Are your Expectations Coming True?

[Flip]

I was doing a little digging through my online journal for some funny survey I could show my friends, but came across this gem instead. These are my thoughts on Brawl right as the Dojo opened. All in all kinda funny, considering how much has been confirmed and how much has been deconfirmed since.

-Smash Bros. Brawl can't come sooner, and I still don't have a Wii yet. A frigging Delfino Plaza level? And it looks GOOD (unlike what I had assumed when people speculated it). Holy shit... Running while holding guns--Contra anyone? And the graphics are so incredible. I mean, Mario looks so animated and real. And Fox has frigging fur. That's so awesome. My only gripe, and it's a fanboy gripe, is that Pit's Up B is called "Wings of Icarus" instead of "Wings of Pegasus." Now, I enjoy it when game designers (and for that matter authors, artists, etc.) bring back old characters, but I almost feel like I'd rather not have the character than have the character but with a messed up or changed persona/background than before. Think back to comics and when they would bring back old villains and the like, and suddenly, for example, they're calling The Joker "John Johnson" instead of "Jack Napier." It's like... wtf. Retcons CAN be cool, but that's just messing with definite character history. I could do with the bow turning into twin blades, I could deal with the redesign, and I could handle the fast falling--Pit had to grow up and become "badass" someday. But neglecting to recognize the whole POINT, and most obvious part, of the Kid Icarus games--The Sacred Treasures? Oy... Here's hoping they at least get the Mirror Shield/Silver Armor right, and give him his frigging hammer. If his Smash B is some retarded "lol slashers" attack, and his hammer is nowhere to be found, then it's basically confirmed Sakurai was only adding him because he had to and is being a dick about staying true to the character. At least the Up B as a move ITSELF is true to the Kid Icarus games, as is the neutral B attack.


As far as other things I really wanna see in Brawl...
--Return of Board the Platforms. And the Bumper. And slower gameplay.
--More items from obscure as well as popular games. None of this "let's keep revealing original items" crap anymore!
--A slew of new characters, all sleek and nicely designed and sensible; King Dedede, Lucario, Takamaru, Sukapon, Jill, Krystal, Diddy Kong, Mike, Little Mac, Lolo and Lala, Simon Belmont, Mega Man, etc. etc.
--Sonic nowhere near this game. Sadly, that's probably not the case :/
--Unlockable and more detailed costumes. Color changes are nice, but it was also fun to play as "wedding dress" Peach or "Blood Falcon" once in a while. Let's see even more detail this time around.
--Stages from game series that may not even have fighters, like Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Star Tropics, etc.
--A ton of really cool tracks I can listen to even when I'm not playing the game
--And the same old Gamecube controls and controller. Screw the Wiimote."



Anybody else have amusing stories or predictions they have from way back?

[TV Eye]

Wow. I never realized so many people were against Sonic. I personally always hoped he'd be in, ever since Solid Snake was confirmed. I also thought they needed to add the Biggoron Sword and Megaton Hammer as weapons, but sadly, those haven't been shown (yet...).

[Luke Groundwalker]

Yes, I don't expect all of my most wanted characters to be in (unless they're overly important characters like Dedede and Ridley), but so far I'm satisfied with anything Sakurai wants to put in the game.

[kirbychu]

I got Sonic - the only thing I really wished for.

This game is now representing my gaming life as a whole, rather than just the peroid after I converted to Nintendo. I know Sakurai isn't setting out to make my own personal Smash Bros, but... he's doing a pretty good job of it anyway. ;D

[Johans Nidorino]

Some wishes of mine that have come true include:

• Multiplayer adventure mode
  
• Superpowerful moves to be activated via SSB logo-shaped items
  
• More trophies, including an Ooccoo one (not a big thing, but it's one I just thought about)

Predictions for the sake of making predictions has never worked from me, because I use to "fall in love" with them, or at least with how sensible they are. But I kinda foresaw and wished for a sea urchin item, though my common sense told me it would most likely be a Gordo.

I might retrieve more from other message boards in the future.

