Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Difference between revisions

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{{ArticleIcons|brawl=yes|featured=yes}}{{Cquote|They're back. Stronger than ever. And they've brought friends. Lots of them.|cite=North American commercial}}

|image = {{tabber|width=250px|title1=American boxart|tab1=[[File:SSBB Cover.jpg |250px]]|title2=Japanese boxart|tab2=[[file:SSBB-cover-japan.jpg|250px]]|title3=PAL boxart (limited edition)|tab3=[[file:SSBB Limited Edition.jpg |250px]]}}

'''''Super Smash Bros. Brawl''''' ({{ja|大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズＸ|Dairantō Sumasshu Burazāzu Ekkusu}}, ''Great Fray Smash Brothers X''), often shortened to "'''''SSBB'''''" or "'''''Brawl'''''" ({{ja|スマブラＸ|Sumabura ekkusu}}), is the third installment in the [[Super Smash Bros. (series)|''Super Smash Bros.'' series]] published by [[Nintendo]]. The game was designed by [[Masahiro Sakurai]], who also created the two preceding ''Super Smash Bros.'' games, and was developed by an ad hoc development team consisting of [[Sora Ltd.|Sora]], [[Game Arts]], and staff from other developers, beginning in October 2005. The game uses an engine called [[Havok]] provided by an Irish company of the same name.<ref name="oldDojo">{{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20061116161044/www.smashbros.com/en/main.html|title = Foreword|accessdate = 2007-11-11|last = Sakurai|first = Masahiro|publisher=Smash Bros. DOJO!! (Internet Archive)}}</ref>

''Brawl'' supports four types of controllers<ref name="four control"/> - the [[Wii Remote]] alone held horizontally, the Wii Remote and [[Nunchuk]] together, the [[Classic Controller]]/Classic Controller Pro, and the [[GameCube controller]]. Up to four players can engage in local [[Versus Mode|multiplayer battles]] at any given time with any combination of controllers, while ''Brawl'' also supported online play through the [[Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection]], the first game in the series to do so.<ref name="Wi-Fi Play">{{cite web|url= http://www.smashbros.com/wii/en_us/gamemode/wi-fi/wi-fi01.html|title=Wi-Fi Play|author=Sakurai, Masahiro|date=2007-11-16|publisher=Smash Bros. DOJO!!|accessdate=2008-04-22}}</ref>

 

While ''Brawl'' continues to include the tournament-like "[[Classic Mode (SSBB)|Classic]]" and "[[All-Star Mode|All-Star]]" single-player modes, ''Melee''’s {{SSBM|Adventure Mode}} has been replaced with [[The Subspace Emissary]]; a much more extensive side-scrolling beat-'em-up mode featuring both the playable characters and many enemies specifically created for the game. The resulting mode includes an involved plot and numerous pre-rendered cutscenes, as well as some platform game elements during gameplay.

 

Following the trend set by earlier games in the series, ''Brawl'' showcases a wide selection of characters from Nintendo and its second parties, setting them to fight in several different types of matches. Unlike its predecessors, however, ''Brawl'' also includes two third-party characters in [[Solid Snake]] and [[Sonic the Hedgehog]]. In total, the number of playable characters was increased from ''Melee''{{'}}s 25<ref>26 including [[Sheik]] as a separate character from [[Princess Zelda]]</ref> to 35 (or 39, if counting Sheik and [[Zero Suit Samus]] separately from Zelda and [[Samus]], and counting [[Squirtle]], [[Ivysaur]], and [[Charizard]] individually rather than grouped with the [[Pokémon Trainer]]).

{{#widget:YouTube|id=zwhEmewsdu4}}

[[File:SSBBcast.png|thumb|right|300px|The entire cast, as they appear in the ending; excluding {{SSBB|Zero Suit Samus}} and {{SSBB|Sheik}}, the transformations of {{SSBB|Samus}} and {{SSBB|Zelda}}, respectively.]]

The cast of 35 playable characters (39 if [[Zelda]], [[Sheik]], [[Samus]], [[Zero Suit Samus]], [[Squirtle]], [[Ivysaur]] and [[Charizard]] are all treated as separate without counting the trainer himself) includes 20 (21 including Sheik) returning veterans from ''Melee'' and 15 newcomers (18 including transformations). Of these, 21 are [[starter character]]s (25 if the seven transformation characters above are all treated as seperate) and the other 14 need to be [[unlockable character|unlocked]]. Many of the 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 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]], by using her [[Final Smash]] or by the player pressing a certain button after picking Samus and before picking a stage.

