Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Category: Wii, Posted: 03/02/2008 at 06:50PM EST by Dac Vak, Contributor- Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- Wii
- Game Arts
- Nintendo
- March 09th, 2008
Let's take a trip down memory lane before we begin. Remember this commercial? Oh, Nintendo, you certainly have come a long way. Super Smash Bros. originally started out as an experiment between Satoru Iwata and a young Masahiro Sakurai. The idea behind the game was to make an unparalleled fighting experience that took specific advantage of the analog stick, which was one of the N64's keystones at the time. It wasn't until later in the development that Sakurai had asked for permission to slap Nintendo's most well-known characters onto the bodies of the fighters and market the game as the perfect fanboy fighting experience. Two years after its release, a significantly beefier Smash Bros. Melee launched on the GameCube, which stood the test of time for a solid 6 years. Finally, almost a decade after the first release, we are graced with the third and presumably final chapter in the Smash series, entitled Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
First, a little about myself. I've been playing Melee since day one, and play it regularly at least a few times a week. I'm what you can consider a "competitive Smasher," so going into Brawl, I had quite the skepticism. From the initial videos, the gameplay of Brawl seemed rather slugish and seemed to favor to the non-gamer, which had a lot of us quite worried. While the style seemed spot on as usual, I couldn't help but set myself up for a possible disappointment. Well, I know this is a rather unconventional way to start a review, but I'm fairly certain that Brawl is the greatest game I've ever played in my entire life.
The second you start the game up, Brawl greets you with a full motion video of the classic Nintendo lineup in a typical spliced cutscene fashion. If you're like me and have been religiously following the Brawl updates on The Dojo , then you've no doubt already seen practically the whole lineup. I have to hand it to Nintendo's marketing department there, because I don't think I've ever seen a Nintendo title hyped as much as they did with Brawl, or any videogame hyped up this much with relatively little spent.
Like Melee, my top priority was to immediately test the multiplayer mode. After a few quick local friend matches, it became abundantly clear that Brawl was, in no way, sluggish. In fact, the controls are tighter than ever. In an interesting move, Sakurai, the lead designer of Brawl, chose to include four control schemes to suit all players. If you're new to video gaming altogether, you might want to try the Wiimote scheme. If you're a seasoned veteran looking for something new, give the Nunchuck or Classic controller a try. But of course, the majority of gamers will stick with the tried-and-true GameCube controller mode. This time around, you can even customize your controls, which allowed me to finally disable analog Up to jump. (Which makes up-tilts so much easier.)
The best way to describe Brawl's gameplay would be if you took the best elements of Smash 64 and combined them with the complexity of Melee. Brawl feels completely fresh, and truly wipes the slate clean for all players. A few advanced techniques have been taken away, while the overall aerial game has been more emphasized. Each of the new mechanics added, like the momentum air dodge, are completely natural and suit Brawl's overall feel. While I am a highly competitive Melee player, I didn't miss advance techniques like Wavedashing or L-canceling nearly as much as I had anticipated. Simply put, Brawl has the absolute best controls of the series.
The Smash Bros. gimmick is the idea that any characters from Nintendo's history are able to be paired against each other, despite the obvious plotholes. While Melee sported the "clone" system, where certain characters felt and played the same as their similarly designed counterparts, Brawl shies away from this technique and offers unique gameplay for each fighter. While Marth and Ike look similar and hale from the same series, their combat styles are like night and day. Even the three space animals from Star Fox have significantly differing attacks along with overall speed and movement changes. The really surprising aspect is how well each of the characters seems balanced, which makes them all playable, as opposed to certain characters in Melee who were clearly low-tier. (Poor Pichu.) Take the most influential icons of Nintendo and throw in two fantastic 3rd-party characters, and you've got an all-star cast.
| Gameplay: A solid combination of Smash 64 and Melee. The balanced fighting and easy-to-learn yet heavily in-depth controls will keep you striving for perfection. | |
| Graphics: What the Wii lacks in polygon count it makes up for in sheer artistic value. Brawl looks absolutely stunning and completely appropriate at all times. | |
| Sound: Hands-down the best soundtrack a video game has ever had. All of the sound effects are appropriate and vary enough that you won't grow tired of them. Also, Sonic Boom! | |
| 10 | Final Word: I have never seen more effort put into a video game than what has been shown in Brawl. With unbelievable multiplayer fighting, an enormous single player mode, and collectibles that will last for years, there's no reason why you shouldn't buy it. |
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its out already????
March 9th for North America but GN has the scoop. :D
Billy, this isn't the 1920s.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
Funny thing about Smash Bros is that, for all the fanfare, I've always thought it to be a rather, well, so-so game series. The aggregate score (GameRankings, metacritic) for the first Super Smash Bros (79-80%) is closest to how i feel about both games so far.
