Super Smash Bros. Alpha
But let’s get back to the gameplay. While most everything here will be familiar territory for Smash veterans, some changes have been made since Melee. The first and probably most notable change is the slightly “floatier” physics with which the characters move (this can be both a gift and a curse depending on your perspective). Most returning characters retain their general “feel” from Melee, but their movesets have been rebalanced, so you will probably have to adjust your fighting style to some degree. In addition, everyone has now received the ability to execute a Final Smash—an extremely powerful move which is unique to each character. These grand techniques can only be unleashed after you manage to break open a floating Smash Ball in the midst of battle (or, and this is rather controversial, when you are falling so far behind in the fight that the game deems your case hopeless). Turning off items, of course, disables the Final Smash system, so if you don’t like it, don’t sweat it.
Apart from that, various other adjustments have been made to the general combat mechanics, including the omission of “bugged” techniques like wavedashing, et al, and the addition of others in their place like head-jumping and dash cancelling. If you’re curious as to the extent of such changes to the advanced techniques in the game, I won’t cover them here, but you can find an explanation in any amount of detail you desire on the aforementioned SmashBoards.com web site.
Smashing on Teh Internets
Should you wish to take your skills online, Brawl finally allows for such reckless overzealousness (kidding, I’m sure you’re great). Sure, it might be super-simplistic-16-digit-friend-code-zero-communication-allowed online play, but nevertheless, it still exists, and that counts for something. The matches are primarily lag-free, so that’s an achievement in itself… though there is some degree of delay between your input and the on-screen action, a caveat necessitated by (and proportional to) the geographic distance between yourself and anyone else playing. The “With Anyone” option allows for a quick match sporting basic rules—and basic it is indeed. You can’t decide whether you’d like to play two, three, or four players in a match; the game makes that decision for you. It chooses to sometimes pair you up with one other player if no others can be found for a one-on-one, but by the same token, it might also throw in a couple of CPU-controlled contenders. Also, you can’t view the names or records of anyone you’re playing against, much less communicate with them in any fashion short of zig-zagging your messages across the sky with Kirby (not recommended). You can’t even play team matches against others with two players on the same Wii console, and that’s a bummer.
Playing with friends is a slightly different scenario. In this situation, you’re at least allowed view who is online and set any rules with which you wish to play (the actual rules and stage are selected randomly by the game from the choices each player makes). You can also enter short preset messages to be displayed above your character’s head when you press any of the four directions on the D-pad assigned to “taunt”. The game communicates the connection quality of each online player as well, something that is helpful in deciding who to battle. Beyond the basic and team brawl modes, you can also arrange a team multi-man brawl with your friends (quite fun) or even stage a home-run contest.
Finally, the Smash Service allows you to specify whether you’d like to receive premade content from Nintendo every day on your Wii after logging online. This content includes one snapshot, one short replay, and one custom level per day. Sadly, however, you cannot save any of these things to your console’s memory, so once the day is over with, it’s gone for good (explain that one). You can choose to view other players’ prerecorded matches and bet your coins on them if you want, something that’s perhaps entertaining when you’re eating dinner while your cable is out. The online options menu also lets you choose whether to allow spectators, and if you accept, your online battle replay data will be made available for others to view and wager based on as well.
Overall, as is generally the case with Nintendo’s first-party titles, the online mode in Brawl is surprisingly simple, and if you don’t count the absolutely asinine sixteen-digit friend code registration mandated by the With Friends option, it’s relatively painless, too. The matches are fun and quick, and some people would argue that they’re all the more enticing devoid of all manner of trash talk and profane chatter generally married to such experiences (I say, you don’t like it, turn the option off!). Unfortunately, the simplification extends too far, leading to a gaping omission of any sort of interaction whatsoever, including a complete lack of leaderboards or record-keeping of any type. This makes Brawl’s online experience passable, yet painfully thin in comparison to nearly any other game of its type.
Real Men Play Offline
But seriously, nothing beats having a Smash party anyway (sure, laugh it up; my Diddy Kong will smack the taste out of your mouth). And for that, Brawl is every bit as perfect as Melee has been for the last 6.5 years. If you’re able to assemble four or more real live bodies for some battles, you’ll find a wealth of play options, including a tournament mode and a new rotation mode to help you keep track of who plays when. And, as before, there’s enough variety to keep you playing for countless hours, especially if you switch up your playing conditions from time to time (stock vs. time matches, team battles, items on/off, random stage selection, etc).