Long time no hateful review, huh?

Truth be told, I've been too poor to buy new vidja games to review, but Yahtzee's review of Super Smash Bros Brawl has inspired me to espouse an (old and unwanted) incredibly timely review!

So, let's begin!

***

Super Smash Bros Brawl is the ideal college gaming experience, and a good time for anybody who owns a Wii, a few controllers (Gamecube preferred) and two-to-three friends to play with. It, like Super Mario Galaxy, is a stellar casual gaming experience and a good example of what the Wii is best suited for.

As you likely know, Super Smash Bros Brawl is the third game in the terribly popular Nintendo All-Stars franchise, and it hasn't deterred from its basic premise: you can play as any one of your favorite Nintendo characters, from the cute-and-cuddly to Kirby to the sleek, metallic, skin-tight, bosomly bastion of fanservice that is (Zero Suit) Samus Aran, and place them into a fun-filled, magical arena based upon their most recent/popular games, and then proceed to have them kick the living shit out of one another.

It's a fantastic premise, because it banks upon Nintendo's biggest money-making feature: it's history. Franchises are the lifeblood of the company, and the Smash Bros games have always been a celebration of those franchises, their characters, and a gift to the fans of both. With hundreds of trophies detailing sometimes obscure and generally interesting information on characters, items and the like, tons of unlockables, and a simple, pick-up-and-play fighting system, it's the kind of game that you can easily waste half an hour to an hour (or longer, if you and your friends are more nerd--I mean "hardcore") just smashing each other to pieces.

There's a huge movement out there that seeks to make the Super Smash Bros games big, tournament-level fighting game extravaganza's, akin to Bungie's Halo series, the Unreal Games, Tekken and Street Fighter, and basically any other game that people have found a way to play professionally, and it is this group that our esteemed Yahtzee, I believe, takes offense at in his reviews.

But, if I may digress, I feel that the reviewing community--so used and accustomed to the more intense, hardcore gaming experiences of yesteryear--go about looking at Wii games all wrong. Mario Kart Wii is a good example--most of the nit-picking and negative points it has garnered on sites like 1UP and the like seem to rail upon it's lack of "depth", but...well, who exactly buys Wii games? You don't see a lot of super nerds rallying to the system as much as you used to. Those guys keep to the PS3 and Xbox 360s, where spending multiple hours on games is a norm. Instead, the Wii is a video game system that doesn't exactly sell itself to "video gamers", in the sense we now see them. Instead, it's target audience are people who DON'T play games, and people who only play the newest Nintendo or Grand Theft Auto game--the casual audience.

Since we've gotten a Wii, almost all of my non-gamer friends have been plugging enormous amounts of time into it, giggling in sheer delight at how fun it is, and happily putting down the controller after half an hour to and hour to go do something else. This is what the Wii is, ostenibly, for. It is, like many recent Nintendo Consoles, a multi-player system geared towards bringing new groups of people together in order to enjoy short bursts of gameplay, and the best games for the Wii take advantage of this to the utmost. Super Mario Galaxy is the pinnacle--you can play for five minutes and get something quite meaningful done and that's it. You don't have to play longer if you don't want to, yet you can if you do.

This is where Super Smash Bros Brawl shines the most. The tedious act of unlocking is a multiple path system, and all of the characters have two or three ways to be unlocked, depending on what you use the system for.

There's the single player, which deserves quite a bit of exposition because, frankly, if you've ever loved a Nintendo game, you'll likely love the single player, despite it's somewhat poor level design and repetative nature because it is, hands down, the single most epic celebration of Nintendo characters around. The basic premise is that there is, in fact, a "Nintendo Land", where all of the Nintendo characters live, outside of their otherwise seperate, multi-verse games, and they can team up to save the day from evils far bigger than themselves. You have Mario and Pit teaming up to fight Bowser, who has teamed up with Ganondorf and Wario to wreak havoc, and you can have Pikachu and Samus blowing up a high-tech space ship to liberate a bunch of...well, I don't really know what Pikachu and Samus are doing, but the point is that the single player mode is the ultimate cross-over ever seen in video games, and it works well in that aspect.

