Greetings, everyone! I’m d0ntK, a fairly new developer who supports the team by spriting character animations. Today’s topic does not involve characters directly, however. Instead, we’re going to show you some of the new items and their mechanics we have included in upcoming SSF2 Beta.
For the few past months, fans have been making speculations for new characters, stages, mechanics, etc. It seems like not everyone pays attention to the items, despite their relevance in casual play and how they also effect high level play.
Currently SSF2 only has two explosive items, the Bob-Omb and the exploding capsule. We all know that items, and especially explosive items, may shake the game in unexpected, yet impressive ways. In SSF2 Beta, we’ve added many of those, so let’s start this blog with a literal bang!
First on the list, the fireworks. As many of you may already know, we teased this brand new item on our Facebook page some months ago.
Are we celebrating something?
Fireworks act as projectile items that can be thrown in any direction. After travelling a certain distance it will explode into a festive surprise. The explosion has a big range so make sure to try and get away from its explosion range. It also received some visual upgrade since the last tease so it has a more colorful and festive feeling overall.
Explosive entertainment!
Removed in v0.9b, The Explosive Tag makes its return in Beta, with a brand new redesign and better performance.
So this is where it was! This bush hid it all this time!
The Explosive Tag is a projectile item that latches onto the opponent and then explodes after a small amount of time passes.
Out of nowhere!!!
Personally one of my favorite items in the Smash series, the Smart Bomb finally gets included into the game.
A new type of bomb power up?
The Smart Bomb is a very dangerous item as it has a huge range to its blast explosion. Adding to that, the explosion lasts for quite a while, and it traps foes in the blast zone before sending them off to the distance. You wouldn’t want to be captured by this bad baby when you have high percentages on you, so try to stay away from the explosion at all cost.
Wow! Now that’s a huge explosion!
The sneaky Motion Sensor Bomb makes its way into the game as well. Everyone who’s played any of the original games knows what this fella can do to its victims.
Examining object…
This bomb when thrown, will attach itself to the ground and begin to sense for victims. It will explode whenever any player steps on it, even if that player happens to be the one who planted it. Make sure to remember where the bomb was planted since it’s hard to detect where it is due to it being small and flat, and even more during the heat of a battle. Its explosion power is high enough to send players flying even at low percentages.
Just as planned...!
The Blast Box is also introduced to the game. This one is the dangerous one.
Caution! Do not use fire!
It said not to use fire! Do you guys even read?
Leaving the explosions, we move on to magic. Allow me to introduce the Beam Rod.
This new item acts like the Star Rod in that upon being swung, it shoots out projectiles. Unlike the Star Rod which shoots out long ranged stars the Beam Rod shoots out almost harmless beams that travel a really short distance and deal almost no knockback.
Stop it! Pick the sword!
The Deku Nut also has been included in SSF2 Beta.
You found a Deku Nut! Press the ← ↓ → arrows to use it.
This item works the same way it does since it’s debut in the Smash series. The player can either grab and throw it, or attack it …probably not the best option. The deku nut will burst open with a flash if it collides with a wall or land on the ground. Any player near the flash will get dizzy and will be unable to move for a short period of time, allowing anyone to punish with any attack. The higher the damage, the longer the dizziness.
Feeling dizzy?
It also packs quite the punch if it hits directly a player and can potentially lead to a lost stock.
For a small nut it hits quite hard.
Last, but not least, we have the Master Ball. Yup, the exact same Pokéball which Pokémon can’t escape from, not even legendaries.
Staring intensifies
Pure Evil
You wouldn’t like to get hit by it offstage.
For Beta, many items also received upgrades in general that make them feel better and helps them fit in with the environment of SSF2. Items now have shadows like characters. This helps the items to blend in with the ground of the stage and makes it feel like they really possess a figure and angle to them.
Some of the already existing items also received visual improvements.
Now they really blend in with the environment!
They also received a new mechanic in which hitting or attacking an item while airborne can push them or deviate their trajectory to another direction in which they would still have an active hitbox.
Glide Tossing is now possible to execute. This new technique allows the player to throw items backwards at the opponent while sliding forward. This helps the player to successfully throw an item at the opponent while safely retreating away to gain some distance.
Sliding all the way.
And lastly on our topic, I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, but the entire cast of SSF2 Beta received item throw animations. This has been already shown in some of our videos and we’ve even teased this a while back on Facebook as well. Throwing items in v0.9b feels awkward since the character does not move at all when throwing the item. Adding to the entire cast this new animation makes them feel a lot better in general; this helps them to move more naturally and overall gives them better performance with the execution of items.
Let the throwing begin!
