SUPER SMASH BROS. BRAWL - Perfection comes to the Wii!

Man, has it been six years already, since the Gamecube version of Super Smash brothers came out?

*grabs ancient gamecube case*

Yeah, I guess so - December of 2001. Yikes, suddenly I feel old. And there's the kicker, the testament to the games greatness. Here it is, the back half of a decade and I still bring the game out on a regular basis to play. Hopefuly I'll get the same value for my money from Smash Brothers Brawl.

For those of you not up on the franchise, let me educate you a bit. Take every major character (and a ton of minor ones) from every major Nintendo franchise from the last 30 years or so, put them in a big 2D fighting game, and turn up the party game aspect to 11. Add three more players into the mix (plus online this time around) and you have the basics of Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

Almost every character from the Gamecube version makes a return here, with just a tweak or two to their attacks and special moves. In addition we get a ton of new characters. Sonic appearing in a Nintendo game? Well, not as unthinkable as it would have been before Mario vs Sonic. Ok, how about Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid? Didn’t see that one coming did you! How about Mr. Game and Watch from the early eighties and Nintendo's LED game phase? Heck, took me a while to figure him out and I've been a gamer for 30 years now!

According to the online research I've done, there are over ten new characters added to the mix. I've only unlocked a handful of them - but because even at 40 hours on a game, there is a TON of stuff to unlock - but I'm getting ahead of myself. So the grand total roster sports 37 playable characters. There's the additional bonus that you'd be hard pressed to find one that has no chance of standing up against the rest of the characters. The game is very balanced and playable, allowing people to get spread out and comfortable with ones they like without getting p0wned on every front, or having to memorize the same dozen combos with one character.

Like I said above, there is a ton of stuff to do and unlock around every corner. The standard Brawl battle mode remains the core of the game, but there's a campaign mode to go through (a kind of side scrolling adventure with hit points) that should take about 6 or 10 hours, depending on how thorough you are. You can also play the campaign in co-op mode, if that's your thing. There are also challenges for you to get through (Like "Get to the top of the waterfall first" or "defeat the opponents in order: red, blue, green") and a level editor so when you get bored with fighting on the premade arenas, you can whip some new ones up and share them.

And then there's just whup the crap out of three other characters mode. Sometimes the basic stuff is the best.

On the graphics front, I have to say this is a sweet looking game. Again, we're confronted by the limitations of the Wii - it just wont look as good as a 360 game, but it's still no slouch. The level design and art is really well done and creative, especially when the game visits other old classic Nintendo games - like Mario Brothers, right down to the POW in the center of the screen, or the Wario Smooth Moves level, where not only do you have to fight to the death, you have to follow the onscreen instructions or take damage. The sound is great too, with old school remixes of classic game soundtracks, and sound effects that are sampled right from other games. I got a big smile on my face when I heard the Ice Climbers *BOING* when they jumped.

There are some issues with the game - well, one actually: the blasted friends code! Having to plug in a 16 digit code to "unlock" friends, plus the lack of in-game chat. I'm all for safety and security online, but this is really going too far, Nintendo - for all the interactivity going on, you might as well be playing against a really good AI opponent. I do have to admit that - launch issues aside - the multiplayer experience has been very smooth indeed. No lag, quick precision in the moves - pity I just keep getting p0wned time and again.

Ah well, these are very small issues in a very good game. There's plenty to see and do here, with more around each corner ready to be unlocked. If you liked what you saw in the previous iterations of Smash Brothers, odds are very good you'll like Brawl too. Deep enough for the veterans and easy enough for the noobs to climb on board too!