Smash Bros.? What's Smash Bros.? If you are a Wii owner asking that question, you'll get many funny looks from other gamers that wonder where you have been the past ten years. Super Smash Bros. is perhaps Nintendo's most successful franchise (in terms of sales per game) in the past decade. If you have actually have been living under a rock for the past ten years, Super Smash Bros. is a fighting series that brings characters from different Nintendo franchises and pits them in epic battles. Two previous iterations of the games, Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, were best-selling hits for the Nintendo 64 and Nintendo GameCube, respectively. The latest title, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, is bound to sell millions of copies and move quite a number of Wii consoles as well.
For those that haven't played any Smash Bros. title, here's a brief introduction to the game mechanics. With up to four players in a match, the players strive to knock each other off the stage, earning a knockout (K.O.). Depending on the rules of the match, the win conditions vary, but usually it is played with timed matches or stock (life) matches. Each player has a damage meter that starts at 0%. As he or she is hit by various attacks and items, that damage meter will rise, making it easier for characters to K.O. each other. Items randomly appear and range from exploding Bomb-ombs to health-replenishing food. Certain stages are interactive and require the players to adjust to the changing environments.
Characters and stages in Brawl are from some of well known Nintendo hits. The characters range from famous gaming icons like Mario (Super Mario) and Link (The Legend of Zelda) to mostly unknown Nintendo heroes such as Ike (Fire Emblem) and Lucas (Mother/Earthbound). Each bring their own normal and special attack movesets, along with some unique qualities and abilities that are specific to the character. For example, winged characters like Pit (Kid Icarus) and Meta Knight (Kirby) can fly while Zelda (The Legend of Zelda) and Samus Aran (Metroid) can transform into alternate characters (Sheik and Zero Suit Samus, respectively). Two interesting additions to the cast? Non-Nintendo characters for the very time in a Smash Bros. game: Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog) and Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid). Both seamlessly enter the fray and mesh well with the existing lineup.
Brawl's stages bring more interactivity to the table, with destructible environments in Pit's "Skyworld" stage and mini-game frenzies in Wario (Super Mario/WarioWare)'s "WarioWare Inc." stage. Although some are rather annoying or too large (Lucas's "New Pork City" and the returning "Hyrule" of The Legend of Zelda series as examples), most of them are extremely entertaining and mind-boggling. The surroundings are amazingly detailed with tons of little events occurring in the background such as arrows being shot in the Fire Emblem stage and some of Sonic's pals rolling by in Sonic's "Green Hill Zone" stage.
So what else is in Brawl? Four control schemes, WiFi play, and custom stages are only a few of the new features. There are still the new Subspace Emissary adventure mode, stickers, and replays.
When Brawl was first announced, gamers questioned possible control setups and devised some of their own for the Wii remote and nunchuck. Luckily, director Masahiro Sakurai and the Sora development team decided to implement four control schemes for players to use: the sideways Wii remote, the Wii remote and nunchuck, the Classic Controller, and the ol' faithful GameCube controller. Other than the Classic Controller, the first two control setups are wildly different from the GameCube controller most players are used to. The many options are nice, but from what I've seen and heard, most players will stick to the GameCube contoller (or the Classic Controller).
WiFi features?! Yes, WiFi play, something that most or all Melee fans wanted. The general multiplayer is available for online play but exclude the co-op Subspace Emissary adventure mode. With strangers, you will be limited to two-minute free-for-alls or team battles. Once you've swapped 12-digit Friend Codes, however, the limitations end and the game allows you to change the rules and play other events such as Multi-Man Melee. Also available is the Spectator feature, which allows you to gamble your coins (more on this later) and watch other people fight. In addition to the actual playing, custom stages can be submitted to Nintendo who will then upload select stages to everyone's Wii. It's a cool feature that will keep Brawl refreshing months down the line. Unfortunately, at the time of review, Nintendo seems to be having problems with "With Anyone" matches, although connections through Friend Codes work. There is a 64-friend code limit, so choose your friends wisely. The actual playing experience online has been lackluster; lag has been present in every match, sometimes becoming completely unbearable. The others I've played with have reported lag as well. There is only one method of in-game communication, and that is the in-game taunts. Four 20-character messages are able to be set your D-Pad directions, and you may type the messages yourself.
