Chapter 869: A Perfect Experience

Kirby, in the game, was swinging his pink little fists, repeatedly striking Link.

Combo count UIs constantly popped up in his vision, combined with an excellent vibration feedback, making Song Ren feel like he had become a Fighting Master!

Even though it was just a lowest-level AI opponent, it gave him an unusual sense of exhilaration.

While Song Ren wasn't particularly fond of the Fighting Game genre, he had dabbled in it a bit. For all the fighting games he had played before, Song Ren had only one feeling: they were too difficult to pick up.

Special moves were all activated by blindly mashing buttons; without looking at the move list, he wouldn't know how to unleash a move. Sometimes, even if he did look, he couldn't execute the skill. One could say that those fighting games felt like he had bought a broken version, as if his fighter was born with fewer special moves than others. What was the point of playing then?

But this Super Smash Bros. game gave him a completely different first impression.

In the Nebula Games Direct presentation released earlier, it was evident that the game lowered its barrier to entry, but only when playing it himself did he realize just how convenient it truly was.

It was entirely controlled by directional inputs combined with buttons. For instance, with Kirby, the Fighter he was currently using, there were essentially no instances of failing to execute a skill, aside from not knowing what the skills did when he first started. And after a little research, Song Ren understood the purpose of each Fighter's skills in the game.

In fact, it wasn't just Song Ren; all players currently experiencing Super Smash Bros. had the same thought in mind: this game was simply too easy to pick up.

Especially for those trying the multiplayer mode for the first time, many players who had never played a fighting game felt incredibly thrilled. There was no need to worry about health; as long as they weren't knocked off the stage, they could fight freely. Coupled with various strange items and the dynamic events of the map stages themselves, battles were full of randomness.

Even players who had never touched a fighting game before could get an excellent experience from it. Furthermore, for some players who disliked battling others, or who simply got into the game because of a favorite IP character, the World of Light single-player story mode allowed them to experience the charm of a fighting game.

Compared to traditional fighting game confrontations, the World of Light, a story mode focused on collecting, also featured RPG progression elements and strategy elements. Moreover, the World of Light even had characteristics of a box garden sandbox.

After experiencing the game's normal fighting gameplay, Song Ren didn't immediately jump into online matches, choosing the single-player mode instead. He wanted to wait for Old Zhang before starting his first online match in Super Smash Bros.

It wasn't that they had made plans; he simply wanted to ensure his first online match ended in victory. If he played with random players online, what if he ran into a seasoned fighting game player? What if he encountered a highly perceptive player? Song Ren, who was very confident in his skills, felt there was a high probability that his first online match would fail. But Old Zhang was different; he was still at work, while Song Ren could hone his skills for an hour or two. By then, it would be a dimension-reducing strike!

Is it unfair? Is it against the code of martial arts? That's exactly right!

“So here, you need the Aegis of the Sky to break these mechanisms?” Song Ren looked at the in-game map in World of Light with surprise.

Pink Kirby had now arrived in a highly futuristic city. He recognized it at a glance: it was the World Tree map from Xenoblade Chronicles.

However, he currently couldn't enter through the entrance; he clearly needed to successfully obtain Pyra, the Aegis of the Sky, to unlock this area. He had initially thought that the World of Light single-player mode would also just be simple fighting content, at most with a little storyline to watch.

But in reality, the game experience was completely opposite to what he imagined. There wasn't much storyline to watch in the game, a departure from the style of Nebula Film Studio. Apart from a roughly 10-second real-time rendered animation when unlocking Fighters, the game contained no story-related content at all.

Yet, in terms of gameplay experience, the World of Light was surprisingly rich. After each battle in the game, players would receive a certain amount of Skill Stones. These Skill Stones could enhance various abilities of their Fighters, increasing the attack power of special moves and the shield value of defense.

This was also what made Super Smash Bros. different from other fighting games. In other fighting games, so-called defense could essentially be infinite, but most couldn't defend from behind. In Super Smash Bros., it was completely different: defense was a full-body shield that would be chipped away when attacked. Once broken, the player would enter a stunned state.

Furthermore, there were collectable Spirits, divided into Primary Spirits and Support Spirits. Primary Spirits were further categorized into three types—Attack, Defense, and Grab—represented by red, blue, and green, which countered each other and influenced the Fighter's attack, defense, jump, and speed attributes.

As for Support Spirits, they could provide various buffs. Some could make players immune to fire attacks, some could grant stronger special move power, and others could provide specific items at the start of a match. All Primary Spirits could also be leveled up, and some specific Spirits could even awaken. Through unique training, the stat bonuses from Spirits could also be transformed. It could be said that the entire Spirit system added Action RPG elements to Super Smash Bros., so even for those clumsy players struggling with fighting games, simply equipping the right Spirits and even just spamming basic attacks could win them matches.

Of course, if players deliberately chose not to use Spirits in battle, the difficulty would be hellish. For example, in Dr. Mario's and Samus Aran's stages, if you went in head-on without using specific Spirits, the difficulty would undoubtedly be hellish.

'It feels like playing a game history lesson; the level design in World of Light is tear-inducing, so many details!'

'+1, but I can only recognize the easter egg content from games I've played. Also, Super Smash Bros. feels super easy!'

'Very friendly to clumsy players like me, one button for a special move.'

The low barrier to entry allowed players to experience the joy of fighting games. The rich World of Light allowed players to experience the game culture brought by various IPs.

So far, players who have tried Super Smash Bros. online have uniformly given positive reviews; this game has given them an almost perfect experience.

However, while casual players like Song Ren were excited, some different voices also began to emerge.

(End of Chapter) <>