SSBB, A Nintendo Wonder? - 8/10
Super Smash Bros. is the series that combines the best of the Nintendo characters and from there, they must fight. The SSB series all started with the first of the series, Super Smash Bros. which came out on the Nintendo 64 in the year 1999. The game sold over 3.7 million copies, more in the US, than in Japan. The game only featured 12 playable characters from around some great gaming franchises, such as Legend of Zelda, Metroid and Super Mario and more. Then, in 2001 we got the second game, which was called Super Smash Bros. Melee, this game had a total of 16 characters, many of which were considered as "Clones". A "Clone" was generally a character that had the same ability's and moves as it's other character from it's own gaming franchise. Then after a huge wait of 7 years we got the ever so hyped game called Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This game was probably the main highlight of the Nintendo E3 conference, and was expected to be a release title with the Revolution, which was later re-named to "Wii". The game was then delayed to the end of 2007 and then delayed for even longer, Japan was the first to get this stunning game, then the US got a taste. And us Aussies still had release date. Then we finally get it on 26.6.08.
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Much Different? No. But Better? Yes! Many gamers thought this was going to be a whole new gaming experience for Super Smash Bros., which is not quite true. Many of game play elements are the same as Melee. Sure, we have improved graphics, more characters and more stages, but that didn't change how the game is played. This game was over-hyped. The game has a new adventure mode, with an actual plot. This adventure mode is called the "Subspace Emissary", basically evil has tried to take over, by turning the wonderful good guys from SSBB into trophy's. All so Master Hand can have a collection. That is the basic plot. Classic Mode is still here, like the previous SSB games, you choose a character and you just battle it out until you reach the end of the line where you come face to face with Master Hand. Somewhere in between that you will experience "Bonus Stages", they are basically stages that you can get more points in, while providing fun. New to the SSB series is online Multiplayer, which is great fun! The player can play with friends or just play with random people, when playing with random people around the globe, you can choose Team Brawl or just Regular Brawl. Honestly, in my opinion the game play hasn't changed too much, besides the new characters and new stages.
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I think most people would agree with me, these graphics are impressive. The detail in the characters in Brawl are of a much higher standard than that of Melee. We now have a less blonde looking Link, and a much nicer Mario that actually shows the denim he is wearing. The detail of the stages has improved too, although, the stages that were ported from Melee are nearly exactly the same. The character aren't as "cartoonish" as before, with the exception of Toon Link. This is one of the areas that has improved dramatically since the previous version. The menu, the character selection screen and all looks far, far better. Also new to the SSB series is Animated cut scenes. And that is a major WOW! They look beautiful, especially the water. The ships, the characters and the terrains look marvelous, but for some odd reason, Nintendo characters generally don't like to speak, which can be a bit odd, when seeing one nod rather than speaking. This obviously looks best one an Plasma/LCD TV with component cables, I've only tried running it in S-Video. Something that was a bit strange was that some cut scene ended a bit too early, and could have done with some sort of fading. Overall, the graphics are much better than previous version, now with added cut scenes, it just enhances the game.
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Nintendo thought this through, like Mario Kart. Nintendo have allowed us Brawlers to use any sort of controller compatible with the the Wii, whether is be Wii Remote, Wii Remote and Nunchuck, Classic Controller or even the Game-Cube Controller. When using the Game-Cube or Classic Controller, button layout isn't much different to that of Melee, it may be the same though. Either way, Nintendo made the fanboys happy, now they can do all there fighting with little or no difference. Game-Cube/Classic Controller makes it feel as though you're not playing a Wii, yeah it's great! But I quickly ditched that for the Wii Remote and Nunchuck, as it is so much more comfortable. That combination works out really, really well, which at first surprised me. I thought it was going to be terrible with Wii Remote and Nunchuck, but Nintendo proved me wrong. I was never going to consider playing more than 3 games of brawl using the Wii Remote on it's side, but I tried it, I had to. It sucked. It sucked hard. The D-Pad is terrible compared to an Analog stick. I think that the button layout for the Wii Remote on it's side is horrible and should have been re-done. I really enjoyed trying them all, as it does tell you which is the most comfortable for you. But like I said before, Wii Remote and Nunchuck would have to be my favorite.
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Why not have an image of the speakers that I use? And yeah, I like the white outline around the image. OMGOLPOLY, we have ORIGINAL Nintendo tracks!! These songs are the original theme songs that many people of all ages have grown up with, whether it be the recent Twilight Princess theme song or the original Zelda theme. You can now set the track that you most prefer for the battle area you want to play on. Unfortunately, I did hear a few remix version of some songs and as most people know, remix's of any song suck! Personally, hearing the same song over and over again can get annoying so I haven't changed anything regarding the audio in SSBB, you can collect CD's in this game so you can hear you favorite song, over and over and over and over and over again. We also have some new music for the newer stages which are still great, but I think nothing can beat a classic song. Cut scenes sound and look great, but Nintendo, we need some Voice Acting!! Like I said before, voice acting could only improve the cut scenes, nodding is not a good enough substitute. I didn't expect them to do a remix for every Nintendo track and it's great that they didn't, as they could dramatically break this game.
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SSBB is a great game if you are brand new to the series, it's still good if you aren't new but it wouldn't be as good. The gameplay hasn't changed all that much from previous version, Brawl seems like Melee but touched up graphics, some new stages and a few new characters. Melee was great and this is greater, I expected more, like most people but it's still great. The online will keep the replay value quite high, but re-doing the Subspace Emissary, I won't bother. Including in Brawl is the Stage Designer, it's a cool little feature if you can be creative with very few items to design with, the snapshot feature in Brawl is great and being able to save the recording of my Brawl from online is awesome! Overall Brawl is great, but not super great, yes it's still a must have but be wary, you may become very bored with it after the Subspace Emissary.
Please 
Thanks for Reading,
-Azza123
Submitted by Azza123
01/07/2008
405
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