Pre-Release Information
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Nintendo database doesn't usually cover games before they are released, but this is a special circumstance. Nintendo Database was built around the pre-release footage of Super Smash Bros. Melee, investigating every announcement and searching for every long lost game referenced in the Gamecube's most popular title.
Last year's E3 announcement of a new Smash Bros. game was enough to excite the Nintendo crowd, and on the 10th May 2006 we finally received the first video and screenshots of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, third in the massively popular series.
On this page, and no doubt on the forums, I will be covering every aspect of the game as it's released. Just like with Melee before it.
Characters
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Only a small handful of characters have been confirmed so far, and the final character roster has yet to be decided. So far we know of five returning characters and five new characters.
Interestingly, it has been confirmed that at least one (though likely several more) third party videogame characters will appear. Talks with companies are underway for some popular heroes created by other videogame companies to appear. Exactly what companies they are is not yet known, but I go on to speculate below.
The game's designer, Masahiro Sakurai, has explicitly stated that Brawl will not be constrained by the choice in Melee, so some characters will likely leave, and others will stay. He has also said that he will not be choosing new characters based on their popularity, as he would not be interested in making such a game. Music to my ears! It is the obscure and unheard of characters that make the Smash Bros. games what they are! He did, however, hold an ongoing poll in Japan where he asked the Japanese public what game characters, music and other things they would like to see.
Returning Fighter: Mario
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Of course Mario is in the game. Hero of the Super Mario series and Nintendo's mascot, he has appeared in every Smash Bros. game so far. The leaping, fireball-throwing, dungaree wearing plumber has become more expressive this time around. His "Special Power" is to fire a stream of super-sized fireballs.
Returning Fighter: Link
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Dressed in his Twilight Princess gear, the hero of the Legend of Zelda series returns for a third time. His "Special Power" is to carve up his opponent in the air in a Triforce shape. Very little else to say about him at the moment.
Returning Fighter: Pikachu
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The cute electric mouse and mascot of the Pok�mon series is back for a third time. Little seems to have changed, but we have not yet seen what his "Special Power" is.
Returning Fighter: Kirby
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Hero of the Kirby series, and Masahiro Sakurai's other popular creation. Kirby is also back for a third fight, and his "Special Power" is to boil his opponent in a vat using his Chef ability first seen in Kirby Super Star.
Returning Fighter: Samus
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Samus Aran, the hero of the Metroid series has been confirmed as a returning character. In the video she unleashes a super-powerful energy blast. She may also be the same character as Zero Suit Samus (see below), although there is a possibility that the two are separate.
Debut Fighter: Meta-Knight
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Appearing in the series for the first time is Meta-Knight, one of the repeat "villains" in the Kirby series. This noble, bat-winged warrior has often set his troops on Kirby, and even tried to take over Dream Land in his massive airship, the Halberd. He attacks with his Galaxia Sword, can jump repeatedly in the air thanks to his wings, and can make himself invisible by covering himself with his cloak.
Debut Fighter: Pit
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If you're anything like me, you were horribly disappointed that the hero of Kid Icarus didn't make it into Melee. Well, he's back and he's never looked better. This winged warrior from Angel Land attacks with bow and arrows, and he can repeatedly jump thanks to his ability to fly. He can also separate the two halves of his bow and arrow, unleashing a devastating melee cutter attack.
Debut Fighter: Zero Suit Samus
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In the promotional video, Samus Aran from the Metroid series appears and fires a powerful beam, but then her armour falls off and she becomes Zero Suit Samus (from Metroid Zero Mission). Whether she replaces standard Samus, or whether both will appear is not yet known. She attacks with a blaster that also becomes a beam whip.
Debut Fighter: Wario
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Arriving in the video on his custom Harley, Wario is the anti-Mario from the Super Mario series. Here he is dressed in his WarioWare, inc outfit. His only shown attack is also his "Special Power" - his belly bulges and he unleashes a devastating nuclear fart from his backside.
Debut Fighter: Solid Snake
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Hero of Konami's Metal Gear series. Snake appears on the video first in a Comlink conversation, when it finally transpires he's hidden under a box on a Brawl stage. He bursts out and gets the final word of the video - "It's show time!" Sakurai has stated that he would like Snake to use purely explosive attacks.
Character Speculation
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Returning Nintendo Characters
So it's been confirmed that the character roster in Brawl won't be restricted by the roster in Melee and perhaps even the first Super Smash Bros. What this means is we can expect some characters to change and some to be removed. What follows is purely my own speculation.
Peach
It would be a huge surprise if Peach's moves weren't completely revised in lieu of Super Princess Peach. Perry might be along for the ride (in place of Toad? Maybe Toad will be playable!) and no doubt some vibe moves.
Bowser
Hopefully Bowser's moves will be revised, as they weren't all that great in Melee. But he hasn't really learned gained any moves in his recent games.
Yoshi
Yoshi has appeared in quite a few games since Melee, but he hasn't really learned any new moves. He is likely to return, but will probably have the same moves.
Donkey Kong
The big ape has starred in Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat and DK: King of Swing, plus several other titles since Melee, so he will hopefully have some new moves. It would be a surprise if the DK Bongos didn't feature in some way as well.
Luigi
He didn't get his vaccuum because Luigi's Mansion was unveiled too late in Melee's development. He may well be armed with it this time around, and could even use the electric attacks he picked up in Superstar Saga. Any distinction from Mario is a bonus.