Brawl does feature a rather limited stage builder, but it is a stage creator nevertheless. At the start, your items for stage creation are severely limited, but with greater playtime and experimentation, more tools and parts for custom stages are unlocked. As stated earlier, these stages can be submitted to Nintendo. Nintendo will send a new custom stage daily through the WiiConnect24 service. These stages cannot be saved, which is a confusing design decision.
As far as single player features go, Brawl offers a lot to do. That, however, is not enough; the heavily touted Subspace Emissary is not as great as it may seem. It is a story-driven adventure where the player will encounter and use pretty much every character in the game. It is essentially a platformer, but a ridiculously boring one at that. There is no text other than name introductions, no speech, and no real character development other than the unimpressive cut-scenes. The levels feel very bland and repetitive, and it will become annoying and tedious to fight the same mindless enemies over and over. The level design of these stages are rather poor and simply have the player wandering around in search for the next door. Characters are thrown in randomly for the sake of including them in the adventure, and the game does not provide a worthy reason for me to continue playing other than to unlock Sonic.
The remaining single-player modes include the Classic mode, Event Matches, Home-Run Contest, Multi-Man Brawls, and Target Tests. All of these are returning from Melee, although some parts are tweaked and modified. Most of these enable co-op which is a great addition, but I don't see myself playing these event matches with a friend; I'd much rather play a regular match.
Rounding up Brawl's offerings are the miscellaneous items: trophies, stickers, replays, snapshots, and Virtual Console demos. Trophies are the same as ever: they offer a bit of information on the character or item. Stickers are items you can use to power-up your characters in Subspace Emissary. Replays can be recorded (for up to three minutes), so you can show off hilarious or epic K.O.s to your friends. Photos were a part of Melee, but Sora Ltd. has implemented photo-taking in any match which greatly encourages the feature and actually makes it worthwhile. The last additional features are the Virtual Console demos. Brawl offers several timed demos of classic Nintendo titles such as Star Fox 64, F-Zero, and Kid Icarus. All of these don't detract from the game; depending on how the player views them, they can be incredibly essential to the user experience or be simply extra things he or she may try out.
Coming back to the game mechanics, I will say this: Brawl is not a fighting game. This is not my original thought: 1UP's Retronauts podcasts made me realize that Brawl is a platformer with fighting elements. Although Melee was quite responsive to controls and worked well with its environments and levels, Brawl is not the same in that regard. Competitive Smashers and the regular hardcore Smashers agree that Brawl feels slower and more sluggish than its predecessor. Perhaps this is the result of Sakurai's simplification of the game, but it's not something that was executed properly. If the controls aren't always responsive and well suited for the world, it will make for a frustrating experience. This applies for both singleplayer and multiplayer; a match can rest upon the quickness of a character's reaction to a button press.
Does the game look and sound good? Yeah it does. It is nothing near the 360 and the PS3's finest, but it is definitely among the Wii's best graphical offerings. Brawl runs smoothly at 60fps consistently in 480p and 16:9, which is somewhat impressive with character models more detailed and polished than Melee's characters. Most of the environments are amazingly detailed, with low-resolution textures difficult to spot. What I think is more important than the graphics here, though, is the absolutely phenomenal soundtrack. Brawl's soundtrack is comprised of orchestrated works by some of the gaming industry's well known and successful musicians; there are nearly 300 music tracks available for play during your brawls and for custom stages. This is an unprecedented effort in the audio department by Nintendo, a company that resorts to MIDI music for the vast majority of its titles.
One flaw that deserves its own paragraph is the long disc-loading times. Nintendo's GameCube titles have had quick loading times with new levels and cutscenes appearing almost instantaneously, but Nintendo's Wii titles cannot pull off the same feat. Brawl's disc-loading times can range up a couple of seconds to a whopping fifteen seconds. The actual gameplay makes up for this rather nagging problem, but it's something that always affects you; it makes Subspace Emissary even more unbearable.
Conclusion
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a well-rounded experience that excels in all aspects: presentation, audio, gameplay, features, and replay value. With an impressive cast of 35 characters and 41+ diverse stages, each Smash match offers something new and exciting for the player. Even though it comes with its own set of flaws, Brawl definitely improves upon what Melee did best and brings even more to the table. Something I got over was the incredible potential this game had and did not fulfill; this can be said for every game in existence. Brawl could have included many more characters in its playable lineup, including Issac of Golden Sun and Viewtiful Joe of Viewtiful Joe, instead of R.O.B. and some other "Luigified" clones. The wishlist is endless, but hey, we'll still live with the existing roster. Sakurai and the rest of the team at Sora neverthless did exceptional work, drowning us in extras and the same, fun gameplay that kept us entertained for the past nine years. Now, enough of this review. I must go play for another 12 hours.
