Don’t forget to feed the mailbag so Yoshi-EGGS doesn't go all maverick renegade on us and bust out of his Kuribo's Shoe and mess fools up.

Leo writes:

First, there's something you need to know about me: most of my gaming is done either by myself or with my wife and kids. In other words, I rarely play online with other people. With Smash Bros. coming out I was really hoping the 3DS version would have download play so that I could pay the $40 one time and the whole family would be able to play.

Since that's not the case, I'm considering getting Kirby Fighters instead for 3DS and Smash Bros. for Wii U. That way, instead of paying $160 to play Smash on 3DS plus $60 to play it on Wii U ($220 total for one game), I'll pay $7 for Kirby Fighters, which DOES have download play, so we can all play off the one copy, and then pay $60 for Smash (for a total of $67).

Will I be happy with this solution?

Well Leo, I’m certainly not a Yoshi who’s in the habit of telling people how to spend their money (though I can put you in touch with a Magikoopa who moonlights as a financial adviser—just don’t let Bowser find out). I’m also not a psychic, so I can’t say how happy you’ll be with any particular outcome, but I think your solution sounds perfectly sensible given your family’s circumstances.

The primary issue here relates to how you see the two venues for family brawling—console and portable—complementing each other in practice. At a glance, it does seem like Kirby Fighters Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U would make the better pairing for you; Kirby’s major deficiency relative to Smash lies in its much narrower range of content, but you’ll be getting that sort of stuff on Wii U anyway, while Kirby provides what Smash does not on 3DS: the chance to fight family battles using portables with only one unit of software being required. Taking into account the price disparity that you pointed out earlier, it’s hard to argue against this solution for you and your family.

Still, there is one reason why you may want to hold off a little longer before pulling the trigger on Kirby Fighters. You see, Nintendo has been a bit tight-lipped about what (other than stages) will make the Wii U version of Smash Bros. different from its portable counterpart. For instance, what will substitute for the 3DS-exclusive Smash Run mode? This lack of detail also means that there’s still uncertainty about how the two versions might enhance one another; some connectivity features have been confirmed (such as using a 3DS as a controller for playing on Wii U), but we don’t know the full extent of them yet, or how Amiibo may fit into all this. Not to mention that we still don’t have an official release date!

It is of course to be expected that Nintendo wouldn’t want to overshadow the 3DS game by talking about its big brother in the run-up to launch, though I suppose this could also be taken as an indication that the console version will simply sit alongside the portable one rather than complementing it in a meaningful way. In any case, if the projections of a pre-Black Friday US release for Smash Bros. Wii U are correct, we’re probably only a few weeks away from some of these details becoming apparent as the hype machine for the console version finally kicks into top gear.

Admittedly, there only seems to be a slight chance that we’ll discover something about the two versions of Smash Bros. that would make the 3DS game look more desirable to you than Kirby Fighters despite its lack of download play. Still, I think it might be worth waiting at least a few more weeks before making a final decision just in case; after all, stranger things have happened, right? (Duck Hunt Dog says “hi” and then laughs at you). Don’t forget, the free demo for Smash Bros. 3DS is now available to everyone and has no usage limit attached to it, so that could be used to settle any family quarrels taking place in the interim.