Dr. Mario
Will hopefully be removed. He is really a pointless character, included simply to bump up the character numbers and to provide an excuse to include the Dr. Mario music (true, Sakurai admitted this in his Melee blog).
Jigglypuff
It's possible Jigglypuff won't return this time around - I hope that's not the case, but there's an overabundance of Red/Blue Pok�mon when there are likely to be three new generations of Pok�mon to pick from.
Mewtwo
Again, Mewtwo could possibly be replaced. Your guess is as good as anyone's. Deoxys seems like a good candidate.
Pichu
No need for Pichu. Lose him.
Zelda
Likely to have her moves revised, and unlikely to transform into Shiek (as Samus has the whole transform into a speedy, whippy thing this time). I suspect she may even be removed.
Ganondorf
Hopefully he will not be a clone of Captain Falcon this time, and will be armed with the massive sword he teased us with in Melee. He could even be in his trident-wielding pig form! Here's hoping.
Young Link
He will either be removed, or he will be replaced with a cel-shaded Link. The potential for Four Swords, Minish Cap and Phantom Hourglass elements would make him distinct from regular Link.
Fox McCloud
Fox has appeared in StarFox Adventures and Assault, gaining a host of new moves in the process. He is likely to have a completely revised moveset, including new martial arts moves, and perhaps armed with the staff or a new range of weapons.
Falco Lombardi
He hasn't really picked up many new moves, but a lot of people would be disappointed to see him go. It could go either way, but if he's differentiated from Fox somehow, I expect he will be kept in.
Ness
Apparently, Ness was planned to be the one character in Melee to be removed, replaced with one of the heroes from Mother 3 on the N64. That game was cancelled, and so Ness survived, but now Mother 3 has come out on Game Boy Advance. Will Ness survive? In my opinion, I think he will, and a character from Mother 3 might join him.
Captain Falcon
It's hard to see how he could be revised. His moves ARE his Smash Bros. moves. Besides, nobody wants to see the end of the Falcon Punch.
Marth
I expect Marth will appear again, being the first hero of the Fire Emblem games. He hasn't appeared in anything new, so he's likely to have much the same moves.
Roy
Very likely to be removed and replaced, probably by Ike from Path of Radiance (as two of the stages shown so far are from that game).
Mr. Game & Watch
In the event that Mr. Game & Watch stays, he will hopefully be redesigned to look more like an actual Game & Watch character.
Third Party Characters
With the announcement that Solid Snake will feature in the game (apparently thanks to creator Hideo Kojima begging Sakurai), it has been confirmed that talks with companies to use other third-party characters are underway. It has also been confirmed that there won't be many of them, and that they must have appeared on a Nintendo console. But what companies will come on board?
Konami isn't Nintendo's closest third-party ally in Japan. Capcom and Namco have had a lot more involvement with Nintendo in recent years, so they are prime candidates. What about the Virtual Console collaborators Sega and Hudson? Both have popular characters to exploit. These seem like the most likely choices. As for what characters they might go for...
Capcom:
Mega Man seems most likely, but a Street Fighter II character is also possible (Ryu, Ken, Chun Li...)
Namco:
Pac-Man has already appeared in Mario Kart Arcade GP, so he seems likely.
Sega:
Sonic the Hedgehog has been mentioned specifically by Sakurai without any actual confirmations. But as Sega have also gone on record saying they would like to see Sonic in Smash Bros., he's currently the most likely candidate.
Hudson:
Bomberman is their lead character, but Bonk was at one time their mascot - and has even been confirmed for the Virtual Console. Either seems possible.
If there were more third-party characters that were forgotten, obscure or little known then I would welcome such a move. Who wouldn't want to see Alex Kidd in there, eh?
New Characters
Nintendo has a massive backlog of characters to draw upon, many of which didn't even appear as trophies in Melee. Sakurai has been running a request poll of sorts on the official Brawl website in Japan. Personally, the two characters I most wanted to see were Wario and Pit, and they've both been confirmed.
So now I have to find some new characters to wish for. I would now most like to see Sukapon and Takamaru appear. Who, you ask? Sukapon is the lead character in Nintendo's only traditional fighting game, Joy Mecha Fight, and Takamaru is the Samurai from the Zelda-a-like Nazo no Murasamejou.
Item: Nintendog
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That's right... use the Nintendog item and one of the cute little DS pooches will leap up and block the screen from view. Possibly even cuter than the Mr. Saturn item!
Item: "Smash Orb"
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Grabbing what I am currently calling the "Smash Orb" will make your character glow with a raging fire. You can then unleash a devastating "Special Power". Each character seems to have a different move.
* Mario's attack
* Link's attack
* Kirby's attack
Stage: "Floating Island"
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A floating island in the sky. It's either likely to be from Kid Icarus (thanks to the architecture), or it could also be a rebuild of the Battlefield stage from Melee (thanks to the glowing orb underneath the island).
Stage: "Castle Top"
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This stage is set on the roof of a stony castle under siege. There are red flags bearing a strange design. This may, in fact, be the Fire Emblem stage supposedly pulled from Melee. The design on the flag is a little similar to the Daein flag in Path of Radiance, but I'm not convinced - if anyone has any other ideas what Fire Emblem game they might be from, please let me know.
Stage: "Castle Interior"
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Confusingly, this castle interior also looks like it may be based on Fire Emblem. The throne in the background has a dragon-wing logo on the wall behind it.
Stage: Halberd
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A series of floating platforms flies around Meta-Knight's ship, the Halberd. This one is obviously from the Kirby series.
Thanks to reference pic IGN Wii for the downloadable video.
