Super Smash Bros. Brawl Daily updates

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 6:09 pm

Ganondorf

The demon thief Ganondorf has returned! He’s the largest and bulkiest of all human-type characters.

His movement, his attack capability—everything feels weighted. Ganondorf’s attacks land with heavy thunks, which gives him a very unique feel.

• Play 200 matches or more in Brawl
• Using either Zelda or Link, clear Classic on Hard difficulty or higher
• Get Ganondorf to join your party in The Subspace Emissary (To do that, save Link and Zelda in Subspace toward the end of the adventure. Ganondorf appears after you clear the stage.)
• With the exception of the last of the three methods listed above, you’ll need to face Ganondorf in a brawl and beat him after satisfying the above conditions to unlock him.

Ganondorf's Special Moves
Standard Special Move: Warlock Punch
Side Special Move: Flame Choke
Up Special Move: Dark Dive
Down Special Move: Wizard's Foot
Final Smash: Beast Ganon

Tips

In the last game, Ganondorf appeared with a stout build, so he’s got a middle-aged guy’s body here, as well.

His techniques are rendered with his stoutness in mind—they’re bitter and tough.

He runs while panting... "Uff uff uff!"

A piercing kick! He blasts the opponent sideways.

Down Taunt: Ganondorf draws a sword.

He takes out the sword he stole from the six Sages and takes a look at it.

... Then puts it away.

What are you putting it away for? Use it! People tend to make fun of Ganondorf for this.

<Side Special Move: Flame Choke>

On the ground, he grabs the opponent’s head and thumps it down.

In the air, he immediately slams the foe earthward!

As you end up close to the opponent lying on the ground, neither you nor your foe should let your guard down. Try a follow-up attack, or get up and fight—if not, dodge away from your enemy and unleash your counterattack.

It’s relatively easy to make successful standard attacks against bulkier, larger opponents.

<Up Special Move: Dark Dive>

Jump here...

If the opponent stays close, you’ll grab and electrify him.

If the opponent is far off, hit him with the Darkness from your hand.

Attacks that burn the opponent like charcoal are classified as "Darkness." If a sticker has a Darkness effect, it refers to any attack that Ganondorf uses to char the opponent. His standard special move Warlock Punch and down special move Wizard’s Foot are also Darkness attacks.

<Final Smash: Beast Ganon>

He transforms into a massive demon beast and charges!!

Beyond the fleeting moment of its effect, it’s a visually striking and terrifying attack.

Trans...FORM!!!

Roarrrrrrrrrr!

Charge!

The effect lasts only a split second, but what an impact. Whoa.

Those who have used Ganondorf may have noticed this... His roar has the effect of paralyzing enemies who are right in front of him.

This affects only those who are standing on solid ground. If you want to dodge this, I’d suggest using a jump or something to keep your feet off the ground.

He can bury opponents as a result of his transformation. Seriously?

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 6:18 pm

Pokémon Encyclopedia

Allow me to show you all the Pokémon that come out of Poké Balls, including the ones I’ve introduced in the past!

Piplup

Surf

It slides around on a sheet of water and pushes opponents all over.
It’s not really a fun wave from an opponent’s perspective.

Munchlax

Pickup

It dashes toward any item left on the ground and eats it up.
Talk about an expert of getting rid of clutter.

Bonsly

Tackle

When it’s thrown into someone, it really hurts.
Try throwing this one using a smash attack.

Weavile

False Swipe

It moves quickly and dazes the opponent.
The damage deals only 1%--still, this is one powerful Pokémon.

Torchic

Fire Spin

It pulls in nearby opponents with fire and deals constant damage.
Ultimately it blasts opponents off.

Gulpin

Swallow

It swallows up opponents to incapacitate them.
It can also deal damage to the engulfed enemy.

Metagross

Earthquake

It hurts all nearby grounded opponents.
If you stay too close to it, it’ll bury you in the ground.

Gardevoir

Reflect

It reflects any projectiles with a vast field.
Be careful not to casually shoot stuff or throw items.

Meowth

Pay Day

It launches a coin barrage against any foe it faces.
It doesn’t throw the thing on its forehead.

Electrode

Explosion

It causes a massive bang after a certain time. Occasionally it fails to detonate.
You can test your nerve by holding onto it until the very last second and then throwing it right before it detonates.

Goldeen

Splash

It simply flops around and does absolutely nothing that causes any damage. If your opponent gets this, you’re lucky. If you get stuck with this, you’re bummed.

Staryu

Swift

It homes in on your foe and quickly fires star-shaped projectiles.
Enemies will try to flee by moving up or down. Sabotage their efforts and let Staryu blast them.

Snorlax

Body Slam

It jumps up and inflates, then lands on enemies across a wide range.
Since the affected area is vast, this Pokémon is very useful.

Chikorita

Razor Leaf

It shoots razor-sharp leaves sideways in a straight line.
This is a little different from what Ivysaur does.