You have two-player co-op for the Single Player, which is a welcome addition because then you and a friend can spend an hour blasting through levels, killing bad guys, solving basic switch puzzles and, at the end of it all, unlocking a new character or music track. The unlockables, which Yahtzee was so aggravated at, are now easily unlockable without needing to refer to vague strategy guides (except for a few super-secret characters) just by playing through an already entertaining, two-player romp--something my room mate and suitemate, both general non-gamers, instantly became addicted to.

Sure, the single player has a number of downsides--annoying jumping puzzles, insanely hard boss fights, and a lot of cheap deaths ensue, but these are really irrelevant because you can just put the controller down if you get frustrated and come back a few hours later to try again and succeed.

The biggest flaw with the single player is actually the game's biggest flaw in general, and that is the controls. Now, when I say "controls", I basically mean the Wiimote and Nunchuck. These are not controllers geared for fighting games. It's hard to accurately describe, but trying to do difficult platform jumping and special attacks can be a bit frustrating on the Wiimote until you get the hang of it. Personally, I prefer to play on teh Virtual Controller, or especially the Gamecube controller--things which the gamemaker himself said were more ideal ways to play the game. Still, it's a bit aggravating that the bloody game--which was built for the WII--is much harder to play if you actually try to do it with the Wii's controller. Even Super Mario Galaxy was more tailored to the Wiimote than this, and, like Yahtzee said, it would've been just as playable on the Gamecube controller.

However, it should be said that there's a lack of gimmicks here. No fancy motion-controlling here, which may be initially upsetting, but once you play, you'll realize that if they had tried to implement such things, the game would've become a huge mess.

However, you aren't buying this game for single player, even if it is co-op. You want multiplayer, and SSBB delivers with aplomb. With a plethora of stages, most of which are unlocked along with characters, or just by playing enough melee matches, assures a constant amount of variety to your battlegrounds. Some stages are pretty much big hits or misses--the New Pork City stage, for example, is so fucking BIG that you'll easily lose track of your diminutive characters, and the Animal Crossing stage (yes, I know. An ANIMAL CROSSING stage.) is so small that you'll die just by trying to do a dash attack. There are a few others, but there are also some stellar good stages. The Pictochat stage is a standout, providing a simple arena with plenty of surprising and unpredictable alterations that give it variety and change the flow of battle constantly, keeping things fresh. My favorite stage is an unlockable one, and thus a spoiler, but there's plenty good to go around--and, even better, they included a handful of some of the better Melee stages to, like the hectic Big Blue racetrack or the fan-favorite Hyrule Temple stage. There are, for some bizarre reason, two Pokemon Arena stages, but hey, whatever. There are tons of Pokemon characters anyway, so I suppose it makes sense.

On the subject of characters, there are over 30 altogether, and besides Jigglypuff (who, I guess, HAS to be in a Smash Bros game), none of them particularly "suck." There are far less clones in this game, and each character offers something for each type of character. It's easy to pick one favorite, but most everyone I know who plays the game has three or four favorites they like to play with,and the roster is so large and varied that if you get tired of one character, there's always another to pick. True, Sonic and Snake are unlockable, but they're not hard to unlock, and Sonic even comes with his own stage to go with it, so it's all good.

In conclusion, there's not really much to say. Yes, the combat is basically button-mashing, and yes, some stages have terrible camera zoom, but the basic thing is that the game is fun. It's simple, easy to pick up, easy to play, and unpredictable enough to make even basic matches fun and exciting. There's tons to do, tons to unlock, and just tons of fun.

If you own a Wii, then you likely already own this game, because you likely have a bunch of friends to call together and play with your Wii for countless hours. The Wii is a system that can bring in a diverse collection of people, players and non, and in the end, that's why the Wii exists, and that's why Super Smash Bros Brawl WORKS: not because it is the deepest and most technical fighting game around, but because it's one of the most fun.

