Last week's debate made me pretty nervous. On paper, comparing a cartoony and speedy shooter to a realistic and slow stealth shooting game made perfect sense. But this was Metal Gear -- could any series compare with it in a debate? With the possibility of an impending total landslide on my mind, I put the debate up anyways, and I'm really glad I did. The feedback from both sides was a pleasure to read, and the votes did both classics justice. It was close, but in the end it was the slow and steady shooter that won the race:

• Metal Gear series (65 votes) -- Winner!
• Metal Slug series (54 votes)

This week we have another great debate on paper. However, unlike last week, I could see the outcome of this week's discussion being even more close. Both games offer a huge arsenal of Nintendo characters to play as, but in totally different ways with the pacing and context of them being completely different. Most of us that enjoyed one ended up enjoying both of them, which should make choosing which series as a whole is better even harder on the Dtoid army. But that's exactly what we need to do.

Bonus Question: What is one thing you do not enjoy about the series you voted for?

Why create a Super Smash Bros Brawl character? Because you can. And if you're going to do that, you might as well make it the most overpowered character ever.

The Brawl hacking community has done just that with this new character, Wisp. Why Wisp? Why not? Here's what the creator of this character says on the topic:

Well, (s)he's a conglomerate of all things wisp-like. It's the Wisp from the Mana series, the Plasma Wisp from the Kirby series, even the Wisp unit from Warcraft III. Not to mention it also can be the wisp from just folklore in general.

It can change forms, too. Fire, Ice, Light, and Dark. Nifty, I guess, though I'm not a fan of changing games from their original form. I don't even do DLC costume changes. Still, this one is neat...and pretty. If you've got about nine minutes to spare, you can watch Wisp in action in a moveset demonstration after the jump. I'm not the best Brawl player, but doesn't this guy seem kind of strong?

[via GoNintendo]

He may not have set the world on fire with No More Heroes, but game designer and nutbag Goichi Suda wants Travis Touchdown in the next Super Smash Bros. game. Hoping to make Touchdown a big videogame star in his own right, Suda would love to see the nerdsome assassin duking it out with Mario and the gang.

"I love him, and I want him to be a huge star," Suda tells Nintendo Power. "That’s why I’m working very hard to make this game as interesting as possible. Maybe in the future, we can see him fighting alongside Link in the next Smash Bros. [laughs] That would be great."

As a big fan of Suda 51, I would like to see every wish of his come true. Considering Suda's close friendship with Hideo Kojima, whose very own Solid Snake was in Brawl, we could perhaps see this particular dream become a reality. Mainstream Wii owners probably wouldn't have the first clue who he is, but you can guarantee that he'd be a popular fixture among the hardcore set. 

What do you say? Care for more Touchdown in your Smash Bros.?

Youtuber AyesDyef took the Super Smash Bros. 64 intro and gave it the Team Fortress 2 spin. Everything about this mashup is made of win. It starts off with Dr. Kleiner as Master Hand flying around with the Garry's Mod gun and setting up the table. The Heavy awakens and the Team Fortress 2 characters act out the Smash Bros. 64 intro. 

The mashup pretty dead on and very well done. I just about lost it when The Scout acted out the Kirby scene. Check out the video and the original Smash Bros. intro after the break. 

[Via HUELEN10 over on NeoGAF]

If 50 Cent pulled out a rocket launcher and started tearing up the Middle East over a crystal covered skull, wait until he gets a load of this -- a Wii covered in Swarovski crystals.

Decorated with 20,000 crystals, the console features sparkling likenesses of Bowser and Mario to commemorate the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the "brawl to end them all." The one-of-a-kind Wii was give to the winner of last year's Nintendo-sponsored national Super Smash Bros. tournament. The champ, Daniel Jung (a.k.a. KoreanDJ), has decided to put the Wii on eBay to celebrate the year anniversary of Brawl being released in North America. 