Togepi

Metronome

It unleashes one of its five different abilities at random.
If the screen gets pitch black, it’s not a software bug!

Bellossom

Sweet Scent

It puts nearby opponents to sleep.
The amount of time you stay asleep is affected by your damage percentage.

Wobbuffet

Counter

If you attack it, it attacks back, regardless of friends or foes.
It’s kind of like a punching bag?

Groudon

Overheat

Anyone who touches the scorching body of this Pokémon takes damage.
It’s massive. An effective strategy is to stand by it and protect yourself.

Kyogre

Hydro Pump

It ejects a water jet of tremendous intensity and blasts the opponent off.
It’s got a massive body and also floats in the air. Talk about impact!

Moltres

Fly

After making its appearance, it slowly lifts itself. The body is really hot.
This is a Legendary Pokémon, so it’s a rare occasion to see it emerge.

Entei

Fire Spin

It launches a pillar of fire that holds the opponent aloft.
Beat on your incapacitated opponent, by all means.

Suicune

Aurora Beam

It shoots a straight, horizontal beam.
Thought the width is narrow, the beam is high-speed and powerful, and it freezes the opponent.

Ho-Oh

Sacred Fire

It produces a massive pillar of fire at the back of the screen, which deals constant damage.
The size of the fire pillar is so enormous that it interferes with your sight.

Lugia

Aeroblast

It launches a vortex of air from the back of the screen, affecting a certain area of the stage.
It’s relatively easy to dodge, but the launch power is high if you get hit.

Latias, Latios

Steel Wing

The pair fly in one after another, unleashing attacks as their paths cross.
The air pressure generated by these two creates wind currents that affect items and fighters.

Deoxys

Hyper Beam

After ascending, it fires the beam straight down.
The attack continues for a short while, so use a throw or other attack to knock the enemy into the beam while you can.

Manaphy

Heart Swap

It switches the bodies of two strangers for a certain length of time.
This attack is only effective within a certain range, so if it misses the target, nothing will happen.

Mew

Fly

It softly ascends to the sky while dropping off one CD.
It’s your lucky day if you meet this one.

Celebi

Fly

It gracefully ascends to the sky while dropping off several trophies.
Consider yourself lucky to meet this one!

Jirachi

Fly

It slowly ascends to the sky while dropping mounds of stickers.
You’ll need to be lucky to see this one!

New and old... So many Pokémon are here!

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:22 pm

Smash Taunt

Ah, the Smash Taunt—a technique available only to Solid Snake and the Star Fox characters. Rumor has it that this technique helps you communicate with your allies.

To activate it, do a down taunt for just a split second—but only on a specific stage when you’re controlling a specific character.

It’s that simple—however, you need to get a knack for it. If you’re using the +Control Pad, you may want to try to just quickly scratch it...

<Snake’s Smash Taunt>

Choose Snake and play Shadow Moses Island.

Snake’s player did a split-second down taunt!

He’s engaged in communication. If he’s not interrupted...

Radio communication begins!

Roy Campbell, Mei Ling, and Otacon begin talking about the fighters. In the Metal Gear series, players were able to obtain information during boss fights using the radio. This is sort of like that.

Rumor has it that another guest person (or animal?) will join the three listed above. Who could that be?

And one little aside... If Snake gets sloppy while communicating...

Hey, that happens when your game ends in Metal Gear Solid!

<Star Fox (Group) Smash Taunt>

For this one, choose Fox or Falco and play Lylat Cruise.

Same deal—do a down taunt for a split second!

...But nothing happens...?

Hang on, after the warp...

Radio communication begins!

After the spaceship warps to next location, a conversation that matches the background begins. There are five background variations, so there are five types of communication per character.

The characters who make appearances here are Fox, Falco, Peppy, Slippy, Krystal, Wolf, Leon, and Panther. What an amazing cast!

Because the dialogue is staged as if allies are observing the fight from the spaceship, the communication always excludes the one who’s engaged in the fight.

Please note—when the spaceship warps as someone is executing a Final Smash, or if the Dragoon appears, the communication fails.

And one more thing—in the Melee Corneria stage, you can enjoy the same set of communications that existed in the previous version of the game.

All those dialogues remain unchanged.

A dazzling secret element with top-class voice acting—I hope you enjoy it.

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:27 pm

The Subspace Emissary: The Great Maze

As you play deeper into The Subspace Emissary, you’ll at last confront the Great Maze. This is the vast space that the final boss created. Clear this stage and you complete the entire adventure! This is truly the very last fortress.

You’ll brawl against bosses and shadow characters of the fighters while proceeding through the areas.

Pause in the Great Maze to see the map.

On the map, the spots blinking in pink or yellow are the save points.

There are four pink spots and five yellow ones. They’re all crucial, since they’ll serve as your bases of operation.

If you enter this gate, you can go to a save point.

This is a save point.