Five characters do not return from ''Melee'': {{uv|Mario}}'s [[Dr. Mario]], {{uv|The Legend of Zelda}}'s [[Young Link]], {{uv|Pokémon}}'s [[Mewtwo]] and [[Pichu]], and {{uv|Fire Emblem}}'s [[Roy]]. Of these, only Mewtwo was not a moveset [[clone]], and it is assumed to have been the furthest into development of the cut characters. Except for the ''Mario'' series, each series gained new characters added to the roster: [[Toon Link]] for ''The Legend of Zelda'', [[Pokémon Trainer]] (who controls [[Squirtle]], [[Ivysaur]], and [[Charizard]]) and [[Lucario]] for ''Pokémon'', and [[Ike]] for ''Fire Emblem''.

New character slots which go to Nintendo series previously unrepresented include [[Pit]], the first appearance of the {{uv|Kid Icarus}} series since the 1991 Game Boy game ''{{s|Wikipedia|Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters}}''; [[Wario]], originally a ''Mario'' spin-off but long launched into [[Wario (universe)|a franchise of his own]]; [[Captain Olimar]] from the {{uv|Pikmin}} series; and the NES accessory [[R.O.B.]].

''Brawl'' introduces "Masterpieces", time-limited [[Virtual Console]] game demonstrations, to the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series. The international release has twelve such games available, each of which features one or more of the playable characters from ''Brawl''. Seven games are available for play to begin with, with five more unlockable by completing [[Challenges]], which range from Mario's debut in ''{{b|Donkey Kong|game}}'' to the critically acclaimed late [[Nintendo 64]] title ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]''. The time-limits on each individual play last between 30 seconds (''Donkey Kong''), to five minutes (''Ocarina of Time)''.

[[File: Stage Select Brawl Melee Stages.png|thumb|right|300px|The Melee Stages screen in Brawl.]]

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 be a launch title with Wi-Fi compatibility for playing online.<ref name="E3 2005">{{Cite web |last=Casamassina |first=Matt |date=2005-05-17 |url=http://wii.ign.com/articles/670/670552p1.html |title=E3 2005: ''Smash Bros.'' For Revolution |publisher=IGN |accessdate=2006-05-03}}</ref> The announcement was unexpected to the creator of the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, [[Masahiro Sakurai]]. Back in 2003, he had left [[HAL Laboratory]], the company that was in charge with the franchises' development and was never informed of this announcement despite the fact shortly after resigning from the company, Iwata said if a new game was to be made, he would be in charge. It was not until after the conference Sakurai was called to Satoru Iwata's room on the top floor of a Los Angeles hotel where he was told by Iwata, "We'd like you to be involved in the production of the new ''Smash Bros.'', if possible near the level of director".<ref name="director">{{Cite web |url=http://cube.ign.com/articles/667/667525p1.html |title=''Smash Bros. Revolution'' Director Revealed|author=IGN Staff |accessdate=2007-06-21 |date=2005-11-16 |publisher=IGN}}</ref> Although originally announced to be a launch title, Sakurai stated "I decided to become director. And as of May, 2005, I was the only member of the new Smash Bros. development team". Development of the game never actually started until late 2005, and just for its production, Nintendo opened a new office in Tokyo at the beginning of October 2005. Nintendo also enlisted outside help from a company who, at that point in time, just finished development of a major title. Sakurai also stated that these people had spent excessive amounts of time playing ''Melee''. The team had access to all the original material and tools from the development of ''Melee'', courtesy of HAL Laboratory.

