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ISSUE #1 | Summer 2015

MAGAZINE

EXCLUSIVE

What if

Samus Aran was a nature photographer? GUIDE

Smash Bros. 4 by the reigning world champion EDITORIAL

Nintendo and Mother 3 A dysfunctional relationship interview

Way Forward & Zero Lab

Skullgirls artist and Aliens game designer join forces

funding

Bloodstained

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH:

Koji Igarashi

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meet the team

editor.

from the

Jonathan Holmes

Welcome to the Premiere issue of Destructoid magazine Video games are the fastest evolving medium in history. A mere 20 years ago, arcades were still big money enterprises, dedicated handheld/mobile game consoles were still in their infancy, and the prospect of playing a game that looks and sounds like a movie seemed unfathomable. This was also a time before Google, when Netscape Navigator sat alongside AOL as most people’s web browser of choice. Back then, it might have taken you five minutes before everything on an “image heavy” website might completely load. Those tech limitations of old did a lot to help game magazines maintain their dominant role in the industry, but those with foresight guessed that it would not be long until the “world wide web” took their place. Flash forward to 2015, and things are in more of a state of flux than ever before. Arcades are moreor-less dead, but the pay-to-play model of game design that once drove the arcade industry is alive and well on the mobile markets. Games that look like movies are now commonplace, and many of today’s film directors often cite games as a major influence. Despite that, the most popular games in the world (Minecraft, Candy Crush and Puzzle and Dragons) look nothing like movies and probably could run on last-generation hardware. Much of this would have been hard to predict, but at least one prophecy of the ‘90s has come true. Most of the old game magazines are long gone, killed off by game blogs. In fact, now it’s the game blogs who are in danger of being killed off by YouTube vloggers, pundits, and Let’s Players.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

In all of this, there has been one constant -- people love video games. While some may try to deny it,

Contact

The best way to reach the ENTIRE friggin’ editorial team tips@destructoid.com. We receive hundreds of emails a day and we can’t over everything, so get creative! Sell it! Or send us something in the mail: MODERNMETHOD.COM c/o: Destructoid Editors (or) Your favorite editor 548 Market Street #59757 San Francisco, CA 94104 USA

I’ve seen the powerful effect that video games can have on people’s thoughts, emotions, identities, and behaviors firsthand, many times over the years. Some have even told me that games helped save their lives, and I believe them. Knowing this makes me sure that video game magazines still have a place in the market today. That may not sound logical, but the cool thing about love is that it often wins against logic. When I open up an old issue of GameFan, it feels like I’m holding a physical love letter to gaming in my hands. Even if it’s an issue from 20 years ago, where everything on the surface is different, that underlying love for games is still there, and it hasn’t changed a bit. We want this magazine to make you feel truly connected to other people who love games just as much as you do. It’s our goal to make sure this magazine deserves a permanent place in your physical game collection, alongside your art books, strategy guides, and all the other physical reflections of your relationship with the medium. Feel free to let us know how we’re doing at jonathan@destructoid.com, subject line: “GameFan/Dtoid mail.” Thanks so much,

Video Game Romantic Destructoid Advertising and other business partnerships: If you’d like to advertise with us, please contact sales@gamefanmag.com. (and you really should). For everything else (unless you have a complaint, in which case, screw you) check out the ModernMethod Website www.modernmethod.com Contact the Founder: You can reach Niero by email (niero@destructoid.com). Weird subject lines get the first replies.

DESTRUCTOID is a registered trademark of MODERNMETHOD DBA DESTRUCTOID LLC.

contributors. Niero From Rags To Robots In 1986, Yanier Gonzalez started his first (of many failed) video game clubs. Members of the club were required to keep a journal of their gaming skills on memo pads, so they could trade with other players to help everyone get an edge on their games. Niero also not-so-secretly hoped that he would grow up to use these skills as a video game counselor, answering phones for gamers in need or writing for the now-dead Nintendo Fun Club magazine. These days, he runs and owns one of the biggest video game clubs in the world. As it turns out, living your life by the teachings of Project A-Ko was the right idea. Follow your dreams.

Ink-credible Pen Friends This issue of GameFan/Destructoid features amazing original artwork from: Sarah Thomas, Robert Porter and Jorge Velez (Splatoon); Camille Young, Robert Porter and Jorge Velez (MOTHER series); Martin Worister (Street Fighter V); and of course, Yuuji Natsume (Bloodstained). Still, more than anyone else, we have Mr. Corey “Reyyy” Lewis to thank for the overall visual style in this issue. An all new Metroid-inspired comic story and 56 adorable little Smash Bros. heads – all from Reyyy – make this issue a must-own for all lovers of fun artwork. Good thing you already own it!

“ZeRo” Top Smash Bro Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios doesn’t technically work for Destructoid. As the current undisputed champion of Smash Bros. 4, he’s already got his hands full with constant training, tournaments, written analysis, YouTube videos and streams. Rumor has it that he even found a way to play Smash Bros. while he’s asleep: using a pair of contact lenses that contain small TV monitors, which he can place under his closed eyes, and a sound-activated controller that responds to his snores. If there is anyone in the world who can literally beat you at Smash Bros. “in their sleep,” it’s ZeRo.

Chris Carter Optimus Gamer Chris has been an avid gamer since he was four years old, and has owned almost every system imaginable from the NES up to the current generation. Due to the uncanny amount of games he’s played over the years, he is well versed in just about every genre in the industry, from fighting games, to old school JRPGs, to modern shooters, which helped land him his Reviews Director job over at Destructoid.

Mark Kaminski Design Genie As a long-time fan of GameFan and Destructoid, I’m very excited and honored to be a part of this issue. Read it, sniff it, keep this issue on your shelf, then read it again. And always remember “Play to Win!”

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table of contents

SMASH BROS. WITH THE PROS

The world’s best Smash player spills the beans

UNDER THE SEA WITH AREM

THE VAMPIRE HUNTER RETURNS Koji Igarashi on Kickstarter, Castlevania, Women and more

A new kind of Space Hunter sleeps with the fishes

CONTENTS

How I Met Your MOTHER.............................6-9 Nintendo’s on-again, off-again relationship with their beloved RPG series.

Street Fighter V got fat and sassy ...........10-13 Find out who’s hot and who’s not.

Mariel & Adam: Career retrospective .....14-17 Longtime partners Mariel Cartwright (Skullgirls) and Adam Tierney (WayForward) give us an exclusive tell all.

Be a good kid now...........................................26-29 And a great squid now. Destructoid dives into Splatoon!

social. let’s get

>>CONNECT WITH DESTRUCTOID: DESTRUCTOID.COM a @DTOID FACEBOOK.COM/DESTRUCTOID <<

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MOTHER/EarthBound

MOTHER & NINTENDO

A DYSFUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIP?

There is no other game in the world quite like MOTHER 3, and fittingly enough, there is also no other fanbase quite like the MOTHER/EarthBound fan community. Case in point: When Nintendo showed no signs of intent to release MOTHER 3 outside of Japan back in 2006, a group of dedicated fans at Starmen.net (some of whom would later become fan-merch superstars at Fangamer.com) took it upon themselves to translate the game and release it to the public. On top of that, they also self-published a 240-page, full-color print strategy guide, to go along with it. There was no precedent for success in putting this much time, money and energy into a fan localizaion. Nintendo could have shut them down at any time. Even if they didn’t, the whole project could have remained largely ignored. Either way, it could have led to years of time and money wasted. BY JONATHAN HOLMES

They released the patch in October of 2008. Reports cite that the patch was downloaded over 100,000 times in the first week, and the strategy guide got 1,000 pre-orders in the first day. The patch and the guide have continued to find new fans in the years that followed, as has Fangamer, as both a business and a community. On the other hand, as of this writing, Nintendo has made no visible forward motion toward localizing MOTHER 3 themselves, outside of a few jokes and remarks here and there acknowledging how vocal and passionate the game’s fans are. So why doesn’t Nintendo do more to capitalize on the MOTHER/EarthBound fanbase? And what is it about these games that inspires so much grassroots support from their fans? Both of those questions might have the same answer. The things about MOTHER/EarthBound that scare Nintendo may be the very same things that make fans so happy.

What if Oprah made a video game?

The MOTHER series was created by Shigesato Itoi, a Japanese essayist and media personality, though that description doesn’t even come close to explaining the unique role he’s played in the Japanese media for the past 35+ years. He first rose to fame in the 1980s, after hosting an investigative T.V. program that examined, among other things, Japanese subway tunnels. It was clear from the start that it was Itoi’s personality, not his investigations, that drove the show’s popularity. He was later chosen to voice

the father of Mei and Satsuke in the 1998 classic animated film My Neighbor Totoro, despite the fact that he was not an actor by trade. Later he would go on to collaborate with surrealist novelist Haruki Murakami on two short story anthologies, appear as a judge on The Iron Chef, write lyrics for Japanese pop songs, and basically do whatever he wanted. There are no easy comparisons to make between Itoi and pop icons in other countries, but it might be fair to say that at one time, he represented Japan’s modern cultural identity in the same way that multi-media personalities like Oprah Winfrey or Howard Stern once did in North America. He spoke both to and for the Japanese people in a way that was honest, unafraid, and insightful, all without putting himself in a social class that felt distant and elitist in the process. To be both a populist superstar and an everyman at the same time is no small feat, especially in a time before YouTube. For HAL Labratories and Nintendo to have the opportunity to work with someone of Itoi’s stature on a video game was nothing short of groundbreaking at the time. As a mainstream celebrity, Itoi didn’t need to work in video games to further his career. He also had no reason to believe that he could succeed at game development, as he’d never done anything like it before. It was his passion for games, particularly the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System in the USA) that drove him to explore the medium. He reportedly bought five or six Famicom systems and passed them out to his

friends around the time he was devising his first game. Itoi recognized the potential that games have to touch people’s lives, so naturally, he wanted to be a part of them. Despite Itoi’s celebrity, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto was skeptical at first. Itoi reportedly had to work really hard to prove to the company that he could develop a game worth playing. It speaks to Nintendo’s integrity as a company, and their respect for the craft of game development, that they didn’t immediately bow to Itoi’s fame and give him a Shaq-Fu-style project to work on. I have to wonder if it was Itoi’s infectious personality that swayed Nintendo, the quality of his work that impressed them, or if any part of them was hoping that this high profile partnership would help bring some “cultural legitimacy” to games as a medium. Chances are it was some combination of the three. While Nintendo has done more to embrace the “games as toys” concept than just about any other developer, with MOTHER, they may have been hoping for something more.

Selling sushi with scratch and sniff stickers

The original game in the MOTHER series took very closely after the Dragon Quest model of game design. While the series never gained a huge audience in the United States, Dragon Quest was, and still is, one of the most popular escapist fantasies in Japan. Featuring artwork by Dragon Ball’s Akira Toriyama, a series beloved by millions for its optimistic-yet-dramatic themes, Dragon Quest works to harness

MOTHER/EarthBound

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AND SO IT BEGINS…

EarthBound Beginnings finally released Arguably, Nintendo’s biggest surprise at E3 2015 was during the Nintendo World Championships, when Mother/EarthBound creator Shigesato Itoi appeared on video to announce some “somewhat happy news.” The original, fully translated rom of MOTHER 1 would finally be released in the U.S. and Europe as EarthBound Beginnings. Despite costing $6.99, $2 more than other NES games, it’s currently ranked as the #1 seller on the Wii U eShop, beating out fan favorite Splatoon at #2.

