Nearly three years in the making, there is no denying the sheer hype that Super Smash Bros. Brawl has brought around the world. Seven years after Melee and three delays later, we finally have the game that millions of die hard Nintendo fans have been praying for. But does it live up to the hype? Or is it a giant stinking bomb that could make a Kirby cry? This is Jake from ObsessedJam, and this is my review of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii.

Content:          10/10

This just might be one of the biggest games in video game history. The amount of game modes, characters, mini games, and options are larger then some entire game franchises combined. Smash Bros has always had single player, and multiplayer modes, but never has so much effort gone into each of them. Masahiro Sakurai and his team have tried their best to put as much content as possible in every portion of this amazing game.
For the single player portion, you have your standard one player modes such as Classic; break the targets, training, multi man brawls, and of course a many different event matches. All of these things though, can be found in the 2001 Gamecube title Super Smash Bros. Melee though, so what new single player features does Brawl have to offer? Enter the subspace emissary: The series first attempt at a full fledged single player adventure mode. It plays much like a 2D Kirby game. You have to get from point A, to point B, and in-between are doors that need to be opened, and minor puzzles to be solved.
I have mixed feelings about the Subspace emissary. On one hand, it can be played with a up to two people, and it has beautiful cut scenes that feature all of Nintendo’s most memorable mascots teaming up and facing each other in an attempt to stop the growing threat of the subspace army. On the other hand… There’s the actual game. The Subspace emissary is a great first step in the right direction of a Smash Bros single player adventure mode, but it suffers from some small, but noticeable flaws. The biggest being that it plays exactly how it does in the main game. You jump, run, get hit, and fly off the screen just like you would if you were playing against someone in multiplayer. The problem here is that these are not ideal platforming controls at all. They don’t make the Subspace Emissary unplayable by any means, but you’ll start to notice that jumping from platform to platform and taking out the waves upon waves of enemies start to become tiresome and tedious. I and my friend Adam had a good time playing through Subspace, but we both agreed that it could have been a much better. And it doesn’t help that the end is a giant 2 hour fetch quest that feels more like a chore then entertainment. As a first effort, the subspace is an interesting adventure mode with amazing presentation value. But as a stand alone single player effort, it is sorely lacking.
But who buys a Smash Bros game for the single player mode? Nobody! Smash Bros has always been about multiplayer. And I’m glad to say that the same formula stays with Brawl.
Brawl has a total of 35 characters this time around. If you include transformations though, then there are 39 playable characters. This is an impressive step up from Melees 26 character roster. This new roster contains nearly everyone from Melee, as well as a bunch of brand new faces like Diddy Kong, King Dedede, Wario, and Pit to name just a few. A lot of people were complaining that characters such as Geno and Ridley didn’t make it in, but you have to realize just how hard it is to make a fighting game with this many characters in it, and make it balanced. That’s one thing that I absolutely love about Brawl. All of the characters just feel so balanced this time around. In Melee, if you had a good Fox user against a good Kirby user, then Fox would most likely win. But now in Brawl, Kirby has just as much of a chance of winning as Fox does. If Brawl had say, 50 characters, then chances are that a few of them would not be balanced enough and completely ruin the game for everyone.
The multiplayer in Brawl is just as much fun as it was in Melee, and the added characters and game modes really help make the whole experience that much better. Nearly everything this time around is Co-op, which is great. The Subspace Emissary is co-op, along with some event matches, target smash, and even the home run contest. All of these are great additions to the series.
The biggest step forward for the multiplayer by far however are online battles through the Nintendo Wifi Connection. Finally, after years of waiting, we can have online battles! There is some noticeable lag online, but not enough to make the game unplayable by any means. The online mode is defiantly going to keep players coming back years later to play against friends and rivals from near to far.
Brawl does use friend codes, but it also has a “play against anyone” mode, and a spectator mode where you get to watch matches and bet coins on who you think is going to win. You can then use these coins for a coin launcher minigame where you can unlock trophies and stickers.
Wow, the features and game modes just keep on coming don’t they? And I have barley scratched the surface here. Did I mention that there is a stage builder mode? Or that you can pause the game anytime you want and take screenshots? Or you can save video replays of nearly anything of to three minutes long? I can go on for pages upon pages about how amazing it is that they fit all of this stuff into one game, but I’ll stop talking about game modes here. There is still a bunch of other stuff to cover.

