BRAWL

It’s fun. Fresh enough to keep my interest and it looks nice. It’s slower than Melee, but I think plays mostly the same for the older characters. At least move set wise. I only noticed a few differences when playing characters I usually played.

About the only thing I got really excited though about is Pikachu having pilot goggles. His hat sucks now…

Was able to transition straight into Brawl with no trouble at all. It’s much better than Melee.

Heh heh heh, silly wavedashers.

MasterP said:

Sucks having to use normal moves doesn’t it?

High fives all around! We debate Smash Bros with a firey passion. Imagine if we discussed politics. *shudders*

TrebuShae said:

Peach doesn’t need one.

I swear some of her moves defied the game’s physics laws.

This just in: R.O.B. is terrible.

A friend of mine says ROB works great. I’m going to give him the benefit of a doubt until I unlock the character and try it out myself. Meanwhile, Lucario has become my new best friend. He’s kinda like Mewtwo, but he can tapdance on people’s heads! Also, I think Lucas works much better than Ness.

Lucario = Mewtwo done right. Ike = Roy done right. Lucas = up smash WILL kill you at 50%. Marth = Marth done right.

And it’s not that I expected R.O.B. to pwn anything, it’s just that this game was made with every intention to balance every character. The most amazing thing I’ve seen so far is heavyweight characters are going to be a viable choice when it comes to tournament play.

Pit is pretty freaking awesome I’d have to say. Snake, although a complete *edited*ing joke, is pretty fun to play with. Once the fight heats up just drop a mine and then wait for an unsuspecting victim(s), heh heh heh KABOOM! Meta Knight is great fun too and well all the characters are pretty fun to play with and fight against except *edited*ing Lucas. That up smash haunts me in my dreams.

Anyone lose any sleep or skip classes because of Brawl yet?

Shingi said:

Anyone lose any sleep or skip classes because of Brawl yet?

Yes. And I take back what I said about R.O.B.!

Apparently he’s not so bad after all. We’ve got Zap playing him quite a bit now.

And on that front, we’ve unlocked all the characters!

Shingi said:

Same here. And even though Wolf is really cool having three fox clones is a tad unnecessary I’d have to say.

Know what they should have had instead of one of the fox clones? Freakin’ King K. Rool. His exclusion is literally the only thing about Brawl that really *edited*es me off. They have his theme in there, and it’s awesome, but no dice. I guess I’ll have to wait 6 more years for the next one…

Alright, here’s the scoop. This is my impression of every character after playing nearly nonstop with the crew.

Mario: An upgrade from Melee. His cape is even more effective now that moves are harder to combo and mindgames are more important. He has a nice little jab game and good movement that lets him rack up the damage pretty quickly.

Bowser: Since they made heavy characters viable, Bowser now stands a chance. While staying with a relatively same moveset, he now hits harder and stays alive longer. This being said, however, he will probably not be top tier; there are just so many better characters.

Donkey Kong: Right as Melee was coming to an end, DK saw an influx of skill as many people figured out how to play him competitively (most notably the player Bum). I havn’t used him much, but it seems that his new and improved metagame will be able to transfer over to Brawl, making DK viable as a main.

Fox: No more drillshining or waveshining or pretty much any shining combos. His shine got nerfed the heck down and is no longer a spike. His air game has improved with the usability of his fair, although most of the kill moves he had in Melee (upsmash, upair) no longer are instant kill moves. He is very much just a jump and kick character right now, but I think will shoot to the top of the tier list solely because of the masses of people carried over from Melee will play him and figure him out.

Ice Climbers: I mained IC in Melee, so I naturally tried these guys out in Brawl. In my opinion, they dish out the most damage out of all characters. They took away all of the old desynchs, though, which were what made the IC so deadly. However, desynchs are not gone. They simply are just different and require different timing. A staple to their moveset was the wavesmash. Now that wavedashing is gone, they no longer can do this and it really hurts. Also, most of you will be happy to know that their downsmash no longer is a kill move and it is really hard to kill people with IC’s now. Until people figure out how to desynch properly again, I don’t see IC’s receiving much love in the tournies.

Kirby: Kirby saw an overall upgrade in Brawl, much like Mario did. All his attacks are good (most notably changed was his dash attack. It has a bit of kickback on it now which means it no longer is instant suicide if you use it), his air game is solid, and his recovery is nice. The only thing Kirby is lacking is a decent kill move. Most characters can just outlast him.

