I didn't expect to like Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS this much.

Nintendo's signature fighting game series, which brings together dozens of familiar and obscure game characters in chaotic four-player battles, has charmed casual players and hardcore fighting game aficionados alike. The 2001 version for GameCube, Super Smash Bros. Melee, has been so perennially popular with fans that it was a featured game at this year's EVO tournament. But the follow-up for Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, was roundly rejected by that same community. It was slow and clunky, with none of the depth or fast-paced gameplay of its predecessor, and it introduced several mechanics that annoyed everyone.

Going into the latest Smash Bros., which will be released October 3 for the portable 3DS (a Wii U version follows later this year), I had little faith it would recapture the magic.

I've never been happier to be wrong.

Smash Bros. is defined by its plethora of nostalgic references and goofy items culled from Nintendo's 125-year history. It's a love letter to the company's past and its fans. The game features more playable characters than its predecessors, adding Nintendo favorites like Little Mac from Punch-Out!! and icons like Mega Man and Pac-Man from other publishers.

In previous games, the character balance was out of whack. Even in Melee, the game favored by pros, some appealing fan-favorite characters were nearly useless in a competitive setting. The ability to play as Ganondorf, the all-powerful antagonist of the Legend of Zelda series, was intoxicating, but he turned out to be a paper tiger.

Only months, perhaps years, of constant play will truly reveal if this has been remedied. But based on my experience so far, the development team meticulously considered every returning character, adjusting their moves and attributes to be more fairly balanced in relation to the rest of the game's extensive cast. This is great for hardcore players, and even better for casual players who simply want to play as their favorite character without handicapping themselves.

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A feature added to Wii's Brawl returns: The ability to perform Final Smash attacks, a kind of ultimate super move for each character that is hugely damaging and a hilarious homage to that character's history. Pac-Man becomes a screen-encompassing 8-bit sprite, munching everything in his path. Dr. Mario unleashes a fury of colorful medicinal pills.

There are other references that are even more obscure. One item summons what appear to be the ball and paddles from Pong but is actually a reference to Nintendo's own Japan-exclusive knockoff version from the 1970's game, "Color TV Game 15." Other items are merely annoying, though. Take the beetle (please!). In the Wii game The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Link used the small, flying gadget to retrieve distant objects. In Smash you can use it to carry your opponent off the screen to their death.

The first time I got beetled, I laughed hard. “What a silly thing,” I thought. The second time, I made a face like someone had insulted my mother. The third time, I quit the match, went into the options, and turned the beetle off. If you take one thing away from my story, let it be this: The beetle is bullshit. This is not like Super Mario Kart in which the Blue Shell is a part of the game that we all dislike but manage to accept. The beetle is the devil's handiwork. It is what you see in your worst nightmares. If you come to my house and insist on keeping the beetle on, I will insist that you leave. Later, I learned that you send the beetle back toward your opponent, and keep it going that way like pong. I don't care. It's the worst.

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The most striking difference between Super Smash Bros. on 3DS and its Wii predecessor is that the new game is a lot faster. No, it's not quite as fast as Melee was in 2001. But within seconds of starting my first match, I was pulling some lengthy and intricate combo moves. I'm not a pro level player, and I often make silly mistakes, but even I could tell this is a more fluid, responsive game than the sluggish Wii version.

I'm less excited about Smash Bros.' new stages. Many of my favorite moments in previous games are related to the settings, fighting arenas drawn from familiar places in Nintendo's classic games. Launching someone off the edge of Kirby's Dream Land, for example, or throwing people into the streets in Earthbound's scenic town of Onett. I don't see myself making any memories like that with the 3DS version's new stages. The one based on Nintendo's classic Balloon Fight contains too many annoying gimmicks that distract from the fighting. Gaur Plains, a recreation of a level in the role-playing game Xenoblade Chronicles, is way too big, turning matches into drawn-out games of tag.

That aside, Smash Bros. on 3DS excels not because it does anything new, but because it goes back to what worked. It's packed with enough content and fanservice to please the most jaded of Nintendo fans, and it returns to the frenetic, high-speed action that higher-level players loved so much.

To hell with that beetle, though.