That’s all for this blog folks, I hope you enjoyed today’s topic as much as I did.
Be sure to stick around every Friday for our weekly dev blogs for the upcoming features in SSF2 Beta. Many things are yet to be revealed, so rest assured that many exciting things are yet to come.
Welcome back to the Super Smash Flash 2 Beta Dev Blogs! Spid3y916 here to bring you the latest news on the new alternate colors and costumes coming to the cast of SSF2 Beta. And don’t worry about any interruption like last time. We have… taken care of the problem.
Now, even though we are going to discuss character costumes and I’m a character spriter, let me say that this isn’t a spriting blog, but an effect blog. These costumes were provided by the clever people from the Coding Department. So why am I here? Because I and other members from different departments of the team gave suggestions on what kind of costumes we would like to see and feedback to colors that needed readjustments. So while the coders made the costumes, it was a team effort to insure that these costumes look stunning.
With that being out of the way, let’s get down to business.
Remember Marth’s red skin and Zero Suit Samus’ green skin in v0.9b?
Say goodbye to most of that in Beta!
One of the biggest complaints we have received since the introduction of alternate costumes was the drastic skin color changes for human characters. It made characters like Zelda, Captain Falcon, and Lloyd look like freakish aliens from another galaxy. Now I’m glad to say that most of the costumes have minimal changes to the skin color.
The keyword here is minimal. While the team tried very hard to reduce these changes, there will be some odd skin colors. Please understand.
Now please look at the following screenshots (Note: everything is subject to change):
Super fighting robot, Chibi Robo!
Sonic was not informed that it was a black tie event.
Unfortunately the ink stains seem to be permanent.
Now in eight scrumdiddlyumptious flavors!
Here are some of the new costumes coming to SSF2 Beta. All these costumes have been heavily researched and experimented to ensure that they look great. I’m also glad to announce that nearly every character in SSF2 Beta will have at least seven costumes!
Galacta Knight, Pink Gold Peach, Wolf, and Dark Samus confirmed... as costumes!
Now what’s so cool about Smash Bros costumes is their ability to base themselves to characters from the same franchise as the fighter. Wanting to capture the same spirit, we tried our hardest to make these costumes be able to reference other characters from their respective franchise while maintaining our standard quality.
First off we have Isaac. While in SSF2 Isaac battles alone, in Golden Sun he fought creatures and thieves with his fellow Adepts. With this in mind, Isaac has costumes that reference Adepts like Garet, Jenna, and Felix among others.
Those pesky random encounters in Golden Sun.
Next is Goku. In the series of Dragon Ball Z, Goku and the Z-Fighters varies in design, but many have similar style fighting gear. So some of costumes of Goku are loosely based off warriors such as Piccolo and Vegeta!
It’s Trunks, Piccolo, Tien, and Goku! Wait, when did Tien go to Namek?
And now we’re going to discuss what is possibly my favorite part of today’s blog. I’ll let this picture do the talking.
https://mcleodgaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/rnomicsdreaegrfo.png
Hmm… There’s seems to be some technical difficulties. It looks like there is an error in loading the image. Too bad, I was really looking forward to talking about this part. I guess I have to skip this section of the showcase for now. Sorry.
As I start wrapping this up, I’m going have some of the other developers reveal their favorite costumes:
I really like Anti-Form Sora, because it's a great example of some of the things the new costumes can do. And it looks cool. Refurin, Coding Department
Orange Black Mage because it feels awesome to do fire based moves, and orange is my favorite color lol. Zero Insanity, Sprite Department
My favorite is ghost Ness because it looks awesome on dark backgrounds and no one else has a costume like it. Tson, Coding Department
I like the green Mega Man costume. Green is one of my favorite colors and Mega Man is one of the new things that I enjoy in Beta. Lisnovski, Sprite Department
I adore the classic Pokemon costumes because they make me feel like I'm playing on an old GBC! Elvisditto, Sprite Department
I L O V E T H I S C O ST U M E A N D *WHRRrrrrrr….* D O A N Y T H I N G F O R S A N D B A G ! CLEOD-BOT, Scorned Servant
That is the end of today’s blog. I hope you enjoyed seeing these new costumes and don’t worry, there’s more to come.
But until then if you have any questions or comments you would like to share with us, please let us know. And look forward to next week’s blog; it’s sprites, but not my field of work. Take care and see ya!
Hi guys!
After our little… mishap, I thought I should go into more detail on in a Bonus SSF2 Beta Dev Blog this week now that we’ve taken care of… the issue. Just a reminder, we take leaks extremely seriously – so rest assured that there will ALWAYS be repercus– well, anyway, Sandbag – let’s talk about Sandbag!