You’ll restore your health, and if you overlap with the Smash Bros. logo in the middle, you can either save, manage your stickers, or select different characters.

The warp zones on both sides will allow you to warp to other save points. They connect you to pink save points in the upper right, lower right, upper left, and lower left of the map. The area where you are now, or any area you haven’t found, will not be displayed.

You can also go right into the Smash Bros. logo in the middle to warp.

As you see here.

Caution. The yellow save points can’t be used for warping.

You can’t even choose the Back to Map option.

Right after you enter the Great Maze, the entire map will not be visible to you—it gradually fills in as you trek along. As such, sometimes you may find yourself at a loss as to where your next foe is.

Don't think too hard about things, though—just keep moving forward. Once you've taken a full lap around the place, the positions of your foes should appear.

That’s where they are!

Each one of your foes serves as a key to the final gate located in the middle of the map.

If you go in there, you’ll meet the final boss at last. More power to you!

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:32 pm

Peach: Special Moves

Peach can hover through the sky if you keep holding the jump command. This is an important technique even though it’s not a special move.

She delicately floats around.

This is a unique, versatile technique you can use to recover. You can also hover low to put the brakes on an opponent’s attack pattern.

<Standard Special Move: Toad>

No, not a real toad. Toad, from the Mario series. You know, like a toadstool.

This technique lets the princess use Toad as a shield.

Block the opponent’s attack like this...

Toad counterattacks with spores!

The spores spread out in a fanlike flurry. The closer the opponent, the more damage you can deal. It’s probably better to use this technique when you REALLY need it—if you try to reflect everything coming your way, your opponent will find you predictable.

If you can tactfully reel foes in, you can counterattack opponents behind you, as well.

<Down Special Move: Vegetable>

This one is important. It seems that the better the player is, the more vegetables the player uses.

She pulls the vegetable from the ground...

...And throws it as an item!

You can use this as a throwing item, at your will, in all directions. It’s perfect to break up your opponent’s rhythm.

By the way, the face on the vegetable randomly changes. You want to watch out for one face, though...

This one.

There’s a 1/58 chance this one will appear, and it can deal damage of 30% or more. The face with dot-shaped eyes also has high striking power.

Be careful not to give it to the opponent!

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:30 pm

Stadium: Boss Battles

Clear The Subspace Emissary and you’ll find a new mode—Boss Battles! In this mode, you take down a total of ten bosses.

It’s under Solo→Stadium.

Even though it says Solo, you can enjoy this mode with two players.

Whooa! Take him down!

There are five difficulty levels. Except for the final boss, they’ll appear in random order. The later they arrive, the tougher they become to beat, so if I were you, I’d hope that strong bosses wouldn’t appear toward the end. You need luck here.

As you enter the latter half, they get stronger and harder accordingly.

One down—on to the Rest Station.

The Rest Station holds three Heart Containers. If there are two players, you’ll have five hearts instead of three.

The Heart Containers will be gone forever if you use them, so plan your allocation wisely.

Built-up damage will be carried over to the next fight. The Heart Containers can negate all damage, but they’re limited in number. Now it’s a game to determine whether or not you want to use them—weighing the damage you have and the opponent in the next battle.

Uh... Isn’t starting with 100% a bit reckless?

By the way, because you’re playing in Stadium, you can’t continue. Sorry about that.

As the range of each difficulty level is wide, and since the clear time is displayed on the screen, I think those who love playing games over and over can truly enjoy this.

I wonder if a monster player who can clear the incredibly challenging Intense level without using any Heart Containers may exist somewhere in the world...

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:15 pm

Jigglypuff

Jigglypuff, the Balloon Pokémon, is one of the few characters who has been in every game in the series to date.

Float, roll, and sleep your way to victory using a fighting style completely unique to Jigglypuff.

• Play 400 brawls
• Beat 20 or more Events after clearing The Subspace Emissary
• Pass through the hidden door in The Swamp area after completing The Subspace Emissary
• In order to unlock Jigglypuff, you must satisfy one of the above conditions and then beat Jigglypuff in a brawl.

Jigglypuff's Special Moves
Standard Special Move: Rollout
Side Special Move: Pound
Up Special Move: Sing
Down Special Move: Rest
Final Smash: Puff Up

Tips

Jigglypuff has neither a long reach nor a lot of power to its attacks. On top of that, it’s not a particularly fast runner and is extremely easy to KO because of how light it is.

At a glance, Jigglypuff seems like an utterly flawed character, but the truth is that Jigglypuff has a few abilities that balance things out, like its superior midair capabilities.

On top of the ability to jump five consecutive times in the air, Jigglypuff’s midair acceleration and top speed are in a class by themselves, making Jigglypuff the ultimate midair brawler.

It’s faster than running, so jump, jump, jump. Small jumps are best.

<Standard Special Move: Rollout>

Charge up your spin in place...

Then roll out at top speed!

It’s really easy to KO yourself with this move if you don’t know how to handle it, but the intense speed of Rollout makes it a move worth mastering.

