Super Smash Bros. Direct - April 8 [11PM BST / 6PM EST]

[Indigo Rush]

Apparently some people think they made her more... "well-endowed?"

 

Personally, I don't see it.

[Marcello]

She looks fine to me. The high heels are a bit silly, but I'm not bothered by them. Her face is way better now.

[Indigo Rush]

Her high-heels look better, if you ask me.

 

But mainly that's because they're freakin' rocket boots.

[JaidynReiman]

I don't really see anything wrong with ZSS's changes, either. She looks fine to me, a bit more detailed, but that's about it. It would be hilarious if there were character interactions and Little Mac is like "Samus is a girl?!" lol.

 

I do hope we get a lot of alternate character designs or even character skins. We've got Male Wii Fit Trainer and Retro Mac now. Was there anything else I'm missing? We've probably got Female Villager, too, of course, oh and Wario's regular outfit in addition to his WarioWare one, assuming he's back (which he undoubtedly is).

 

I'm just wondering what they're going to do with character reveals, now. Either they'll announce all the remaining characters before the 3DS release, or save some for after and allow a few people to surprised by character unlocks in the 3DS game. If they do announce all the characters before, they'd have to start announcing returning characters every week, if not every other week on the website.

 

 

The hype is high now, they're going to want to maintain that hype until E3, which should soar the hype even more with new groundbreaking announcements.

 

I'm just not sure how they're going to handle it yet.

[StaticMania]

The Blue Shell is one of the easiest "source material-to-Smash" translations I can think of; it's more faithful to the source material than the Fire Flower is, even.

The Fire Flower is faithful to its purpose in the Paper Mario games...even if this series came out before that one.

 

She looks fine to me. The high heels are a bit silly, but I'm not bothered by them. Her face is way better now.

The Heels have an actual purpose now that they're equipped with rocket boots...they aren't just a pointless aesthetic piece of the suit put there just because Samus is a girl or whatever.

 

[Diogenes]

I'll be honest, the heels are pretty dumb. I'm willing to roll with it because they're rocket shoes and she looks fun to play as, but making them huge-ass heels is still pretty dumb.

[Sean]

I'm not too thrilled to see ZSS back because a. she's not the Samus I know (and I'm bitter that she gets seemingly more fan art than any other form of Samus does), and b. I associate ZSS too heavily with Other M

That said, I'm glad she's her own character now so that I can play regular Samus without dealing with losing the power suit.

[Sami]

Falling on those tiny little heels would break your ankles in the middle of a frenetic brawl - they're just extremely silly and unnecessary, especially considering the original design spreadsheet for Zero Mission...

 

 

"ATTENTION!!! DON'T GIVE HEEL TOO MUCH HEIGHT"

 

This is, of course, to say nothing of the breast implants she got for some reason. It's not an outrage or whatever, but it's unnecessary. 

[azoo]

She's got some major mascara going on this time, that's for sure.

 

Also, Mr. Saturn and Franklin Badge return to the item roster. Mother/EarthBound reps reconfirmed, life is good in Azooland (not like Ness wasn't gonna be in any ways).

[JaidynReiman]

I'm not too thrilled to see ZSS back because a. she's not the Samus I know (and I'm bitter that she gets seemingly more fan art than any other form of Samus does), and b. I associate ZSS too heavily with Other M

...even though ZSS has been around far longer than Other M...

[Octarine]

I find it kind of difficult to get too up in arms about changes to Zero Suit Samus' design because the Zero Suit (at least, as a major outfit that Samus wears a lot) is such a silly and pandering thing to begin with. The only change that ever really bothered me was the heels from Other M, since they defeated the entire purpose of the suit as an undergarment by obviously not fitting in with the Power Suit's boots.

 

The new heels are at least obviously a separate pair of shoes, so it's not as weird that she could take them off or they'd just disappear when she henshins into the Power Suit, and they have a purpose, even if they could just as easily fulfill that without being heels. Also they bring Portal's Long Fall Boots to mind, at least for me, which isn't the worst thing. At this point I'll take what I can get.

 

...one thing that I kind of like about the new ZSS design is that they kept her mole from Other M. I hope that keeps sticking around; since her face is different almost every time she appears, it'd be nice to have a feature like that as a sort of anchor to keep the designs a little more consistent and recognizable, or something.

[Sami]

...even though ZSS has been around far longer than Other M...

 

Dude I think Venom in Spider-Man 3 did a better job of keeping his mask on than Samus did in Other M.

[Sean]

...even though ZSS has been around far longer than Other M...

