Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is an action game for the Wii. It is the third game in the Super Smash Bros. series, the sequel to Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee. The game is being developed by Masahiro Sakurai, who also made the last two Super Smash Bros. games. After a planned release date of December 3rd, 2007 in North America, all regions had their release dates pushed back. It was then slated for release on February 10, 2008 in North America, and January 24, 2008 for Japan. However on January 15, 2008 it was then pushed to January 31, 2008 for Japan and March 9, 2008 for North America.

Following the release of the game in Japan, a bug was discovered in the game which displays an error message every time it starts, though players are able to close it and play the game as usual. Nintendo has now started a replacement program. The game requires 128 blocks of memory at the very least.

Story
The "Subspace Emissary" is the adventure and story mode of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It has been said that The Subspace Emissary will rely on character development, meaning that it involves the characters' individual backgrounds. The main antagonists are the Subspace Army, which is led by the Ancient Minister.

At the beginning of the story, Princess Zelda and Princess Peach watch trophies of Mario and Kirby fall into an arena and transform into their living counterparts. They proceed to do battle, while Pit watches from Skyworld, cheering them both on. After his defeat, Mario or Kirby is transformed into a Trophy, which the other revives into his living counterpart.

However, Meta Knight's ship, the Halberd, flies over the main stadium. It sprays purple smoke into the arena, which then takes the form of a group of strange robotic-looking creatures, named Primid. Zelda and Peach run to assist Mario and Kirby. All four of them will fight the Primid.

The Subspace Army then drops down a Subspace Bomb, which is activated by two R.O.B.s. The bomb then shows a detonation timer, indicating that it will explode in three minutes. Mario hurries to deactivate it, but is bombed out of the stadium by a giant cannonball. Kirby ponders what to do, and realizes that Peach and Zelda have been entrapped by cages held by Petey Piranha.

Petey Piranha proceeds to attack Kirby, by swinging the cages at him. Kirby dodges, and starts to weaken the cages with his attacks. Kirby eventually defeats Petey Piranha, causing him to drop the two cages. Kirby breaks a cage, where as the other is flung away on the other side of the arena. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Wario drops in, wielding an unusual machine. He notices Kirby and the rescued princess, but then turns around to the unrescued princess. He points his machine at her, and fires it. A black arrow projected from the device's nozzle, and strikes the unrescued princess, who is then transformed into a Trophy, which Wario promptly carries away. Kirby and the rescued princess start to pursue him, but Kirby notices that the Subspace Bomb has timed out. The stadium is immediately sucked into Subspace. It is then that Kirby and the rescued princess ride a Warp Star and escape the stadium.

Meanwhile, in Skyworld, Pit gazes at the stadium, and notices the devastating effects of the Subspace Bomb. He is then called forth by Palutena, who gives him the Staff of Palutena. She sends Pit on a mission to save the world from the Subspace Army, and assist the others who are trying to save it. Pit then hurries off to the edge of Skyworld, and flies down to the world, to assist in saving it from the Subspace Army.

Meanwhile, in an island jungle, a Hammer Bro. and a Goomba pile Donkey Kong's Banana Hoard onto a hovercraft, which they proceed to drive away. Upon battling several of the Koopa Troop's minions (even smashing a Koopa Troopa into the ground, similar to Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat), Donkey Kong readies to follow the Hammer Bro. and the Goomba, and get his treasured Banana Hoard back. The Goomba jumps down from the pile onto two cannons, which fires three Bullet Bills towards him. Out from the foliage behind, Diddy Kong appears, with two Peanut Launchers, and intercepts them all. Both Donkey Kong and his friend, Diddy Kong, set off after the Banana Hoard thieves. It appears that after getting their Banana Hoard back (it is unknown where, when, or how), Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong encounter Bowser. He roars ferociously, and presumably he is fought. However, as to why Bowser has stolen his Banana Hoard is, as of yet, unknown. Bowser proceeds to turn Donkey Kong into a trophy. He does so just as Diddy escapes.