Comments 69
Great review for great game. One regret that I do have is I wish Sora/HAL Labs would have added Mega Man, now that would have been awesome!
No 10?
yea megaman would be nice to have, like every smash bros. knockoff made in flash has megaman in it
No way in hell does this deserve a 10. SSE was incredibly underwhelming for what Sakurai made it out to be, and the WiFi play is incredibly "iffy" right now. It might just be Nintendo's servers being overwhelmed, but I'm not happy with the performance.
Fair play IcyStorm.
The Wi-Fi will be Nintendo's servers I guess. One of the reasons I'm kinda glad the UK iteration is out last (all problems should be ironed out by then).
For me, this deserves a perfect 10. I'm a massive fan of the SSB series- both the N64 and GCN games were my favorite titles on their respective platforms. I really thought that there would be nothing else to improve on, but they seem to have defied all odds and made the game even better than Melee. If I had to sum it up in one word, I'd say 'sharper': The battles, modes, and AI all seem to have gone through an extensive upgrade.
I can't find a fault in Brawl- I really can't. There is so much packed into the disc, that I have the distinct feeling I won't have even completed it by the end of the year.
It took me 18 hours to get used to the game and unlock all the characters and stages. Now I have the events, stadium, all star, classic, and co-op to do. The disc is packed to the brim with AAA content.
So I'm afraid I have to disagree with you Icy, SSB is a perfect 10.
Bah, everyone's entitled to his or her own opinion. I disagree with you about many of the things, but primarily calling SSBB a "perfect 10." A game cannot be perfect and can always use improvements, and a 10 doesn't mean perfect anyway, but that's a rant for another day.
I'm not one to collect every single trophy and sticker. While that may be appealing to you, some of the modes such as Target Test and the Multi-Man Melee stuff; I'm just not interested in and will not beyond completing some of the challenges or unlocking stages or characters. We both get a different enjoyment out of the game, and I'm glad you love it as much as you do.
Although Brawl is a tremendous amount of fun, there are still flaws that I personally find with the game that I have mentioned in my previous comment and the review itself. The WiFi service in general, SSE (can you actually say it's that fun? It's reminiscent of Kirby because of Sakurai, but it feels a lot more repetitive than it should), and the general nerfing of characters that did not need to be nerfed.
There's also the absurd mechanic of tripping, which I didn't realize was there until a few days after the review was published.
Yes, I agree nothing can be perfect- but a perfect 10 implies that is the maximum score you can give something. A flawless game is impossible- unless it is something like 'Watch the non-changing line on the screen game' (TM). But, nethertheless, it is still possible to give a title a 10/10- because we all know there are going to be some limitations.
Even if the collecting doesn't interest you, there are still 41 stages to brawl on- even more once you get used to crating stages (which I have, quite sadly, done by looking at the stages that have not appeared from the past games.
Wi-Fi on Nintendo is poor anyways- and it'll be expectionally busy for these next few months.
As for tripping- thats what shield roll is for.
I personally liked the SSE- it gives a good opportunity to get used to each character. I certainly feel that the combat has improved, even if it is slightly slower than Melee (I'd point people towards the first SSB if people really want to see what slow is)
Everyone has there own opinion i suppose,
Because as for myself, I find SSE an amazing adition. I've barely played anything else, and when a buddy and myself were playing it for the first time that's all we did.
As for being slower than melee, idk how you can tell. There's always so much going on in the screen i actually thought it was faster than melee. Now i myself don't own melee so i don't have that direct comparision. I had to go over to my buddy's whenever i wanted to play that. Still, i've played it and at least thought i had a feel for the speed of it.
Overall, I won't be playing anything else for a while!!
Oh, and the music is amazing!!!
