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Zero Punctuation has zero tolerance for Brawl
Oh dear. This isn't going to be pretty. We're going to hazard a guess that Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw's opinion of Super Smash Bros. Brawl doesn't exactly coincide with the view taken by most of our readers -- frankly, it sounds like he hated every minute of Nintendo's scrapper.But before you start punching out that hate-filled, trembling-with-rage email to the man, stop right there and hear him out, because you may just find yourself agreeing with some of his points -- even we had to concede that a number of his grievances have bugged us in the past. With that in mind, take some deep breaths and head past the break for one of the most venomous Zero Punctuation reviews to date, and the usual dose of NSFW language.
Super Chart Bros. Brawl
This just in: Super Smash Bros. Brawl sold a lot. That's an observation that is neither new or particularly exciting, but put it in graph form and Brawl's phenomenal success is capable of wowing us all over again.At first glance, we presumed those blue bars represented the first month sales of all three Smash games in the U.S. But no: those are lifetime sales of Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee respectively, while the red bar is Brawl's first month sales. That's right: in its opening month alone, Brawl not only bypassed the lifetime sales of the first title in the franchise, but has already reached 70% of its predecessor's all-time sales. Our flabbers? Consider them gasted.[Update -- incorrect link removed]%Gallery-16727%
Brawl Stage of the Week: Super Mario World
Welcome to Nintendo Wii Fanboy's "Stage of the Week" feature, in which we showcase some of our favorite Smash Bros. Brawl stages. We'll have some themed weeks, some contest weeks, and some "whatever we damn well please" weeks to help you freshen up your Brawl experience.This week's featured Brawl stage offers a generous serving of nostalgia. Although we're sure it won't be the last classic game scene that we'll showcase here, we chose this as the first because of the creativity and execution that went into it. We're not sure where the very talented Anthony got the idea to recreate Yoshi's House from Super Mario World, but it looks absolutely smashing.Not only that, but the stage is also fun to play on. It seems simple enough, but the multiple platforms and tiers add some variety and depth. You don't have to take our word for it, though, since you can download it for yourselves here. (Instructions for playing on the stage are located after the break!)If you want to see one of your favorite fan-made stages (or one of your own creations!) featured here, be sure to email it as an attachment to smashsubs@nintendowiifanboy.com. From the hard, to the ridiculous, to the incredibly awesome, to the even more ridiculous, we want to see them all!Note: Sorry for the noticeable photoshopping -- unfortunately, the Brawl camera doesn't allow you to take big enough pictures. Image credit: Anthony's site.%Gallery-20570%
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 4/7-4/13
It looks like just the same old stuff for Wii sales in Japan last week. Wait a minute -- what's that, you say? Mario Kart Wii dominated Japan? Sure enough, sitting pretty at the top of the charts is Nintendo's famous kart racer, with almost half a million copies sold in its first week.Despite the Mario Kart bump, the Wii only took third place in hardware. Considering that Japanese gamers love them some handhelds, though, that's not too much of a surprise. One little observation that may floor you, on the other hand, is that Brawl was already overtaken by Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G in total sales.See it to believe it after the break.