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MOTHER/EarthBound

MOTHER & NINTENDO Toriyama’s signature “underdog conquers all” philosophy in multiple ways. It’s a series where any problem can be solved through exploration, tenacity, and teamwork. Identifying as a Dragon Quest fan is also one of the great equalizers for Japanese gamers. Everyone in Japan can enjoy Dragon Quest, and therefore, just about everybody does. Itoi and the developers at Hal appeared to want to use that familiar, beloved framework to take players somewhere more emotionally challenging. Unlike Dragon Quest, MOTHER and MOTHER 2/EarthBound take place in the “real” world, pointing players towards reflecting on the “ordinary” aspects of real life, with the purported goal of showing the us how extraordinary everyday life can be. In many ways, the MOTHER games are about appreciating minutia, about learning to value the little things that we take for granted. Thins like drinking a coffee, walking around the neighborhood, or calling our titular mothers on the telephone (lest we get homesick). That’s not a message that many video game fans necessarily want to hear, but in no small part thanks to Itoi’s subversive storytelling methods, it’s one that Japanese fans ate up without complaint. Nintendo seemed less confident that the American audience would embrace the series in the same way. That could be because the MOTHER/EarthBound games tend to be irreverent in their display of “kid inappropriate” stuff like alcohol and cigarette use. They also aren’t afraid to comment on bigger issues in American culture like Religion, Capitalism, Homosexuality, and paternalism. On the other hand, the MOTHER/EarthBound games also preach the idea that anyone who is willing to take risks, focus their inspiration, show empathy for others, and challenge the status quo is capable of anything, no matter how old or strange they

may be. For many, that’s the American dream. Knowing that didn’t seem to matter though. Nintendo still seemed pessimistic that anyone outside of Japan, or anyone who was not already familiar with Itoi, would appreciate the series That lack of confidence was ultimately what caused Nintendo to decide not to release the original MOTHER in the United States until June 14th 2015, just a month shy of 26 years after the game was originally released in Japan. This is despite the fact that MOTHER has been fully translated into English and ready to ship since 1990. Maybe that’s because in the early 90’s, the NES-era was more or less over, but the reign of the RPG as one of America’s favorite game genres had not yet begun. There was no Dragon Quest-style hit in the U.S. to pave the way for MOTHER, not to mention the fact that Itoi was completely unknown everywhere outside of his native country. Despite the NES’s huge install base, there was little optimism that this strange little RPG about psychic children saving the world could find an audience anywhere but Japan. This general pessimism for the series may also be why a few years later, Nintendo embarked on what might be the most self destructive marketing campaign in history. They took a sweet, subtle, innocent poem, wrapped into a challenging and innovate turn-based RPG called MOTHER 2 and hired a brilliant localization team to transform it for the U.S. audience into a game called EarthBound. Then they sold EarthBound to the U.S. audience under the guise of one giant fart joke. The infamous catch phrase seen on most of the EarthBound’s magazine ads was “This game stinks”, accompanied by some expensive, foul smelling scratch and sniff stickers. MOTHER 2 set trends in Japan, garnering a huge audience, but because it was treated like just another pseudo-rebellious, “90’s kids humor” gag in the United States, EarthBound didn’t have much of a chance of making that kind of an impact. It looked more like a Ren & Stimpy wanna-be to most consumers that a light-but-deep story about American life. The fact that the game came packaged with a blow-by-blow strategy guide didn’t help to

communicate confidence to consumers either. The prospect of an $80 game about bad smells that you need a strategy guide to complete alienated gamers of just about any age. Nintendo may have thought the MOTHER series was “too Japanese” to be marketed on its own merits to the American audience, but in the end, the only thing that was “too Japanese” about EarthBound was the fact that its publishers thought it was “too Japanese” find an universal acceptance. All the same, the game eventually still found its following in the United States, perhaps in part because of its outsider status in the larger gaming world. What looked like something crass and juvenile on the surface revealed itself to be so much more for those who were willing to give it a try. For gamers in the 90’s, this turnabout had the potential for deep resonance. At that time American mainstream culture viewed all video games as being juvenile, and as a result, gamers were too seen as something less than adult. Knowing that, many 90’s gamers felt the pain of being grossly misunderstood by their peers and power figures. They wanted the world to see that games, and by proxy, gamers, could be smarter, deeper, and more heartfelt than they’d been given credit for, if only people would give them a try. So with all its botched messaging and image problems, EarthBound still found its people. It was like that cute-but-nerdy kid in the corner of the lunchroom, not really sure how to dress or win people over, who secretly had a lot of interesting things to say. In that way, it was a kindred spirit to many people who felt alienated by both general anti-gamer sentiment, and the increasingly blunt and ugly, ultra-realistic, ultra-violent 90’s gaming trends. This sense of shared ostracization and glorfication of the sweet and the honest would inspire the community at Starmen.net/Fangamer to spread the gospel of EarthBound throughout the world for years to come. If the series had become a mainstream hit, and Nintendo had trumpeted its worth all along, it’s hard to say if the people are Starmen/net/Fangamer would have felt the need to come together in the first place, let alone continue their impassioned vocal fan crusade for the decade that followed.

GET TO KNOW YOUR MOTHER (S)

Mother 2/ EarthBound MOTHER 1/EarthBound Beginnings

The first title in the Mother/EarthBound series feels like a sketch of the game that would later become Mother 2/Earthbound, but fans would do well not to dismiss the game as being a simple prototype. It has its own unique story and characters, and perhaps most importantly, its own wild personality. For better or worse, MOTHER 1/EarthBound Beginnings breaks more rules of conventional game design than any other game in the series.

The game that started it all for most fans of MOTHER/EarthBound in the Western world, though it’s fair to guess that most people in the U.S. and Europe first got to know Ness and his friend Jeff through their inclusion in the Super Smash Bros. series. Many of those Smash fans didn’t have easy access to EarthBound until recently, as the SNES cart had been fetching high prices on the resale market since the dawn of eBay. Thankfully, Nintendo finally re-released the game on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2013, after having snubbed it for international re-release on the Wii Virtual console years earlier.

Mother 3/??? Originally referred to as EarthBound 2 in European game magazines, fans were shocked when 2006 came and went without a peep from Nintendo about localizing this long-awaited sequel. In Japan, Nintendo marketed the game with ads featuring a woman who shed real tears as she talked about the game’s effect on her. Undeniably the most dramatic and narrative-driven title in the series, fans are still waiting to see if Nintendo will take a chance on this now time-proven classic.

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MOTHER/EarthBound

Hearts of Clay The original Earthbound strategy guide may have failed to help the game sell in huge numbers, but it means a tremendous amount to the fans who first experienced it back in 1995, in no small part due to its use of clay sculptures to depict in-game characters. Fangamer artist Camille Young has worked to carry that clay tradition (clay-dition?) forward with all-new, beautifully crafted scenes of clay, like this rendition of the Giant Step scene from MOTHER 2/EarthBound, and a plethora of other sculptures found in Fangamer’s MOTHER 3 guidebook.

An adorable tragedy

Meanwhile in Japan, Nintendo and Itoi were working on a follow up to MOTHER 2/EarthBound called MOTHER 3. The development process on the game was a huge struggle, having started on the SNES in 1994 before jumping to the ill-fated Nintendo 64DD (the N64 disc drive system), and eventually landing on the Gameboy Advance handheld console in 2006. That feeling of pain and struggle seemed to leak its way into the game itself. While MOTHER 3 often smiles on its surface, under the skin, it’s coursing with pain. The same could also be said for the prior two games in the series, but MOTHER 3 takes that sense of underlying anxiety, anger, and unsteadiness to a whole other level. Each of the game’s main characters is a societal reject in one way or another. Flint, the game’s initial protagonist, is thrown into jail by his peers less than a few hours into the game for committing one of the first violent crimes in his culture’s history. His son Lucas is defined in large part by the excessive grief and powerlessness that he’s suffered since childhood, and is seen by many as a “crybaby”. Duster, the game’s “item’s guy”, walks with an unexplained limp, and is constantly berated by his father of being worthless and stupid. Kumatora (meaning Bear-Tiger in Japanese) is the party’s resident magician/healer. She’s also a gender-queer woman who is descended from of a fictional race of beings called Magypsies, MOTHER 3’s interpretation of the traditional Native American transgender shaman (commonly referred to as “Two Spirits” by non-Native Americans). Nothing about these four characters is easily marketable. Nothing about them plays it safe. This is true for just about every aspect of MOTHER 3. At its core, it’s an anti-technology fable, which is a risky move for any piece of technology to take. It also works as an abridged re-appropriation of Post-Colonial American history. At the game’s start, man and nature (or in this case, man and dinosaur), live in blissful

coexistence. People are content to live simply, without want for anything more than serenity and community. Through the deformation of local wildlife and the introduction of money and technology to the village culture, selfishness and destruction gradually make their way into society. People begin to care more about watching their “happy boxes” than they do interacting with each other. A once lush and vibrant natural landscape is covered with garish landmarks that make little effort to cover their lack of substance. Once peaceful animals are transformed into hideous, violent chimeras. Brothers try to kill each other. The apocalypse looms overhead. Eventually, everything is lost, even the illusion that the game’s world was ever real to begin with. If Nintendo didn’t know how to sell MOTHER 2/ EarthBound to the Western audience, you can imagine how much they may have struggled with the idea of localizing MOTHER 3. And again, they had it all wrong. Themes of grief, trauma, mental illness, religion, anti-consumerism, anti-technology, and rejection of cultural norms have worked to make other games like the Metal Gear Solid series and The Last of Us critical darlings and financial juggernauts. MOTHER 3 did those themes first and it did them better, though if it weren’t for the fans at Starmen.net/Fangamer, most of us outside of Japan may have never been able to learn that first hand. It all probably boils down to the fact that Nintendo still fears that the Western audience won’t accept them if they venture outside of easily-digestible, games-as-toys, family friendly territory. I don’t know if that speaks to their lack of confidence in us, in themselves, or both.

A video game that may not like video games

Later in MOTHER 3, you stumble upon an arcade. It’s noisy, cramped, and useless. There you’ll find an old acquaintance who you will

probably feel some affection for, as he’s a familiar face who you’ve known long before the world had turned into a fake plastic hell. If you attempt to interrupt him while he’s playing a game, he’ll snap at you bitterly, as that’s where his priorities are now. He’s not the person you used to know, but then again, he was never the most emotionally sophisticated guy. Maybe this was his true nature all along. This interaction will likely lead you to feel bad, which might motivate you to try playing a game yourself. You can play something in the arcade for 10 DP (the game’s currency), though all you’ll see while you play is Lucas moving his arms back and forth in a repetitive motion. He does this for over ten seconds. That doesn’t sound like a long time, but it can feel like an eternity while you’re playing a video game, or in this case, when you are watching a video game character play a video game. We’ve been conditioned to expect to stimulated by the games at a constant rate. When a game character becomes the player, the player becomes the spectator, and we’re left to wonder in tense envy what kind of video game thrills Lucas may be having in our place. After he’s done, Lucas turns to the camera, his cheeks flushed with excitement. Text rolls across the bottom of the screen that reads “In one sense, you feel completely satisfied”. That short scene says more about our magical, illogical, sometimes dysfunctional relationship with video games than most other games ever could, even if they tried. Will Nintendo ever come to share Itoi’s confidence in our ability as gamers to tolerate, and even enjoy, that kind of self reflection and abstract criticism? Like so many of the ordinary-but-amazing, adorable-but-horrific, real-but-imaginary events of the MOTHER series, the answer may end up being right in your hands, yet always slightly out of reach.

