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Let's face it, there probably isn't a better game for Nintendo to send off hype trains than Super Smash Bros. This series can sell units and systems like nobody's buisiness and I am very pleased to say that Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS does not disappoint.

Since there is no story whatsoever to this game, I'll just focus on what has been changed and improved from Brawl to 3DS. The already expansive roster from Brawl has now reached a whopping 49 characters. Mind you, a few characters from Brawl are not back, most notably the Ice Climbers, who were in Melee and Brawl, because of apparent hardware limitations to the 3DS and Snake. Most of the clones added in Brawl did not return either. I assume most people already know about the full roster, but I won't give any spoilers to the hidden characters for those who are somehow not aware of the final roster. Nevertheless the newcomers are by far the most interesting ones added ever. It is strongly apparent that some are extremely powerful and are easily top seed contenders. I have played as most of the newcomers and I have enjoyed every minute. Little Mac, Shulk, and Rosalina are my personal favorites so far.

Customization was also advertised in the game and it comes in two forms. The first being the Mii Fighter which is a customizable character with three possible routes; Gunner, Swordfight, and Brawler. Each of them has movesets somewhat unique but comparable to the other characters in the game. The customizable outfits and hats are a nice touch for some more diversity to your Mii FIghter. It's quite fun to play online against other Miis and watching fights between Mii Jesus and Mii Kim Jong Un. The other customization is alternate movesets which takes all characters special attacks in game and give them special properties such as Donkey Kong having a wind effect when he does his Kong Punch or Ike having armor during his Quick Draw. Because of the blatant overpowered nature of these moves, they are limited to in game, local wireless, and with friends online smash play. You can also adjust the power, speed, defenses and what not of characters using special power-ups that you collect as you play the game.

The Stage Selections are mostly based on handheld nintendo games with a few exceptions. A lot are shifting stages which means there's gonna be a lot of strategy changes in fights. Also you have the option to make every stage a Final Destination styled stage so having a different scenery when fighting in Final Destination style is a nice touch.

Classic mode is what you expect. Given that you have branching paths during each level, allowing you to pick what sort of intensity you want before a round is a nice touch. The difficulty is actually quite competent as a 9 intensity Classic Mode was extremely challenging. The final boss is by far the most difficult boss ever, possibly more than Tabuu was in Brawl. I will admit that I like the fact that you are given a set two lives per round in Classic, but I prefer having the full 5 stock to use throughout the mode since I usually only die during the Final Boss section so 2 stocks is quite painful when they hit like a truck and barely telegraph moves.

All Star mode is back and now formatted to make you fight the roster in the order of year when they debut. This one only has 3 difficulty choices and Hard was not too much of a problem.

Multiman fights and Homerun contest makes a nice return and are still as fun as ever. Target Smash makes you attack and launch a bomb to blowup a building set up like in Angry Birds but it's easily forgettable. There's also Trophy Rush which you dump coins to collect as much Trophies and Customizable Parts in an allotted time limit dictated by the amount of Coins you pay. However, several key modes like Tourney, Special Smash, and Event Smash are not here.

While there is no Adventure Mode, 3DS provides Smash Run, a Kirby Air Ride-styled smash game where you fight hundreds of enemy grunts from numerous nintendo franchises to collect power-ups. These give boosts to speed, defense, jump ability and what not. If you die though, you'll take a huge penalty to the upgrades you grabbed. After two and a half minutes, everyone plays a special game with the buffs they managed to grab. These range from free-for-all fights, foot races, and even grunt killing contests. The mode is great and fun to play with friends, but sadly this cannot be played online.

Speaking of online, the game is good, but there are hiccups with lag which are pretty costly. Even some minor hiccups to the local play is a bit deterring but in the end, I had a lot of fun playing with my friends. The controls of the game are pretty good, but require a bit of retraining for those of us who are used to the Gamecube Controller.
The Circle Pad is not very forgiving when it comes to attacks and running. It sometimes does not pick up your intensity of your push so you may end up doing a tilt attack rather than a Smash attack or walking instead of running. The only other problem I can add is that the game feels a little bit hollow compared to ''Brawl'' but I can be honest when I say I didn't expect much more than what is in the game and in reality, this game is only here now to help us wait until the Wii U version comes out or, for some, the only way they can play Smash at all.

Nonny's Rating: 8.5/10. It's Smash, you're gonna get everything you want out of it. However, it really does feel like just a small dose of what the home console is gonna provide. Nevertheless, it is worth every penny and all the hype. As for me, for now, I'm gonna complete more missions to get me more customizable parts. Daddy needs a new hat!