it the more stupid it becomes.
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It's not a question of "Gamestop will eventually remove kiosks for our games" more than it is simply just keeping good relations with those retailers and potentially keeping relatively good placement of merchandise (rather than just stuffing it all in some back corner). Same deal with why pokemon get distributed at Gamestop, some smash events happen at best buy and gamestop, certain retailer exclusive merch or preorder stuff, etc. In a time when the Wii U is being heavily criticized for sales and online competition is continually eating away at the market, a "show of good faith" to maintain relations regardless of the current status of their merchandise would be something pretty smart. And yeah, Best Buy does get its own stuff to share with its own customers in a different vein from gamestop. Gamestop's a big quandry I'd assume because their main business is hardcopy games in physical stores, and it ain't cheap to do that these days (hence why they've been branching into "other electronic accessories for gamers etc etc"
Could there be money involved? Sure, but it otherwise is an impractical decision just to have it based solely on money when, as you both brought up, it does limit the distribution of this particular figurine. There may be other costs associated as well, which may be why they elected to have Xenoblade Chronicles sold only at gamestops as Cyan brought up and I'd say that's more of the distribution of the game to a single retailer being cheaper if they don't expect high demand for it, but to have certain exclusivity either indicates to me that they don't expect the figurine to sell as high and/or there is incentive beyond some small sum to keep it from reaching other shelves.
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Sorry purps but like. I don't think you understand business.
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I mean I'm taking business classes right now. I'm getting an MBA. Even if it's not the exact same field, most of it does carry over. There's a lot more than just maximizing profits in the short term by taking a bribe from Gamestop.
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Amiibos are already a show of good faith to retailers. Physical objects that cannot be downloaded, and that are essentially TOYS you can place all over the store and have kids guilt parents into getting? That's a boon for retailers, I bet you they were fucking happy at the news. It's like the one thing where download purchases won't be eating away at their winnings.
I'm sure gamestop will do as happily with or without the Shulk being an exclusive, and, like I said, that to me just makes it feel more of a douchebag move possibly involving large sacks of money in the background with NoA's address. Meanwhile, gamestop gets to inconvenience Xenoblade/Shulk fans by forcing them to go to their store so they can learn about game informer and used games.
Want to maximize profits? Sell the Shulk amiibo every-fucking-where as much as you can while the Xenoblade and Smash Bros. hype is alive. Don't cut into the potential user base by limiting their access to a commodity. Gamestop doesn't need the olive branch, amiibos already ARE an olive branch.
Also, 502 bad gateway interrupted my edit:
Why does gamestop need more support from Nintendo given they already force the huge pokemon fanbase to visit the store several times a year (twice a month in this past month) just to pick up a code to get a pokemon that could have been easily sent via wi-fi? -
@Cyan:
Xenoblade was only sold in Gamespot (hence $50 used),
Actually it's 54.99, 49.49 if you have a PowerUp Rewards Pro Membership.
Edit: Damn it took long enough for it to drop so damn reasonably.
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The best part is that, even though they won't lose money to downloads, those Shulk figures are going to be making non-Nintendo or Gamestop people a lot of money via reselling.
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Again, it's specific to physical retailers. It doesn't matter to gamestop if amiibos are physical merch if Amazon gets the lion's share at the end of the day, again, due to convenience. Hell, Nintendo also announced that partnership with the crate company to send out 10 preselected amiibo. They'd still be losing sales to online retailers. Best Buy gets the E3 demos, three major retailers (gamestop, best buy, amazon) got retailer exclusive DLC), some pokemon exclusives to gamestop, a best buy special preorder coin and special events every year. Nintendo continually makes these commitments to physical retailers.
