Everyone drop what you're doing; there's more Smash DLC! BACKGROUND:
Nintendo announced more DLC fighters for Smash Ultimate last September, and an entire six months after Byleth (the final character for the first Fighters Pass) came out, the hype train starts anew. The reveal of the first character of Fighters Pass 2 was slightly different, as the character's home game was revealed beforehand as ARMS. I enjoyed my time with ARMS (as I have written here) and love all the character designs, so I might be in the minority when it comes to my excitement over this announcement. There were a number of ARMS characters I would have been fine with making it into Smash, but I'm ecstatic to see my absolute favorite of the bunch make the cut. THE CHARACTER: Our main attraction is Min Min herself, and she is unlike any Smash character we've ever seen in terms of gameplay. Just like in ARMS, she can attack with her left and right arm separately, and they implement this into Smash by having A control her left arm and B control her right arm (which is close to ARMS's actual button control scheme). Instead of your usual neutral-b or side-b, Min Min has a second f-tilt, f-smash, back, forward, and neutral aerials; basically, the same moves you do when using A inputs, except this uses her right arm instead of her left. It feels super bizarre to actually use the B button for regular inputs (like short hop aerials). As one might expect from a character from ARMS, Min Min's attacks have insane range. Any attack that utilizes either arm extends pretty far, and the trajectory can be changed slightly (i.e. you can curve it upward and downwards). In addition, you can move freely during f-tilts (kinda like Mega Man's f-tilt), jump as the arm extends, and fire off both arms in quick succession by alternating A and B inputs. This last bit is particularly wild, because you can also throw out your arms in opposite directions (including when doing smash attacks). And speaking of smash attacks, she can use f-smash in the air. This shit is bananas. She seems pretty scary with her crazy range (and she definitely is if you're offstage), but her arm attacks are pretty slow and can easily be outmaneuvered by faster opponents. Consistently hitting opponents took me some getting used to, as my playstyle is more of the rushdown persuasion. Min Min works more like a zoner/spacing character, and I like getting up in someone's face. Plus, I am also bad at spacing and other aspects of neutral in most fighting games. Min Min's other moves reference her ability to throw out kicks in ARMS, and it gives her some short range options. She has solid options like her up-air, up-tilt, down-tilt, and more. Her up-smash is pretty unique in that it works as a reflector (a reference to how she can parry attacks in her game). These moves give Min Min a fighting chance in close range, but she definitely still excels at a distance. Her other B inputs function more like regular special moves. Her down-b allows her to swap out the equipped fist in her right arm (again, another reference to the original game). This allows her to switch between three fists, changing the properties of her B moves. Ramram, for example, is low-damage, but has great vertical range and comes out fast. Megawatt is slow but incredibly powerful. The Dragon is the middle option, but features a laser that extends the range of her smash attacks. Min Min's recovery is your standard tether grab (think Joker or Byleth), but when used on the ground, her up-b becomes this super jump that she can act out of (kinda like Banjo-Kazooie or Mr. Game and Watch). The grounded up-b is more of a mobility tool to get you out of tight spots, but I found the idea of the up-b being distinct moves depending on where you are to be quite novel. Another reference to ARMS comes in the form of Min Min's grab. Successfully landing a throw powers up her left arm, increasing its damage output and knockback. You can charge up Min Min's left arm in the same way in her original game. Overall, Min Min is quite the anomaly, with an unorthodox control scheme that immediately makes her stand out as different and pays due respect to her source game quite well. She seems to favor more patient, meticulous playstyles that focus on proper space control and punishing (or annoying shithead playstyles where you run away and punch wildly), and I imagine she will have a rather high skill ceiling with how peculiar she plays relative to the rest of the Smash cast. Personally, I'm quite thrilled to see my favorite ARMS character on here, and I love how differently she plays (even if I'm still not quite used to it). WHAT ELSE IS NEW: Per usual, you get additional Classic Mode routes, new DLC Spirits, and most importantly, new stages and music. The ARMS stage is Spring Stadium, and it's a pretty simple stage with one really fun gimmick: the spring platforms that launch you upwards. There are more stages from ARMS that I would have preferred over this, but I'm content with what they've done here. It's one gimmick is fun, and it doesn't have too many things going on, and that's good enough for me. The music selection for Spring Stadium features nearly every track from ARMS, which I am very happy about. ARMS's soundtrack is fucking fantastic, and having absolute jams like the main theme and the Ribbon Ring track in this game is a true gift. Not a lot of remixes, though, but I already love most of the original tracks, so this does not really upset me. There are also new Mii costumes, with the big additions being Heihachi from Tekken (a returning costume from Smash 4), and Vault Boy from Fallout. The latter is particularly interesting, as it marks the first time a Bethesda IP has been represented in Smash. Whether or not this is a sign of things to come remains to be seen. Lastly, they've added the ability to rematch Spirits in the collection menu. As you can guess, it allows you to relive Spirit Battles you've already cleared. They added a high score mechanic to it (with a higher score being awarded the weaker the Spirits you use), which is neat, but inconsequential. It'll likely not catch the interest of most players, but as one of the few lunatics who have collected all the Spirits 100%, this is yet another thing I will strive to complete. VERDICT: The Smash DLC hype train is back on track, and while ARMS may not be the strongest start to Fighters Pass 2 in the eyes of some fans, Min Min still brings something completely new to the table right out the gate with her radically different moveset. If they were willing to twist the conventions of Smash this much for this one character, I can only imagine what wild shit awaits us for the next five characters. I'm ready to start this hype cycle all over again! - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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