If you’re vigilant in guiding Jigglypuff by pressing forward and backward, you shouldn’t have to worry about flying wildly off the edge of a stage.

And did I mention it’s a great recovery move?

<Up Special Move: Sing>

Most up special moves are recovery techniques. Jigglypuff’s up special move won’t help you recover, but it does have the power to put your enemy to sleep.

You can’t put airborne enemies to sleep, so watch where you sing.

The more damage your slumbering opponent has taken, the longer they’ll remain asleep. If you’re lucky enough to land Sing on an opponent with relatively high damage, you’ve got a free pass to follow up with Rest.

<Down Special Move: Rest>

Pwaaaang!

This is Jigglypuff’s other saving grace. Unleash Rest on an opponent when you’re overlapping him or her and watch ‘em go flying!

Not only does Rest hit hard, but connecting with the attack will sprout a flower on the opponent’s head, causing damage to accumulate for a short while.

It’s...true.

Ah, but compared to the last Smash Bros. game, Rest has had its power reduced, hasn’t it?

<Final Smash: Puff Up>

This is Jigglypuff’s saving grace number three. This move can be devastating if you fire it up in the right spot!

Break that Smash Ball!!

Jigglypuff puffs up!!

Then puffs up bigger still!!

And then one massive hit!

This one’s a real killer. If you’re playing on a smaller stage, you can expect stunning results from Puff Up. It’s also quite a stunner visually.

The attack does, however, lose a little of its potency on larger stages.

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:14 pm

Hanenbow

There’s one stage where the My Music function won’t work. That stage is called "Hanenbow," from the Electroplankton game.

• Clear Event 28—"Flower Blooms in the Echoes"

Beautifully colored leaves are here and there.

The angles of the leaves change when you attack them.

Sometimes the leaves will obstruct attacks.

And this is a Hanenbow.

Hanenbow jump up from the water below.

The Hanenbow don’t have any effect on the players, but if they hit a leaf, they’ll make a sound and rebound.

Each sound rings out pure and clear.

They make sounds when they jump around, too. Depending on the angle and the patterns of the Hanenbow, the sounds will change on this artistic stage.

...But then again, the game noises are intense, so you won’t have time to notice! Well, maybe sometimes you might.

If you make all the leaves red, a flower will bloom on the tree to the right!

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:15 pm

Character Roll Call

For Smash’s Classic ending, the hundreds of characters go on parade in an enjoyable shooting game!

After you get the trophy for the character you cleared the game with...

The game starts!

First, the character you were using.

Next, all the other characters you’ve gotten.

Then the Assist Trophies come out...

...and Pokémon on parade.

After the items make their appearance...

Brrrraaap! The trophies arrive!

Each time you shoot a character name a single coin will pop out. For each picture of a character you hit, two coins will fly out.

When the whole game is over your total in coins gets divided and you get to take the resulting total back to use in the Coin Launcher game.

I wonder how many I got.

The harder the difficulty level you set at the beginning, the more coins you can get when your collection gets divided.

And, of course, the more trophies you have, the more targets you’ll have to shoot at!

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:24 pm

Sheik: Special Moves

None of Sheik’s special moves have the power to send the opponent flying, nor do they heap large mounds of damage on the enemy. The absence of these characteristics is indicative of her character.

Sheik’s style relies on her great speed and midair attacks, both of which help her torment the opponent. As such, it seems sensible enough to say that you’ll use her special moves mostly as a means of keeping the enemy in check.

<Standard Special Move: Needle Storm>

Press the button once and Sheik will start readying needles.

To stop charging, press the shield button or wait until the attack is fully charged.

Then press the button again to make Sheik fling a stream of all the needles you readied!

If all six of Sheik’s needles hit cleanly, you’ll do 18% damage. It’s a pretty strong move, especially considering how hard the needles are to see. Keep in mind that if you attack with Needle Storm from too far away, the attack’s strength weakens.

Use Needle Storm in midair and Sheik throws her needles diagonally downward. It’s a great move for shutting down the opponent.

<Side Special Move: Chain>

This weapon is hidden up Sheik’s sleeve.

If you simply press the special-move button once, Sheik will just produce a floppy stringlike object and then quickly put it away. Not much to write home about. However, if you keep the special-move button held down and wiggle the Control Stick, you can make Sheik whip the chain around in any direction you like.

Round and round it goes.

If you move the chain around with a bit of speed, you can score lots of hits with it.

You’re left open for a moment before and after the attack and actually controlling the chain is a bit tricky. However, the tip of the chain is electrified and packs quite a punch when it hits. So when using the whip, remember—it’s all about the tip.

Once again, another great move for shutting down the opponent.

<Up Special Move: Vanish>

This is no mere magic trick.

Sheik vanishes amidst an explosion...

And teleports, reappearing in the direction you tilt the Control Stick!