Louisiana resident wins GameStop's Smash Bros. Brawl tournament
Remember when that little game nobody paid any attention to called Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out ... it was last month, remember? Well, GameStop helped promote the indie title by holding a tournament to support the game's fanbase and raise awareness. According to GameStop, the tournament had over 75,000 players and, following a couple semi-final rounds across the country, culminated last weekend in San Jose with Lee Martin of Houma, Lousiana, emerging victorious.Martin (pictured above, he's the skinny one) walked away with a 37" LCD-TV, the entire Nintendo Wii software library, a Wii console, selected accessories and $5,000 in cash. Martin brawled against 60 other opponents at the store, district and regional levels on his way to winning the championship. No word yet which fat man pictured Martin got to take home as a trophy for winning.%Gallery-20804%
March NPD: Wii, Smash Bros. on top, software sales surge
If this is how Nintendo does before the predicted Wii Fit-exacerbated shortages, we're a little scared for what the future will hold. As predicted, Nintendo dominated the March NPD sales report, selling over 720,000 Wiis and 698,000 DS units. The DS and Wii represented 58 percent of hardware sales for March, leapfrogging over one another to swap positions from the February numbers.Further down the list, the Xbox 360 regained an extremely slight sales lead over the PS3, mainly due to a slight dip in Sony's system sales. We predict the systems will likely continue trading slight leads like a couple of fading horses in the home stretch of a marathon-length race, until one inevitably dies just short of the finish line. And speaking of dead horses, the perpetual PS2 finally showed some signs of weakening this month, plummeting down nearly 63 percent from February's sales.- Wii: 721K 289K (40%) - DS: 698K 110.4K (15.8%) [Update: Fixed typo in growth number] - PSP: 297K 53.9K (18.1%) - Xbox 360: 262K 7.4K (2.8%) - PS3: 257K 23.8K (9.3%)- PS2: 216K 135.8K (62.9%)
Tiring of Smash Bros? Introducing Wii Fanboy's Stage of the Week
Akin to X3F's awesome weekly Halo 3 Community Content, the gang at sister site Nintendo Wii Fanboy has introduced a new weekly feature, aptly titled Brawl Stage of the Week, where they'll be showcasing the best user-made Super Smash Bros. Brawl levels and offering them for download.The inaugural edition highlights a rather self-flattering level: the Joystiq logo, as poorly interpreted by our very own James Ransom-Wiley. Suggestions for the feature? Think you can do a better Brawl stage? Of course you can! Submit your levels to smashsubs AAT nintendowiifanboy DAWT com ... we'll be waiting. Gallery: Brawl Stage of the Week
Brawl Stage of the Week: Joystiq edition
Welcome to Nintendo Wii Fanboy's "Stage of the Week" feature, in which we showcase some of our favorite Smash Bros. Brawl stages. We'll have some themed weeks, some contest weeks, and some "whatever we damn well please" weeks to help you freshen up your Brawl experience.Before you ask, the answer is no -- we're not going to propose to you. We're in love with ourselves too much to do anything like that, which is why the stage we're showcasing this week is all about narcissism. If you look closely at the stage pictured above, you can see that it spells out the name of our mother site, Joystiq. Now, that's not to say we picked this stage because we'd be totally fired if we didn't (just play along, folks). Yet, despite our evil Joystiq overlords, we just love the idea of our favorite gaming blog (besides this one and this one) invading our brawls.Awesome name-in-the-stage stuff aside, though, the level is pretty basic. There are a few falling boxes and moving platforms, but nothing that you Smash Bros. pros couldn't handle. Still, we have to give credit to James Ransom-Wiley for creating this amazing display of self love. To try out the stage for yourself, just download it here. Once you've done that, you can check out our instructions (posted after the break) if you need help playing it on your Wii.Of course, this is just week one, and there will be many more stage features to come. We'd very much like to see some of your contributions and suggestions, so send them in to smashsubs@nintendowiifanboy.com. From the hard, to the ridiculous, to the incredibly awesome, to the even more ridiculous, make sure to show us your favorites (and your own creations)!%Gallery-20570%
Wii Warm Up: Mario Kart vs. Smash Bros.
It's time to choose between two beloved Nintendo franchises. So, tell us -- when it really comes down to it, which series do you love more? Mario Kart, or Smash Bros.? And don't forget to tell us why.Keep in mind, we're asking about the series as a whole, not one particular game!
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 3/31-4/6
Last week was once again all about Sony. Although Nintendo still had a good showing in the top thirty, there were only five Wii games in the software chart. Wii Fit continues to be the system's best-seller, but Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Deca Sports also made appearances in the top ten.As for hardware, the Wii once again trails behind the handhelds, but leads the pack in home consoles.Hardware: PSP: 120,964 Nintendo DS: 55,190 Wii: 44,618 PlayStation 3: 11,303 PlayStation 2: 10,423 Xbox 360: 1,452 More numbers can be seen after the break!