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Street Fighter V

By Alessandro Fillari

THE NAME’S NOT K. BEE. IT’S CAMMY. MS. WHITE IF YOU’RE NASTY.

Ryu, Chun-Li, and M. Bison are some of Street Fighter’s most famous icons, but they are also notorious attention hogs. Charlie’s not quite as bad, but even he’s been a bit of a diva lately, what with his new “edgy” Frankenstein forehead scar and all. Like it or not, it’s time for the four of them to step aside as we give the spotlight to two new challengers! Cammy and Birdie were just announced as returning contestants for the latest Street Fighter tournament, and they’ve changed in a few interesting ways since last time you saw them. That’s particularly true for Birdie, who’s learned to combine Street Fighter V’s game-changing Variable Arts system with his newfound passion for culinary delights in order to turn fights to his favor.

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Street Fighter V

EVERYTHING HURTS MORE IN STREET FIGHTER V

THESE COLORS WONT RUN

But let’s start with Cammy ~ a Street Fighter fan favorite and arguably the world’s most beloved, formerly brainwashed woman who is actually a clone of a man (sorry X-23). Cammy’s speed and agility have always given her advantages in footsies and rush down, and Street Fighter V works to expand upon that playstyle in a big way. Her V-Skill, known as ‘Axel Spin Knuckle’, gives her the ability to do a forward spin move and follow up with a forearm blow. Like her original backfist special, this move allows her to pass through projectiles unharmed, and it

BRITISH GUARDS PLAY THE FRENCH HORN?

also allows her to spin to her opponent’s back and strike them from behind. That’s a nice touch, but her V-Trigger is where Cammy really turns up the heat. Called ‘Delta Drive’, her Trigger grants her a massive speed boost and cuts the cooldown time on her specials moves, allowing her to use them more often. It’s a mechanic that’s reminiscent of Street Fighter Alpha 2’s custom combos, which speaks to an underlying Alpha-flavor that permeates throughout Street Fighter V.

For more from Alessandro Fillari, check him out on Destructoid.com and on Twitter at @afillari

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LIKE FERNANDO SAYS, “IT’S BETTER TO LOOK GOOD…”

...THAN TO FEEL GOOD.”

Street Fighter V

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Street Fighter V

RED BEANS AND RICE DIDN’T MISS HIM

GOODBYE SPINE, HELLO COLOR!

SERIOUSLY GUYS, WHAT’S WITH THE HORN...

BISON’S PSYCHO POWER HAS ALBINO SIDE EFFECTS

Speaking of Alpha, Birdie is back in action after his last appearance in Alpha 3, he’s probably the most changed character we’ve seen yet. That’s not too surprising, as Birdie is no stranger to radical makeovers. Remember the time when he transformed from a common caucasian punk stereotype in Street Fighter 1 into a cool new heart tattooed, brown skinned mass of muscle in Street Fighter Alpha? While his skin tone remains the same this time around, his body is very different. This once buff and trim goon has lost his figure, and he can’t seem to keep food out of his hands. With a massive gut, and some Ron Jeremy-esque chest hair, it’s clear that the years have not been kind to Birdie. He doesn’t seem to mind though. His passion for battles is stronger than ever, and he’s learned to make this new portly form work to his advantage. Though he may seem like a gimmick character at first, Birdie has all the tools he needs to take on all comers. Like in his Alpha series days, the chains wrapped around his wrist can be used to lasso foes and slam them to the ground, and his famous headbutt still packs a wallop. Things get even wilder when he busts

out the munchies. His V-Skill, called Break Time, allows him scarf down some snacks which grant him extra buffs. He’ll even leave the trash on the ground, which his opponents can trip over. You haven’t lived ‘til you’ve seen M. Bison slip on a banana peel. His V-Skill also works when using different directional prompts, which will have him eat and discard different types of food. His V-Trigger is called ‘Enjoy Time’, and after maxing out his V-Gauge, Birdie will scarf down a spicy pepper, which will grant him a boost in damage and guard break potential for his special moves. After my session with Street Fighter V, I was left super impressed with what the developers at Capcom are doing to change and refine the Street Fighter formula, and with the additions of Cammy and Birdie, it’s clear that Capcom has got interesting plans for both the familiar and the unexpected characters on the roster. I can’t wait to play it again on July 23, when players who pre-ordered the game on PSN or from retails will get a code to participate in the a special stress test beta demo. I’ll be signing up on day one.

For more on Street Fighter V, including a full rundown on the Variable Arts System and an interview with Peter ‘Combofiend’ Rosa, check the Street Fighter tag on Destructoid.com

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Mariel and Adam

20 QUESTIONS WITH MARIEL CARTWRIGHT AND ADAM TIERNEY FOR GAMEFAN MAGAZINE & DESTRUCTOID.COM By Destructoid Readers (& Jonathan Holmes)

Were you much of a gamer growing up? What were some of your favorite games? Mariel: Oh yeah, absolutely. I was playing games on my dad’s Atari 800 before my parents bought me a Genesis for my sixth birthday. I was obsessed with Sonic growing up, and Shining Force and Lunar made a big impact on me as well. I was a big fan of Sega in general. Adam: I was a Genesis boy. Before that, NES and Atari 2600. Some of my favorite older games are Haunted House, Keystone Kapers, Dig Dug, and Montezuma’s Revenge. My alltime favorite game is Ico on PS2.

What led you to work in the video game industry professionally? And how did you end up at WayForward and Lab Zero, respectively? Adam: I was a huge WayForward fanboy in college and started dabbling in pixel art around that time. That turned into a few freelance pixel gigs, and eventually I started chatting with Matt Bozon (WayForward’s Creative Director and the creator of Shantae) on the IGN messageboards. When he found out I lived 30 minutes from their offices, he invited me in to audition and I’ve been here ever since! Mariel: I’ve always loved games, but it didn’t really occur to me that I could work in them until I was in college for animation; my goal in my teens was actually to work in comics. At some point it just hit me that games were what I’d really love to do instead! I had started freelancing in games towards the end of college and onwards, doing illustrations and animations for WayForward and Ubisoft. I also started helping out on a friend’s project called Skullgirls around that time, which later turned into my full time job. Lab Zero was formed after Skullgirls team was laid off from its original developer, Reverge Labs. The core Skullgirls team still felt very strongly about the game, so we got the blessing of Autumn Games, the publisher of Skullgirls, to continue working on it. That’s where we are now.

Both Lab Zero and WayForward are known for their 2D art style.

What is it about 2D game art WHAT IS THE WORK ATMOSPHERE LIKE AT EACH OF YOUR COMPANIES? Mariel: It’s very casual at Lab Zero, and everyone knows each other well. I’ve worked with the same team for years now and we’ve been through thick and thin together. Getting to work with the Lab Zero team is a big part of while I’m still here.

Adam: WayForward is interesting because, compared to other game developers I’ve worked with briefly, WayForward is very team-driven and open to exploring ideas. Rather than having all decisions mandated down from on high (which I’ve seen elsewhere), each team at WayForward is like a mini-studio per project. This allows us to be very creative and explorative, and I think that’s also why the games WayForward puts out are so varied in style and gameplay.

that appeals to you? Adam: WayForward’s offices are located just a few miles from CalArts, which is essentially the training school for Disney animators. A lot of our animator talent comes from there, so I think between that influence, and our studio’s love of 8-bit and 16-bit era games, 2D feels very natural and nostalgic. That said, we do a lot of 3D titles as well – it’s usually about 50/50 here between 2D and 3D games. Mariel: I’ve just always loved 2D animation of all sorts, but I started off as more of an illustrator than an animator. Animation is just a way to bring my and others’ art to life, and seeing illustrations animate in a game setting is really rewarding when it’s done well.

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Mariel and Adam

What are some of the projects you’ve teamed up on previously?

Adam: I think Mariel and I have worked on over a dozen projects together by this point, but sadly most of them will never see the light of day, because we usually team up on game pitches. Those are the short documents created to convince a publisher that you’re the ideal developer for a project. Mariel: Man, I’ve done so much art for WayForward over the years! And yeah, the bulk of my work has been for concept art for game pitches, though I’ve done other illustrative and animation work for WayForward as well. Adam: Some of the games we’ve teamed up on where Mariel’s art was made public include Barbie, Centipede: Infestation, Silent Hill: Book of Memories, and Til Morning’s Light.

A Barbie game? What was that like? Mariel: I actually had a lot of fun. I enjoy trying to match other styles; I think it’s always an interesting challenge. I did a bit of UI and drew illustrations of the shopkeeper in the game. It was cute. Adam: Yeah, the shopkeeper girl was really adorable! That game in general was a lot of fun because the brand was so cute and girly (which I love), but the gameplay underneath took influence from oldschool NES classics like Castlevania, Bionic Commando, etc.

How did you first connect? Adam: I remember when Mariel was still a student at CalArts, she and Jonathan Kim (another staffer at Lab Zero) dropped by WayForward’s offices to show off their sketchbooks. Since then, I think both of them were on our radars. Mariel: Yeah, I think I got an email from Adam at some point after that and started doing freelance work for WayForward. Adam: Although Mariel isn’t an employee of WayForward, she’s definitely an integral part of the WayForward family.

You two have worked on several projects together.

" the bulk of my work has been for concept art for game pitches

What do you remember about Centipede: Infestation? Adam: When Atari presented us with the opportunity to update Centipede, the character of Maisy (the female lead) popped into my head almost fully-formed, right from the start. Sometimes gameplay comes first, but in the case it was all about the characters and world, which was sort of a dystopic Nausicaa-esque environment in which toxic pollution is causing all the bugs to become massive and aggressive, and only 2 kids (Maisy and Max) seem to notice or care. Mariel designed both characters, and I think her visuals are a big part of why the pitch resonated with the folks at Atari.

Mariel: I think that might have been the longest we worked on a single pitch. It went through several iterations— going from lighthearted and cute, to more gritty and dark, finally landing somewhere in the middle, I think. From my end, it was interesting to try very different takes on the same core concept.

Describe your collaboration on Silent Hill: Book of Memories Mariel: I was tasked with the Silent Hill staple joke ending. It was in comic form, and I did the layouts, roughs, and lineart; colors and text were handled by someone else. I’ve always enjoyed working on comics, so that was a lot of fun. With Book of Memories (and also the joke ending I did earlier for Silent Hill: Shattered Memories), I actually had no context for what was happening because neither game was spoiled for me, since I’m a fan! I just had to go with what I was told to do. Adam: Book of Memories was produced, written, and co-designed by Tomm Hulett, who was such a natural fit working with us that he left Konami to join WayForward shortly after. The comic book joke ending was stuffed to the gills with inside jokes from previous SH games, cameos, and lots of winking at the camera. It was a lot of fun to produce, especially when we added the VO on top of Mariel’s gorgeous artwork.

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Mariel and Adam

Til Morning’s Light

is your most in-depth collaboration, right? What can

you tell us about that game and your role on it? Mariel: I was the lead concept artist, so my job was to design a bunch of the characters and concept some monsters with Adam’s direction. I also did, I think, all the storyboarding for the game’s cutscenes. Adam: I was writer/director of the game, and yeah, this was the deepest dive Mariel ever did on a WayForward project. In addi-

tion to character design and storyboards, she did a lot of visual concepting like weapons, poses for Erica (the main character), expression sheets – anything character-focused. It was important to me that everything Erica did matched the persona we were carefully constructing (which changes over the course of the game), so we concepted almost every aspect of her before production.

