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See, I told you we wouldn't make you wait another 6-months for our next Smash bros.
analysis! So yep, Nintendo finally gave us another look at the next Super Smash Bros.
game--and what a look it was, introducing us to a brand new character to the series:
Rosalina & Luma.
So it's time to start up the old analysis machine and see what secrets it might be hiding.
But of course, please make sure to check out our previous 30-minute analysis from before
if you haven't already, as we're only going to be covering the new stuff here.
Okay, so obviously the trailer focuses on Rosalina & Luma who work together as a single
character, with Rosalina controlling the Luma using her wand. And they appear to function
sort of simialr to the Ice Climbers. But there are some key differences.
With the Ice Climbers, you controlled one of them directly, while the other followed
behind mimicking your every move with a slight slight, But with Luma, not only does he have
no trouble perfectly keeping up with Rosalina, but he even attacks at the exact same time
that she does too, essentially operating as a duplicate character--think of it as a little
bit like the Double Cherry power-up from Super Mario 3D World.
Now for the most part, Luma is seen attacking in the same direction as Rosalina, but during
at least one scene, they actually attack enemies in opposite directions. So it appears Luma
isn't entirely locked to Rosalina--but how it this controlled? Will Luma automatically
hone-in on the closest enemy? Or what might be more likely is that, when Luigi attacks
him here, he temporarily becomes desynced, allowing Rosalina to turn around without him
following--again, similar to the Ice Climbers.
But there is another key difference between these two sets of characters. While Nana & Popo
actively work to stay as close together as possible, Rosalina is actually able to push
Luma out a short distance to put some space between them and have him attack remotely,
as shown in several clips. And this has several potential benefits:
For one, it allows Luma to attack enemies head-on while Rosalina stays out of harms
way--so yeah, he;s basically acting as a body-guard to protect Rosalina.
It also would presumably allow both characters to attack two different opponents in different
parts of the arena, similar to this scene--only a bit farther apart.
Finally, it has the potential to make for some devastating combos, as seen here where
Rosalina and Luma bounce Pit back and forth like a tennis ball--poor guy
In addition, in one scene, we can see what appears to be an already-separated Luma moving
even further away. Is it possible to repeat this move to continually increase the distance
between them? Of course it's also possible he's just responding to one of Rosalinas moves
that we can't see.
Moving on we also see Luma use a projectile attack a couple of times htroughout the trailer--but
he only does this while separated from Rosalina--who we never see use the attack herself. Is this
a move exclusive to Luma? And if so, can he only use it when separated from Rosalina?
Oh, and did you notice those projecticles are actually Star Bits from the Super Mario
Galaxy games? Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Now beyond all this, there are still several other mysteries surrounding Luma. For example,
in this clip, we can see Rosalina jump without Luma following her--and after that, Luma then
jumps for apparently no reason himself. Even If we play the clip in slow-motion, we can
see that Luma begins to jump without any corresponding action from Rosalina, which is unlike everything
else we see in the trailer. Could this mean you actually can control Luma and Rosalina
independently to some degree? Or maybe you can actually have the CPU take control of
Luma at points, similar to Nana from the Ice Climbers?
Or maybe it has something to do with the Lumas color? After all, we do see him appear in
several different variants, including Yellow, Red, Green, Blue and Light Yellow--maybe each
one has slightly different attributes, similar to Captain Olimar's Pikmin? Although they
do all appear to behave the same throughout the trailer, with of course, the exception
of the Blue one here, who only appears in two clips.
Of course, since they all do seem to behave the same for the most part, it's also likely
the color is purely cosmetic. Maybe the color of the Luma changes randomly each time he
appears? After all, we do know that he can be killed, as shown in this clip, and that
Rosalina will have to perform a magic trick to make them reappear. But will she have to
do this at the very start of the match too, or does Luma appear with her from the start?
Also, did you notice how long her animation to summon Luma was? It seems like summoning
Lumas will make her quite vulnerable, which should serve as a strong deterrent to avoid
having them killed in the first place.
