Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Confirmed playable characters
Fox McCloud
Kirby
Link
Mario
Meta Knight
Pikachu
Pit
Samus Aran
Solid Snake
Wario
Stages
Items and Abilities
Music
Development
| | Title | Super Smash Bros. Brawl | | image |  | | Developer | Unknown DisputedAssertion
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Confirmed playable characters
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Fox McCloud
is the main protagonist of the Star Fox series. He appears in both Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, and returns in Brawl as confirmed on November 3, 2006, the first day of the Nintendo World Tour.
Little information has been released about Fox as of yet, but it is known that he will use his blaster as in the previous Smash Bros. games, which he now keeps out all the time, rather than drawing it to attack, and then putting it away afterward. Whether this will affect his moveset is unknown. Fox's look has been heavily redone for Brawl, as he now appears in a combination of his many looks over the past generation (Adventures, Assault, and Command).
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Kirby
is the star of the Kirby series, first appearing in Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy. Kirby appears in both the original Smash Bros. and Melee, having the ability to inhale opponents into his mouth, taking on aspects of that character's appearance, and copying one of his or her signature attacks. This ability gives Kirby a wide range of possible moves. As seen in the E3 trailer, Kirby's "Super Smash" move is his "Cook" power from Kirby Super Star, which involves boiling enemies in a pot.
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Link
, the hero of the ''Legend of Zelda'' series, is a Hylian swordsman who appears in both previous Smash Bros. games. Link's swordplay, including his downward strike, and bow are featured in the E3 trailer, as well as his Super Smash attack, in which he slashes at his opponent while he or she is trapped between two Triforces (see below). Although the incarnation of Link appears in both Super Smash Bros. and again in Melee, Link appears as he does in in Brawl. The Master Sword is Link's primary weapon in Brawl.
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Mario
is Nintendo's official mascot. He is the star of myriad games in the Super Mario series, and is present in the first and second Smash Bros. games. Mario's signature fireball is shown in the E3 trailer, as well as his new Super Smash move, where he projects a massive blast of fire that moves across the entire stage.
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Meta Knight
is a recurring enemy of the Kirby series, and is the second in the series after Kirby to become a Super Smash Bros. fighter. In the trailer shown at E3 2006, he can be seen performing quick sword slashes and blocking an attack with his cloak, which blends into the background. He is also shown jumping multiple times in midair, an ability held previously only by Kirby and Jigglypuff in the first two Smash Bros. games. During the trailer, Meta Knight's wings only appear while he is jumping in midair. Meta Knight is also able to glide in air as shown in the Nintendo World trailer. * The official website confirms that his symbol is the same as Kirby's: the warp star.
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Pikachu
is the unofficial mascot of the Pokémon series and became iconic in the ''Pokémon'' anime. Pikachu's first video game appearances were in ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Blue'' for the original Game Boy and then as the lead Pokémon in Pokémon Yellow for the Game Boy Color. Since then, it has been in almost every Pokémon video game made to date. Pikachu appears in both previous Smash Bros. games. Though some of Pikachu's trademark attacks are shown in the E3 trailer, including Thunder, Thunderbolt, and Quick Attack, its Super Smash has yet to be seen.
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Pit
, the protagonist of the Kid Icarus series, is the head of the royal bodyguards for the goddess Palutena. He makes his first playable appearance since the 1991 Game Boy game Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters. He is shown in the trailer fighting again with the Sacred Bow of Palutena, which has the ability to separate into two short blades for close-range combat (a feature unmentioned in the Kid Icarus games). In addition, he wears a pair of glowing rings on his left arm which expand onto the Sacred Bow when he prepares to fire light arrows. The rings retract onto his arm after use. In the E3 trailer, he is shown jumping multiple times in midair as Meta Knight does. Pit's symbol is a bow and arrow tilted at an angle as shown under his bio on the official website.
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Samus Aran
, the heroine of the ''Metroid'' series, appears in both previous Smash Bros. games. She returns in Brawl not just in her Power Suit, but also as Zero Suit Samus, based on her unsuited form from . The official website states that Zero Suit Samus "isn't a pure character addition," but rather a special mode for Samus, which manifests under "certain conditions." The details of this are currently unknown. Samus's Super Smash could be the massive charge beam blast shown in the E3 trailer. In the E3 and Nintendo World trailers, Zero Suit Samus is shown wielding a gun that can transform into an energy whip. The Nintendo World trailer also shows her doing acrobatic moves.
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Solid Snake
, the main character from Konami's Metal Gear franchise, is the first third-party character to become a Super Smash Bros. fighter. His appearance is taken directly from MGS2. Brawl 's director, Masahiro Sakurai, states on the official website that Snake will use a variety of explosives, including rocket launchers, and fight hand-to-hand. Snake will also use his trademark cardboard box, which he is seen hiding in near the end of the E3 trailer. In the Nintendo World trailer, Snake was finally shown in combat (Snake's moves are not showcased in the E3 trailer.), performing punches and various kicks, and using an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) from his series, confirming his use of explosives. Snake's symbol is that of the FOX organization from MGS3, which is also the logo of Kojima Productions.
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Wario
, one of Mario's main rivals and star of the WarioWare, Inc. and Wario Land games, makes his first playable appearance in the series. His appearance is based on his WarioWare costume. In the E3 trailer Wario executes an atomic flatulence, tentatively called the "Wario Waft" according to the official website. The Nintendo World trailer shows Wario performing various attacks while doing some of his dances from WarioWare. His symbol is the letter "W" rather than the super mushroom.