WHAT WERE YOUR GOALS WITH TIL MORNING’S LIGHT ? Mariel: Visually portraying Erica as someone I, and hopefully others, can relate to. I love horror games in general, so trying my own little take with the story and characters that were given to me was an interesting challenge. Adam: Obviously with any horror game, you have goals to immerse the player, scare them, make them uneasy, etc. And we put a lot of emphasis on that. But like Mariel, I really wanted players to fall in love with Erica and identify with her. The entire game revolves around this teenage girl trapped in a haunted house, so if she’s not engaging, neither is the game. Luckily, from reviews and feedback so far, it seems like players are enjoying her.

Regarding Skullgirls, that’s been in development - between the core game and now the DLC - for over 5 years, correct? What’s it been like working on a game that long? What is the team’s development process like? What was the process of developing Erica as a character like? Adam: She begins the game shy and timid, but we see her evolve over the course of one hellish night into someone much stronger and more aggressive. There’s also a snarkiness – even a dorkiness – to her that I love.

Mariel: I’ve worked on it since the start of 2009, so it’s been over six years, actually. Somehow I’ve never gotten bored of it! Each new character we create is a new challenge, and they’re all so different from one another that it’s continued to be creatively fulfilling as well. We’ve also done it enough times that we generally know what to expect, so it’s become easier to sit down and enjoy the work and still have a decent idea how it’ll end up.

We saw glimpses of dozens of potential Skullgirls fighters during the successful IndieGoGo campaign. Is the plan to keep expanding the game indefinitely? Mariel: As much as I’ve love that, that’s not our focus right now. Our Indiegogo campaign provided money for five characters, which we’ve now completed. Any further work on the game depends on if we have the money to do it.

Mariel: I relate to Erica a lot, personally. Reserved and down to earth, with interests that lie more on the weird side. Also, those totally horrible interactions with popular kids. Adam came up with her personality and story, but I tried to put a bit of myself into her design and posing. She dresses better than I did as a teen, though.

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR FAVORITE PART OF WORKING ON SKULLGIRLS? Mariel: I think it’s seeing the final product. I can sit down and animate and be satisfied with my own work, but being part of a team that’s working toward making something awesome is really fulfilling to me. I love seeing everyone’s efforts come together.

Adam: As I worked on the story, Mariel would do lots of concept artwork. And then later, when we cast Stephanie Sheh as the voice of Erica, she added another layer to her personality. It was really the three of us, coordinating and fleshing out Erica over the production,

which led to her final product.

WayForward is currently developing Shantae: HalfGenie Hero, following a successful Kickstarter. How’s development on that project going? Adam: It’s going great! I’m not on that project myself, but I see progress as they work on it and everything looks gorgeous. Seeing the world of Shantae brought into high-res, feature-quality animation style is so impressive. I can’t wait for gamers to check out the final product.

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Mariel and Adam

What would each of you like to see more of in the games industry right now? Mariel: For me, it’s different stories. There’s still a ton of unexplored territory in the types of stories we tell in games. Indie games have, of course, done a wonderful job of filling that space, but I’d love to see different perspectives, characters and themes reach mainstream audiences too. I think we’re slowly getting there. Adam: What Mariel said! I’d also like to see new genres of gameplay, instead of just reshashing what came before. I love playing games where the core gameplay didn’t exist five years ago.

Mariel: Um, nothing really! Adam: I’d like to see less emphasis on the people making games, and more on the games themselves. It’s always cool to hear direct from the people making games, but when game devs themselves get more press and attention than the games they make – especially when it’s negative or controversial press – I don’t think that helps the industry.

WHAT WOULD EACH OF YOU LIKE TO SEE LESS OF?

What’s on the horizon for Lab Zero and WayForward?

Mariel: We’ve finished the last of the Indiegogo characters and... I think I can say this... have started on the next project. We’re pretty excited about it and think everyone will be too when we can announce it. Adam: We’ve got several cool projects going on at WayForward right now, but unfortunately most of them aren’t announced just yet. Look for Shantae: Half-Genie Hero in the future, and check out Til Morning’s Light now on iOS and Fire devices.

Any personal projects

you’d like to mention?

Mariel: I’m always working on a number of things, but nothing is quite ready to mention at the moment! Adam: Outside of games, I’m currently working on a children’s book (“Princess Evil”) and a cartoon pilot (“Trash Girls”). I’m hoping to launch both projects later this year, so keep an eye out!

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Smash Guide

ZERO AND FRIENDS PRESENT

The Destructoid

SUPER SMASH

BROS.

MINI-GUIDE Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U and the 3DS continues to impress players around the world. The endless depth and ever evolving strategies utilized by competitive players have given the game life far beyond the its “party game” veneer. Old or young, casual or competitive, veteran or noob, everybody loves to smash. Current undisputed world champion

GONZALO “ZERO” BARRIOS

Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios is the current, undisputed world champion in Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U and the 3DS. He’s put more time than anyone else into the game to discover and document what each character is capable of. In short, he’s OP, though he still understands the power of friendship. That why he’s teamed with Nairoby “Nairo” Quesada (Apex 2014 Brawl singles and doubles champion) and “Melee It On Me” podcast host Nick “DarkDragoon” Konstantino to write this exclusive Smash 4 miniguide, just for you. For more on the latest Smash 4 strategy and tournament info, you can follow these fine men on Twitter at @ZeRoSSBm, @NairoMK, @nkonstantino91, and @MeleeItOnMe, respectively.

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Smash Guide

The King of Crush

BOWSER Smash 4’s new design for the Koopa King is the most effective yet! Aside from being the heaviest character in the game, he also has constant armor preventing him from flinching to attacks that do 1% of damage or less. Many of Bowser’s moves feature great range and almost all of them have some sort of KO power behind them. His up B can be used directly out of shield for one of the safest counter-offensives in the game. As strong as he is though, his speed makes it quite difficult to close the gap to land those moves, especially if his opponent is firing off projectiles. The long recovery time after his attacks means that if he makes any miscalculation after finally getting into range, he’s likely to be punished pretty hard for it.

A Bounty of Booty

CAPTAIN FALCON Always the crowd favorite for his flashy combos and speedy gameplay, Falcon continues to bring the hype in Smash 4. Falcon is among the fastest characters in the game, and that gives him an amazing neutral game to outplay opponents with. If Falcon lands a grab, his down throw will open up all sorts of combo possibilities, especially utilizing his aerials. His Raptor Boost has been changed to a reliable KO move, and making the right call on a dodge attempt can be all you need to claim a KO! Or you can even go for an earlier KO off of an air dodge read with Falcon’s fantastic down air spike! Unfortunately, Falcon continues to suffer the same weaknesses he’s had in previous entries in the series, most notably that his recovery is easy to intercept and his heavy weight and fast fall speed make him a prime target for extend combo punishment.

The Gen 1 Firehose

CHARIZARD Charizard shed his trainer from the previous iteration of Smash and learned a couple new moves! He has some good anti-air moves in his up smash and up tilt, as well as a solid KO move in his up, down, and side B moves. Down B, Rock Smash, has super armor that can power through any move, making it effective if timed properly. Side B, Flare Blitz, is extremely strong as both a recovery and a KO move. Unfortunately, Charizard’s size makes him quite easy to combo, and his recovery isn’t the greatest without using Flare Blitz, which deals recoil damage. Charizard’s offense is also held back really hard by the slow startup on many of his moves.

Junky Monkey

DIDDY KONG

Illustrations by

The most recent patches have brought Diddy down a few pegs. He may have lost the edge he had that kept him in the “Top 5” character range. He still has fantastic out of shield options thanks to bananas, quick aerials, and an up throw that helps sets up for follow-ups. His up air, although much less potent, still can function as an aerial KO move at higher %s, and his down tilt still sets up for all sorts of other moves like forward air. Diddy’s bananas still are a force that needs to be respected and help him own the stage, and he still has the monkey flip (side B) to mix people up between the grab and kick as a way to get in, but now that Diddy’s offense isn’t as punishing, his flaws are coming to light more. Most notably, the fragility and predictability of his recovery moves, and the fact that he has to approach in order to win, making him susceptible to dedicated campy players.

No Country for Old Apes

DONKEY KONG DK is very similar to Bowser in a lot of ways; large, powerful, and heavy! DK’s ground pound is pretty useful in this iteration, as it greatly damages shields and covers a lot of ground. DK has 4 spikes, a powerful up B, and his iconic wind-up punch is stronger than ever, now with super armor to help ensure it wins as many trades as possible! Keeping similarity to Bowser, DK’s size and speed make it difficult to escape juggle and combo situations and deal with projectiles. He also has a similarly linear recovery that can be susceptible to edge guards.

The Barrel roll Bastard

FOX No stranger to being a top-tier threat among Smash Bros players, Fox reprises his role in Smash 4 in the same way he’s always done it: by having a fierce combination of agility, destructive force, and a variety of tools to get the job done! Now unable to accidentally SD with Fox Phantasm, his recovery options have been improved. He’s a juggling master, keeping opponents aloft with strings of up and forward aerial attacks. His back aerial is safe to perform on opponents while they’re blocking, and his speed allows him to get grabs, and follow up the subsequent down throws if the opponents don’t react properly. Fox’s KO power isn’t nearly as potent as it is in previous games, and gets punished really hard due to his fall speed.

Tellius About Your Muscles

IKE Ike has a lot of great things going for him. Great damage output, great range, quick aerials, and one of the best jabs in the business. Recent patches have given him more access to moves like his F-Tilt, and reducing the landing lag on Ike’s favorite Brawl move, neutral air. Another major buff was made to his dash attack, which is now quicker and deals more damage. Ike gets pretty solidly undercut by his severe lack of recovery options, but those have been recently buffed by the reduction of Quick Draw’s startup time. Ike also has trouble effectively using his smash attacks due to their very slow startup speeds, but their immense power just opens the door for one good read to seal the deal with them!

A Penguin For All Seasons

KING DEDEDE King Dedede being able to throw nothing but Gordos with his side B now gives him a very strong way of controlling the stage and the ledge when your opponent is on the defensive. Dedede’s grabs all lead into strong aerial follow ups, and calling an air dodge could land you a down air spike! Be careful though, as he has the same issues as other large, heavy characters do with their ability to get tossed around in combo strings fairly easily. Once he’s offstage, he’s pretty slow to get back and is easily intercepted. And as strong as his Gordo stage control is, a single hit is all it takes to get them reversed back on him!

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Smash sectionGuide name

One For The Pink Who Doesn’t Stink

KIRBY Kirby’s been all over the place in terms of effectiveness in Smash games. From the top of the pack in 64 to the very bottom in Melee, and stopping squarely in the middle in Brawl. He seems to be in the middle of the pack yet again, utilizing lagless aerials to spin off into a fairly decent combo game, and usually ending in some of Kirby’s higher knockback moves. His multitude of jumps gives Kirby a superb off stage game both offensively and defensively. Unfortunately he lacks a usable projectile unless he absorbs one, making his approaches fairly easy to read, and his light weight makes for some early KOs.