In the meanwhile, Kirby and the rescued princess on the Warp Star are chased by the Halberd. They are forced to land on it, but an Arwing appears. It swiftly dodges the beams that were hurled at it from the Halberd. Then, a strange hook-like device is projected from the Halberd, slamming into the Arwing. The Arwing flies downward in smoke, knocking off Kirby and the rescued princess off the surface of the Halberd on its way. Apparently, the Arwing is knocked out of the skies by the Halberd, and lands on the island Donkey Kong is on.

Afterwards, Diddy Kong then starts to swing through the jungle. When he reaches a pond, he notices a damaged Arwing near the lake. As he heads towards it, a Rayquaza emerges from the lake, and starts attacking Diddy Kong. As Diddy Kong stares in fear and awe, Rayquaza quickly snatches him, and flies back into the lake. As Diddy Kong continues to stare in terror, Fox McCloud is ejected from the destroyed Arwing, and uses Fox Illusion to swift pass the dragon's hand, causing him to release Diddy. As Rayquaza uses another Dragon Pulse, Fox uses his Reflector, which deflects the attack back at Rayquaza, causing him to retreat back into the lake. Fox then allows Diddy to accompany him on his journey.

The Halberd later appears over the space where Pit landed, creating more Primids. He defeats various Subspace enemies, until he eventually reaches a platform. Looking across the clouds, he sees the trophy of Mario sticking out. Hopping over to a platform concealed by the clouds, he turns Mario into a living being again. Once Mario recalls the events that have previously happened to him, the two understand that they are working towards the same goal, and head off.

Other Information
Mario is also shown to team up with Sonic the Hedgehog at one point. Eventually, Mario, Kirby, Pit, Link, and Yoshi team up, possibly near the climax. A leaked copy of the game also shows Falco with Fox and Diddy, an odd scene where Sheik and Peach are offering Fox some tea, and Lucario and Solid Snake teaming up. Near the end, the Ancient Minister is revealed to be a ROB in disguise and that Ganondorf is behind the events of the Subspace Emissary. Also, it's been rumored that Master Hand is involved in the Subspace Army and Sonic is seen fighting the last boss.

In screenshots of the Subspace Emissary, a Hammer Bro., Bullet Bills and Goombas were revealed as enemies. Additionally, Fox can be seen running away from a giant sheep-like creature, and several Primid imitate the moves of Samus and Meta Knight. For a list of known enemies, go here.

A few things can be interpreted from the videos of actual gameplay of the Subspace Emissary. Defeating enemies yields prizes, such as regular items, stickers, and strange golden balls that must be broken to reveal trophies. When an enemy is attacked, its picture appears in the corner, along with a health bar. After each cutscene, a freeze frame of any characters in the spotlight at the moment is shown, and the player picks who to play as.

Additionally, a few teams were confirmed through a recent video. Donkey Kong appears to be by himself in a Jungle level, with his partner, Diddy Kong, being allied with Fox in a similar looking level. Meta Knight and the Ice Climbers have been seen fighting together on an ice level, showing they will be partnered up, but Meta Knight also appeared to fight with Ike and Marth, hinting at a possible split path. Yoshi and Link are seen fighting together in an underground level. Lucas was also seen fighting several Bytans by himself, but later appeared alongside Ness, who appears to get turned into a Trophy by Wario after fighting Pokey Minch. Lucas was later seen with Pokémon Trainer. Samus and Pikachu appear to team up as well. King Dedede was also seen randomly in the recent trailer. Captain Falcon and Captain Olimar appear as a team as well. Snake was also shown to be in the Subspace Emissary, apparently teaming up with Lucario. There also seems to be a showdown, with Yoshi, Pit, Kirby, Link, and Mario all on one side. Bowser has been shown to be holding the same arrow-shooting gun as Wario, and is presumed to have turned Donkey Kong into a trophy. He is shown shooting an arrow at Diddy and Fox. Wario is also seen with his gun again. It is presumed this gun can also shoot cannonballs. It is unknown if Bowser and Wario are playable in the Subspace Emissary.

