Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle: Smash Up @ E3.

Anakir · Jun 1, 2009

Quoted from QUOTE:

June 1, 2009 - Turtles fans have been waiting for a truly respectable and fun offering across, well, any system (let's be honest, we'll take a working product at this point, amirite?) since Konami's kick shell Turtles in Time back in arcades and Super NES. So what's the hold up? You've got four turtles (Five days a week!), a few generic baddies, and lots of weapon-based combat. It seems easy, but outside of a surprisingly fun GBA game back with the latest TMNT movie's release and a few other bearable console versions there hasn't been much.

Remember Tournament Fighters on Super NES and Genesis? Remember it's "love it or hate it" gameplay that split Turtles fans down the middle? That's the feeling I'm getting after my first hands-on with TMNT Smash-Up for Wii. Only this time, it's a split down the middle of Nintendo fans. Turtles superfans will dig this game – you might as well pull the cash out of your wallet now – but anyone thinking they're getting a full-on Smash Bros. clone might find themselves going back to Nintendo's own offering after a few rounds of TMNT action.

Yup, it's starting to look good.

It's not really fair to compare Ubisoft's fighter with Smash Bros. Brawl, but given the fact that the team is made up of ex-Smash devs, and that the game is literally going after Nintendo's own offering ("Smash" up?) we all have high hopes for the fighter. After a few rounds it's obvious that this game is stronger than most of the licensed junk out there – there's an in-depth parry system, slick animations, varied characters and fighting styles, and some in-level prop fun to be had – and with the promise of online and a unique single player mode Smash-Up could be the real deal. Rest assured though; it imitates Smash Bros. but doesn't totally replicate.

For the most part TMNT Smash-up is blast, as long as you shove away the preconception that it's a full-on Smash Bros. clone. You don't have smash-out attacks, and life bars take the place of percentage-based damage, but there are a lot of similarities. For starters, you've got a basic attack (A button) and heavy attack (B) to make use of. Every direction – we're talking up, down, straight sides, and angles – are all tied to different attacks, with the A attack being quicker jabs and combos and B being larger, slower attacks that yield huge results. You can sprint by double-tapping, attack out of a sprint, dodge/roll, and even block and evade. Blocking too much puts you in a vulnerable state though, so like Smash Bros. it's as much about evasion and positioning as anything else.

As for the turtles themselves, each controls very different, and – like Tournament Fighters – each uses different combos. This also rings true with the other playable characters in the E3 demo, including Shredder (very slow and powerful), Splinter (faster than Shred-head, but a bit weaker), and the agile ninja-like April (fast with decent range). Raph, Leo, Don, and Mike also have their own properties, and with actual combos for each fighter the game is more about learning a few key fighters that you dig and sticking with them. I got the hang of Leonardo after a bit, but when switching over to my favorite turtle in the bunch (Raph) had no idea what I was doing. There's a lot of depth here for players looking to learn the intricacies of each character, and unlike Smash Bros. you can't just grab any random character, check out their B, up-B, and down-B and be pretty much set. Yeah, there's more to Smash Bros. then that, but with TMNT you've got a lot of hidden combos and special attacks similar to something like Tekken or DOA. Oh yeah, and you've also got grabs and dodges for stopping turtle players (the blocking type…not the green dudes) and spammers respectively.

The other major element worth touching on right now is the arena offerings thus far. In the demo we played there were a few options, including a dojo level, rooftop, jungle, and sewer area. The dojo was pretty basic, while the NYC rooftops included some areas for falling down (pit death), wall jumping, and a swinging bar for doing specific stunt attacks. Both the jungle and sewer make use of a giant crocodile that can jump from underwater at the screen and snag fighters on the ground level, but each also have their own unique properties. In jungle the above platforms can be cut down with attacks, leaving only the bottom area for combat, while the sewer has a classic "flowing water" mechanic worked in. Go against it and you're slower… go with it and you'll speed up. In addition, the sewer level also has a great intro area, having all combatants in a small tunnel doing battle. After a minute or so a hatch on the left side of the screen blows open, blasting a huge flood of water at all fighters and shoving them into the main combat area. It's pretty awesome to see everyone just get creamed at once; one of the better level transitions out there in fighting games.

We'll see how the game shapes up from here on out, but thus far it's pretty entertaining. The life meter means you've got more direct combat and less of the whole smash-based, tense "am I alive or dead?" moments, but the game also has a larger emphasis on combo attacks and character memorization. With a nice blend of smooth animations (surprisingly strong) and a decent amount of fan service this one looks to be an obvious choice for TMNT fans, though we're not sure if the Smash crowd will latch on.

Oh, and for those hearing the rumblings of Fugitoid as a playable character in Smash-Up, let's just say we've heard the same thing from internal sources. Ubisoft won't officially confirm him, but it sounds like he's in the final roster. Awesome add. Now we just need Usagi Yojimbo.
Click to expand...

Source: http://wii.ign.com/articles/988/988459p1.html

Edit: new video. Includes gameplay this time..

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Looking good so far.. but I won't get hyped up. IGN also though Brawl was good.. and I didn't like Brawl that much after playing a lot of Brawl upon release. Discuss.

Edit: Nevermind.. after watching the gameplay video. I got mixed feels. It looks too slow for my taste, but it actually has hitstun.. which barely exists in Brawl, which allows combos to happen.

More details here: http://blogs.ign.com/Ubi_TMNT/

Zaiga · Jun 1, 2009

It's looking pretty good so far.

And the combat could look slow because of the players.

Canonbeat234 · Jun 2, 2009

Yeah it does look slow, it can be bad for competitive play =/

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle: Smash Up @ E3.

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