Let's Talk About Smash Run

Smash Bros. for 3DS has been out for about a week and a half now here in North America and after a solid 50 hours I'm finally ready to set the game aside for a bit. In a surprise to no one, it is fantastic. Visually impressive running at 60 fps on a 3DS, a gargantuan and extremely varied roster, a ridiculous amount of trophies to collect with witty entertaining descriptions penned by the acclaimed writer of the Earthbound series, the introduction of custom moves adding some interesting variety to an already absurdly varied cast of characters, what more could you ask for from simply the inferior version of a game that will be obsolete in little more than a month. I could sit here and praise Smash all day, but I'd like to talk about one aspect of the game that soured the experience for me slightly and that would be Smash Run.

How To Train Your Solitary Healing Unit

In Fire Emblem Awakening there are many classes to choose from that allow each unit to specialize in certain types of weaponry and abuse certain skills that can be very helpful on the battlefield. Units use their weapons to gain experience and increase their weapon rank which in turn allows them to use better weapons. Healing is itself categorized as a weapon type and in most cases is able to be used in conjunction with another type of offensive weapon. Two classes however, the Cleric/ Priest and Troubadour do not have that option and are relegated to healing alone. While healing is very useful, it does not give very much experience and is not needed in every situation making such solitary healing units defenseless and more of a burden in a lot of cases. Cleric/ Priest and Troubadour are base classes which means they can promote to a better option at level 10, getting them there can be kind of a pain, but I finally figured out a method to do so without taking the entire campaign to get there.

Why Won't You Stay Away From the Things That Will Kill You Horribly?

I think we can all agree that A/I in games can be one of it's most frustrating aspects. It seems as though their main goal is to go out and get themselves killed as fast as possible or compromise your position in the worst possible way. I could use numerous different games as examples, but today I will be using Fire Emblem Awakening as it is what prompted me to write this.

Legend of Korra Exclusively Online as of Today

Everything that has been said about this issue has been talked about ad infinitum, however now that we actually got to see an episode posted legally online in action, I think it is worth discussing how it was rolled out. This is simply an account of my personal experience so take it for what it is worth.

Road to Hoenn: Swablu and Altaria

Welcome back to Road to Hoenn, a series in which I take an evolutionary line and see how it could possibly be improved for the up coming release of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. The topic this article is the Altaria line. As with Sceptile I like this line quite a bit, but since it's introduction Game Freak has paid it little mind and it's performance shows. As of 4th generation it was notable for being the only fully evolved Dragon-type not in OU, currently it sits in the lower dregs of the NU tier being out shined even there. Pre-generation 6 the Dragon-type reigned supreme, however type alone was not able to solve Altaria's major problem, namely it's baffling stat spread. From what I can gather it was supposed to be a defensive dragon based on it's move pool and it's highest stat being it's special defense sitting at 105. During it's introduction in generation 3 75/90/105 defenses with the Dragon-typing could have been viewed as serviceable. Fast forward another 3 generations and you have an ever increasing amount of offensive powerhouses that make the poor draconic avianoid quake in it's cotton. With 70/70/80 offenses you aren't doing much damage to anything directly, It's offensive move pool has enough options to get you by and afford a little choice, but nothing terribly exciting. Altaria is crying out for a mega evolution and as it is a gym leader's ace in the new games, now is a perfect time to let it have one.

Nintendo at E3

What a good showing, here are some of my thoughts.

Mario Kart Musings

So I've had the game for a solid week and some change and I think I've played enough now to have a decent grasp of what went right here and what went wrong.