The Silent Pro-pugilist

LINK Link has been pretty terrible in the history of his fighting game adaptations and that continued in Smash 4 until the most recent patch. He retains the same strong 3-projectile kit as he’s had in the past, but has now been granted even greater range on his hookshot. He’s also been given one of the most effective jabs in the entire game, which can lead into a variety of stronger moves. All three projectiles have considerable start-up, and his best one, his boomerang, still lacks a returning hitbox. His down throw was recently adjusted to allow for more followups, giving Link some real reward for landing a risky grab. Although Link has his tether recovery available to him, Link’s up B recovery is pretty weak and easily guarded. His moves almost all have some kind of terrible ending lag on them, and his weight just makes him combo food.

A Furious Furry

LUCARIO Lucario introduced “aura” to Smash Bros, a mechanic that powers up your character relative to the % they are at. I guess they didn’t think it had enough of an effect in Brawl, because they cranked it way up in Smash 4. His entire character hinges on this feature, and usually needs to be in the 70% range before he can start getting KOs at reasonable percents. As he survives higher than that he starts to get KOs much earlier, providing the strongest comeback potential in the game. His recovery now scales in distance with his %, and his force palm projectile grows in range, while the force palm grab provides a devastating mix-up on shield. Lucario is left in a LOT of ending lag when recovering to the stage, and the short range on Lucario’s moves put Lucario in risk when looking to make something happen.

The Stringbean Symphony

LUIGI Luigi has been treated really well in the transition to Smash 4. His down throw leads into pretty much any move as a follow up, most of which have some ridiculous priority. He has a safe fireball that can lead to grabs, with really helps set up for his KO throw! If all else fails he has amazing KO options with his quick up smash, or he can gamble on landing the sweet spot of his up B for an early/mid % KO. Although his offensive game is very well formed, Luigi suffers from a predictable recovery pattern and somewhat short range that makes him easily camped by those with better projectiles. His low traction also limits his punishment options against those performing unsafe actions on his shield.

Mr. Video Game

MARIO Mario has tended to be fairly grab-centric in his Smash appearances, and Smash 4 continues the trend. Mario’s down throw leads into an assortment of vertical follow-ups, like his up tilts, up smashes, and up airs! He’s pretty quick on the ground and in the air, and his decently ranged back air helps him control his opponent’s aerial approaches. When he’s ready to land the KO, his back throw is a reliable way to get it! His grab centric game also contributes to his undoing, as he tends to have trouble killing once your opponent begins to evade your grabs. Although his up B has amazing priority, his recovery path doesn’t have very many options and can be easily intercepted.

Mars Attacks

MARTH Traditionally Marth has been a very smooth character, with a set of moves and grabs that all neatly flowed into each other, and he could utilize them to dominate competition. As a result,he has lost almost all of that going into Smash 4. Marth still has his range and priority on his sword attacks, and tipper hits still have devastating power. His up throw is even a KO throw! After that though he tends to come undone, with no safe aerial options on shield, little to no follow up options for his throws, and generally slow attack and movement animations to help link more moves together safely.

A Toned-down Titan

META KNIGHT The character that tore through everyone Brawl like tissue paper was toned down a bunch moving into Smash 4, but not too much! His strongest asset this time around is his dash attack, which is nearly lagless and links into any aerial or shuttle loop. He can bring opponents to the top of the stage and KO them with shuttle loop, or he can chase them off the stage with his neutral and back airs! His dash grab is amazing as well, with KO throws and combo throws to follow up from them. While these all sound scary, it really centers his game around one of the easiest options to counter: dash approaches. His range is deceptively short, so Meta Knight tends to play out really defensively, but will get comboed and KO’d easily due to his light weight and fast fall speed.

The Vicious Princess

PEACH Peach has always been formidable in the air thanks to her signature float, and this does not change in Smash 4. With her float she gains enough aerial mobility to safely space herself in the air, and then swoop in with aerials that can link together or even KO! Her turnips are great projectiles, with a chance at them being devastatingly strong. She even has a true infinite that employs the use of turnips and footstool jumps. Her ground game is fairly weak, however, making her approaches predictable after a while. And if her opponent has a strong horizontal air game, she will have trouble getting in.

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section Smash name Guide

Tripping the Body Electric

PIKACHU Pikachu has gotten a lot of love in Smash 4. Pikachu has arguably the best recovery in the game due to quick attack’s combination of speed, range, and versatility. He has a wide array of throw follow ups, including up throw into thunder. His KO options consist of his classic up smash, and the amazing aerial attack options off stage. Pika’s small size also helps him avoid a lot of attacks that would normally hit others. Pikachu isn’t perfect though, and has to approach to land hit strong, short range moves, so forcing Pikachu out of his range helps prolong your stock.

The Littlest Sweatshop

PIKMIN & OLIMAR One of the strongest campers in the game, Olimar has extremely strong runaway game by threatening space with pivot forward smashes and grabs. Landing a grab could lead to a down throw to aerial string, or if it’s a blue pikmin, a potential KO off an up throw! Although he can be quite effective, the ply is pretty straight forward and predictable. He will also have a hard time landing an early kill without carefully managing Pikmin and getting the blue one for the exact right moment, while he may get KO’d early himself due to his light weight.

This Kid Don’t Play

PIT Pit is another grab centric character, due to his amazing grab ranges and down throes follow ups. His dash attacks solid for closing some quickly with solid damage output. His jab is great at close range due to how quick it is, and allows Pit to reclaim space after with quick rolls. His side B is new as of Smash 4, and is a great mix up option to use when you’re looking for a somewhat early KO. Pit does need space to function at his best though, and he unfortunately doesn’t have many tools to force opponents off of him once they get in. His jab finisher is also terribly laggy and will leave him open.

This Chozo’s No Bozo

SAMUS Loaded to the teeth with projectiles, Samus relies on them to pressure the opponent and mix up with grabs and tilts, and work until she can land an F smash or back air. Samus suffers from laggy... everything. If you miss your grab, you end up heavily punished, and if you do land it Samus has very little follow ups and no KO throws. To top it all off, Samus has an awful jab that usually cannot even combo into itself!

Everyone’s Favorite Spoiler

SHEIK Sheik is the most fluid character in the game, with massive fame data advantages almost entirely across the board. Her main attacking tool, forward air, is safe on block and combos into itself well enough to simply carry some characters well across the stage, although recent patches reduced her ability to carry people across the stage with it alone. If that wasn’t enough, her needles are likely the best projectile in the game and can force approaches for Sheik to take advantage of on well over half the cast. Sheik’s new move, bouncing fish, can intercept ANY recovery if timed right. Even her throws set up for KO moves! The only thing that is really ‘bad’ about Sheik is that she lacks raw KO power, making it so that particularly wily opponents might live to some awkwardly high %s.

The Naka Round Boy

SONIC Sonic is the fastest character in the game, and due to this he is almost always in control of how the match it played. Sonic is a Swiss army knife of KO options and combos, and he has access to nearly all other while he zips around the stage. He has the most effective up smash in the game, and one of the most terrifying KO throws. Once you take control from Sonic though, his options to regain it are pretty linear, and his medium weight won’t keep him on stage very long!

The Cat-eyed Hoodlum

TOON LINK Toon Link is smaller, more mobile version of Link with a much stronger projectile game. Although he doesn’t have nearly as many KO options, he has a much easier time landing his, and they even include a powerful back throw! His recovery can be compromised similar to adult Link though, and his approach options are limited due to the loss of his lagless back air from Brawl. Down air also does not bounce anymore, making it very impractical for offstage use.

The Dinosaur of Doom

YOSHI Yoshi got some fantastic treatment in Smash 4. His super armor on his double jump returns, and it gets paired with a strong combo game, a variety of KO moves, and fantastic mobility. He won’t go into free fall if he accidentally uses his side B off the stage, and most important of all he can now jump out of shield! The same weakness of being easily gimped without his second jump continues to follow him, and he doesn’t really have much in the way of grab follow ups either.

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Smash sectionGuide name

The Hero of Wisdom

ZELDA Zelda’s best trait in previous smash games was being able to change into Sheik. In Smash 4 that option is taken away, but Zelda does get a few buffs to make up for it! Her sweet spot aerials are incredibly strong, and her down air is a reliable move for stomping out recovering opponents. Her really solid recovery now acts as a powerful KO move that can combo into itself if your opponent is hit with the grounded start up hitbox. Zelda also has a useful jab and down tilt she can use to control some ground as well. Her mobility is pretty lackluster though, so speedy characters give her a hard time. Being unable to use forward or back air from a short hop without committing to some landing lag really puts a limit on what Zelda has to work with.

Gaming’s first lady

ZERO SUIT SAMUS One of the more complex characters from Brawl got a few changes heading into Smash 4, and they make her quite a formidable force! One of the fastest characters in the game, her stunner down smash and projectile can lead into basically anything as long as ZSS reads the follow up correctly with her incredible jump height. In Brawl one of ZSS’s weak points were her recovery, but now that tether recoveries aren’t her only option that is almost entirely resolved. She even has a “Z-Air” where she shoots out her whip straight forward in a nearly-lagless midair attack! She has plenty of KO options, the best of which is her up B, which is among the strongest in the game, as well as a spike off of her down B to intercept people who are off stage. She is quite light, however, and can be KO’d earlier than most characters. Her side B is fairly useless as an attack now, as well as her down air that forces her to plunge downwards.

The Toungetied Ninja

GRENINJA Although the most recent patch includes some nerfs to his offensive power, Greninja is a fantastic combination of speed and power, and when played optimally provides some of the most complex offensive capabilities of any character. Greninja boasts amazing vertical mobility from his jump height, multiple approach options thanks to his neutral aerial, versatile water shuriken, and high priority on his water-sword based attacks like his forward air and up smash. While it may take a while to finally nail his down air footstool reset combos, mastering them makes Greninja a force to be reckoned with!

The Diminutive Destroyer

LITTLE MAC

If you’ve played any amount of For Glory mode, you know Little Mac. The small boxer was created to be good on the ground, and lack luster in the air, and they really hit it home. His ground game is nearly unmatched, with an unparalleled combination of speed and KO power. And that’s before you even count the unique KO Punch mechanic that he can combo into from down tilt! Unfortunately, when a character is purposely designed to be abysmal at a major portion of the game (in this case, recovery and aerial game) those characters rarely compete very well. His terrible recovery allows him to be KO’d at relatively low percents or carried off by characters with any form of an off-stage game, like Sheik or Rosalina.

Rocking in the Free World

MEGAMAN One of the biggest character roster surprises in Smash 4 was Megaman. The development team went above and beyond to make this fighter a true representation of a classic Megaman. Staying true to his roots, Megaman has probably the most diverse and amazing projectile game of any Smash character. As a result, he can set up some serious zoning walls to rack up damage, and then go in with one of his many KO moves or his killer back throw! Unfortunately once that wall is broken, Megaman becomes fairly vulnerable for punishment.

A Template For Violence

MII BRAWLER The Mii characters are very unique in the face that their movesets are mostly brand new additions to Smash, and very few people play as Miis to really learn them. Mii Brawler has possibly one of the strongest custom moves in the game with his Custom 2 UpB, which can land low % KOs with virtually no lag. Mii Brawler feels like a less-extreme Little Mac, in that the on-stage power with a game revolving around his extremely powerful grabs, but once you leave the stage your recovery options are very limited so you cannot often go very far off the stage for an edge guard, but can be easily edge guarded in return.

