Smash Bros. DOJO!! updates (archive)

From 2007 to the release date of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Smash Bros. DOJO!!, the website dedicated to information about the game and hosted by the game's chief developer Masahiro Sakurai, underwent a redesign and proceeded to show pieces of new information about the game at a rate of once every weekday. Each update provided by Sakurai to the site is reworded and reposted here.

List of updates
This list of updates covers all updates posted from May 22 to July 31.
 * For updates posted from August 1 to October 31, see Smash Bros. DOJO!! updates (archive 2).
 * For updates posted from November 1 to January 31, see Smash Bros. DOJO!! updates (archive 3).
 * For the updates since the Japanese release, see Smash Bros. DOJO!! updates

May

 * May 22: "The Basic Rules" : The site opened up with this basic description of how Smash Bros.-style gameplay looks like. Newly revealed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl in this update was a redesign of the characters damage counters at the bottom of the screen, showing the character's facial portrait in addition to the universe symbol and health meter.
 * May 22: "Battlefield" : The site also opened up with a more in-depth description of the  stage seen previously in trailers. The stage's apparent Day/Night cycle was clarified and made official; it would follow its own cycle, rather than being dependent on the Wii's internal clock.
 * May 22: "The Musicians" : The site finally opened up with this initial  update, which revealed ostensibly the complete list of video game musicians credited with contributing to the game. The eye-raising list of 36 separate musicians was characterized by Sakurai as one of the biggest musical gatherings in all of gaming. The music for the Battlefield stage was posted on the site, and it was revealed to be a rearrangement of Melee's "Menu 1" theme.


 * May 23: "Mario" :  was given his official section as a character, described as a "Veteran Fighter". Little new information was provided, apart from graphical updates and sceenshots of generic moves.
 * May 23: "Link" :  was given his official section as a character just like Mario, described as a "Veteran Fighter" by the site. Little new information was provided, but one notable occurrence in the update is that one of the screenshots features Link aiming his bow while crouching. It was unclear at this point if this is simply how he poses now when he charges it, or if he could charge while crouching.


 * May 24: "Gooey Bomb" : The first item showcased on DOJO!! was the all-new Gooey Bomb. It is a variant on the Motion-Sensor Bomb from previous games which adheres to the characters themselves, and the ticking bomb was shown to be transferable between characters passing by each other. This item is effectively a "hot potato".


 * May 25: "Pit" :  was given his official profile, categorized as a "Newcomer" by the site as opposed to the "Veteran Fighters" Mario and Link. The only thing new revealed about him was a slight visual redesign.


 * May 28: "Pit: Special Moves" : The first "Special Moves" update for a character, this describes Pit's new Neutral Special and Up-Special moves: The Palutena Arrow, which is similar to Link's Bow but shoots a very fast and bendable laser-like arrow, and the Wings of Icarus, a third jump which damages enemies Pit comes into contact with.


 * May 29: "What is a Final Smash?" : The giant special moves seen in the previous trailers were officially classified as Final Smashes, and the spherical items characters grab to be able to use them had their names revealed to be Smash Balls. A character needs to grab only one Smash Ball to perform a Final Smash.
 * May 29: "Mario: Final Smash" : In this simultaneous update, Mario's Final Smash, the giant two-pronged intertwining fireball he was seen unleashing in the first trailer, was identified officially as the Mario Finale.


 * May 30: "Moving and Shooting" : The Super Scope item was shown to return from Melee, but more importantly a new mechanic that applies to this and any other projectile-based item was described as well. Characters can now move and jump around while using shooting items; before, characters were forced to remain immobile in a stationary x-position while using a shooting item like a Super Scope or a Fire Flower.


 * May 31: "Cracker Launcher" : Another new item called the Cracker Launcher was introduced. This cylindrical cannon launches projectiles at a regular rate that explode into gaudy fireworks. The Moving and Shooting mechanic applies to this weapon and the angle in which the fireworks shoot out

June

 * June 1: "Delfino Plaza" : The first Stage update on DOJO, this brand new area is a near-perfect recreation of the Delfino Plaza hub area in the GameCube video game Super Mario Sunshine. It takes place on a platform that flies through the stage and lands into the ground at various points in a fashion similar to Melee's.


