SSBB Is It Really That Bad?

[G MAN]

Super Smash Brothers Brawl was the first game in the series I played. My dad and I went to Blockbuster, and looked at the older games you could rent for $0.99 a night. I was shocked to find a game with Pikachu, Mario, an evil looking Mario, a guy/girl in a space suit, and a pink ball of fluff on the cover. I was in love with Mario Land and Pokemon Yellow, so this was enough to convince me I should get it. I rented it, played online, did challenges, classic mode, turned it in. I almost cried the next night when my dad said we had to take it back. Then, I went online and watched tournaments of the game. I saw new characters, people I never unlocked. I looked up "Samus" and found out she was actually a girl. She was from Metroid, a series that differs from the current first person shooters. "Olimar". He was an astronaut who used Pikmin to help him where he lacked. Then, I realized it. Smash captured each character PERFECTLY, from their moveset to their idle animations. 2 years later, I went and stopped by at my local GameStop. There it was. Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The disc was scratched, but I figured I'd buy it for $17. I go home, eager to play the masterpiece of a game, only to find that my system wouldn't read it. I took it out, wiped it off, and put it back in for at least 2 hours. Then, I had to go to bed. I woke up the next day, feeling miserable. I was so close to playing the game I always wanted, but the disc I was holding wouldn't work. I looked up tutorials as to how to fix a broken disc, but nothing worked. Until, that is, I found a video entitled "How to Fix Mario Kart Wii". I didn't have the game, but figured it would be fixed in the same fashion. He explained and showed how the characters and vehicles would glitch or crash the game entirely when he tried to play online. Then, he did the most random thing I heard of yet. He rubbed toothpaste on it. He then showed the end result, a game that ran about 95% better. I was thinking, "This is a scam. He just wants to troll people into breaking their games.", but that's when it hit me. The disc wouldn't register,what did I have to lose? So, I did just that. I put toothpaste on it, rubbed it in. and the disc still works to this day. Although I haven't played it besides once or twice since the new ones released, I can't help but look at the game on my shelf and whisper "Thank You." to the guy who made that video. If it wasn't for him, I would have never become such a huge fan of the series. If you are reading this, thank you. You helped me save the game that got me through some VERY rough times in my childhood. Parents fighting? I would plug in my Wii and escape to a world filled with vibrant, over the top characters. And its all thanks to you. The community. The pro players that kept me determined to get it. All of you. Thank you.

 

[KnighddDd]

Actually toothpaste makes the games worse ask that to my wii u games i lost my favourite game of all times just because someone told me to use the toothpaste thingy and, It is completely dead, its not recognized even a s a wii u game, even if the console did recognize it as a wii u game before cleaning it that way im just gonna say you got lucky lol

 

[Hayleia]

Is it really that bad? Well it depends.

As you say, it captures the characters well even to their idle positions. The musics are awesome, etc. Overall it's a really well done game.

The problem with it is that it's a really good Mario Kart game, not a good Smash game. So that's why a lot of people in the Smash community complain.

So that's why the people who expected it to be Melee's successor were extremely disappointed but others (casual players, newcomers, etc) just enjoyed the upsides one can find in every Smash game without seeing the downsides compared to other games of the series.

 

[Zukrad]

Super Smash Brothers Brawl was the first game in the series I played. My dad and I went to Blockbuster, and looked at the older games you could rent for $0.99 a night. I was shocked to find a game with Pikachu, Mario, an evil looking Mario, a guy/girl in a space suit, and a pink ball of fluff on the cover. I was in love with Mario Land and Pokemon Yellow, so this was enough to convince me I should get it. I rented it, played online, did challenges, classic mode, turned it in. I almost cried the next night when my dad said we had to take it back. Then, I went online and watched tournaments of the game. I saw new characters, people I never unlocked. I looked up "Samus" and found out she was actually a girl. She was from Metroid, a series that differs from the current first person shooters. "Olimar". He was an astronaut who used Pikmin to help him where he lacked. Then, I realized it. Smash captured each character PERFECTLY, from their moveset to their idle animations. 2 years later, I went and stopped by at my local GameStop. There it was. Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The disc was scratched, but I figured I'd buy it for $17. I go home, eager to play the masterpiece of a game, only to find that my system wouldn't read it. I took it out, wiped it off, and put it back in for at least 2 hours. Then, I had to go to bed. I woke up the next day, feeling miserable. I was so close to playing the game I always wanted, but the disc I was holding wouldn't work. I looked up tutorials as to how to fix a broken disc, but nothing worked. Until, that is, I found a video entitled "How to Fix Mario Kart Wii". I didn't have the game, but figured it would be fixed in the same fashion. He explained and showed how the characters and vehicles would glitch or crash the game entirely when he tried to play online. Then, he did the most random thing I heard of yet. He rubbed toothpaste on it. He then showed the end result, a game that ran about 95% better. I was thinking, "This is a scam. He just wants to troll people into breaking their games.", but that's when it hit me. The disc wouldn't register,what did I have to lose? So, I did just that. I put toothpaste on it, rubbed it in. and the disc still works to this day. Although I haven't played it besides once or twice since the new ones released, I can't help but look at the game on my shelf and whisper "Thank You." to the guy who made that video. If it wasn't for him, I would have never become such a huge fan of the series. If you are reading this, thank you. You helped me save the game that got me through some VERY rough times in my childhood. Parents fighting? I would plug in my Wii and escape to a world filled with vibrant, over the top characters. And its all thanks to you. The community. The pro players that kept me determined to get it. All of you. Thank you.

