Dr. Eggman writes "As feared when it was announced that the Japanese launch was being pushed back to January 24, Nintendo has announced that Super Smash Bros. Brawl has been delayed in North America as well. 1up.com cites the new launch date as February 10th. On the bright side, however, 16-bit era fan's prayers have been answered: Sonic the Hedgehog is officially in the game."
Exactly. It's amazing how many people bitch and moan about delaying a game that they're expecting without giving any consideration as to why that game is going to be delayed. It's just as amazing how many game companies seem to think that delaying a game is like some kind of suicide call. I'd much rather wait for a game to come out and work as it should instead of getting an unplayable product rushed to market just to match a deadline (eg: Ultima: Ascension).
It's amazing how many people bitch and moan about delaying a game that they're expecting without giving any consideration as to why that game is going to be delayed
While there's usually a good reason (in the case of Smash Bros. it's going to be really, really good to miss the holiday season), it's always disappointing that the developer wasn't able to more accurately estimate the amount of time the game would require. Yes, i would rather wait longer than I expected for a good game; at the same time, I would have rather had them wait another month before giving a release date and have that release date be accurate.
But I'd really rather prefer a late game to a bugged game.
Not only that, but I wouldn't mind if they spaced out their "tent pole" games through out the year, and not just the 3-4 months at the end. I realize Quarter 4 is when they do most of their business, but games like Smash Bros, Mario, Zelda, Halo, Final Fantasy, MGS... don't need to come out for Christmas to sell. They will sell in the millions no matter when they release, so why not spread them out a little more?
That should give me plenty of time to finish Mass Effect and Revenant Wings before beginning a Wii hunt to play Smash.
Can't care less about Sonic, though. Just hope he's not a broken character, since in Smash speed is paramount (hence space animals and Sheik being top tier).
The supposed character tiers in Smash Bros are a pretty stupid idea. They come from tournament play where matches are limited to 1 vs 1 and the rules are set to eliminate as much randomness as possible. Items get turned off and a large chunk of the stages aren't allowed.
It's basically trying to turn Smash Bros into Street Fighter and isn't at all representative of how the game is normally played.
The "No x... y... Lame" bit was a reference to CmdrTaco's "No wirless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." verdict concerning the iPod at the time of its release.
Well if you're wondering, it's any character, usually 4-stock, no items, and 6 or so stages (Final Destination, Yoshi's Island, Kirby Dreamland 64, Fountain of Dreams, Battlefield, Pokemon Stadium). Sometimes a 10-min timer on top of that but I've never seen it run out. Oh, and best 2 out of 3 unless it's the finals where it's sometimes best of 5.
Smash lends itself surprisingly well to tournament play. You'd be surprised. "Tiers" notwithstanding, skill (technical and mind-games) goes a VERY long way, and the usual tourney setup is very good fun. There's nothing bad about fighting games, after all, and Smash under certain settings becomes a very good one. It's a testament to the game's great customizeability. If I want to play a 4-player free-for-all match where I am having fun with people who've never even touched a GCN controller before, I can. If
I think you're close on your idea. Except it's the rabid fighting game fans trying to justify why they like SSB. Kinda like the diehard RPG fans calling Zelda an RPG to justify liking it...
Most SSB fans realize there isn't really a good genre to put the game into, although fighting is probably the closest.
Well one of the awesome things about Smash is you CAN play it as a "purist fighter" if you want to! The "usual" Smash setup is good fun for a while, but playing the game competitively in the controlled tournament environment is a good way to extend the game's lifespan (SSBM has been around without a sequel for quite some time, after all) because it lets you learn new techniques, strategies, etc. that really just don't have practical applications in the "party" setup of something like 4-player FFA with items
Much like Mario Kart isn't really a racing game SSB is not really a fighting game. MK is a Kart game (and there are plenty of others) and SSB is a... lets call it a Brawler. The only difference I can see is that, to the best of my knowledge, there aren't any other games like SSB.
SSB is a fighting game in the same sense that Mario Strikers is a soccer game.
Literally. I've always called SSB the ultimate king of the hill experience. It's a fighter, true and proper. I think the definition of fighter is getting blurred by buttons and combo systems. Any game where the point is to beat up one other guy with your fists, and everyone shares the same camera, is going to be a fighter.
A fun game. It's not based on raw skill and straightforward proper-sequence button mashing. There's some strategy, prediction, knowing your opponent, and moments when all that goes to hell because the other guy got a star, heart, and hammer at the same time. Tournament players don't know what smash is because they're too busy studying how to break it rather than have fun.
Tournament players know what Smash is better than most. They've played the HECK out of Smash using its usual setups, and have simply discovered ways to play the game competitively that your casual players wouldn't have even thought of. They are the most dedicated, die-hard Smash Bros fans you'll ever meet. I can promise you that most of the folks in the Smash tournament scene would be very offended at what you wrote because it's so unbelievably inaccurate. The game *can* be based on raw skill under certain
> "They've played the HECK out of Smash using its usual setups, and have simply discovered ways to play the game competitively that your casual players wouldn't have even thought of." True, but they also play the game competitively in ways that are obvious, yet I simply wouldn't do. Mostly this pertains to choice of characters.
> "They are the most dedicated, die-hard Smash Bros fans you'll ever meet." For certain definitions of what Smash Bros is, yes. For the way I play, and what Smash Bros really mean
I can't believe they're allowing that game to slip past the holiday season. I'm sure the Wii will still sell out, but that's a major title that a lot of people were expecting. I wonder whether this was caused by development issues or to boost their sales numbers in the retail slump between Christmas & Easter. On a side note the article lists a 2/10 US release date (only mentioning it since it's not in the summary).