The explosion that accompanies the beginning of this move has a good kick to it. There’s something really intolerable about getting KO’d by this move.

<Down Special Move: Transform>

This move transforms Sheik into Zelda. After the transformation is complete, you’re helpless for a moment, but during the flashing portion of the actual transformation, you’re completely invulnerable to attack.

"So I can dodge Final Smashes with this," you say? Indeed, such daring maneuvers are possible.

Transform into Zelda and effortlessly dodge Kirby’s Cook Final Smash!

Just remember that if you’re going to attempt this, you need to trigger the transformation well in advance. For example, were you attempting to dodge Kirby’s Cook Final Smash, you’d need to input the Transform command right about the time Kirby triggers his Final Smash.

Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:44 pm

Toon Link

It’s Link’s other incarnation—Toon Link. He has a slightly comical expression and big, catlike eyes.

But with his light footwork and variety of colorful weapons, he's not to be trifled with!

• Play 400 brawls
• After clearing The Subspace Emissary, clear Classic mode
• After clearing The Subspace Emissary, enter the hidden door in The Forest
• Toon Link will appear as a challenger for all of these conditions. You must defeat him to unlock him.

Toon Link's Special Moves
Standard Special Move: Hero's Bow
Side Special Move: Boomerang
Up Special Move: Spin Attack
Down Special Move: Bomb
Final Smash: Triforce Slash

Tips

Those who have played Link should enjoy playing Toon Link, too. As a rule, the special moves are the same.

The abilities themselves have various differences, but in the main, the only things that have changed are the following:

He runs fast!!

His attacks are speedier, but at the expense of more modest strength.

He’s lighter in the air—like a feather!

His head is bigger, but his body is smaller!

He doesn’t use kicks!

Well, I guess his legs are a little too short... All he can do with his feet is throw people judo-style.

His most distinctive midair attack is the downward strike. This down midair attack causes him to dive onto opponents, so it’s great in battle.

Strike from above!!

Also, he’ll take a step forward when he does a second side smash attack. Ah, it feels so good.

His range of attack to the rear is good too.

<Side Special Move: Boomerang>

You can change the way the boomerang travels with this attack. Aim up or down by tilting the Control Stick up or down. That much is the same as Link.

However, this isn’t the Gale Boomerang, so it doesn’t wrap foes up. It does have the ability to go extremely vertical, so it’s a more adaptable throwing weapon.

Of course, the design is different, too.

<Down Special Move: Bomb>

Toon Link’s bombs are also a little different from Link’s.

Look at the smoke from the explosion!

The attack strength of Toon Link’s bombs is lower than Link’s, but the big difference is that since no one can see them well, they tend to take a brief glance and think they’re weak attacks.

But since the blast radius is greater than many people judge, it's easy to hit with these bombs...and easy to get caught in their explosions yourself. Use them with care.

The blast radius is twice as big as Link’s.

<Final Smash: Triforce Slash>

This move doesn’t differ much from Link’s, so use it in the same way.

The Triforce effect also gets a kind of Toon-ish feel.

As with Link, there’s one secret to hitting with this Final Smash.

The beam that shoots out and launches the attack has a long range, so in order to reduce the risk of losing the Smash Ball, many people try to put some distance between themselves and the opponents before using it.

However, if an enemy is right in front of you, it’s easier to aim and the attack can also cause momentary paralysis, so you may want to close in. Plan to use it as you would a counter move or strong attack.

The enemy gets caught and the beam flashes out!

Don’t think you have to use it as soon as you get the Smash Ball. If you use the boomerang or something to stun an enemy first, you'll surely be able to hit with ease.

Also, I think Toon Link is good to use against bosses, but other people don’t seem to think so. A matter of taste, perhaps?

Deal with the likes of Duon and Porky with downward strikes!

Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:12 am

Wolf

The Star Fox team’s greatest rival is Team Star Wolf. Sitting at the head of this group is Wolf O’Donnell.

Wolf fights with his razor-sharp claws in a style that’s downright feral. His high risk, high return special moves are a blast to use.

• Play 450 brawls
• Beat the Boss Battles mode with Fox or Falco after completing The Subspace Emissary
• Pass through the hidden door in The Ruins area after completing The Subspace Emissary
• In order to unlock Wolf, you must satisfy one of the above conditions and then beat Wolf in a brawl.

Wolf's Special Moves
Standard Special Move: Blaster
Side Special Move: Wolf Flash
Up Special Move: Fire Wolf
Down Special Move: Reflector
Final Smash: Landmaster

Tips

Among the playable characters from the Star Fox universe featured in Brawl, Wolf weighs in as the biggest and heaviest. However, because his basic stance keeps him very low to the ground, you may not feel like you’re handling a large character.

Wolf bends at the knees to keep his fighting stance low.

Wolf is one of those characters who makes up for what he lacks in speed with a little extra brute force, if you know what I mean.

<Standard Special Move: Blaster>

It’s got some sort of clawlike protrusion on the end...