Link: Link was bad in ssb. Link was bad in ssbm. Link is still bad in ssbb. Everything Link can do, Toon Link can do better. There really is no reason to use him, other than just personal desire. I do like his new boomerang, though.

Pikachu: Pikachu has been changed a bit. While his moves have stayed generally the same, it seems that the developers wanted to make him more electric-based. The stun time and priority his electric attacks have (fair, dsmash, fsmash, downb) is crazy. I would even go so far as to say his dmash is broken. The opposite side to this is that his tail attacks and legendary usmash now suck. The uair no longer spikes, the usmash no longer kills, and the nair no longer can be shffled into a grab. As of right now, I dont see Pikachu in the top teir, but he is still a good character. (and it must be the pichu from ssbm evolved, as he now can wear pilot goggles)

Peach: This princess has the ability to be crazy good. She is one of the few very technical characters now with her slidethrows and float cancels. While her infamous downsmash and fthrow have been nerfed, her fair received some love. I expect to see a lot of really good Peach players in the future just wrecking everyone.

Zelda: Zelda had a makeover. Her attacks kick SO much and her din’s fire is better than ever now. Since recovering isn’t an issue anymore due to the auto-sweet spot, she no longer is vulnerable after an upb. Nearly all of her moves are kill moves and do like 25-30 damage. She is slow, but that doesn’t matter. I expect for the first time we will see some people choosing zelda over sheik.

Sheik: Still incredibly fast, but her combos no longer work past 2 or 3. Also, her fair’s knockback has been toned down a lot. The needles still hurt, but no longer possess the game-breaking knockback they did in ssbm. I honestly think Zelda is a better character, although Sheik is probably easier to use.

Samus: Losing all the advanced techs really slowed down Samus. I never really was a fan of hers in ssbm and I still don’t like her now. She has a great recovery still, but then again, who doesn’t now? The metagame for Samus now is very campy and results in long, drawn out games, which I find very tiresome and boring.

Zsuit Samus: My distaste for Samus really turned me off from using her in any form. This being said, I havn’t had much experience using or playing against Zsuit. From the limited amount of times I have played her, though, she seemed alright. Her speed is good and her moves (specifically her usmash) have excellent priority due to the disjointedness of her whip. Sorry, but I can’t really say much of anything else. As a side note, if you want to start off as Zsuit, just hold down R or L during the stage selection and loading.

Yoshi: This dinosaur is one of the few who can combo still. He hits with medium force, and his recovery isn’t that bad. Overall, I’d say he has went the way of Mario and Kirby before him and seen a general, all-around boost. I predict that once people learn how to combo with him well, a good Yoshi player will be very scary.

Olimar: I decided to make Olimar one of my top 3 before I really knew anything about him. It did not take long to realize he is special. Already, he has shot to the top of the teir list and has generated much discussion about being banned (although this is very unlikely). Once he has his pikmin out, he is very hard to hit. It’s just like trying to box someone who is two feet taller than you – you simply just can’t get inside their reach. His smash and grabs are disjointed and have incredible range. The only times he is vulnerable are when he has no pikmin (but it takes like 1 second to pull them up) and when he is recovering. Due to the whip nature of his upb, he is easily gimped. As of right now, though, that is his only flaw.

Diddy Kong: One word – bananas. Diddy is a beast when his bananas are out. They let him defend and combo very effectively. He has a good air game to stall until said bananas are out. Stop the bananas, stop Diddy. He plays the role of a counter-character very well. This means he will defend and defend and defend, then all of a sudden attack quickly and rack up some damage, then go back to defending. His peanut gun is worthless, but is good for mindgames. His upb is a bit weak, though, which puts a damper on his recoverability. I expect to see a few nasty Diddy players in the future as he is almost a purely mind-game and spacing character.

Ike: Ike is slow and hard, which is not always a bad thing. His attacks do wicked damage and require good timing. His upb is ungaurdable and a gimp, which makes his recovery nearly perfect. And, unlike most character with a 3 step attack (tap a three times), Ikes’ is actually a kill move. His neutral b is good for surprising people and movement. Considering the popularity of the Fire Emblem characters in melee, he probably will have a lot of people playing him, too, which will help spur the development of his metagame. Overall, a very solid character and a viable main.