The problem with Brawl is that it is really bad for competitive play

Tripping, is Slow, insane survability, horrible wi-fi connection, extremely unbalanced character roster, too defensive and laggy

Is a fun game, but is not designed for competitive play

 

[Ace]

You put tooth paste on your disc huh? I first thought the disc on my copy of Brawl was faulty, but it turned out to be a Wii issue. (it couldn't read Dual Layer Discs) But yeah, the rouster in Brawl had some OP characters vs SSB for 3DS\Wii U.

 

[Hayleia]

But yeah, the rouster in Brawl had some OP characters vs SSB for 3DS\Wii U.

The fact you only mention the roster and Smash 4 shows you never played Melee and 64 seriously lol

Because the problem isn't just OP characters in the roster, otherwise these ones would just be banned from tournaments and no one would care. It's not an unbalanced roster either, otherwise there wouldn't be people praising Melee and despising Brawl (because Melee isn't exactly balanced either).

It's the combination of all what @Zukrad said. Tripping also being the thing I'd put first on my list, which is why I called Brawl a good Mario Kart game but a bad Smash one (all other Smash games had an option to disable randomness except Brawl).

With that said, once again, that's a bad Smash game but a good game overall, if you're just into having fun with your friends with items on. You'll never even notice anyone is OP, you won't notice tripping, you won't notice anything.

 

[Ace]

The fact you only mention the roster and Smash 4 shows you never played Melee and 64 seriously lol

Because the problem isn't just OP characters in the roster, otherwise these ones would just be banned from tournaments and no one would care. It's not an unbalanced roster either, otherwise there wouldn't be people praising Melee and despising Brawl (because Melee isn't exactly balanced either).

It's the combination of all what @Zukrad said. Tripping also being the thing I'd put first on my list, which is why I called Brawl a good Mario Kart game but a bad Smash one (all other Smash games had an option to disable randomness except Brawl).

With that said, once again, that's a bad Smash game but a good game overall, if you're just into having fun with your friends with items on. You'll never even notice anyone is OP, you won't notice tripping, you won't notice anything.

Well you don't know that I did\didn't play Melee or 64. (Which I have by the way.) and you've raised a good point for it's been a good long while since I've played Brawl, Melee or 64. Also: I didn't know Tripping was a problem, I just kinda figured I hit too many buttons while running. But still, you've righted my wrong just now.

 

[Hayleia]

Well you don't know that I did\didn't play Melee or 64. (Which I have by the way.)

That's why I specified "seriously". Because same, I actually started with Melee but not seriously, then tried Brawl seriously (because I thought I'd play Melee's successor) and was not shocked or anything... because even though I played Melee, I never played it seriously. Then I went back to Melee (because it was more available actually, nothing more) and never was able to come back to Brawl.

 

[Mira]

I actually love Brawl. It was also the first Smash game I played. We rented the game at GameCrazy, the game store where you rent games but that place is long gone. I think I was like 10 lol. I knew nothing about Nintendo then. I remember choosing the pink puff ball as my first character only because I found him cute. That puffball is still one of my mains to this day.
I can't play Brawl anymore because I had the same problem. I saw that video as well, but it wouldn't work for me. Mine had a deep scratch in it, so rip.

I love Brawl a lot. It's my favorite Smash game tbh. But I still love Smash 4 as well.

 

[Pokeflutes]

I grew up playing the game and loved it. It was a masterpiece and had pretty good graphics. It's still my favorite game to this day.

 

[2071]

Personally I think that Brawl was one of the best game during its time when the Wii was still alive. It introduced characters like Snake, had a lot of content and some features were fantastic. The Subspace Emissary was cool too. It was also the first game of the Smash series that I got to play

 

[Exsception]

Until Smash 4 came out, I didn't play competitively, and neither did anyone else in my family. But I'll tell ya, some of the best times in my life were when we only had Brawl. We played insane custom stages meant to keep you alive for eternity, always had every item on, and were constantly toying with the in-game camera taking crazy photos. Most people would find it annoying, but for me, it was the highlight of my day.

