Games for Lunch: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

In a nutshell: Fan-service fighting fun!
3/11/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 3

0:21 Applying the sticker to a pad helps Kirby's attack power somehow. Don't ask me how that's supposed to work.

0:22 Pit watches the carnage unfolding in his magic orb, then he's visited by ... Athena, I guess? She gives him a bow, and he's back, after decades away! The eight-year-old Nintendo fanboy in me is bawling uncontrollably all through the rest of the cut scene.

0:25 Time for another fight with some of the random grunts, this time on the cloudtops. Ho hum.

0:26 First impressions of Pit: I like him. The fast, weapon-based action of Link with flying of Kirby.

0:27 New item alert... spicy food makes me shoot red fireballs out of my head automatically as I fight. Nice!

0:29 Boss fight with "Greap," a big axe-wielding robot. He gives me a little trouble, until I remember to roll away from his attacks.

0:30 Pit spies statue-Mario in the clouds and revives him. They leap off to adventure, together! Just like that dream I had back in 1990!

0:31 An extended side-scrolling section. I try simply avoiding enemies for a minute... that doesn't work very well. Guess I gotta fight 'em.

0:33 The battles are getting a little harder. The enemies are ganging up on me, and it's working.

0:34 The stage ends as a Star Fox Arwing flies by. I got 27 coins, three statues, four stickers and a partridge in a pear tree. Time to try some other modes, I think.

0:38 I play around in training mode a bit with Wario. Love the pratfalls and the goofy animation. I get a banana peel trophy for my efforts. Interesting...

0:39 "Event match" seems as good a place as any to get a feel for the game's variety. The first level has Mario fighting Kings Bowser and Dedede. Pretty easy, but there's always room for improvement on the time.

0:41 The next event involves using Fox's final smash over and over to call in a huge tank and pretty much destroy everything that moves with ease. I'm saying it's really powerful.

0:43 Meta Knight in level three is a bit hard to control... I scale it back and stop trying fancy stuff, and it goes OK.

0:45 Somehow I did not know this game had breakable terrain. Now I do, though, because I had to break it.

0:46 Giant Ivysaur = cutest thing EVER! I take a picture to prove it.

0:47 New cutest thing EVER: Ivysaur with a beam sword in his mouth. Awwww...

0:48 I like Ivysaur a lot. Seems to have a good variety of ranged, directional attacks.

0:50 The Super Bowser Bros. Stage -- navigating Bowser through World 1-1 from Super Mario Bros. brings a goofy grin to my face. Then I die four times in a row. The grin has become a determined scowl. I must WIN!

0:51 I cross the flagpole just as I'm about to die. Those attacking Marios are merciless.

0:53 On to Target Smash. Seems pretty easy so far with Mario and Donkey Kong. It's a little depressing that the stage is the same for everyone... I liked the custom designs in the previous games.

0:56 The home-run contest was a favorite time-waster for me in Melee, and it's much-improved this time around by a force field that keeps the bag on the platform until you're ready to whack it. I get 1327.9 ft. on my first try. In Melee that would be close to a world record...