I'm like, the most biased Nintendo fanboy out there, and even I don't think it deserves a 10 (more along the lines of 9-9.5/10). Subspace was disappointing, but I found it more enjoyable when you play with a partner. Me and my bro (especially during the Great Maze part), decided to not cooperate and just try to kill each other (etc, throw bombs at each other saying: "NO!!! I'LL KILL HIM!!!" "NO MEEE~~!!!" "THIS IS MY FIGHT! NOT YOURS!!!" XD) Even without killing each other, we still had alot of fun working together and seeing embarrassing death sequences!
Using WiFi has gotten alot better these days, with anyone and friend matches! Theres almost no lag anymore (...almost)!
Good review! I just wanted to point out something. Around the sixth-seventh paragraph (or next to that pic of Bowser and Pikachu) you said:
I feel that the coin feature is pretty much useless, but... i think you forgot to mention what you were going to mention, the coin gambling feature. Maybe I missed it somewhere, but yea, its not like it really matters =3
And hey! Don't be dissin da R.O.B. I can teach you a lesson or two with him. Hows about it? Wanna trade smash codes?
5370-0075-9394
Hit me up, suga lumps ;p
and btw, I ALSO HATE THAT TRIPPING FEATURE!!! Like, how do you avoid it?
I think a lot of people are placing too much emphasis on the value-added features that are stuffed into this game. In essence, SSBB is a multiplayer fighter that you and your mates duke it out on. Things such as the SSE, trophies, events, are basically an extension of the game.
The angle you have to see it from is that nothing has actually been taken away from the series- things have merely been added to it in great volume. At the end of the day, I'd be more than happy with this game even without all the added stuff. Heck, the first Smash Bros was an amazing title and that was literally the bare bones of what SSBB is.
In countenance, I know you can say that by adding these things in, its expected that they should fall under the same impeccable quality of the series, but I really do beg to differ, even on that point. If you don't like the SSE, ignore it- Play classic mode, or All Star mode instead. Even with the SSE taken away, there is a phenomenally huge and well thought-out game there- something that will never be superseded by another title in the genre. Seriously, name me any fighter (and, yes, I do class this as a fighter) that has provided more that is on offer than SSBB... even with the SSE taken out of the equation.
Grab four mates round, put on SSBB, and you are having a blast.
As for the tripping thing: learn to use the shield roll
@ Nanaki: WHAT ARE YOU TRYIN TA SAY HUH? Who are you to judge that I don't know how to shield roll? lol, jk, but yea, I do shield roll all the time, and I still get that tripping thing. I thought tripping was a random thing, but with a bit of research, I found out that tripping is caused when you tap and then release the control stick (or so I hear). You can also cause others to trip by using certain attacks, but i think you can find that out for yourself with google
I think its fair to give Brawl a lower score because of the SSE and a few other problems. I mean, this was supposed to be one of the main features of Brawl, and yet its one of the most boring (without a buddy). You can't just ignore something that Sakurai hyped so much. Hopefully, with all the negative press on SSE, Nintendo will take note and make it better for next time. This is what reviews are for =3
oh and I recently found out that those pics are always changing, so when I mentioned "next to that pic of Bowser and Pikachu", I meant to say: "near the 4th pic"
and if anyone wants to add me, my code is in the comments =3
Thats what I mean about rolling though- you don't need to run, so there is no risk of tripping. Try it, it works in Brawls.
Personally, I think the SSE is decent both with and without a friend to play with. I reckon what the problem is, is that people are in such a damn rush to do it so fast. I enjoyed both playthroughs I've done. But I could go on in an endless loop contesting this point, so I'll just drop it now.
SSBB is da BEST. And NICE review
not sure if i should get this or SMG it will only be me playing it
Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the most hyped game in 2008... but it was a great game worth playing on the Wii. The game contained so much content that you can't possibly list here, but online does suck. The inclusion of Konami's Solid Snake and Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog was nice, though I do wish for Mega Man or other third-party characters in a future game. I thought Subspace Emissary was a good idea as a single-player adventure, despite a lot of complaints about it. After all, that's Sakurai for you. I definitely consider Brawl one of the reasons to own a Wii.
People get WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too hung up on the whole "perfect/not perfect" thing. There is a TREMENDOUS difference between the concept of a "perfect" game and that of "the most ultimately enjoyable game ever created." Anyone can stab away all day at the "faults" of any of the greatest games ever made. Period.
