Brawl Might Not Be So “Smashing”

Super Smash Bros. Melee for Cube was a great game. You can’t deny it. But I’m becoming worried that Brawl might not live up to its SSB predecessors, and be a flop.

Why, you ask?

For one, I don’t think there are enough new aspects to the game. Yeah, there are a couple new characters, new items, assist trophies, etc. - but when you watched a gameplay video, was there that much of a difference from Melee?

Sonic is giving thumbs up, but will the gamers?

And, of course, there’s online play… but so far, Nintendo hasn’t released a game with online play where the online play was that great. Look at Strikers’ online play - it added replay value to an otherwise average game, but disconnects are quite common (unlike on XBox Live), and you need to use friend codes to play with friends - not to mention the lack of any detailed stats/rankings and any communication with other players at all.

And instead of receiving the boost any game gets by being released during the holiday season, Brawl will be coming out in February…

Yes, Brawl will sell well (because of its name), but I’m worried that the game will not be nearly as fun as the first two SSBs.

Smash News

Just in case you haven’t heard, some big news concerning Super Smash Bros. Brawl has recently been announced.  For one, Sonic (yes, Sonic THE Hedgehog) will be appearing in the game as a playable character.  Also, the game will NOT be out in time for the holiday season - it’s release date is now February 10th, 2008.

Also, remember that Get N or Get Out will be officially re-opening in just under 2 weeks!

Happy Birthday KK!

Two updates in one day for Brawl… but why?

Well, Yoshi’s final smash was the regular update, and then to celebrate Kazumi Totaka’s birthday, the inclusion of Go K.K. Rider was also revealed. I’m happy to see one of my favorite K.K. Slider tunes make it into Brawl, but you’re probably wondering who Kazumi Totaka is, exactly… and why he is so important to deserve a special update just for him. Well, for a brief history of Totaka’s mysterious legacy, watch this video:

Also, the last statement of the update for Brawl today said, “Heroes always arrive late.” No one can truly be sure what this means, but I’m guessing it means we’ll either be seeing an Animal Crossing playable character or that K.K. Song is hidden in Brawl somewhere. Leave a comment with your thoughts as to what it might mean.

Super Smash Bros. “ABC”

4 new characters have already been announced for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, along with tons of new items and stages, among other things. I have a feeling that at least one more new character will be in SSBB, though. It might be Sonic, or maybe Ridley… but I think we’re going to see a character from Animal Crossing.

If no Animal Crossing character were to make it into Brawl, AC would be the only Nintendo franchise with both a stage (Smashville) and an item (the newly-revealed Pitfall) based off the series, but no character. But which AC character could hold his (or her) own in a SSB battle?

I don’t think it’d be a character in the background of a level, since it would be weird fighting with a character, and having them cheer you on at the same time… that rules out every character appearing in these screenshots. That means the playable AC character won’t be K.K. Slider or Tom Nook.

So who else from AC could really put on a show in Brawl? My best guess would either be Gulliver or Copper, since both are relatively popular, and neither appears in the background in the Smashville stage. Your guess is as good as mine if an AC character will make it into Brawl, and who it might be… I guess we’ll just have to wait and see who makes the cut.

Note: The “ABC” in the title stood for Animal Brawl Crossing.

Deoxys Devastation

The official Super Smash Bros. Brawl website has announced that Deoxys will be one of the Pokemon poppin’ out of Pokeballs in Brawl. By the looks of it, Deoxys will be dealing some major damage.

Now that Deoxys has been confirmed as a ‘Pokeball Pokemon’ for Brawl, both of the new additions to the ‘Pokeball clan’ in Brawl are both newer legendary Pokemon. This could mean that Nintendo feels there are enough older Pokemon (first two generations) in the SSB games already, and that only newer (third and fourth generation) Pokemon should be added to the lineup of Pokemon in games - emerging from Pokeballs, or even possibly as playable characters.

The playable characters hypothesis, that either a newer (3rd or 4th gen.) Pokemon or two will be added to the lineup of playable characters, or no Pokemon at all, is a complete guess right now, but it would make sense. Those who have played the older Pokemon games are already interested in Brawl, whereas players who may have become interested in a newer Pokemon games (Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond or Pearl - all of which were released quite a bit after SSB Melee), may not know too much about SSB, and the addition of newer Pokemon might get them interested in possibly purchasing Brawl.