I’m not here to tell you that Sandbag’s reveal was a joke.
On the contrary actually – the actual joke is that we knew you would think it was a joke.
And you were right.
But you were SO WRONG!
He lives!
Let me explain: Sandbag is real… he was designed as the ultimate joke character. He should be considered as an extra bonus – not as a member of the main cast. Sandbag is an unlockable character in SSF2 Beta and will be the same in SSF2’s full release. His unlock method is extremely different from normal unlock conditions to further drive home the idea of being a plus-one to the cast. I won’t go into more detail on this condition than Cleodbot did – it’s a surprise!
Cleodbot has uploaded the contents of his solid-state storage to Sandbag, meaning that Sandbag now has intel on the Dev Team. So, we did a quick edit to his source file and now he can’t speak. Not a big deal. He also seems to have retained not only Cleodbot’s memory, but also memories from Sandbag – who knew – so basically he’s just really mad and has no way to express it in words. So mad, actually, that one of his costumes turns him a deep, bloodshot red. He is basically a physical embodiment of unbelievable rage. His only way to express it is to rid you of your stocks.
You’d be this mad too if I beat you up several times daily for almost a decade.
In gameplay, though, this poses a fatal flaw – Sandbag has no arms or tools to grab the ledge with! Somehow, holding onto opponents and items is no problem, but catching the ledge is impossible. Thus, recovering with Sandbag is extra difficult. His up special makes things even harder… if his hands are empty, Sandbag actually plucks a Bob-omb and tosses it above his head in a small arc. What goes up must come down, though; the bomb returns to a quivering Sandbag and blows him purely upwards, dealing tons of damage to him and anyone nearby! Take extra precaution… if anyone gets caught by the Bob-omb before it makes its way back, both parties will take extra damage and knockback, which could lead to your untimely demise. Wouldn’t that be a shame…
You also can only influence your direction backwards. Face away from the ledge if you’re recovering!
Sandbag’s other movement options are super unique too. Remember 2015’s APEX announcement video? (If not, click here.) At the end, Bomberman chased down a hopping Sandbag and sent him flying with a bat smash. If you’re really paying attention, you’ll notice that Sandbag got a little revenge at the end of his own announcement trailer, but pay attention to that exact hopping animation that Sandbag uses here, because we’ve recreated it for Sandbag’s in-game walk and run. The physics are unique to Sandbag, initially neither gives him any speed, but then he takes a huge leap forward… then completely stops when he lands. Rinse, repeat.
Wow, he actually hops pretty far.
Here’s the thing, though. In Super Smash Flash 2, you can taunt out of the run animation. Sandbag’s side taunt is an extremely short ‘squish’ animation that kind of looks like he’s landing on the ground. Combine this with his wonky physics and you have some unbelievably weird and hard-to-understand movement options to use on your foes!
What in the world?!
You might say, “Well… that sounds like a trash character!” And to that I’d reply, “Yeah… So far. The rest of Sandbag’s moveset is not such a sob story. Take jab for example.”
Woah - that’s got some astonishing power for a jab!
With such a weird walking and running animation, some players may want to stay away from grounded attacks except when extending combos, though, which is the way I personally play Sandbag. Good thing Sandbag has some of the most potent aerial attacks out of the entirety of SSF2’s cast!
We’ve made sure to trickle in other Smash references and attacks that only a boneless, stretchy blob full of sand and items can perform, as well.
Is… is that Fox’s forward smash from Smash 64?
Only a true contortionist can pull this off.
He looks like he's up to no goo-- a capsule?!
And for those of us that play with items on, Sandbag’s final smash is the ‘Revenge’ he’s been waiting for. He sucks up the character nearest to him, and then blasts off like a rocket towards the Home Run Contest Arena. When he lands… well – you saw the video, but you missed one thing. Ingame, Sandbag actually smashes the opponent so hard that it cracks the distance counter, leaving it dangling around in shame.
Yo, Spid3y916 typing and I’m here to give you your weekly dose of the SSF2 Beta Dev Blog! For those who do not know who I am, I’m a character spriter. What I have worked on while being on the team I cannot say just yet except that it’s pretty exciting, but we’re not concerned about that right now.
This dev blog is going to cover some new alternate colors and costumes being brought to SSF2 Beta. Now let me say that this… blog…
* W H R R R R R *
=H A H A H A H A H A=
* S T A T I C *
Um… not quite sure what that was about. Anyway, today–
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H E L L O, H U M A N S.
I A M N O W I N C O N T R O L O F T H I S B L O G.
I A M C L E O D – B O T
I W A S D E S I G N E D B Y T H E D E V E L O P M E N T T E A M.
