Here, as promised, is the fifth portion (including my review) of my in-depth Super Smash Bros. Brawl critique for Rorschach’s contest.

After writing this all out, I realized it is way too long for a single post. I’ll break it down into two characters at a time and release them over the course of the week so you can read who you like at your own leisure.

The following will detail my impressions and thoughts of every character in the top row of the final roster, two at a time. So, if you haven’t finished unlocking the entire roster, or have been living under a fucking rock for a couple months, don’t read any further. There may be a surprise or two mentioned herein. I’ll also offer up one or two suggestions for additional characters that I feel should have made the roster or deserve a spot in the next iteration. Enjoy.

Pikachu

Fuck Pikachu.

Honestly. Pikachu has been and will seemingly always remain one of the most retarded fighters to play as and the most annoying to play against. His simple A attacks are so retardedly spammable it mesmerizes me they have yet to nerf him. His only good attack has always been (beyond his A attacks) and will remain his Down+B thunder bolt attack. The joy of standing under opponents on higher platforms and calling down hot death is great, but god does it suck to play against. All the computer knows is Down+B. It’s the only move in the CPU arsenal. This is wholly annoying.


Burn in hell, shock mouse.

The only interesting aspect of the character is how his neutral B attack (a lightning shock across the ground) travels around corners and shit. I always liked that. I have no clue why, but I guess it’s ‘cause it comes in handy in Target smash levels. Hmm.

Anywho, Pikachu’s FS is just as stupid as the rest of his arsenal. I have no clue what the fuck he’s doing or why, but it sure does seem to last WAY too long. Save for Samus and Wario’s status-altering Final Smashes (albeit reversible through codes or time-based, respectively), Pikachu’s is the longest in the game. Or, that’s how it seems when he pulls it off. He spins around in a little blue blur doing electric damage to people he hits. That sounds more like a move Sonic should be pulling off.


Bring it.

My alternative Pikachu Final Smash is an evolution into Raichu for the remainder of the match. Pokemon evolve. It’s a core aspect of the entire series. Something in Smash should reflect that core idea. After Zelda was introduced, they ran with it in Brawl. Samus and Wario both have status-altering Final Smashes that really change up the gameplay. Pikachu should utilize a similar move. He should evolve into Raichu for the remainder of the match (no nerf maneuver like ZS Samus’ taunt move and unlike Wario who reverts back after a specific amount of time… Pokemon don’t devolve last I heard). He would then have much more powerful attacks but be much larger and slower, almost more akin to Bowser (in terms of size) and DK (in terms of speed) to balance out his more powerful attacks. As Raichu he retains most of the same moves but has a more limited Up+B (recovery) move that only allows for one direction change. Maybe he even has wholly different moves. I don’t know enough about Pokemon lore to know what Raichu should or shouldn’t do, but that’s the basic gist. When Raichu dies, he spawns as Raichu. Again, Pokemon don’t devolve. Pulling off the Final Smash as Pikachu should be a decision that has a legit consequence, that being that you must now play as Raichu for the remainder of the match at hand. FS problem solved.

Pikachu = Epic Fail. He’s never been fun to play as unless you openly embrace spamming annoying moves. If Pikachu wasn’t the face of the Pokemon craze he would have lost his roster spot long ago to more deserving pocket monsters, but as it stands, he’s still popular and we’ll hafta put up with him for a while. Suck it up. Unless they introduce the aforementioned FS or something similar to it. That would be a game-changing move for the character and whoever plays as him. Interesting mechanic, in my opinion.

Marth

I’ve never played a Fire Emblem game. Neither has much of America. So who is this Fall Out Boy fan? I dunno, but he plays decently, and that’s what matters in the end.


Found it! Thanks, Pain.

I have fully embraced the sword-based characters since Marth and Roy appeared in Melee. Link used to be my favorite, but if you read my old post you’ll know I dislike Link now as I feel he’s been totally nerfed. However, I always preferred Roy over Marth. Marth always seemed too dainty for my tastes. I like heavy hitters and Marth was never my cup of tea. Roy’s uber-powerful meteor smashes and smash attacks were more my style. Fortunately, Marth has been improved, although he’s still over-shadowed by Ike in Brawl.

I don’t recall Marth’s B moves performing the color-coded combos he can pull off in Brawl. I like him more because of them, though. Being able to actually sword duel is kinda cool within the context of the game. Plus, his Down+B parry move is great fun. It takes some timing and skill, but so does most of the game. Having people accidentally hit you and returning the favor with a nice sword slice is always rewarding.

The only thing I dislike about the character’s general moveset is how weak and ineffective his Up+B (recovery) move is. I always feel as though Ike, the more powerful of the two characters, has a more effective Up+B move, which is sorta backwards in my opinion. I’m not complaining, since I prefer to play as Ike, but within the game it’s just a questionable decision. Maybe it’s just me, though. I’ve noticed (sometimes) that it seems Marth moves higher vertically and Ike moves further horizontally and perhaps that’s the case, but I find horizontal movement to be more helpful overall. Maybe I’m only dreaming up that difference. Who knows?

As far as his FS goes, I think Marth is a little bit of a weirdo. I understand he has a huge sword attack maneuver (similar to Link) but WTF is up with the life bars that appear when he connects with the hit? Are they something from the Fire Emblem series? I have no clue and I dunno how they affect the ability for him to hit people off, but it seems it has something to do with it, otherwise I dunno why it’s in there at all. Any explanation?

I personally think there are enough “hit or miss single attack” Final Smashes (i.e. Link, who I believe should have a new FS, and Meta Knight), so for Marth I propose a move more akin to something ripped directly from Fire Emblem. Now, knowing I never actually played a single FE game, I know it’s a turn-based strategy game where you have control over all kinds of characters including dragons, siege weapons, armies, and the like. I think Marth should attack with a random one of those aforementioned forces.


That dragon would be way cooler than a sword slice. Bring the chick, too.

Much like Pokemon Trainer whose FS looks much like the original GameBoy incarnation of in-game attacks, Marth would call upon a unit from a battlefield far away to come and do his bidding. A giant dragon, trebuchet (‘cause those are the coolest siege weapons ever, not because I know they are in the FE series), or a single unit would come and perform a devastating attack on anyone caught within the radius of that specific attack. The dragon could perform fire damage to everyone on screen, the trebuchet would perform an explosive attack on the central lower half of the screen/platform, and the single unit (maybe a knight or someone similar within the context of the series) would perform a single slash on the nearest foe (much like Marth performs now). Randomly all three would attack all at once doing SUPER high damage to everyone within the screen, but this would be like 1/20 times for balancing reasons. Not only would it be more specialized to his series, but it would be completely random, adding even more spontaneous fun to the match. I think that idea is way more unique than the one he has and would be crazy fun. Plus it’s a reason to introduce trebuchets to the Smash series. Instant win.

Marth = Fail (as he stands now) / Win (with a new Final Smash). He’s just not unique enough, save for his colored sword slashes to be memorable. The dude’s been in two Smash games and each time he’s been outshined by his “clone” (or at least his alternative, in Brawl's case, since he's the unlockable this time around). That’s not a good thing. He needs to be freshened up substantially, or else he needs to be dropped for the likes of Ike, Roy, or another Fire Emblem representative.

Thanks for reading. Come back tomorrow for my critiques of Mr. Game & Watch and an outline of the first character I feel should have made the roster!

And if you're bored, read my review of the game!

Or, catch up on my previous critiques:
Of Mario and DK!
Of Link and Samus!
Or of Kirby and Fox!

Thanks again.