 * June 4: "Yoshi's Story: Ending" : The second  clip posted on the site, this is a remix of an ending sequence in the Nintendo 64 game Yoshi's Story, and the music was confirmed to be featured in as the music for the Yoshi's Story stage in Brawl.


 * June 5: "What Are Poké Balls?" : The Poké Ball item from the previous two games was revealed to return practically as expected, with the same basic function of releasing a randomly chosen Pokémon creature to influence the battle. The update revealed two of the Pokémon: Goldeen and Chikorita, reprising their Melee roles.
 * June 5: "Groudon" : A third Pokémon revealed to appear from a thrown Poké Ball in Brawl was revealed as this all-new Pokémon from a more recent generation of the Pokémon franchise at the time. Groudon is a red lizard-like behemoth who damages any opponent touching it.


 * June 6: "You must recover!" : The basic concept of recovering from off the side of a stage using a midair jump followed by a recovery move was added to the How To Play section of the site. Although very little was revealed, Mario's recovery seemed to be higher, and the update further hints at the game's improved aerial fighting ("Fierce aerial battles often rule the match!").


 * June 7: "Pikachu" :  was given his official character section as a "Veteran Fighter", and he appeared to be slightly smaller than in previous games.
 * June 7: "Kirby" :  was given his official character profile as a "Veteran Fighter" simultaneously with Pikachu. Pretty much nothing new was revealed, but the site humorously admitted to Kirby's near complete lack of a graphical update.


 * June 8: "Four Kinds of Control" : This update revealed that Brawl would be compatible with four different controllers compatible with the Wii: The Wii Remote, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, the Wii Classic Controller, and the standard GameCube controller. The GameCube controller was the most recommended one for a traditional gameplay experience, complete with rumble. How the new controller setups will work was promised to be explained in future updates.


 * June 11: "Fox" :  was given his official character section as a "Veteran Fighter". Some of his older moves were seen to return, and he is described as retaining the speed and agility from his Melee incarnation.


 * June 12: "Yoshi's Island" : The  stage in Brawl was seen to be covered more in-depth, confirming a simple layout but with a top platform that is unstable. The stage visually changes between all four seasons, and a platform appears off to the side courtesy of the Support Ghost to save flying combatants.


 * June 13: "Metroid: Boss Battle Music (Ridley Fight)" : The third  file posted on Dojo!! was revealed to be this short remix of the most common boss battle theme heard throughout the series, particularly the variation attached to encounters with the dragon-like Ridley.


 * June 14: "Crates and Barrels" : Confirmed the return of the Crate and Barrel items from previous games, along with the announcement that the items will change cosmetically, depending on the stage the player is on. Also, "Sliding Boxes" have been introduced, which have little wheels on them and will move during gameplay; they were shown to roll down inclines and damage fighters they come into contact with.


 * June 15: "Samus" : The Veteran Fighter character profile of  in her regular armored form was posted, and this is actually the first instance that armored Samus has ever been seen in actual Brawl gameplay. She appears as she does at the start of Metroid Prime, and appeared to retain most of her moves from Melee. How she transforms into Zero Suit Samus was not mentioned at this point.


 * June 18: "Link: Final Smash" : Link's Final Smash, as seen in the first trailer, was officially named the Triforce Slash. Link shoots out a Triforce symbol at an opponent so that that opponent is incarcerated in midair by a pair of large glowing holographic Triforce symbols, and Link repeatedly slashes at that opponent in midair and concludes with an especially strong swing.


 * June 19: "Pikachu: Final Smash" : Pikachu's Final Smash, Volt Tackle (named after the "ultimate move" Pichu, Pikachu, and Raichu can learn in the Pokémon RPGs), was revealed to involve him temporarily turning into a gigantic ball of light and flying across the stage at moderate speeds, which can be controlled to an extent by the player.


 * June 20: "Wario" :  had his character profile posted in the "Newcomer" category. It is mentioned that Wario would have a fighting style that "other characters cannot even see", though i was unclear what this exactly meant, if anything.


