Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズX, Dairantō Sumasshu Burazāzu Ekkusu, "Great Melee Smash Brothers X") is a gaming crossover fighting game published by Nintendo for the Wii console. As the third installment of the Super Smash Bros. series, this title once again features a diverse roster of characters from Nintendo and its second parties to fight in various kinds of matches. It is the first game in the Super Smash Bros. series to feature third-party characters. Most of the game's music is made up of arranged versions of pieces by one of 39 renowned video game composers that originated in previously released video games.

As with its predecessors, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a departure from traditional fighting games, notably in its simplified move commands and its emphasis on ring outs over knockouts. This installment also includes a deeper single-player mode than its predecessors. Known as The Subspace Emissary, this mode is a plot-driven, side-scrolling beat 'em up game featuring Brawl 's playable characters. Super Smash Bros. Brawl supports multiplayer battles with up to four combatants, and is the first game of its franchise to support online battles through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Gameplay
Following the style of its predecessors, the game uses a battle system different from that of typical fighting games. Choosing from a variety of characters, one to four players fight on various stages, trying to knock their opponents off the screen. Instead of using health bars like those used in most fighting games, percentage displays are employed. These start at 0%, and increase as the characters take damage up to 999%. As a character's percentage goes up, 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. The game can be played using the Wii Remote on its side, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk together, the Classic Controller, or the GameCube controller, for a total of four possible control styles. Players are also able to create profiles with personalized button configurations for each control method along with their chosen username. The characters can fight each other with a variety of attacks. Each move is prompted with the press of a button in conjunction with a tilt of the analog stick or a press of the D-pad, depending on the mode of control. In addition to basic attacks, such as punches and kicks, characters have access to more powerful smash attacks. Each character also has four character-specific special moves, which often have unique effects beyond damaging an opponent. The game introduces the ability to perform character-specific Super attacks, referred to as "Final Smash" moves. Final Smashes are significantly more powerful than regular attacks, having a wide variety of effects that range from nearly unavoidable blasts to temporary transformations. These abilities may be performed upon destroying a Smash Ball, an item bearing the Smash Bros. symbol. When the Smash Ball has been successfully broken by a character, that character can execute a Final Smash. However, should the player wait too long to use it and sustain too much damage, the ability will be lost and the Smash Ball will be knocked out of the character to resume flying about the stage.

The characters can make use of a variety of items, ranging from projectiles to melee weapons. Each item has a different effect on the characters around it. While many items return from previous Super Smash Bros. games, new items are also introduced in Brawl. Some returning items have also received upgrades, changing their appearances and/or capabilities. Two varieties of items, Assist Trophies and Poké Balls, temporarily summon guest characters and Pokémon, respectively, that generally assist the summoner. They cannot be controlled by players and are usually invincible.

Stages
Stages are arenas that are generally based on levels from the various represented game series of Super Smash Bros. Stages range from floating platforms to moving areas where the characters must stay within the field of play. Each stage has a boundary that cannot be passed, or the character will be "KO'd", thus losing a life or losing a "point".

As in Super Smash Bros. Melee, the game introduces new stages. New environmental gameplay mechanics have been added with this installment, such as destructible environment. A stage based on the Animal Crossing series features a live events system in which special events may occur depending on the date and time. Unlike its predecessors, Brawl also includes stages based on third-party games such as the Metal Gear Solid-inspired Shadow Moses Island. Many stages will undergo elaborate changes while battles take place, such as a cycling day-to-night system and changing seasons. The game also includes some stages originally seen in its predecessor.

Brawl also allows players to create their own stages using a variety of options in a mode called Stage Builder. Players can save their stages to an SD card or the internal memory of the Wii console. Stages can also be sent to registered friends. Through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, players are able to submit their creations daily to Nintendo, and receive a daily stage from the service.

Group
In addition to the standard multiplayer mode "Brawl", Super Smash Bros. Brawl features other multiplayer modes and options in Group mode.

Special Melee from the previous game returns as Special Brawl. In this mode, players are able to battle in matches using special rules for a greater level of customization. Whereas previously standard options such as "Giant Melee" or "Invisible Melee" were limited to only one feature per match, players may now select as many options as they like for a single match.

Another returning game type, Tourney mode, formerly Tournament mode, enables players to create an elimination-based tournament with a large number of CPU or human opponents.