Maybe this one will be different...I dunno
thank goodness for my pre-order and midnight releases.
Am I the only person on this planet who doesn't really care about the game coming out? I'll try it and buy it (since my girlfriend seems to enjoy it), but I could just as easily never buy or play it and be happy.
You're not the only one, Brendon. But the primary reason I don't care is that I don't have a Wii.
I've loved the series since the 64 edition, and this one will be no different. Now, if only Nintendo could confirm the UK release date...
Exactly, Brendon...
If the series never existed, it wouldn't have made a difference to me.
Did you have an orgasm while playing this game? Because from this review it would appear that you did.
I've never actually played a Smash game, but this game does look like a lot of fun and I have kinda been looking forward to it.
I can't wait because it's a fighting game that people will actually play with me!
Well so far metacritic is giving it an average score of 98/100. I loved the N64 version of this game, but hated the GC version, I'm really hoping Brawl brings me back to those old times.
I hope to god you are right, I can't freaking wait.
Just gotta make it to this Sunday, then I'll be brawling like a madman.
Quasar, you're wrong boy. Dead wrong. This is Nintendo's HALO 3, a stand-off to see what the future holds for Nintendo. If this game doesn't sell, Nintendo is doomed. I look upon the endless RACKS of DS and Wii games and think, this is the only game I think will completely be sold out.
Ditto Brendon. My bro will get it, and i'll play it, I appretiate that its a great game, but never really felt an urge to play melee much after its release, so i think this might be the same.
But still, looks great, i'll give it a spin
Are you joking Bigspfan? Nintendo is making so much money selling DSs and Wiis a the moment. Mario and Sonic at the Olympics alone has already sold 5 million copies.
Yeah, Nintendo is no where near "doomed" if this game doesn't sell. In fact, they're far from it.
What's sad is I wouldn't be shocked if this didn't outsell Mario & Sonic at the Olympics. That has THREE big names in the title. This has zero.
Okay, Brendon, there is much loling to be had. I actually registered an account here, just to educate you.
"What's sad is I wouldn't be shocked if this didn't outsell Mario & Sonic at the Olympics. That has THREE big names in the title. This has zero."
Aye, it's true. "Mario", "Sonic", and "Olympics" are all big names. But to anyone who has owned a Nintendo 64, "Super Smash Bros." is as big a name as all three combined! Aside from that Smash is one of the biggest "fan service" games EVER. It has more characters from more games duking it out than any other game ever. This game could easily EASILY have over 20 BIG names represented in the game, and all you have to do to represent them is say "Smash".
This game will outsell Mario and Sonic. Period.
o0o0o0o0o0 SNAP. It's on like Donkey Kong now.
Brendon and Descender021 dance off. It's the only way to resolve this conflict.
My point Descender isn't that Smash doesn't have names in it or isn't popular. But the casual gamer (which you can't argue is the biggest crowd on the Wii) is going to see "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" and go "Alrighty." If they look at the game, sure, they'll probably like it. But at the same time, they can see the name "Mario & Sonic at the Olympics" and instantly know that it's an Olympics game with both Mario and Sonic. There's a reason Nintendo and Sega didn't call it something like "Olympic Showdown!"
I didn't say that it WOULD outsell Smash. I just said that if it ended up selling more copies than it, I wouldn't be surprised. When games like Brain Age, Wii Play and Wii Fit are your biggest system sellers, there's a lot more people playing than the people who owned an N64 and GameCube. The first Smash Bros. game sold about 4 million total, and Melee is around 6-7 million lifetime sales. Will Brawl beat those? Probably. But it's not going to sell as much as all those casual games people gobble up.
Brendon: if a casual gamer walks into a walmart, looks at Mario & Sonic, with just Mario and Sonic on the cover, then glances at Super Smash Bros with Mario, Sonic, Samus, Link, Kirby, Star Fox, and Pikachu on the cover..you honestly think they will pick up Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games over that?
And its not like Super Smash Bros is some no name game. It's the Halo 3 of Nintendo, and I'm sure alot of "casual" gamers have at least heard of the series.
From my point of view, a casual gamer when seeing Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario and Sonic in The Olympic Games, he/she says "Kiddie Games" or other (dumb) comment(s) and go buy something ridiculous like a skateboard game or something like that.
Brendon, nobody cares about what game outsells the other, the important thing is that we like the games.
I am not in your side or anyone else's, since I consider arguing about 'what game or console is better' is nothing but a waste of time. Just enjoy the games.
People seem to think that I'm saying that Mario and Sonic will beat Smash Bros. I didn't say it would; I said if it somehow DID, I wouldn't be too surprised given the Wii's demographic.
actually jambo, I was joking and got an epic flame war to start after my little joke. pretty cool eh?
Nice work =P