Not a big deal. They have Mario Galaxy in mid/late-November and that should keep people pretty happy for a while. Right now the only big title for the start of the new year is Mario Kart Wii, so this new release date will give them some extra momentum for the 1st quarter.
Because that's the Male character from Pokemon Fire Red and Satoshi/Ash does not look like that? Pokemon If anything that is "Fire red" as the Pokemon naming system goes from the comics.
In case you missed out on the press [wikipedia.org], Sonic was rumored for inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Melee [wikipedia.org] (released for the Gamecube back in 2001-2002). Here [detstar.com] is a quick rundown, with requisite pretty pictures.
Actually, the intriguing bit is whether or not it will be possible to have Sonic go Supersonic [wikipedia.org], a common theme in most Sonic games. To start the rumor mill going: the official Sonic-in-Smash-Bros. trailer ends with a quick glimpse at him in Supersonic mode....
Every character gets a final smash-- basically a super move. For example, Bowser turns into a giant Bowser, and Samus does some crazy charged shot and then her armor falls off.
My guess is that Supersonic is Sonic's final smash
If they use the extra time to polish up and make the Network Play as solid as possible, then the delay is more than worth it. If they decide at the end that they just can't make it work, or use some pathetic matching system like buddy codes it'll be a huge blow to anyone who believed the Wii was a legitimate online multiplayer platform.
So who hear joined me in screaming out a nice, James Earl Jones cry upon reading the subject title?
Still, as has been echoed above, I'd rather an awesome game than an early game.... Ok, somehow I hit the lameness filter for too much repetition. Somebody's gotta tell Taco or whoever else is in charge of that, that English is 75% redundant. Maybe I should just post an ascii representation of the gzipped contents of my post. Hm.. is my post long enough yet? Apparently so.
16-bit era fan's prayers... (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:16-bit era fan's prayers... (Score:4, Funny)
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It's upsetting (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:It's upsetting (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:It's upsetting (Score:4, Insightful)
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Duke Nukem Forever. Release date: "When it's done."
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Re:It's not upsetting (Score:5, Insightful)
Not only that, but I wouldn't mind if they spaced out their "tent pole" games through out the year, and not just the 3-4 months at the end. I realize Quarter 4 is when they do most of their business, but games like Smash Bros, Mario, Zelda, Halo, Final Fantasy, MGS... don't need to come out for Christmas to sell. They will sell in the millions no matter when they release, so why not spread them out a little more?
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Good news (Score:3, Insightful)
Can't care less about Sonic, though. Just hope he's not a broken character, since in Smash speed is paramount (hence space animals and Sheik being top tier).
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It's basically trying to turn Smash Bros into Street Fighter and isn't at all representative of how the game is normally played.
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Fox only
Final Destination
Re:Good news (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Whooosh! (Score:4, Informative)
Joke
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Hitto
The "No x... y... Lame" bit was a reference to CmdrTaco's "No wirless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." verdict concerning the iPod at the time of its release.
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Well if you're wondering, it's any character, usually 4-stock, no items, and 6 or so stages (Final Destination, Yoshi's Island, Kirby Dreamland 64, Fountain of Dreams, Battlefield, Pokemon Stadium). Sometimes a 10-min timer on top of that but I've never seen it run out. Oh, and best 2 out of 3 unless it's the finals where it's sometimes best of 5.
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Most SSB fans realize there isn't really a good genre to put the game into, although fighting is probably the closest.
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Arguably, it is in its own genre.
Much like Mario Kart isn't really a racing game SSB is not really a fighting game. MK is a Kart game (and there are plenty of others) and SSB is a... lets call it a Brawler. The only difference I can see is that, to the best of my knowledge, there aren't any other games like SSB.
SSB is a fighting game in the same sense that Mario Strikers is a soccer game.
King of the Hill (Score:2)
Re:Good news (Score:4, Insightful)
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True, but they also play the game competitively in ways that are obvious, yet I simply wouldn't do. Mostly this pertains to choice of characters.
> "They are the most dedicated, die-hard Smash Bros fans you'll ever meet."
For certain definitions of what Smash Bros is, yes. For the way I play, and what Smash Bros really mean
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Missing the Holidays (Score:5, Interesting)
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like you need more momentum than what Kart brings.
I don't have any hard numbers but it sure looks to me like the Kart franchise is the biggest one Nintendo has.
Why "The Pokemon Trainer" (Score:3, Interesting)
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It smacks of an odd rights and character ownership issue, or maybe even Voice Acting...
Re:Why "The Pokemon Trainer" (Score:4, Informative)
I don't know about you but choosing "Red" as my character sure sounds like a winner
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Sonic - not a rumor this time! (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, the intriguing bit is whether or not it will be possible to have Sonic go Supersonic [wikipedia.org], a common theme in most Sonic games. To start the rumor mill going: the official Sonic-in-Smash-Bros. trailer ends with a quick glimpse at him in Supersonic mode....
Re:Sonic - not a rumor this time! (Score:4, Informative)
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Probably his final smash (Score:2)
My guess is that Supersonic is Sonic's final smash
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Success? (Score:5, Funny)
Also, I can't help but notice that the old release date announcement has been quietly taken off the official Smash Bros site [smashbros.com].
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Beat Metroid Prime 3 yet? If not, the game's extremely good and well worth buying.
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Re:Success? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah I hate it when inaccurate information is taken off of websites to prevent confusion.
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Network Play polish (Score:2)
Noooooo.... (Score:2)
Still, as has been echoed above, I'd rather an awesome game than an early game.
Ok, somehow I hit the lameness filter for too much repetition. Somebody's gotta tell Taco or whoever else is in charge of that, that English is 75% redundant. Maybe I should just post an ascii representation of the gzipped contents of my post. Hm.. is my post long enough yet? Apparently so.