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The newest Smash Bros. fighter has arrived! Little Mac from Punch-Out is on the scene,
and he's already proving to be a unique fighter. But just how unique is he? Well, that's what
the old Analysis Machine is for so let's see what secrets and hidden details we can find
in the puny pugilist's premiere trailer! Of course, be sure to watch our previous analyses
or listen to our Weekly Smash Discussions as we'll be skipping details already covered
there. This is all about Little Mac! And the little guy is staying true to his
name because he's, well, little. He only comes up to Samus's chest and thanks to this picture;
we can see that he's barely taller than either Pikachu or Olimar. But if the Punch-Out games
have shown anything, it's that size doesn't matter, and that's already apparent in the
trailer. The thing that immediately stands out about
Mac is just how quick he is. We see him dash toward Dedede and quickly cover more ground.
Not only that, but he uses a ground dodge to slip behind Dedede and hit him with a few
standard attacks. But as Dedede winds up his hammer, Mac dodges behind him again before
unleashing a flurry of punches. Just based on these few screens, it appears that Mac
could be one of the fastest characters in the game, at least when on the ground.
But it's his moveset that has us the most intrigued. As he's dashing toward the arena,
he jumps into the ring and performs a kind of aerial attack. It's hard to say whether
this is his standard or downward aerial maneuver though the downward angle could mean that
it's a meteor smash. What's strange though is that he uses this same form when fighting
Mega Man later. The difference is that it doesn't look to be part of his jumping animation.
Instead, he leaps forward and is able to fully bypass Mega Man's fully charged buster shot
and deck the blue bomber. Little Mac's animation is almost identical,
but the circumstances are completely different. Could this leaping punch actually be his forward
special? There's actually another example of this in the trailer. When Mac is dashing
toward Mario he has near perfect timing. His quick speed and short stature actually allow
him to just run under Mario's fireballs without even dodging. As he reaches Mario, he performs
that exact same downward punch. But the attack lines are different meaning that this same
punching form can be used in alternate ways. In this case, a running attack.
Of course, that's not the only way Little Mac can attack his opponents. He also has
a rapid fire punch though we're not sure if this is a natural combo or one of his specials.
We think that it could work just like Fox's rapid kicks or Captain Falcon's punches especially
since Mac is able to smoothly go from those punches to an uppercut without delay. That
uppercut is likely his up attack too since we see him use a smash version of it against
Samus later. The trailer shows off even more moves including
Mac's grab, which we only see him using in order to perform a few more punches on Marth.
There's still no indication on how good his actual throws will be. His forward smash looks
to be a straight punch though we believe his standard special is a charged punch. Unlike
Samus's charge beam or Donkey Kong's wind up punch, it doesn't look like Mac can store
it for later use. He can decide when to release it though as we see that it's not nearly as
powered up when he hits Bowser compared to when he hits Pit and the Villager. This makes
it most similar to Marth's Shield Breaker attack.
Mac's down special is likely the counter move seen in the trailer. It's a perfect send-up
to how he fights in the Punch-Out games though the timing seems to be extremely tight. Slowing
down the footage shows that there's actually a heartbeat monitor that pops up as he's performing
the move. That seems to be the sweet spot. If you time it right, the counter looks to
be quite powerful. The same can't be said about his up special which takes the form
of a vertical spin punch. While it looks to be a good option for juggling opponents, its
recovery use seems to be tricky since there's no horizontal momentum. Will he be able to
use some of his other specials for that horizontal motion?
Finally, we even get to see his Final Smash: Giga Mac. This form only ever appeared in
Punch-Out Wii's multiplayer mode and provided a player a power boost when using it. That's
probably the same here as all of his attacks will likely be supercharged for a short time.
However, it looks like there's a downside because the few moments we see him run, he
seems notably slower. Opponents could likely dodge out of the way if need be and stay out
of reach. Of course, if Mac does knock out someone he can perform a taunt, the first
of which is seen here. Though that may be all of the moves we see
Mac use in the trailer, it doesn't mean he's out of tricks. Uniquely, Little Mac has a
Power Meter. As he fights, it builds up until it reaches K.O status. When that happens,
his standard special becomes a one-hit knockout uppercut. What wasn't immediately clear is
how that works though. When the feature is being showcased, Mac is charging up a punch
but releases it before the meter charges in any significant way.
