| Super Smash Bros. Brawl | |
|---|---|
| Super Smash Bros. Brawl logo. | |
| Developer(s) | "The Studio"[5] |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Masahiro Sakurai (director) |
| Platform(s) | Wii |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Versus Fighting game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer, Nintendo Wi-Fi |
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a yet-to-be-released fighting game for Nintendo's newest console, the Wii. In Japan, the game is known as Template:Nihongo title.[8] It is the third iteration of the Super Smash Bros. series. Brawl is the first Super Smash Bros. game that features at least one character from a franchise not owned by Nintendo with the inclusion of Solid Snake from Konami's Metal Gear series. Its first official trailer was unveiled at E3 2006, while its second official trailer was unveiled at the 2006 Nintendo World Tour.
Gameplay
From the following of the style of its critically acclaimed predecessors, the game uses a battle system different from the average fighting game. Choosing from a variety of characters, two to four players fight on various different stages, all while trying to knock their opponents out of the stage. Instead of using health bars like other fighting games, it features percentage meters. They start at zero percent, and as the characters take damage, the percentage meter goes up, causing the characters to fly farther back each time when hit. When a character is knocked off the stage, they lose either a life or a point depending on the mode of play.[9] The game can be played using four different control schemes: the Wii Remote on its side, the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combo, the Classic controller, or the standard GameCube controller.[7] Players will be able to create profiles with personalised button configurations for each control method and their chosen name.[10]
The stages are three dimensional (although players cannot move with depth, save for a few types of dodges) arenas that are mostly based on of the represented series of the game. They range from floating platforms to moving stages where the characters have to keep up. Each stage has a boundary that cannot be passed, or the character will be "KO'd", thus losing a life. As in Super Smash Bros. Melee, the game introduces new stages. At least one stage returns from a previous installment, though it has been heavily cosmetically modified from its appearance in Melee. Many stages will undergo elaborate changes while battles are happening, such as a cycling day-to-night system in the Battlefield stage[11] ,a season system in the Yoshi's Island stage, [12] and destructible platforms in the Skyworld stage.
The characters can attack each other with a variety of different fighting moves. Each character can perform an array of attacks when prompted with the press of a button in conjunction with a tilt of a control stick or a press of a D-pad direction depending on the mode of control. In addition to basic attacks, such as punches and kicks, characters have access to more powerful smash attacks as well as four special character-specific moves each. The game introduces the ability to perform character-specific special attacks, referred to as "Final Smash" moves. These abilities are used through an item bearing the Smash Bros. symbol, which are called Smash Balls.[13][14] They are much more powerful than regular attacks, and they have a wide variety of effects.
The characters can make use of a variety of weapons, ranging from projectiles to melee weapons. Each item has a different effect on the characters around it. Some heal a single character, while others hurt any character in its vicinity. Single items and crates and barrels, which often contain an assortment of items, fall onto the stage randomly throughout the battle. Two varieties of items, Assist Trophies and Poké Balls, summon guest characters and Pokémon, respectively, that generally assist the summoner. They cannot be controlled and are, for the most part, invincible.
Characters
Much like the previous titles in the series, the characters appear to be Trophies representing various Nintendo characters brought to life for the sole purpose of combat. The initial introduction of characters included various returning characters from Super Smash Bros. Melee and some newcomers. Some returning characters have been updated and redefined since their last appearance, such as Mario and Pikachu. Others, like Link and Fox McCloud, have taken on new designs from more recent titles. Samus Aran has changed the most of all. After using Samus's Final Smash, she will lose her Power Suit, taking up the appearance of "Zero Suit Samus". Donning only her Zero Suit, she wields a gun that can transform into a laser whip. Many newcomers make their appearance in the game as well. Characters of already represented series such as Meta Knight from the Kirby series make their first appearance. Other newcomers are the first to represent their series. These include characters like Pit, representing the Kid Icarus series for the first time since the 1991 Game Boy game Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters; Wario, from Nintendo's highly successful WarioWare and Wario Land series and an occassional antagonist of Mario's; and Solid Snake, the main protagonist of Konami's Metal Gear franchise. Snake is also the first third-party character to appear in a Super Smash Bros. game. Also, on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! website, Masahiro Sakurai recently revealed the inclusion of the following two characters in Brawl: Dr. Wright, from the SNES version of SimCity, and Knuckle Joe, from the Kirby series of games. It is not yet known if these will be playable characters due to the fact that they have, curiously, not been added to the official character roster on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! website.
