Feature: Super Smash Bros Brawl – Retrospective

With Brawl now on Aussie shelves, it’s greatness finally gracing the general populace, we thought we would take a look back at Brawl. But surely a couple of weeks later is not long enough to give a retrospective? Well thats why weve collated ours and some of our readers opinions on Brawl from importers who some of had the game since the April Japanese release. Its easy to see how good Brawl is with the launch hype (even a couple weeks later) but how does it look several months later…. does it hold up? Feature inside

Looking Back

Having followed Brawl from its initial reveal, to reading the Dojo everyday and then finally getting my hands on in it (and not even waiting for the game in English)- Brawl was a big game for me. When I attended the E3 in 2006, I played Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3 Brawl was the first big game for the Wii that I hadnt yet played and it showed big promise. Improved Graphics, Third Party characters, one of the best soundtracks every compressed on a disk and while not straying from the formula, Brawl was completely awesome as expected. However after several months reality has hit the game, the online mode apart from friends is broken and not even up to scratch to something like Mario Kart Wii.

The single player was never a big component, was widely touted during development but after an hour youd be lucky if you wanted to play for another hour. The problem is with the unlockables. Dont bother taking your game to your friends house take your Wii, because with a locked in save, you wont be worrying about the over the top process to get the characters unlocked again. The party game Brawl is with everything unlocked, otherwise it isnt coming to the party.

Naturally all retrospectives are negative in some way and it may seem Im bagging the game, but all my complaints will come from players soon enough. But for all, its little niggles and minor complaints. Brawl is worth hanging onto and playing whenever you and a bunch of mates are up for a Brawl.
Retrospective by Vook

Still Enjoyable, but less Wow

From the moment that I first booted up my copy of Brawl (and received it before a majority of America) I was amazed at how much the game was such a large jump from Melee, which my mates and I were playing to pass the time. The amount of characters offered, the smooth and crisp visuals, as well as the prospect of online play. Although the game was undeniably enjoyable, I would’ve been ready to award it a full score of 100% no matter what.

Unfortunately, that feeling has since diminished. Although Brawl was amazingly content packed when it first came out, and I thought I would be busy for days, it simply was a flash in the pan. That being said, I and my mates almost always enjoy a good game of Brawl for it introduced a lot of little things that people found ultimately useful, like being able to grab items while running among other things. The music, amount of levels and amount of characters means that we’ll always have something to do and play whenever I have friends over – and it emphasises Nintendo’s overall goal of bringing more people together via Gaming as a platform.

Today, Super Smash Brothers Brawl is as enjoyable as it was when it first was released, however naturally the WOW factor dissipated over time. That being said, it’s always going to be there for when me and my mates want to have a blast and play a game that everyone can play.

Contribution by James

Strikes a chord, but what one?

Super Smash Bros. Brawl, while fun, just didn’t seem to have the lasting impression that Melee seemed to have. I’m not sure if it’s a sign of my changing tastes in gaming or something else, but I’ve found Brawl didn’t draw me in quite like Melee did. Sure, there’s everything that you loved from the previous games, as well as a whole bunch of new stuff (some of which is absolutely fantastic) but after a few weeks or so the appeal goes away somewhat, unlike with Melee.

I have enjoyed the somewhat slower fighting system found in Brawl compared to Melee – the game feels more structured as a result. Most of the new characters are great, and I’m sure many of you will fall in love with them. Items, in general, have become more fun to use with some brilliant additions such as the Pitfall. However, there are faults. The Final Smashes often feel the same between characters, sometimes barely differentiating from each other. More variety in those attacks would have been nice. The new stages all have a ‘gimmick’ of sorts, which is annoying if you just want some straight out brawling with no interruptions.

While overall a lot of fun Super Smash Bros. Brawl really appeals to the inner Nintendo fanboy. If, like me, you’ve become less of one over the years maybe the game won’t strike the same chord as previous instalments did, but while it lasts it’s a hell of a time.

Contribution by Takora

Melee 1.5?

Despite SSBB essentially being a Melee 1.5 and the game being way over hyped, I’m still enjoying all of what this game has to offer. No doubt like the vast majority of games out there, Brawl isn’t perfect and has it’s flaws. For example the SSE mode overall was rather lacklustre, the game integrates an online system which is somewhat ‘unpleasant’ at times and the ‘Stage Builder’ feature is rather limited.

However, the game does feature many improvements from the previous build (regardless of how minor) and also contains bucket loads of added content (characters, stages, items, music etc.), which is enough to satisfy its fans. SSBB does experiment with the game’s robust fighting system in an attempt to bring us something new, but it’s the series’ already established multiplayer gameplay, which is really what the franchise excels at and it’s that aspect which keeps me playing the game at the end of the day. With its Australian finally here, I’m looking forward to the prospect of playing with/against all the people who have just joined the brawl.

Contribution by Leon 77

100 Days later…

So I’ve had Brawl for around 100 days now. When I first got it, Brawl followed me around the country. Where ever I had to work, my copy of Brawl came with. Initially it came from Canada to Sydney, then I took it to Brisbane, then to Perth, and finally to Melbourne. I even bought a white GameCube controller for this game. I have to admit Brawl had recently dropped down on my play list just underneath Boom Blox and Portal (yes I’m not quite done with it!). Once I did my 8 hour stint on the SSE and unlocked all the characters the only thing left that kept me coming was online play. Since I couldn’t connect properly to Americans I only really played against fellow Vooks importers a handful of times.

Looking back now I can’t believe I slaved through the SSE, back tracking after back tracking is something I expect from my Metroid Prime games not my Smash games. It would be great to see some online matches organised in the near future. Then I can demonstrate the awesomeness of my cheap moves. I was at a gaming event the other day where Nintendo previewed Brawl. All the kids were lining up to play so I came back towards the end of the day when there was hardly anyone.

The only way to control was with the Wii remote standalone. I never used this control scheme so this was a first for me. I played it safe and went at Pit. Lets just say I yayayayayatttt my way to victory.

Now that it’s finally getting an Australian release I’m gearing up for another round. Can’t wait to see you guys online and give you that 4-way pre-determined trash talk bubble.

Contribution by: extremisjae

Some impressions were written before the Brawl launch and thus may be out of context. Thanks to all contributors.