I love Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but I think I do so because I happened to be there from the beginning. There has been no game, before or after, that I've been as excited for as I was Brawl. I remember waking up and learning about the announcement in 2006. Super Smash Bros. Melee being one of my favorite games as a kid, I was instantly hooked. Helped to that every Nintendo-centric fansite I frequented was swept away by the excitement, too. The Smash Bros. DOJO!!, thegame's development blog, was far and away one of the coolest things for me in middle/high school, and its updates (every weekday morning!) made up many of my memories during the long, long road from May 11th, 2006 to March 8th, 2008. My friends at Designing For and I sometimes engage in a thought exercise where we talk about the DOJO as one of video gaming's greatest "levels". It doesn't really hit the same these days, but you sorta had to be there for it back then.
This isn't a write-up on the DOJO, but it's necessary to mention it to articulate why the game never hit the same way. The consequence of a two-year hype cycle was that Brawl could never live up to my dreams for it. The game had to be MORE MELEE in my head - since that's what it was for two years. I hardly have anything new to introduce to the "Melee vs Brawl" conversation, but that the conversation exists says that more folks than me thought like that. Personally I like Melee more for reasons I'll get into in that review (hint - it has nothing to do with competitive), but Brawl being not-Melee isn't necessarily a bad thing. Brawl wasn't trying to be Melee, and I don't think it HAD to be Melee. I will say the more serious art style belies this fact, and I'm glad later games went for a more stylized look, but it certainly didn't help matters.
These days, if you're going to play Brawl, the big draw is Subspace Emissary, the most robust story mode the series has seen to date. SSE has a lot of fans, and people these days tend to wonder why Smash Bros. hasn't really attempted something of its scope since. Part of that is that SSE was basically developed as a second game within Brawl, receiving just as much developmental focus as the entire rest of the game. But I also think that part of it is that SSE... isn't.. very good. Don't get me wrong, I generally have a good time with SSE, but I think I do so because I like the idea of it more than the execution. The cutscenes of characters interacting are fun, but there's shockingly little focus on series crossover within the mechanics and setting of SSE. It would've been cool to see the worlds of these different properties coming together, but we don't really get that. Look at all the crossover elements that show up in SSE besides cutscenes and playable and boss characters. Concretely, you have the Koopa Troop from Mario, the Halberd and Castle Dedede from Kirby, and the R.O.B.s. Expanding it to broad strokes nods, you of course have the general gameplay pulled from Kirby Super Star, a barrel cannon segment from Donkey Kong Country, Red acquiring Ivysaur and Charizard over the course of his adventure, an ice climbing bit reminiscent of Ice Climber, and (of all things) a run through a devastated zoo as in EarthBound Beginnings. That's basically it. Bosses help give more of a sense of crossover, but even they're a mixed bag. Ridley and Porky are nice surprise inclusions, while Petey Piranha and Rayquaza feel off (what's the governor of the heavens doing chilling in a lake and using Dig?). I guess it's all serviceable, if pretty repetitive (up until the Great Maze, which gets REALLY repetitive), but I dunno, I honestly think Smash Ultimate's World of Light is better as a crossover piece, even without all the cutscenes.
As for the rest of the experience, Brawl's... fine. I was never one for competitive play, so I'm all right with the slower cadence of fights and the higher emphasis placed on items, like with Assist Trophies and Smash Balls (I don't like the Dragoon Parts blocking Smash Balls here, glad that was changed in later games). Random tripping sux, but you hardly need me to say that. Most of the content lifted from Melee's still good, like Trophies and Event Matches, though character-specific Target Tests are sorely missed, as much of a logistical nightmare as they would be in a game of this expanding scope. We're at the point in the series where the roster and stage pulls are a lot more deliberate than previous games, but I think the inclusions here are strong enough. Stage Builder is a really cool inclusion, though it's still pretty limited in this game - Ultimate's finally around the point where custom stages start getting really interesting.