Gameplay
A new battle mechanic will be the Final Smash, that is triggered by collecting a Smash Ball. Another new battle mechanic is that players will be able to walk and jump while using projectile-shooting items, like the Super Scope. Some characters have also been seen crawling. However, it is disputable whether all characters have this ability, as only a few were able to perform the Wall Jump in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Additionally, a new technique called the Footstool Jump will be in the game. It allows players to jump on an opposing player's head, and spring up by pressing the jump button at the right time. Players will be able to perform Meteor Smashes by doing this as well. The Tether Recovery will be a new tactic in the game. It allows players to grab onto ledges, using chain-like items, such as a Plasma Whip or a Clawshot. Gliding will also be a technique in this game, available only to characters with wings. When used, players will be able to glide across the stage, and be able to control the way they fly. They can direct themselves upwards, or downwards, depending on the Button Combination used. The game also features three different Taunts for each character.

The game will be controlled with one of the four controlling methods: There are a few differences between the controller methods. The Nintendo GameCube controller is the only one capable of the rumble effect. The Wii Remote turned on its side only allows one taunt of a total of three available in the other control methods. The Wii Remote + Nunchuk Attachment has a special feature, the Shake Smash, allowing the player to execute Smash Attacks into the direction they shake the controller to. The Classic Controller, Wii Remote + Nunchuk Attachment and the GameCube controller also have a function which disables the jump by tapping the control stick upwards. This makes it easier to execute attack moves upwards, but forces the player to use different buttons for jumping (C or D-Pad Up on the Nunchuk, or X/Y on the Classic and GameCube controller).

The execution of standard combos has been made easier; the A button does no longer have to be hit repeatedly, it is enough to hold it down for the character to start a combo attack.

Players will be able to set their own button configuration rather than have to play with the default configuration. The configuration can be saved on the Wii Remote's internal memory, allowing to take them to a friend's and play with one's own button configuration there. People will be able to type in names, like Tom or John, just like in the game. While names were only a gimmick in Super Smash Bros. Melee, they now also save the player's controlling options to avoid selecting the control method again each time.

Subspace Emissary
The Subspace Emissary will make use of a team system. Two players can play in the Subspace Emissary at one time, with the first player being the protagonist, and the second player being an optional supporting character. Due to the camera following the main character, if the second character ends up off screen from the stage scroll, he or she will automatically warp straight back to the main hero. The main screen shows where to go next, and the character selection screen allows the player to choose his or her team. If Player 1 is defeated, and Player 2 is not, the game will still be over.

In single player, teams are still available. However, the second character will be a CPU, and if the main character is defeated, the player takes control of the second player, until he or she, too, is defeated. The player is able to use Sticker power-ups for the mode. The stickers are arranging on the character's trophy stand and give bonuses on Launch Power, Launch Resistance, and powers an resistances to several attacks like Arm, Weapon, Slash, Electric and Flame. The effects vary from sticker to sticker. When the player dies and get a Game Over, he or she will lose half of their stickers.

It has been stated that most unlockable characters of the game will be unlocked by playing the Subspace Emissary mode. The Adventure mode comes in the difficulty settings Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard and Intense, which can be selected on the World Map.

Classic Mode
Classic Mode returns from Super Smash Bros. Melee, acting the exact same way. Players pick a character, and then continue through a barrage of fights. Each stage appears in a certain order, with a Legend of Zelda stage appearing first, and a Pokémon stage appearing third. Like the last game, certain conditions are set in a few matches. A few examples are the player and two teammates fighting a giant opponent, or the player having to fight a metal version of another player. A small heart will appear next to a teammates logo. When a level is finished, the score will be added up, and coins will be earned. These can be used in the Coin Launcher.

Events
Events are an updated version of Super Smash Bros. Melee ' s Event Matches. They are pre-definded missions to be solved by the player. Each event is represented by a small preview screenshot on the event list, and a difficulty (Easy – Normal – Hard) can be selected. Several events are also avaiable in the co-op mode, which allows two players at a time to play. In this mode, they cooperate, and cannot fight each other. Known events are:

Stadium
The Stadium offers several mini-games, as previously in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Some modes from the predecessor are returning.

