Metroid Database.com

Greetings, all, and Happy Smash Day to everyone! At least those of you living in North America, anyway. Today marks the long awaited - initial - release of Super Smash Bros. Wii U, latest in the seminal line of Nintendo's world famous cacophonous character crossover confrontations. Front and center is our own in-amber-clad First Lady of Gaming, Samus herself! She's joined by 48 other distinguished gaming icons, 41 frequently crazy stages, and hundreds of battle items, trophies, and easter eggs culled from dozens of different franchises - from Nintendo and beyond. Super Smash Bros. Wii U promises to be the single largest repository of interactive gaming nostalgia yet seen in the industry, and is the only place where players can pit the likes of Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, and Pac-Man head-to-head to settle that ages old question: Who's the better character?

For those of you across the ponds, worry not! You'll be smashing in no time! Smash Bros. Wii U will release next in Europe on November 28, Australia the next day on November 29, and finally in Japan about a week later on December 6. The wait may be brutal, but not long!

Until such a time as we're all smashing each other into brightly colored virtual oblivion, consider heading on over to our forums, where we have a long-lived and heavily trafficked Smash Brothers thread dedicated solely to all things smashing. Feel free to compliment, critique, complain, and compare everything from the brief but endlessly fun series alongside our modest community, many of whom live, eat, and breath all things Smash.

Last - but not least - should the wait prove unbearable, or should you need your brawl on the go, let us not forget Super Smash Bros. is also on the 3DS! Some may consider it little more than a precursor to it's console counterpart, but a sizable community has already formed around the game, and many of us here actively engage each other on the handheld. Nintendo seems determined to keep us smashing wherever we may be.

Also launching alongside Smash Bros. Wii U is Nintendo's ambitious new merchandising initiative: Amiibo! Starting with twelve adorable little figurines, and designed primarily with Smash Bros. in mind for now, Amiibo represents Nintendo's gradual foray into the realm of character driven physical DLC, similar to the likes of Skylanders and Disney's Infinity series.

Helping headline this new project is once again Samus, fully armored and standing tall amongst her peers!
(Click to enlarge)

The exact functionality of each figure is specifically game dependent, but many are promised to work across multiple titles, not just a single game, which can make things a little confusing and difficult to keep track of. Thankfully, we here at the MDb have you fans covered with our handy - and regularly updated - guide to all known things Amiibo on our forums!

For Smash Bros. specifically, all twelve initial figures allow players to train respective virtual fighters, customizing moves, building stats, fighting against them directly, or pitting them against other player's Amiibo fighters. The character data is stored directly to the figure itself, allowing for easy pick-up-and-play across multiple consoles, should you ever want to challenge a friend directly in their own home, or anywhere else beyond your living room.

A few other games known to support Amiibo are Mario Kart 8, where the various figures unlock character costumes for Mii racers; and Hyrule Warriors, where the Link figure will unlock a brand new weapon type for him in-game. At present, exact functionality for many games remains unknown, but Nintendo is committed moving forward to making each Amiibo figure a worthwhile investment. For now, they can at least serve as nice little collectables, particularly for many of the characters on offer who rarely - if ever - receive any official merchandise, much like Samus herself, unfortunately.

Wrapping up the days announcements: Metroid II: The Return of Samus is now available as a 3DS Nintendo Club reward! Perhaps not the most exhilarating of Metroid news, but regardless, for 150 coins this fine - if not underrated - entry in the franchise can be yours. Alternatively, you can pick it up on the 3DS eShop for $3.99 USD or your local equivalent. Should you still be wanting for more alien blasting/exotic world exploring excellence, the original Metroid is available on both the 3DS and Wii U eShop for $4.99 USD, and Super Metroid is available on the Wii U eShop for $7.99 USD.

Until next time there's something of interest to report in the world of Metroid,

GEOMETRY!
--Apothem