But unlike Best Buy or Walmart or Target, Gamestop specifically is in the video game niche. That's its whole brand basically (I mean it's in the name), even when it's trying to diversify with other electronic sales. It doesn't have the same leverage as those other stores, and worse yet Nintendo is not one of its big sellers, which is why there has been lukewarm responsiveness by Gamestop and other retailers to doing midnight releases for Nintendo products, much to our chagrin. Sure, Gamestop gets pokemon, but pokemon isn't what brings in the Wii U owners. By giving exclusive privilege to Gamestop, Nintendo still gets its main players out in every single store where they'll sell like hotcakes, and Gamestop will have something to show that Nintendo is still interested in being a partner to gamestop in some manner. Brings in a few more customers for whatever else Gamestop wants to shove in their faces and Nintendo has relative security that potentially less popular amiibos share some shelf space.
Otherwise, if I were Gamestop, I wouldn't aim to claim exclusivity rights on the Shulk figurine. As much as many people here may enjoy Xenoblade, Shulk won't be the one that brings in a huge cash flow for me. I doubt I could get Mario, Link, or Pikachu exclusive for any sum of money, but I would go for someone like, for example, Rosalina and Luma. I may not get Rosie even after talking with Nintendo depending on how much they value her, but certainly I would be more likely to try because I would say she is a more recognizable character for Nintendo fans in America than Shulk unless they're banking on him rising in popularity like Marth and the fire Emblem friends did. Paying a sum of money to Nintendo for the simple reason of making a small sum in return wouldn't do me any good, and worse it may even cost me more in inventory costs depending on its popularity even if I get a few more gameinformer subscriptions. I would make the deal and pay some amount contingent on future commitment from Nintendo in some form. Or perhaps they already hammered a deal a few years ago and they're just following through with it, but in any case, that commitment, which then brings in the customers and the subscriptions etc, Hell I'd say Nintendo comes out better on this deal because some amount of shelf space will definitely be allotted to Shulk when he's competing to be bought with the other juggernauts.
A lot of business is politics, plain and simple. You make compromises not necessarily to maximize profits in the short run but to make sure both the external customers (us) and the internal customers (employees, network, etc), are satisfied and committed in the long run. It may seem odd when most business appears to be cutthroat bottom-line maximizing in America, but there's a lot more to it if you intend to run a stable, longlasting organization. That isn't to say the external customers' interests are to be punted off to meet internal stakeholders, but there's gotta be some compromise dependent on the situation. For Gamestop, space is limited, there's no way any store, even walmart, is going to be willing to market 49 different amiibo at the same time in the Nintendo aisle, it costs money just to hold inventory, and that's the reality they have to face as a business if they want to work with game companies. Unless they're stupid, they're not going to put a huge sack of gold coins on the table just to get a Shulk toy.
Now, I also agree that this isn't necessarily the best strategy, but on a completely different viewpoint based on incorrect alignment of incentives and the negligence of the service aspect of the store, but the thing is that nothing about this is contradictory to Nintendo's other moves through the years unless Nintendo has been getting some damn fine cash in its pocket consistently, and it speaks more to me as a way to keep relations between companies and a way to have definite placement of Shulk in every single store of a video game chain. Perhaps, yes, some cash is exchanged, but that probably isn't the meat of it. And who knows, we may only be on the brink of the iceberg when it comes to store exclusive amiibos, although I would much rather not have it be that way.
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What if Gamestop had some part on Xenoblade's project rainfall localization, and somehow got certain distribution rights?
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We will find out with xenonblade chronicles 3d
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2cents:
While I'm not sure I'll be getting a Shulk amiibo, having it only at Gamestop could inconvenience Shulk mains/fans…who don't live near a Gamestop. This isn't like Hyrule Warriors costumes where Gamestop got a piece of the exclusive pie (they got OoT ones), this amiibo represents a Smash character in all versions of the game, and definitely something worth more than in-game stuff.
Plus, what's to say this crap doesn't go on for more characters and other stores? Want a Sonic amiibo? Best Buy only! Want a Pac-Man amiibo? Lol sorry, you need to hit up a Toys R Us. Is the current-day rarity of Xenoblade Chronicles playing a factor into this? (probably not, but I'm struggling to think of why Shulk is getting this treatment)
It's definitely ridiculous, me thinks.
