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Smash Bros. Brawl's Wiimote controls
We've known for a while that Super Smash Bros. Brawl will allow players to choose four different control types when the game releases Feb. 10, but the standalone Wiimote control was the only one that really needed explaining. Today Nintendo posted exactly how the Wiimote controls will work. It seems simple enough ... with practice.Hopefully Nintendo will have all the control possibilities available to test when they show off Brawl at E for All this week. At this point, we're still expecting to rock it old school with a Wavebird Gamecube controller, but we'll have to see how the Wiimote/Nunchuk combo works. The standalone Wiimote control looks awkward, if only because the grab button is in the middle of the controller and activating the shield requires pushing out your index finger. We'll have a much better idea later this week.[Via Go Nintendo]
Joystiq hands-on: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
Hello, I'm Zack, and I had never played Smash Bros. until today. I don't know if that should be a confession or proclamation. Let it be both. Let the flaming begin.Super Smash Bros. Brawl felt frenetic. To me, it seemed like too much was happening on-screen to play with precision. But apparently people wring ever moment of control out of this fast-paced game. Just not the first time they play.In my games, Brawl always had a lot going on. A power-up poured out 2D sprites lifted directly from Advance Wars. Another caused a Nintendog to briefly paw playfully at the screen, for no reason other than to annoy us. I just laughed at the puppy as I was knocked off the platform to my loss.I like my fighting games with more of an immediate sense of cause-and-effect and without this power-up focus. But I could see the appeal of Brawl. It had so much happening that I was always entertained. And the sense of humor and strangeness -- Mario versus Sonic in a fighting game -- also hooked me.%Gallery-8530%
Smash Bros. Brawl delayed in US until February 10, 2008
At a media summit this morning in San Francisco, Nintendo of America's George Harrison (via MTV Multiplayer) has confirmed that the US version of Smash Bros. Brawl will follow in its Japanese brethren's footsteps and be delayed until February 10, 2008. The loss of this future bestseller during the holiday season will definitely sadden some fans (and Nintendo's profit margin), but then again Mario Galaxy is also coming in November (so far as we know) and it was always uncharacteristic of Nintendo to space AAA-title releases so close together.No word yet on a delay for PAL territories, though we suspect a similar fate.
Smash Bros site downgrades release date to 'TBD'
It appears Smash Bros Brawl, now with an added dose of Sonic the Hedgehog, may follow in Japan's footsteps and be delayed, possibly until next year (Nintendo confirmed last night Japan's Brawl delay to January 24, 2008). The official Brawl website now lists the release date as the dreaded TBD, which as we wall know stands for "Total Bummer / Downer."We've contacted Nintendo for a statement on the matter.
Sonic, online co-op confirmed for Smash Bros Brawl
Nintendo has announced at their fall press conference (via IGN) that Sonic the Hedgehog, having already put aside 16-bit differences to challenge Mario in the Olympics, has joined the lineup for Smash Bros. Brawl. A new trailer was shown at the event that shows him transforming into Super Sonic. Anyone want to take bets on what his down+B special move is going to be?Also announced was the inclusion of online cooperative play. While North American Smash Bros. fans might be finding it hard to wait until December 3 to pick up the game, Japanese gamers have it even harder - Nintendo also announced that Brawl isn't hitting Japan until January 24, 2008.
Dojo update: Zero Suit Samus special moves
It's another week and that means another 5 days full of updates over at the dojo. Today showcases the variety of maneuvers Samus can perform while in her Zero Suit, which you may or may not know occurs when she lays the smack down hard. Personally, we can't wait to give her a try in both forms, so that we may see which is better for us. Considering she was our favorite character in Melee, we're sure we'll like playing as her again.%Gallery-6869%%Gallery-3347%
Wii Warm Up: The eyes of a rookie
Okay, this is going to be a little weird. But as we were watching all of the awesome new Smash Bros. footage featuring our BFF Solid Snake (with some allusions to the survival techniques of his "dad", Big Boss), we realized that not only is Snake one of our favorite characters ever, his inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Brawl makes us enjoy both Smash Bros. and Snake a little bit more.It's not just that the incongruity of a gravelly-voiced mercenary in the kid-friendly fighting game is hilarious. It has more to do with the juxtaposition of what is more or less a human guy from a world that is kind of like the real world with, say, Mario, who is supposed to be human but clearly isn't. It's intriguing. It generates some really interesting cognitive dissonance. And then Snake fires a Nikita missile or snaps Mario's neck (M rating, here we come!) and we get a different kind of cognitive dissonance.Putting Snake in the middle of a confluence of Nintendo universes makes them all look intensely bizarre, and makes Snake, a man who fights one-on-one with helicopters, seem like an everyman. When he expresses surprise at Wario's farting skill, he speaks for us. Of course, his everyman-ness still runs through a filter of Snake's life experience; he's still making long phone calls in the middle of a fight. He still sees strange animals as survival rations. There's really no other situation in which we'd be able to identify with this guy.We don't really know how to form this discussion into a question, so we just thought we'd open it up to a discussion of Snake in Smash Bros. and how wonderfully weird the whole thing is. And then, for no reason, we're embedding the ridiculous "Eat Like Snake" Burger King commercial after the break, which has nothing at all to do with Smash Bros., Metal Gear, the Wii, or Snake, except that it has the word "Snake" in it.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl gets release date
December 3rd.The day that the world will stop as Nintendo releases the megaton of all megatons: Super Smash Bros. Brawl. No new information was revealed, but we're pretty sure that's all you need ... for now.Get ready.
