Gripes and Glees: One week with Smash Bros. Brawl

by Scott Jon Siegel { Mar 12th 2008 at 10:00AM }

Oh Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Our blogging super-powers have given us an entire week with your dual-layered, nostalgia-filled awesomeness, where most gamers have only had the past few days. In spite of the nega-review, Brawl still seems to be pure gold in the eyes of most gamers and reviewers.

Of course, a game as massive as Brawl is bound that have hidden its imperfections somewhere. So let's go hunting, listing the game's many gleeful points, each followed by a gripe that may have been overlooked in our fanboyish devotion to the franchise. No facet of the game will go untouched here, so be warned that spoilers may abound. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let's play Gripes and Glees!

Glee: The opening cinematic to Brawl is gorgeous as always, and even updates as new characters become unlocked.
Gripe: The initial load-screen for the cinematic lasts around ten to fifteen seconds, a wait time normally unheard of in first-party Nintendo titles. The unskippable load time feels even longer due to the lack of music and an almost entirely black screen.

Glee: Many of the new-to-Brawl characters have incredibly unique play styles. Playing as Olimar reminds us of how much we loved the Pikmin games, and the strategy of switching between Pokemon while using Pokemon Trainer is a faithful recreation of that classic RPG element.
Gripe: Far too many characters just feel like near-clones of each other. Pit, Link, Metaknight, Marth, Ike, Fox, Falco, Wolf. We love them all, but so many are just so darn similar.

Glee: We're pleased as punch that Nintendo saw fit to include a smattering of classic Melee stages in Brawl.
Gripe: We're a tad disappointed, however, that our favorite original Smash Bros. stages couldn't make surprise appearances. Where's the love for Dream Land, or Hyrule Castle? At least that horrid Kongo Jungle is nowhere to be found.

Glee: The demos offered in Masterpieces mode are a surprising and welcome addition to Brawl's compendium of nostalgia.
Gripe: The 1 to 3-minute demos force you to exit Brawl in order to play them, making it cumbersome to try out the "Masterpieces" back-to-back. Having to re-boot Brawl from the Wii menu after playing each super-short demo hardly seems worth the effort.

Glee: We not only get trophies, but STICKERS too? We love stickers!
Gripe: Collecting stickers in Brawl just makes us wish we had those stickers in real life, to adorn our Wii-motes and Trapper Keepers. Pretty please, Nintendo?

Glee: The Subspace Emissary's numerous cutscenes are amazing, with just the right blend of bizarre character cross-overs, action scenes, and humor.
Gripe: The cutscene menu in the Movies section is a slow-scrolling list, making it surprisingly difficult to find that one particularly awesome cut-scene that comes late in the game (or Peach's hilarious "tea-time" scene).

Glee: The controversial "toon-shaded" version of Young Link makes his appearance as a playable character.
Gripe: He isn't toon-shaded! Toon Link in Brawl is the lanky, poorly-rendered awkward teenage version of that bright and colorful Wind Waker Link we've all grown to love (or hate).

Glee: The Subspace Emissary blends character storylines together in surprisingly clever ways. Nothing makes us giggle more than the team-up of Samus Aran and Pikachu, and certain character introductions made our hearts go all a-flutter.
Gripe: Without ruining too much, we'll just say that Sonic is so poorly woven into the fabric of Brawl's story mode, it honestly spoiled the entire wild ride a little. We recommend low expectations for the Hedgehog's entry into the fray.

Glee: Attaching stickers to character trophies adds a surprisingly refreshing RPG-esque twist to the Subspace Emissary mode.
Gripe: Attaching stickers to every last character that you control in SSE quickly becomes a tiresome and repetitive process.

Glee: Brawl offers fickle players four possible controller options, with customizable controls on each. Hooray for options!
Gripe: Boo for not enough options! While the D-pad on the Wii-mote turned sideways is used for movement, D-pads on the classic controller or Gamecube pad can not be assigned to anything other than taunting. The sideways Wii-mote customization options are also woefully limited; if hitting 1 and 2 simultaneously can activate a smash attack, why can't holding 1 and B (or 2 and B) do something as well?