Well no shit. But Other M was the game that completely soured the Zero Suit for me, although I wasn't really keen about it when I first learned of its existence during the Smash Dojo, since I had no idea that it was in Zero Mission and I thought it was bizarre that they would make Samus into a sexualized anime character. Despite that, Other M was the game that drilled it into the players' fucking heads that "SAMUS IS A GIRRRLLLLL" with a bright neon sign and I wouldn't mind never seeing it again.

[MegasonicZX]

For me I actually really like the new design they gave her, it looks really cool and the rocket heels go very well with her newly designed outfit and speaking of the outfit it looks a lot less dull now that they touched it up a bit. Her moveset also seems like its gotten a welcome change and she looks to be even more versatile and lethal than before, I might just start using her more often now.

[Junko]

I'll just assume aside from the general design of her outfit and her heels,:
1) The difference are minute
2) I'm the only one that likes her new design

[MegasonicZX]

I'll just assume aside from the general design of her outfit and her heels,:

1) The difference are minute

2) I'm the only one that likes her new design

No, I like the new design too, better than her other ones (in my humble opinion).

[Diogenes]

... and I thought it was bizarre that they would make Samus into a sexualized anime character.

Well, let's be fair, the Zero Suit wasn't the start of this.

[Wraith]

I don't think her new design looks TERRIBLE but the more I look at it the less I like it compared to her last one. 

 

Like, her facial expressions overall are more intense.  it might just be me, but her eyes look like she's wearing makeup or something, which for samus is kind of a no. The jet heels instead of plain old jet boots are a bit much too.

 

 

They kinda exchanged the practical look she had before for flashy and visually appealing. 

[JaidynReiman]

Well, let's be fair, the Zero Suit wasn't the start of this.

...I was JUST about to post that. The Zero Suit may be skin tight and everything, but I think showing Samus in a Bikini is a lot worse than the Zero Suit, where she's at least almost fully clothed.

 

Honestly, the Zero Suit is a huge step up from that...

[Doctor MK]

So, who wants an official render of Wire Frame Little Mac?

 

 

Dayum, this sure was a surprise announcement. I was expecting maybe Super Punch Out Little Mac, but not arcade wire frame Little Mac! Let's hope they really go the distance and add some extra costumes for other characters like Dr. Mario for Mario, Mr. L (or indeed even Dr. Luigi!) for Luigi... the list goes on.

[Sean]

I'm not going to deny those instances, but to me there's a pretty noticeable difference between showing her off in one shot at the end of a game, and showing her off numerous times throughout the actual game with accompanying poses and promo art intended to show off her assets. Not to mention her appearance in Other M is way too anime compared to previous games, such as downplaying her toned body or height.

For the record I'm not against fanservice and I'm aware that sexualization was always a component in Samus's image, but ZSS just pisses me off because of Other M and it has tarnished my view of ZSS as a whole

[Diogenes]

I'm not going to deny those instances, but to me there's a pretty noticeable difference between showing her off in one shot at the end of a game, and showing her off numerous times throughout the actual game with accompanying poses and promo art intended to show off her assets

I think there's also a pretty big difference between a believably functional if a bit fanservicey bodysuit vs "you played the game good so here's the heroine in her underwear".

Though if Other M really soured it on you, well, there's not really anything I can say in that game's defense.

[Octarine]

It's at least nice that default Samus doesn't need to take her clothes off to use her strongest attack anymore. Kind of weird that it's still called the Zero Laser, but I guess consistency and catchiness trump logic.

 

I'm curious what they might give ZSS for a Final Smash, though. Something to do with her gunship, maybe?

[-Robin-]

Between Smash deliberately featuring the retro as hell Color Game TV-15 AT on the Direct, the enemies from Galaga and the S-Flag from Rally-X being completely 8-bit ATs, with no other Namco properties being shown at this moment, and Balloon Fight's stage demonstrating that it actually has a wraparound effect on its sides, I am now convinced that Smash 4 will, at the least, have the original Pac-Man stage utilizing the same gimmick.

[jords]

Between Smash deliberately featuring the retro as hell Color Game TV-15 AT on the Direct, the enemies from Galaga and the S-Flag from Rally-X being completely 8-bit ATs, with no other Namco properties being shown at this moment, and Balloon Fight's stage demonstrating that it actually has a wraparound effect on its sides, I am now convinced that Smash 4 will, at the least, have the original Pac-Man stage utilizing the same gimmick.

I would not be surprised if they bring back the mario bros stage to show off the wraparound affect.