Home-Run Contest
The Home-Run Contest returns with quite a few differences. A shield surrounds the platform, preventing players from accidentally pushing Sandbag off the platform, or falling from it themselves. Two players can work together in cooperative play, with the two having to work together in order to set a good record. Two players can also challenge each other in two player alternating play, which features two characters taking turns to see who can knock Sandbag the farthest. Both of these modes can be played in Wi-Fi Connection mode, under the With Friends mode.

Target Smash!!
Also available in the Stadium mode is the Target Smash!!, a slightly altered mode of the Target Test from the previous games. There are five different stages all characters can play on, and the results can be sent to other players via the Wi-Fi Connection. It is also possible to play the Target Smash!! with two players simultaneously.

Multi-Man Brawl
Another returning feature is the Multi-Man Brawl, known as Multi-Man Melee in the previous game. In this mode, players fight the enormous Fighting Alloy Team. Objectives include defeating a certain number of Alloys, fighting them off for a set period of time, or fighting endlessly for a high score.

New additions to the mode include its inclusion in two-player mode, whereas in Melee the mode was strictly single player. The Fighting Wire Frames have been replaced by the Alloys. While there were only two types of Wire Frames, there are four types of Alloys. Masahiro Sakurai has not yet specified the differences between the fighting styles of the four enemies.

Training
The Training mode returns from Super Smash Bros. Melee. It allows the player to learn to play the game properly, or to experiment with certain functions and items. The player fights one to three characters, which are controlled by the CPU, which performs actions set by the player, or does not move at all. The player can create any item to test it, as well as the Smash Ball to practice Final Smashes. The hit damage of the CPU can be predefined, and the game can be put in slow motion.

Brawl
The Brawl mode which was playable at the October Nintendo event featured a simple two minute time match, but there are going to be other modes in the full game as well, such as the Coin Battle. In the demo, the players can select their characters, who also have alternate costumes, and choose the stage to play on. As the battle begins, each character appears with their specific entrance. For example, Samus comes out of a teleporter and Mario out of a Warp Pipe. These entrances were present in the original Super Smash Bros., but not in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

As in the last two games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl also has Handicaps to help beginners in battles. However, this time, handicaps do not make a player weaker the more times he/she is knocked out, but instead, change a players starting damage percentage. For example, one player can start at 0% of damage, but the other starts at 50%, even after he/she has been knocked out. This allows players to test their skills, or just to give them a challenge, as well as helping beginners learn the basics.

For characters with distinct forms, the character selection screen allows the player to choose with which to start. This means characters like Samus can be used to select Zero Suit Samus, and Zelda can be used to select Sheik. Depending on the choice, that will be the character the player starts as in the beginning of the match.

Special Brawl
A new feature is the Special Brawl. Using this, players are able to customize the battle themselves. This means they can attach items, set stats, and add appearance differences to all the players, right from the start of the battle, without having to collect the items themselves. The Special Brawl, thus, allows players to try a variety of settings such as Invisible Bunny Brawl, instead of the settings given on a certain type of battle (as seen in previous with the Special Melee modes in Super Smash Bros. Melee).

Rotation
The Rotation mode is an enhanced version of the Winner Out/Loser Out Tournament modes of Super Smash Bros. Melee. It allows more than four players to play at the same system, by passing the controllers on after each battle. Up to sixteen players can be put into the queue, with each given the possibility to use their name and their personal controller configuration. However, this is not required. There is still the option between Winner Out and Loser Out, where the winner or the loser of the match pass the controller on to the next player after the match, respectively. Additionally, players have the option to pause, i. e. moving themselves at the end of the queue. The mode is available when two or more controllers are connected to the Wii. It remains unconfirmed whether players will be able to change their characters while the mode is ongoing, as it was the case in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Tourney
The Tourney Mode from Super Smash Bros. Melee (then "Tournament Mode") will be returning, acting the exact same way as it did in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Players are able to brawl in a tourney, that can have up to 32 players, and will have to fight their way to the championship, eventually earning a cup if they win. It is possible to play with friends, or battle CPU characters. Apart from decreasing the total number of players from 64 to 32, nothing appears to have been changed from the Super Smash Bros. Melee version.

