Super Smash Bros. (for Nintendo 3DS)

For Fun and Glory
Nintendo listened to fans' complaints about this game's predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and responded with a wide selection of options designed to please every type of Super Smash Bros. player. The spirit of this is exemplified in the choices presented when you want to play online: For Fun, or For Glory? For Fun is a casual, feature-filled mode that lets you use customized and created characters with any mix of levels and rules you want. For Glory is competitive, limiting players to the standard versions of characters with no created characters; flat, one-platform levels; and no items. If you want to just play with different Nintendo characters and use wacky items, For Fun is the best choice. If you want a much more serious game that is a pure test of skill, For Glory is the mode for you.
The For Fun and For Glory modes are only for online play, but all of the options and limitations are also available for local multiplayer and single-player games. You can set individual items to appear, enable or disable custom and created characters, and even set handicaps and damage multipliers. Then there's the level selection, which developers Nintendo and Namco tweaked brilliantly.

In previous Super Smash Bros. games, competitive players only played on Final Destination, a level with a single flat platform floating in space over a pit. The other levels were irregularly shaped and often had random hazards to keep things interesting. The levels have gotten no less elaborate in Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS. There's a Dream Land level that scrolls through Kirby's Dream Land on a Game Boy screen, setting the edges of the display as boundaries players have to stay within. There's Wily's Castle, where platforms on conveyor belts rise from the sides and disappear. There's also Reset Bomb Forest, where the entire arena is reduced to jagged rubble in a massive flash. None of these levels are particularly balanced. Fortunately, every level has an Omega version you can access by pressing X when selecting it. The Omega version of each level keeps its aesthetics, but turns it into a Final Destination-style single platform arena flanked by pits. It lets competitive players cycle through the elaborate and pretty stages while enjoying the balanced layout they need.
Play Anyone As Anyone
Super Smash Bros. sports a ton of characters, mostly from Nintendo's history, but it also has a few big names from other publishers. All of the standard characters like Mario, Link, Samus Aran, and Kirby are here, along with Sonic the Hedgehog (who first made his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl), Mega Man, and Pac-Man. Mega Man and Pac-Man are new to the series, along with Punch-Out star Little Mac, Xenoblade Chronicles hero Shulk, Princess Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy, the Villager from Animal Crossing, and the instructor from Wii Fit. You can play 38 characters as soon as you start the game, and add a collection of additional, secret characters and your own created characters to the roster.
Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS marks the first time in the series players can create their own characters based on their Mii avatars. Once you've made a Mii on your 3DS, you can import it into the game and give it one of three classes: Gunner, Brawler, or Swordsman. Each class has a selection of 12 special moves, with a choice of three for the four special attack inputs (pressing the button alone, or pressing it and upward, downward, or left/right on the analog pad). You can further customize your characters with costumes, headwear, and equipment that change the balance between Attack, Defense, and Speed attributes. It's a very deep and entertaining system, even if you can't do much about how your Mii looks in the game outside of the face, headgear, and costume.
You can customize the default characters, too, but most choices are limited to playing For Fun. While the regular characters don't have costume pieces or headwear, they each have at least eight different color schemes/designs (like Mario in an Uncle Sam outfit, Samus in the Gravity Suit, or Little Mac in his pink training hoodie). They also can equip stat-altering equipment, and once you unlock them you can even select alternate versions of their special attacks.
How You Smash
The 3DS controls are relatively simple, albeit less comfortable than the venerated Gamecube controller (which is so beloved by Super Smash Bros. fans that Nintendo will release a Gamecube adapter alongside the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros.). You move your character with the analog stick and use the face buttons for standard attacks, special moves, and jumping. Standard attacks work differently if you move the analog pad in different directions, and by timing your movements and button presses, you can perform a powerful smash attack to send weakened opponents flying off the stage. Similarly, each character has four special moves that work in conjunction with pressing the special button along with different analog pad inputs. The shoulder buttons grab and block, but the rectangular shape of the 3DS and 3DS XL£149.99 at Argos.co.uk make them less comfortable to access than the other buttons.
The action is fun and frantic, and most characters feel distinct enough from each other for a unique and broad experience. There are a few characters that are just variations of others, with slight tweaks to their strength and speed; for example, Luigi feels just a little different from Mario. While the game has been tweaked for competitive players, there's still plenty of room for total chaos, rushes to grab powerful temporary items (including the Smash Ball, which lets you use a character-specific super attack), and hits flying in every direction.