''Brawl'' was absent from Nintendo's Wii showing at its 2006 Pre-E3 press conference. The next day, on 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."<ref name="E3 2006">{{Cite web |last=Casamassina |first=Matt |coauthors=Peer Schneider |date=2006-05-10 |url=http://wii.ign.com/articles/707/707504p1.html |title=E3 2006: Super Smash Bros. Brawl |publisher=IGN |accessdate=2006-08-01}}</ref> As far as [[Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection|Wi-Fi]] play is concerned, Sakurai stated his plan was to include Wi-Fi connection compatibility and online functionality, 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".<ref name="E3 2006"/> However, as stated 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.<ref name="Joystiq">{{Cite web |url=http://www.joystiq.com/2006/06/05/sakurai-reveals-new-smash-bros-brawl-details/ |title=Sakurai reveals new Smash Bros. Brawl details |accessdate=2007-06-21 |last=Miller |first=Ross |date=2006-06-05 |publisher=Joystiq}}</ref> During a test play between Sakurai and {{s|wikipedia|Hideo Kojima}}, creator of the ''Metal Gear'' series, Kojima stated that the game felt complete and that Nintendo "could put it out right now and it would sell millions of copies."<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3159049 |title=Kojima's Played Super Smash Bros. Brawl |accessdate=2007-06-21 |last=Dormer |first=Dan |date=2007-04-27 |publisher=1up.com}}</ref> Starting May 22, 2007, the site had updates every weekday until shortly after ''Brawl'''s release. 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://wii.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=10866 |title=Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Galaxy Playable at E for All |accessdate=2007-10-21 |last=Wirgler |first=Matthew |date=2007-10-09 |publisher=Advance Media Network}}</ref>

On October 11, 2007, George Harrison of Nintendo of America announced that ''Brawl'' would be released on February 10, 2008 in North America.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wii.ign.com/articles/826/826579p1.html|title=Smash Release Date Confirmed|accessdate=2007-10-14}}</ref> The North American version of the game was later delayed a second time to March 9th.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://smashboards.com/news/articles/457/brawl-delayed-again|title=Brawl Delayed Again|date=2008-01-15}}</ref>

:{{Main|Super Smash Bros. Brawl Trailers}}

Several different trailers for ''Brawl'' were released before the game came out. The original trailer was shown at E3 2006 on May 11, 2006 and revealed Pit, Meta Knight, Zero Suit Samus, Wario and Solid Snake as new playable characters, alongside the return of Mario, Link, Samus, Pikachu and Kirby. A second trailer was shown at the Nintendo World 2006 convention in December, and revealed Fox's return as a playable character. A third trailer was shown at the October 10, 2007 Nintendo Press Conference, which revealed Sonic as a playable character. A final trailer showcasing ''Brawl{{'}}s'' adventure mode, the Subspace Emissary, was released on Friday, December 21, 2007. This trailer revealed that Ike and the Ice Climbers would appear in this mode, among other things.

|NP = 10 of 10<ref name="NPBrawl">{{Cite news|date=March 2008|magazine=Nintendo Power|publisher=Future US|volume=226|title=Simply Smashing|last=Slate|first=Chris|pages=82–83|postscript=<!--None-->}}</ref>

|award1 = Best Fighting Game<ref name="Gamespotfighting"> {{cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/best-of-2008/genre-awards/index.html?page=4|title=Gamespot: Best Fighting Game of the Year|publisher=GameSpot|accessdate=2009-02-23}}</ref>

''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' received critically positive reviews and sold successfully. In the United States, the game sold 874,000 units on launch day and 1.4 million units in its first week to become the fastest-selling video game in Nintendo of America's history, according to Nintendo. The game has sold 10.79 million units worldwide as of March 2012 according to Nintendo, which made it the best selling fighting game until ''Ultimate'' surpassed it. ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' is the 8th best selling game for the [[Wii]], and sold 13.29 million units worldwide, as of September 30, 2018. ''Brawl'' currently holds an aggregate review score of 92.84% on Gamerankings and a score of 93/100 on Metacritic. Despite this, British publication NGamer received criticism for awarding a 93% rating to ''Brawl'', with readers deeming the score too low, especially in comparison to Official Nintendo Magazine's 95% rating. ''Brawl'' has reviews with ratings equal or slightly better than ''Melee''. The game's multiplayer was received excellently, but single player, while noted as superior to ''Melee's'', was still only average.

However, since 2013 (five years since its release), ''Brawl''{{'}}s representation in [[tournament play]] has decreased. This is because many changes from ''Melee'' likely intended to make ''Brawl'' more beginner-friendly have resulted in a less dynamic [[metagame]] that gradually became less successful with players and spectators. Arguably the most controversial change is the added ability to act during [[hitstun]], which reduces [[combo]] potential for characters; other factors include the generally slower pace of gameplay, the decreased [[falling speed]]s, the removal of mechanics such as [[L-canceling]] and [[wavedashing]], introduction of random [[tripping]], and very polarized [[Character matchup (SSBB)|character balance]] (attempts to universally ban overcentralizing characters such as {{SSBB|Meta Knight}} have proven unsuccessful). Because of these changes, ''Brawl'' has a smaller tournament scene than both its predecessor and successor game, although it still appears in some major cross-game tournaments.

