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Super Smash Bros. Brawl Review

Posted May 21st, 2008 at 11:09am

Super Smash Brothers Brawl is a sloppy wet kiss from Nintendo to its fans over the year. The Smash Brothers franchise was this to begin with -- a pinnacle of fanservice (the good kind, you pervs), but more than your typical fanservice. The basic mechanic of the entire series is bound to the idea that Nintendo threw together characters from its most popular franchises to let them whallop on each other outside of any story continuity. It's silly, over the top, and has twice already succeeded in becoming that game, you know the one that you buy with the console. So, does Nintendo capture that same lightning in a bottle for a third outing? If you don't know how the Smash Brothers paradigm works, it can be a little disorienting at first, especially if you've cut your teeth on pretty much every other brawler known to man. Every other brawler gives you a life meter and you proceed to pummel your opponent to the point of zero life meter, equalling unconsciousness. Smash Brothers takes a different approach. Probably stemming from presenting their properties in the best light possible, a character never dies/passes out/loses consciousness in Smash Brothers. Rather than a life bar, characters have a damage meter. The more they get hit, the more damage they take, and the easier it is to knock them out of the Arena. The damage meter turns the entire brawler mechanic on its ear, transforming this fighting game into a huge round of king

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Super Smash Bros. Brawl cracks 1.4 million sales

Posted March 20th, 2008 at 9:56pm

Not that anyone's surprised, but Nintendo's recently released Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii has breezed right past the 1.4 million sales mark in one single week since its release in the US. Joystiq reports that Nintendo's press release says 874,000 of those sales happened on release day. Wow. This reportedly makes it the "fastest-selling video game in Nintendo of America's history." As Joystiq says, Nintendo claims to have sold "at a rate of more than 120 units per minute between launch and March 16." Assuming they mean the entirety of March 16 (i.e. the first eight days), that amounts to 8 days * 24 hours/day * 60 minutes/day * 120 units/minute = 1,382,400 units. I still don't have a copy because the guy at EB Games hates me.

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Smash Bros. Smash Sales

Posted March 18th, 2008 at 10:11am

Super Smash Bros. Brawl has been out for a week, and if availability when I was trying to get my copy is any indication, this thing is selling fast. What's that? You don't believe me? You don't have to. There's a press release: Super Smash Bros. Brawl Smashes Nintendo Sales Records Wii Game Sells at a Rate of More than 120 per Minute REDMOND, Wash., March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- After just one week on store shelves, Super Smash Bros.(R) Brawl for Wii has become the fastest-selling video game in Nintendo of America's history. Since its launch on March 9, the feature-packed fighting action game has sold more than 1.4 million units in the United States, including more than 874,000 on March 9 alone. It has sold at a rate of more than 120 units per minute between launch and March 16. "Super Smash Bros. Brawl has made the leap from video game to cultural phenomenon," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Game reviewers and the public alike praise its fun game play and extensive, inventive content." Super Smash Bros. Brawl features a nearly limitless variety of options for players. Dozens of classic Nintendo characters like Mario(TM) and Pikachu(R) are joined by industry icons like Sonic The Hedgehog(TM) and Metal Gear's Solid Snake for all-out four-player battles. The endless customization keeps players coming back for more. The previous game in the series, Super Smash Bros.(R) Melee, became the best-selling Nintendo GameCube(TM) game of all

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Super Smash Bros. Brawl First Impressions

Posted March 11th, 2008 at 3:03pm

Just picked up my copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and I'm in heaven. Graphics are sharp, gameplay is fluid, the number of options is simply overwhelming, and the online play has been smooth. And I suck. I admit it: this is the first Smash Bros. I ever really played aside from the demo kiosks at Target, once upon a time. It's hard to get a real feel for a game when you get reset every five minutes. Not one to give up, however, I've been sticking with it. Unlike other fighting games that feature fairly significant characters and fighting styles, Smash Bros. take a nice approach to the control system of the game: Each character fires off their moves in the exact same way. No forward-back-quarter-forward punch for you, mister. Each character has different moves and effects (at least to start -- I know there are some clone characters in here), but the execution of the moves is all the same. Now, I can pick any character I care to, punch a couple of buttons, and I have the basics. This system invites the player to explore and actually play, and that's a good thing for a game. Some of the characters appeal to me over others already, but this is normal. As I investigate the game more, and try other players, I'm sure their nuance will come to me -- I'm looking at you, Olimar. My six-year-old and I are having a grand old time. As soon as

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