Dillon's Rolling Western (universe)

The Dillon's Rolling Western universe (, 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. The tone has since been shifted to a darker, post-apocalyptic setting akin to  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.

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 .

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

Source Tracks

 * "": 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.

Source Tracks

 * "": The daytime theme from Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger, returns from Smash 4.
 * "'''": Plays in the overworld during a Grock invasion, sourced from '.

Spirits
Both Dillon and Russ appear as spirits


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


 * Trophy:
 * Gallo, Boone, and Nomad appear as a single trophy.
 * Music:
 * "": The daytime theme, sourced from the game.


 * Assist Trophy:
 * Dillon's design in Ultimate comes from this game.
 * Spirits:
 * Dillon and Russ use artwork from this game.
 * Music:
 * "": 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,, while primarily developed by Nintendo R&D1, was co-developed by Intelligent Systems.
 * Similarly to 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  universe in the Spirits collection, the same does not apply to Dillon's Rolling Western.

Dillon's Rolling Western (universo)