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2cents:
While I'm not sure I'll be getting a Shulk amiibo, having it only at Gamestop could inconvenience Shulk mains/fans…who don't live near a Gamestop. This isn't like Hyrule Warriors costumes where Gamestop got a piece of the exclusive pie (they got OoT ones), this amiibo represents a Smash character in all versions of the game, and definitely something worth more than in-game stuff.
Plus, what's to say this crap doesn't go on for more characters and other stores? Want a Sonic amiibo? Best Buy only! Want a Pac-Man amiibo? Lol sorry, you need to hit up a Toys R Us. Is the current-day rarity of Xenoblade Chronicles playing a factor into this? (probably not, but I'm struggling to think of why Shulk is getting this treatment)
It's definitely ridiculous, me thinks.
You can order online from Gamestop you know. And amiibos aren't region locked, so importing is an option too
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You can order online from Gamestop you know. And amiibos aren't region locked, so importing is an option too
Alrighty.
…..but I'm still curious as to what made Gamestop go "ooh a Shulk amiibo! Dibs, we call dibs!"
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Alrighty.
…..but I'm still curious as to what made Gamestop go "ooh a Shulk amiibo! Dibs, we call dibs!"
Probably related to Gamestop's exclusivity of xenoblade. Shulk was never going to be a super popular amiibo, so a lot of stores probably didn't want to stock him, and the majority of NA xenoblade buyers had to go through gamestop for the game anyways
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Probably related to Gamestop's exclusivity of xenoblade. Shulk was never going to be a super popular amiibo, so a lot of stores probably didn't want to stock him, and the majority of NA xenoblade buyers had to go through gamestop for the game anyways
See I figured this had a role, but I wasn't sure.
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Hm, well, the new 3DS is going to support amiibos, so I wonder if they plan on integrating the shulk amiibo with Xenoblade Chronicles 3D in some manner.
Maybe Mother 3 can be brought over so Ness and a future Lucas amiibo can get more lifespan -
that would be interesting? I wonder if shulk works for X as well. I mean there aim seems to be to have every game get intergration somehow. Maybe you can dress your character up like nintendo characters by using the amiibos
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Like right now if you buy an amiibo based on usefulness, everyone will gun for the main franchise amiibos. Some smash characters got some extra usefulness with Mario Kart 8 which is great for characters whose franchises are at a stand still (coughFalconcough), and there are still amiibo that will come out that aren't Smash Bros related, which means that Nintendo needs to figure out how to maximize the usefulness of the figures so that people have reason to grab the less profitable ones beyond just collecting them
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@Purple:
[Wall of text]
I insist that you have no clue what you're talking about, at all. Especially if you're going to bring up Best Buy and the E3 demos as an example of "good faith." That's like claiming NBC got exclusive airing rights to the Olympics because the Olympic Committee wanted to show good faith to the station. It's laughable to the point of insanity.
You can order online from Gamestop you know. And amiibos aren't region locked, so importing is an option too
Ordering from their online store will make you incur like 50% or more of the amiibo price in shipping fees.
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I insist that you have no clue what you're talking about, at all. Especially if you're going to bring up Best Buy and the E3 demos as an example of "good faith." That's like claiming NBC got exclusive airing rights to the Olympics because the Olympic Committee wanted to show good faith to the station. It's laughable to the point of insanity.
And I disagree and say "it makes no sense for gamestop to insist on spending a huge sum of cash just for Shulk." Aaron and Cyan mentioned the previous Xenoblade exclusivity, and it could be a way to honor that, among other reasons such as definite shelf space for Shulk. If you think I have no clue what I'm talking about, then well, at this point I don't really know what I can show to change your mind about that.
But well, hey, I don't really care too much, so let's just leave it at that.
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Well, Gamespot would stand to gain more business. It's another reason for people to go out of their way to shop there and also serves as a billboard for them.
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also that's a lot of bullshit that you have to pay for shipping fees from gamespot if you want to order online. Surely that makes it more expensive than going into the store
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@Purple:
And I disagree and say "it makes no sense for gamestop to insist on spending a huge sum of cash just for Shulk."
