The Cold, The Prince and the Realm of Animals!

Fortunately, I was somehow able to pull myself away from the greatest thing ever long enough to write today's entry, so let's get down to business, shall we?

What's cooler than being ice cold? Ice Climbers

Perhaps it's their non-assuming appearances, or perhaps they're strategically worthless, but I've always received the notion from the Smash Bros. community at large that the Ice Climbers (of Ice Climber) are not terribly cared for. But I've never been swayed by common opinion; I love me the Smash-tastic Duo. They have a super-unique mechanic, they represent an older time of gaming, and they're bloody precious.

So the question comes down to, what can we do to reinvigorate the Ice Climbers a bit? Aside from some sharper partner AI, and possibly a "revenge" mode for the Climber left behind will help balance them out structurally, but what about new tricks? How about needing to knock them both out to get a full KO? Is that too broken? It feels unfair to sometimes be punished by your partner not being present for the Up-B recovery, and dying for nothing. What if you had a mechanic to swap between the climbers at will, allowing you to perform switch-ups if you think you can't recover because your partner was left on the platform? You would still have to A: pull the switch off and B: not get killed while your partner stands mindlessly on the platform. These are some thoughts to try and spice up their mechanics while making them more viable, although as I said, my perception could be off and they could be some miraculous top tier team in which case none of what I just said should really happen.

For an alternate costume, I think it would be cute to dress them up like Hammer Bros.

The Fuzziest Newcomer - Prince Fluff

Prince Fluff is interesting. When thinking about Kirby, I had to come to a decision on whether or not Kirby should be converted to his Epic Yarn self, and as much as I'm in love with that concept, this felt like the stronger idea: just use Prince Fluff. He can specifically represent the Epic Yarn thread, letting Kirby stay the power house that he is, while still bringing all that mind-meltingly adorable powers that come from Epic Yarn.

Fluff has it all; yarn whips, turning into a weight (made of yarn!) and dropping down, turning into a car for his dash; there's nothing this Sultan of String can't do. Smash Attacks? Got those too: he turns into a giant yarn tank and starts shooting missiles at people. Of course, as I learned from Fox, that might not be great, so perhaps turning into a UFO and flying around collecting gems to charge himself up for big AOE nuke attacks works, too.

And he's got all the threads. What if, for an alternate costume, Prince Fluff was instead made out of a 2D drawing Paper Mario style? I can hear your panties melting from here.

Animal Crossing - The City

The most iconic piece of the most recent Animal Crossing game makes a fairly effective stage. Pulled back enough, it could allow for tons of cameos and random happenings on in the lower part of the screen, while the architecture of the building tops makes for a solid fighting structure. Honestly, I admit I'm reaching a bit here, because it's hard to top the absolutely perfect idea of "Smashville," but it's either this or you're some miniaturized characters playing in an Animal Crossing person's house on top of the Blue Furniture Set.

Part of me thinks it would be more interesting to have Animal Crossing represented as a sort of Hub World in Smash Bros., rather than a stage itself. But I've also had this idea for Nintendo Consoles. Basically, instead of a standard menu, you have a small town and an Animal Crossing villager to run around it. The game of Animal Crossing is still very much built right into it, although maybe in a slightly reduced fashion, but you access things like your game, different apps or menu options by going to different parts in the town, or your house. In the case of a Smash Bros. game, it could have Animal Crossing companions introducing sections of the menu like what's in the vault or the online play. Tom Nook could sell you items like trophies and custom map parts in the store, and K.K. Slider shows up on Saturday Nights to play you a ballad. It's, admittedly, a terrible idea for an interface, but it always had a strange charm to me.

Crossing Over - The Music of Animal Crossing - The City

Animal Crossing - Rainy Day Theme

For some reason, Smash Bros Brawl included absolutely -no- music from the original Animal Crossing (unless you count the K.K. Slider songs, which were in both). Well I say this time, we fix that, because the original game had the better soundtrack. Featured in said soundtrack was the Rainy Day theme, which should play whenever Smash Bros.: TNG detects rainy weather on your Weather Channel app, provided the WiiU can still do that.

Animal Crossing - K.K. D and B

If any one K.K. Slider track gets the brilliant "Go K.K. Rider!" treatment from Brawl, it's ""K.K. Drum and Bass." It's always the first song I get in Animal Crossing, next to "Surfin' K.K."

Animal Crossing: City Folk - The City

I suppose if I have The City is a setting, it should also be a song, eh? There are multiple versions of the song that cover the various general times of day (morning, night, etc.) and it would be superbly appropriate if the version that played depended on your system clock.

Animal Crossing: City Folk - Shampoodle

Guilty pleasure time. I fucking love this song.

Animal Crossing 3DS: Trailer Theme

Somebody made a nice midi compilation of the theme from the trailers, and I thought it was unique enough to include it here, as a bit of forward thinking! It's a pleasant little track, and just hearing it makes me want the new Animal Crossing.

Alright, all of this Animal Crossing talk has me super nostalgic. After losing literally all of my towns, however, I don't have a home to go back to. So here's to holding out for Animal Crossing 3DS. In the mean time, what do you think of my Smash ideas thus far?

And if you're from Reddit: welcome! I hear my boyfriend sent you. Isn't he the best?

-Make it a good one.