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Little Mac Joins Smash Bros, But How Will He Play?

Little Mac Joins Smash Bros, But How Will He Play?

Nintendo just revealed the latest challenger for Smash Bros. on the Wii U and 3DS. It’s Little Mac, from Punch-Out! Mac has been a much wanted character ever since Brawl was released and he was put into the game as an assist trophy. Now, his simple punch combos have been fully fleshed out into a full move-set. But what will this short but spunky boxer bring to the world of Smash . Well, Nintendo recently released a brand new trailer for the little guy, and we are here to analyze it frame by frame for you.

The first mechanic that was showcased is Mac’s knockout bar. Taking a page from the book of BlazBlue , it looks like some of the new Smash characters will have their own unique mechanics and meters. As Mac continues to get aggressive on his opponents, the knockout bar continues to fill. When it fills all the way, Mac gains access to a powerful knockout punch. This punch manages to KO Bowser at 30% and Mega Man at 17% off the top of the screen!

Mac is also an incredibly quick character. His dodges are some of the quickest in the game and barely break his moving momentum. His normals are super-fast and his simple A combo builds up damage easily. It seems as if he is actually able to combo his smashes, which consist of upper cuts and powerful straight punches off this combo, which is also unique. His tilts seem to consist of body blows (as does his throw pummel) and hooks, and his dashing attack and air forward tilt appear to be a powerful downward haymaker.

As for his B attacks, we see three clearly throughout the trailer. One is a charge punch which can be let go at any time. It causes him to do a dashing straight which moves him across the screen quickly and is likely used as a secondary recovery. His actual recovery is a spinning uppercut which does multiple hits but has poor knockout power. Mac’s recovery actually seems rather poor, as a dodged aerial punch off the stage made him unable to recover using his up+B. His down+B is a counter, more like Lucario’s than Marth’s. It causes Mac to dodge quickly and attack back after being hit. We don’t know what his neutral B is, but we assume it has something to do with charging his KO meter. His final smash turns him into Giga Mac from Punch Out ’s 2P mode, though we haven’t seen Giga Mac’s attacks yet.

Little Mac Joins Smash Bros, But How Will He Play?

Perhaps the coolest thing about Mac is his voice acting. You see, Mac doesn’t speak, true to his Nintendo roots. All he does is grunt. Instead, Doc Lewis seems to do the talking for him. Much like Pokémon Trainer did in Brawl , Doc Brown will call out Mac’s attacks as he fights, including giving him advice against certain opponents, and telling himself to pick himself up after a fall. “What’s your favorite flower? Mine’s chocolate!”

Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS and the Wii U is set to come out later this year. We will bring you more information on the game’s roster as it becomes available.

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