Super Smash Bros. Brawl
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Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a hit game for the Wii and is the basis for Super Smash Flash 2. It is the 3rd game for the Smash Bros. Series and includes many more options than the previous two games.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, often abbreviated SSBB or Brawl, is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games, developed by Hal. Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Wii console. Brawl was announced at a pre-E3 2005 press conference by Nintendo president and Chief Executive Officer Satoru Iwata. Masahiro Sakurai, director of the previous two games in the series, assumed the role of director for the third installment at the request of Iwata. Game development began in October 2005 with a creative team that included collaborations with various second- and third-party Nintendo developers. The game was released on January 31, 2008 in Japan, March 9, 2008 in the United States, June 26, 2008 in Australia, and June 27, 2008 in Europe.
The roster of characters that players can control in Brawl has grown from that of Super Smash Bros. Melee; Brawl is the first game in the series to expand past Nintendo characters and allow players control third-party characters. Like its predecessors, the object of Brawl is to knock an opponent off the screen. It is a departure from traditional fighting games, notably in its simplified move commands and emphasis on ring outs over knockouts. It includes a more extensive single-player mode than its predecessors, known as The Subspace Emissary (SSE). This mode is a plot-driven, side-scrolling, beat 'em up featuring computer-generated cut scenes and playable characters from the game. Brawl also supports multiplayer battles with up to four combatants and is the first game of its franchise to feature online battles via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
The game was met with generally positive reviews, with critics praising the game's entertainment value, despite issues relating to Brawl's loading times and graphics. The game's musical score, which was composed through a collaboration among 38 renowned video game composers, was lauded for its representation of different generations in gaming history. Brawl received an aggregate review score of 94% on Metacritic and 93.3% on Game Rankings. It has sold a total of 4.85 million units worldwide as of March 31, 2008.
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[edit] Playable Roster
Brawl allows the player to select between 35 characters. Some can transform into alternate forms, with different move sets and play styles. Some are new, but others return from Melee—in some cases updated or refined, either in appearance, fighting capabilities, or both. For example, Link and Fox have adopted designs from more recent titles, while Samus has gained the ability to change into a new form, Zero Suit Samus.
Some previously represented series have had more characters added to Brawl. Diddy Kong from the Donkey Kong series and Ike from the Fire Emblem series make their first appearance in the Smash Bros. series. Other newcomers are the first to represent their series. These include characters such as Pit, representing the Kid Icarus series for the first time since the 1991 Game Boy game Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, and Wario, from Nintendo's WarioWare series and an occasional antagonist of Mario's. Solid Snake, the main protagonist of Konami's Metal Gear franchise, and Sonic the Hedgehog from Nintendo's former rival Sega are the first third-party characters to appear in a Super Smash Bros. game.
[edit] Inclusion of characters
Solid Snake was the first third-party character announced for inclusion in a Smash Bros. game. Sakurai originally stated that he did not want to emphasize Japan-only characters. However, reflecting upon Marth and Roy's inclusion in Melee, which led to the international release of the Fire Emblem series, he became more interested in characters exclusive to Japan-only releases. Sakurai said that third-party characters would amount to two at the most, aside from Snake. The inclusion of Konami-created character Solid Snake may seem to conflict with the Super Smash Bros. paradigm—to only include characters from games made by Nintendo and its second parties—but Sakurai said that Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima "practically begged" for Snake to be included in Super Smash Bros. Melee, which did not happen since the game was too far into development. This in turn led to his appearance in the following game instead. Similarly, the now-playable Lucas from Mother 3 was intended to be used in Melee, but was left out due to the delay of Mother 3.
Japanese fans were asked to submit their desired characters and musical themes via a forum on the game's official Japanese site for possible inclusion. Suggestions were no longer being taken as of June 9, 2006. The most requested third-party character, Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog, was announced to be in Brawl on October 10, 2007.
[edit] Gameplay
Following its predecessors, Brawl uses a battle system unlike that of typical fighting games. Players can choose from a large selection of characters, each attempting to knock their opponents off the screen as they fight on various stages. Instead of using traditional health bars that start at 100% and lose value, Brawl characters start the game with 0% and the value rises as they take damage. As a character's percentage increases, the character flies farther back when hit. When a character is knocked beyond a stage's boundary and disappears from the screen, the character loses either a life or a point depending on the mode of play. Brawl includes a function which allows players to create profiles with personalized button configurations for each control method along with their chosen username.
The characters fight each other using a variety of attacks. Players execute each move by pressing a button in conjunction with a tilt of the control stick or a press of the D-pad, depending on the mode of control. In addition to basic attacks, characters have access to more powerful moves, known as smash attacks. Each character has four unique moves, which often cause effects besides damage to an opponent. Brawl introduces the ability to perform character-specific super attacks, referred to as "Final Smash" moves. Significantly more powerful than regular attacks, these moves have a wide variety of effects that range from nearly unavoidable blasts to temporary transformations. Final Smash moves may be performed upon destroying a Smash Ball, an item bearing the Smash Bros. logo.
Characters can use items ranging from projectiles to melee weapons; each has a different effect on the characters around it. Although many items have returned from previous Super Smash Bros. games, new ones have been introduced as well. Some returning items have changed appearance and function. Two varieties of items, Assist Trophies and Poké Balls, temporarily summon guest characters and Pokémon, respectively, that aid the summoner. They cannot be controlled by players and are usually invincible.
[edit] External Links
- The Wikipedia article on Super Smash Brothers Brawl.
