I know this isn’t technically a 72PC game, but I figure it’s ok since a majority of the characters in Brawl were birthed by the womb of the old school… so here goes. I recall playing the original Super Smash Bros. It was a style of game that had, until that point, gone untapped. Granted, nobody else would be able to do it, really. Seeing as it is an idea that requires a plethora of recognizable characters. The idea is, as Zero Punctuation put it, masturbatory of it’s own characters. Recycled and recycled again. But Nintendo can do that because they have the attendance list to do it. Back to the past, I became a Smash addict. Years later, Melee came about and I was Gamecubeless. Thus, I kinda fell behind in the Smash game for some time. Roughly a year and a half (possibly a whole two years) before Brawl came out, I had to learn to play Melee quickly and effectively. I forced myself to play with several people who were way better than me and speed up the remembering process. After only a 2 month period I was back in full swing. Keep it mind it had been MANY years since I had even played the first one. It came down to me getting sick of having my ass handed to me on a platter and hit in the face with it. I had honed my skills with Link (the most comfortable transition into Melee) and eventually switched to Sheik (the Red Death). Knowing I had to get geared for Brawl, I knew getting used to the faster physics of Melee was the only way to aid me in my quest. However, the change in physics from Melee to Brawl was unexpected at first. Everybody had become very floaty (even Luigi became floatier) and my newly learned skill, the wave/land-dash, was no longer accessible. I had prior knowledge of this, but I didn’t really calculate it until I had to play without it. It wasn’t really a problem, but you have to understand the amount of time I spent to learn these skills. Once I had I was able to zip around and give people a good crack in the mouth (care of Sheik’s forearm) several times before I let them touch the ground. But, despite the time spent, I’m glad the wave-dash is gone. It was, by all means, a glitch that caused the user to become a god of destruction on screen. It was a devastatingly unfair means of pure punishment. Now that it’s gone, the playing field has been leveled and it’s REALLY time to have some fun. Let’s get to the icing on the fist-shaped cake. “Subspace Emissary” was a creative way to get used to the tricks of the trade. A lot of people complained about it, saying it was “too lenghty” and a waste of time since you can unlock characters playing regular Brawls. Which is true to a degree, but I liked “Subspace” if only because it strayed from the known formula of Smash. Though it did seem to go on forever, it set the story and I like me some story. Brawl includes the usual additional gameplay (i.e. Events, Stadium, Training, etc.), but also has some new things to add to the mix. Demos of classic Nintendo games, a list of games from systems ranging from Game & Watch to the Wii. And, of course, there is the Stage Builder. I won’t even go into why that is so much fun because it should be blatant to even the most useless puddle of sap. You can take screen shots, watch replays and pick up stickers… because you’re six! I haven’t had the chance to play online just yet, but that will be remedied soon. But from what I hear it’s fun as long as it isn’t an FFA match. At that point it supposedly lags like a liquored up grandma rolling a joint. Now I’ll list my favorite new characters and why they’re sweet
- Ike: The Hands-Down Badass of Brawl. From the Fire Emblem games, he wields a big, golden sword that gives new meaning to “rape.” Although the weight of the sword can slow him down, if you’re on your heels he can deal some MASSIVE damage. He’s pretty much all strenght with enough stealth to make him a huge problem on the battlefield.
- Wario: No surprise, Wario’s my boy. Actually Waluigi’s my boy, but he’s only an assist trophy in this game (which, if you didn’t know, means he can be summoned to assist whoever picks it up). I was expecting Wario’s fighting style to be similar to the Mario Bros., but since he is technically the “WarioWare” version he’s very cartoony. He leaps way better than you think someone as stocky as he is would be able to. He can pull a motorcycle out of his pocket, which can be the difference between life and death… and it’s easy to be an asshole with it. You can bite people and fart (which can hurt both player and pride), sending them to Deathville.
- R.O.B.: I don’t really play as R.O.B. a whole lot, but he’s worth noting because he looks so god damn clunky and stupid. It’s this appearance that makes R.O.B. work, because you don’t see barrage of mechanics that will eat your soul until it’s too late. With the right player behind the sticks, R.O.B. can pull some surprises out of his metal ass.
- Lucas: I wasn’t sure about Lucas when I unlocked him, that was only because I was a fool. His PK Thunder can hit an opponent several times if executed properly. He adds a new flare to Ness’ fighting style (by the way I’m told by cohort, Prancog, that Ness never learned PK Thunder or PK Fire in the Earthbound games from which he originated… Just thought I’d throw that out there) that counters Ness’ style pretty well.
- Sonic: Nuff said.
Also, I forgot to mention mini game after you complete All-Star or Classic mode. You shoot pictures of characters, trophies, pokemon, etc. to get coins. It’s fun for awhile, but it’s like candy and it can get old quickly. You can use the coins to play a game (which I don’t feel like taking the time to explain, I’ll just say it’s much more entertaining than the lottery from Melee) and achieve trophies and stickers. It’s really easy to kill an hour doing this because you tend to phase everything else out.
Overall, Brawl is a very fun game that you can play for hours without getting bored. Everything that you thought “this could be better” in Melee has been made better. It took a LONG time to get this game out but I consider it completely worth the wait. Because unlike a lot of games today, this game fulfilled it’s promises. Whether or not the gameplay is great online you have to realize that Nintendo has been working the innovation front, which they always have for quite some time, and that they’ll get with it on the online front sooner or later (hopefully sooner). I play this game nearly every day and haven’t bought other games because I know this will take up all my time (other than Boom Blox when that comes out… boner).
Whoo….Smash Bros.!!!!! great game