Game Set
Hmm. Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I've been playing it nearly every spare hour I've had since it came out. Some thoughts follow. These are just my opinions, so don't take them too seriously. This entry turned out somewhat bigger than I imagined, so be prepared to read a bit.
Characters
Top Tier (Favorites): Mario, Link, Captain Falcon, Wario, Falco, Wolf
- I basically picked up my favorites again from Melee. I don't like Mario's new F.L.U.D.D. attack, but I almost never need to use it, so I'll live. Falco's different than before, and not as easy to take advantage of, but he's still great. I love his flying fists attack and his overhand Smash. Wario and Wolf have been overwhelmingly fun to use.
Second Tier: Pikachu, Lucas, Luigi, Pokemon Trainer, Toon Link, Lucario, Snake
- Pikachu is much improved from Melee, and even more fun to use now. Lucas is what I wanted Ness to be -- more power and less finesse. At least, he seems that way to me. I came late to the Luigi party, but I like using him now. Pokemon Trainer takes some getting used to, but I love the idea of him using Pokemon. I'll figure him out eventually. Lucario is, for me, an improved version of Mewtwo and thus very fun to use. I didn't like using Snake at first because he's so different from a "standard" Smash character. Now I'm used to him and I love his unusual and powerful style.
Third Tier: Ganondorf, Bowser, Ike, Metaknight, Pit, R.O.B., Fox, Kirby, Sonic
- These are characters I enjoy using, but I don't play with them as much because I either haven't gotten used to or dislike their new style. Ganondorf is absurdly slow compared to his Melee incarnation, but his moves are still great. Bowser is way better than he was in Melee. Surprisingly, he's not as heavy as before. He's more agile... At least, as agile as a guy like him can be. I just never use him all that much. Personal preference. Ike's pretty slow, but not too slow. I like his attacks, though against faster characters I'm usually at a disadvantage. Metaknight is very cool and has some flashy moves, but he isn't strong enough for my taste. Pit has a unique style I just haven't figured out yet. He's still fun to use, though. R.O.B. is really fun to use, but I favor so many characters over him that I don't use him as much. Fox is much the same; great character, but I prefer Falco and Wolf. I actually like Kirby more than in Melee, but he's just too light for my taste. Sonic's interesting, at least. He's sorta fun to use, but I need more time to figure out how much I'll use him.
Bottom Tier: Peach, Zelda/Sheik, Ice Climbers, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Jigglypuff, King Dedede, Marth, Ness, Samus/Zero Suit Samus, Yoshi
- Nothing against how these characters, personally. I just don't like using them for various reasons. They're just not as fun for me to use. Sure, I like to dick around with Jigglypuff and Marth every now and then. But I favor a ton of characters over them. I like Lucas way more than Ness. I don't like Yoshi's style, and rarely use him. Nothing against Peach and Zelda/Sheik other than they aren't as cool for me as the other characters. Plus, a couple of my friends specialize in them, so I kinda think of them as "theirs." Diddy Kong is aggravating and has no power, from what little I've used of him. Donkey Kong is a "meh" character for me. Fun on occasion, but mostly boring. King Dedede seems to be a popular choice for a lot of people, but I just can't get over how incredibly slow he is. I know that compensates for his absurd power, but I prefer moving around the stage a bit faster than he can move.
Character Color Swaps: I love some of the new ones. Finally, Mario has his Fire Flower colors to go along with Luigi's version. Luigi has a great Waluigi recolor. Wario has his original clothes, which I prefer over his WarioWare version. The "dark" versions of Fox and Falco are awesome. Falco's brown jacket version is my new favorite. We finally have proper-looking Dark Links for Link and Toon Link. Toon Link's is kinda scary. The white-tinged versions of Bowser and Ganondorf are great, and demonic looking. I like some of the accent colors other characters have, like Pit. Snake's got some nice camo, but I wish he had a few more options. Oh, and I wish there were Big Boss and Liquid recolors for him. Sonic's are just terrible. I don't care who you are, giving him multi-colored rings around his wrists shouldn't count as a recolor.
Stages/Stage Editor
Favorite New Stages: Final Destination, Halberd, Shadow Moses Island, Bridge of Eldin, Lylat Cruise, Smashville, Luigi's Mansion, Spear Pillar, Pictochat, Hanenbow, Distant Planet
- Not too much to say here, as the levels kind of speak for themselves. I love the new atmosphere of Final Destination. Halberd, Shadow Moses Island and Lylat Cruise flat out rock. I love how random Spear Pillar, Pictochat and Hanenbow (the Electroplankton stage) are. Smashville, Bridge of Eldin and Distant Planet are plain old fun.