The Default Detonator

MII GUNNER Mii Gunner has strengths similar to Megaman, utilizing a range of projectiles to take stage control, rack up damage, and eventually KO. However, Mii Gunner is missing any semblance of close range combat abilities, and as a result suffers greatly against more mobile members of the cast like Falcon or Sheik who can close that range. Mii Gunner also lacks and KO throws or any way to follow up from a throw, so getting in close provides 0 benefit to you, but will inevitably happen against faster characters who know how to shield.

The Silent Slicer

MII SWORDFIGHTER Mii Swordfighter has a lot of the advantages that other sword users in the game have: high priority sword moves, decent damage and knockback, and some solid KO options with moves like up smash. Mii Swordfighter also has some solid follow ups out of his down throw for dealing damage to the opponent. Unfortunately, Swordfighter lacks the mobility of other sword users, making it difficult to nail down speedy opponents. Swordfighter also has no KO throw options, making his KO setups fairly easy to read.

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section Smash name Guide

Gaming’s First Icon

PAC-MAN Pac is easily one of the most complex characters in the game. His neutral B alone provides a giant arsenal of specialized projectiles for a variety of different situations. His down B Hydrant helps establish a wall between himself and the opponent, and can help him close gaps if he needs to. However, using all of these factors optimally paints Pac-man as a dedicated keep-away character who slows down the pace of the match at will. To really harness his power requires the most patience possible, and knowledge of all of your tools, making him far from beginner friendly. Pac loses out heavily when it comes to his grab game with his grab being among the slowest in the game in addition to lacking any real follow up. He doesn’t get much help from his slow smash attacks, either.

The Goddess of Griefing

PALUTENA Standard Palutena has a handful of amazing moves with the highest priority in the game, and some amazing KO options with her up smash and up Air. However, she falls off hard due to all of her B moves being used to set up walls and zone people out, and her tilts don’t offer much in the way of safe zoning due to their speed. However, when customs are enabled and you’ve outfitted her with “Lightweight” and “Super Speed” she does a full 180 and becomes a rushdown monster! She’s able to zone people out using Explosive Flame, and then rush in carrying opponents across stages and eventually to their doom. Her grabs are fairly short ranged and slow, so the increased speed really helps her grab game, as well.

The Hogwarts Hoodlum

ROBIN Robin is extremely versatile in most situations. Armed with a variety of spells he has many tools that lead into all sorts of strong combos, edgeguard situations, and advantageous aerial positioning. Unfortunately, most of his best assets are tied into an ammo system that takes some time before they replenish. Every swing of his Levin Sword costs him a point on that, and any time the effect from a tome is used, it costs a point on that as well. For instance, you deplete the ArcFire Tome with both the side B attack, and the third hit of your jab with the fire explosion. The worst part of the ammo system is that his main recovery move is also tied to it, so if you find yourself with that tome gone you can count on your speedier opponents looking to take advantage of Robin’s slower walk/run speeds and grab range.

The Cosmic Collider

ROSALINA Before the game’s release, Rosalina’s unique character design was theorized to either be very good or very bad. Upon release, it quickly became evident just how strong of a character Rosalina is. Utilizing Luma properly, Rosalina has one of the most effective walls in the entire game that protects her from grabs, absorbs projectiles, and provides extra damage and KO power, potentially from a great range. She’s got fantastic attacks even without Luma as well, with all of of her attacks having above average or fantastic combinations of speed, range, and KO power. Her grab game is no joke either! With a solid grab range and a reliable KO throw, you’ll need to be on your toes against her! With all of her strengths though, she’s pretty easily KO’d once you break through the Luma wall. She’s among the lightest characters in the game, with an extremely predictable recovery, and when her wall is gone it’s gone for a set amount of time.

The Feeling of Punishment

SHULK Shulk’s design allows him to be one of the most flexible fighters in the whole game. The Monado lets him reactively shape and adjust what the player needs Shulk to be able to do on the fly. The Monado also provides Shulk with a good amount of range, priority, and KO power! Unfortunately, Shulk is not very quick without his speed-based Monado actives, and as a result has a hard time getting people off of him once they’re in close. None of his aerials can be safely used on an opponent in their shield, making it somewhat difficult for Shulk to approach from the air.

Cross At Your Own Risk

VILLAGER Villager was a very surprising character pick for the Smash roster! His move set is very setup based between his Gyroid and sapling. Villager also boasts effective offensive options out of shield, as well as great range and priority on his aerials. Villager also has extremely effective KO options between his forward smash and tree fall, as well as a KO throw despite his fairly slow grab speed. In addition, Villager is a very polarizing character in the current “Customs On” metagame. Using a certain custom moveset, Villager can very effectively camp on the ledge and force the opponent to approach a very unsafe situation. Without customs, even though he can recover from virtually anywhere, his recovery is quite easy to intercept.

You’ll Feel It In Your Glutes

WII FIT TRAINER Wii Fit Trainer was probably the most surprising reveal of any character in Smash 4. It turns out she’s not a half bad character, either! WFT is equipped with a variety of strong projectiles, aerials, and smash attacks. Her jab can also bury opponents into the ground, and her recovery has different height options based on how hard you’re willing to mash the B button! Unfortunately, all of her yoga poses have odd hitboxes that takes some getting used to, and her volleyball projectile can be easily swatted back and used against her. Her recovery move, although it covers a great deal of distance, does not move very quickly and is fairly easy to shut down.

The New Kid In Town

BOWSER JR. Jr. has a lot of great things going for him as a newcomer! His aerial game is fantastic, his side B kart attack has super armor and can be jump canceled to string into those aerials or can spin out early as a surprise KO move. His down B is a unique moving item that can be picked up and used for stage control or mix up power! He even has an extra aerial attack with his hammer once he’s used his up B which is extremely strong! However, when he’s in that state he is also at his weakest and can be KO’d much earlier with a well placed hit. His neutral B cannonball attack is pretty much useless and easily avoided, and as a result Jr has a very hard time when people get in close to him and he doesn’t have time to jump into Kart form.

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Smash sectionGuide name

The Unnecessary Evil

DARK PIT It’s pretty common knowledge at this point that Pit and Dark Pit share a LOT of the same properties, but they ARE different in a few ways. Like Pit, Dark Pit has a good jab combo, a great deal of combos from throws, amazing grabs, dash attacks, and evasive speed. Dark Pit’s side B has different properties though, and one of its best uses is for knocking Luma clear off the stage when fighting against Rosalina. Pit and Dark Pit share the same weaknesses too with linear recoveries and laggy rapid jab finishers, and Dark Pit loses a great deal of control over his arrows on top of it all.

The Pills To Pay The Bills

DR. MARIO Dr. Mario doesn’t actually have all that much in common with Mario! Unfortunately, this isn’t all in good ways. Doc has a decent combo game and a great set of KO moves with his smash attacks! His pills are actually great projectiles, and his up B is strong and features a few frames of invincibility. That same up B is terrible for actually recovering with though. As is his down B. So don’t find yourself too far off the stage if you plan on keeping your stock! His forward air and down air have too much lag to be useful outside of a punish.

The Devilish Duo

DUCK HUNT Duck Hunt is another new character type introduced in Smash 4. The duo are an amazing defensive powerhouse, able to set up walls of projectiles that are difficult to navigate through, where any wrong move will set up for devastating combos. When they’re ready to seal the KO, all of Duck Hunt’s smash attacks are incredibly strong and get the job done! Unfortunately, all of those smash attacks are multi-hit moves, and it’s not uncommon for the target to fall out of the attack before the final blow- without which you’ll find KOs difficult to land until much higher %s. Although Duck Hunt’s recovery can cover quite a distance, it lacks a hitbox and is easy to knock him back off.

The Bird Is the Word

FALCO

Falco had missed the mark on being a solid character during the first few patches, but the most recent one has provided him some valuable quality of life adjustments. He still has his great grab range and grab follow ups, now with a neutral air that has an easier time linking hits, a more damaging forward air, an up air that comes out faster while dealing a strong hit, and powerful forward and up smashes for KOs. His reflector also acts as a quick spacing tool. However, Falco’s signature lasers and down air have way too much lag to be even remotely as useful as they were in previous Smash titles, and Falco’s side B recovery doesn’t have a hitbox for the last third of the travel, making it a lot less risky to try to punish during or at the end of it. When trying to save face, Falco’s up B recovery takes quite a bit to start up, and any interception at that point may just completely seal Falco’s fate.

The Slow Theif With Beef

GANONDORF Ganondorf, as usual, hits like a truck. His side B grabs are back and allow for all sorts of follow ups, and his down air and down B attacks both allow him to stuff stocks at lower %s by sending opponents straight down. All of Ganondorf’s smash and tilt attacks are extremely strong as well, making any hit you take from him potentially a killer! He’s heavy, so he won’t go down easy. If you do find him offstage, be careful as any time he gets you with a side B off the stage, even though both of you will get KO’d, Ganondorf will be named the winner. He is fairly easy to juggle and combo though, and can be gimped without much effort due to his poor recovery options. Ganondorf doesn’t deal well with projectiles or characters that move faster than average.

The Singing Snoozer

JIGGLYPUFF Jigglypuff has a lot of great things going on in Smash 4! Her down B “Rest”, although not quite as potent as her Melee one, is still quite capable of landing low % KOs. She has a strong back aerial that covers a lot of space and can follow up into itself and other aerials by utilizing Puff’s multiple jumps. Pound does enormous shield damage this time around, making it better off dodged than it is to be hit or blocked. She gets really low to the ground with her crouch animation, causing many attacks to just straight up not even hit her. Sing, if you land it, is even more all around effective in Smash 4 as it is not as easy to mash out of anymore! Jigglypuff is still among the lightest characters in the game though, and is KO’d extremely early. Her up B isn’t really usable for recovery in any way, and rollout has no real offensive potential as it is too easy to see coming and react to.

Unmasked and Dangerous

LUCINA One of the game’s more contentious “clone” characters, Lucina really does provide a play experience much different than that of Marth. She has evenly powered hitboxes all around her sword, and has very effective KO moves in her forward and up smashes. Her shield breaker move is exactly the same as Marth’s, and makes for a really solid mix up if you think your opponent is camping shield too much. The loss of the tipper mechanic Marth had costs her rewards she would otherwise get from having great spacing, such as much earlier KOs. Like Marth she also has trouble following up with anything out of grabs, despite her great grab range. Her recovery is linear and predictable, making it easy to intercept.

The 2D Troublemaker

MR. GAME & WATCH Game & Watch has a lot of unique aspects as a character, and the newest one to his arsenal is that he can duck under a huge portion of the cast’s attacks. He still has his 1-in-9 chance of an early KO on his side B, and his up smash is now invincible and out prioritizes any move that hits G&W’s head during the animation. His aerial attacks are useful, and his recovery is solid. However, he is extremely light and will be KO’d at some of the earliest %s of any character, and G&W’s kill moves don’t have any great range or speed to them to help them land reliably.

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section Smash name Guide

Homesick For Action

NESS Ness finally gets some love in the power department in this installment of Smash Bros. In fact, his back throw is possibly the most reliable KO throw in the entire game! He has no problem racking up % either with strings of forward airs and quick neutral airs out of shield. PK Thunder can always chase down opponents when they’re knocked far away. PK Rocket, when you hit yourself with PK Thunder, is extremely strong and makes going after Ness offstage a risky proposition if they don’t commit to it. Ness can even do two PK Rockets if he hits a wall during the first and inputs for the second one in time! His smash attacks are strong and have a bit of range to them, and his character model is quite small and not as easy to combo. However, Ness is pretty easy to prevent from returning to the stage if your opponent can commit to it or destroy the PK Thunder. Ness doesn’t have much he can do when getting off of the ledge either, and his somewhat light weight doesn’t keep him around for long.

