Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash-Up -- 9 October 2011, Wi-Fi Matchmaking #02

Описание: Are you ready for some frenetic action? Because all these matches have a full room! I actually didn't have my expectations set so high as to find so much activity, but I'm glad to see that the online play on this game is doing surprisingly well for itself.

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Match #1 -- Warehouse
Michelangelo (Joou)
Shredder (TMNT1)
Michelangelo (TMNT2)
Donatello (TMNT3)

It almost sounds cliche to say it, but it just goes to show that it'll happen as long as you're not actively trying to prevent it...the Shredder WILL wipe out careless players even more certainly than an ignored Warlock Punch. That sword is insane!

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Match #2 -- Cruise Ship
Ninja Rabbid (Joou)
Master Splinter (TMNT1)
Karai (TMNT2)
Donatello (TMNT3)

One thing I love about this game that Super Smash Bros. seemed almost reluctant to match is the sheer insanity of some of the stages. I mean, Smash is totally nuts with gimmicky stages to the point that people who take it alarmingly seriously will outright ban most of them, but Smash-Up has most of its play areas follow that spirit of chaos and kick it up to eleven, apparently just because it can.

Oh, and did I mention it has teenagers, mutants, ninja, and turtles as some of its more "normal" characters?

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Match #3 -- Warehouse
Raving Rabbid (Joou)
Foot Ninja (TMNT1)
Utrominator (TMNT2)
April O'Neil (TMNT3)

Now here's an outcome you basically never see, I was actually caught off guard given how difficult it is to have players finish with identical KO and health percentage counts, particularly in a stage that's ACTIVELY trying to slay its occupants.

Although, to be honest, at the time I had no idea why it even came to that, which makes it all the more noteworthy. The scoreboard after the fact revealed that the Utrominator's "winning" KO only brought his KOs minus falls score to breaking even, and as the last to fall, the Foot Ninja's HP was counted as being 100% again. The only reason why I even remained in the running was because I didn't take any damage since respawning. Very crazy, very unusual!

Oh, and is it just me, or are screaming white rabbit...things stalking my randomizer?

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Match #4 -- Sewers
Foot Ninja (Joou)
Leonardo (TMNT1)
Nightwatcher (TMNT2)
April O'Neil (TMNT3)

One thing about this stage (and the Jungle), since the alligators will steal kills without letting a player have credit, you've got to take your KOs whenever and however possible if you want to get on the board, because the only other alternative is to just try to incur fewer deaths than anybody else. It can be somewhat confusing, but the game knows what the score (the numbers next to the name cards that follow around the players are always up-to-date) is even if it doesn't show "self destructs" like these on the final reading.

There's also something at work here that you don't usually see, Leonardo's using the "cursor" controls online...which honestly I can't say as I approve of in their execution, but at least somebody was thinking outside the box on this one. Basically, they're useful for interacting with certain elements of the stage, like the sewer cover at the beginning, the targets in the Western Town stage, and the items.

The real trouble with trying to have cursor controls online is that they lag severely, even in low-latency matches, so it can be really disorienting to see your pointing motions respond slowly on your own end. I believe this is why Naruto Shippuden Clash of Ninja Revolution III chose to have the pointing controls for paper bombs limited to offline play only.

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Match #5 -- Castle
Foot Ninja (Joou)
Michelangelo (TMNT1)
April O'Neil (TMNT2)
Master Splinter (TMNT3)

I was ridiculously slow about it, but I finally figured out how this stage works! After the initial fireworks blast, the castle will start to smoke in certain places from the highest floor and working its way downward. After some period of smoking, the area indicated will burst into flames, and then collapse. Once the bottom floor has caught fire, the roof collapses and the transition takes place.

Somehow I don't think that's what they had in mind when they say "where there's smoke, there's fire"...

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Match #6 -- Turtle Base
Fugitoid (Joou)
Leonardo (TMNT1)
April O'Neil (TMNT2)
Raphael (TMNT3)

If you need to watch out for the Shredder in hectic battles, you need to make sure you never give the Fugitoid any time alone whatsoever, because he'll totally snake a whole line of KOs at once if you let him.