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was confirmed to be in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. However, similar to what happened with Mario Strikers Charged, the game tends to slow down and fail a lot more the further the players are. So, playing a game from Japan to America will slow the game down, and cause some problems in the battle. Regardless, the game is still capable of connecting overseas. The two modes are With Friends and With Anyone.

When playing with friends, players use friend codes in order to brawl with each other. They choose an emblem to represent themselves. Emblems can be the games' series emblems, the characters' icons or Miis. In this mode, players are able to send messages to each other in-game, using the Taunt command. Players can send four different kinds of messages, one for each direction: up, down, left, and right. Results are recorded only in this mode. The Homerun Contest is also playable in this mode. When brawling in the With Anyone setting, players are unable to send messages to each other in-game, and neither can they see the name or details of their opponent. Also, the results of the battle are not recorded in the With Anyone mode. There are several modes in the With Anyone setting. In the Basic Brawl, players play against each other without teams. When a player disconnects from the Wi-Fi connection while battling, a CPU takes over his or her character. Unlockable characters are also available in this setting for a player who has unlocked them. Because of this, Nintendo recommends players not to use the Basic Brawl setting if one is not wanting to get the unlockable characters spoiled. A different mode in the With Anyone setting is the Team Brawl, which has yet to be revealed. While the game is loading, or while the players are waiting for other opponents, they can practice the game by attacking the Sandbag from Super Smash Bros. Melee. It has also been revealed that players can choose to be spectators of the battle, and even bet coins on who will win.

Stage Builder
Players create custom stages using this mode. When making the stage, players first pick the size of the stage, and then creating a background pattern, as well as the music that will play on the stage (with only the music tracks found on CD being playable). Once done, the player can start adding pieces to the stage, whether it be simple platforms to ladders to spikes. However, each of the four control types have different ways to move the pieces, however, they are all able to flip, resize, zoom, swap palettes and erase pieces of the stage. After building a fraction of the stage, it can be tested out before being saved. This can be done several times, if it is necessary. After the stage is finished, the name and comment can be chosen, as well as an option to change the music of the stage. It can be sent to other players via Wi-Fi Connection, but can also be sent directly to Nintendo using the "Submit" option on the Stage Builder screen. Every day, Nintendo will send a selected stage to every player with Wi-Fi and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, so they can try out the stages that other people have made. The stage gets removed after a day has past, and a new one is brought in the next day. This allows players to make and try out new stages for themselves every day.

Coin Launcher
The Coin Launcher is a mini-game available in the Vault, replacing the Lottery mode from Super Smash Bros. Melee. In this game, the player can use the coins which they have won in the Classic Mode, the Group mode or by betting on the winner in the Wi-Fi connection's Spectator Mode, to get trophies and stickers. The player controls the Coin Launcher, a cannon that shoots with the coins the player has collected. By hitting the targets on the screen with coins, they can win various collectibles. Enemies also appear and if one of their rockets hits the Coin Launcher, the player will lose coins. There is also a green gauge on the screen which allows the player to rapid-fire coins for a short time when it is filled.

Various Features
Another inclusion is a feature called My Music. Instead of restricting each stage to one music track, with some having an alternate music track, people can now choose which music track they want to play on the stage. For example, on the Delfino Plaza stage, players can choose between the Delfino Plaza theme from Super Mario Sunshine, the Castle Music/Fortress Boss from Super Mario Bros. 3, the Ending/Title Screen of Super Mario World, the main theme to New Super Mario Bros., and many more. Players can set how commonly the track may appear on the stage. To add more music to the collection, the player must collect a CD, which randomly appears across the entire game, in any of the numerous modes of play.

Trophies have been confirmed to be returning in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. They act the same way, being collected the same way, but there are now new trophies, and they are more easily stored, as an image of the trophy will be seen when selecting a trophy. They can also be displayed the same way they were in Melee. Another new feature, is that many trophies can be placed together on the same spot, making it seem like a "play". There are also more backgrounds, that can add to this new feature.

Throughout the game, players will be rewarded with stickers. Like trophies, these items reflect characters, objects, and places that have appeared throughout Nintendo's history. Unlike trophies, however, the items will be much easier to find and are simply pieces of 2D game artwork rather than actual new 3D models. Stickers will be stored in an album and can be used to decorate a screen in an extra mode.