Glee: Melee haters will be happy to know that Brawl brings the speed down to a level more akin to the N64 original. Playing it brings back fond memories of 1999.
Gripe: Though slower, characters feel "floatier" as well, and the precision control of Melee seems to be missing somewhat in its sequel. What's more, using the basic attack of many characters feels like you left the turbo button on by accident; they kick and punch automatically at such a high rate that we're honestly wondering if it might be a [gasp] glitch.

Gripe: Brawl's dual-layer DVD has proven too much for certain dirty or banged-up Wiis, which won't properly play the game without being sent in to Nintendo first for an optical laser cleaning.
Glee: Ours was miraculously fine, even after being checked through baggage for an eight-hour flight to France (and spending an extra day as lost luggage at Heathrow Airport). Carrying cases and tender loving care FTW.

How about it, fellow Brawlers? Any other gripes or glees that we missed? Let them be heard in the comments.

Tags: brawl, smash-bros, smash-bros-brawl, smashbros, ssbb

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Rockel @ Mar 12th 2008 10:09AM

Not a gameplay gripe - just that the Floow's are the worst enemies in the entire game.

zelderman @ Mar 12th 2008 10:46AM

Agreed. Those things suck.

I was playing Brawl before I remembered that some wouldn't play due to the dirty lens. Thanks god mine's constantly being played almost everyday, keeps the lens in top shape.

baby sea tuna @ Mar 12th 2008 10:50AM

Ugh! Hate those damn things. Especially when they come in threes!

Blazur @ Mar 12th 2008 10:55AM

Yeah man, Floow's are a pain in the neck. I prioritize them when they hover into view.

My other most despised enemy is the Greap (rolling guy with doubl sickles). You're pretty much guaranteed a loss of a life when you fight these guys, there's no avoiding those sickles.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Mar 12th 2008 11:17AM

Its actually quite easy to avoid those sickles. Just get right in its face, and right before it strikes, dodge roll behind it.

Tiptup300 @ Mar 12th 2008 4:46PM

1st player in Co-op is god. Its irritating. The camera is directly on YOU. If your partner ever goes out he gets hurt and gets sent back. The 1st player gets to make all the decisions. This is not good for co-op.

*cough*voice chat*cough*

yoink @ Mar 12th 2008 10:09AM

Glee: Online play is welcome and very fun addition when you don't have friends over to play.

Gripe:Its fun WHEN it works. finding a match "with anyone" is a grueling process, takes minutes to find a match if you dont get automatically disconnected, lacks any form of communication, and when it does work it suffers from lag.

Grey Acumen @ Mar 12th 2008 12:03PM

This is totally true, I've lost so many games just simply because all my moves are lagging 2 seconds behind. I play as Marth and he requires precision timing to take advantage of. The worst part is i can't even enjoy my victories, because they inevitably happen when I get those rare games with no lag, and it just makes it more frustrating knowing that I COULD have won those other battles if it wasn't for the lag.
On the other hand, it's only been about 3 days and the connection and lag issues have already greatly decreased, I just hope they don't stop halfway.

I totally agree with almost every point raised here, ESPECIALLY Sonic, my god, that was horrible.
I have to refute the clone issues though. Ike and Marth have similar styles, but the differences both in power and how moves are executed make them play entirely differently, same thing for Falco, Fox, and Wolf.
I mean, come on, folks, there are 35-39 different characters to play as(depending on if you also count sheik, zero suit samus, and charizard, squirtle and venusaur separately) How are you supposed to have characters NOT end up as clones? I personally think Brawl did an awesome job with that.

Ignatius @ Mar 12th 2008 10:09AM

Online play. Lag. Lag. Lag.

Oddly enough, I'm getting graphical and input lag rather than bad ping.

ShortFuse @ Mar 12th 2008 12:24PM

This is how it works. Nintendo does not host their own servers. They use GameSpy/IGN servers. The Wii connects to the Gamespy server(s). The server responds with you the IP of the person(s) you want to play. After that, the game creates a DIRECT connection to your opponent(s) by means of random Outgoing UDP connections. There is no proxying from the Gamespy servers. If there's lag, that is the latency between you and your opponent(s). It has nothing to do with Gamespy (or Nintendo) servers.

Ignatius @ Mar 12th 2008 12:27PM

Like I said, I'm not talking about network lag, I'm talking about graphical and input lag.

jadenguy @ Mar 12th 2008 1:39PM

that's called latency. it's usually the computer's solution to low response time.

some people call it lag.