Stage Editor Comments: I love having one, first of all. I've made a neat cave-like level and a cool Triforce-themed level so far. I also like getting a new stage every day from Nintendo. I really, really like that I can share created stages with my friends. As for the negatives... There are a few. One is that I can't save the stages Nintendo sends to me; the new day's stage replaces the previous day's one. I wish there were more stage building items in the hopper. Even after unlocking additional items, you don't have much. And here's what's unusual, and really unfortunate -- you can't grab onto ledges in created stages. For whatever reason, Nintendo didn't build it into the items that you can grab onto them like a ledge to save yourself. As a result, there are a ton of recovery-related deaths.
Other Comments
- Playing Smash online rocks out loud. Right now there's a ton of lag, presumably because half the known universe is trying to play Brawl online. Those laggy matches are terrible. But most of the time, I've had reduced-lag or lag-free matches, and they've been awesome. Quite a few memories to share from those, and it's only been a couple days. A minor complaint: I wish the avatars you can choose from the Brawl characters could be tweaked for their different color swaps. It'd make it just a wee bit more unique for the user.
- Having five letters instead of four for name input is a big deal. I love it, because I can finally play Smash as "Frent".
- Subspace Emissary runs a bit long, especially the second half. The final boss is pretty cheap, but amusing, I guess. I really like how Nintendo -- or mainly Sakurai, whomever's responsible -- for making such an intricate storyline with the characters. The cutscenes were the best part of the whole deal. My favorite "team" in there has to be Captain Falcon and Olimar.
- I've said this before, but the music selection is wonderful. The privilege of playing on stages with such a diverse and rocking music selection is worth the price alone. A minor complaint: I wish I could choose from all songs from one game for a stage it represents. An example of this is how there are two new Zelda stages, and the music is split between them.
- I'm kinda "meh" on the Stickers. I almost never used them in SSE. Still, they're like almost-trophies, so that's kinda neat. The trophies, as usual, are really cool. I just haven't collected many yet.
- A.I. is vastly improved from Melee. Now I face Lv. 3s that have a decent idea of when to dodge, and what items to go after. I've beaten a couple Lv. 9s, but they're a damn tough lot this time around. Right now I can comfortably beat Lv. 6s, but even they give me some trouble. This is a good thing overall, because it means infinitely better training sessions with computer players. I'm a bit wary of the "Intense" difficulty on some modes, though. Cruel Melee is very, very cruel.
That's about it, though that's quite a lot of info to digest. I love this game even more than I did Melee. I'd be drooling over it more if I wasn't already so used to the fighting style. But, that's a good thing, because the fighting style is what appeals to me. Oh, and snapping up every update from Japan on the game when they got it made for a nice buzzkill on new stuff. The gameplay is what's important here, though, and I love, love, love it.
Characters
Top Tier (Favorites): Mario, Link, Captain Falcon, Wario, Falco, Wolf
- I basically picked up my favorites again from Melee. I don't like Mario's new F.L.U.D.D. attack, but I almost never need to use it, so I'll live. Falco's different than before, and not as easy to take advantage of, but he's still great. I love his flying fists attack and his overhand Smash. Wario and Wolf have been overwhelmingly fun to use.
Second Tier: Pikachu, Lucas, Luigi, Pokemon Trainer, Toon Link, Lucario, Snake
- Pikachu is much improved from Melee, and even more fun to use now. Lucas is what I wanted Ness to be -- more power and less finesse. At least, he seems that way to me. I came late to the Luigi party, but I like using him now. Pokemon Trainer takes some getting used to, but I love the idea of him using Pokemon. I'll figure him out eventually. Lucario is, for me, an improved version of Mewtwo and thus very fun to use. I didn't like using Snake at first because he's so different from a "standard" Smash character. Now I'm used to him and I love his unusual and powerful style.
Third Tier: Ganondorf, Bowser, Ike, Metaknight, Pit, R.O.B., Fox, Kirby, Sonic
- These are characters I enjoy using, but I don't play with them as much because I either haven't gotten used to or dislike their new style. Ganondorf is absurdly slow compared to his Melee incarnation, but his moves are still great. Bowser is way better than he was in Melee. Surprisingly, he's not as heavy as before. He's more agile... At least, as agile as a guy like him can be. I just never use him all that much. Personal preference. Ike's pretty slow, but not too slow. I like his attacks, though against faster characters I'm usually at a disadvantage. Metaknight is very cool and has some flashy moves, but he isn't strong enough for my taste. Pit has a unique style I just haven't figured out yet. He's still fun to use, though. R.O.B. is really fun to use, but I favor so many characters over him that I don't use him as much. Fox is much the same; great character, but I prefer Falco and Wolf. I actually like Kirby more than in Melee, but he's just too light for my taste. Sonic's interesting, at least. He's sorta fun to use, but I need more time to figure out how much I'll use him.