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 3/24-3/30
For the first time in a long time, the Wii is down to having only five games in Japan's top thirty. As House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return fell of the charts in its second week and Everyone's General Knowledge Training TV disappeared after having a good run, only the regulars remain.Deca Sports is the exception, being the only Wii title on the charts without either "Wii" or "Smash Bros." in its name, but even that is showing early signs of fatigue. While the game managed to nab the eighth spot and sell 29,000 copies, its Nintendo counterpart, Wii Sports, is nipping at its heels in spot twelve. This may seem insignificant, but keep in mind that Wii Sports has been out for around seventeen months, wheras Deca Sports has only been out for two weeks.In the hardware department, the Wii got a beat down from the handhelds (especially the PSP), but still continues to do better than any other console in Japan. This week, for example, the Wii sold over four times the amount of PS3s, its closest console competitor.Of course, you can just take a look at all the numbers for yourself by clicking past the break.
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 3/17-3/23
Goodbye, Family Ski and Winning Eleven: Play Maker 2008 -- we hardly knew ye. While Family Ski enjoyed a seven-week run in the top thirty, Wining Eleven (aka Pro Evolution Soccer) only lasted for four. It's no coincidence that they fell off this week, though, as fifteen spots were taken up by new releases.The big Wii dog in town was not Brawl (which ended up 7th), and not even Wii Fit (which ended up 5th), but new release Deca Sports. We can't help but wonder if the appearance of Deca Sports will have an effect on that other sports game for the Wii. Is there room for both on the charts? (We think so.) And will Deca Sports have the same longevity as Wii Sports? (Probably not, but we're sure the game will do well for itself.) It's also worth noting that Deca Sports had the third highest third-party sales debut for the Wiil, following only Dragon Quest: Swords and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.
Ask Joystiq: hunting, singing, hating, saving
This week on Ask Joystiq, we tackle Smash Bros Brawl's quirky saving preferences, universal disdain for Metroid II, the Smash Bros Brawl theme song, and the hunt for a classic Apple II platformer.If you have any burning questions, unsolved gaming mysteries, or just a desire for musings from our knowledgeable cadre of writers, drop us a line at ask AAT joystiq DAWT com (and yes, we write it that way for a reason).Q: If you haven't noticed by now, you cannot save your [Super Smash Bros. Brawl] game save to an SD card. However, you can save Vault data (Replays, Snapshots, and Custom Maps) to an external SD card. What gives?-AndyWe asked Nintendo the same thing and got a predictable no comment, but we expect the answer has something to do with forcing players to unlock the game's myriad characters, stages, trophies and stickers on their own. This seems a little overbearing to us, though ... what does Nintendo care if we want to just unlock everything outright? This isn't like Xbox Live, where cheaters get an unfair advantage on the Gamerscore boards -- with SSBB, the only person a cheater is cheating is themselves.
Revolutionary: Playing. Creating? Sharing!
Every (other) Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities. Custom level creation in console games has come a long way. It used to be, if you wanted to share a track that you built in Excitebike, you had to invite friends over to play your creation on your cartridge, until you powered off your NES and the track was lost forever. Nowadays our levels can be saved to internal storage, and shared by removable media, or across the internet to survive for posterity. It's a feature that's fully supported by all consoles this generation, and big games are highlighting it amongst their bullet points. System sellers like Halo 3, LittleBigPlanet, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl are trojan-horsing the concept of custom level creation into the consciousness of the console-consuming collective. Former Sony exec Phil Harrison popularized the term "Game 3.0," but we'll be taking a look at how it is playing out on Nintendo's platform.
Reminder: Win a copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Just a friendly reminder, you have until this Wednesday, March 26 at 12:00pm ET to enter for a chance to win a copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Here is the link you're looking for, so go enter okay? Gallery: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Wii Warm Up: Smash 'achievements'
Whether or not you've gotten the chance to play Smash Bros. Brawl, you've probably heard about the game's achievements challenges and rewards. This system is somewhat similar to earning achievements in Xbox games, although not quite. We really like how Brawl handles challenges, but what do you think? Do the challenges add any depth to the game? And, how do they stack up when compared to achievements on Xbox titles?Also, if you do own the game, have you used any golden hammers yet to unlock any rewards? If so, on what challenges?
