Cowa-Sequential

Super Smash Brothers is back and now portable with Super Smash Bros. 4 3DS. Super Smash Bros. 3DS is the portable version of the Wii U console game that has just been released. Not having yet taken the plunge on Nintendo's newest console, I am left with the 3DS version. If what you wanted was Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the go, Mashiro Sakurai and Nintendo have delivered exactly what you have ordered. I can't help be impressed by the sheer amount of content that has been put into this game. The character  roster is expansive as is the stage count with special attention to the F-Zero Super Nintendo themed stage. In actual overall content, I would place it between Melee and Brawl. While the game is lacking Brawl's expansive adventure mode, Smash Run, Classic, and All-Star modes provide a quick but familiar burst of fun. The graphics are among the most fluid I've seen during my limited experience with the console and the 3D effect does provide some added depth. H

Besides Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel's other great success in 2014 was the launch of  the new Ms. Marvel comic series. Ms. Marvel, the newest incarnation of the titular hero stars Pakistani-American Kamala Khan. Kamala Khan is a Muslim high-schooler from Jersey City who gains superpowers upon encountering a mysterious gas. While I am weary of Marvel's other attempts at 'diversity', Ms. Marvel is an interesting series in both tone and art style. In a medium often accused of one-dimensional characterization, and gender objectification, Ms. Marvel oozes personality, and creates a world which feels far more real than the rather cardboard Gotham City. The comic art is drawn in a way that gives the comic a somewhat grungy feel that one can reach out and touch it. The cartoonish style matches a hero who's primary power is shape shifting.   The series has also been a critical and financial success for Marvel and Kamala Khan proves to be a worthy entry into Marvel