The Original Amiibo

R.O.B. ROB has a great set of projectiles that set up walls and own stage positions very well. His grab follow ups are among the best in the game, and he has a potent up throw to get early KOs, especially on stages with platforms and low ceilings. ROB is somewhat heavy, and can withstand a lot of hits thanks to his decent recovery, but his huge body lends himself to being easily comboed and juggled. His recovery won’t last forever though, so your opponent will be expecting you to be trying for the stage at some point. ROB’s KO moves have a bit of lag on them, making them punished hard if you mistime them. And as useful as his gyro is for controlling space, he’ll be unable to charge a new one for as long as it is out on the field, even if his opponent was the one who picked it up!

The Microgame Master

WARIO Wario is a strong mix up character that specializes in keeping opponents on their toes. He has a variety of strong aerials and smashes that force opponents into shields, and a great command grab with his bite that takes people out of them. His bike now moves faster and hits harder, and can be eaten to heal 1% and charge up the waft even faster than normal. The waft, down B, can be used to recover safely to land a low % KO, or KOs can be achieved with one of Wario’s two KO throws! Without his Bike however, Wario cannot survive going too far off the stage without a full waft ready, and Wario lacks much of an up close game due to his attacks being slower than usual.

The Original Uber Returns

MEWTWO Mewtwo wasn’t featured in Brawl, and his fans spoke loud and clear, bringing him back as the very first Smash Bros. DLC character ever! Although poor decisions around his design in Melee ended up placing him as one of the worst characters in the game, there wasn’t any major changes to the way he plays for Smash 4. In fact, they seem to have taken his design to even greater extremes, making Mewtwo even lighter and larger but cranking up his KO power. Confusion can actually reflect projectiles now, and although the charge of shadowball lost the hitboxes it had in Melee, the actual projectile is slightly stronger. His smash attacks all have great range and power, and his up throw is extremely effective for landing vertical KOs. Unfortunately, his recovery abilities were made worse by adding substantial landing lag to his teleport if it isn’t properly edge canceled, and his size and tail make him vulnerable to combos or stray hits when just trying to navigate the stage.

The Tazmillian Devil

LUCAS Returning from his somewhat disappointing showing in Brawl, Lucas has made a leap in power very similar to Ness. His down throw is the most notable of them, potentially allowing for low % footstool-reset setups, or just plain old reading of your opponent’s movement and following up with a neutral, forward, or up air, potentially from any %. Lucas also has two moves to take out off-stage opponents in his down air and back air, and a massively powerful up smash to punish any opponents that you can trap on a platform above you. His down B, PK Magnet, is bigger, faster, and allows him to heal even more damage that before. PK Magnet will heal 12% damage on Mario’s Fireball, while Ness only recovers 7%, though he’s capped at healing 30% damage per stock. His PK Thunder projectile can’t be intercepted as easily as Ness’s either, and thanks to his rope snake, he’s also got longer range on his grab/tether. The downside is, the lag after a missed grab makes his best asset (down throw) much riskier to obtain, and many of his ground options have some form of lag to leave him vulnerable.

Sure You Can!

RYU True to form, Ryu plays with a hybrid of Street Fighter and Smash mechanics, making him one of the most potentially deep characters in the game. He has about twice as many individual moves as most other characters, with both fast/light and slow/heavy normals, and specials that have different properties depending if you perform them with Smash-style or Street Fighter-style inputs. Ryu’s got a very strong punish game with all sorts of moves that link into each other and eventually a KO move, but his neutral game is somewhat lacking and his recovery, although capable of traveling a good amount of horizontal distance, is predictable and easy to prevent. Ryu also falls prey to multi-hit moves and throws. If you’re a long time Street Fighter fan who always wanted to try Smash, but you’re too set in your old Shotokan-ways to take the risk, Ryu is the perfect entry point for you. For more advanced players, acquiring familiarity with all the subtle nuances in Ryu’s moveset ,and learning how to use him effectively in neutral, are great jumping off points toward becoming a true world warrior.

The Pherae Flame

ROY Our boy is back and better than ever! While he still needs to get close to do max damage with his sword, he’s completely abandoned his old moveset from Melee, trading in his longer range with awkward weak hitboxes for a much shorter, quicker moveset filled with powerful, wide arcing attacks. Think of him like the lovechild of Ike and Lucina. His down throw is amazing for setups, leading into a few tilts on some characters, or into his Blazer (Up B) for 16% worth of damage dealt, or a legitimate KO option at higher percent. Roy has other fantastic KO options in his up smash and his up throw , putting his mixup game when looking for KOs in a promising position. When it comes to adding on damage, his side B is very similar to Brawl’s Marth, giving him a quick way to add on a bit of damage in a string of hits that most opponents won’t be able to escape when done fast enough. His range does get to him at some point though, especially when projectiles come into play, or when he commits to his stronger options. His recovery also has some height issues, especially paired with his fall speed, so his ability to go off the stage and intercept recoveries is pretty limited if the opponent goes really high or really low to recover.

Super Smash Father

SAKURAI The creator of Smash himself hasn’t actually joined the fray, but if he did, he’d be the bane of the competitive scene, utilizing many unconventional techniques that break the normal rules of the game. He’d definitely be banned from most tournaments. For one, all of his attacks spawn an item, but it’s never the item you want. Nothing like a good ‘ol Franklin Badge when you’re one on one against an Ike! Sakurai’s specials also have unique properties that mess with his opponents, such as suddenly causing everyone on the ground to trip, including himself! His recovery is essentially unstoppable too, since his up B “You Must Recover!” will always just return him to the stage, no matter how badly he may want to quit. Get too close to Sakurai, and every advanced technique you might try to pull off will get “bug fixed” out of the game, leaving you to stuck playing like first timer. Eventually he’ll spawn a smashball, and if he manages to get it, his final smash will drain the life force of his opponents, keeping Sakurai forever young.

Beginner’s Tips & Weapon Class Guide! by Chris Carter and Jonathan Holmes

T r y Eve r yt h i n g !

Try out every weapon in the game. Too intimidated to play online with it? Go to the shop to give it a trial run in the training course. Play whatever you want, but know that early on, there will be a lot of rollers out there to deal with.

F r e e G o ld

Talk to the cat in town every day for the occasional bit of free gold. Try to recharge your ammo by going into ink constantly. If you can get somewhere by way of your squid form, do it.

S T i c k t o t h e Bas i cs

There are lots of advanced tactics in this game, but one is done by inking the ground quickly below you, squid morphing, and jumping away from your opponent. Repeat as many times as necessary.

J u m p A r o u nd

In the campaign, you can press any level to instantly super jump to it -- it’s really useful for getting around quickly, and I didn’t even realize it until the very end.

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Splatoon Tips

Grab Specials

This sounds self-explanatory, but when you’re playing Turf War, look for a special (grenade or super attack) that can earn you more turf. For instance, the Splash Wall is a great defensive tool, but other powers will help you actually cover more ground. You always want to be taking turf, even while taking out enemies.

Go explor ing

Later on in a match, look around for areas that haven’t been covered yet. It’s safe bet that the enemy team hasn’t even realized that this place exists, and likely won’t return to it as the match ends.

Mo n it o r t h e m a p

Always watch the GamePad map after a death. Is your ally deep into a base with lots of uncovered ground? Tap them to super jump to them. Mash the screen (gently) in case they die -- you’ll jump over there anyway if you tap in time.

Lea r n t h e pa t t e r ns

You’ll learn to see certain weapons on the map by the pattern they lay down. For instance, it’s easy to spot a roller going in a straight line, switching the territory color. Learn to spot them and stay away if necessary, and get to higher ground.

D ea t h f r o m Ab ove

Ambushing people on walls is a great tactic to stay alive if you’re outgunned. While running around a corner, quickly ink the wall and stick to it. Most players won’t suspect an aerial attack from behind.

T i m e Ma n a g e m e nt

Don’t have enough time at the end of a round after a respawn? Paint objects quickly in your base. You won’t have time to super jump or get to any useful location.

Pa t hf i nd e r

Always get to the zone immediately, but create at least one path back. If you have nothing to do and your zone is more than covered, consider ruining the other team’s path towards their spawn. It’ll significantly slow them down when returning.

D e f e nse

For all the most up-to-date Splatoon news, check the Splatoon tag on Destructoid.com

There are a lot of items here that particularly shine in Splat Zones, like Splash Walls. Use these to block off choke points and prevent enemies from rushing into your zone.

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Splatoon Tips

T h e S h o ot e r C l ass

Splatoon may look like a kid’s game on the surface, but anyone who takes the time to explore it will find that it’s hugely versatile and loaded with depth. The same can be said for the game’s default weapon type, the shooter. While it may look like a kid’s gun at first, those who take the care to master it may find that it’s capable of some sophisticated and nuanced combat strategies. While it doesn’t have the power or range of Splatoon’s charger class, shooters are still deadly in the right hands, especially with if you boost its power with gear like hats or shirts. As for its lack of range, that’s easily made up for by Splatoon’s unique squid swimming mechanic. The game allows for any player to close the distance between themselves and an opponent in less than 2 seconds, but only practiced players will be able to master those maneuvers in a clinch. In that way, the shooter is probably the game’s best class for high level play, though the wide shot disbursement of guns like the Splattershot, Blaster and Aerospray series make them a good option for beginners who are still struggling with precise aim. More experienced players may want to try the Gallon series and the Jet Squelcher, as they have better range and pack more of a punch, though missing with either will leave you vulnerable so make every shot count.

T h e C h a r g e r C l ass

T h e Ro l l e r C l ass

If you want to carry over your muscle memory and learned strategies from other squad based shooters, the charger may be the class of weapon to run with first. Unlike the machine gun fire rate of the shooter category, chargers gives you one long range, high damage shot per trigger pull. If you hold down the trigger, you’ll charge an even longer ranger, higher damage attack. Shots also leave a straight trail of ink in their wake, making for easy swimming if you need to cover long distances quickly.

The roller is the opposite of the charger in just about every way. It allows you to travel across the board, laying down a wide river of ink, at a faster pace than any other weapon class. The downsides are, you have to get very close to an enemy to attack them with the roller, and it’s much harder to us it to ink areas above or out in front of you. The only way to launch ink with the roller is through a short range projectile splash that spurts out every time you smack the weapon down to the ground.

In a conventional competitive shooting game, the best thing to do with weapons like the charger is to perch on high ground and camp, picking off enemies as they unsuspectingly roam into your line of fire. That strategy will work in Splatoon... to a point. The main difference in Splatoon is, your goal is to cover the play field with ink. Killing the other guy is only a means to that end, and not an end in and of itself. If you just sit in one place for an entire game, you won’t be able to cover the battleground with ink outside of your immediate surroundings, potentially leaving your squad at a huge disadvantage. Also, no matter how out of reach your perch may seem, chances are that any halfway skilled player will be able to shoot an ink trail up to your location, swim up to your face, and take you out at close range.

It’s a great choice for people who have never played a shooter before, as it barely requires you to aim, and it allows players to feels effective and beneficial to the team almost immediately. It can also be an effective at mid-tier skill levels, as practiced players will learn to us the roller to effectively stalk other players or use the “splash attack” in unconventional ways to take the enemy by surprise. There’s also no better weapon for rapid clean up if you’ve fallen upon an area that’s completely covered with your enemy’s ink.

