Hey boys and girls! Did you miss me last week? Cause I sure missed writing up the latest Smashing Saturdays, but even I need something more to work with than the little we got last time. As such, this installment of Smashing Saturdays will be a bit of a recap on top of the usual stuff. Also, we’ll be on hiatus again the following week, since I will be helping cover PAX West. Finally, I will close things out today with an all new Character of the Week, just to spice things up. So let’s get Smashing!

While it’s true the majority of last week’s posts were just Direct rehash, there was one nugget that was new, and that was the reveal of Abra. This Psychic pokémon was shown off in previous trailers, but we got some concrete details this time. In the Pokémon games, everybody knows Abra doesn’t attack, all he does is teleport away from harm. Well, in Ultimate he’ll instead teleport you INTO harm! He might even teleport you off the stage. Sounds like fun to me!

To recap the rest of last week, I’ll just be showing off a series of character videos.

More proof that Richter is the best of the Belmonts!

Chrom may be a mere echo, but he still has style and swagger to spare.

Dark Samus is an echo, but she’s a really sexy and dangerous one. Definitely my favorite of these new clone characters. Now that we’re all caught up, let’s move onto this week’s posts.

This week started with everybody’s favorite serial killer, Villager! This highly technical fighter is one I don’t personally play that often, since excelling with him requires tilts that I’m just not good at. However, his eclectic range of special moves makes him an interesting brawler, and one I’m happy to have back.

Sure, Dark Pit is the bad version, but he’s still the one I prefer. And it’s not just cause he’s a rebel, it’s cause his attacks hit harder, and his decreased speed makes him easier to control than regular Pit. Plus, there’s just something endearing about fallen angels.

There’s a lot of great music from Fire Emblem, but this next song is the first one to show up in Smash from Fire Emblem Heroes. Which is perhaps why I’m not super enthusiastic about it. Sure, not every song from Fire Emblem can be a sweeping dramatic melody, but this one just feels particularly bland. To see what I mean, just click here.

Togedemaru may be just another Pikachu clone, but in Smash Bros he looks to pack quite a punch. Granted, he’s not exactly new, since he was in the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game, but he looks even more powerful this time around. Electroshock therapy is good for the soul, right?

Every generation of Smash has one weirdo character, and Duck Hunt was most assuredly the one from the last generation. It’s one of those characters that makes you scratch your head, but which somehow just works. Or at least it does for a few of my friends, who can absolutely devastate me as Duck Hunt. This dynamic duo is even more packed with dangerous explosives than Snake, and that’s saying something…

Sure, you can make fun of his name, or the way he dresses, or his haughty demeanor, but I still love Alucard. Symphony of the Night made a dramatic impact on me as a young gamer, and I’m glad he managed to show up in Smash Bros, even if it’s just as an Assist Trophy. That said, he looks to really put the hurt on foes with his sword, and I love that he will transform into a bat to charge at far off foes. Sure I’d prefer if he was playable, but I’m not complaining.

Character of the Week

Donkey Kong

Though King K. Rool recently revitalized my interest in the Donkey Kong Country series, I’ve been a fan of the big banana for a while now. That wasn’t always the case, though. DK is tricky to play, since he’s slow and has no projectiles. But despite being a big brute, he’s surprisingly nimble. Once I learned to roll and punch, he became a lot more fun. When you factor in his devastating grabs and punches, he goes into a category all his own. I learned to start enjoying DK in Brawl, and really grew to like him on the Wii U / 3DS version (which still needed a subtitle, but I digress). It’s my fervent hope that he’s even more fun in Ultimate, and the fact he has a new Final Smash doesn’t hurt at all. I wasn’t a fan of his musical Final Smash, and the way he unloads with punch after punch now looks amazing. Sure, he still doesn’t have any ranged attacks, but that doesn’t mean he’s not worth playing.

Thanks again for your patience, and please be sure to return for the latest Smashing Saturdays the first Saturday after PAX West is all over. I’ll be sure to have an extra special installment for everybody!