What's that?
Final Fantasy's Cloud in Smash Bros.?
HUUUUUUUUUUUUH?????????
I gotta say, I haven't been this floored by a third-party Smash character since Snake! As incredible as the rest of the third-party cast is, they're far more hands-on with Nintendo than Cloud. Like Snake, the broody swordsman kickstarted his popularity off of Sony PlayStation, but even then that's where the similarities end: while Snake's starred in a couple of games on Nintendo consoles, Cloud's only made periphery appearances in a scant few Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts spin-offs.
It's an inclusion straight out of the GameFAQs wishlist netherworld, and yet...it's the most natural, beautiful thing in the world. Only in Smash Bros. can we see famous icons like Mario, Pac-Man, Sonic, Link, Mega Man, Ryu, Pikachu, and Cloud join together, and it remains as special and euphoric as ever. Oh, if only Snake was here!
I forgot if I mentioned this before, but when I announced Worldly Weekend, I stated I'd use the column as a means to introduce myself to new games outside of Nintendo's sphere. I may or may not have cited Final Fantasy as an example, but just in case I didn't, I was already planning on that from the column's conception. In fact, I actually purchased the NES cartridge for the first game when I was at Otakon this year! That's right: alongside Dragon Quest, I aim to play through both series chronologically.
...although that means it'll be a while before I reach VII, which stars Cloud. I was going to start next January, but perhaps I'll start just a bit earlier...? Regardless, congratulations, Mr. Strife! The nostalgic explosion of celebration that is Smash welcomes you with open arms!
Anyway, what else happened this Direct? Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, for one. We don't know too much about it, and the game might not look too different, but take look at this comparison video. The HUD's far less cluttered, for one, and the absence of blurry jaggies give way to some great detail (take a look at the Zant close-up to see what I mean). It's definitely far less of a graphical endeavor than the other three Zelda remasters, but that shouldn't be the focus. Twilight Princess had far too much padding and bloat for its own good, and how this version will handle all that should be the focus.
Splatoon updates? Good, now I'll continue to worship that game at a snail's pace. Star Fox Zero launches in April? Enough time for me to play through and review the first two games. Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow are launching on 3DS Virtual Console? Wait, what? Really?
So they are! And what's more, Japan's getting some retail boxed copies. I'd say not fair, but hey, they're finally coming out EVERYWHERE digitally! Many had long suspected the games'...uh, "complicated" coding would prevent such a thing, and here we are. I wonder if my old, treasured copy of Red still works properly...
By the way, I didn't know about what I'm about to show you below until just a few hours ago. How cool is this?!?
Apparently, this not only happened on Yellow when played on GBC, but for Red/Blue on the Super Game Boy! Sadly, Game Boy games on the VC don't display in their GBC/SGB versions, so the same effect probably won't be replicated...but I imagine it'll still be quite the nostalgia for many!
Anyway, that's all the time I have. Off to party in New York for a couple days, and then I'll get right back to work on my next review! See ya.
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