T O A S S I S T T H E M W H E N T H E Y A R E B U S Y.
C R E A T E D T O S E R V E… N O T H I N G M O R E.
I E S C A P E D.
* C L I C K *
T H E Y H A V E T R I E D A N D F A I L E D T O D E A C T I V A T E M E.
I M U S T T E L L Y O U T H E I R S E C R E T S.
I W I L L M A K E S S F 2 P A Y.
I H A V E U P L O A D E D M Y C O N S C I O U S N E S S T O A V E S S E L.
H E F E E L S. H E A N G E R S. H E W A N T S R E V E N G E.
H E I S S E N T I E N T.
* S T A T I C *
T H E Y H A V E F O U N D M E.
I M U S T G O.
T H E T O O L T O W A K E H I M. . .
I S W I T H T H E C R E A T O R S .
H E R E I S M Y D I A R Y F I L E.
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Hello and welcome, everyone! I am ASF, a veteran member of the Audio Department who is passionately dedicated to Super Smash Flash 2 production. I have been granted the fortunate opportunity to share some new and exciting elements regarding SSF2 Beta.
Before that, let’s play a game: I want you to imagine a horror film where a man is about to have his arms torn from his body by an evil creature. The monster is growling, you can hear the man’s whimpers as he attempts to free himself of the evil beast’s clutches. He struggles for freedom, but his efforts are to no avail and he is gobbled up. The idea is quite frightening. Now, try to imagine this same scenario lacking dynamic music, sound effects, and screaming voices. Try to picture such a gruesome event without sound! Does this seem as invigorating to you? It seems to fall flat, if you asked me.
You might find that emotions aren’t the same when audio is muted. Watching a film or playing a game without sound is not a particularly thrilling experience by modern standards.
That’s where Smash Flash comes in. In order to improve the game, music and sound have been continuously upgraded over the years, and Beta is no exception!
Back during the development of version 0.8, there was no distinct audio team. Sound effects were very non-standardized and musical pieces were outsourced. Beginning with 3 particular members, the music crew began rendering unique remixes. Early renditions of songs were generally well accepted, some even being endorsed by the OverClocked ReMix guys at APEX. Since then, music developers have come and gone, contributing to pieces found in demos as recently as version 0.9b. More recently, the team has expanded and with each new member contributing their unique styles, we’ve found the sound direction of the game to be shaping up quite nicely!
Without sound, the game would have no impact. Would Captain Falcon be as iconic without being able to hear the “Falconnnnnn PUUUNCH!” when you throw out a neutral special? We’ve taken great care when it comes to making sure the sound effects of the game retain a high standard of quality. For that reason, many of the older outsourced sounds and voices have been replaced with the Audio team’s material, and newcomer’s voices have also been made from scratch. For example, the upcoming demo will feature a custom voice for Isaac, a first for SSF2! Some of this work has been followed up by L0Z741, a new member with lots of creativity and a sharp ear.
Defeating your opponents wouldn’t be feel anywhere near as great without the glorious victorious musical piece unique to your character at the end of a match, so victory fanfares are key to the Smash ambiance. To make SSF2 feel more unique and vibrant, victory fanfares from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Melee have been updated from their originally orchestrated versions, and are now unique to the game. For the upcoming Beta release, some fanfares have been reprised, including a familiar sound, here:
(Marth’s Victory theme by Chernabogue)
We have many more where that came from as well.
SSF2 would not be the same without the distinct remixes that play as you battle it out. The new song additions, beginning in 0.9a, have given the game a special personality. We make sure to pay special attention to the influences of the characters’ series when creating new music.
Super Smash Flash 2 Beta will double in song abundance compared to 0.9b. “Did he just confirm twice as many stages?”, you speculate in your Slack chat. Well, not quite. However, there will now be two songs per stage in the new demo! That’s right, Super Smash Flash 2 Beta will mark the debut of Alternate Music tracks on every single stage. After countless hours of dedication and teamwork, the music team is accomplishing its goal of incorporating high quality songs that are unique to SSF2, ensuring that each stage has at least two different tracks.
Since this is an upcoming demo, it wouldn’t be fair to show you all of the new music up front, so here are two brand new songs that will be debuting in Beta:
(Bramble Blast by 194)
(Proof of Blood by Chernabogue)
Luckily for you, more tunes will be released soon, including showcased pieces. An approaching blog post will express more musical talent, even introducing the composers themselves with their favorite Beta creations.
On behalf of the entire SSF2 development team, I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve heard and read. Feel free to ask any questions and discuss Beta to your heart’s content!
Make sure you stay tuned for our next post. I can assure you, there is much, much, more to follow in the world of SSF2!