Development
Masahiro Sakurai, former HAL Laboratory employee and creator of Kirby and the Super Smash Bros. series, returns as the director for the game. Sakurai revealed that at E3, he was called to executive producer Satoru Iwata's room on the top floor of a Los Angeles hotel, and told by Iwata, "We'd like you to be involved in the production of the new Smash Bros., if possible near the level of director".[15] Although originally suggested to be a launch title, an IGN article states that "as of May 2005, the game's development staff consisted of exactly one person," Sakurai himself, actual development of the game never started until late 2005. Sakurai states that many people who have spent excessive amounts of time playing Super Smash Bros. Melee are being brought in as the development team and the team will have access to all the original material and tools from the development of Melee, courtesy of HAL Laboratory.[16]
The game was absent from Nintendo's Wii showing at its 2006 Pre-E3 press conference. The next day, on Wednesday, May 10, 2006, at the After-Hours Press Conference, Nintendo officially revealed the game under the name of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In an interview with IGN, Sakurai said the Wii's motion sensing features might not be included because, "we found that trying to implement too much motion-sensory functionality can get in the way of the game."[13] As far as Wi-Fi play is concerned, both Iwata and Sakurai have expressed an interest in the incorporation of some functionality.[17][13] However, as stated in the Toukouken on the Japanese version of the Smash Bros. website, "there would be many hurdles to cross," and an online ranking system is unlikely to be implemented.[18]
Sakurai has updated the site to say that it will be a little longer before the game will be playable. During a test play between Sakurai and Hideo Kojima, Kojima stated that the game feels complete and that Nintendo "could put it out right now and it could sell millions of copies."[19] Starting May 22, 2007, the site has had updates every weekday. At the Nintendo Media Conference at E3 2007, it was announced that Super Smash Bros. Brawl would be released on December 3, 2007 in the Americas.[20]
Inclusion of characters
The inclusion of Konami-created character Solid Snake may seem to conflict with the Super Smash Bros. paradigm — to only include characters from games made by Nintendo and its second parties — but Sakurai said that Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima "practically begged" for Snake to be included in the next Super Smash Bros. game (which, at the time of said "begging," was during the production of Super Smash Bros. Melee, but production of the game was already too far in research and development to make the addition viable).
Japanese fans were asked to submit their desired characters and musical themes via a forum on the game's official Japanese site, with some possibly appearing in the game. Likewise, fans from other countries were asked to submit ideas on Nintendo's official forums.[21]
Suggestions were no longer being taken as of June 9, 2006. In August 2006, Sakurai and Miyamoto stated that Nintendo is negotiating rights to other third party characters.[22] Around the same time, they also stated that Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog was the most requested third-party character. [23] Video game magazine IGN interviewed Nintendo Europe marketing director Laurent Fischer and asked if Sonic will be appearing in Brawl. Fischer's response was, "That's not on the cards at the moment." [24]
Sakurai has stated that he may not want to put much emphasis on Japan-only characters, but it has been noted that this may change due to the success that the Fire Emblem characters enjoyed internationally thanks to their inclusion in Melee. He also said that third-party characters will amount to one or two, excluding Snake.
References
- ^ Casamassina, Matt (2007-07-11). "Nintendo E3 2007 Press Conference". IGN. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Nintendo Announced 2007 Wii Lineup". IGN. 2007-04-30. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
Nintendo officially states that the following games will be coming out for Wii in Japan in 2007 ... Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 2007.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Upcoming Nintendo titles for Wii and Nintendo DS across Europe". Nintendo-Europe. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
- ^ "Super Smash Bros. Brawl at Nintendo Australia". Nintendo. 2006-05-12. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Sakurai, Masahiro (2006), "Masahiro Sakurai's Thoughts About Games", Famitsu, vol. 130–132
- ^ "Super Smash Bros. Brawl". IGN. 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-08.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|month=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ a b
"Four Kinds of Control". Smash Bros. DOJO!!. Smashbros.com. 2007-06-08. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Gantayat, Anoop (2006-05-18). "Sakurai Talks Smash Brothers Brawl". IGN. Retrieved 2007-06-19.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ //www.smashbros.com/en_us/howto/basic/basic01.html
- ^ http://www.smashbros.com/en_uk/gamemode/various/various02.html
- ^ "Battlefield". Smash Bros. DOJO!!. Smashbros.com. 2007-05-22. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
But then evening comes... And then comes night. You can brawl til dawn!
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Yoshi's Island". Smash Bros. DOJO!!. Smashbros.com. 2007-06-12. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
The highlight of this stage is its seasonal changes, as it goes from spring to summer to fall and then winter.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c Casamassina, Matt (2006-05-10). "E3 2006: Super Smash Bros. Brawl". IGN. Retrieved 2006-08-01.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "What is a Final Smash?". Smash Bros. DOJO!!. Smashbros.com. 2007-05-29. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ IGN Staff (2005-11-16). "Smash Bros. Revolution Director Revealed". IGN. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Gantayat, Anoop (2005-12-05). "Sakurai Elaborates on Smash Bros. Revolution". IGN. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Casamassina, Matt (2005-05-17). "E3 2005: Smash Bros. For Revolution". IGN. Retrieved 2006-05-03.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Miller, Ross (2006-06-05). "Sakurai reveals new Smash Bros. Brawl details". Joystiq. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Dormer, Dan (2007-04-27). "Kojima's Played Super Smash Bros. Brawl". 1up.com. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Cite error: The named reference
E3 conference 2007was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ IGN Staff (2006-05-11). "E3 2006: Fans Asked to Fill Smash Bros. Roster". IGN. Retrieved 2006-05-11.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Ba-oh, Jorge (2006-08-20). "Sonic Does Smash Bros. Brawl?". C3 News. cubed³. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Sonic to Appear in Super Smash Bros Brawl?". GameSpot. 2006-08-20. Retrieved 2007-06-21.
Supposedly, in recent interview with Tip and Tricks Magazine, the legendary game designer said that Sonic was the most requested character by fans of the game.
- ^ Burman, Rob (2007-03-29). "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Interview". IGN UK. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)