 * June 21: "Fox: Special Moves" : Two of Fox's special moves, the Reflector and Blaster, were confirmed to reappear in Fox's moveset for Brawl. Aside from a few cosmetic differences, both moves were seen to be unchanged from their primary functions in Melee.


 * June 22: "Lylat Cruise" : The Star Fox stage previously seen in the Nintendo World 2006 trailer was titled the Lylat Cruise. Taking place on an original ship named the Pleiades, the stage travels through several instances of the Lylat System: zooming through hyperspace, falling into and traveling through Corneria's atmosphere, maneuvering its way through an asteroid field, and being involved in an epic dogfight between battalions of Star Fox battleships.


 * June 25: "Zelda" :  was the first revealed Veteran Fighter for Brawl since the first two trailers. Her appearance was shown to be entirely based on her The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess just like Link. She is confirmed to remain a slow character with strong magic-based attacks, but whether or not she would be able to transform into Sheik this time remained unmentioned.


 * June 26: "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Medley" : The fourth  update on the site was a medley of various songs heard in Ocarina of Time, in order the "Song of Storms", "Epona's Song", "Song of Time", "Saria's Song", and "Zelda's Lullaby". A Zelda stage for this music to play on had not been revealed yet at this point.


 * June 27: "Banana Peel" : A new item, the Banana Peel, was introduced and described. The effect of the item is somewhat obvious. When dropped on the floor, any character running on this item will slip on it and take damage and remain in one spot for a short instant. The site gave it the Smash Bros. universe symbol, despite speculation it belongs to the or  universes.


 * June 28: "Names" : The second update to the "Game Modes" category, this was the first glimpse into the game's various menu screens ever posted. The ability for the player to enter custom names was revealed to return from Melee, and it was revealed that custom button configurations for each controller can be chosen and assigned to the player's name, so that if players wanted to always play a certain way that's different from the default, they could summon up their name. Also mentioned is that player name data may be able to be saved on the player's Wii Remote so they could take this information to other people's Wiis, but this feature had apparently not been implemented yet and it was possible that it would not happen.


 * June 29: "Wario: Special Moves" : Two of Wario's Special moves were covered. His Forward Special move, Wario Bike, is similar to Yoshi's Egg Roll attack with the exception that Wario rides his bike across the stage, and that the bike will stay on stage after the first use of the attack. Also elaborated on is the Wario Waft attack, which contrary to popular belief, was shown to not be a Final Smash, and in fact his Down Special. Its power and scale was shown to be dependent on how much time has elapsed since its last use.

July

 * July 2: "What are assist trophies?" : A major new item named the Assist trophy was introduced. When a character picks it up and uses it, a secondary Nintendo character appears and performs an action before disappearing; in concept this is just like the Poké Ball, but for all manner of characters outside of the Pokémon franchise that can't quite make it as actual Smash Bros. fighters. A Helper character introduced was the Hammer Bro, and the Nintendog from the original trailer was revealed to be an Assist trophy-caused character.
 * July 2: "Samurai Goroh" : Another new Assist trophy helper character that was introduced is Captain Falcon's rival from the F-Zero universe, Samurai Goroh. The obese samurai was shown to appear and slash with his imposing sword out of the control of the player, much like a Pokémon from a Poké Ball. Also similar to the Pokémon concept was the update's notice that Assist trophy helpers would often be invincible to attacks from fighters. This update additionally confirmed that Goroh, who was heavily speculated to be at the time, would not be a playable character.


 * July 3: "Bowser" :  was revealed as another new returning character and veteran fighter, sporting an updated look not seen in normal Mario games. Bowser's B, Up B, and perhaps his forward B moves were seen preserved, but Sakurai claimed that Bowser and a lot of other characters would offer a "slightly different flavor this time around" than their previous appearances, implying alterations to Bowser's design that would not be just cosmetic.


 * July 4: "Bowser: Final Smash" : Bowser's newly revealed Final Smash was shown to be the return appearance of a Melee boss character: The Giga Bowser Transformation, where Bowser temporarily transforms into Giga Bowser, updated to look similar to his Melee incarnation like normal Bowser is to his old Melee incarnation. He gains a vast amount of power and defensive ability for the duration of time in Giga Bowser mode before he reverts to normal Bowser form again. This would be the first time Giga Bowser is now a legally playable character.