I find this a lot more 'explains the game more in-depth', if not a little bias for the game. Though, it's a good first review. Keep at it.

- A procrastinator

Online is just terrible, it's just one stressful waiting game when it could be much easier (hopefully in Mario Kart this week)

I agree with that, but you do have to realize this is Nintendo's first attempt at actual online play. Hopefully they will release a patch that will make it better.

We can only hope.

I'd have to disagree with your assertion that the "combat is mostly button-mashing." Fighting games are tricky things. On very easy difficulty, you can get by button mashing in any game, or if you're playing with a bunch of people who have never played. But if you play against a difficult CPU, or someone who read the manual, or played for more than an hour, and you button mash, you're going to lose. The combat is just as deep as it was in Melee (sans wavedashing), just a little different. Certain Really Annoying things that happened in Melee, like the outrageously unbalanced tire system or the "edge-bitching" technique have been removed, thank the Lord. Anyway, besides that quip, I mostly agree with your review.

stompy:
I find this a lot more 'explains the game more in-depth', if not a little bias for the game. Though, it's a good first review. Keep at it.

- A procrastinator

To address only: I didn't want to show bias for the game, but I intended the review to counterpoint Yahtzee's, mostly, as his primary gripes were the sorts of gripes that most people who play SSBB wouldn't mind.

I could've addressed how Nintendo relies on its franchises to the point of stagnation, but Yahtzee does that better than I would anyway, and to make a point, most non-gamers are drawn to these old fashioned series for exactly the reasons most reviewers are turned off. It's mostly just to make a point that the casual audience cares a lot less about the more technical aspects of the game then most reviewers do.

I may be a little bias, but that's only because I really like the game. XP most reviews are inherently bias, especially Yahtzee's latest.

Great review! Stompy pretty much said it, but your review tells us exactly what to expect with the game. You hit on stages, control, characters... all the high points.

This is all the original Super Smash Bros. with a new coat of paint on it. its all really button mashing like a retard with diffrent controlers. if you want to spend your pretty pennys on a "new" sequal get mario cart wii because that at least takes some skill. But still, you have to admit the wii is a childs console really and SSBB is a mindless slap fight for children. Thats what makes it random fun

Mr.McNinj4:
This is all the original Super Smash Bros. with a new coat of paint on it. its all really button mashing like a retard with diffrent controlers. if you want to spend your pretty pennys on a "new" sequal get mario cart wii because that at least takes some skill. But still, you have to admit the wii is a childs console really and SSBB is a mindless slap fight for children. Thats what makes it random fun

i'll agree the wii is primarily a console for people bad at gaming, but ssbb is by no means button mashing or mindless, i don't know about anyone else but i'm pretty good at this game and i've never lost to anyone who just picked it up and fiddled with it, honestly i'm starting to get pissed at all this "no skill" bullshit people are slinging about ssbb, i'm NOT a nintendo fanboy nor am i "that guy" simply through the act of good sportsmanship i try to make sure everyone enjoys the experience. it's not perfect but what is these days. it's fun and challanging when you want it to be.

If you're getting beat by a guy mashing buttons, this isn't your game. Seriously. SSBB is as button mashing as Halo. he game is rather chaotic at time but the point is to be able to focus on the game enough to make it to your advantage. If you are no good at a game so be it, but it does you no good to say it's a shitty button masher.

I agree completely about the people arguing against SSBB being a button mashing game. Most fighting games are button mashing games, games with stupid combos like [up, up, up, A, X, X, down, left, diagonally down, A, loop, eat a potato chip, Y] with little difference in terms of effects of each attack. These are your button mashings. But with SSBB, you have 8 basic moves, with a few altitude and momentum differences, and each move does something unique and usually has a fairly obvious use.

In general, I submit that if you think Smash is a button masher, you probably haven't played it. Or if you have, you only played it for 10 minutes, and decided to stop because you were losing...because you were mashing buttons.

