The music in this game deserves its own paragraph, as it’s one of the most ambitious video game soundtracks ever. The main theme, complete with a choir singing in Latin, might seem like a bit much the first time you hear it, but it fits. There are dozens of tracks in here - many from each franchise represented in the game. Almost all of them have been redone, orchestrated when it makes sense (Pokemon, Zelda), and not when it doesn’t (Sonic, Animal Crossing). You’ll find everything from a song from Kid Icarus completely intact in its NES form, to a rearranged song from Metal Gear Solid 4, to the Japanese version of “Mona Pizza” from WarioWare: Twisted. This is only where the fan service that is Super Smash Bros. Brawl begins, though. Where else can you find Sonic fighting Mario fighting Charizard fighting Snake inside of Pictochat?
It’s porn for Nintendo fans, and that’s nowhere more apparent than in the Subspace Emissary, the game’s fleshed-out adventure mode. Unfortunately, it’s pretty much a crap-shoot. In it, you fight enemies that have hit points, and do sometimes-challenging platforming. Super Smash Bros. mechanics aren’t meant for gameplay like this; there’s a reason simple multiplayer stages are the best ones and most people play stock and time matches. It also feels way too long at eight hours, especially since two hours near the end is “The Great Maze,” which has you playing through sections of all the levels you have played through already, including fighting bosses you already have. I can’t remember ever swearing as much at a video game as I did when I hit this section. It was an artificial way to lengthen the game, and is absolutely no fun at all. The cut scenes are fantastic though, even if the story sucks, and are where the fan service really comes into play. Hell, one time I saw Captain Falcon punch a R.O.B. covered in Pikmin.
It hardly matters though, because the multiplayer is where the real meat of the game is. It feels less like a jump from Super Smash Bros. Melee as Melee did from Super Smash Bros., but it does feels like a refinement. Still, though, veterans of the series will have no problem getting adjusted after only a couple matches. There are more characters, but it doesn’t feel like they’re forcing them in yet, as all of the new ones work. Same deal with items, but the stage selection has been improved - there are more levels this time around more people will want to play on regularly, and even the ratio of good to bad stages is better than ever.
There are enough new mechanics as well; Lucario’s attacks doing more damage as the amount of damage dealt to him increases, Pokemon Trainer’s ability to switch between a slow, quick, and a middling character, Diddy Kong’s banana peels, etc. These are nothing short of poetic. Characters tripping sometimes when they start to dash is an interesting idea - random human error is something I think more games should incorporate into their gameplay, but maybe it’s not right for Super Smash Bros., as it’s going to be too unpredictable for many players to not get annoyed at.
It has a huge, Halo 3-level amount of content, so much that I haven’t even mentioned a lot of it in this review, nor explored it fully in my dozens of hours with the game so far. There are trophies, the coin launcher mini game, stickers, the Classic and All-Star single-player modes, the home run competition, and event stages just to name a few. There’s even online play (which doesn’t work properly for most people at the time of the writing of this review), a level editor, and demos of Virtual Console games.
The overall product, though, I can’t call anything less than “great.” It’s one of very few games I know I will be playing for years to come. Likely until the next Super Smash Bros. game, like me and so many others did with the last two in the series.