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Stages
The E3 trailer suggests that new stages will include the interior and exterior of a gloomy castle, the Halberd, Meta Knight's airship from Kirby Super Star, and an island floating high above a rocky canyon.
New stages shown in the Nintendo World trailer include a ruins-in-the-sky stage that features destructible platforms, a stage in the style of the Yoshi's Island games that appears to change seasons (altough a snowy scene presumably from this level could be a different level), a stage based on Mario Kart DS similar in appearance to Melee 's Mute City, the Pokemon Stadium stage from Melee, a Kid Icarus course with Greek-like statues and buildings in the background, a Star Fox stage in outer space with a space ship in orbit around a planet, and Shadow Moses from Metal Gear Solid, a remote isle located in Alaska—the stage revealed by Nintendo Power to be developed by Hideo Kojima himself.
It should be noted that in the first trailers for Super Smash Bros. Melee (originally shown at E³ 2001), a number of stages that turned out either to be heavily modified in the final game, or to not be in the final game at all, could be seen.•
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Items and Abilities
The video from E3 suggests the new ability to perform special moves, tentatively referred to as "Super Smash" moves in this article (there is yet to be an official name announced). These abilities are acquired through orb-shaped power-ups which bear the Super Smash symbol.• The trailer shows Mario's, Link's, and Kirby's Super Smash attacks. Mario, who is the only one seen in the trailer actually grabbing a Smash Emblem, invokes a large blast of fire, Link performs a barrage of sword slashes while Mario is trapped between two Triforce symbols, and Kirby uses his Cook ability from Kirby Super Star and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror to boil Mario in a pot.
The E3 trailer also shows footage of a puppy from Nintendogs attempting to climb the screen•, blocking the view of the battle. Although Nintendo has confirmed that this is caused by an item, the actual item was not shown in the trailer.
A new technique was shown in the Nintendo World trailer which essentially consists of characters crawling along the ground.
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Music
The main theme for Brawl was revealed in the E3 trailer as the background song, and it was created by the famed Final Fantasy composer, Nobuo Uematsu. It is unknown whether he will be composing additional tracks. Additionally, opera singers Ken Nishikiori and Oriko Takahashi have also contributed to the vocal arrangement in this project. Sakurai stated that the game's music will be performed by a full orchestra with vocals in Latin.• A version of the main theme with no choir is present in the Nintendo World trailer.
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Development
Masahiro Sakurai, former HAL Laboratories employee and creator of Kirby and the Super Smash Bros. series, is the director for the game.• An IGN article states that "as of May 2005, the game's development staff consisted of exactly one person," Sakurai himself. Sakurai states that many people who have spent a lot of time playing Super Smash Bros. Melee are being brought in as the development team, and the team will have access to all the original material and tools from the development of Melee.• Sakurai cannot announce the name of the team at this time but refers to them as "The Studio".
The game was conspicuously absent from Nintendo's Wii showing at their 2006 Pre-E3 press conference. The next day, on Wednesday, May 10, 2006, at the After-Hours Press Conference, Nintendo officially revealed the game under the name of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Miyamoto and Sakurai, who were there to make the announcement, hinted that the game could have full compatibility with the GameCube controller. Sakurai said that the reason was because he did not want to "alienate those familiar with the pad." In an interview with IGN, Sakurai said the Wii's motion sensing features might not be included because, "we found that trying to implement too much motion-sensory functionality can get in the way of the game."•
The inclusion of Konami-created character Solid Snake may seem to conflict with the Super Smash Bros. paradigm — to only include characters from games made by Nintendo and their second parties (e.g. HAL Laboratory) — but Sakurai said that Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima "practically begged" for Snake to be included in the next Super Smash Bros. game (which, at the time of said "begging", was during the production of Super Smash Bros. Melee, but production of the game was already too far in to make the addition viable). Incidentally, this isn't the first time Snake appears in a crossover fighting game. He was previously featured as a secret character in DreamMix TV World Fighters.
When questioned about the inclusion of other characters, Shigeru Miyamoto alleged that discussions for possible other third-party characters are underway, but nothing has been confirmed. If a third party character does appear in Brawl, the character must have been on a Nintendo console. Additionally, the character must originate from a video game (as written in a response to one fan requesting several anime and manga characters). Japanese fans were asked to submit their desired characters and musical themes via a forum on the game's official Japanese site, with some possibly appearing in the game. Likewise, Fans from other countries were asked to submit Ideas on Nintendo's official Forums It is currently unknown if Nintendo will ask fans outside of Japan to request characters or musical themes, though it has been said that Sakurai will receive various input from the NSiders forums on the official Nintendo of America website.•
On June 9, 2006, suggestions were no longer taken. In Toukoken, the portion on the Japanese site chronicling character and music suggestion updates, Sakurai has stated that some of the characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee may not return. He also states that he may not want to put much emphasis on Japan-only characters, but is not opposed to them entirely, noting the success that the Fire Emblem characters enjoyed internationally thanks to their inclusion in Melee. He also said that the tentative number of third party characters besides Snake are 1-2 and must have made a appearance on a Nintendo console before.
In August 2006, Sakurai and Shigeru Miyamoto stated that Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog was the most requested third-party character to be included. In the October 2006 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, he expressed that he would like to see Sonic in the game, but to date nothing has been confirmed.
In June, Sakurai updated the official website stating that he has to "temporarily stop updating this website as of June, 2006." Sakurai plans on focusing on the actual development of the game, and doesn't plan on updating the website until Brawl is close to release, or "if anything newsworthy comes up."•
The Japanese website has been updated confirming that new information will be revealed during this year's Nintendo World Tour. So far, Fox McCloud has been revealed to be in the game. No other information has been released yet.••
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