Smash Brawl Blog

So we went to a local gamestop at about 10, waited until 12, then got the game finally at 12:20.
By 12:35 we were back at my place playing the game, the four of us playing free for all 4 minute matches to try every character.

Then came 1 AM, still playing, getting a feel for the game.

2 AM came and went.
4 AM.
8 AM.
11 AM.

Now keep in mind that our goal was twofold: first, to play enough matches to unlock every character as fast as possible, and second, to make sure we all got a feel for each character and the game iteself. We ended up with just under 160 matches played, (the number to unlock R.O.B.) and 12 hours of play under our belts.
By 9 AM, when i decided we needed to go buy bagels before we starved to death, we were alternating 3 people playing our signature 1v1 rotation setup (sometime we’ll explain it, it’s relatively simple) and the fourth person would sleep for 4 rounds, or 16 minutes. Then the next person would sit out for 16 minutes. It was tiring.

I thought that before a large video post (we will upload match videos possibly tomorrow, but as soon as I can if not) there would be a few posts about initial impressions of the game. Coming from our professional-scene SSBM past and jaded by reports of Brawl being a ‘dumbed-down melee’ smash game, I for one was a tad upset or skeptical going in.

FIRST. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY.

I have NO IDEA where anyone gets off saying that this game is not tournament-grade, competition-level, or pandering too much to casual players.
The game is a masterpiece, and yes, it is DIFFERENT from the intense speed-oriented style of Melee, but that does not make it BAD in any sense of the word.

Nintendo continues to please, as far as i am concerned. The changes to air-dodging (which i will discuss later) which therefore eliminated wavedashing and wavelanding fit into the flow of the game completely. There is still immense speed and linkable or chainable combos to obsess over, and the depth of the game (because of some of the much more diverse movesets) has become more profound. Most professional smashers will have no problem agreeing with the fact that we ought to wait 2+ years until true advanced play evolves by necessity, and for now it is safe to say that we should all practice 8 hours a day and read and watch everything we can to get better at Brawl.

My initial reactions I have summarized to avoid another wall of text:

1. Standardized falling speeds and ‘floatiness’ given to characters is different, but after 12 hours of straight play, you get used to it and appreciate the game.

2. There is a LOT of room for improvisation. Traditional combos as we know them in Melee not only fall apart here, but are impossible because of the multitude of different character matchups and stage hazards. The key to stringing together 0% -> death combos is in using virtually all of the moves at your disposal before landing a killing blow. (See point 3)

3. Diminishing returns, or move damage degradation, is one of the most noticable changes in Brawl versus Melee. Traditionally, in Melee, damage was easily racked up by certain characters using the same move that they would use as a killing blow, such as peach using d-smash, marth using f-smash, or shiek with f-air. These moves were simply good enough to damage someone with, and then use again to kill. In brawl, there is a steep curve down the damage chart of any one move after it has been repeatedly used on an opponent. It winds up being more beneficial to give the damage with smaller, oftentimes more ‘clever’ moves while saving the (for example) f-smash with for last and the greatest effect, or else you risk using a half-as-powerful final blow that won’t finish the combo.

4. Some characters are so open to interpretation as far as playing style that I suspect that there will not be a conclusive strategy developed for them for over 2 years. Briefly: Consider the way that ice climbers were played in Melee before the discovery of de-synching. There are some characters that still feel bread-and-butter smash, such as mario and samus, but the inclusion of characters who can glide, the introduction of non-locking up+b recoveries (character does not go into helpless falling mode) and wall-cling-abilities  are obviously going to introduce many many new advanced techniques into high-level play.

5. Some characters are enormous. That’s okay. Everyone’s initial reaction is to think that a large character suffers from what we might call bowser SSBM syndrome, but Nintendo fixed a lot of potential problems– Donkey Kong is more zippy and has less lag with better moves, Dedede has half of his moveset come out nearly instantly and the other half slow and strong a la bowser.

6. No one in the world is good at this game yet. I’m sorry, but the idea of having tournaments this early is almost pathetic– bragging about skill here and there when the game was just born is pointless, especially if you knew anything about some of the well-respected Melee pro players, who took 7 years to learn how to play well.
In a few months we should start seeing some really really nice videos, but for now I think that instructional and critique videos are what will advance the game’s development. Just my opinion. I think that learning how each move and character functions, for the sake of playing well,  is more important than the dangling carrot of a tournament prize.

tl;dr

Brawl is good. Videos soon.