Finally...after one-and-a-half years of having this game pre-ordered, I HAVE IT!!!

And waiting 29 hours in line to be the first one to get my hands on it was definitely worth it!

 

As an owner of the previous Super Smash Bros. games, I can say that Brawl definitely has all of the necessary improvements to be now honored as the best Super Smash Bros. game to play either casually or tournament-style!

 

Nintendo took a lot of effort to make everything just right, and to please everyone possible. And after seeing the final results, I can definitely say the two times they pushed back the release date were worth every penny.

 

# of characters

The characters chosen

Improved character moves (and NO Wave-Dashing!!! Yay!)

Multiple taunts for each character (and a few hidden ones, too...  )

Amazing Graphics

Stage Builder

Challenges involving every part of the game to unlock hidden things

An amazing one/two player adventure mode with an actual story

Tons of awesome video game music from a ton of different video games

And On-Line Play!

 

The game starts out with the following characters selectable:

- Bowser

 

Nintendo did a great job choosing characters to both bring back as well as introduce to players.

They definitely covered all of their bases - even including Zero Suit Samus as a playable character (from Metroid: Zero Mission on GBA).

 

They expanded on the Kirby franchise by giving us King Dedede - the largest, slowest, but uber-powerful character in the game, as well as giving us Meta Knight - the super-quick flying/sword wielding version of Kirby, who just looks darn cool.

 

We are finally introduced to one of the lesser known franchises, Pikmin, by way of Olimar. Dressed in a spacesuit, he goes around and pulls up little creatures called Pikmin that will follow him in line wherever he goes. He attacks by throwing them, as well as using them as a whip - which can also used to grapple onto ledges.

 

Wario! Oh, yeah, him. Definitely an interesting character; I haven't played his character that much - but I will tell you one thing, his level is awesome, straight out of WarioWare! Better make sure you carve a statue or keep dry, and you'll get an awesome power-up, like a Starman!

 

Pit. Wow. That's amazing - I remember playing Kid Icarus on my Nintendo back when it debuted, and it was really, really hard - but it was fun. I think it's awesome they decided to give the hero of this amazing game his own character - and the Final Smash is just awesome, where he gives the shout-out, and hundreds of winged men soar down and unleash a barrage of arrows on everybody!

 

Diddy Kong! Some people have definitely wanted to see him as a fighter for quite some time, and I have to admit, he's a good choice! Who knew you could have so much fun firing peanuts at people? Or boosting yourself to safety with hollowed out trees on your back?

 

Lucas, as not many people know, is from the Mother series - which is found only in Japan; Mother 2, also known as Earthbound here in the U.S., debuted the appearance of Ness, who showed up in Melee.  Lucas is a great character - his PK Thunder is amazing, being able to hit an opponent several times while guiding it, so you can juggle your opponent for a long time. In my opinion, his PK Frost is much better than Ness' was.

 

And Ike. He's from Fire Emblem, another series that debuted in Japan, and made it over to the U.S. eventually (...still haven't opened that Fire Emblem game for my Wii yet...) Great swordsman, somewhat like Marth, but I think Ike's a bit stronger.

 

I can't finish this blog entry without talking about this.

This is the best feature ever!

Ever since the debut of Melee in 2001, players everywhere have been yearning for on-line play, and Nintendo finally gave us our wish on March 9th (or 10th, I had heard the servers went down on the debut day - guess they weren't prepared for that many people yet...)

 

"But what about Friend Codes? They're stupid!"

Well, guess what - they're not necessary if you want to play online!

You get pros for having Friend Codes, but if you're desperate for a quick 2-minute battle, connect and Brawl! Simple as that.

 

"What pros???"

You can make your own taunt messages, be able to send your friends the stages you built, as well as play on them (I will talk about the Stage Builder in a later blog).

 

Only downside to all of Brawl? Seeing IGN being super mean for not giving Brawl a well-deserved 100% - the graphics are amazing considering the hardware the Wii has! (And as most people know my sayings, gameplay is much more important in a game than snazzy graphics.)

Brawl got perfect scores from every other important video game reviewer site in existence!

 

My score out of 10: 15.

It was definitely worth waiting 29 (yes, twenty-nine) hours in line to be the first one in line to purchase and play it!

If you have a Wii, go out ant buy it! If not, go out and buy a Wii and Brawl!

You won't be disappointed.

 

Thank you Nintendo. You continue to amaze me year in and year out, and this is why I remain a loyal Nintendo fan, tried and true, ever since 1986. You are the king of video games.