So we've now had the pleasure of owning Super Smash Bros. Brawl for over 24 hours.
Having logged at least 10 hours of gameplay already, it's pretty easy to say that Brawl
shaped up to be one of the greatest fighters of all time. Like other reviews have said, if
you've played any other Smash game, you'll be instantly familiar with pretty much
everything Brawl has to offer. The only difference is the sheer volume offered. Brawl has
tons. Of everything. Stages, characters, music, customization, etc etc. And it all works
extremely well, and will provide hundreds of hours of zany gameplay.



Perhaps our only real complaint about the game centers around the Subspace Emissary
mode. The mode itself is fine (albeit a little too long/repetitive, but nothing major). The
mode allows you to co-op with another player locally, which seems like a great idea. The
only problem is that the camera will only follow Player 1 as you journey through the levels.
As Player 2, I frequently found myself lost and stuck behind obstacles I couldn't get around,
getting hit by enemies I couldn't even see. Nintendo should have definitely used a better
camera/movement system for the co-op gameplay, as we grew tired of having to deal with
the camera issues pretty quickly. On top of all that, your character will take damage as
soon as they're off-screen. So Player 2's damage counter will go up the entire time, and
there really is little you can do to avoid it. In our opinion, it's best just to go through this
mode solo.

The music is by far our favorite part of the game. Combining both original and remixed
tracks of hundreds of classic Nintendo tunes (as well as special remixes from Sonic and
Metal Gear Solid), it is literally impossible not to find a song you like. Or love.
Furthermore, you can choose which songs play in the background of your own created
stages and adjust sliders to determine how frequently certain themes play on the built-in
stages. You can also unlock songs using the game's "Challenges" feature, which is also a
really neat feature. Whenever you unlock something, the game will show you a matrix of
blue squares. The square that housed whatever unlockable you just freed will also reveal
hints as to how to unlock any adjacent squares. As you earn more and more unlockables,
you'll continue to garner more hints as to how to unlock even more goodies. It's really
intuitive, and (as a self-proclaimed 360 achievement addict) very addicting. Instead of
receiving arbitrary points, you earn stages, music, characters, etc.



Obviously, the focus of any fighting game is on the fighters themselves. Brawl brings an
impressive 35-man roster to the table. Almost all of the fighters from Melee are back
(except Mewtwo, Dr. Mario, Roy, and Pichu), as well as quite a few new additions. In our
playtime so far, we've unlocked Marth, Ness, Falco, Snake, Luigi, and Captain Falcon. As
with Melee, you can unlock most characters by either completing Classic Mode while
satisfying certain requirement (difficulty, time, no game overs, etc.), or just by playing the
game a ton. We unlocked Captain Falcon for playing 70 brawls. You can also unlock
characters by getting them to join your party in the Subspace Emissary. You'll have to get
pretty far in that mode before you really start unlocking characters though. There are 31
levels, and most new characters are unlocked in Stages 18-24. You can also unlock
characters like Jigglypuff and Toon Link by returning to various stages in this mode after
you've beaten it. Unfortunately, the SSE just isn't anywhere near as fun as the basic
Brawling. We're going to play through it once, and probably only once.

So far, here are our favorite characters to use in Brawl.

John:
Kirby
Meta Knight
Donkey Kong
Pikachu
Luigi

Ta:
Ike
Meta Knight
Pit
Link
Fox



Of the new characters, Meta Knight is by far the most badass. His moves are so fun to pull
off, and he can do some sick damage. Pit is also a favorite, as he is extremely fast and
has unbelievable recovery. We're really looking forward to unlocking Sonic, Lucario, Toon
Link, and Mr. Game & Watch, as they all have potential to become one of our elusive top
5s. We've also unlocked quite a few stages (mostly old favorites from Melee), but we plan
on progressing through the Events mode to get the rest of those. If it weren't for pesky
midterms, we'd have it all done already. But alas, college is far too time consuming. Once
we've unlocked all the characters, we'll begin posting our character profiles.

If you guys wanna post your Brawl codes, we can start getting online and Brawling with
fellow Dtoiders.

John: 2249-4328-2984
Ta: 1246-8419-8284


Ta's Take:

I'm going to try to not repeat what has all ready been stated above because I agree with
almost everything he said. But I have to admit I was never a big fan of the Super Smash
Bros series since its debut on the N64. The concept really never clicked with me as I was
accustomed to the traditional fighters, such as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter.

That being said Brawl has converted me to the series in a serious way. All of the hype that
Nintendo generated with the DOJO really got me interested in the game and I finally gave it
a fair shot and boy am I glad. This game is just pure joy. I haven't been sucked into a
game like this in a long time. There is just so much to do in Brawl. Do I want to take on the
objectives and try to unlock all the characters right way? Or maybe create my own level?
Or do I play Subspace Emissary? (which I think is pretty good) Or hell just do a good old
fashion Brawl with friends in the living room? I don't think I can be bored with this game
around. As a former "hater" of the series I can honestly say that Brawl is one of the
greatest games I've ever played and definitely the best game currently on the Wii. Okay
back to Brawlin'!