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 3/10-3/16
Japanophiles and sales chart nerds, it's that time of week again to take a look at last week's sales in the Land of the Rising Sun. Those of you who've been keeping up won't find much excitement in this week's chart, though. All the same software from the week before showed up, but it might not be long before Family Ski and Winning Eleven fall out of the top thirty.It was also nice to see Metroid Prime 3: Corruption stick around, as the Nintendo FPS nabbed the number eleven spot for this week. Other than that, the only noticeable difference is that Smash Bros. dropped to fourth. What's interesting is that Brawl is no longer the best selling Wii game, either, as Wii Fit reclaimed that honor. We also learned that you can't keep the big three (Wii Fit, Wii Sports, and Wii Play) out of the top ten for long.In hardware sales, the Wii fell a smidge behind the PSP, and did only slightly better than the DS. Hardware: PSP: 57,651 Wii: 55,845 Nintendo DS: 53,266 PlayStation 3: 14,934 PlayStation 2: 9,930 Xbox 360: 1,744 To see the software numbers and rankings for last week, make sure to click past the break.
Joyswag: Win a copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl
[Update: Contest is over! We'll be notifying the winner shortly so be sure to check your inbox!]If you're not one of the 1.4 million people to pick up Super Smash Bros. Brawl in the first week (or the countless others who bought it the week after that), here's your chance to win our copy of the game free of charge. This time around, Nintendo gave us Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog, but we can't help wonder who else could have fit in the Brawl universe. Mega Man? Sub-Zero? Q-Bert? An ASCII monster known only as "Zork?" (Hey, we can dream.) To enter this giveaway, tell us a character you wanted to be playable in Brawl You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec; désolé, mais il n'ya rien que nous puissions faire pour le moment). Limit 1 entry per person per day. If you enter this giveaway more than once each calendar day you'll be automatically disqualified and forced to play internet solitaire! This entry period ends in five days at 12:00pm ET Wednesday, March 26, 2008. We'll randomly select one winner at that time (please check your email!) For complete rules you don't need an Assist Trophy for, click here %Gallery-8530%
Brawl sneakers sprint into our hearts
The rabid excitement of the pre-Brawl days affected us all in different ways. Fueled by daily dojo updates, some simply crossed dates off on a calendar, while others we would bore their our friends senseless about one day playing as Snake. Joseph Colon did something far, far cooler: he grabbed a pair of plain old white Nike Air Force 1s, went to town on them with a marker pen, and made something beautiful.These customized sneakers feature all 36 Brawlers, as hand-drawn by Joseph himself, who clearly doesn't lack talent. The results are fantastic, and we'd totally wear these while "shooting hoops" at the local court if, you know: We ever actually went outside We were in any way whatsoever sporty [Via Go Nintendo]
Smash Bros. Brawl sells record-breaking 1.4 million first week in US
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Smash_Bros_Brawl_sells_1_4_million_in_first_week'; Nintendo's brawler Super Smash Bros. Brawl has smashed records with its US release. According to a press release from Nintendo of America, the game has sold over 1.4 million in the region, with 874,000 of those sales on its March 9 release date. That makes it the "fastest-selling video game in Nintendo of America's history."Always one to play the numbers game, Nintendo claims to have sold "at a rate of more than 120 units per minute between launch and March 16." Assuming they mean the entirety of March 16 (i.e. the first eight days), that amounts to 8 days * 24 hours/day * 60 minutes/day * 120 units/minute = 1,382,400 units. Too bad they didn't make 130 units per minute. Oh well, better luck next time. %Gallery-8530% Check out all of our extensive coverage of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, including galleries, news, impressions, a metareview, and more.