Now speaking of summoning Lumas, it appears that she'll even be summon them while being
held, such as in this clip where the Green luma appears and attacks DK, freeing her from
his grasp--which could be extremely useful.
However, if we freeze the clip at the very start, we can see for a single-frame that
she's not actually summoning Luma for the first time--instead, he's simply warping from
elsewhere on the battlefield, which is pretty cool it and of itself. This means that, not
only can Rosalina push the Luma away, but can summon him back too.
Now what we're not sure about is if the attack he performs immediately after being summoned
back is actually at Rosalina's command, or if it's just something he does automatically
whenever he's summoned--but we think the fact that he rejoins Rosalina at her side immediately
afterward hints at the latter
Okay, that's enough about the Luma himself for now, as Rosalina has some cool tricks
up her sleeve herself.
For one, we get a look at several of her attacks, such as what appears to be her stationary-normal
attack combo.
Then we see what might be some of her Smash attacks, such as this one which appears to
be a side-smash, as well as what seems to be a charged version of it here
And her leg sweep here might be her down smash. And of course, Luma mimics all of these too.
And btw, did you notice both of these moves have something else in common? They both seem
to cause an unsual effect that looks like a mini-Galaxy to appear--yep, these are clearly
some stellar movies. See what I did there?
And for this reason, we think this attack might be her normal up-attack as opposed to
a smash, since it lacks that effect
However, it does seem that the "Galaxy" effect may not just be limited to her smash attacks,
as we also see it appear during this aerial kick attack. So it seems this effect might
simply mark her more powerful moves. Now at first we thought this move might be her areial
up-attack, but it might actually be a side-one side because of the next pair of moves that
we get a glimpse of.
In this scene, we can see a Halo-like ring appear above her and travel upwards, whereas
in another clip, one appears below and travels downward. So we think these are most likely
to be her Up and Down ariel attacks respectively. And it appears to have high-priority, as it
completely cancels down Link's recovery sending him spirialing downward. And because it's
essentially a projectile that moves faster than Rosalina does, it not only gives Rosalina
a huge range, but also might shield her from counter-attacks
Moving on, we also get to see her grab and throw an opponent. But did you notice she's
not actually using her hands at all? It's more like a Force Choke--yeah Rosalina doesn't
mess around. And the throw we see of hers appears to be her backwards-one
Next up, we also get a look at her running lunge attack, which actually appears to strikes
twice. Once at the initial connection, then again when she head-butts.
Oh, and speaking of her run--that's actually a misnomer, as she actually glides around
instead--how majestic. And similarly, we can see she'll also have the ability to crouch-walk--or
rather, crouch-float.
We also get a couple of glimpses at what we're guessing is her double jump
Finally, we get a look at what seems to be a few of her specials. Of course, there's
the one where she summons Luma that we already mentioned--could this be her default Special?
Also, we should mention that we can see her perform what appears to be that same move
elsewhere in the trailer, only this time, a Luma doesn't seem to appear. Could it be
because he's already been summoned? Or maybe this is actually a taunt?
Next up is what appears to be her recovery, which launchers her up and to the side, before
dropping back to the ground. And did you catch the two Rainbow Stars that appear are a clear
call-back to the Launch Stars from Mario Galaxy?
Then we have this special which appears to pull all nearby items to her, including the
very Pokeball being thrown at her. In fact, it appears to cancel the Poke Balls attack
entirely as it doesn't activate when it touches the ground--sneaky.
So this could be extremely useful for snatching items away before your opponents can grab
them, although we can also imagine it being quite dangerous too. After all, what if you
acidentally pull an active bob-omb to you right as it explodes? Conversly, you could
also use it to pull it toward someone between you and it--yep, this could be a very devious
attack indeed, and we're guessing it's either her Default or Down special, based on the
defensive moves of her players. And by the way, did you catch that the star that appears
to move around her during this move is actually the cursor fromt he Super Mario Galaxy games,
complete with the faint blue trail? That's just another really cool detail.
