Super Smash Bros. Brawl

**NOTE**: It is advised that people who want to seriously learn more about *Super Smash Bros. Brawl* check out the SmashWiki article on the game.

***Super Smash Bros. Brawl*** is the third installment of the *Super Smash Bros.* series of crossover party platform fighting games, originally released for the Nintendo Wii in 2008. Despite the relatively low jump in power from the Gamecube to the Wii, *Brawl* differentiated itself visually from its predecessor, *Super Smash Bros. Melee* by adopting a far more gritty and realistic style compared to the previous two games in the series. Outside of a massive increase in the amount of content from the previous game, the main drawing point in *Brawl* was The Subspace Emissary, a massive story mode made up of many high quality cutscenes and platforming levels featuring the game's large cast of characters. Two of the most notable additions to the roster were Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog, the first two third-party fighters in the series. Another big new feature was the debut of Final Smashes, super moves that can be accessed by breaking open a Smash Ball that sometimes spawns on stage. Outside of the new content, there were significant changes made to the gameplay in *Brawl*. In an attempt to capitalize more on the casual audience of the Wii and pull back from the more technical gameplay featured in *Melee*, director Masahiro Sakurai intentionally made the game take on more slow and floaty gameplay in comparison. This change was met with a very mixed reception from fans, and future installments would work to slowly reverse this direction. The addition of random tripping was also the subject of much criticism, being seen as an useless and disruptive mechanic. Despite some disappointment over the gameplay, *Super Smash Bros. Brawl* was still overall a massive success with both critics and fans during its time and would go on to sell over 13 million copies, being the highest-selling installment in the series until the release of *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* for the Nintendo Switch in 2018. Nowadays, the game is seen in a polarizing light. Some see it as a very memorable and charming installment in the series, with particular praise toward The Subspace Emissary, while others remember it as a mess of a game that is best left in the past.

The speculation period surrounding the upcoming release of *Super Smash Bros. Brawl* would be a huge moment in the development of SmashFAQs, with the community surrounding the series on GameFAQs greatly expanding due to all of the discussing surrounding the upcoming game. Due to the rise in popularity of regular internet conversations over video games since the launch of *Melee*, the discussion for *Brawl* would largely develop much of what is currently known as the modern Smash community. This was further escalated by the launch of the Smash Bros. Dojo, a site ran by Sakurai that would end up giving daily updates related to content in the game starting in mid-2007. This site would greatly increase discussion surrounding the games, with some passionately naming the regular upload time for posts "Japan Time". Unlike with newcomers revealed with huge trailers in later installments, a newcomer could suddenly be announced to everyone's surprise on the site. By far the biggest of these surprises was the reveal of Sonic as the second third-party newcomer, a moment that is still considered one of the largest in the history of Smash. Overall, the hype surrounding the game is quite possibly one of the biggest parts of *Brawl'*s legacy, as it forever changed public perception of the series by leading to a lot more hype and speculation about additions to the roster. Discussion surrounding the game was also a huge part of the growth of the Smash community online just as online discussion was starting to boom in popularity.

#### Modding

In addition to the original version of *Brawl*, the game would be the subject of some of the most modding ever for an official Nintendo product. This modding was of course unofficial, but relatively easy to do with a vanilla Wii. Many fans would work to upload custom models, stages, music, or even whole new characters to the game. The prime example of this phenomenon was ***Project M***, an expansive mod that sought to rectify the gameplay changes in *Brawl* by bringing it closer to *Melee*, while also adding a bunch of changes and costumes for the various characters. The mod became very popular among competitive players in particular, though it would meet its demise between constant legal threats from Nintendo and a desire from the developers to move on. Other notable mods include ***Brawl-***, a mod dedicated to making everyone ridiculously overpowered; ***Legacy XP***, which notably added many new characters like Ridley, Geno, Waluigi, and Shadow; ***Project+***, the current successor to *Project M*; and ***Smash 2***, a mod designed to make the game both play and look like *Melee*.

## History with SmashFAQs

The discussion surrounding *Super Smash Bros. Brawl* would be a large part of the early history of SmashFAQs, with the large amount of interest in the game leading many people to come to GameFAQs as an outlet for it. <to be expanded a little further>