Previously only available in Tournament mode, Brawl features a multiplayer option called Rotation. Rotation allows up to 16 players to compete in sequence by switching out winners or losers after each round.

Solo
Keeping consistent with its predecessors, Brawl includes various modes of play from the previous game designed for a single player. In Classic mode, the player goes through a number of semi-randomly generated matches. Each match features an arena or opponent from a particular series, such as The Legend of Zelda or Pokémon. Several matches also have a unique battle condition, such as a metal opponent or a two-on-two team battle.

As in the previous game, Brawl has Events, which are matches with predetermined battle conditions. These conditions include defeating opponents within a time limit or using a specific move on opponents. New to the mode, each of the sixty-two Events has three difficulties, with a high score recorded for each. In addition to the normal set of forty-one Events played with a single player, a smaller set of twenty-one two-player Co-op Events is included.

Also returning from Melee, Brawl features objective-oriented minigames in Stadium Mode. The Home-Run Contest mode is one of these features. In Home-Run Contest, the player must beat the Sandbag to deal as much damage as possible in ten seconds, then strike it with a Baseball bat to send it as far as possible. Returning from the two previous games is the Target Smash! minigame, in which the player must break 10 targets as quickly as possible. Departing from previous incarnations of this mode, players can access five different maps with any character, whereas the previous Super Smash Bros. games featured one unique map per character. In addition, items are also now available. Updated from Melee, some Stadium Mode minigames feature cooperative or competitive multiplayer.

Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary
Super Smash Bros. Brawl features a new Adventure Mode titled "The Subspace Emissary". This mode features unique character storylines along with numerous side scrolling levels and multiple Boss to fight, as well as CG cut scenes explaining the storyline. "The Subspace Emissary" features a new group of antagonists called the Subspace Army, who are led by the Ancient Minister. Some of these enemy characters appeared in previous Nintendo video games, such as Petey Piranha from the Super Mario Bros. and a squadron of R.O.B.s based on classic Nintendo hardware. "The Subspace Emissary" also boasts a number of original enemies, such as the Roader, a robotic unicycle; the Bytan, a one-eyed ball-like creature which can replicate itself if left alone; and the Primid, enemies that come in many variations. Though primarily a single-player mode, "The Subspace Emissary" allows for cooperative multiplayer. This mode also features a unique power-up mechanism in the form of collectible Stickers that can be applied to the base of the player's character trophies. Every stage accessible within "The Subspace Emissary" can be played on five different difficulty levels.

Unlike other game modes, "The Subspace Emissary" has a team system for the characters. The player begins with a limited choice of characters. Others join the team as the game progresses, while some characters may leave the team. Once one character loses a life, another character on the team can take his or her place until the stock count, of which each stage has a set number, runs out. The character order can be changed to the player's liking.

Masahiro Sakurai claims that this mode will be more "fleshed out" than the single-player modes in previous Smash Bros. titles. Shigeru Miyamoto has explained that Sakurai always wanted to have a very deep single-player game, but he wanted Sakurai to focus more on the multiplayer aspects in the previous titles since there were already many single-player games of this kind. With the development time allotted for Brawl, both were possible. In order to put together a plotline for the mode, Sakurai enlisted the help of Kazushige Nojima, a scenario writer known for his work on the Final Fantasy series.

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
Super Smash Bros. Brawl allows players to play against distant opponents through the use of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Online multiplayer games can be played either with registered friends or with other randomly selected participants. The players' nicknames will be displayed during multiplayer matches. Additionally, players can converse with up to four phrases that are set by the player beforehand. The four phrases correspond to the characters' taunts and will appear in speech bubbles above the characters. It has been stated that these names and phrases will not be displayed in random-player matches. A Spectator mode allows players to watch matches from players who have enabled the 'Allow Spectators' option, and bet on the outcome using coins earned within the game. The winner of the bet receives a jackpot of coins. While waiting for a match to start online, players may practice fighting against Sandbag. Some other gameplay modes, such as the Home-Run Contest, can also be played using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

In addition, snapshots may be taken during battles or in certain other modes. These snapshots can be sent to friends or submitted to Nintendo through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Video replay footage can also be captured in specific game modes, including Brawl and Target Smash! modes, and sent to friends in the same manner.

