Super Smash Brothers Brawl: Always the Right Decision

For a blog called the Subspace Emissary, it seems a little silly that I haven’t done a post on the game that it comes from.  I have already talked about the difference between Tekken and Soul Calibur, Namco’s pair of fighting games, but I have to admit, neither of them is my real favourite.  As you may have guessed, my favourite is the inestimable Super Smash Brothers Brawl.  It remains true to the basic formula of the fighting genre – choose your character, choose a level, fight.  However, there are a number of innovations which make Smash Brothers unique amongst games.

The damage system, where the more damage you take the further you get flung back with every strike, is certainly uncommon.  I don’t know of any other fighting game which has the same damage system as Smash Brothers, and with the number of healing items that can be obtained during a fight, it means that there is a serious advantage to playing characters who can recover well from being kicked off of the map.  Kirby and ROB make excellent choices for this.

The items themselves make sure that every character, and every player, has a solid chance for victory.  Jigglypuff may not be the most impressive character in the game, but if it gets a Homerun Bat in its hand, that ball of fluff becomes an absolute menace.  There are healing items, traps, weapons, bonuses and assists which if used well, make any character a real threat.  The items make references from across the Nintendo catalog, from Pokeballs to Bob-ombs.  However, it is worth saying that while there are some characters which have been shown to be more effective than others, overall there are very few characters that could be said to be completely useless.

The Smash Brothers series is in its 3^rd instalment now, and it has only improved over time.  The levels have multiplied, gotten more complicated and come in all shapes and sizes.  The cast of playable characters has increased almost exponentially, now including even non-Nintendo characters like Snake and Sonic.  The graphics as well are truly outstanding.  Mario has never looked better.  The combat system however, has remained almost identical through the whole series, and the simplicity of the technique list has ensured that the game becomes far more about the skill with which you use them rather than how many techniques and combos that you can remember.  I think this makes the game easier to pick up and that adds to how fantastic a party game it is.

To be fair, not the best boss ever designed, but he looks fantastic

More than any of the improvements and additions to the Brawl instalment, I think that the main adventure mode, the Subspace Emissary (there it is!) is the most impressive.  Comprised of a long train of complex side-scrolling levels, mixed with puzzles and battles, the Subspace Emissary tells the story of how the various characters unite to stop a massive threat to the world they live in.  You eventually play as pretty much every character in the game, so it is a great showcase for them.  The cut scenes as well, make the game very special.  Some of them are just fantastic.  On top of that, it can be played co-op.  Smart thinking.

The number of different modes of play available for single player, combined with an even further expanded and improved multiplayer, make Super Smash Brothers Brawl a triumph for Nintendo.  No matter what you want to do – challenge yourself on boss mode or Allstar Mode, have an entertaining adventure on Subspace Emissary, or just have fun with your friends on either co-op adventure or the standard brawl, Super Smash Brothers Brawl is always the right game for you.

Day 30: My Favourite Game of All Time

I know I've been saying I wanted to mention SSBB for ages, but I didn't expect to put it here. As I considered my favourite games, however, I slowly began to realize that nothing could top Super Smash Brothers Brawl in each of the various areas it excels in. Let me run you through the process by which I arrived at this decision.

Kingdom Hearts 2 is a game I love, and has won several awards from me this month. However, it fails when it comes to replay value, not to mention the fact that it does not have a multiplayer mode. Even Sonic 2 had multiplayer! So that's out.

Civ 2, now Civ 2 is awesome. I've played it all my life, it has infinite replay value, and is incredible for all the reasons previously listed. It is old though, and has pretty terrible graphics, even for its time. Also, it does not have multiplayer. Civilization 4 would be the obvious counter here, and it is an excellent game. Great graphics, excellent gameplay, and its great to play on your own or with friends. My problem here is that I haven't played Civ 4 much recently. I don't know it as well, and it is a very LONG game. So I keep thinking, but Civ 4 is definitely one of my top contenders.

Considering my favourite genre is the RPG, Neverwinter Nights should be among the top, and it certainly is. I just reinstalled it yesterday, and I love it again. It has good replay value, and is a fantastic game in and of itself. Making characters is a lot of fun and the story is really cool. It even has multiplayer. I haven't played it, but I believe it could be good.

All of these games are excellent, but they all have their own areas where they are not as solid, be it graphics or whathaveyou. This is where Super Smash Brothers Brawl comes in.

It is essentially, a fighting game in the tradition of Tekken and Street Fighter, but with all of Nintendo's best characters fighting it out instead of random martial arts people. It started out on the N64 wth 8 characters years ago, but now on the Wii the roster has grown immense, with something like 40-50 characters to choose from, including Sonic, Snake, and a number of different Pokemon. The fighting system is fairly simple, but gives you over a dozen different attacks to learn for each character, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. My personal favourites to play with are Samus from the Super Metroid Series, and ROB, the robot.

The reason that SSBB stands out beyond all other games for me is its consistently high ratings across the board. The multiplayer is of course, fantastic. Anyone who's played it can tell you how many hours of fast paced, endlessly aried fun you can have destroying each other. I don't really need to go into that too much. Additionally, the graphics are fantastic. Mario looks superb and so do most of the other characters. The fighters of SSBB actually look BETTER than they've ever done before in their own games, which is excellent. The gameplay overall is brilliant and works really well. There are very few complaints I have about the way in which the game is played.

Finally, whereas I have criticized many one-player games for their poor multiplayer, I cannot really fault SSBB (a multiplayer game) for its solo modes. SSBB offers a whole host of different games and adventures for the solo player, all of which are challenging. The main campaign is long, varied, interesting, and a real challenge to get all the way through. All-Star mode is also a massive challenge - to fight against every character in the game successively. Boss Mode is very tough, but rewarding too. I could play SSBB on my own for hours (and I have). This is how the game stands out for me. It is perhaps the only game since Goldeneye to have both a brilliant single player and multiplayer mode, and SSBB has several of both.

For excellence in Single Player, Multiplayer, Graphics, Design, Gameplay, Music, Sounds, Inventiveness, Difficulty, and Entertainment and Replay Value, Super Smash Brothers Brawl beats every competitor out of the park. Coming to this decision surprised me, but I can't help but feel that it is the right one.


And that brings the 30 Day Game Challenge to a close. I'm glad I copied Maddox in doing this; its been a lot of fun and I've learned a lot about my own gaming tastes as a result. Good times. I hope everyone else has enjoyed it too.  This also brings me to the end of my pre-done posts, sadly enough.  Now I have to blog on my own initiative.  It's a scary world out there.  Fortunately, I know a handy method of escapism.... several methods actually.