That being said, let me just point out the other very important point that this game, Brawl, cannot be fully appreciated without spending a LONG time playing it. That's not to invalidate anyone's personal impressions or opinions necessarily, but just to try and make clear that there is an incredible amount of depth to this game and the overall experience that you'll never even begin to realize and understand before your first 100 hours. Its for this reason that, unfortunately, no timely review will ever be able to offer a perspective on the game that will truly do it justice. It was the same for Melee as it has been for Brawl-- that game sold Gamecubes left and right throughout the entire generation and probably was still spawning large tournaments up to the release of Brawl, all because people could NOT deny the truly bottomless appeal of that game. Brawl has in no way failed to take that to the next level. To give you an idea of where I'm coming from, I've spent over 500 hours in that game, and there are still MANY things I have yet to learn and master. And a fun fact: I've never even touched the "Home Run Contest" mode. Barely the "Break the Targets" mode. If you find "faults" with any part of the huge amount of extra garnish features thrown in the game, thats perfectly alright with me! It doesn't change the fact that the game is at its core very easily among the deepest, most satisfying, most wildly addictive, most infinitely playable, and simply most enjoyable games that have ever been produced.
Exception of the year goes to lag. Lag is evil. Lag will make you . Avoid the lag at all costs, and the game will be a magical pot of rainbows and happiness for every day of your life.
Sorry everyone, just had to vent from severe buildup of overwhelming joy over the past year. Now back to the next match...
I'm serious; I'm online right now. Anyone wanna join...?
Oh and in case anybody hasn't been clued in yet, the tripping occurs basically as a way to punish spam/stale moves. Mix it up, and its much less likely to occur. It still will, occasionally, no doubt.
Unimpressive cutscenes?!
Best game in the series. I did not like Melee's fast gameplay. That game was a button masher most of the time. But still fun. I don't see people's problems With SSE. It was my favorite part of the game besides the multiplayer. A story was what I always wanted back in the Melee days.
WHY ISN'T IT A 10? THIS IS THE AWESOMEST WII GAME EVER! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!
Edited for excessive punctuation - Prosody
It should be a 10 for sure
Finally got around to seeing what Nintendolife had to say about Brawl and I agree with the review. SSE was sooooo boring, and I totally agree about it not being a fighting game. I need to stop trying to play it as such, because it frustrates me to no end. (Tripping?! What the heck?!) I just need to play it for what it is.
Oh, and the comment about Isaac was spot-on, though maybe it's better that he's not in this one, since I'm not such a big fan of Brawl. He better be in the next one, though, because I'll start a riot if he's not.
Unimpressive cutscenes? Really? If you don't like SSE, fine, but those are some of the most impressive cut-scenes I've ever seen, if you ask me.
And I actually really enjoyed the SSE. It's not amazing, but it gave the game some legs. The only real complaint I had with the game was laggy and skimpy online modes, but I don't play online much anyway. I give it a 9.8
SSE was awesome. I find it very odd that anyone would think otherwise. This game is at least a 9, but moreso a 10.
Though I hate how they put Snake into the game. Whether it's true Hideo Kojima begged or not, Mega Man deserved that place! The Blue Bomber would have fit perfectly, and would have provided other character entries in future Smash Bros. (Protoman!, Bass, Zero)
Sonic was awesome, though. He's not my main, but I love his speed. I'm pretty lethal with teh Hedgehog
All the complaining about the Subspace Emissary is getting annoying. For nine years, we complain about the Smash Bros. not having any kind of story. Now Nintendo gives us one, but do we thank them? Noooooo. We complain about it! That's so hypocrytical!
10/10 all the way by this site's scoring system.An all time great. Trounces Melee and 64 IMHO (though those are greats as well)
IT'S AWSOME!!!
giving any other game a 9 would be excellent, but the sheer awesomeness of this title makes a 9 feel life a failing grade
Best. Game. Ever.
I loved Subspace Emissary, that was my favorite part. For the next Smash Bros. though, I want the story mode to be BIGGER! I think Nintendo could pull it off if they really tried.
I feel sorry for IcyStorm.
The guy who wrote this must have had a muscle spasm when he click on nine because THIS GAME IS A TEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This game has so much good in it that it outdrowns the bad online
And, really, what Wii owner doesn't like this game?
i disagree i will give this a ten out of ten. TEN! i agree with the best game of the generation thing but a NINE! this is mad.
This got a Gold on the Nintendo Channel. Simply a smash.