Organic_Shadow @ Mar 12th 2008 10:10AM

Most fans* and reviewers.

Lovin' all the brawl-themed strips coming out lately. :)

D_Average @ Mar 12th 2008 10:10AM

Gripe: The massive delays and waiting time for this game's release date.

Glee: Actually playing the game. Superb, just another reason why the Wii is indeed the best console carved by mortal hands, ever.

Kye NFC: 7016 - 9552 - 1191 - 8991 @ Mar 12th 2008 11:31AM

Fernando, is that you?

WiNG @ Mar 12th 2008 10:15AM

Glee: Subspace Emissary is long.
Gripe: Subspace Emissary is long.

Glee: Finally, Pit makes a comeback.
Gripe: EVERYONE ON EARTH plays as Pit. Especially Fernando Rocker, who constantly spams his taunt calling me a noob.

Glee: Item control is so much better
Gripe: I still suck at using them!

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Mar 12th 2008 11:25AM

WiNG, I'll try and get on tonight to play with you. My wife will probably want to play also.

Fernando Rocker @ Mar 12th 2008 1:43PM

=)

By the way.... everyone from Joystiq. Put some message in the front SSBB Profile Message, like Team Joystiq or something like that to recognize every player from Joystiq.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ Mar 12th 2008 2:05PM

He spammed the spinning blades against me...

There is great comedy to my taunts though...

BPM is Ready to Brawl! 5026 4120 1186 @ Mar 12th 2008 4:30PM

Hey, WiNG. Off-topic, but I added your Brawl FC. Mine's in my name. :)

Fernando Rocker @ Mar 12th 2008 4:41PM

BPM

Did you added me already?

Mr Khan @ Mar 12th 2008 4:51PM

BPM, I don't think i've acquired your WiiConnect24 FC, so i'll just take yours. There are quite a few people I have acquired, but i'll contact y'all via Wii before tommorrow for Wii fanboy game night

me: 1461 5878 6153

TheOverlord#2 @ Mar 12th 2008 5:14PM

Did you delete me Fernando?
I tried to Brawl but it said you changed options.

StarFoxA @ Mar 12th 2008 10:15AM

Uh, when the demo runs out on a game it doesn't take you to the Wii Menu. It takes you right back to Brawl.

GumbyX84 @ Mar 12th 2008 4:21PM

Happy someone else caught that. I wonder why he got it totally wrong?

3cubed minus 3squared plus1 @ Mar 12th 2008 10:16AM

Brawling online last night, I noticed lag. That might be my crappy internet though.
I don't like how they have Fox, Falco, Wolf but I do like the pokemon trainer.

John Z @ Mar 12th 2008 10:19AM

Glee: Unlocking all of the characters, and thus all of the modes, is no longer the tedious, grueling process it was in Melee. A run through SSE will net you all but about three, and those are easily located by trying for 100% completion there.

Gripe: The last stage of SSE, The Great Maze, is long enough to be a single-player campaign BY ITSELF. It's not overly difficult, mind, aside from the final boss and maybe one or two sections where you're rushing multiple bosses in a row, but it should have been broken up into a couple of shorter stages. It's also thrown in to the SSE mode without warning or explanation-- would a tutorial screen have been too much to ask?

Warlord @ Mar 12th 2008 10:31AM

Yeah, Once I finally understood what was going on in there, I stopped getting that helplessly lost feeling, and loved it.

It seemed almost like a metroid game. But until then, I was confused.

Glee: Unlocking a character you forgot made it to the game (What the... Jigglypuff? oh yeah!)

Gripe: Not all characters made it to the SSE mode. Also, the fact that SSE mode unlocks all but 3 characters. I liked how in melee I felt progress when I unlocked more characters. Here, one SSE session and I feel I'm mostly done with the game

Zertoss @ Mar 12th 2008 10:43AM

Every character can be unlocked and played in the SSE, just not all of them the first time through.

Warlord @ Mar 12th 2008 10:49AM

Ah, is that why a few stages show as a flashing spot, and not with a flag? How do you do more?