Lucas: An interesting fellow, to say the least. Unlike his counterpart Ness, Lucas’ a attacks are almost all mental and have very good knockback. His best move so far seems to be his uair, which can kill anyone at around 40-50% uncharged. His neutral b is good and is actually usable in game. The only thing Ness has that Lucas doesn’t is a dash attack and a really good bair; if you can do without these, Lucas is your guy.

King Dedede: Ah, here we go. Another character I decided to top 3 before Brawl came out. Turns out I made another good choice. Dedede is good. As a mobile heavy character, he can move very well and dish out powerful attacks. Since he floats, his WOP (wall of pain) is very deadly. Unlike Jigs from Melee, he has more to him than just a WOP, though. Pretty much all his attacks, apart from his fsmash come out reasonably quick and are viable with correct timing. Also due to his floats, his recovery is above average. He has good projectiles, can chaingrab a third of the other characters, and can defend easily from the ledge. Why wouldn’t you play this fat penguin? He has no real weaknesses, other than being relatively slow to the quicker chars.

Meta Knight: Meta Knight has a great air game. His ground game is okay, but nothing special. His recovery kind of sucks since its easy to suicide yourself. He has no real kill moves and is pretty light. It only looks like he is doing a lot of damage because he swings his sword really quick. I think most people overhyped him a lot. Right now, he is only medium tier to me, but other people in the competitive smash scene are calling him one of the best chars.

Pit: Pit is pretty good. He can camp with his arrows pretty effectively, then throw a nair or uair or forward b to rack up some damage when the opponent comes close. His forward B against the wall is the closest thing in the game so far that resembles fox’s waveshine infinite against a wall (responsible for the banning of many stages in tournaments). He has a couple kill moves at high percents (90-100%) that lets him finish the job. His air game is obviously solid, too, as he can fly. Also, I believe he has a decent WOP, if I remember correctly. I expect to see a lot of good Pit players.

Pokemon Trainer: I like this guy. What I don’t like is that you switch pokemon if you die. It makes you have to use someone you are not good with in order to stall enough to switch back. It would be like in SSBM if you switched back to Zelda every time you died as Sheik, and had to pull of two successful transformations to get back. A rather funny thing has seems to be happening in our games is that people mistake him as he stands in the background for a player and furiously try to attack him, haha.

Squirtle: I prefer the turtle over the dinosaurs. He is small (hard to hit), lightning quick, and has a great fair/bair. I think he is even quicker than Sonic. I have yet to use his b charge move effectively with consistence, yet I feel it has untapped potential. There really is no part of his game that is bad. Just run around like crazy and keep the pressure on and you will do fine.

Ivysaur: Some people like him the best of the three. For me, he falls in second place. He has a decent fair and neutral a. His uair is a kill move and his dair is a good spike. I cant give more info, though, as I usually just switch asap to Charizard.

Charizard: The trashiest of the three. He wouldn’t be bad if he could approach people, but he just cant. Also, I hate his recovery and usually accidentally suicide. His fair is ok if you are close, but whatever. As with Ivysaur, I just switch asap to get to the next pokemon, Squirtle.

Wario: Wario is just goofy. I’ve used him a little bit, but I’ve only really messed around, so I can’t give much insight, sorry. He can change directions mid-air quickly, allowing for a semi-WOP with his fair (and maybe bair?). His range kinda sucks. Other than that, his bike is fun to ride.

Ness: Ness is relatively unchanged from melee. His bair is harder to land, but so are all the shines nowadays. He was pretty easy to pick up in Brawl. His dash attack has been every so slightly nerfed, but nothing too bad. A solid char, but I think Lucas may be found to outclass him as the game develops.

Luigi: Most of Luigi’s appeal in SSBM was his sick wavedash. Now that that is out, he moves around the stage much slower. I think he received a bit of a downgrade from Melee, but then again no one around here really plays him often enough to allow me to make any concrete statements. I’ll probably see more Luigi players once I get online and will get a better feel for how he is then.

Ganondorf: The man hits like a tank. He probably does the most damage out of the heavies. As with Luigi, though, I can’t really tell how he really is, since I think he has only been played like 8 times on my copy of Brawl. I don’t think he is a bad character, though, simply because of the damage output.

Snake: A solid pick. You have to be very tricky with your weapons. Like Diddy Kong, he is almost purely a mindgame character. His most notable attacks are his dash attack, which is un-shieldgrabbable since you roll through; his remote mine, which can be dopped and exploded in the air; his massive combat boots, as any attack involving Snake’s feet really hurts; his usmash, which pretty much totally protects snake from the air (sorry Lucario), and the remote controlled fsmash, which can be canceled and dropped by L or R. It takes a lot of practice to get all the weapons working together well and even more practice to be able to mindgame them all with good results. I expect to see a LOT of bad Snake players and the occasional good one.