Apt timing for Nintendo's pre-E3 downers
On Tuesday, we saw two announcements from Nintendo that we're sure caused a handful of fanboys to tear up: no online Metroid and no playable Smash Bros at E3. Why did the House of Mario decide to break hearts just one week before their E3 press briefing? It's just good business, as observed by Newsweek's N'Gai Croal. Nintendo PR revealed their "damage control playbook" last year, Croal said, when they announced the then-distressing final name for the Revolution, Wii, just 12 days before E3 2006. (Check the linked post and its 593 comments for a look back at the announcement.) Of course, the oft-teased title change did little to waver its hype and Nintendo is widely regarded as having a stellar E3 showing that year. Sony, as Croal noted, gave their bad news at the very end -- namely, the $600 price tag. And with it being their final note, they left a sour taste in all gamers' mouth. With Nintendo's bad news out of the way this year (hopefully), Iwata and company can end on a high note. We've illustrated this phenomenon on a chart above. (Note: all values are approximate)
Conjecture Countdown: 8 days to go
Even with a diminished E3, there's no controlling the wave of rumors that hit the Internet every year before the show. Why fight it? From now until E3 hits, we'll be posting one piece of wild speculation every day. Some may be patently ridiculous, and others just might turn out to be true. Even some of the ridiculous ones might turn out to be true! Rest assured, everything will be totally made-up and unfounded. Except, of course, when we speak about all the ass Reggie is going to kick. That part? Totally true.Rumor: Having peeked into the distant and dystopian future of December 2007 through the mystic arts of augury and tea leaf reading, we've discerned several Assist Trophy characters that are guaranteed to appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Take care, young readers, as you pull back the curtain that separates your eager eyes from what lies beyond the post break. Once you've known the truths that destiny has planned, you can never unknow them!
Dojo update: a comedy classic
Today's Super Smash Bros. Brawl Dojo update actually revealed something new! Like, actually new, and not something that was also in Melee. We wonder if it was a mistake-- maybe this update was meant for September and they accidentally posted it instead of more about Fox.Banana peels are the newest addition to the arsenal of items that serious players will ban. We look forward to the hilarity! Poor Kirby looks really annoyed, either because he slipped or because he didn't get to eat the banana and gain its Potassium Power.
Dojo update: Lylat Cruise stage revealed
While battling atop space ships in the Lylat system is nothing new to the Smash Bros. franchise, the revised stage looks a lot better. Now, the ship warps to different sectors, making its way through epic space battles and even the atmosphere of Corneria. Heck, maybe we won't be battling exclusively in Hyrule anymore, with such a promising looking stage as this.Check out all of the new Lylat Cruise stage images in the gallery below.%Gallery-3347%
Smash Bros blog shows seasonal stages, sliding barrels, Samus
Since revealing -- but not detailing -- four ways to control the game, the Smash Bros. Brawl blog has continued with its Monday through Friday updates to show off itty-bitty portions of the game at a time. A snippet from the Metroid: Boss Battle music, a newly-dressed Fox, and an updated Yoshi's island stage that changes season during battle.For the first time, shots of Samus Aran were shown. It's not really surprising to see a fan favorite from the last two iterations return, and the published images give no hints as to new or revised special moves.Perhaps the most entertaining update concerns crates and barrels. The rugged item boxes of old will now have thematic skins based on the stage (e.g. they look like presents when playing on Yoshi's island stage), and crates have gained the ability to slide when thrown. "Be careful and make sure you don't get knocked for a loop by a box madly rushing downhill," said the entry. That has to add a few points for the game on the tried-and-true Crate Review System.
Four different controller options for Super Smash Bros.
Today's Smash Bros. blog update provided two things we've all been waiting for since the countdown went up: New information of any kind The controller the game will use. Those of you who said they'd adapt the game to Wiimote/Nunchuk play were right. Those of you who said they'd keep the Gamecube controller compatibility: you were right. Those of you who said it would use the Classic Controller: you were also right. Those of you who said you could play the game with a Wiimote turned on its side: if you existed, you would have been right as well.We had cooled on the subject of Smash Bros., but now we're as excited as we were when we saw Snake pop out of that box. Not only is this going to extend the life of the game (by allowing players to master four different methods of control) but it is also going to allow for different styles of play, and therefore more variety in strategy and technique.
