Coliseum

Smash as a series has always been a very technical, high-execution fighter. This can make it a bit hard for newer players to pick up the game and get into the action. Luckily, Super Smash Academy exists, and they’re devoted to breaking down potentially confusing and complex mechanics for anyone to easily pick up.

In their most recent video, they talk about Powershielding, a technique similar to Parrying in Street Fighter III. The folks at Super Smash Academy dissect this technique and its applications across all of the Smash titles, while also offering a look at the difference it can make in some specific matchups.

On their channel other helpful videos can be found, such as a breakdown of Ledge Gaurding and Wave Dashing.

Source: Super Smash Academy

Super Smash Bros. Brawl ended up being one of the most hacked console games we’ve ever seen. It took years to get it to the point of large-scale mods like Project M, but as luck would have it, modding for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is already picking up steam, and is well on its way to catching up to its predecessor.

For starters, there’s no shortage of skin/texture mods available for the newest entry in the series, and we’ve already figured out how to replace voice clips for individual costumes as well. You can check out a couple of examples of this with these Goku and Shadow the Hedgehog options. While replacing costumes in Brawl had some pretty strict limits, Smash 4 actually features a whopping 263 available costume slots for each character.

Some additional skins available for download include Quint from Mega Man II on Game Boy, a recolor based on Mega Man 1’s infamous boxart, and DeadMK even brings us… erm… Grand Dad Mario?

But costumes and voices aren’t the only things being modded; character moveset modifications are also possible, with one of the most interesting examples definitely being Ganondorf equipped with Witch Time.

If you’re looking to expand your collection of tournament viable stages, check out Drake Blight’s hazard-free stage variants. Custom music is entirely possible as well, and every character can even have their own distinct victory jingle! At the moment, you have to replace existing tracks, but the ability to add new music slots is well underway.

If you want to do some exploring on your own, you can find some great stuff at Smash4Mods. In the event that you find something you absolutely need to install, but you’re new to the mod installation process, this comprehensive guide from TS4M will help get your started. If you’d prefer to create your own mods, but don’t know where to start, you can find a guide for that here.

Before the close of this article, we would like to stress that creating and installing mods of any kind does come with inherent risks. Please keep this in mind before attempting any modifications of your own.

Sources: KTH, SonicBrawler, TS4M, Drake Blight, VaanRose, Dead MK, and a big thanks to TheDinoman of NeoGAF for helping with this roundup and taking some awesome screencaps.