This claw can damage enemies close enough to make contact with it when Wolf fires his blaster. Wolf will then proceed to follow up the attack with a blaster shot to the stunned opponent.

The blaster fires shots one at a time.

The farther the shot travels, the less damage it will do upon impact.

<Side Special Move: Wolf Flash>

When you use Wolf Flash, Wolf jumps upward at an angle in the blink of an eye.

Wolf delivers a huge meteor smash at the end of his jump!

It’s a truly difficult move to master, but players who can consistently connect with Wolf Flash will find themselves in command of a frighteningly powerful technique.

Meteor smash!!

Then grab the closest edge to save yourself.

<Down Special Move: Reflector>

Wolf releases a red tinted Reflector that makes him invincible for a moment upon its activation. If you draw the enemy in close and use Reflector as if it was a counter...

Wolf dodges the enemy’s attack...

And follows up by zapping ‘em with his Reflector!!

The Reflector itself doesn’t hurt all that much, but it has a bit of range to it, which makes it a great technique to use on opponents who want to control the match. Give it a shot next time you want to change the flow of your fight.

<Final Smash: Landmaster>

Wolf’s Landmaster is bright red!!

Wolf’s custom Landmaster was designed to mimic the color scheme found on Wolf’s personal craft, the Wolfen. So, how exactly is Wolf’s Landmaster different? If you want to know the details, check out the explanation attached to its trophy.

Wolf’s vehicle outperforms Fox’s and Falco’s Landmasters in the areas of firepower and mobility. However, all these upgrades require a commensurate increase in fuel consumption, which is probably the reason Wolf’s Landmaster stays on screen a shorter amount of time than the other two.

Wolf’s Landmaster’s boosted specs can also help you recover faster too!

Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:04 pm

(Notice: The Smash Bros. Dojo's daily updates will stop on April 14th.
Just a bit more to go!)

Pirate Ship

It’s the pirate ship from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It’s animated in a bright, cheerful style.

• Unlock Toon Link

It’s really beautiful.

Sometimes it’s escorted by the King of Red Lions.

Watch out for the catapult in the bow!

By the way, there’s plenty of trouble lurking along this ship’s course...

We’re being bombarded by a watchtower!

We’re stranded!

Now we’re caught in a twister...

And it’s up into the clear, blue sky.

The ship will sail on no matter what difficulties it runs into. Bon voyage!

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:03 am

All-Star

Once you’ve gotten all the fighters, you can play All-Star mode. You can play this mode with either one or two players.

• Unlock all characters

The rules are basically the same as Boss Battles.

Beat all the characters that appear!

After each fight, you go to the Rest Station and get refreshed.

You keep repeating this pattern, but eventually you might use up the last Heart Container...

As for opponents, either Samus or Zero Suit Samus will appear—likewise, you’ll see either Zelda or Sheik. The Pokémon Trainer will bring out Charizard, Squirtle, and Ivysaur, so you’ll meet 37 characters in all.

The stage will be drawn from the game series the character comes from. As for the order, it will match the order that the games and series were released. Let’s take a look—the release dates are for the Japanese versions, by the way.

<Battle 1: Game & Watch>

(Release: 04/1980)

Mr. Game & Watch is first. Let’s take a stroll through his various game series.

<Battle 2: Mario Bros.>

(Release: 07/1981)

Mario, Luigi, Bowser, and Peach all show up here. There are four of them, so stay on your guard.

<Battle 3: Donkey Kong>

(Release: 07/1981)

You’ll meet Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong here.

<Battle 4: Ice Climber>

(Release: 01/1985)

The Ice Climbers stand alone. Of course, they DO come as a pair...

<Battle 5: R.O.B.>

(Release: 07/1985)

There’s no stage in particular for R.O.B., so he appears on the Mario Bros. stage.

<Battle 6: The Legend of Zelda>

(Release: 02/1986)

Link, Zelda (or Sheik), Ganondorf, and Toon Link. There will be four of them, so try not to get overwhelmed.

<Battle 7: Metroid>

(Release: 08/1986)

Samus or Zero Suit Samus will be here. You can tell which you’ll meet by the icons in the Rest Station.

<Battle 8: Kid Icarus>

(Release: 12/1986)

Pit appears alone. This was the last series to appear on the Famicom Disk System in Japan.

<Battle 9: Metal Gear>

(Release: 07/1987)

Fight against Snake on Shadow Moses Island. The first Metal Gear was actually created for the MSX2.

<Battle 10: EarthBound>

(Release: 07/1989)

Ness and Lucas appear. New Pork City is a big place, but be careful not to take too much damage anyway.

<Battle 11: Fire Emblem>

(Release: 04/1990)

Marth and Ike are waiting here. Seems like a long way to come from the strategy game to here!

<Battle 12: Yoshi>

(Release: 11/1990)

Yoshi first appeared in Super Mario World. He’s become quite a star since then.