Alright, there are three things I must mention my love for here. First, of course, are the third-party guest characters. Say what you will about this opening the floodgates to endless Smash Bros. discourse about random dudes showing up or whatever, this is what really started Smash down the road of being a celebration of gaming, not just Nintendo in specific. Second, I LOVE the expanded focus on music, and I'm glad the tradition of an all-star roster of industry composers becomes a series staple from this point. Finally, Pokémon Trainer is probably my favorite character inclusion in the series, and what really started expanding the way I thought about my then-favorite franchise (but for goodness' sakes, Smash Bros., call him "Red").
This isn't a write-up on the DOJO, but it's necessary to mention it to articulate why the game never hit the same way. The consequence of a two-year hype cycle was that Brawl could never live up to my dreams for it. The game had to be MORE MELEE in my head - since that's what it was for two years. I hardly have anything new to introduce to the "Melee vs Brawl" conversation, but that the conversation exists says that more folks than me thought like that. Personally I like Melee more for reasons I'll get into in that review (hint - it has nothing to do with competitive), but Brawl being not-Melee isn't necessarily a bad thing. Brawl wasn't trying to be Melee, and I don't think it HAD to be Melee. I will say the more serious art style belies this fact, and I'm glad later games went for a more stylized look, but it certainly didn't help matters.
These days, if you're going to play Brawl, the big draw is Subspace Emissary, the most robust story mode the series has seen to date. SSE has a lot of fans, and people these days tend to wonder why Smash Bros. hasn't really attempted something of its scope since. Part of that is that SSE was basically developed as a second game within Brawl, receiving just as much developmental focus as the entire rest of the game. But I also think that part of it is that SSE... isn't.. very good. Don't get me wrong, I generally have a good time with SSE, but I think I do so because I like the idea of it more than the execution. The cutscenes of characters interacting are fun, but there's shockingly little focus on series crossover within the mechanics and setting of SSE. It would've been cool to see the worlds of these different properties coming together, but we don't really get that. Look at all the crossover elements that show up in SSE besides cutscenes and playable and boss characters. Concretely, you have the Koopa Troop from Mario, the Halberd and Castle Dedede from Kirby, and the R.O.B.s. Expanding it to broad strokes nods, you of course have the general gameplay pulled from Kirby Super Star, a barrel cannon segment from Donkey Kong Country, Red acquiring Ivysaur and Charizard over the course of his adventure, an ice climbing bit reminiscent of Ice Climber, and (of all things) a run through a devastated zoo as in EarthBound Beginnings. That's basically it. Bosses help give more of a sense of crossover, but even they're a mixed bag. Ridley and Porky are nice surprise inclusions, while Petey Piranha and Rayquaza feel off (what's the governor of the heavens doing chilling in a lake and using Dig?). I guess it's all serviceable, if pretty repetitive (up until the Great Maze, which gets REALLY repetitive), but I dunno, I honestly think Smash Ultimate's World of Light is better as a crossover piece, even without all the cutscenes.
As for the rest of the experience, Brawl's... fine. I was never one for competitive play, so I'm all right with the slower cadence of fights and the higher emphasis placed on items, like with Assist Trophies and Smash Balls (I don't like the Dragoon Parts blocking Smash Balls here, glad that was changed in later games). Random tripping sux, but you hardly need me to say that. Most of the content lifted from Melee's still good, like Trophies and Event Matches, though character-specific Target Tests are sorely missed, as much of a logistical nightmare as they would be in a game of this expanding scope. We're at the point in the series where the roster and stage pulls are a lot more deliberate than previous games, but I think the inclusions here are strong enough. Stage Builder is a really cool inclusion, though it's still pretty limited in this game - Ultimate's finally around the point where custom stages start getting really interesting.
Alright, there are three things I must mention my love for here. First, of course, are the third-party guest characters. Say what you will about this opening the floodgates to endless Smash Bros. discourse about random dudes showing up or whatever, this is what really started Smash down the road of being a celebration of gaming, not just Nintendo in specific. Second, I LOVE the expanded focus on music, and I'm glad the tradition of an all-star roster of industry composers becomes a series staple from this point. Finally, Pokémon Trainer is probably my favorite character inclusion in the series, and what really started expanding the way I thought about my then-favorite franchise (but for goodness' sakes, Smash Bros., call him "Red").