Dojo Day: Gambling Edition

By Vampt Vo (11/17/07)

Super... Mario... Galaxy. It's right here in front of me, but duty (and lack of a free TV at the moment due to family) must intervene. So instead I come here to Dojo Day, where I will wash my troubles away in sweet, sweet alcohol cocaine gambling on Super Smash Bros. matches. Welcome to this week's Dojo Day, in which there will be lots of adult themes, but mostly just gambling. Yeah, pretty much.

Ike-Final Smash: After getting the Smash Ball, our blue-haired friend will be able to attack an opponent, launching them into the air. In midair, he will swing his flaming blade in a circle, then slash down at his enemy (and anyone nearby) while plummeting to the ground. When he hits the ground, he will create a huge explosion that damages any character standing there.

Three Different Taunts: Each character will have three different taunts, and each will be assigned to a different d-pad direction on the Wiimote. Link's three are his TP sword spin and sheath, a fairy appearing in front of him, and his one-legged pose from the original Smash Bros. Here's some of the cool ones:
-Fox yells while creating an aura of fire (I hear his power level is over nine thousand)
-Ike jams his sword in the ground then crosses his arms
-Snake gets in his favorite cardboard box and hides.

Handicaps: Just general handicap explanations, but Sakurai also mentions that you can now set a damage percentage that you will start with every time you respawn.

Kirby-Meta Knight's Revenge: It's a peppy jazz number to go with the Battleship Halberd stage. It's a pretty nice song, but in my opinion it's not dark and epic enough for the stage it is being placed in.

Meta Knight-Special Moves: This post contains full explanations of Meta Knight's abilities. He can glide through the air, as previously seen. Here are his special moves:
-Standard: Mach Tornado - Turns Meta Knight into a tornado that can whirl around the stage and toss enemies into the air.
-Side: Drill Rush - Involves him thrusting his sword while spinning around like a drill. Using slight movements, you can direct the attack to go diagonally up or down.
-Up: Shuttle Loop - He leaps into the air, slashing with his sword.
-Down: Dimensional Cape - This one is the most interesting. Meta Knight wraps his cape around himself, disappears, and reappears based on where you direct him. By holding down the attack button, you can also attack as you reappear.

Spectator: One match a day from someone else's game will be saved onto your system, and you will be able to watch it in Spectator mode. Of course, all names and info are stripped, Nintendo-fashion, so all you will see is Players 1 through 4 with their characters. In addition, you can bet coins on who is going to win, and you will always win stickers for watching matches. Of course, if your bet is correct, you will get a large sum of coins. Also important to note is that the match that is broadcast is the same each day across all systems. It is unconfirmed if this match follows the 3-minute time limit for video presented in an earlier post.

Spectator obviously takes the cake this week, but I have to say that I'm excited about the new taunts. Hopefully this should be able to add some form of the customizability that many had hoped for in online matches. It's not much, but right now, anything along that line of game design is worth something for us online-deprived Smashers.

Spectator mode is a really awesome idea. It might not be the most prominent feature of the game, but it will surely add a lot of replay value to an already endlessly replayable game. Personally, I doubt I'll use it much, but it's great to know that it is there in case I'm ever bored enough to watch some matches. Plus, this should surely invoke some social discussion of the game about the latest Spectator match, much like a football game invokes discussion among, you know, normal people. However, what really got me thinking is a few things that Sakurai accidentally slipped into those screenshots. You see, some of those characters are using different costumes. Samus has the Gravity Suit on, Link is wearing the Zora Tunic, and Peach looks like Daisy. What distresses me about this is the lack of changes in the costume system. I was hoping for some really cool new costumes, allowing the entire costume model to change (a la Soul Caliber 2), rather than just the colors (as we see in these shots). Unless that is a feature that has not been included yet, I would have to guess that we are sadly stuck with the old costume setup.

[via Smash Bros. Dojo]