<Battle 13: F-Zero>

(Release: 11/1990)

Captain Falcon fights on his own. Even though he’s a racer, he’s still quite a vigorous fighter.

<Battle 14: Sonic The Hedgehog>

(Release: 07/1991)

Sonic also appears on his own. It seems like being a part of Smash Bros. really agrees with him.

<Battle 15: Kirby’s Dream Land>

(Release: 04/1992)

Kirby, King Dedede, and Meta Knight. All of them have strong jumping and flight capabilities.

<Battle 16: Star Fox>

(Release: 02/1993)

Fox, Falco, and Wolf appear here. This is a real crisis point—you’re bound to have trouble here.

<Battle 17: WarioWare, Inc.>

(Release: 01/1994)
*The first game in which Wario was the main character

Wario is all by himself. Even if you clear the minigames, you won’t be able to reduce your damage.

<Battle 18: Pokémon>

(Release: 02/1996)

Fight against Pikachu, Squirtle, Ivysaur, Charizard, Lucario, and Jigglypuff. You’ve got six to fight in all. Talk about a tough row to hoe.

<Battle 19: Pikmin>

(Release: 10/2001)

Fight with Olimar and the Pikmin. This is the final battle, so give it your all!!

It’s an incredible number of characters and a group of really well-known series. And to think that they all had their beginnings in Japan...wow!

When they’re all lined up like this, it becomes obvious that there is roughly 6-year blank before and after Pikmin. While there have been big series since then like "Animal Crossing," "Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day," and "Wii Sports" it does seem that coming up with a completely new character-driven series has gotten more difficult recently.

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:59 pm

Full Song List with Secret Songs

Previously I presented a list of the first songs available in My Music.

This time I’m going to present an exhaustively thorough list of songs featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

I’ve included songs you obtain through collecting CDs as well as songs associated with secret stages.

Full Song List with Secret Songs

The list posted here catalogs every song you can listen to in the Sound Test area of the game. The game does, however, have some additional music not on this list...

For example...

The fall and winter music on the Yoshi’s Island stage
Music from K.K. Slider’s performance on the Smashville stage
The minigame music from the WarioWare, Inc. stage
Music from the How to Play and Classic Ending movies, fanfare, and
informational message tunes...

The list goes on and on.
A virtual mountain of songs and a legion of composers were involved in the music for this game. An all-star cast like this may never assemble again, so I hope you’ve been enjoying your time with Brawl.

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:27 pm

Final Smash Trophies

In the Classic and All-Star game modes, you receive trophies for the characters you complete the modes with.

In Classic mode, the trophies you get are posed in basically the same way as the artwork.

Like this.

But in All-Star mode, you can get trophies that are modeled after each character’s Final Smash.

Whoa, check it out!

Compared to the other trophies, the Final Smash trophies are a bit more refined. Since they often portray a scene, they’re kind of like dioramas.

Fox

Bowser

Sheik

Pokémon Trainer

Zero Suit Samus

Pikmin & Olimar

Captain Falcon

Jigglypuff

Light and smoke are used to create fascinating 3-D effects. Of course, visual expressions like these are only possible in the video-game domain.

Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:36 pm

Revealing Brawl’s Secrets

There are a lot of secrets in this game. I’d like to reveal them all here in one go...

But watch out—this is obviously loaded with spoilers.

Full Secret Element List

Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:15 pm

All Trophies

You can collect lots of trophies in this game, and now seems like a good time to tell you about all of the different ones.

...But I won’t show you what each one looks like, because that would take some fun out of collecting them!

List of All Trophies

Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:12 am

All Stickers

There are even more stickers than there are trophies in this game. So let me tell you about all of them!

The white space on the left of each one is there for you to check it off your list when you collect it. Just print this out and check off the ones you have to see which ones you still need to collect.

List of All Stickers

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:28 pm

Mysteries of The Subspace Emissary

You may have noticed that the game mode called The Subspace Emissary does not feature any dialogue. It’s still fun that way, but there may have been some story-related items that didn’t fully make sense.

So let me tell you some of the story background you couldn’t have gleaned from the movies. There are some big spoilers here, including the final boss, so you may want to skip this post if you haven’t beaten it yet!

First, Tabuu, the embodiment of Subspace appears. He wants to cut the world our main characters live in to pieces and drag it into his world. He hides himself in Subspace, watching our world vigilantly.

Tabuu himself cannot leave Subspace. That’s why he has to prepare an army and a leader for the offensive into the other world.

<Master Hand and the Chains of Light>

Master Hand is the master of our world. Tabuu studied Master Hand and the fighters, and this knowledge leads him to use Master Hand for his plans here.

Chains of light bend Master Hand to the will of Tabuu, who uses Master Hand to enlist the likes of Ganondorf, Bowser, and Wario. He gives each of these minions a Dark Cannon and tells them to hunt down any talented fighters that might stand in the way of the Subspace Army.