So sure, Brawl may not be that great competitively, but when I want some mindless Smash Bros. fun with family, I always go to Brawl, never SSB 4.

 

[4rcanum]

When Super Smash Brothers Brawl was canned by competitive players, only two reasons were brought up. For the first one they thought that because it wasn't Melee, it was bad, which I think is a little bit on the elitist side of things. Another reason was the tripping mechanic, which only hindered me a little bit at the time. Maybe it's because they play frequently and the tripping mechanic got in their way too much?

 

[Slayer115]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl was and still is one of the best games in the entire series due to it's amazing character roster, music, graphics, and the most important thing, the gameplay. Yes the tripping was an issue and the story was as strong as classic mode and it just felt perfect in your hands, was this game truly bad? It's all a matter of perspective and personal taste, some may like this game and others might hate, you can't please everyone. Right?

 

[Swegged-up4tacos]

Just story mode... The best thing ever

 

[Blue Knight]

I'd be willing to call Brawl the best Smash game from a completely casual or single player standpoints.

The latter especially, the Subspace Emissary was the most glorious thing ever <3

 

[Slayerpon Tatsu]

Super Smash Brothers Brawl was the first game in the series I played. My dad and I went to Blockbuster, and looked at the older games you could rent for $0.99 a night. I was shocked to find a game with Pikachu, Mario, an evil looking Mario, a guy/girl in a space suit, and a pink ball of fluff on the cover. I was in love with Mario Land and Pokemon Yellow, so this was enough to convince me I should get it. I rented it, played online, did challenges, classic mode, turned it in. I almost cried the next night when my dad said we had to take it back. Then, I went online and watched tournaments of the game. I saw new characters, people I never unlocked. I looked up "Samus" and found out she was actually a girl. She was from Metroid, a series that differs from the current first person shooters. "Olimar". He was an astronaut who used Pikmin to help him where he lacked. Then, I realized it. Smash captured each character PERFECTLY, from their moveset to their idle animations. 2 years later, I went and stopped by at my local GameStop. There it was. Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The disc was scratched, but I figured I'd buy it for $17. I go home, eager to play the masterpiece of a game, only to find that my system wouldn't read it. I took it out, wiped it off, and put it back in for at least 2 hours. Then, I had to go to bed. I woke up the next day, feeling miserable. I was so close to playing the game I always wanted, but the disc I was holding wouldn't work. I looked up tutorials as to how to fix a broken disc, but nothing worked. Until, that is, I found a video entitled "How to Fix Mario Kart Wii". I didn't have the game, but figured it would be fixed in the same fashion. He explained and showed how the characters and vehicles would glitch or crash the game entirely when he tried to play online. Then, he did the most random thing I heard of yet. He rubbed toothpaste on it. He then showed the end result, a game that ran about 95% better. I was thinking, "This is a scam. He just wants to troll people into breaking their games.", but that's when it hit me. The disc wouldn't register,what did I have to lose? So, I did just that. I put toothpaste on it, rubbed it in. and the disc still works to this day. Although I haven't played it besides once or twice since the new ones released, I can't help but look at the game on my shelf and whisper "Thank You." to the guy who made that video. If it wasn't for him, I would have never become such a huge fan of the series. If you are reading this, thank you. You helped me save the game that got me through some VERY rough times in my childhood. Parents fighting? I would plug in my Wii and escape to a world filled with vibrant, over the top characters. And its all thanks to you. The community. The pro players that kept me determined to get it. All of you. Thank you.

So for those that it's TL; DR: I got brawl and obsessed over it.

Well it's pretty bad considering the speed of the game and the questionable stage choices. The graphics were good for its time but the representation... Ehhhh that's debatable. I liked brawl but it's not that great for competitive play.

 

[Artisan]

My issue with Brawl wasn't the game itself but the way it was formatted on the disc. The inside layer got scratched somehow and it basically makes certain characters unplayable. I wouldn't call the game slow, I'd just call it a game that requires more prediction and more floaty characters. The new characters were fine. Pit could not get KOs for his life unless you used fair or bair properly and he relied more on getting KOs offstage. A common combo in the game is multi-hit nair into utilt (so that's with Olimar, Lucas, Pit, maybe others). Ganondorf was really slow and his jumps weren't very high. The main issue was character balance. Meta Knight has quick movements and unmatchable specials so basically if you get tornado-ed your counterplay is shield and punish. Shielding was certainly promoted more in Brawl as it seems like the shield lasts forever. It was good in the fact that people didn't like how it played so we got hacks and there's more direction for better sequels but it was bad that it got less attention. I think overall the game relies more on the player with the better neutral game.