Bottom Tier: Peach, Zelda/Sheik, Ice Climbers, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Jigglypuff, King Dedede, Marth, Ness, Samus/Zero Suit Samus, Yoshi
- Nothing against how these characters, personally. I just don't like using them for various reasons. They're just not as fun for me to use. Sure, I like to dick around with Jigglypuff and Marth every now and then. But I favor a ton of characters over them. I like Lucas way more than Ness. I don't like Yoshi's style, and rarely use him. Nothing against Peach and Zelda/Sheik other than they aren't as cool for me as the other characters. Plus, a couple of my friends specialize in them, so I kinda think of them as "theirs." Diddy Kong is aggravating and has no power, from what little I've used of him. Donkey Kong is a "meh" character for me. Fun on occasion, but mostly boring. King Dedede seems to be a popular choice for a lot of people, but I just can't get over how incredibly slow he is. I know that compensates for his absurd power, but I prefer moving around the stage a bit faster than he can move.
Character Color Swaps: I love some of the new ones. Finally, Mario has his Fire Flower colors to go along with Luigi's version. Luigi has a great Waluigi recolor. Wario has his original clothes, which I prefer over his WarioWare version. The "dark" versions of Fox and Falco are awesome. Falco's brown jacket version is my new favorite. We finally have proper-looking Dark Links for Link and Toon Link. Toon Link's is kinda scary. The white-tinged versions of Bowser and Ganondorf are great, and demonic looking. I like some of the accent colors other characters have, like Pit. Snake's got some nice camo, but I wish he had a few more options. Oh, and I wish there were Big Boss and Liquid recolors for him. Sonic's are just terrible. I don't care who you are, giving him multi-colored rings around his wrists shouldn't count as a recolor.
Stages/Stage Editor
Favorite New Stages: Final Destination, Halberd, Shadow Moses Island, Bridge of Eldin, Lylat Cruise, Smashville, Luigi's Mansion, Spear Pillar, Pictochat, Hanenbow, Distant Planet
- Not too much to say here, as the levels kind of speak for themselves. I love the new atmosphere of Final Destination. Halberd, Shadow Moses Island and Lylat Cruise flat out rock. I love how random Spear Pillar, Pictochat and Hanenbow (the Electroplankton stage) are. Smashville, Bridge of Eldin and Distant Planet are plain old fun.
Stage Editor Comments: I love having one, first of all. I've made a neat cave-like level and a cool Triforce-themed level so far. I also like getting a new stage every day from Nintendo. I really, really like that I can share created stages with my friends. As for the negatives... There are a few. One is that I can't save the stages Nintendo sends to me; the new day's stage replaces the previous day's one. I wish there were more stage building items in the hopper. Even after unlocking additional items, you don't have much. And here's what's unusual, and really unfortunate -- you can't grab onto ledges in created stages. For whatever reason, Nintendo didn't build it into the items that you can grab onto them like a ledge to save yourself. As a result, there are a ton of recovery-related deaths.
Other Comments
- Playing Smash online rocks out loud. Right now there's a ton of lag, presumably because half the known universe is trying to play Brawl online. Those laggy matches are terrible. But most of the time, I've had reduced-lag or lag-free matches, and they've been awesome. Quite a few memories to share from those, and it's only been a couple days. A minor complaint: I wish the avatars you can choose from the Brawl characters could be tweaked for their different color swaps. It'd make it just a wee bit more unique for the user.
- Having five letters instead of four for name input is a big deal. I love it, because I can finally play Smash as "Frent".
- Subspace Emissary runs a bit long, especially the second half. The final boss is pretty cheap, but amusing, I guess. I really like how Nintendo -- or mainly Sakurai, whomever's responsible -- for making such an intricate storyline with the characters. The cutscenes were the best part of the whole deal. My favorite "team" in there has to be Captain Falcon and Olimar.
- I've said this before, but the music selection is wonderful. The privilege of playing on stages with such a diverse and rocking music selection is worth the price alone. A minor complaint: I wish I could choose from all songs from one game for a stage it represents. An example of this is how there are two new Zelda stages, and the music is split between them.
- I'm kinda "meh" on the Stickers. I almost never used them in SSE. Still, they're like almost-trophies, so that's kinda neat. The trophies, as usual, are really cool. I just haven't collected many yet.
- A.I. is vastly improved from Melee. Now I face Lv. 3s that have a decent idea of when to dodge, and what items to go after. I've beaten a couple Lv. 9s, but they're a damn tough lot this time around. Right now I can comfortably beat Lv. 6s, but even they give me some trouble. This is a good thing overall, because it means infinitely better training sessions with computer players. I'm a bit wary of the "Intense" difficulty on some modes, though. Cruel Melee is very, very cruel.
That's about it, though that's quite a lot of info to digest. I love this game even more than I did Melee. I'd be drooling over it more if I wasn't already so used to the fighting style. But, that's a good thing, because the fighting style is what appeals to me. Oh, and snapping up every update from Japan on the game when they got it made for a nice buzzkill on new stuff. The gameplay is what's important here, though, and I love, love, love it.