So charging the punch doesn't increase the meter, but neither does him receiving damage.
The camera shifts away from the action as it charges, but we do see that Mac's damage
percentage doesn't rise. That means that the meter doesn't work in the same way as Lucario's
Aura ability. Instead, the Power Meter is a reference to Super Punch-Out. In that game,
the Power Meter would fill up by hitting opponents. If you took damage, then the meter would decrease.
Once it was filled, a Knockout Punch could be used.
The Power Meter here will probably work exactly the same. Mac took no damage as the meter
filled up, but when the camera pans out again, you can see that Bowser's percentage has increased
from 52% to 231% in the intervening time. That's a huge leap in such a small amount
of time, so could that mean that Mac's normal attacks are powered up the higher his Power
Meter is? And the knockout uppercut is especially impressive is that it looks like Mac catches
Mega Man with the punch while he's dodging. In any case, while the one-hit knockout punch
is incredibly devastating, it looks like players will have to be quite skilled to gain access
to it since most of his moves require him to get in close.
But Little Mac seems to have one more trick up his nonexistent sleeve. He doesn't flinch
from smaller attacks. Multiple times, his attack animations continue even after being
hit by another attack including Samus's flames, Bowser's side attack, the Villager's gyroid,
and even Link's spin attack. Just how high is his priority? Or could this actually be
an ability of his? We think it's the latter since even Doc Louis mentions it while Mac
is shrugging off attacks. And that's not all that Doc Louis says. He
actually seems to point out several different strengths and weaknesses of Little Mac. Some
are simple like his "One-Two!" shout when Mac punches or "Hit 'em baby! Straight!" when
Mac uses his powered-up straight punch. But then there's his "Don't flinch!" line to Mac
and most interesting of all, "You ain't no air fighter Mac!" as he completely misses
the Wii Fit Trainer. It's pretty easy to see that Mac's strength is going to be focused
on the ground. But what about Doc Louis? He was always coaching Little Mac in the games,
and even in this trailer. Could he actually appear in the game as a special taunt similar
to the ones for Fox and Snake? Maybe he'll give Mac between rounds tips like in the Punch-Out
games? Okay, we're almost done here, but there are
still a few small touches that are worth pointing out. For one, we were right in our prediction
that the boxing ring stage could mean an appearance by Little Mac. But Sakurai was very clever
in hiding it in plain sight. Now that Mac is confirmed, the arena has seen a couple
changes such as the upper signs showing Punch-Out instead of Smash Bros and the ring being represented
by the WVBA or World Video Boxing Association. Even the insignia in the middle of the ring
has changed from the Smash Bros. logo to the one for the WVBA championship.
Secondly, the cutscene shows off a Punch-Out arcade cabinet that looks almost identical
to the original. Then there are the posters in the background while Mac's training. Most
are hard to make out, but starting from the left the first poster looks to advertise a
match between Little Mac and Von Kaiser; the next features King Hippo; the one to the right
of that is the hardest to make out but could be Mac standing over a fallen opponent; and
the one on the far right looks to be a fight promotion between Mac and Mr. Sandman. So
this Little Mac is obviously no rookie and that's evident from the champion belt he has
hanging on the wall. And it looks like Mac's not only getting some
training help from Doc Louis, but also Sandbag from the Home Run Contest. It's the first
we've seen of him in these new games so could this mean the Home Run Contest is returning?
And could Sandbag return as an item like in Brawl? We're almost positive that this means
he's back in his original role. Of course, once Mac and Doc take a break, we also see
Samus roll by in her Morph Ball form. It's a humorous touch since she looks a little
like a medicine ball. And with that, we've covered all of the secrets
and details that we could find in Little Mac's reveal trailer. He looks to be a completely
different fighter that favors speed, close-range fighting, and a greater focus on not getting
hit. Of course, be sure to let us know if we missed anything in the comments. If you
liked this video be sure to like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at GameXplain. Thanks
for watching and be sure to stay tuned for more on Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS and
other things gaming too.