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For those of you that don't know, I'm an amazingly hardcore Smash bros. fan. Even the people that do know me might not have known this until quite recently. It has been 7 years since the last Smash game and my unwavering interest has waned in recent times. Now with Brawl out over seas and soon to see state side release I'm in full swing once again.
I've obtained a Japaneses copy of Brawl with which I've come to a few interesting discoveries. Consider this my own review of Super Smash Bros. Brawl with in depth looks at techniques and fighter moves that deserve specific note. Not only that, but in what ways Brawl differs from past games; Melee and 64 original.
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Writing a review for brawl is much like writing a review for lime custard. If you liked it before, you'll like it now because it comes with sprinkles! some people just don't like lime, or custard, or sweets. they deserve to die. Mass sweet-haters geniside aside, brawl continues to be a fun party game that will see months of play time for the casual fan. It has everything that made smash bros. fun before and somehow created a fun manufacturing machine to sit next to Nintendo's money printing machine. One aspect of brawl that DID see numerous changes is the minor changes to some core mechanics of Melee that has completely redefined the game flow of hardcore smash players.

**warning the below is technical in nature and will not benefit individuals who would rather give fellatio to ravenous mole rats underwater**

First off lets look at the general high level play for Melee. After years of development the smash game flow has evolved into something like this: short hop, fast fall, A move of choice, Lag cancel the landing,*if they shielded, Grab and start your chain throwing* rinse and repeat until you have gotten in a smash attack or nicked them off the edge at which point you use your reflector to guarantee a kill or grab onto the edge to prevent the opponent from getting back. Oh and if your not playing Fox on final destination you automatically lose. Granted that was VERY simplified from what can go on in a Melee match, but you get the idea. Now take all of what I just said. Forget it and start playing a game thats fun again.

Nearly every "technique" that pro smash players have developed from Melee has been removed or simplified.
you can no longer recover from using an attack in the air near the ground by shielding (otherwise known as L canceling) all moves have their own unique amount of time in which you are vulnerable. This encourages only certain moves to be used while falling to the ground. moves that where designed for it.

Another change that destroys Melee mentality is what happened to short hop, fast falling. this allowed for air moves to be used at character hight level as if you where on the ground without the potential to be grabbed or blocked and THEN grabbed. it completely destroyed the shield/dodge/attack game and replaced it with a game that favored fast characters with good quick air moves. short hopping still exists but you can no longer fast fall until the peak of your jump where as before you could do it at anytime. this causes any jump you do to be just over character hight. making jumping into fight a viable strategy, but not the only strategy.

In smash 64 defensive play had few options. You could shield attacks or roll out of the way. Melee took this idea and built upon it allowing for dodging quickly on the spot and granting one dodge in the air before entering a helpless free falling state. Brawl bolsters these ideas in a few ways. roll animations and dodging are quicker to start and have less risk after use. where as in Melee at high level play roll dodging almost guaranteed the person you rolled away from or around a free hit. (most of this was to blame on exploits like short hoping that sped fighters up to faster then a roll was.) Brawl dodges are so fast and quick for every character that using them are fluid and enjoyable.

The ground dodging mechanic is not the only thing that has seen improvement. Air dodging (where in you can side step attacks while in the air at the cost of going into a helpless free fall state) has been streamlined. you can now perform multiple air dodges in the air with no penalty. this change in utility helps defend against juggling and overall make fighting in the air more fun!

One last general addition to brawl is the seemingly random inclusion of tripping. At any given time while walking, running, or attack your character might inexplicably fall over onto their butts. After vigorous testing it has been determined uncontrollable. This would be the first random thing in a smash game that could not be turned off or banned from tournaments which is leaving many smash fanatics enraged at Sakarai. Lets turn the subject away from needless fan hate to some interesting finds from my time playing brawl.


((((((Important part for people that didn't find any of that other stuff interesting.))))
THE GAME IS THE BEST EVER!
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I will not go into detail about minuet techniques and findings from smash players. Honestly if you care enough you can just go to this forum post with continued updates and videos. Quite informative if you care about that stuff. What i will tell you about is some startling findings about specific characters.

Ivysaur is part of Pokemon trainers arsenal. overall he is the most well rounded Pokemon of the three choices with some decent smash attacks. One move alone makes him the single easiest damage dealer in the game. far outstripping many others. Bullet seed. this move shoots a fast stream of seeds above Ivysaur that traps the people it hits. not only that but at the start of the move Ivysaurs leaves will flip people to ether side into the bullet stream. this can keep the opponent stuck for a long time. even if done poorly Ivysaur can deal 20% damage. and thats fine, but if used right it can trap the opponent for 50%+ with little to no chance of escape until Ivysaur lets go of B or the target has nudged out. whats even worse is that Ivysaur can just start the whole process again for similar results. Its not uncommon to after 4 uses to see the opponent at 100%+ and ready for an easy Ivysaur smash attack kill. I nominate this for most broken move in the game.

Bowser was pathetic in Melee. Most of this was because of how fast characters gained so much power with the use of exploits. Brawl has seen him get many buffs. He is faster which makes him amazing considering all the exploits are gone, but he has one move in particular that can be particularly deadly. His side B attack grabs at short range and if it connects bowser leaps into the air with his hostage and flips back down body slamming in the process. its a visually impressive move that has good damage and knock back. whats near broken about the move is the ease at which it can be used to suicide kill both you and the target. if your even remotely close to the edge no matter which way your facing you can adjust your movement in the air enough to plummet off the stage. this works on any character even at 0%. the only thing preventing this from best move in game is the hostage can adjust the movement as well. So if they realize in time they can counteract your movement so that you land straight down again. of course if they don't realize in time whats going on they wont be able to stop it enough. The grab comes out very fast with little time to react. Be very wary of a bowser who has attempted to grab you and missed. bowser's target dies first so if your both on your last stock bowser wins.

Moments before posting this I found something broken about bowser
Infinite jumping?!

If timed just right Falco can keep you on the ground with his laZor until you are pushed to the edge of the stage or infinitely stuck to a wall.


Fox can do a similar thing with his reflector. This is even easier to do then it was in Melee.

grabbing snakes drone as he recovers making him unable to do it again.


Speaking of brawl. Don't you live in Michigan?