Super Smash Bros. Rumble in the DS jungle

by Eric Caoili { Jul 5th 2008 at 8:00PM }

Building your homebrew project off an already popular franchise has the danger of raising expectations too high for your low-budget production, as was the case with Super Mario Galaxies, a 2D shoot-em-up interpretation of Nintendo's grandiose 3D platformer. Though Super Smash Bros. Rumble has the potential to one day be a satisfactory portable alternative to Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it still has a long way to go!

So far, the demo includes only a solo mode, a few stages, and Mario as the lone playable character. Fuzzy, the game's 19-year-old programmer from Germany, seems to have a lot planned for the project, however, as he already has a WiFi button in place and waiting for online support.

Just a quick suggestion -- maybe choose another typeface for the top-screen logo on the menu screen? Though it's resident blogger David Hinkle's favorite typeface, Super Smash Bros. designer Masahiro Sakurai would never sully the series with Hobo.

[Via GamerTell, GBAtemp]

Tags: fighter, super-smash-bros, super-smash-bros-rumble

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

c_judicator @ Jul 5th 2008 8:30PM

A long way to go, but it still looks promising. I really like the presentation of the menus and stages. Almost gives me the feeling that a handheld Smash Bros. is right around the corner.

jsutcliffe @ Jul 5th 2008 8:42PM

I don't understand why people bother with this kind of project, on any platform. As soon as it gets enough momentum to get a following the IP holders will spot it and shut it down.

Kefka @ Jul 5th 2008 9:15PM

Yeah, that's true. At least he seems to have spent a decent amount of time so far just making shiny menus, so chances are we wont have time to see too much of the gameplay potential realised before it gets nuked.

Extra Cheese @ Jul 5th 2008 10:02PM

I am really disappointed that this is not an official release. My mouth was frothing when I saw the headline.

jumb @ Jul 5th 2008 10:12PM

Haha yeah, the greatest risk isn't high expectations, it's cease and desists.

WalkingCarpet @ Jul 5th 2008 10:30PM

They've needed to come out with a Smash Bros for DS for the longest time. You could make the stages cover both screens and so they would all be a little tall rather than wide and just like not mess with zooming the camera in or out or following the characters. Just have the whole stage on screen at all times. It would work pretty well I think.

Metayoshi @ Jul 6th 2008 2:14AM

I actually had this idea a LONG time ago to make a homebrew Smash Bros. for GBA. I was thinking of using SNES sprites and I had the controls all planned out... I even gave a write up of my idea to my girlfriend (who was 10 at the time and not my girlfriend yet, WOW that was a long time ago), and she said "I can't even read your handwriting."

The problem... I had no idea how to program very well for the GBA. The only successful thing I had was a hello world program, and I was on track to making a tic tac toe game... then my computer died and I stopped trying.

Finally someone who knows what they are doing, though. If this turns out to be awesome, then it'll be my reason to buy an R4...

monkeymonkeymonkey @ Jul 6th 2008 3:01AM

crap, video was taken down. Anyone have an alternate link?

TJF588 @ Jul 6th 2008 3:05AM

LOLpedopedopedopedopedo

J/K, but the video, though... Aside from 2D sprites on a 3D stage (though I'd expect making discernable 3D sprites that size/proper size would be a strange endeavor), this layout and presentation has all the right ideas, far as I'm concerned. Fonts and sizes should be tweaked (particularly in the damage ratios), but so many right choices for executing SSB on the DS.

Also: The idea of a non-zooming stage on a platform that's strictly single-player (at least for this sort of game) would not be a particularly good idea. Perhaps a little zoom icon in one of the corners of the screen, a la FFIII, would work better ("better").

Kefka @ Jul 6th 2008 5:21AM

The zooming/camera focus requirements on a DS version of Smash Brothers is completely different, as you've only got one person playing per DS rather than 4 people playing a single console.

So while it would be nice if the game DID zoom to always show all characters, it would work well enough if it remains at a fixed distance following your character...

(apologies if this is what you were saying)

Come to think of it, that does away with one of the significant graphical hurdles of Smash Brothers on the DS - Not having the resolution to show big stages and discernible content at long range.

TJF588 @ Jul 6th 2008 6:31AM

OH, following the character! In retrospect, I missed that point. *is shamed* I had thought you meant more that the entire stage was visible at all times rather than a fixed locus of your position. Still... how would being outside camera range be handled? I know some of SSBM's bonuses were determined by how many times and where you were "bubbled" (or whatever the term is for being displayed as a pointed circle).

kittykatlaura123 @ Jul 6th 2008 8:26AM

I REALLY hope this gets some level of completion. A Smash Bros on the DS would be euphoria for my Smash obsessed friends and me. I'm seriously surprised that there hasn't been an official release of Smash Bros DS, myself considering all the damn money Nintendo would make.

Roy @ Jul 6th 2008 9:01AM

Contrary to what most of the USA believes, Dutch and Deutsch (German) are *not* the same languages. The loading in the video was in Dutch. The website at the end of the video also ends with .nl

On topic: That looks really awesome, Nintendo should pick this up and make it something with it! :))

THRILLHO @ Jul 6th 2008 9:49AM

if nintendo ported the original smash brothers to the ds and added wifi, i'd pay 60 for it easily, maybe more.

Nintenfreak @ Jul 6th 2008 12:15PM

I think the top screen should show the entire playing field and the bottom should show the zoomed in version. If they just port SSB64 over to DS, I'd be happy. Arent they doing that for Paper Mario in Korea?

Kefka @ Jul 6th 2008 10:30PM

Ooh, good idea - Worms: Open Warfare 2 does that, and it works well. Perhaps the bottom screen could show characters as icons as it does in Mario Kart DS rather than tiny little versions of the sprites/models...

Would be good enough to get an idea of where everyone is and what they're doing (little animations or effects on the sprites to indicate getting hit, attacking, etc)