We don't know the details; you've been doing a lot of weird random speculation. Gamestop could have tried hard, as you mentioned, to get other stuff. Maybe Nintendo was against the concept entirely but finally conceded Shulk precisely because of the exclusivity precedence with Xenoblade. Besides, ANY exclusive content is significant. People go nuts over stuff they didn't realize they wanted when there is something exclusive thrown into the mix. But all I'm asserting is that Nintendo would not do that of their own good will. Like maybe it's not a huge sum of money but a promise by Gamestop to provide massive advertisement for amiibos beyond what would be normal and reasonable. I don't know. But it's a shitty approach. Also btw if Amazon is taking sales away from Gamestop, Nintendo wouldn't give two shits. They are still getting their sales.
also that's a lot of bullshit that you have to pay for shipping fees from gamespot if you want to order online. Surely that makes it more expensive than going into the store
Well, yeah. You are paying the exact same amount plus an extra shipping fee (which is not low). But shipping does have an actual cost associated with it. Not everywhere can offer free shipping. But it does make it really really inferior.
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Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition is only available on DVD at Wallmart.
The Blu-ray edition was in theory an Amazon exclusive, though when I went to Wallmart to pick up the dvd version, I saw some of the Blu rays there.
I know this as DVD is the format I have to get so my mother can watch it, even though I have a blu player.
Exclusives happen. It's not just limited to random amiibos or NiNo Kuni monsters. There's a business aspect to it. Companies definitely pay something, be it money, advertising, amount ordered, future purchases, guaranteed shelf space, or something, to get exlusives, so that its beneficial to both. Doesn't have to be money, but yes, they absolutely did something to get special privledges.
(It really does suck with games when there's say, pre-order exclusives for in-game content from three different places. I understand encouraging people to buy it new and at launch, but… make that stuff at least optionally available later in some way, at a price if need be. Steel case or bonus art book or a unique monster or whatever...)
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Man, first time in months my conection is good for online smash and all my opponents disconnect when i about to win :(
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! Pit: Lady Palutena, who is this kid? He is the only guy here riding a horse.
Palutena: Weird, I don't find him in my database. Let me try to contact someone who knows.
Gyro: Nyohoho!
Viridi: Whoah! Who's this weirdo? and what is wrong with his teeth?
Gyro: I am Gyro Zepelli. I am the one who taught Johnny the Spin.
Pit: His name is Johnny huh? What is this spin stuff?
Gyro: The Spin is the power to manipulate the rotation force. He can use it to create whirlpools and shoot his nails as bullets,but he can only shoot 10 at a time.
Palutena: His nails? that must hurt.
Viridi: And what's up with the horse?
Gyro: He's paraplegic.
Viridi: Oh! carry on then.
Gyro: Its not totally a bad thing. He can use the Horse's speed to power up his Spin.
Pit: Lady Palutena, can I have a horse.
Palutena: You already had two, don't you?
Gyro: Do you wanna hear a joke?
Pit: Sure!
Gyro: Pizza Mozarella, Pizza Mozarella, Rellarellarellarellarellarella…
Viridi: Great. Awesome. Super Cool. -
Well, Gamespot would stand to gain more business. It's another reason for people to go out of their way to shop there and also serves as a billboard for them.
also that's a lot of bullshit that you have to pay for shipping fees from gamespot if you want to order online. Surely that makes it more expensive than going into the store
I'm curious but what's with the "Gamespot" jazz?
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Gyro: The Spin is the power to manipulate the centrifugal force.
FAAAAKE! There's no such thing as centrifugal force.
I'm curious but what's with the "Gamespot" jazz?
Hopefully typos. If we give them the benefit of the doubt XD
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Hopefully typos. If we give them the benefit of the doubt XD
I wouldn't blame anybody for that I keep misplacing my t's and p's too.
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! Pit: Lady Palutena, who is this kid? He is the only guy here riding a horse.