Vault
Returning from Melee are trophies, statuettes of video game characters and objects that can be collected in the game. These trophies give brief histories or descriptions of their subjects. A mini-game, the Coin Launcher, replaces the lottery machine from Melee as the primary method of obtaining trophies. The Coin Launcher is a machine that uses coins as projectiles to shoot trophies and counter incoming dangers such as missiles. Coins, earned by completing stages in the Classic mode, can also be used to bet on the victor of online battles via Spectator Mode.

Some trophies which are unavailable in Coin Launcher mode are obtained by using an item called the Trophy Stand on weakened enemy characters and bosses within The Subspace Emissary single-player mode. Trophies obtained in this manner may contain information on the backstory of the game.

In addition to trophies, players can now collect stickers of video game artwork. Players can place stickers and trophies onto virtual backgrounds and record snapshots, which can be sent to other players via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Stickers can also be applied to characters to power up their abilities during The Subspace Emissary. CDs can also be collected, which offer new music choices for playable stages.

New to Brawl is the Challenges menu, an interactive display which catalogs unlocked features and items in gridded windows. Once a window has been broken and its contents are unlocked, horizontally adjacent windows display the conditions necessary to unlock their contents. This system is similar to the Checklist feature of the Nintendo GameCube game Kirby Air Ride.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl contains demo versions of classic Nintendo titles, known as Masterpieces within the game, allowing players to relive defining moments of the characters' pasts. These titles utilize Virtual Console technology to emulate classic hardware. The demos have time constraints, and some utilize save data to allow the player to play a certain scenario or level.

Playable characters
The cast of characters includes various returning characters from Super Smash Bros. Melee and a variety of newcomers. Some returning characters have been updated or refined since their last appearance, either in terms of appearance, fighting capabilities, or both. For example, Link and Fox McCloud have taken on new designs from more recent titles, while Samus Aran has gained the ability to change into a new form, "Zero Suit Samus".

Some characters also took on a weight change due to in-game physics. Link falls faster in Super Smash Bros. Brawl that he did in Melee. Most other characters only took on a minor weight change or no change at all.

Some previously represented series have had more characters added to Brawl. Diddy Kong from the Donkey Kong (series) series and Ike from the Fire Emblem series will 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 highly successful WarioWare and Wario Land 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.

List of Characters
With 35 playable characters, Super Smash Bros. Brawl has 10 more characters than the previous installment. 21 characters are available from the start, while the other 14 need to be unlocked to become playable. Their Special Moves and Final Smash are listed on the right-side column.

Unlockable Characters
In addition to the characters listed above, the following characters can be unlocked when certain requirements are met.

Development
At the pre-E3 2005 press conference, the president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, announced the next installment of Super Smash Bros. was not only already in development for their next gaming console, but would hopefully be a launch title with Wi-Fi compatibility for online play. The announcement was a surprise to Masahiro Sakurai, creator of the Super Smash Bros. series. In 2003, Sakurai left HAL Laboratory, the company that was in charge of the franchise's development. He was not informed of Nintendo's intent to release another Smash title, despite the fact that Iwata told Sakurai shortly after his resignation from HAL that if a new Smash game was to be developed, he would want Sakurai to again serve as director. It was not until after the conference that Sakurai was called to Iwata's hotel room, where he was asked to be involved in the production of the new title, if possible as its director. Sakurai agreed to become director, and as of May 2005 was the only member of the new development team. Development of the game did not begin until October 2005, when Nintendo opened a new office in Tokyo just for its production. Nintendo also enlisted outside help from Game Arts who had just finished development of Grandia III. Sakurai also stated that these people had spent excessive amounts of time playing Super Smash Bros. Melee. This team was given access to all the original material and tools from the development of Melee, courtesy of HAL Laboratory. Also, several Smash Bros. staff members that reside around the area of the new office joined the project's development.

The game was absent from Nintendo's Wii showing at its 2006 Pre-E3 press conference. The next day, on Wednesday, May 10, 2006, its first official trailer was unveiled at E3 and at the After-Hours Press Conference, Nintendo officially revealed the game under the name of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In an interview with IGN, Sakurai said the Wii's motion sensing features might not be included because, "we found that trying to implement too much motion-sensory functionality can get in the way of the game". As far as Wi-Fi play is concerned, Sakurai stated his plan was to include Wi-Fi connection compatibility and online functionality from the start. He goes on to say "one of the primary reasons Super Smash Bros. Brawl was created was that Nintendo, when taking Wii online, wanted to have Smash Bros. to do that". However, as stated in the Toukouken on the Japanese version of the Smash Bros. website, "there would be many hurdles to cross", and an online ranking system is unlikely to be implemented. During a test play between Sakurai and Hideo Kojima, Kojima stated that the game felt complete and that Nintendo "could put it out right now and it would sell millions of copies". Starting May 22, 2007, the site has had updates every weekday. Throughout October 18-22, 2007 at the first Entertainment for All Expo show in Los Angeles, California, Nintendo hosted a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament.

