Super Smash Bros. Brawl Import Hands-On

Unless you've been living under a rock this past week, you'll know that Super Smash Bros. Brawl is on the streets in Japan and currently taking the Wii by storm. We've finally nabbed our own import copy of the mash-happy four-player brawler and started putting it through the usual paces, pitting one happy-go-lucky Nintendo mascot against another in brutal combat. We've barely scratched the surface of Brawl in our limited time with the game so far--after all, Nintendo has thrown everything but the kitchen sink into this one, from online versus features to a level editor and more. But we've amassed a bevy of screenshots and movies, in addition to our quick initial impressions, to give you an idea of what to expect.

It shouldn't come as any surprise that this is definitely Smash Bros. at its core. The fundamental gameplay hasn't changed much since Melee on the GameCube--which means that if you loved the series' trademark frenetic, flashy combat, you'll find plenty more of it to love here. (Conversely, if all the button mashing and high-flying antics haven't been your cup of tea up until now, we haven't seen much in Brawl that will change your mind.) Though the game's full roster was leaked on the Internet recently and proved to contain a wide array of characters, the starting lineup sticks pretty closely to the faces you know. Mario, Link, Kirby, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Fox McCloud, and Yoshi are a handful of the characters you can use when you first start out.

Those old mainstays are joined by a handful of Brawl's new characters, such as Olimar from the Pikmin series on the GameCube. Olimar's attacks seem a little ineffectual upon first playing him until you realize that his attacks depend on having an entourage of little pik-minions (sorry) at your disposal. You can summon pikmin right from the ground by standing still and hitting B; then you can fling them at enemies individually, shoot them out diagonally in a lance formation, and more. You can also call your wayward pikmin back to you, but then again, you can also just grab more out of the ground whenever you need them.

Then there's the anonymous Pokémon trainer, who doesn't fight by himself (he hangs back in the background, looking like an assist trophy). Instead, you'll have three Pokémon--ivysaur, charizard, and squirtle--at your disposal. You can swap one out for another at any time. In fact, you'll need to do this regularly; each Pokémon will get tired and perform poorly if you use it for too long at a stretch. Luckily, each Pokémon has its own set of elemental moves that are relevant to the character, so it shouldn't get old having to swap among them frequently.

We'd wondered if the new final smash moves would throw off the balance or be too powerful, but so far, they seem to fit into the action well. For one thing, you have to grab the orb that enables the smash once it's thrown into play, so every player in a match has an equal chance of getting the final smash. The ones we've seen so far tie into each character's personality. Samus fires a massive beam that catches all opponents. Bowser becomes huge and much more sinister-looking. The ice climber twins cause a massive, pointed mountain of solid ice to jut up through the bottom of the stage. Diddy Kong gets to fly around firing peanuts rapid-fire at the other players. Luckily, while these moves are impressive to see and can help you rack up a lot of damage, they don't seem like the kind of thing that will swing a match entirely in the favor of a user, even if a skilled Smash Bros. player performs such a move.

Nintendo has crammed plenty of nostalgic value--and some endearingly fresh ideas--into the stages we've played so far in Brawl. Everything from Animal Crossing to the original Super Mario Bros. is represented here. In fact, two stages styled after the latter actually scroll actively to the right, forcing you to jump over pipes and pitfalls in addition to fending off attacks from your foes. Other backgrounds based on F-Zero and Mario Kart both challenge you to stay off various parts of the tracks contained within them, lest you get smeared on the pavement by oncoming racers.

We especially like the Metal Gear Solid-themed level, which depicts the snowy base on Shadow Moses Island--and which is interrupted halfway through a match by Metal Gear Rex tearing its way through the barrier wall. There's a Wario Ware-themed level that pulls you through a door to have you fight within one microgame after another. And our favorite background of all is one based on the Nintendo DS's built-in communication software, Pictochat. Your fighters will duke it out within the drawing window and an unseen user will draw background elements that actually affect you during battle. Scribbled platforms become solid and allow you to stand on them, hastily drawn flames will actually set you on fire, and slow, simplistic rockets that move across the sky will explode to send you flying if you're unlucky enough to run into them.

As we said, there's far more in Super Smash Bros. Brawl than we could ever hope to see in a single day, and we expect the multitude of online fighting, replay, and stage-creation features will keep fans occupied on this one for a long time to come. We'll dig deeper into Brawl--including a more thorough look at the English-language version--in the weeks leading up to its March 9 domestic release.