And we see her perform a very similar looking move--with cursor and all--but this time it
does something a bit different. In this case, it bends the water from Mairo's water pack
around her in an arch. So we're guessing this basically acts as a force field, protecting
her from projectiles--and maybe even items too. This too could be quite devious as you
should be able to redirect enemies' attacks around you to attack another opponent behind
you.
And that covers it for her attacks, but there's one final detail about her I wanted to mention,
and that is we can see her outfit now has Star patterns along the bottom of it--which
is yet another neat little touch by the development team.
Okay, so that wraps up everything we know about Rosalina and Luma, but there are still
a few more interesting details revealed in this trailer.
For one, if we go back to this item scene, we can see it confirms the return of several
items, such as Shells, Fire Flowers, Pokeballs--which we already suspected thanks to that image
of Xernous a while back--and the Ray Gun, which of course Sakurai confirmed himself
a short time ago.
On top of this, a recent screenshot might reveal one more. Here we can see Peach reaching
toward Rosalina's crown--but doesn't Rosalina look a little out of scale to you? Granted,
it could be a perspective issue, but we think it could hint at the return of the Super Mushroom
Then we finally get to see the Villager's turnip move in action, and we can indeed see
that he simply holds it instead of using it as a projectile. Also, even though we already
know a random amount of turnips appear each time, the proof is in the pudding as only
two appear here, as opposed to the three in the screenshots
We also get the briefest of glimpses at the Villager's recovery move in action, though
it doesn't really show much that we didn't already know--although we can see that you
will have to pop his balloons individually, as opposed to a single attack doing both in.
So we wonder if destroying just one might affect his ability to recover?
Toon Link also makes an appearance in the trailer, and we can see that Wind Waker taunt
also returns. Yeah, it's not terribly surprising, but it's nice to know.
Beyond the characters, the trailer also provides a few new details at some of the stages.
Such as the fact that you'll be able to grab onto the ledges of the planes in the Pilotwings
stage. Oh, and while we're on this scene,it looks like Luma won't have to worry about
grabbing hold of the ledge, as it seems he'll be able to simply float alongside Rosalina,
which is yet another difference from the Ice Climbers
And in the Boxing arena that may--or may not--be based on Punch-out, it totally has a fully
polygonal crowd, which is a nice touch.,
Then we get the confirmation of a new location you'll be stopping at in the Skyloft Stage,
as we can clearly see Batreaux's house in the background, which as you may recall, resides
on the lower level of Sky Loft.
Next up, we get another glimpse of the Pikmin 3 arena, complete with the suspended pulley
platforms from the game itself. But unlike those ones, it appears the ones here may not
respond weight--although it is possible they're just
slow to respond, or perhaps require even more weight to be affected.
And we finally get our first look at the Mario Galaxy arena in motion. And it behaves much
as we suspected, with SpaceShip Mario, the StarShroom, and the Airship all cruising around
in the background. And while it also confirms that the main planet
itself doesn't appear to move, or rotate at all, if we fast forward the footage, we can
see that the one in the background here does--just another cool touch.
Okay and that covers it for all the arenas we know about, but we can't help but wonder
if the trailer's fakeout opening might be hinting at another. In it, we get a glimpse
at Rainbow Road--from the Mario Kart games--but though it looks similar, the course design
itself appears to be entirely unique--as in, it's not actually from any of the games already
out
So it raises a few questions. 1) Could this actually be a brand new stage, similar to
Big Blue from Smash Bros. Melee? And if it is, what is it based on exactly? Maybe it's
just a gebneral representation of Rainbow Road? Or maybe it offers a sneak-peak at the
new one inevitably coming in Mario Kart 8? The karts the racers are using do appear to
be the same ones from that game after all
Either way, the game also appears to be paying tribute to the Mario Galaxy series, as there
are what appears to be Star Bits in the background, which also appeared in Mario Kart Wii's Rainbow
Road.
And of course, we couldn't help but noticed the super fancy reflection on the ground--might
the gameplay version actually have this too--again assuming it's an actual stage?
Who knows? And with that, we're done uncovering everything we could dig up from the latest
Super Smash Bros Wii U trailer.
As always, let us know if we missed anything by posting in the comments below
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