Palutena: Weird, I don't find him in my database. Let me try to contact someone who knows.
Gyro: Nyohoho!
Viridi: Whoah! Who's this weirdo? and what is wrong with his teeth?
Gyro: I am Gyro Zepelli. I am the one who taught Johnny the Spin.
Pit: His name is Johnny huh? What is this spin stuff?
Gyro: The Spin is the power to manipulate the centrifugal force. He can use it to create whirlpools and shoot his nails as bullets,but he can only shoot 10 at a time.
Palutena: His nails? that must hurt.
Viridi: And what's up with the horse?
Gyro: He's paraplegic.
Viridi: Oh! carry on then.
Gyro: Its not totally a bad thing. He can use the Horse's speed to power up his Spin.
Pit: Lady Palutena, can I have a horse.
Palutena: You already had two, don't you?
Gyro: Do you wanna hear a joke?
Pit: Sure!
Gyro: Pizza Mozarella, Pizza Mozarella, Rellarellarellarellarellarella…
Viridi: Great. Awesome. Super Cool.Better than most in-game ones.
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I wouldn't blame anybody for that I keep misplacing my t's and p's too.
lol, subconscious typos rather than "I hit the wrong key by accident" typos.
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I think we're the real winners for not caring enough about either the spot or the stop to get them straight.
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I think we're the real winners for not caring enough about either the spot or the stop to get them straight.
See the spot right there?
rub it out!, rub it out!
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[For users in the Americas] Starting today, you can pre-load the Wii U version. If you’re interested in purchasing the digital version, you should be able to start playing right away on the game's release day without having to deal with a potentially congested server if you use this feature. Check out the link below for more details.
http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/YXIh5ldOpNjK_4ROED9rAGIfPpZNLHvANA Smashers, if you're playing to do a digital download, now you can pre-download it.
Pic of the day. Long before the game release, we revealed new fighters with videos. The video quality of online streams is not always the best, though. Luckily, you can watch them as they were meant to be in Movies mode on the Wii U version.
You can even re-watch videos that play after you clear Classic mode and Allstar mode. This is a list of videos which are unlocked when you clear certain things. They tend to be short, but you'll get a lot of information if you play them all in one sitting.
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Still waiting to see what the actual patch changes will be. Also lol Kotaku, can't even list their fucking sources properly. The Famitsu link they have goes to a completely unrelated article.
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Little Mac, isn't, wasn't, and never will be over powered. It's just all these people who don't understand basic concepts of how to play Smash with strategy and control of the stage whining about a play style they've never seen before. All those Kotaku articles about how he won everytime and everyone on the internet complaining that he's too powerful on the ground. Obviously there's no possible way to deal with him. The only truth from those articles (arguably) is that too many people play him on For Glory. But that doesn't matter if all the players trying to have their character play for them, and thus picking Little Mac in ignorance, suck. I've not lost to a Little Mac in For Glory yet. Not once.
I say this as someone whose top three mains includes Little Mac, because of that article, and because I just finished playing five matches against Little Mac across four separate players. I easily beat them as Ness, ZSS, Pit, and Lucario. To prove that not all Little Mac players are equal, that playing him doesn't make you "OP", and that skill really does factor in I played LM vs. LM matches. I'm not saying I'm an excellent LM player but I put enough time and thought into him to understand different ways to play him with strategy that doesn't always involve charging the opponent constantly and spamming smash attacks/side B. I'll upload some of the matches later to show what I'm talking about, though I'm sure you've all met Little Mac players who suck as well.
I didn't mean to go on this long and I certainly don't mean to sound like a "Smash Elitist" or anything, it's just my frustration with the vast misunderstanding of the general public regarding Little Mac thanks to the internet and articles on it. He is well balanced in the scope of the game (not in attack variety though….) and definitely not overpowered.
If you ask me who I think are the most overpowered I'd say..... Yoshi (definitely), Rosalina, Sheik and, oh I don't know, let's just say Moe. Though nothing game-breaking in the slightest.
