Super Smash Bros. Brawl
| Super Smash Bros. Brawl | |
|---|---|
| Super Smash Bros. Brawl logo. | |
| Developer(s) | HAL Laboratory, Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Masahiro Sakurai (director) |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Wii |
| Release | TBA 2007 |
| Genre(s) | Fighting game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (known as Dairantō Smash Brothers X (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズX) in Japanese) is the title of an upcoming fighting game for Wii. As the third iteration in the massively successful series, it has been confirmed that it will support some network features, Internet play, (Wi-Fi)[1] and will be released sometime in 2007, and thus will not be a launch title as was first planned. It also marks the first Super Smash Bros. game that features a character from a franchise not owned by Nintendo in a playable format with the inclusion of Solid Snake from the Metal Gear franchise. His introduction in the E³ trailer was a humorous send-up of some Metal Gear Solid series conventions, and referenced the games' Codec communication system and the now-famous cardboard boxes that Snake often hides in. It also featured the first game's musical coda performed in the Super Smash Bros. style.
Confirmed characters
The E3 trailer, in which 5 new characters were revealed in, was mixed between a battle between four returning characters, Mario, the main character of the Super Mario Bros. series, Link, the hero of the Legend of Zelda series, Pikachu, the mascot of the Pokémon series, and Kirby, the main character of the Kirby series.
Samus Aran is also briefly shown, but changes into the new character, Zero-Suit Samus, a variation of Samus Aran without her outer suit. Meta Knight, of the Kirby series, Pit, from Kid Icarus and Wario, Mario's main antagonist in various Nintendo titles, as well as the WarioWare and Wario Land series, are all shown as well.
Solid Snake, the main character from Konami's Metal Gear series, also appeared in the trailer, shocking fans primarily because of Konami's ownership of the character. It is believed that Nintendo may add more third-party characters, such as Snake, into the game. During the E3 press conference in which the game was unveiled, Shigeru Miyamoto stated (through an interpreter), "There are probably possibilities for other third parties as well, and it may be that even now there are corporate discussions going on about including some of these other characters."
Items and abilities
Videos also suggest new battle mechanics, such as "super smash" character moves that are triggered by the collection of emblem items. The trailer suggests that Mario's special move is a large blast of fire that engulfs enemies, Link's is a barrage of sword slashes, Kirby uses his Cook/Chef ablity from Kirby Super Star to cook his enemies in a pot as his special move, and Wario has the "nuclear fart" attack. Samus also has an enormous blast from her arm cannon. However, it is unclear as to whether it is truly a "super smash". It is unknown how these moves will fit into the game, if they are even incorporated in actual matches, as opposed to prerendered cutscenes that would play in-game.
It has been stated that a new item will call out a large puppy from Nintendogs which blocks the screen.
Development
Masahiro Sakurai, former HAL Laboratories employee and creator of Kirby and the Super Smash Bros. series, has been announced as the director for the game.[2]
An IGN article states that "as of May 2005, the game's development staff consisted of exactly one person, Sakurai himself" and that there is an office in Tokyo just for the development of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The article also states that an unknown company whose employees spent a lot of time playing the game is being brought into the development team, and the team will have access to all the original material and tools from the development of Super Smash Bros. Melee.[3]
On Wednesday, May 10, 2006, at the After-Hours Press Conference at E³ 2006, Nintendo revealed that the next game's name would be Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Although unconfirmed, by images within the game's trailer it seems that new stages will include Meta-Knight's airship, the Halberd, from Kirby Super Star, the interior and exterior of what appears to be the same gloomy castle, (probably from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance or the recently announced Fire Emblem (Wii) as it shows the Daein crest), and an island floating high above a rocky canyon. It should be noted however, that in the first trailer for Super Smash Bros. Melee, originally shown at E3 2001, a number of levels that turned out to either not be in the final game at all, or were heavily modified, could be seen.
Miyamoto and Sakurai, who were there to make the announcement, also confirmed that the game would have full compatibility with the GameCube controller. Sakurai stated that the reason was because he did not want to "alienate those familiar with the pad." It was said by IGN that it will not use the Wii's motion sensing features because "We found that trying to implement too much motion-sensory functionality can get in the way of the game," said Sakurai. However there will still be an option to use the Wii controller.
The inclusion of Konami-created character Solid Snake may seem as a conflict of the Smash Bros. paradigm; to only include characters from games made by Nintendo and their second parties (ie. HAL Laboratory), but Sakurai stated that Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima "practically begged" for Snake to be included in the next Smash Bros. game (which, at the time of said "begging", was Super Smash Bros. Melee, but production of the game was already too far in to make the addition viable). According to Sumazi Sakurai, discussions for possible other third-party character additions are underway, but nothing has been confirmed.
Famed Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu contributed the main theme of the game. It is unknown whether he will be composing additional tracks. [4]
Japanese fans are currently being asked to submit their desired characters and themes to Nintendo's website, the most popular of which will be incorporated into the game. It is currently unknown if this will eventually be opened for overseas fans as well.[5]
Online multiplayer
Super Smash Bros. Brawl may be the first game in the series to feature an online multiplayer mode. The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service on Wii would be very similar to that of the Nintendo DS. It will feature a friend code system, which requires codes to be entered before a player can connect with a specific known opponent.[6] Although players can still play each other without sharing a "friend code", a unique twelve digit number, individual to each seperate game and console linked, in previous titles, such as Metroid Prime: Hunters for the Nintendo DS, without sharing this there were limitations on the gameplay for the safety of gamers.
Screenshots
References
- ^ "E³ 2005: Smash Bros. For Revolution" Ign.com. URL Accessed May 11, 2006.
- ^ "Smash Bros. Revolution Director Revealed" Ign.com. URL Accessed May 11, 2006.
- ^ "Sakurai Elaborates on Smash Bros. Revolution" Ign.com. URL Accessed May 11, 2006.
- ^ "A Main Theme with Emotion" Smashbros.com. URL Accessed May 11, 2006.
- ^ "E3 2006: Fans Asked to Fill Smash Bros. Roster" Ign.com. URL Accessed May 11, 2006.
- ^ "E3 2006: Wii Wi-Fi Just Like DS." Ign.com. URL Accessed May 11, 2006.
External links
- The Official Super Smash Bros. Website (includes trailer)
- IGN information
- GameSpot page