Lvl 64 Klutz:
I agree completely about the people arguing against SSBB being a button mashing game. Most fighting games are button mashing games, games with stupid combos like [up, up, up, A, X, X, down, left, diagonally down, A, loop, eat a potato chip, Y] with little difference in terms of effects of each attack. These are your button mashings. But with SSBB, you have 8 basic moves, with a few altitude and momentum differences, and each move does something unique and usually has a fairly obvious use.

I used the term button mashing generally, because in comparison to technical fighting games like Tekken and Virtua Fighter, the foundations of Smash Bros are comparatively more button-mashy. Not that this is bad--I personally find Tekken and Dead or Alive positively dull (though DOA2 was good for a brief weekend rental.)

button mashing does NOT work in brawl, it doesnt work AT ALL. like someone above me said if you think SSBB is a button mashing game, you're either an idiot or what someone above me said. if you button mash in brawl, you will die...constantly. Thanks for the positive review, RentCavalier. but Yahtzee, if you happen to be reading this thread, listen closely: YOU CAN PLAY WITHOUT BEING A BUTTON MASHER AND WITHOUT BEING "THAT GUY". THE WORLD DOES NOT WORK IN BLACK AND WHITE, YOU IDIOT! i really don't care how much of a fanboy i look, brawl is an awesome game and i won't see it scorned unless the reason is absolutely genuine.

To be honest, I feel that Yahtzee's review hits the mark...and also misses it at the same time. Yes, it's more of Nintendo's same old, yes, some of the unlockables can take awhile, but when it all comes down to it, it's fun. Isn't that what gaming's all about, fun? Maybe it's not new and original, not like Psychonauts or Portal or the original SSB, but it's still fun, it's got a few cool tricks up it's sleeve, and it appeals to a wide variety of gamers.

I know the Wii is meant to target casual gamers. I should know, since I am one. But there is a lot to be said for a game for the Wii that's both appealing to casual gamers and the hardcore fan alike. Brawl is one of those. It draws new gamers in with the appeal of playing as your favorite Nintendo character in a unique arena and it draws in old gamers by setting up some pretty challenging feats to accomplish and a whole mess of unlockables and challenges to beat. Even if you don't have a lot of gaming friends, I know I don't, the single player alone was enough to draw me in. I can see how it's repetetive, but the story behind it is amazing and the sticker system with it makes it even more unique among fighting games.

I've also never seen button mashing work in Brawl, and to counter Yahtzee's point on getting good at Brawl, they've made it a lot fairer than Melee was. I was able to go up against my university's second best Melee player and beat him in a round. Okay, granted it was only one round, he kicked my butt the rest of the time, and I only won because he didn't know how my character worked yet, but I was still able to beat him that once.

on the button mashing point, i think its an environment thing, if you spam some basic moves and just whack like a gorilla with an automatic hammer your going to get beaten down by an experienced player.... at beating button mashers

some 'That Guys' go spaz when you button mash, the strategies they carefully practice and execute to take down serious players just fall to bits in the face of a whirling inaccurate mash-of-doom, if someone regularly plays mashers, they get used to it. Button mashing is as legitimate a strategy as any other, and has both its strengths and weaknesses

all that said, i wouldn't buy Brawl if it came with 3 attractive women and a helicopter... well, i would then, but not otherwise. To me (and i stress 'To Me') it is the latest in nintendos partially-successful strategy of 'just remake it', its progressed past Flogging the horse, and into downright necromancy.

I agree with Ultrajoe in the way that Nintendo likes to 'just remake' stuff. I've played it, I think its a lot of fun, but to me again it makes me feel like Nintendo is just resting on its laurels, which is sad.

Rent Cavalier, I thought your review was pretty good. Definately keep it up!