For these reasons and many others, its not generally best to give into the temptation to stick to conventional sniper strategies with the charger. Remember that in Splatoon, you can camp anywhere. You’ll remain invisible to the other players as long as you’re in your own color ink and you don’t move. Using this technique on unsuspecting victims as they wander by may be more effective than heading to a tall but conspicuous tower, where just about everyone on the field will expect to find you. Also, coming face to face with an enemy, shooting away from themy, then heading down that trail of ink at high speeds, only to pop up and blast your foe as they pursue you is another way to make unconventional and effective use of this seemingly conventional weapon class.

Still, the roller looks to be too unbalanced to be a top tier player’s weapon of choice in the long run. Any squad that’s made up entirely of roller players is sure to be taken out by even a marginally experienced team. The same goes for a team filled with chargers, which just doesn’t have the coverage to layer the battlefield in enough ink to consistently win matches. On the other hand, a team of all shooters certainly has a chance of winning tournaments, though I’m guessing the most effective line up would consist of two shooters, one charger, and one roller. If each player knows their role and has the skills to execute, then you’re looking at a team that’s potentially unstoppable. I’m certain that the future Splatoon champions of the world will work to coordinate that line up before each match, and learn both the individual and group strategies needed to make the best of any combat situation.

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Igarashi Interview

BY JONATHAN HOLMES

Just a taste of what lies in Igarashi’s crypt hough Koji Igarashi didn’t give birth to the Castlevania series, he was one of the leading voices behind many most beloved games in the franchise. His first appearance in the credits of a Castlevania game can be found in cult favorite Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, but it wasn’t until the release of the PS1 classic Castlevania: Symphony of the Night that he truly showed his fangs. It was by his hand that the series was given flesh on every last gen console, though since that time, Konami has chose to pass the torch to a new generation of game producers. Still, it’s clear that the spirit of Castlevania will always be in Igarashi-san’s heart. If you can’t see how Bloodstained, Igarashi-san’s current Kickstarter collaboration with Inti Creates (Mega Man 9, Mighty Number 9), works to drive the legacy of Castlevania forward, then you must be…(wait for it…)

BLIND AS A BAT. We caught up with Igarashi-san about his new project, its success on Kickstarter, working with Konami, and more. Thanks again. IGA. We can’t wait to see what’s in your basement (please don’t let it be a werewolf please.) Destructoid: What are the best and worst parts of being where you are in the process of your Kickstarter campaign, having gained $2.75 million in backer contributions with weeks left to go in the campaign? I can only

imagine how much anxiety and excitement you must be feeling. IGA: The best part--obviously--is having a greater budget for development. That I’m very excited about. The hard part is the incredibly high expectations that come along with such a successful campaign, so there’s equal parts pressure behind that. But really, it’s all just more of the same for me after working on my previous titles, so I’m not very worried about it. The only unfamiliar territory is, unlike normal development, in which you announce the general scope of the project when it’s at a fairly defined point in development, Kickstarter works backwards from that, and we’ve got to publicly commit to more and more at a sooner point in time. I mean, this isn’t my first rodeo, so I’ve thought everything through before setting the stretch goals, but because we’re only getting started on development now, that’s the only thing that might be kind of hard to adjust to.

GEBEL: THE DISEASED (NOT) DRACULA

Destructoid: Why do you think it is that developers who worked on classic franchises but have since parted ways with the owners of those franchises have continued to do so well with “revivals” on Kickstarter? IGA: For the most part, major publishers focus on the mainstream market, and classic, retro-style games are seen as a niche market. But still, it’s a market with a great deal of fan

For the most part, major publishers focus on the mainstream market, and classic, retro-style games are seen as a niche market. THAT PIERCING: HAD TO HURT

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Igarashi Interview

support. If you’re a flexible developer, platforms like Kickstarter make it possible to deliver give your core fans exactly what they want, so from that standpoint it’s not hard to succeed. Destructoid: Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night was hugely influential on so many developers all over the world, having inspired hit games like Spelunky, La-Mulana, Guacamelee, Bloodrayne: Betrayal, Rouge Legacy, Shovel Knight, and so many more. Where else is there to go with the genre, and how do you plan to take players there with Bloodstained? IGA: My first goal is to deliver a game to my supporters that’s true to my own style. That isn’t to say I’m going to churn out a clone of what I’ve made in the past, but I want to stay true to my roots while giving it a new spin by emphasizing the collection aspect of gameplay. For example, you forge weapons with items you get from enemies. You gather materials to upgrade your special skills. Things like that. It’s still in the rough planning stages, but that’s the kind of thing I’m going for this time.

IGARASHI: MAKING DREAMS (AND NIGHTMARES) COME TRUE

As far as where the genre is going, I can see that new developers have been creating a great deal of new games while I’ve been away. So really, it’s the new developers that have been moving the genre forward. Innovation is something that comes at the hands of newcomers, so I’d also like to make a fresh start and approach Bloodstained with a brand-new outlook so that I can contribute my own new takes to the genre as well. Destructoid: Is there anything specific that you’d like to do with Bloodstained that you were not able to do with the Castlevania series due to Konami’s direction? IGA: Konami actually gave me free reign on my games, so there wasn’t anything on the business end that hindered what I could do. I was really lucky on that end. There were size limitations, however, so that’s something I’d like to test the boundaries of-I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do with even more freedom than before.

MIRIAM: CURSED BUT NOT CONCERNED

Destructoid: On the other hand, are there are design decisions that are common in the genre that you’re sure that you want to stay away from?

DEATH: BECOMES HER

HOW THE HECK: DOES IT POOP?

IGA: Hmm... well, I’ve already created my games while actively avoiding things that didn’t work well in action sidescrollers, so I don’t think there’s really anything new that I’ll be avoiding this time. And quite frankly, just because it sucks to die, it’s not like I’ll make a game that you won’t die in as easily. So I’ll be doing what I’ve always done--making a satisfyingly unforgiving game.

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Igarashi Interview

What is a woman?

IGA’s new answer to an old question. IGAR AS HI - S AN H AS ALWAYS GO N E O UT O F HIS WAY TO M A KE RO LES FO R WO M EN IN HIS GAM ES . FRO M HIS E ARLY WO R K AS A S C EN A RIO WRITER O N TH E TO KIM EKI M EM O RIAL S ERIES O F DATING SIMS , TO TH E IN C LUSIO N O F M A RIA AS A PL AYAB LE C H A R ACTER IN B OTH TH E PC ENGIN E V ERSIO N O F RO N D O O F B LO O D AN D TH E S ATU RN V ERS IO N O F SY M PH O NY O F TH E NIGHT, IGA’ S AFFECTIO N FO R FEM ALE C H A R ACTERS H AS

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> by Jonathan Holmes

N E V ER B EEN IN Q U ESTIO N .

That said, IGA’s willingness to give a woman a starring role in a Castlevania game was definitely in question back in 2001 when he retconned the Castlevania timeline to remove Sonia Belmont, the lead of Castlevania Legends, from series continuity. A couple years later, when EGM asked him about making a new Castlevania where the main character was a woman, he said “...there are difficult problems with that. As a gamer, I think that you become one with the character, and since Castlevania has a lot of male players, it’s natural to have male characters. In Rondo of Blood, Maria was a silly, cute aside, but you still had Richter to make it serious.” He went on to explain that he “...purposefully left the Sonia Belmont character out of the official Castlevania chronology. Usually, the vampire storyline motifs, females tend to be sacrificed. It’s easier to come up with weak, feminine characters. I’ll think about it more in the future though.”

IGA would likely be damned by Social Justice Warriors the world over if he were to spout that kind of attitude today. Still, we’d be throwing the baby out with bathwater if we were to dismiss IGA outright for what he said back in 2003. Specifically, we’d be missing out on IGA’s ability to be thoughtful about his own preconceptions, and his ability to change over time. IGA did indeed think more about giving

lead roles to women in future Castlevania releases, and he acted on those thoughts in many great ways. First he gave Charlotte equal billing with co-star Jonathan in Portrait of Ruin, then a few years later, he co-created Shanoa, the tattooed fighting witch who serves as the only initially playable character in Order of Ecclesia. Rumor has it that IGA based Shanoa on his wife. Not much for feminists to call foul on there. That brings us to Miriam, Bloodstained’s high profile frontwoman. On the surface, she and Shanoa have quite a few similarities. Not only can they both dual wield, but they also share the ability to gain enemy abilities through markings on their bodies. And of course, they are both women who kill monsters. When asked in a recent interview with Japanese publication GameSpark about why he decided to cast a woman in the lead role of Bloodstained, IGA said “In our early planning documents, the protagonist was male, but… I think having a female hero is more motivating to male gamers, and I think women would like to control a female avatar, too. But our staff is a little worried now about whether they should really include all the gross, heinous ideas they came up with when the hero was still supposed to be male!” You most certainly should, IGA-san. I’Miriam can handle it.

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Arem #2

A fish best served cold Illustration By Corey ‘Reyyy’ Lewis Introduction by Jonathan Holmes The Metroid series means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but the word itself has only one meaning. Metroids are giant flying space jellyfish that can latch on to people’s heads (or anything else that has a head), and drain the life from them. In a lot of other games developed in the 1980’s, that kind of monster would probably have an angry cartoon face and a tendency towards kidnapping royal women, not unlike the giant blue invisible pig man or the giant hammer throwing turtle man seen in other classic NES titles of the day. Metroids aren’t like those other guys. They show no signs of malice or villainy. They are simply animals, existing, surviving, and doing what comes naturally to them. This is actually true for almost every living thing you face in the original Metroid. Other than a few bosses, the enemies you face in the game aren’t really “enemies”. They aren’t there to oppose you. They’re just living their lives. If they end up attacking you, it’s probably not because they are “bad”. It’s probably because you got too close. In this way, Samus Aran has always been the Jane Goodall of the video game world. She repeatedly chooses to enter the natural habitats of alien animals, and despite her job title, she’s not always a hunter. Oftentimes, she’s a passive observer. Though she has the opportunity to kill these animals if she wants, most Metroid players will probably tell you that a lot of the time its faster, easier, and more efficient to simply

avoid physical contact with the local wildlife. To learn how to do this effectively, it helps to first stop and observe them. Watch how they think. Discover how they behave. Learn to live among them. In fact, the very first game in the series more-or-less forces players to stop, watch, and learn before they proceed. After entering a new room, the screen slowly scrolls as you remain in the doorway, giving you a chance to see what new and weird beasts might be in the space you’re about to explore. This pause in the action only lasts for second, but in a video game, that’s can feel like a long time to remain inactive. The animals aren’t ever inactive thought. While you’re frozen between rooms, they’re still moving, going about their routines, unimpressed with your presence. In doing so, they remind the player that this is their home, and that we’re just visiting. So from the very start, the Metroid series has been just as much about being with aliens as it is about killing them. Corey “Reyyy” Lewis, the artist on the original Rival Schools comic from Udon and many other amazing video game related projects, has taken this serene, often overlooked aspect of the Metroid series and made it his own through . Enter Arem Lightstorm: Intergalactic Nature Photographer. Appearing here for the first time anywhere, in full color, is Arem’s second documented adventure into alien Ethology. We certainly hope it’s not not her last.

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Arem #2

destructoid magazine

Arem #2

destructoid magazine

Arem #2