Nintendo kicked off their E3 2014 Digital Press Event with a look at some cool new features in Super Smash Brothers Wii U. Reggie Fils-Aime and Satoru Iwata went into epic battle, but not using typical Smash Brother characters… they used Miis instead. This would mark the first Smash Brothers game where you can use your own created avatar to do your dirty bidding.
Nintendo revealed that each Mii can choose between three different character types, consisting of the following categories:
- Brawlers — hand-to-hand specialist
- Sword Fighters — melee specialist
- Gunners — projectile specialist
And each class picks from a set of four special moves from twelve different categories for attacks and special abilities. That’s a total of 36 total special moves and abilities to choose from. And not only can your Miis fight other Miis, but also the in-game characters crafted by Nintendo such as Mario, Waluigi and a ton more.
Nintendo took that time to reveal a new method of spawning characters into your game world. Dubbed “Amiibos,” these figurines (which are sort of like those Skylander and Disney Infinity figurines used in those respective games) are equipped with NFC chips so that when you place one on a special area of the Wii U gamepad your character will be instantly and automatically transferred into the game.
These collectible figurines also store data about your characters, so stats like your fight record can travel with you if you’re heading to a friend’s house for some fun. You can read all about Amiibos right here.
Unfortunately Nintendo still didn’t have a release date to mention, though we’ve learned that Super Smash Brothers Wii U is still on for a holiday 2014 launch. In the same breath, Nintendo had to mention that they have suffered a short delay for the 3DS version from their original “summer 2014” window, but we at least got a pinpointed date now: October 3rd, 2014.
With that, they were eager to show off new gameplay from the handheld version, and it all seems to be coming along very nicely. We’ll be on the hunt for video footage to show you, but in the meantime take a look at various screenshots from the presser up above. Stay tuned as we look to bring you more from E3 2014!