I don't know if it's just me, but with Yahtzee's reviews I feel like he always makes good points. As much as I love a lot of the games he reviews, I can easily see why he makes the points he makes and I repect them. They're also hillarious lol.

ive been hating nintendo ever since 10 years ago. All i see is the same shit over and over and over and over with Mario and other characters. This is no different and this game isnt worth the $60 to buy in the US anyway i think its a budget title. And by god i think nintendo sends guys with original ideas to a concentration camp or something. And what i dont need is another mario kart game. Would anybody be surprised if Mario Accounting came out?

Marriot:
. Would anybody be surprised if Mario Accounting came out?

i'm saving this page, they'll need to pay you royalties.

there was that pheonix thing game where you played a lawyer... to me that was a little odd (apparently enjoyable however)

back onto brawl, i will say this, when a friend owns it and we end up playing any SSB, its always fun, not because of the game, but because of the people you play it with, i think thats why online play is not as spiffy as the sheer drunken awesomeness of:

'you just fell off the level'
'no, i just kicked you off'
'your looking at the wrong character!'
*laughing ensues*

THAT is what i like about SSB, just because i wouldn't buy it doesn't mean i wouldn't play it, mashing all the way.

Why are people talking about Yahtzee's review here? If you want to talk about that, you should go to the Yahtzee forum. RentCavalier wrote a fine review, why don't we talk about that.

While I would really like to see more (or at least SOMETHING) original come out of nintendo, I thought this game was pretty good. It's certainly the best fighting game I've seen or played. I usually avoid them like the plague, but Brawl is just different to me. There are no random 16-buttons-in-two-seconds combos that make your character blow up onscreen, and that's what made me hate other fighting games. There are 8 attacks per character, and that's about it. Its simplicity is what really gets me. My dad could (eventually) get good at Brawl. Not "that guy" good, but he could probably do fine, just b/c the controls are so simple. At the same time, people can get really good. For me, that's what sets it apart.

P.S: Loved the review!

Giygas:
Online is just terrible, it's just one stressful waiting game when it could be much easier (hopefully in Mario Kart this week)

I don't understand the problem. I play Brawl online a bit (about four hours a week) and don't lag ever. This includes both random matches and matches with friends. The only time I've lagged was when my internet was going on the fritz for a week. Most certainly, though, that's not Nintendo's fault.

Credge:

Giygas:
Online is just terrible, it's just one stressful waiting game when it could be much easier (hopefully in Mario Kart this week)

I don't understand the problem. I play Brawl online a bit (about four hours a week) and don't lag ever. This includes both random matches and matches with friends. The only time I've lagged was when my internet was going on the fritz for a week. Most certainly, though, that's not Nintendo's fault.

Braw With Anyone never once worked for me. I waited up to 5 minutes before it d/c'ed me about ten times now

The Friend-Codes? Unless you're super-natural, in close contact/iming or have no life, it's just one big waiting game. I just want to get into a quick match with someone, but that has yet to happen

Giygas:

Credge:

Giygas:
Online is just terrible, it's just one stressful waiting game when it could be much easier (hopefully in Mario Kart this week)

I don't understand the problem. I play Brawl online a bit (about four hours a week) and don't lag ever. This includes both random matches and matches with friends. The only time I've lagged was when my internet was going on the fritz for a week. Most certainly, though, that's not Nintendo's fault.

Braw With Anyone never once worked for me. I waited up to 5 minutes before it d/c'ed me about ten times now

The Friend-Codes? Unless you're super-natural, in close contact/iming or have no life, it's just one big waiting game. I just want to get into a quick match with someone, but that has yet to happen

Friday/Saturday Nights have worked pretty well for me with Online. I don't usually do it much, as I can usually get a match or two in with my room mates, but if you're trying to do the online part, try the weekends. It does lag at times though.

Ultrajoe:

Marriot:
. Would anybody be surprised if Mario Accounting came out?

i'm saving this page, they'll need to pay you royalties.

I think Decline of Video Gaming'll be after the royalties before he gets em.. ;P

Okay, not to be short here, but if you think for a moment Smash is, has been, or ever was in any incarnation a button masher, you need to go stick your head in a blender.