The bidding starts at a reasonable $4,000, which has nothing to do with the rarity of the Swarovski crystals -- the total package also comes with a copy of Brawl signed by the game's director, Masahiro Sakurai. 

You want this.

Super Smash Bros Brawl is at the heart of a rather amazing phenomena, which I was witness to at the recent Miami NARP. When we got there to set up, there were some students playing Brawl in the room adjacent to us. This was around 11 am. As the day went on, I noticed the same gamers still glued to the screen. By ten pm that night, they hadn't moved. ELEVEN HOURS of Super Smash Bros Brawl. It's rare that I've ever spent that much time on one game ... at least in such a big chunk of time, anyway.

Surely those same guys and countless other fans will be thrilled to hear that the creator of SSBB, Masahiro Sakurai, is hard at work creating a new title. On January 22nd of this year, Sakura's company, Sora Ltd., formed a new project in cahoots with Nintendo, which goes by the moniker of Project Sora.

All Sakurai had to say about the new project was, "I can promise an experience that's different from anything [you've played] up until now." I can't begin to imagine what that might be, but I'm sure you guys have some ideas, don't you? 

[Via Kotaku]

Dear Luigi,

I apologize for giving you a chance to shine last week when I had you compete against your cousin, Celda. I don't regret having family do battle with one another; when your brother plays with his friends he doesn't come home crying and complaining. He stands up and shines. Hell, they even named one of his games Sunshine. You have been asking us to take you seriously for years, so I go out of my way to give you a chance, and you blew it:

• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (126 votes) -- Winner!
• Luigi's Mansion (12 votes)

Hearing you complain about never coming in first isn't funny anymore. It's time you grew up and did something with your life. I blame your parents. What you need is a Paper Luigi Story sneak attack. The consumers will never expect it. Come back when you're ready to hang with the big kids.

Sincerely, half of your family's fans.

I expected Wind Waker to win, but not by such a staggering margin. So this week I must cast aside some of the artsy and innovative games I had planned for two games that could save the third round from getting ugly. Once these odd debates are done I'll come back and revisit titles like Pikmin, Viewtiful Joe and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. As for now, here's two big hitters that have nothing in common except their hopes to give Wind Waker a good fight in the Gamecube finals.

Which game do you think is better, and why? Give it some serious thought, get some Gamecube childhood friends to share their opinions as well, and check back next week for the winner.

Last week we had an early Halloween Debate between Silent Hill and Resident Evil 2, as well as a separate debate between the two series. Both games proved to be huge winners in earlier PlayStation One debates, and this week each game came out a winner in one area. Here are the results:

• Silent Hill (44 votes) > Resident Evil 2 (20 votes)
  
• Resident Evil series (38 votes) > Silent Hill series (14 votes)

Interestingly enough, if you add the results of both debates, you get a tie. It will definitely be a debate we revisit once a year. This week we move on to the Nintendo 64 round of odd debate brackets, with two incredibly successful games of different genres.

Don't forget -- the point of these odd debates is not to just vote with your gut -- it forces us to be more analytical and think like a game designer. It gives us unique discussions that force everyone to think outside the box, consider all the pros and cons of each game, and compare and contrast them in a way that really makes us think about why we did or didn't enjoy a certain game.

Which games do you think is better, and why? Give it some serious thought, get some N64 friends to share their opinions as well, and check back next week for the winner.

P.S. So far, it looks like I've stumped you guys again! This week's Monday Mind Teasers still has an unsolved cover.

Today, Media-Control Gfk International has blessed gameindustry.biz with some interesting sales figures from both Spain and Germany. As it ends up, Super Smash Brothers Brawl for the Wii has extended its quest for world sales domination into both countries by taking the number one spot. The data below is for the week ending on June 22.

