Just like Mario Kart, Smash Bros. is a game best experienced in the company of friends. On 3DS you could play locally, but each player needed their own 3DS and a copy of the game to play. Four people sitting around staring at their own 3DS just isn't the same as crowding around a big screen and trash talking with your buddies. Smash Bros. on Wii U reminds us just how amazing the communal aspect of the game can be — and then it takes it to another level.

An insane game even at its tamest

Smash Bros. is an insane game even at its tamest. It's a game where you can throw a hive at Luigi to unleash a swarm of bees, or knock Bowser hundreds of feet in the air by kicking a soccer ball at his face. When four players are on screen, the frantic pace and unrelenting action — there are levels that are constantly in motion and a steady barrage of special items — makes it hard to keep track of things. At times I just push buttons and hope for the best because I can't even find my character on the screen.

With eight people playing simultaneously, it's hard to even put into words. There's just so much happening at once, so fast. Eight-player Smash Bros. might be the craziest, most intense video game experience I've had in years — but it's also amazing. Maybe it's the sheer novelty, but having so many people playing in the same room on the same TV was so much fun. Trash talking and in-game surprises, like an accidental explosion that kills everyone, are that much better with more people.

But like multiplayer on 3DS, it takes a lot of hardware to play Smash Bros. with eight people. Luckily, the game has a huge range of control options, including Gamepads, Wii remotes, and even a 3DS. Rounding up all of those controllers can be expensive, so it's probably easier if your next Smash Bros. party is BYOC (bring your own controller). Everyone has their own preference, too, but for me it’s a Gamecube controller. Nintendo has released a $20 adapter that lets you use Gamecube controllers with your Wii U (though Smash Bros is the only supported game at the moment), and once you do it's hard to go back. Those shoulder buttons are just so deep and clicky that I don't want to use anything else.

The newest Smash Bros. is also surprisingly great to play by yourself. You have old standby modes like Classic (where you battle a series of opponents capped off by an annoyingly difficult boss) and All-Star (where you battle through Nintendo's history, fighting groups of characters from different time periods). But there's also an amazing new mode called Events, which gives you a huge range of very specific tasks to complete. These range from defeating a stage filled with Pikachus to putting everyone on screen to sleep using Jigglypuff's singing. One section pits all of the fastest characters against one another and then ramps up the speed considerably. Events does an amazing job of taking the core Smash Bros. gameplay and adding a fresh new spin on it, and there's even a multiplayer version so you can take on weird challenges with friends.