EDIT: Wow, just actually read the article (should've done that first I suppose...) and my view exactly mirrors what Sakurai is saying! I'm glad that man knows what's up.
I thought for fun I'd post the stats for my top characters here. Online only.
Little Mac - 28% - 137 W - 45 L
Lucario - 11% - 50 W - 12 L
Zero Suit - 9% - 49 W - 12 L
Ness - 7% - 42 W - 9 L
Pit - 6% - 30 W - 12 L -
Definitely agree with Mick on Yoshi and Sheik. Yoshi feels like Kirby in that's it's an aerial monster with a million options and super fast and powerful attacks, but unlike Kirby it takes years to make him fly away. And then there's Sheik who's a monster in good hands.
The more I play Rosalina the more I feel that people fear her more than they should. They see Luma and throw their arms in the air and flip out, lose focus, idk what it is. Then again, I haven't seen actual top Rosalina players to know if what I'm doing equates to good by any rate.
And I'm sorry Mick, but just like I agree with you there's some of your characters I find to be rather absurd as well. And I'm not talking about Little Mac coughZSScoughLucariocough
Btw, I'm not saying any of these are broken and need patches, just stating that as balanced as the game may be it is still noticeable which characters got blessed by the Sakurai fairy.
Except maybe Yoshi, give that thing some lag like Bowser has. It's absurd it can go from an attack to shield to a smash attack before you can grab him ffs. -
Maybe I just suck with Lucario but I've never felt OP with him in the slightest. What about him makes you think he's top tier? I can see ZSS though, when I'm on a roll with her I just feel like I'm wrecking my opponent.
Oh, and combine everything you said about Yoshi with the super armor IN THE AIR.
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The fact that aura was boosted in this game and it's harder to kill him now since his recovery becomes probably the best in the game.
So you have a character with super powerful attacks who also refuses to die … pretty much a high percentage lucario in good hands turns the match around pretty easily. The increase in range and versatility of attacks also means you can apply the pressure on your opponent to approach you and try to kill you.
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If you ask me who I think are the most overpowered I'd say….. Yoshi (definitely), Rosalina, Sheik and, oh I don't know, let's just say Moe. Though nothing game-breaking in the slightest.
The more I play Rosalina the more I feel that people fear her more than they should. They see Luma and throw their arms in the air and flip out, lose focus, idk what it is. Then again, I haven't seen actual top Rosalina players to know if what I'm doing equates to good by any rate.
Apparently (at least, as it seems in the Wii U version), the respawn time for Luma has been upped from 8 seconds to 13.
http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2014/nov/12/rosalina-luma-has-been-nerfed-super-smash-bros-wii-u-change-spotted-early-direct-feed-video/ -
Project M 3.5 is scheduled to be released today… with a PAL release some time after at last! Along with a shitload of costumes (like true costumes, not quick palette swaps advertised as costumes) Ganondorf can now reflect projectiles and hover! I'll probably give it a go just to play as him even if Smash WiiU will be at home too.
Not that I don't like Project M…......but that's kinda a bitch move, releasing it so close to Smash U's release date. Comparisons and melee elitist squawking will be at an all time high.
EDIT: Yep. Took a look at the Smashboards. It's already too late. People are abandoning Smash U, so they can go get Project M 3.5. Looks like Project M and Melee will still be the only Smash games pros respect. Goddammit, looks like Smash 4 joins Brawl in the DUD department. I really thought it'd be different this time. :-(
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really? that's terrible. I don't think Nintendo will sit by and allow it if it's gonna detract sales from the wii u smash
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It perplexes me that they'd release it so close to Smash U's release date. If Nintendo gets on to them, there's nothing they can really defend themselves with - this can and will affect the Wii U's version's sells.
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CONSPIRACY????
Or maybe they were working on it, anyways, and thought they would release before the new game so that they could get to modding SSBWiiU as quickly as possible?
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Honestly, I like melee's physics…. but as a Kirby player, I'll never love Melee as the majority of Smash fans do... due to him sucking major ass in that game. Pun not intended.