Hmm, figured I'd reflect back on this week's updates, since I haven't really had a chance to get my two cents in...
For the Past Stages, I'm quite glad that they're actually picking good ones this time. We have the standard Great Fox map, at Corneria (It wouldn't be Smash Bros. without this), Rainbow Ride (tourneyfags be damned, I can have fun levels if I want to), and Yoshi's Island.
And now, to shut those people who think I like everything that has to do with Yoshi, I'm going to say this. I did not like Yoshi's stage in SSB64, though for a different reason than Mystic. To me, it just seems like they added a small stage, placed three smaller, slanted platforms, and called the stage finished. And really, I could say that about quite a few of the other SSB64 stages as well.
I liked the Yoshi's Island stage in Melee. The bottomless pit is funny, really. Props to whoever thought of it. The only part I didn't like about this stage was that it was done in the Super Mario World style, with music to match. Yoshi is not a ranch horse. He's a tropical dinosaur. Get it right.
The Fighting Alloy Team, to be quite frank, is stupid looking. It seems that their designs for enemy multi-man fighters are getting worse for each new game. I didn't mind the Fighting Wireframes so much. It's just that here, we have robots, for some reason, when we already have strange robotic enemies in the Subspace campaign that are just as awkward looking.
Green Alloy has to be the most hideous, with no arms or body, and a gigantic rear when viewed from the side. Its design manages to be worse than Kirby (I'm going to get a ton of flak for saying this - so be it). I wish they'd go back to having polygons for each of the different characters, and having them clone the A attacks. Some of those were especially creepy, but in a good way.
Also, Snake certainly has an interesting Final Smash, but does it really have to block half the view like that? I hope it scrolls the screen over slightly to make room.
Finally, props to Nintendo for introducing a new character that isn't overrated junk. Olimar gives me a breath of fresh air from all the idiots clambering for Shadow or Sora to join the fray. My biggest concern, however, is game balance.
When you introduce a significantly different playstyle, you need to check to be sure it can't somehow be too strong, and at the same time, not be too weak. When a character plays differently, there are new shortcomings that might not be present from a character playing traditionally, and also new methods that may make a character too powerful. I really hope they know what they're doing, because every time I see a new character join, I fear that the balance will somehow be thrown off. My biggest fear is that the same thing will happen to Brawl that happened in Melee: Fox wins, Yoshi loses.