Sonic: The hedgehog is a letdown. He walks the same lonely road as Meta Knight and Pit as he has a good recovery and lots of little attacks, but really no kill moves. The closest thing to a hard attack is a charged up dsmash. The strategy right now with Sonic seems to be to just needle them to death with lots of tiny attacks. His speed and dash attack are excellent, but they are not enough to make him good enough to compete with some of the better characters.

Toon Link: I still sometimes call him Young Link, but whatever. This small child is a beast in the arena. He is everything Link players have been hoping for for years: simple and quick sword swipes, a recovery, a nice air game, and usable projectiles. The best thing about him is probably his ability to combo. His sword swipes are so that they allow for linking moves together. His small size makes him hard to hit, and his attacks pack a decent enough punch to kill things. I predict Toon Link to shoot to the top of the teir list asap.

R.O.B.: I’ve been playing this guy a lot lately. He can get some solid 2-3 hit combos out. Although most people think he seems slow and is unusable, his movement in the air is so awkward that it confuses and surprises foes. He has good projectiles (the gyro can kill!) and an unmatched, at least so far, airgame. His spot-dodge comes out very quickly and can be followed up by a immediate dsmash. Edgegaurding is easy with him, since he can WOP his fairs and has a decent spike. He will probably be high on the tier list once people figure out his movement and timing.

Falco: Falco plays completely different than he did in Melee. His reflector shield has been completely reimagined, which puts an end to his pillars. Also, his blaster can no longer be shorthopped, which was also major part of his game. This being said, no one really knows how to play him anymore. His projectile reflector will probably be really important, but who knows. People are going to have to throw all previous knowledge of him out the window. (I think his dair is no longer a spike, which would be a major deal, but I’m not sure.)

Wolf: There is only word word needed to describe Wolf right now. It is fmash. His fmash has crazy range and hits in two parts for good damage. His gun is strong, but not viable as a spammable attack. Just fmash and fmash. Then once you get done fmashing, do it again. Oh, and fmash.

Captain Falcon: While the timing and order of attacks are different from Melee, Falcon still can combo just fine. It is harder to hit with his knee, but is more deadly. His recovery is the same trashy hug, but this time you can spike people off the stage with it, making it good for gimping. I know many here will not like to hear this, but expect to see the Captain high on the tier list again.

Lucario: Hurraaaay. I didn’t plan on playing this guy when the game came out, but after discovering his beast priority, I couldn’t resist. On the ground he is kinda slow, but get this guy in the air and he is unstoppable. He can spam his dair like four times in a single jump, which is just crazy. His charge projectile is good; it’s easily chargable and flies straight and far. His throws can set up combos at lower percents. The nair is pretty sick. Pretty much all his air attacks are sick. The only thing he really lacks for attacks is a solid fmash. His recovery is not very good, but its doable. (as a side note, he is a good counterpick against Cfalcon)

Jigglypuff: Nothing that I can see has changed, other than the usual game physics.

Marth: Uh oh, watch out. Marth is sick nasty. He is probably better in Brawl than he was in Melee… and he was at the top of the list in Melee… so… Most notably changed are his b combo moves, of which the timing for it is non-existant, so you can just spam it as quick as you want, his b charge, which now impales and has good range, and his up-b being a killing move from any direction. Combine all of this with his fair combos, nair combos, and an easy dair spike and you have just a gross character. I usually have to resort to Olimar to take out good Marths, as he is the only character to outrange him.

Mr. Game & Watch: His moveset is exactly the same, although certain things have changed. His dtilt and nair are no longer killing moves, although they still have great priority and damage. His fsmash can KO at low percents. His bair now catches them for the whole combo. His fair is still short-hoppable and is a great way to approach. The weight has changed as well as the shield, which were his two main downfalls in Melee. He can combo well, too. Overall, I’d say he has seen a boost.

Alright, thats it. If you have any questions about characters and matchups, just ask and I’ll try to answer as best as possible! I believe this game will require you to pick multiple characters to main, due to the counterability factor of having so many to choose from. For now, I am playing R.O.B., Lucario, Squirtle, King Dedede, and Olimar.