Master Hand is now more a part of the Subspace world than he is a part of our own.

<What Binds Ganondorf, Bowser, and Wario>

Ganondorf pretended to swear allegiance to Master Hand, all the while planning to usurp power from within. Bowser is relatively loyal to Master Hand, but he does not care for Ganondorf. Wario cares very little for the actual objective he was given and wants to continue just doing whatever he likes.

And of course, none of them know about Tabuu.

<The Ancient Minister>

And how will this world be cut into pieces and dragged into Subspace?

Tabuu has had his eye on the advanced technology developed on the Isle of Ancients. This mysterious island hangs suspended in the sky and gives home to a group of robots. No one knows how long they have been there, but they have existed for ages without interfering with other civilizations.

Life on the Isle of Ancients revolved around a single leader, the Master Robot (also the Ancient Minister, as we later learn). The other robots gave their unwavering loyalty to the Master Robot and existed in peace.

But now Tabuu has taken the entire island hostage. The Master Robot wants to avoid losing so many of his brethren to Tabuu, so he reluctantly agrees to be the main front of the Subspace offensive, and begins development work on the Subspace Bombs.

The Master Robot decides to disguise himself as the Ancient Minister out of shame for his own decision to work with the Subspace Army. The Dark Cannons are also being developed and built on the Isle of Ancients.

<Mr. Game & Watch>

Tabuu takes notice of the peculiar qualities of Mr. Game & Watch’s body mass. He uses these particularities to create a nearly infinite number of shadow bugs, which he then uses to create the Subspace Army.

However, since Mr. Game & Watch does not have any concept of good and evil, he is unaware of the effects caused when he is used in this way.

<The Battleship Halberd>

Tabuu also has his eye on Meta Knight’s ship, the Halberd, as a means of transportation for the Subspace Army.

Using the Subspace Army, he launches a violent attack on Meta Knight and takes the ship for his own. During the attack, King Dedede engages Meta Knight, unknowingly making it impossible for Meta Knight to repel the Subspace Army’s attack.

<Off Waves>

The circular shockwaves emitted when Tabuu spreads his wings are called Off Waves. This devious technique is capable of immediately transforming many fighters in distant locations into trophies. You could say that this power alone makes Tabuu a nearly invincible opponent.

After Sonic breaks one of his wings, the Off Waves he emits become weaker, but they still have enough power to instantly KO a fighter. You must avoid them at all cost when fighting him.

<King Dedede’s Actions>

King Dedede learns of Tabuu’s true nature and the power of his Off Waves during the taking of the Halberd. He begins to worry what will happen once all of the fighters are turned into trophies. Once that happens, there will be no one left to restore the frozen heroes, and the world as we know it will end by Tabuu’s hand.

So he develops a special brooch. The brooches are set to work on a timer; when the timer runs down, the brooch will restore a fighter from his or her trophy form back to the original form. All you need to do is set the brooch on a hero that had been turned into a trophy and leave it there.

When King Dedede learns that Bowser and Wario have joined the Subspace Army and are turning fighters into a collection of trophies, he decides to start his own collection. He hides the fighter trophies he collects in his castle, thinking the brooches will bring them back eventually if something goes wrong, but...

He ends up using the brooch he had made for himself on Peach (or Zelda), and intends to make another one for himself later.

<The Self-Destruction of the Isle of Ancients>

Ganondorf takes control of the robots and forces them to blow up the Isle of the Ancients so that he can tear a hole in space large enough to fit a Subspace gunship through.

Once the mass production of Subspace gunships yielded a certain number of units, it would then be possible to launch all of them through the hole at once. Once the gunships were in our world, there would be no way to stop them from dragging all the remaining pieces of our world into theirs. Once that happened, there would be no more need for the Isle of Ancients or the Subspace Bombs.

<The Subspace Gunship>

The basic plans for the gunship were based on technology from the Isle of Ancients, but construction was handled by the Subspace Army inside Subspace.

The gunship was meant to be Tabuu’s trump card, but the valiant attack by the heroes neutralizes the threat.

<The Great Maze>

Tabuu has begun to reconstruct some of the pieces he tore out of our world into a nightmarish maze. The maze extends even farther than you realize.

The shadowy versions of fighters and the reincarnated bosses from earlier encounters were created based on detailed analysis carried out by the Subspace Army. They were placed here to guard the labyrinth.

<What Happened to the Isle of Ancients?>

In the ending (or new beginning) of the game, the spot marked by the shining "X" is where the Isle of Ancients was. When Tabuu and the Great Maze were destroyed, most parts of our world returned to normal, but the effect of so many Subspace Bombs going off at once made it impossible for the Isle of Ancients to return to normal.

The taking of the battleship Halberd, as well as the scuffle between King Dedede and Meta Knight, were not shown in the game, because those scenes unfortunately had to be cut.

So that’s the inside scoop for you.

Hopefully, this post was able to shed a little light as to the motivations of the characters in the story.