It’s is amazingly tough to believe that it has been around half a decade since the last installment of Super Smash Bros debuted. It is also extremely tough when you watch a Press Conference and the game the announced was delayed 3 months when they guaranteed an exact date. That’s right, the game was announced at the Nintendo E3 2007 Press Conference by Reggie himself, and since then, it’s been such a huge buzz. Unfortunately, it was delayed for more than three months, but now that it’s out, every Wii owner is ready to get a copy of Super Smash Bros Brawl.
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This game comes close to what it says, “The Brawl to end them all.” The objective during a Brawl is to knock your opponent (s) out of the park. Your damage is measured in percentage. The higher it is, the easier it is for you to get knocked out of the park. (The percentage goes up to a 999% max.) So if you’ve ever wondered which brother was better out of Mario and Luigi, this is the game where you can figure that out (unless Kirby comes with its final smash).
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Now let me explain the controls. To attack another character, press… wait a minute. Figure it out on your own. No really. The game allows you to customize your controls however you want to. If that wasn’t enough for you, there are four different controlling methods. You can use the Wii remote by itself held horizontally, the Wii remote and nunchuck, the Classic Controller, or just don’t beat the classics this time and use a Nintendo GameCube controller.
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There are also many other ways to customize Super Smash Bros Brawl. For one on Brawl, you can create your own custom levels and actually play on them when brawling with other people. Ah hem… with other people in the area. The only problem is that you cannot play your custom levels online with other people.
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The character roster is packed and surprisingly overall balanced. There are a ton of characters, some of which have to be unlocked by completing certain tasks. The characters of course have a variety of moves, one of which includes a final smash. You attack a smash ball and if you’re the one to finish it off, then you get the final smash. You simply press the special button and then the character will do his/her final smash. Every character has a different final smash except for the characters from Star Fox.
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There are a ton of different stages in Super Smash Bros Brawl. There are about, maybe more than 20 stages. If that wasn’t enough, there are also around 8 unlockable stages plus your own custom stages. The places to brawl are endless.
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Do you have more than 4 people? Say maybe, up to 32? Super Smash Bros Brawl allows you to create your own tourney. Up to 32 can participate so it’s the real deal this time. You can also have rotation games up to 16 people, where basically, you rotate. You can even choose who gets out.
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But you don’t have to have the house full of people to brawl with other people. For the first time in the series, there is online play! Yah! This time, there is no friend code hassle, sort of. As in if you want to brawl with other people and actually chat with them, you need their friend code. But don’t worry, you can just plain old’ Brawl with or without friend codes. Not only can you Brawl, but you can watch other people Brawl. That not may sound good, but if you are in the gambling mood, you can bet on who wins, up to 100 coins. But you will find the best experience using friend codes.
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What if you are all by yourself? Well there are quite some Solo options. One of them for those of you who want to experiment with your player is Training. You choose your character and then a stage, and then there’s you and the computer player. Wait, why is he not moving? Well because the default is that the computer doesn’t do anything so that you can experiment with your moves. Simply put, you can customize everything that happens. Training is probably best for first time players. There are also events where you’ll be on a stage and you will have to complete a certain task on that stage to defeat it. It doesn’t end there as there is also the classic, just defeat enemies to move on. Lastly, there is a stadium mode where you can participate in a home-run contest to hit the bag as hard as possible, go through an obstacle course and attempt to destroy the targets as quick as possible, or face off against many enemies in multiman brawl.
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There is also one more thing. Most every game deserves a story mode, and that doesn’t change with Super Smash Bros Brawl. The game’s form of story mode is the Subspace Emissary, which is still a side scroller. Pretty much all the characters from Super Smash Bros Brawl appear in this mode at home, like Donkey Kong in the jungle or Meta Knight in his giant ship. The Subspace Emissary is a very long adventure mode, which some of its components could have been done without. All in all, this is a new addition and experience for the Super Smash Bros series. It should take you somewhere between 8 and 20 hours to complete the Subspace Emissary. But unlike everything else in Super Smash Bros Brawl, the Adventure mode allows you to cooperate with another player.
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It hasn’t been that long since Nintendo’s original successor, Super Mario Galaxy and Nintendo is still keeping the action with Super Smash Bros Brawl. Not only does this game have a great original soundtrack with tracks from all over Nintendo titles, but it has amazing graphics along with great animations and great looking characters. This game easily makes the Nintendo Wii a huge success. Every game will always come that everyone wants, some of which are good and some of which are bad and some are just plain old so last year, but this game is a good game that everyone wants where you get way more than your moneys worth and that you can actually take to parties and everyone will want to play it. Super Smash Bros Brawl is indeed a huge mark for Nintendo for the past and the future that will keep everyone playing for the years coming.
-Matthew Gastian
