Wii Review: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Review by: Pikaboo

Super Smash Bros. is one of Nintendo's greatest game series ever created, by bringing well over 10 of Nintendo's key franchises together to duke it out on the battlefield. Play as everyone's favorite plumber, Mario, or even as the ever-so-lovable Pikachu. Who would win in a fight: Ganondorf from the Zelda Series or Bowser from the Mario series? You can find out with the aid of Super Smash Bros. Brawl at your side, or even better, in your Wii console. Super Smash Bros does well in bringing the greatest fan-service to Nintendo fans all over the world.

Graphically, Super Smash Bros seems to be one of the best looking Wii games on the market today, right behind Mario Galaxy. However, visually, there are two ways you can play Brawl. You have the option of choosing either graphics that are razor sharp or nice and smooth; either way, it's still playable. As well as the in-game graphics, Sakurai has done a great job with the cut scenes than can be viewed in the Adventure Mode, The Subspace Emissary (more on that later). The cut scenes are beautiful to look at and pleasant to the eye. There are also no voice-overs, which keeps most of Nintendo's characters still mute heroes. Even the intro to the game is superbly made. Everything in the game, from the actual fighting to the beautiful cut scenes, are very fluid. It's hard to stop watching and start playing. The graphics may be fantastic by Wii standards but it is nothing close to your Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Honestly, Nintendo has outdone themselves in the music department. With fully orchestrated music and tons of reminiscent songs, they have proven how the Wii isn't just gameplay, but sound as well. The Brawl disc alone (about the size of a DVD) has about 300 songs in its inventory. Not only does the music sound stunning, even the melody of the menus will be stuck in your head (seriously). Many of the old songs are remixed though, giving it a modern twist on some old classics. A great thing that Nintendo did was that they let you decide how often you hear a certain song on a certain stage. If you absolutely hate one song (which is highly unlikely), you can set it up so that you don't hear that song often or even at all. This also lets you set your favorite theme song as frequent as you want. Even the basic sounds of characters sound great. Pikachu's "Pika Pi" and even Link's grunt sound amazing. Hard to believe, right?

The gameplay is basically unaltered from the previous Super Smash Bros titles, however it is still entertaining and has not even lost the lust from its 64 days. Compared to Melee, Brawl has many new features including a full adventure mode and Wi-Fi Online playability. However, the greatest change to the series is the new items, specifically the Smash Ball. The Smash Ball is essentially a bright, rainbow-colored ball withe the Smash Bros emblem floating around the screen. The characters have to break open the smash ball by attacking it to unleash an even greater attack. This special attack is referred to as the Final Smash, which is a fitting name since this attack can easily change the tide of a game. Solo-Mode still has the original Classic-Mode and All-Star Mode, which have also remained the same. However, the new adventure mode has changed since a longs way. The full-fledged adventure is now named the Subspace Emissary, where you control one of usually about 2 or 4 characters through a platforming adventure, much like Stage 1 of the Adventure mode in Melee. The Subspace mode is very tedious, however the cut scenes make the platforming worthwhile. If you do decide to play this, you have a chance of unlocking all 35 characters, which is a plus if you don't want to play a ton of VS. Matches to unlock them. You still have your standard "Break the Targets", Event matches, Home Run Contests, and Multi-man Brawl as well. It might just be me, but I had hoped that "Race to the Finish" would return.

The solo-mode, however, is nothing in comparison to the group-mode, Especially since the VS. Matches are where the game is at. There's nothing like a crowd of people hovering around a television screen and cursing their little mouths off. This mode is great with friends, family and sometimes even by yourself. The new stages are outrageous, both in a good way and bad way. Some stages can be extremely annoying (such as the 75 MM Stage), but many are amazing. One stage I would like to discuss is the WarioWare stage, one of my favorite stages. In that stage you still have all your crazy brawling, but inside the stage is a dozen minigames that have that same WarioWare vibe from.





The Wi-Fi matches are relatively lag-free... with friends anyways. There are three options you are given: Play with Anyone, Play with Friends, and Be a Spectator in an Online (Play with Anyone) Match. When you "Play with Anyone" you are basically fighting other random people online. Unfortunately there are almost no options available to you in online VS. and Friend matches. Random matches are automatically two minute time matches. Along with those limits, Random matches are broken. If you do decide to play this, you will lag a lot; so much that it is almost unplayable. With Friend matches it is usually lag-free and the recommended of the two Wi-Fi fighting. There are two cons about the friends matches. There is no voice-chatting, which takes away the craziness that is Super Smash Bros. As a replacement they use taunts, where you can type in your own messages. Nice, try, Nintendo, but no win. Another con is the fact that in order to brawl with a friend, the exchange of friend codes returns. With friends, you can also play a Multi-man brawl or Home Run Contest with them, but it is highly unlikely you'll do that since Brawling tends to be more entertaining.

Nintendo was nice enough to give us four different styles of play. The four controller types are Wiimote, the Wiimote and Nunchuk, the classic controller, and the Gamecube controller. The Wiimote is not as bad as everybody says it is, provided you are not a hardcore Super Smash Bros player. The Wiimote just makes a new way to play the game. The only real fault that I can find with playing like this is the shield aspect, where you have to hit the B button, which was very awkwardly placed. The Wiimote and Nunchuk control method is also very awkward, especially if you've been playing Super Smash Bros for a long time. Now, the classic controller and Gamecube controller is the recommended style of play. The best part of the controls is that Nintendo has let you customize where you want your buttons to be, so that it best suits you. That was a brilliant move by Nintendo.

If you're wondering how long you will be playing this game usually takes, the answer is indefinitely. Just like Melee, I can imagine gamers playing this a week from now, to a month from now, to a year from now, and maybe even a decade from now (if they haven't already brought the sequel out by then). The replay value of this game is so high, that even casual gamers can find themselves playing this with their friends often. Take it from me, a game with this much replay hasn't come out since the previous Smash Bros. iteration. Overall, Nintendo kept the same formula for Super Smash Bros. Brawl as they did in 64 and Melee, and it still works.