Spain

1. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)
2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
3. Wii Play (Wii)
4. Cooking Guide: Can’t Decide What to Eat? (DS)
5. Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3)
6. Top Spin 3 (PS3)
7. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP)
8. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (PS3)
9. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
10. The Sims 2 deluxe (PC)

1. Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)
2. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
3. Battlefield Bad Company (PS3)
4. The Sims 2: Ikea Home Stuff (PC)
5. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
6. Wii Play (Wii)
7. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP)
8. Wii Fit (Wii)
9. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
10. Mario Kart DS (DS)

I love my dad. Coolest dad ever. Everything cool I know how to do can be traced back to him, so I could never kick his ass. But, sometimes I think it would be funny to do so. You know, just to say I did. And I'm too old now for him to retaliate.

Nintendo is giving gamers a chance to challenge their dads, or better yet, someone else's dad. They send word of the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Brawl Wii Father's Day Tournament, to be held at the Nintendo World Store in Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.

Hip dads and their offspring will battle other teams in a bracket-style showdown in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The winning team will receive two Wii consoles, two copies of the game, and a trophy. Hopefully this trophy looks a bit better than the last Brawl one.

And, as a souvenir, visitors can also receive father/child framed photos throughout the day. This all goes down Sunday, June 15, between 1 and 4 p.m. Check the press release after the jump for more details.

Do you think you could kick your dad's ass?

If you were wondering where the DOJO update post was last week, I held off because I knew today was going to be the final update from Sakurai on the DOJO Web site. Yup, after all this time, the DOJO has finally closed its doors. Sakurai talks a little about how he came up with the idea for the DOJO and thanks everyone that has helped the DOJO out.

Sakurai drops some stats on the DOJO Web site and most notable is that the DOJO had over seven million views in just one week. The DOJO also had over 300 posts in the 11 months that it was up. One other final update was made today, with Sakurai dropping some secrets and tidbits you may not know about all the characters and different parts of the game. 

Finally, Sakurai mentions that there might be DOJO updates in the future with some kind of announcement. DLC perhaps? Ha, yeah right. This is Nintendo we're talking about. 

Last week's updates: 

Monday 4/7: All of Brawl's secrets.
Tuesday 4/8: All Trophies
Wednesday 4/9: All Stickers
Thursday 4/10: Mysteries of The Subspace Emissary
Friday 4/11: Screenshot Collection #2

Hamza couldn't make it this week, something about turning 18 and a ritual initiation into adulthood on the Isle of Lesbos. So in Hamza's place is the first ever Jonathan "I laugh at those who believe Smash Bros. Brawl news will ever stop" Holmes edition of the Dojo recap. Hit minute 2:25 of the link for it's relevance to my new in-quotes nickname, and/or hit the jump at the bottom there for the relevant content to this post. 

I guess I'm getting old, because I can't keep up with the endless action in Super Smash Bros Brawl.  For some reason, my character is always flying off the screen! One of the things that I do love about Super Smash Bros Brawl is that it doubles as massive treasure chest of all things Nintendo. Being a fan of game music, my favorite feature of Brawl is the expansive selection of songs from Nintendo games, old and new.

While the song selection is already pretty great, it seems that a few songs fell through the cracks. Apparently several songs were created (or at least planned) but not used. EditorArtist uncovers these song names from a listing in a file named "smashbros_sound.brsar" on the Brawl game disc. And, for your listening pleasure, they're all listed here in a sort of unofficial album.  It gets even better with this detailed chart, which gives the reasons behind the song choices, as well as their history. There's an unfortunate misspelling in that list of "cookie" -- I don't want to think about Yoshi's Cockie.

As much as I like this fake album, I would have rather heard the Brawl version. There are some really great songs in here that deserve the upgrade. It's a bummer to see that some of the Earthbound songs didn't make it. I would kill to hear a new version of "Ballad of the Windfish" from Link's Awakening. You'll just have to settle for my version of this song for now.

What other songs do you think they missed from the Brawl lineup? 

[Thanks to CaffeinePowered and J.R.]