I completely agree. Although I can't play much Subspace, I got a broken used copy. (GRR) But the best parts (in my opinion), the VC demos and multiplayer brawls, work fine!
In short, if you're reading this & don't have this game...BUY IT NOW!!! It's almost as infectious as Tetris, just deeper
BUT, if there 1 one thing that I HATE about this game...it would be (don't kill me), Gamecube controller support. In fact, I would pay 3, on 4 time as much for this masterpeice /if it just didn't have GC support/! It totally changes the game, like say you're playing online & both you & your opponent have like 150% damage w/ seconds left, one connected smash attack & u win...with the nunchuck, you can initiate a smash attack just as quickly as anything else, so you get your opening...but before you can do anything that n00b starts 2 spam the c-stick like mad cartwheeling or whatever across the stage totally removing any visage of a more intelligent strategy than that of what any cognitive human is capable of!
I'm not insulting those who happen to use their Gamecube controllers to play, I just think that it somewhat limits the SSB series from really moving on. I have a GC pad, yes, but just because you have a 'turbo' button doesn't mean you should use it, c-stick spamming is just as idiotic as any type of spamming!
If I built/used a arcade-esque fight pad w/ every attack mapped to a button, would that be a fair fight? Based solely on code input, heck yeah! That's perfectly legal codewise to the game, & strategically speaking, really quite clever! But for certain characters, (IMO) there is actually a certain element of game design dependent upon the (occasionally random nature of the) controls. So if you bypass those elements, you change the game, thus changing the overall 'fairness' of the game (<--again, IMO).
/rant
...come to think of it, this whole spiel probably has a better place somewhere in the forums, but hey, I'll probably repeat myself 100 times anyway if I stick around, so might as well get it outta the way 4 now! lol <
I demand a re-review on this game!
I AM GRUMPY!
how is this not a ten!?!?!?!!?!?!? MAYBE if your blind, AND deaf,
with no freinds, AND with a broken wii, you MIGHT reveiw it as a nine.
10!!!!
#2 ya dont waste your time online its no more fun as battling a computer unless its with a freind and it takes to much time AND it laggs baddly
#3 @moosa
you are sooooo right
ive spent over 1000 hours playing this game (according to the records) and im still perfeting techniques and finding new stratagies and advantages. this is the deepest game that exists! there are more possibilities to have fun in this game than there are DS' sold in america!
you cant call yourself a nintendo gamer unless you love this game. if you dont like this game please delete your nintendolife account and do one evil deed (buy an xbox) and head to the dark side.
It feels slightly absurd that I still get comments about this review that contain some bewilderment regarding the score. Is someone not titled to his or her opinion? At the time of writing, the WiFi play was awful. Should I have ignored that part of the product? As a reviewer, I review the whole package, not just one or two aspects of a game. For Nintendo's first real console-based online effort, it was lackluster and clearly not ready for primetime.
Why did I hate on Subspace Emissary? Because it simply wasn't good. Yeah, it's great Nintendo put some kind of effort and put a story-based adventure mode in Brawl. Was the story any good? No. Sure, many, many games have terrible or uninspired narratives that are perhaps even worse than SSE's. Do I praise SSE because it doesn't suck as much as other single-player stories? Of course not! It is just fanservice and merely exists for the sake of having some sort of single-player mode with more depth.
I gave the game a 9, didn't I? I'm not denying the fun of multiplayer and the incredible amount of references that excites the Nintendo fan in me. It's just mainly SSE (which was hyped up by Sakurai and Nintendo at the time), the load times, and the online play. I had to look up SSE because I didn't even remember what it was about. Nothing of the single-player stuck with me because it wasn't impressive or humorous or even ridiculously bad (but memorable). It was just bland and boring. Forgettable.
Though, Brawl does still look fairly good when played with component cables on an HDTV, jaggies aside.
@triforceofcourage: I do have a 360. Sorry, I like to play all sorts of titles instead of just Nintendo titles. If I didn't have some other console (or gaming PC), I would've missed out on Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 1 and 2, StarCraft II, Burnout Paradise, BioShock, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, Limbo, and an incredible mess of other titles that have never hit the DS or Wii.
@IcyStorm
I really enjoyed SSE. Collecting the trophies in it were worth my time.
Note one thing: THE SUBSPACE EMISSARY.