 * July 5: "Smash Attacks" : Illustrates the most basic Smash series fighting concept of pressing A and forward on the joy stick to perform standard attacks of varying intensity, but the update visually mapped out the button presses involved to all four confirmed controller types.


 * July 6: "Bridge of Eldin" : A brand new stage based on the Bridge of Eldin location in the Wii game The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It appeared to be the longest flat-all-across stage in the Smash series. Twilight Princess characters King Bulblin and Lord Bullbo cameo as obstacles that damage players they charge through on the bridge, and Bulblin occasionally uses bombs that destroy parts of the bridge and allow fighters to fall to their deaths below. These holes were shown to be replaced by twilight-zone portals shortly afterward.


 * July 9: "Standard Combos" : This update revealed that the Standard Combos of the characters, which beforehand were dictated entirely by repeated presses of the attack button, could now also be performed by simply holding down the attacking button to make the character automatically attack with that combo. Fox, for example, in addition to doing his Rapid Kick by pressing A repeatedly, could now also do his Rapid Kick by merely holding down A. This was included to better accommodate the different controller setups, and Sakurai says he has "gone a tad easier on the button pressing" with this. Meta Knight was also revealed to be somewhat different than other characters in attack style; single-button attacks on ground and in the air for him cause multiple swift-sword strikes per press, as opposed to one punch or kick per button press for most other characters, and his Standard Combo was shown to be the lengthy swift-sword-swipe sessions he was shown to perform against ground opponents in the trailers.


 * July 10: "Dr. Wright" : A new Assist Trophy helper character like Samurai Goroh before was this obscure character from the SNES version of SimCity. Dr. Wright, when he appears, was shown to wave his baton over the ground and summon a miniature city that will pop out of the ground as if it were a giant stalagmite being propelled through the ground, sending opponent characters high into the sky.


 * July 11: "Bumper" : Another item update, this time showcasing the return of the Bumper from the original Super Smash Bros. that was missing in Melee. It seemed to retain its function and purpose perfectly, but was revealed to have another effect; be thrown to float in midair as an obstacle, carrying over the function of Melee's Flipper item.


 * July 12: "Donkey Kong" : The first update to be shown at a different time of the day (usually updates are posted at midnight Pacific time), and to be posted in conjunction with a reveal from a different source. Shortly after the E3 press conference showed a clip guaranteeing DK's return as yet another new returning character, this update officially showcased  as a Veteran Fighter with an updated look that would give him a more furry appearance similar to his normal everyday appearance in modern Mario games. His fighting style appeared to be unchanged at its core.
 * July 12: "15 Second Movie Presentation" : The first update to fall under the Notices category, it notifies that the official release of the game in North America would be December 3, 2007. Sakurai claims to be "working with all [his] might" on the game right up until release, and in the meantime posted a 15-second high-framerate clip of the game, showcasing much of the content revealed throughout the above updates.


 * July 13: "Smashville" : A new stage based on the Animal Crossing series. Screenshots provided for Smashville showcase a platform that seemed to float around while an Animal Crossing-style town given its "appropriate" original name is seen in the background, along with many Animal Crossing-style critters. The stage's background features elements dependent on the Wii's internal clock and calendar; Play the stage at night and it was mentioned to be nighttime in the game, and play it at night on Saturday and a stage performance by K.K. Slider was shown to occur while the brawl is on.


 * July 16: "Star Fox: Space Armada" : The fifth music file shared with viewers was an arrangement of the Space Armada theme from the original Star Fox, which was used for a part of the "Corneria" theme from Melee.


 * July 17: "Deoxys" : A brand new Pokémon that can appear from the Poké Ball was revealed and described. The viral DNA alien Pokémon Deoxys is the "final secret" Pokémon from the Third Generation, and in normal Pokémon games it can change between four available forms. In Brawl, it seemed to appear only in its Attack form, and when it appears out of a Poké Ball it was shown to float up into the sky and unleash Hyper Beam to the ground, which was apparently very powerful. This update additionally confirmed that Deoxys, who was heavily speculated to be at the time, would not be a playable character.