At the Nintendo Media Conference at E3 2007, it was announced by Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime that Super Smash Bros. Brawl would be released on December 3, 2007 in the Americas. However, just 2 months before its anticipated December release, the development team asked for more time to work on the game. During the Nintendo Conference on October 10, 2007, Nintendo of Japan president Iwata announced the delay,

In order to fine tune Smash Bros., with this unprecedented game depth, we have decided that we have to take a little more time to complete the game than we announced before. We are sorry for the fans that are already anxiously waiting for the launch, but we would like to launch this game on January 24th, 2008 in Japan. As for the North American launch, we will review that too, and our local subsidiaries will make their own announcements.

On October 11, 2007, George Harrison of Nintendo of America announced that Super Smash Bros. Brawl would be released on February 10, 2008 in North America. On January 15, 2008, the game's release was pushed back one week in Japan to January 31 and nearly a month in the Americas to March 9. Similarly a representative on behalf of Nintendo of Europe on December 6, 2007 confirmed with the media that the game will not be released until after June 2008. However, a day later, a spokesman refuted these claims insisting that there was no solid release date for Europe yet.

Music
On May 22, 2007, Sakurai revealed a list of 36 Sakurai stated that he has asked the composers, who come from a variety of companies and have written music for first, second, and third-party games, "to listen to an elite selection of Nintendo music and arrange several of their favorite songs." The game's various stages have multiple musical tracks which players can listen to using the new "My Music" feature, including some pieces that were taken directly from other games without any modification or special arrangement. This feature also allows the player to select the likelihood of how often a piece gets played during a stage. Some of the pieces need to be unlocked while playing the game.

Inclusion of characters
Sakurai originally stated that he may not want to put much emphasis on Japan-only characters. However, reflecting upon Marth and Roy's inclusion in Melee leading to the international success of the formerly exclusive Fire Emblem series, Sakurai expressed more interest in including characters exclusive to Japan-only releases. Sakurai also said that third-party characters will 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 in 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, with some possibly appearing in the game. Likewise, fans from other countries were asked to submit ideas on Nintendo's official forums.

Suggestions were no longer being taken as of June 9, 2006. In August 2006, Sakurai and Shigeru Miyamoto stated that Nintendo was negotiating rights to other third-party characters. The most requested third-party character, Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog, was announced to be in Brawl on October 10, 2007, however the decision to have him in the game was only made earlier that year.

Reception and sales
Super Smash Bros. Brawl has received positive reviews thus far. The editors of Famitsu, who awarded a perfect score, praised the variety and depth of the single-player content, the unpredictability of Final Smashes, and the dynamic fighting styles of the characters. Chris Slate of Nintendo Power also awarded Brawl a perfect score in the March 2008 issue, calling it "one of the very best games that Nintendo has ever produced". GameSpot praised the simplicity of the game, noting that "its simple controls and gameplay make it remarkably accessible to beginners yet still appealing to Smash Bros. veterans", while 1UP concluded "For the Nintendo fanatic, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is like manna from heaven."

IGN critic Matt Casamassina noted that although Brawl is "completely engrossing and wholly entertaining," it suffers from "long loading times" and "uninspired enemies" in the Subspace Emissary adventure mode. The review also gave a mixed response to the quality of the graphics, and described them as "an enhanced version of Super Smash Bros. Melee" with improved character models and backgrounds that "lack detail in areas." Similarly, GameSpy claimed the graphics "looks like the GameCube game." NGamer points to the franchise's lack of innovation with the verdict, "Smash Bros risks growing too familiar. It never breeds contempt, but it doesn't quite muster that Galaxy magic."

In Japan, Brawl sold over 500,000 units on launch day, 820,000 units in its first week, and about 1.3 million units total as of March 2, 2008.