This game is so much better than the other fighting games (to me). Though I still don't understand why some hates the SSE mode.
@IcyStorm: We know you don't like Subspace. We already know it's your opinion but still.
It's completely fine if IcyStorm rated this nine. It's entirely perfect, it doesn't have to be a 10. I would've liked an option to change the languages to Japanese like in Melee. I would've liked some of the characters to have their own move sets. There are some flaws on Wi-Fi. But that just means Nintendo will keep on working to make better games. Maybe even another addition to the Smash Series. Maybe a better one too.
So please stop complaining people, it'll get there one day. You just have to wait. ^^
I have to agree with the nine rating, since Nintendo Life doesn't use .5s at all. I would personally give it a 9.5. I love it and want to give it a 10 but it doesn't deserve it. The Subspace Emissary was really lacking, I thought and the wifi mode is horrible. They even remind you of it before every match. You play in the practice room and there isn't any lag but then you start the match. A floaty game like Brawl just can't have lag. The rest of the game is amazing. No game can be entirely perfect, of course but I've always thought that a 10 implies that there are no large flaws to the game. A nine is still a must have for fans of the genre.
The SSE just felt like button mashing to defeat huge amounts of really weak enemies to me. There was no platforming aspect to it which would of been fun. I expected that of course. Since Ganondorf can barely jump while Kirby can jump super high, they had to create a game that any character can make it through. If they made a platforming game for Ganondorf then it would be no challenge as Kirby and if they made a platforming game for Kirby then it would be way too hard for less agile characters. I wish they had stuck to having an adventure mode stage for each character. It's too bad because the cutscenes were cool.
That being said, this is still my most played Wii game and my favorite too. I really am hoping for a 3DS Smash Bros. and I have LOTS of ideas if Nintendo wants to listen.
I'm still surprised this didn't get a 10
Easily the best Wii game. It really shows Nintendo's pride and the huge amount of work that went into this game. Best in the series so far!
This game has the best soundtrack of any game I have ever played. I am especially addicted to the mute city track for port town aero drive. Go Nintendo!
This is still one of my favorite games ever.
This is my favorite Wii game so far. I think this deserves a 10. Did the game really earn a 9 just because Isaac and/or VIewtiful Joe didn't appear in the game?
WHAT.
10/10.
This is the second best Wii game IMO, best being SMG2.
DLC. That's what this game needs. Character packs, map packs etc. Something like a "Sonic Battle Pack" that includes Knuckles, Tails and Shadow as playable characters and 2 new stages! 500 wii points or "Mario Character Pack" Includes Dry Bowser and a Boo 300 wii points.
Love this game 10/10 for me same with melee but 7.5/10 for the n64 version
The long and frustrating loading time gave it a 9.
Hang on a sec.... a 9!? This game is the best wii game ever! Its absolutly a 10!!! Okay, maybe its not perfect because of the double layer disc its a bit harder for your wii to read so the loading takes longer and you might need a cleaning kit, but its still awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If Donkey Kong Country Returns and New Super Mario Bros. Wii deserve a 10, than Super Smash Bros. Brawl absolutely deserves a 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10/10 nuff said
I give the game play 10/10, but I'd give the online 7/10. If it had less lag that would be great and online brawl records with a leader board would be awesome!
This game is AWSOME. I like the new appearins of Popo (The ice climber) The first ever appearins of Popo was on the NES. a good game.
Best fighting game ever! The combat was fun with all the neat final smashs,trophies,charcters, etc,etc,ETC!!!!! 10/10!!!
This deserved a 10/10,no matter how laggy the online may be.The manual DID say that lag is normal.
@motang And weren't you lucky?
@sackferret lucky? You mean addition of Mega Man in the Smash Bros game for Wii U, yeah looking forward to it!
It's a great story.
AKA nerfed melee :>
"There is no text other than name introductions, no speech, and no real character development other than the unimpressive cut-scenes."
...What kind of drugs was this reviewer taking? I'd just love to see him try and animate himself.
@motang
This man predicted the future!!!
@MysticGengar 😅
10/10 because that was the first game Wolf was playable in, flaws, floatiness, tripping & jank aside, I love it.
Best memory was beating Intense difficulty with Wolf, that was hard. I loved Subspace Emissary even with all the platforming & horde battles. I wished Ultimate's "story" mode was so much better.
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