First impressions: Super Smash Bros 3DS

I was lucky enough to get my hands on Super Smash Bros for 3DS's early access demo because of my Platinum status on Club Nintendo. I woke up this morning, getting ready to prepare breakfast, and I check my email and BAM! I got 4 demo codes. Needless to say, I was really surprised by this turn of events, so I immediately went to download the game, on my DS while waiting for some bread to spread itself (it didn't).

So, over breakfast, I was trying to find out how to play the total of 5 characters available to me: Mario, Link, Pikachu, Megaman and Villager, but the controls are just so god awful. I don't know whether it's just be being used to the wiimote/GC controller, or my system being a 2DS, but after around 10 games, I got really fed up with the controls and just stopped playing all together.

The graphics are impressive for this game. The way they rendered each character was cleaner than I expected. The screen is small, but I would expect that I just need to get used to the screen size of this game. But everything is pretty clear and clean.

The controls are really really bad. I mean, there was no tutorial on how to play (well, it is just a demo) so it was really had to do directional tilts, smashes, and sometimes grapples didn't toggle correctly. Bunny hopping was REALLY HARD, and I tried to do back air edge hogging with Mario, and I failed pretty hard. People on Youtube make this game look easy, but I really think that the controls are awkward.

Some notable changes to characters:

• Pikachu feels like he has a little more knockback than in Brawl, His Thunder is cleaner, but it feels smaller than before, and his alternate costumes are nothing like cosplay Pikachu's in ORAS.
•  Mario's FLUDD actually works this time! His down grab has virtually no knockback before 20%, so it feels like it's easier to combo him. However, his magic yellow cape doesn't move anymore, so his recovery is that much harder.
• Link plays the same, at least, I think. I didn't really pick him up in Brawl enough to notice much of a difference.
• Megaman and Villager are both... iffy. I gave up on both of these guys before I could really learn the controls from this game. But the Tree is OP!
• Villager's tree is insane though, but it takes a while to kick in. And his victory screen is him SHOWING OFF A FOSSIL. I MEAN YOU WIN THEN YOU SHOW OFF A FOSSIL!? HOW RUDE CAN YOU GET?

Another thing to note is that in this game, there are coins being given at the end of each match. So there will be some sort of currency included. I'm gonna go give the game another try, because everyone's so impressed with it. I just need to get used to the controls I guess, but the replay value seems like it'd be fun. But Boy am I going to miss gaming in the living room with friends over some casual Smash.

Anyways, if you want to see some gameplay, tune into this channel that's giving me some insight: http://www.twitch.tv/thejustinflynn

*I'm not the best person to talk to about technical smash haha. Sorry about that.