Zertoss @ Mar 12th 2008 11:18AM

This page has the stages where you can unlock the rest of the cast (scroll to the bottom), so major spoiler warning:

http://super-smash-bros.wikia.com/wiki/Levels_in_the_Subspace_Emissary

Zertoss @ Mar 12th 2008 11:19AM

Oh yeah, the flashing spot is in the shape of a crown and means you've found everything in that stage, I think.

Hot$auce_Magik @ Mar 12th 2008 10:29AM

Glee: The inclusion of some obscure characters.

Gripe: Not enough obscure characters.

The fact that about 1/3 of the characters are semi clones or feel very similar to someone else sucks. Why have 3 star fox characters? How about like Rygar? Simon Belmont? Mike from Star Tropics? Billy or jimmy from double dragon? One of the Dragons from Bubble bobble? SOME BATTLETOADS?????

I mean I know its more difficult to use characters owned by other companies, but come on... There are some truly awesome characters that would fit perfectly into a smash brothers game, and I think, bring it to a whole 'nother level of win.

For the next one, I want to see less clones and more individuality.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Mar 12th 2008 10:45AM

even the clones aren't clones. Fox and Falco have similar moves, but they play completely different. For example, I'm awesome with falco, but suck at fox. Ike/Marth also play completely differently.

PSN: KillaKornbread (the shirt is a lie!) @ Mar 12th 2008 10:49AM

the first question my friend asked about it was why the Bubble Bobble dragons werent in it after i told him there were more characters. hes a big Bubble Bobble fan though. they do need less clone though honestly.

zelderman @ Mar 12th 2008 10:57AM

Don't you mean BIMMY and Jimmy from Double Dragon?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMg6_IXCjo4

Devwar @ Mar 12th 2008 10:29AM

I'd actually say that Ike and Wolf are different enough from Marth and Falco/Fox to not be considered clones. Also, long load times seem to be from people having really dusty disc drives. Get a can of air and clean it out and your problems will most likely be fixed, helped a friend of mine.

NoHitHair @ Mar 12th 2008 11:10AM

It's funny: the comment Joystiq made concerning characters being the same was one of only two comments I disagreed with - I was actually very surprised at how different all the charaters fought, something that was a horrible problem in Melee.

The other was the combat control of this title vs. Melee - I despised Melee's combat. It was ridiculously fast compared to the original (and now Brawl) and that problem actually would cause my friends and I to power up the 64 again rather than the Cube. For us it almost made the game unplayable. That and Kirby was crippled to the point of unusable.

However, the worst gripe I have is the first one Joystiq posted - the damn loading time. Since this is a Nintendo title, this problem was entirely unexpected and I was very disappointed.

Bleu @ Mar 12th 2008 10:30AM

This game is great the online is crapola....OMG the amount of times I have been dissconnected is crazy. The lag is really irratating and the buttons seem to be a bit non responsive. But Nintendo doenst care for online so I am not surprise or dissapointed by this I just wont play online as much.

Roto13 @ Mar 12th 2008 10:33AM

"He isn't toon-shaded!"

Yes! I hate his name, you know. Toon Link. The fact that he's not even REALLY Toon Link makes it worse. At least give me the cel shading.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Mar 12th 2008 10:39AM

I'm not sure if its possible to render everything in a normal style, and then render just one character with cell shading.

I mean, maybe its possible, but I dunno.

Roto13 @ Mar 12th 2008 10:41AM

Lot's of games do that. Hell, lots of things in Wind Waker weren't cel shaded. xP

Velops @ Mar 12th 2008 11:35AM

Sakurai talked about this at GDC. He wanted to avoid too much clashing between all of the different character designs by using a unified look. At the same time, he was trying to still retain the iconic look for each of the characters. If Toon Link wasn't a secret character, he would have used it as a prime example in his speech.

Roto13 @ Mar 12th 2008 12:29PM

As long as Mr. Game & Watch exists in the game, there's no hope of that ever happening.

joe @ Mar 12th 2008 3:08PM

To Crono,
Ittotally is possible to do the cel shadding. Think back to Melee. There was an entire level of cel-shading: Kanto Skies: Poke Floats.

Also other games have used cel-shading for other effects. The highlighting of enemies with the targeting computer in Star Wars: Rouge leader. The Thermal visor in Metroid Prime.