 * July 18: "Samus: Final Smash" : This update finally clarified that Zero Suit Samus would indeed be a form becomes when she fires the gigantic beam seen in the first trailer, which was identified as her Final Smash and named the . Newly revealed, however, is that the broken pieces of her armor remaining on the ground could be picked up and hurled as projectile weapons. It was not specified whether "Zamus" could turn back into Samus anytime during the remainder of the match.


 * July 19: "Zero Suit Samus" : Continuing the coverage of the Samus factor in the previous update, this update profiles Zero Suit Samus as though she were a standard playable character like everyone else, put in the Newcomer category, raising questions as to whether she could be playable as a fighter without having to use armored Samus's Final Smash attack during battle. The gun in her hand was identified as the Paralyzer, which was its use in Metroid: Zero Mission against Space Pirates, and it was shown to extend into an energy whip giving her long reach in fighting.


 * July 20: "This World..." : A very different style of update, consisting of just a long series of images in a sort of storyline format, interspersed with text describing the Smash Bros. universe and the conditions of their world, partially indicating the game's "story". Melee's thematic emphasis on trophies was shown to return in Brawl as well. The update showed a new sky-stadium-style environment that was thought of to be a new stage, with Mario and Kirby appearing on it, then the Halberd appears, and then a strange original character of sorts was seen in the last screenshot. These shots and the characters shown in them were clarified in a later update.


 * July 23: "Rumble Falls" : Another brand new stage was revealed, this time themed after the Donkey Kong universe, specifically Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat. In terms of stage layout and mechanics, Rumble Falls seemed to be similar to Melee's Icicle Mountain stage, in that the screen scrolls vertically (but only up unlike Icicle Mountain), while seeming to be much wider. Supposedly the fight could climb up and beyond Rumble Falls, and Sakurai implied that something unrevealed would be found at the very top of the stage's vertical progression.


 * July 24: "Yoshi" :  was confirmed to return as a playable Veteran fighter in the game. He was shown to be visually touched up like most other returning characters, but apparently retained his same playing style as his Melee incarnation. A mentioned new modification to his moveset is that his Up B, Egg Toss, was shown to be used to increase jumping distance like traditional up special recovery moves of other characters, "among other things".


 * July 25: "Skyworld" : Official description of the suspected Kid Icarus stage previously seen in the Nintendo world trailer, which was officially identified as Skyworld, and its platform-breaking mechanics were somewhat clarified: The broken platforms quickly regenerate, even though it seemed apparent that the clouds underneath the platforms would suffice as platforms themselves based on trailer footage. There was shown to be no big platform below the stage, underneath where all the smaller cloud-lifted platforms are irregularly laid out.


 * July 26: "Footstool Jump" : This update revealed a new maneuver, the Footstool Jump, which was shown to be used by all characters as an offensive measure by jumping onto and off of the heads of opponents as in the Mario games, with a perfectly timed jump-button press when right on a character's head. This was thought of doing some damage, and it makes the user jump much higher. It was said by Sakurai to meteor smash airborne opponents.


 * July 27: "Knuckle Joe" : Knuckle Joe, a side character/enemy in the Kirby franchise featured particularly prominently in Kirby Super Star, was revealed as a new Assist trophy character. He was shown to first flurrie foes in front of him with his Vulcan Jab, then would randomly performs one of two finishing moves: A strong short-range Smash Punch, and an electric uppercut-like move called Rising Break.


 * July 30: "Donkey Kong: Final Smash" : Donkey Kong's Final Smash was identified and described as the Konga Beat: He was shown to whip out the DK Bongos (a GameCube peripheral used for games like Donkey Konga and Jungle Beat) and he was seen playing a tune (during which he's invincible) whose musical notes damage opponents around him. The power of the move was shown to influence how the player presses buttons to the provided beat.


 * July 31: "Pitfall" : The Pitfall was introduced as an item, and it was once found as an item in Animal Crossing. When the item is thrown at the ground, it was shown to vanish, and an opponent stepping into its area was shown to temporarily get caught in a hole that appears on the ground. Also, if thrown at an opponent standing on a pass-through floor/platform, that opponent was shown to automatically drop down below.