All three kinds of collectibles in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, trophies, stickers and CDs can be alternately won in the Challenges mode. The Challenge mode has many closed doors which contain the prizes. When the player unlocks an item by winning a challenge, for example playing the Target Smash level 1 with 10 different characters for the Stafy trophy, the collectibles left and right to Stafy's trophy, which are currently not won and invisible, appear in a red silhouette, and their method of unlocking is displayed. The player can also win Golden Hammers, which he can use to automatically get any door of his or her choice open, getting the item inside. However, not all doors can be destroyed with a hammer.

Throughout the game, the player is able to take screenshots while pausing the game. In contrast to Super Smash Bros. Melee, there is thus no special camera mode needed. The screenshots are either saved on the Wii's internal memory or an SD card.

In the special Masterpieces mode, the player can play restricted demo versions of classical Nintendo games via the Virtual Console. The player does not have to connect to the Wi-Fi connection for that. The available demos are: Some titles have a restricted time they can be played in, others, like Super Metroid, come with save data.
 * Super Mario Bros.
 * Ice Climber
 * The Legend of Zelda (NES)
 * Kid Icarus
 * Kirby's Adventure
 * Fire Emblem
 * Super Metroid
 * Earthbound
 * Star Fox 64

Playable Characters
With thirty-five playable characters, Super Smash Bros. Brawl has ten more characters than the previous installment. Twenty characters are available from the start, while the other fifteen need to be unlocked.

Legend:

Secret Characters
In addition to the characters listed above, the following characters can be unlocked when certain requirements are met.

Confirmed Assist Trophy characters

 * Advance Wars - Nintendo Wars series
 * Andross - Star Fox series
 * Barbara Bat - Daigasso! Band Brothers
 * Devil/Demon - Devil World
 * Dr. Wright - Sim City for SNES
 * Excitebike - Excitebike series
 * Gray Fox - Metal Gear Solid series
 * Hammer Bro. - Mario series
 * Helirin - Kururin series
 * Isaac - Golden Sun series
 * Jeff - Mother series
 * Drill Dozer and Jill - Drill Dozer
 * Kat and Ana - WarioWare series
 * Knuckle Joe - Kirby series
 * Lakitu - Mario series
 * Little Mac - Punch Out series
 * Lyn - Fire Emblem series
 * Mach Rider - Mach Rider series
 * Metroid - Metroid series
 * Mr. Resetti - Animal Crossing series
 * Nintendogs - Nintendog series
 * Ray Mk. II - Custom Robo series
 * Saki Amamiya - Sin and Punishment
 * Samurai Goroh - F-Zero series
 * Shadow the Hedgehog - Sonic the Hedgehog series
 * Stafy - Densetsu no Stafy series
 * Tingle - Legend of Zelda series []
 * Waluigi - Mario series

Confirmed Poké Ball Pokémon

 * Bellossom
 * Bonsly
 * Celebi
 * Chikorita
 * Deoxys
 * Electrode
 * Garchomp
 * Gardevoir
 * Goldeen
 * Groudon
 * Ho-Oh
 * Kyogre
 * Lugia
 * Manaphy
 * Meowth
 * Metagross
 * Mew
 * Munchlax
 * Onix
 * Piplup
 * Regigigas
 * Snorlax
 * Staryu
 * Suicune
 * Togepi
 * Torchic
 * Wobbuffet
 * Latios and Latias
 * Darkrai
 * Shaymin
 * Weavile

Music Staff
The following is a sortable chart of the composers, arrangers, lyricists, and vocalists who contributed to the musical score of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

*The company information refers to the company the person was an employee of during the development of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * The video game titles shown are those which Masahiro Sakurai published on the game's official website or mentioned during interviews.

Trivia

 * Brawl was already reviewed by the Japanese Famitsu magazine long before the actual release. In the review, Super Smash Bros. Brawl received a score of 40/40. The magazine praised the game's lengthy single player mode as well as the "surprising" Final Smash moves..
 * For revealing some characters and bosses, Brawl Central, a Brawl website, was taken off the web, but put back on once the game came out in Japan.