Brawl to End Them All!
Of the characters, most of the favorites are back, including Mario, Luigi, Link, Samus, Peach, Yoshi, Pikachu, Ice Climbers, Mr. Game & Watch, Ness, Marth, Kirby, Jigglypuff, Ganondorf, Zelda/Sheik, Fox, Falco, Captain Falcon, and Donkey Kong. Joining the group are Pit, Zero Suit Samus, Wario, Lucario, Snake, Sonic, ROB, Toon Link, Wolf, Ike, Lucas, Pokemon Trainer (with Squirtle, Ivysaur and Charizard), MetaKnight, King Dedede, Diddy Kong, and Olimar & Pikmin. There were a few fatalities in the series, including Mewtwo, Pichu, Dr. Mario, Roy and Young Link. While some of the new characters provide moderations to the current list (like Wolf compared to Fox and Falco), most of them enter with their own set of interesting moves and taunts. Others, like Captain Falcon and Ganondorf, have been partially revamped to diversify the characteristics of similar styles of fighting.
The fighting scheme is very much the same as before, but the big twist is in the Smash Ball addition. When a character breaks the floating Smash Ball, they can unleash a move powerful enough for an instant KO (Final Smash). For example, Mario releases fireballs that increase in size and push all the way across the screen. Fox jumps up into the sky and lands with his Landmaster Tank and the ability to control it for about 17 seconds. Ness calls forth a flurry of shooting stars to rain from the sky. Bowser transforms into Gigabowser and takes on numerous special effects. Luigi sends players into the negative zone which has numerous special effects. Olimar takes off in his spaceship, escapes the creatures from his series and then crashes back on the stage. Sonic goes super with the Chaos Emerald and flies across the screen rapidly. Yoshi sports wings and starts to shoot fire from his mouth. Ganondorf reverts to Ganon and charges payers off-screen. Link traps an opponent in a Triforce barrier as he racks up high levels of damage. Jigglypuff grows to an enormous size and puff out before deflating back to original size. Each move is accompanied by different levels of power and effect, so they must be tried a couple times to figure out their tricks.
The stage selection is excellent. Only a few stages were passed through from Melee, but Battlefield and Final Destination have been given a facelift and look more stunning than before. Included in the new list of levels are the side-scroller World 1-1 & 1-2 from Super Mario Bros., a new Pokemon Stadium with different terrain, Mario Circuit race course, Lylat Cruise from Star Fox, 75m as from the original Donkey Kong, a new version of Game & Watch, and a new Yoshi's Story stage that changes between the 4 seasons. The WarioWare stages forces you to complete additional on-screen demands to receive special bonuses like starpower, size change, or life recovery. Pictochat has drawings that appear on-screen that take on the effects of their shape (like fire burning you or walls blocking you in. In the animal crossing stage, you can even view a concert if you are playing on it between 8pm-12am on Saturday evenings. The even bigger addition to the stage design is the stage builder option. You can unlock several building pieces and design your own stages, with items such as moving platforms, springs, spikes, and scenery.
There are all the expected modes, including group fighting, classic mode, all-star mode, homerun contest, multi-man melee, event matches, and target challenge. New to the game is the Subspace mode, which is a story-based 1/2 player platformer game within the game. You gradually unlock characters, trophies and stickers as you unravel the mystery that is taking over the Nintendo Universe. Included within this mode are also Bosses. While Master and Crazy Hand can still be found in the Classic mode, Subspace includes Ridley/Meta-Ridley, Petey Pirahna, Porky (from Earthbound), and a couple of other creatures. After completing the Subspace, you can unlock the Boss Battles mode in the Stadium feature.
Unlockables are huge in this game. There is a challenges section in the menu where you can get a sense of what you need to accompish to unlock music, trophies, stages, stage builder parts, stickers, and more. The game to snag trophies is also different. Now you take the coins you collect in the other modes and play a coin shooter game where you take out chains of objects to gather stickers and shoot passing trophies to pull them from the board. One of the greatest unlockables in the game is actually the classic arcade section of the menu. As you play through different parts of the game or unlock certain characters, you pick up classic games like F-Zero, Super Metroid, Donkey Kong, Ocarina of Time, and Super Mario Bros. These are only demos, but it is still a great way to revisit the games and decide if you want to get the whole edition through the Wii Shop Channel.
If that wasn't enough, there is now an online play option. You can brawl in a free-for-all or 2 on 2 style play. This area is still a bit shaky and the lag can really inhibit even the best players from truly showing off their abilities. If you want to just enjoy the battling of others, you can be a spectator and gamble on the matches before they happen, with the ability to win coins and sitckers.
If have definitely talked up all of the positives of the game, but there are still a few shortcomings. I already mentioned the internet connectivity, but thta may also be an issue with servers that could improve in the future. I am a huge fan of the character list, but there are still some great character additions I would love to see Nintendo make in the future. In some ways, the Subspace mode is a perfect challenge, but even on Normal the computer can pick off your lives in a very quick period of time in certain levels. There are also a couple of characters where the moves still mirror each other too much. With the Star Fox crew, their basic and special moves are all the same concept, just slight variation on display and effect. What bothers me though is the Smash Ball attack since all three use the Landmaster. It would make more sense to have Fox use the Landmaster, Falco use the Arwing, and Wolf call forth an attack from his Star Wolf crew. Same thing for Link/Toon Link and Zelda/Sheik. Provide more variation in the future.
There are few games out there that have so many modes, characters, and unlockables as this game does. It of course is primarily a fighting game, but it really can be entertaining to even a newcomer to the franchise. I cannot even imagine what the new edition with look like, either on the Wii or the next generation beyond it and how much new content it will have. My vote is to bring back some characters that have been taken out and maybe include more from certain series. I think there is potential for a Dr. Mario character that has a final smash with the release of viruses or pull in King K. Rool who can fire a cannon with random paths for the cannonballs. Just some thoughts.