Project M

This article or section may be out of date. (tagged Demo 2) The editor who added this tag elaborates: Don't need comprehensive character changelists, but a demo 2 update would be nice You can discuss this issue on the talk page or edit this page to bring it up to date.

The Project M logo

Project M is a hack for Super Smash Bros. Brawl designed to make the gameplay more closely resemble that of Super Smash Bros. Melee. Its approximately 50 member team, which is descended from the team that developed Brawl +, is known as the Project M Backroom, or PMBR for short. It has members from over ten countries, though as of now, only an NTSC version has been released.

It was featured as a singles side event at Genesis 2 with $225 in prize money.

Universal changes

• Most Melee veterans feel like there Melee counterpart
• Altered camera that behaves similarly to Melee.
• Game Settings Modifier (Set to 8-minute, 4 stock matches)
• Melee air dodge: Also known as MAD. The air dodge physics and mechanics used in Melee are used in Project M, allowing for advanced techniques such as Wavedashing.
• Manual L-canceling: Unlike in Brawl+, a player has to use L, R, or Z to reduce the landing lag of aerials, similar to how it was done in Melee and Smash64.
• Dash dancing: Changed back to the dash dancing physics and mechanics of Melee.
• Crouch Canceling: Reimplemented from Smash 64/Melee.
• Down smash while holding down on the analog stick: In Brawl, if a player attempts to use a d-smash while crouching, they'll perform a down tilt. Instead, this does not happen in Project M.
• Ledge tech: The ability to ledge tech is reimplemented in Project M.
• Edge cancel: The Melee/Smash 64 technique to doing an aerial (or a recovery) onto the edge of a platform to cancel the ending lag is reimplemented in Project M.
• Jump cancel grabs: The ability to cancel a jump with a grab is reimplemented in Project M.
• Reflective powershield: Powershielding now reflect projectiles back at opponents, as they did in Melee.
• Taunt Canceling: From Smash 64, the ability to cancel a taunt is reimplemented.
• Melee shieldstun: Shieldstun from Melee is reimplemented in Project M.
• Removed auto-sweetspot ledges: The ability to auto-sweetspot ledges from Brawl has been removed in Project M.
• Tech window: The window of time for teching has been altered to match the tech window in Melee.
• Hitlag modifier: Reduces hitlag.
• Momentum capture: Transfer more momentum into a jump.
• Shield during dash dance: The ability to shield during a dash dance is reimplemented in Project M.
• Dash cancel: The ability to cancel a dash with a crouch has been reimplemented in Project M. This allows pivoting among other techniques to generally be performed easier.
• "Meleefying" characters, such as changes involving changing back characters to how they were in Melee, an example being how Falco's Reflector functioning how it did in Melee.
• Extra stages (Such as Dream Land, Hyrule Castle, and custom stages.)
• Charizard, Squirtle, and Ivysaur are now separate characters.

Character Changes

Melee Veterans

Mario

• Mario's down special in brawl, F.L.U.D.D. Was replaced with Mario Tornado from melee.
• The trajectory of Mario's Fireballs have been changed to be mixed withMario's and Dr. Mario's.
• Mario's Super Jump Punch can now be wall jumped off of like in Melee.

Luigi

• Green Missile's misfire has changed so you can now plan when you will use it. Spin the barrel at the start of a match and within six "shots", Luigi will misfire. When a misfire is about to occur, Luigi flashes green before detonating. If a Green Missile is charged past the duration of this flash then the attack will return to normal, and the misfire will be stored for the next Green Missile. Letting a misfire go off "spins" the barrel again of course. Since a misfire can be stored any number of times, Luigi can now control precisely when and how he uses it - changing it from a roll of the dice to a lethal certainty.
• Fireball's range has been increased.
• Luigi has more control while falling after a Super Jump Punch.
• Green Missile can hit the sweet spot of the ledge so he can grab them right away.
• The Luigi Cyclone no longer requires a "charge" by performing it on-stage before it can be used as a recovery move. It's also less strenuous to mash the special button to get it to rise, and Luigi can act out of it earlier. Recovering with Luigi just got a little bit easier.

Peach

• Peach's Vegetables are more similar to how they were in Melee.
• Glide tossing and aerial glide tossing from Melee has returned.
• Peach's float canceling from melee has returned.
• Peach's down smash is similar to how it was in Melee.
• Peach's forward smash has a random first swing, but after that it goes in this order; Tennis, golf club, and frying pan.

Bowser

• Flying Slam is replace by melee's Koopa Klaw.
• Whirling Fortress is now the same as it was in Melee.
• The lingering punch on Bowser's Forward-Tilt, his Ledge-Attack's extended reach, his instant Fire Breath, and his Back-Aerial's gimp-angle have made a return.
• When bowser flashes red during a attack, he gets super armor.
• Bowser can now break shield far easier now.
• Bowser Bomb is now jump-cancelable.
• Bowser's forward smash is stronger.
• His down smash is jump-cancelable, which makes him jump high quickly.

Donkey Kong

• Neutral-Aerial is now an effective approach option; it was given more range and slight invincibility on his arms during part of the attack.
• Down-Aerial's endlag has been shortend.
• Forward-Aerial comes out faster and has more KO potential.
• Like in Melee, DK is able to chaingrab fastfallers and chain Up-Aerials into re-grabs for death combos if performed correctly.
• DK's back-throw's knockback has increased.
• DK's dash attack has been changed. It is now a roll similar to the roll in Donkey Kong Country Returns. It has weak armor and can be jumped out of in mid-air.

