Super Smash Bros Brawl

Nothing depressed Nintendo owners more than learning that the eagerly-anticipated Super Smash Bros Brawl was going to slip from its December 3, 2007 release date and come out in January/February 2008. The news got worse as Nintendo pushed back the release again for a March 9, 2008 release in the US. Fortunately, the title should not slip any further as the game has arrived in Japan. We will take one last look at the game, in this preview, before the release next month.

For those of you who are not familiar with Super Smash Bros, Brawl is the latest incarnation in the fast-paced fighting brawler that features a large cast of Nintendo characters and puts them in battles against each other. Brawl is unique because the series is including other characters outside of Nintendo. With a roster full of a multitude of characters and the inclusion of Online player–complete with a level editor, you can easily see why Nintendo fans are eagerly anticipating the Wii version of Super Smash Bros Brawl.

The gameplay is still almost exactly the same as the GameCube version. This will keep fans of the franchise happy but may leave others wanting a more traditional fighting game. If you fall into the latter group, Brawl is probably not for you. But for anyone who wants to fight with Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Fox McCloud, Link, Kirby, Bowser, Olimar, the Pokemon trainer, Snake, and many others, you will definitely find that Brawl will be worth the wait.

One of the new characters, the Pokemon trainer, fights with three Pokemon and hangs out in the background. Players will have to swap Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard in and out before they get tired in order to fend off the others. Each of the three Pokemon have their own individual attacks so you will have to use strategy and plan out when to use what Pokemon.

You may not recognize the name of another new fighter in Super Smash Bros Brawl. Olimar is the character you played as in the Pikmin series. It may seem a bit strange for him to be wandering around fighting alongside other Nintendo characters. However, the gameplay mechanics he has are very interesting. Olimar summons Pikmin by pulling them out of the ground and throwing them at his foes. They can also be called back and Olimar can always pluck more out of the ground if needed.

With the largest cast of characters in Super Smash Bros Brawl, there is definitely a lot of different gameplay mechanics that each brings to the table. Despite the large number of characters, Nintendo has not stopped there. There is a very long Adventure Mode and some very interesting levels. For the rest of the preview, we will focus on the levels and cover the Adventure mode with the English translated version in March.

To the delight of all Nintendo fanboys, Nintendo is throwing the kitchen sink at them in terms of designing some very original levels. While it is difficult to pick a favorite, one of the levels is based on the Nintendo DS Pictochat. Players will begin fighting and background elements will be drawn and then actually be added to the gameplay. This creates new platforms and other environmental hazards that the players will have to overcome. Another level is based on a snowy base in the Metal Gear Solid universe that actually has a Metal Gear run through the level and interrupt your battle. Yet another level is based on Wario Ware and has you battle through a whole slew of different microgrames.

So while we have had to wait several months more for Nintendo to get Super Smash Bros Brawl to us, it appears that the wait was worth it as this gave time to polish the game and add as many new characters and levels as possible. Plus with the ability to play online against others (minus voice chat) and be able to make new levels, save them to a SD card, and bring them to a friends house, Super Smash Bros Brawl may be the most played Wii game of 2008. We are eagerly counting down to the March 9 release!