==Changes from ''[[Melee]]'' to ''Brawl''==

*Generally, ''Brawl''{{'}}s gameplay engine functions much like ''Super Smash Bros.'' as the game plays slower: every veteran has a slower [[falling speed]] and [[gravity]], [[L-cancel]]ling has been removed, [[dash]]ing barely increases forward momentum in midair, and characters must wait a slightly longer amount of time before being able to meteor cancel.

*[[Tether recovery|Tether recoveries]] are generally less useful than the [[wall-grapple|wall-grappling]] they replaced; they only aim for ledges as opposed to walls, and can be very easily [[edgehog]]ged, however they do not render the user helpless except for a few special move tethers.

*It only takes 7 frames to shieldcancel, making the game more defensively-focused.

*All characters now have a [[Final Smash]].

*All characters now have three taunts instead of one, have unique [[on-screen appearances]], and the announcer counting down before the match begins which return from the original ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''.

*Along with the new opening, the [[announcer]] no longer announces the game’s title, though there are unused sound files suggesting they originally would’ve.

*''Brawl'' introduced the most new base-game fighters (18) and stages (31).

**Before ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'', ''Brawl'' had the most unlockable fighters out of any other ''Smash Bros.'' game, with 14. It also has the most unlockable stages, with 12.

*The ''Brawl'' menu was designed to be very similar to the menu in ''{{s|wikirby|Kirby Air Ride}}'', including the Challenges Checklist. Additionally, ''Air Ride''{{'}}s menu uses deeper versions of the confirm and toggle sound effects from ''Melee''{{'}}s menu.

*Unlike most [[Wii]] games, ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' comes in a dual-layer disc due to the large amount of data used for the game. Some older Wii consoles have trouble reading the disc, so various Nintendo branches around the world offer a free cleaning program for affected Wii consoles.

*Not counting the [[Virtual Console]] and cameos in other games, ''Brawl'' is the only Wii appearance for [[Sheik]], [[Toon Link]], [[Fox]], [[Falco]], [[Wolf]], [[Captain Falcon]], [[Ness]], [[Lucas]], [[Marth]], [[Ice Climbers]], [[Mr. Game & Watch]], [[Pit]], [[R.O.B.]], and [[Snake]].

**''Brawl'' was also the first Wii appearance for [[Zero Suit Samus]], [[Kirby]], [[Meta Knight]], [[King Dedede]] and [[Olimar]].

*Coincidentally, the Nintendo Direct on March 8, 2018, which announced ''Ultimate'', aired one day before the 10th anniversary of ''Brawl''{{'}}s release in the US.

**Have no gameplay differences between different versions of the game. ''Smash 64'' and ''Melee'' had gameplay changes between [[List of regional version differences (disambiguation)|regional releases]], ''Melee'' was [[List of regional version differences (SSBM)|re-released]] with gameplay changes between NTSC versions, and ''Smash 4'' and ''Ultimate'' had gameplay changes between [[Patch (disambiguation)|patch updates]].

**Not feature any stages that debuted in ''Smash 64'', and by extension, the ''Smash 64'' version of {{SSB|Dream Land}}.

**Not introduce a new ''Mario'' fighter (not counting spinoff characters), and also be the only game in the series to cut a [[Dr. Mario|fighter]] from said universe.

**Not introduce a new playable RPG [[universe]] (''64'' has {{uv|Pokémon}} and {{uv|EarthBound}},<!--Whether The Legend of Zelda counts as an RPG series or not is highly dubious, much like categorizing Punch-Out!! as a fighting game series. Please do not add it--> ''Melee'' has {{uv|Fire Emblem}}, ''Smash 4'' has {{uv|Xenoblade Chronicles}} and {{uv|Final Fantasy}}, and ''Ultimate'' also had this honor before {{uv|Persona}}, {{uv|Dragon Quest}}, and {{uv|Kingdom Hearts}} via DLC).

**Not introduce multiple ''Fire Emblem'' characters, although ''Ultimate'' also had this honor before {{SSBU|Byleth}} released as DLC.

**Not introduce a new Generation I Poké Ball Pokémon. It does, however, bring back Meowth, who was absent from ''Melee''.

*Every voiced newcomer introduced in ''Brawl'' have two voice clips when KO'd.