Wii Warm Up: SMAAAASH!
We've got a very simple question for you today: who's your favorite existing Super Smash Bros. character? Is it Ness, or one of the many inferior filler characters they put in so everyone wouldn't just pick Ness?
Smash Bros. Brawl update brings out fireworks [Update 1]
The Smash Bros. Brawl website has been keeping true to its promise of daily updates. Since the Final Smash post, the blog has shown a new map (Delfino Plaza), a new weapon (the unfortunately-named Cracker Launcher) and the ability to now move while shooting.One interesting note in the description of the Cracker Launcher, essentially a Roman candle, is how you can "aim the launcher at different angles by tilting the Control Stick up or down." The mention of the control stick sounds like a reaffirmation of series creator Masahiro Sakurai's statement at the game's unveiling to keep the game compatible with GameCube controllers -- then again, it could also be a reference to the joystick on the Nunchuk attachment.The constant stream of a news, coupled with earlier comments from Hideo Kojima, indicate that the game is coming along well. Here's hoping we'll get a release date (and some hands-on impressions) at Min-E3.
Wii Warm Up: Super Smash Cho Aniki?
A GoNintendo reader was looking very critically at the new Gooey Bomb item in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and discovered what is absolutely the origin of the item. And now that we've seen them together, it's so obvious that the Gooey Bomb is based on the Holy Protein from Cho Aniki Seinaru Protein Densetsu.You know, except it sticks to people and blows up instead of being orbited by two beefy dudes in Speedos, while shooting lasers. Too bad. If we were designing Smash Bros.-- okay, if I were designing Smash Bros. (I don't think I can speak for Wii Fanboy in this case) it would be heavy on Cho Aniki content.Now, something kind of looking like a thing from another game isn't strictly news, but Wii Warm Up is a discussion topic, and we can discuss whatever we feel like. And today we want to talk about the Cho Aniki series. So, if you've played any of the games, tell us why you loved them. If you haven't, go read about the series, then come back and express your shock.
Wii Warm Up: Safe for those with heart conditions
Everyone is expecting a massive flood of Nintendo megatons from the Nintendo Media Summit today (can you have a flood of megatons? Just go with it.) And, while we have a lot of great coverage of upcoming games to show you, there's nothing that could be called a "megaton." No exclusive new Mario Galaxy screens, no surprise game announcements, and no information about whatever the Wii download service is going to be.It wasn't as spanuuuund as we hoped it would be. We don't have an E3-level news day to give you. What we can offer you is a load of gameplay impressions of some highly anticipated new games. And delicious pie. And what's more, we can deliver on one of those offers!On the one hand, we're pleased with everything we have to look at, watch, and talk about. But on the other, no Metroid. No non-Striking Mario. No Smashing. How do you feel about a media event that ignores the biggest games in Nintendo's lineup?
Wii Warm Up: The slow reveal of Smash Bros.
After a ton of buildup, the Super Smash Bros. Brawl website began updating this week, which is exciting in principle. The actual content of the updates, however ... well, let's just say we had already guessed that Mario and Link will be in the game. Today we get a small amount of news about a new item-- a Gooey Bomb that sticks to opponents.The whole development cycle has been like this-- we've gotten very little information of any kind about this game except what we already know (for example, the rules of Smash Bros.) It's kind of a tease. Of course, this just serves to build up anticipation of the final product.Would you rather get a huge blowout of info all at once, or do you enjoy letting the excitement build as you're fed tiny little morsels of information one by one? If you don't feel like talking about that, we suppose we could talk about the Gooey Bomb. One warning, though-- we've heard enough about banning items from "serious play" for one lifetime.
Smash Bros. website finally updates
After a day of wearing out our F5 key, the Super Smash Bros. Brawl webpage has finally made its promised update. Unfortunately, we have yet to find any huge megaton announcements. In fact, some of the content is a little too non-megaton-- like an explanation of the (unchanged) basic rules of Smash Bros.There is neat stuff to be found, though, most obviously in the form of a few screenshots that, while they still don't show any new or new-to-Brawl characters, do show off a day/night cycle. Also, the list of composers contributing to the game is massive-- a total who's-who of Japanese game music. Some of the composers, we're sure, are only credited for having created the music from Smash characters' original games. But Jun Fukuda and Masafumi Takada from Grasshopper Manufacture are on the list, and that is really exciting.The website promises updates every weekday, so don't let the somewhat underwhelming first day put you off. Keep checking the site for the inevitable character announcements and control scheme explanations!%Gallery-3347%[Thanks, Tigeron Starfire!]