Gameplay       10/10

It feels very similar to Melee, and plays almost identical. You’re still basically playing a game of king of the hill, trying to knock people off the stage to KO them. The more you hit your foe, the more their damage goes up, and the more their damage goes up the father you send them. As far as controllers go, you can use the Wiimote, Wiimote and Nunchuk, Classic controller, and Gamecube controller. All of the controllers do their job, but Smash veterans will likely use the Gamecube controllers another time around as it offers the smoothest controls.
Smash has such an amazing fan base, mostly due to the amazingly simple controls. Unlike other fighting games, Smash Bros only uses two attack buttons, and one button to jump. By tilting and smashing the analog stick, you can perform many different standard attacks, and up to four special attacks. The controls are extremely simple, but surprisingly deep. Learning when and how to utilize your characters moves is going to be the key to winning a match.
There are no other major new gameplay mechanics other then the improved air dodge, which you can now perform multiple times in the air, and the fact that the game does feel a slight bit slower then Melee. But besides that, it’s pretty much the same.
Items have always been a fun addition to Smash Bros, but Sakurai and team really took it to the next level in Brawl. The classic Smash 64 bumpers is back, along with deku nuts, springs, new Pokeball Pokemon, and assist trophies; which let out a random Nintendo character to assist you in the fight.
But the biggest new item by far is the Smash Ball. Attack one of these things and you can perform a final smash. Final Smashes vary from each character, but all of them wreck havoc amongst your enemies. Fox will call upon his Landmaster; Bowser will turn into Giga Bowser, and Mario will unleash a giant fireball across the screen. Final Smashes really change up the gameplay, because they can make or break your victory. As soon as one appears everyone is out to get it and unleash fury across the stage.

Graphics         9/10

Easily one of the Wii’s best looking titles. It doesn’t have the polish of Super Mario galaxy, but it runs in 480p, 16:9 widescreen modes, and always stays at a steady 60 frames per second. In other words, it looks great with absolutely no slowdown.
The stages and character models all look amazing. You’ll constantly want to pause the game and take screenshots because the graphics are so nice. The backgrounds in the stages are full of life and movement. In the fire emblem stage you can see a battle going on, and on Delfino Plaza you are taking on a full tour of Delfino Island. Even all of the over 500 trophies in the game are just screaming with detail. Everything in Brawl looks amazing, and it truly goes to show just how much effort the creators put into the game.

Sound              10/10

Music plays a huge role in video games. Mario wouldn’t be as big today if his theme song was a bunch of random beeping sounds. Just as much work goes into making a game sound good as a music artist puts into his next CD. Nintendo understands this, and in Brawl, they celebrate it.
There are over 300 songs for your ears to enjoy in Brawl. Over 300 memorable tracks, both old and new alike. This has to be the largest amount of songs in one game in video game history. You have memorable songs like the dark world from A Link to the Past, king Dedede’s theme, the Metroid Prime menu, Star Wolfs theme, even the Tetris theme is in here! If you grew up playing Nintendo games, then you’ll find tons of music in Brawl that will make you wants to bring out your NES, SNES, N64, and Gamecube to play through the great games of the past.

Conclusion      9.8/10

If you have ever played and enjoyed a Nintendo game, then you will find something you like in Brawl. Whether it’s brushing up on your Nintendo history by reading some trophy descriptions, or listening to the hundreds of music tracks, you’ll experience some serious nostalgia in Brawl.
The amazing multiplayer that the Smash series is known far and wide for is still here. You’ll find your self throwing Brawl parties every Friday night to see who’s the best, or to mess around with all the options and have insane amounts of fun. Move over guitar hero and rock band; Smash Bros Brawl is the new party game of the year.
The game isn’t perfect, no game is. It has some weird loading issues; sometimes taking up to 30 seconds to load, and the subspace emissary is a disappointment thanks to control issues and repetition. But none of these things should be big enough to stop anyone from even considering buying Brawl.
Brawl is a game that anyone can enjoy, and is a game that every Wii owner needs to pick up. It is one of the greatest video games that I have ever played. If you’re reading this review and don’t have the game yet, then do yourself a favor and pick up Brawl. You will not regret it.