Link

• Most of Link's normal attacks have slight speed and power increases. For example, Link's Dash-Attack and Down-Smash both have sooner IASA frames so that they can be acted out of sooner and are generally less unsafe to use on shielded opponents. Link's Forward-Tilt has been speed up to match Young Link's Forward-Tilt, making it extremely dangerous. The Up-Smash has been sped up as well so that the three slashes can link together better.
• Link's Hero's Bow has its charge speed increased by 33%, its knockback increased, its knockback angle changed to send at a much more horizontal angle, and it even retains its Brawl trajectory.
• Link's bombs are reverted to the Melee version, giving the knockback and trajectory of Melee bombs.
• The Gale Boomerang concept was done away with entirely, being replaced by the Boomerang that feels like its Smash 64 incarnation.
• Link's Spin Attack has gotten a big change. The grounded version hits like the Melee version of the attack, with a strong initial hit and the weak hit sending at a semi-spike angle. The aerial version of the Spin Attack gains additional horizontal momentum, making this version of Link's Up-B the best iteration in terms of recovery distance.

Zelda

• Zelda's forward and back aerial has two hit boxes. One that is easier to hit that does good damage and another small hit box that does a lot of damage.
• Neutral-Air's multiple hits link into each other much better (an improvement that is also seen on the rest of her moveset) and the hitboxes are larger.
• Down-Air has also been made to sweetspot on grounded opponents in addition to aerial opponents.
• Finally, Up-Air has an early hitbox at the base of her fingertips.
• Din's Fire no longer functions like it did in Melee and Brawl. Din's Fire still begins with Zelda sending out a fireball - however, instead of exploding once the B button is released, the fireball stays suspended in the air with an active hitbox for roughly three seconds. Contact with this hitbox deals minor damage and knockback, but if the fireball is allowed to tick fully and explode, they do so with great force. This attack cannot be reflected or sent back at Zelda, but can be canceled out completely by the opponent's attacks. Shielding them won't stop them from exploding, making these projectiles similar to Link's bombs or Snake's grenades. Zelda can have up to three fireballs active at one time, and each fireball that's set refreshes the fuses on all already out so Zelda can extend the life of a fireball in a good position.
• Farore's Wind is air dodge interruptible teleporting from the ground, giving Zelda the ability to Waveland or pseudo-Wavedash any time during the duration of the move.
• Nayru's Love is land cancelable after the attack frames end, and the ground based version has improved invulnerability but no such cancel.
• Transform is slowed down at the beginning of the move but allows Zelda to act out of it instantly to compensate for variable load time issues. This change to Transform is also shared by Sheik.

Sheik

• Sheik's aerials are restored to their Melee stats, meaning Up-Air and Forward-Air become good killing moves again. Her Forward-Air in particular lost a lot of steam during the transition to Brawl, so many former players are sure to be happy to learn that the slap is back. Down-Air underwent a massive revamp, not only changing its trajectory back to its Melee trajectory, but also losing its 'stall-then-fall' properties it had in Brawl. Back-Air and Neutral-Air remain good aerials, with Neutral-Air being a powerful sex kick and Back-Air being great for spacing and edgeguarding.
• Her needles now function like her Melee needles: she only needs to tap the B button once to fire off a needle rather than double-tap it and her endlag is canceled when she lands from throwing needles in the air.
• Her chain however can no longer grapple to walls, so keep that in mind when planning your return to the stage.
• However her biggest special change is that Transform is no longer considered her worst option! Zelda has in her own right become a usable and competent character. Read more about her in the Zelda section and keep her in mind when you find yourself in a tough spot.

Ganondorf

• Most of his moveset has been completely restored to its Melee incarnation. Even moves that look visually similar to Brawl, such as his Down-Tilt, function exactly like their Melee counterpart.
• Ganondorf can now grab the ledge after performing an aerial Flame Choke.

Release history

Demo 1.0

Released February 8, 2011

• 14 characters available
  • Mario
  • Link
  • Captain Falcon
  • Fox
  • Marth
  • Mr. Game & Watch
  • Sheik
  • Zelda
  • Ganondorf
  • Falco
  • Jigglypuff
  • Lucas
  • Snake
  • Sonic

Demo 2.0

Released April 17, 2012

• Added 15 characters
  • Wario
  • Luigi
  • Bowser
  • Peach
  • Donkey Kong
  • Wolf
  • King Dedede (shown as "Dedede" on the character selection screen)
  • Toon Link
  • Ness
  • Pikachu
  • Lucario
  • Charizard
  • Ike
  • Pit
  • R.O.B.

Demo 2.1

Released May 23, 2012

• Major bug fixes

Developers

• Project Leaders: Shanus
• Lead Character Developments: SHeLL, Camelot, Strong Bad
• Additional Coders: Magus, Dantarion, Yeroc, WindOwl, Almas, Standardtoaster
• Character design/Development: Shanus, Magus, jiang, Strong Bad, WindOwl, JCaesar, leafgreen386, Falco400, Plum, rPSI, Shadic.
• Backroom testers: Mango, Lucky, Lovage, Silent Wolf, KirbyKaze, unknown522, RaynEX, Amsah, Faab, Bombsoldier, Captain Jack among others. All beta testers are approved through: application thread
• Graphics/Menu Design: MookieRah, VectorAce, Shadic, camelot
• Stage design: FrozenHobo, GameWatching, Mewtwo2000, Shadic, Monk.
• And special thanks to Phantom Wings, paprika killer, Almas, and others

External Links

• Official Wiki
• Project M Smashboards thread, used as a Q&A thread mostly
• Official Website
• Official Blog
• Project M Demo Download