If somebody is mashing random buttons, they're predictable, and they're going to lose. This has been said already, but nobody else seemed to emphasize just how ineffective button mashing really is.

If you're "button mashing", chances are you're taking the palm of your hand and smashing the right side of your controller. This will generally press the large 'A' button more than anything else. (Given you're using a Gamecube controller, shame on you if you aren't.) Your character's reaction will therefore be stand-in-place-and-punch. That is all button mashers do. In a slightly more sophisticated incarnation, they may also run-and-spam-dash-attack. Anything a button masher does can be countered by jumping and kicking in the face. I've never seen it fail. Jump, press A, kick in the face. It's that easy.

The moral of this story is that you shouldn't button mash, because if anybody nearby knows what they're doing, you're going to get kicked in the face. I don't think I need to say more than that.

Giygas:

Credge:

Giygas:
Online is just terrible, it's just one stressful waiting game when it could be much easier (hopefully in Mario Kart this week)

I don't understand the problem. I play Brawl online a bit (about four hours a week) and don't lag ever. This includes both random matches and matches with friends. The only time I've lagged was when my internet was going on the fritz for a week. Most certainly, though, that's not Nintendo's fault.

Braw With Anyone never once worked for me. I waited up to 5 minutes before it d/c'ed me about ten times now

The Friend-Codes? Unless you're super-natural, in close contact/iming or have no life, it's just one big waiting game. I just want to get into a quick match with someone, but that has yet to happen

I have a very good connection, and so I have never had any trouble (actually once, but that's it). It is easy to get matches with anyone with very little wait. However, it is not easy to keep them, since they always drop out after the first battle, since I am That Guy. Seriously, I won a 2 minute online fight with 9 kills. They all left immediately. I was very happy. Also, that shows what happens to button-mashers. They die frequently.

RentCavalier:

I may be a little bias, but that's only because I really like the game. XP most reviews are inherently bias, especially Yahtzee's latest.

Its because IMHO, ZP is an opinion not a review. A review is something that takes both sides of the argument for a product then gives a balanced summing up. That is something ZP rarely does.

Good reviews don't have bias - remember that.

I will freely admit my own bias for brawl, if it had only been a graphics update of melee i would have still given it my vote for game of the year. However, brawl has recieved several huge improvements. The Subspace emissary mode is amazing. The music is great, especially the main theme song. The new Characters are all fun and interesting. The final smashes are entertaining and impressive, without being an instant win button. To those that say that nintendo is reliant on their established characters to sell games: So. I like mario and crew. I would like to see more of their IPs make it into the mario X games. Kirby characters would not be out of place in Mario Kart or Mario party, nor would olimar of pikmin. Nintendo has the same characters in all of it's casual fun games so that non/casual gamers have something to grab onto, while at the same time identifing the game as fun/casual centric, as opposed to the more serious involved games targeted at the Hard Core. It's not stagnation, it's continuity. If I bought say 2-3 video games a year or less and i wanted to get a solid party game with a fair amount of polish I know that Mario Kart will give me a fun experience with out demanding that i play for months to get good. I know that Mario Party will deliver mini-game fun with style and aplomb. I know that Mario sports titles will be a fun and interesting take on a sport, without having the overhead of a serious sports title. Nintendo is playing to casual gamers in a way that Sony and Microsoft is not. Mario is not a crutch, Mario is Nintendo's label for a more light hearted kind of fun.

Ultrajoe:
nintendos partially-successful strategy of 'just remake it', its progressed past Flogging the horse, and into downright necromancy.

Because games like

Age of Empires
Black and White
Doom
All the Tycoon games
Every game with "Sim" in it
the 10 billion final fantasy games
the elder scrolls
Call of Duty
Unreal Tournament
Quake
Diablo
Warcraft
Might and Magic
Soul Calibur
Tekken
Need for Speed
Ridge Racer
Mega Man
Street Fighter
Mortal Kombat
Raiden
Command and Conquer

don't do that either.