Dillon's Rolling Western (universe)

Dillon's Rolling Western (universe)
Developer(s)	Vanpool
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Genre(s)	Action-Adventure Tower Defense
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo eShop)
First installment	Dillon's Rolling Western (2012)
Latest installment	Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers (2018)

The Dillon's Rolling Western universe (ザ・ローリング・ウエスタン, The Rolling Western) is a universe that is represented in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Franchise description

The original game, titled Dillon's Rolling Western, released exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS eShop on February 12, 2012. The game was notable at the time for being an early high profile download-only title on 3DS. The game stars the titular character, Dillon, as he saves villages from the Grocks, golem-like monsters that have a love for eating livestock. Gameplay primarily consists of Dillon fighting the Grocks with various attacks in fast paced actions stages. When said stages are over, gameplay shifts into more of a tower defense game where the player must repair and fortify the villages in preperation for the next attack. The game received a highly mixed reception. The game was praised for its presentation, smooth gameplay and innovative mixing of genres. However, the game was criticized for its severe difficulty spikes and its specific, unchangeable control scheme putting left-handed players at an unfair disadvantage.

A sequel titled Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger was again released on the 3DS eShop on April 11, 2013. The game was similar to the previous entry with minor tweaks and improvements. The game also saw the addition of partners, which can be commanded to farm minerals before Grock raids and help battle Grocks during raids. The game did receive slightly better reviews because of this, but still had a mixed reception due to the sameness and lack of major improvements.

Another sequel titled Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers released in 2018 for 3DS, this time having a proper physical release, except in North America which once again went digital only. The tone has since been shifted to a darker, post-apocalyptic setting akin to Mad Max as a way to shake up the series. Additionally, the partners from the previous game were replaced with Mii characters, who are depicted as anthropomorphic animals to fit the setting. The game was initially going to be a racing game, but that version was later scrapped, though some elements were added to the final release as a bonus mini game. The game has been regarded as the best in the series with a refreshing tone and major improvements to the formula, but still is not considered great due to repetitive and confusing design choices that were held over from previous entries. As of the shutdown of the 3DS eShop on March 27th, 2023, the entire series can no longer be legally purchased or downloaded save for physical copies of Dead-Heat Breakers, though the 3DS is region locked and would require modding to play the game on a system from a different region.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

The Dillon's Rolling Western universe made its debut in Super Smash Bros. 4, with Dillon appearing as an assist trophy and one track sourced from Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger.

Assist Trophy

Dillon: He appears in Smash 4 as an assist trophy, but was first shown as a regular trophy during development.

Music

Source tracks

• "Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger": The daytime theme, sourced from Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger. It plays on the Pilotwings stage.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

The Dillon's Rolling Western universe returns in this game with more content, in addition to Smash 4's content. Dillon returns as an assist trophy, along with spirits, and one new music track.

Assist Trophy

Dillon: Reappears as an assist trophy, functioning the same as in Smash 4.

Music

Source tracks

• "Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger": The daytime theme from Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger, returns from Smash 4.
• "Frontier Battle": Plays in the overworld during a Grock invasion, sourced from Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers.

Spirits

Both Dillon and Russ appear as spirits

Primary spirit

No.	Image	Name	Type	Class	Slots	Base	Max	Base	Max	Base	Max	Ability
1,262		Dillon		★★★	2	2790	8393	1368	4116	1315	3955	Speed ↑

Support spirit

No.	Image	Name	Class	Cost	Ability
1,263		Russ	★	1	Rocket Belt Equipped

Games with elements appearing in the Super Smash Bros. series

Dillon's Rolling Western

• Assist Trophy:
  • Dillon appears as an assist trophy.
• Spirits:
  • Dillon and Russ appear as spirits.

Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger

• Trophy:
  • Gallo, Boone, and Nomad appear as a single trophy.
• Music:
  • "Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger": The daytime theme, sourced from the game.

Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers

• Assist Trophy:
  • Dillon's design in Ultimate comes from this game.
• Spirits:
  • Dillon and Russ use artwork from this game.
• Music:
  • "Frontier Battle": Plays in the overworld during a Grock invasion, sourced from Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers.

Trivia

• Prior to the addition of the Miiverse stage, Dillon's Rolling Western was the newest major universe (represented by a character, stage, item, or Assist Trophy) to be represented in Super Smash Bros. 4, with an initial date of February 2012.
• Dillon's Rolling Western is the only Assist Trophy-based universe introduced in Super Smash Bros. 4 to have solely been developed by a second-party developer (being Vanpool).
  • However, Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru, while primarily developed by Nintendo R&D1, was co-developed by Intelligent Systems.
• Similarly to Pilotwings Resort, Miis play a predominant role in the third installment of the Dillon's Rolling Western series, Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers. However, despite Pilotwings being considered a Mii universe in the Spirits collection, the same does not apply to Dillon's Rolling Western.