Brawl is an overhated game and I find it to be a very fun time and a great game to play at a gathering or by oneself to an extent. One summer I hunkered down and played through all of Subspace Emissary because I wanted all of the characters unlocked for when I played against my family, I must have been 13 or 14 at the time. The story mode makes up for the bulk of my love of Brawl, but the gameplay itself is super fun, I love the stages and the music and the retro game trials, all of it, this game will always hold a special place in my heart. I will admit my score is probably inflated by nostalgia, I won't discount the influence Brawl had on me, instilling a love of fighting games when I couldn't have been older than 8 years old. The value of a long single player mode in a fighting game must not be overlooked!

This is 1 of the first 3 games I've ever played. I have a very strong feeling it's the 1rst. My older cousin put me onto this game, via the Subspace Emissary. A story mode campaign wherein you and the other characters are tasked with saving the world from the trophy master (call him that cause he turns dudes into trophies). It's hella fun and the levels have tons of soul in them. Plenty of variety and wonderfully designed levels. Also, the boss battles are kino. Which other game lets you fight Ripley on a burning starfox fighter jet!? As for the plain pvp mode it's great. Items are a lot of fun, especially the smash ball which allows for some wonderful super moves!!! The maps are all engaging and a treat to the eyes. Not to mention you can create your own maps as well. You can also look at character backgrounds (story) in the trophy view mode. This game is packed full of content and characters. Who woulda thought Mario, Sonic, and Snake would all be in 1 game. That's unheard of, basically the staples of Nintendo's competitor consoles all together in 1 game. Overall, I played this game time and time again growing up. With people this game is made even more fun. I use to fake being sick to play this game in elementary school, it was that good. Before summer camp, me and my little cousin would also play the Subspace Emissary. This game basically birthed my love for videogames.

competitively, this game is hilariously bad, casually though? It's peak. Also casually I still don't like some mechanics like tripping and the game feels overall way more floaty and weightless compared to the others. The online was also dog shit. Other than that, brawl was truly jam packed with loads of content that provided endless fun. Break the targets became unfortunately generic but still fun and welcome to have. The other modes like the coin shooter, stadium mini games, event matches which are now co op as well was so much damn fun. Don't even get me started on subspace. I will never forgive Sakurai for leaving out a true cutscene heavy adventure mode in later titles all because people post the cutscenes online. Like bro....fuck you.