As for non-Nintendo characters, Snake and Mega Man are what I'd name "cool". But Sonic and Pac-Man is what I'd name "beautiful".

[Fryguy64]

Well... I've always stayed fairly open minded since the Dojo opened, but it's nice to see a lot of my favourite things from SSB64 that weren't in SSBM being revived for SSBB! Especially character intros, which is something I've missed all along.

I also called a bigger adventure mode and boss battles, both of which have been nicely confirmed.

As far as characters? There have been a lot of nice surprises. Pokemon Trainer was possibly the biggest surprise of all, as I wanted someone like him in, but really didn't think it could work!

As far as my expectations go, every one of mine has been met and exceeded, to the point where I had to create new, unlikely expectations (Sukapon, Takamaru) in order to have something to look forward to!

Assist Trophies came out of nowhere though, and I love them!

[Manspeed]

-I always thought that Special Melee should be more flexible, and though the actual feature wasn't exactly what I thought of (I thought it should be different for each character, and have a special closed-in stage for Stamina Matches).

-I also thought Adventure Mode should have a map with choosable paths as well as lots of unlockables with a save feature. I never expected such a thing to actually have a concrete story with awesome cutscenes.

-I also REALLY wanted Camera Mode to be handled better, and thought that it would be easiest if they allowed you to capture the screen by pausing the game, as that was always the best way to get funny shots. They practically read my mind with that one.

-So far the only things they haven't done for me is having a list of each characters appearances and more Event Matches. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised at some point in the future.

[Smashchu]

-Really wanted Sonic (after seeing Snake)
-I was hoping for an Animal Crossing course and I got one, of course my original idea was more like Onett. Also wanted the Yoshi course to be from Yoshi Island
-Replay mode. Haven't gotten that yet
-Diddy Kong and Dedede. Got one of them
-Loads of characters. Got it
-The game it's self, but I don't think that'll ever happen.

[jigglysama]

The only thing I need is playable Jigglypuff again. Any other cool stuff Sakurai puts in will be nice bonuses.

[thores]

Choice speculative quotes of mine from various Brawl threads over the past year or so:

thores said:

I think certain characters will most definitely have a modified moveset based on their more recent games.

Out of the characters with profiles so far though, there's not much to change. Mario and Pikachu haven't really gotten that many new moves, period. Well, Pikachu got Volt Tackle from Pokemon Emerald forward and I'm hoping he gets it as a Final Smash. Fox's moveset has been completely original since SSB64, so I don't see why they'd give him any new game-based attacks. Kirby has had a few new copy abilities in recent games, but he still doesn't have much incentive for new special moves. Link's Twilight Princess rendition had a lot of potential new moves, but since all of OoT/Melee Link's moves still apply to TP/Brawl Link, I can see why virtually nothing (of what we've seen anyway) was changed.

I think we're in for a new move or two with Samus, though. Specifically, a move that will turn her into Zero-Suit Samus (yes Rob I KNOW this hasn't been completely confirmed yet, it's just my opinion that this will indeed happen). Also, I'm thinking Luigi in particular will have an attack featuring his vacuum, and maybe his fireball will be electric based instead of fire based. Also, touching on Link again, maybe some of his moves will be upgraded after all. His B-smash gaining the effects of the Gale Boomerang and his grabs changing slightly are the first changes that come to mind.

But really, I would understand if most of the original 14's movesets were virtually unchanged from Melee. These movesets all fit them really well, most of them still apply to the characters in question even after new games have come out, and if it aint broke, don't fix it. Characters that first appeared in Melee though, especially clones, are far more likely to be revamped for Brawl, and will probably enter the ring with a more modern set of abilities in tow.

thores said:

I'm sure we'll get just as much retro stuff as we do contemporary stuff. After all, there were stages that were (admittedly very VERY loosely) based off of Zelda 2 and Super Mario World in Melee.

thores said:

I'm thinking the requirement for a franchise to earn its own symbol is that it, at the very least, has to have its own stage. So if a franchise has a stage, it doesn't necessarily need a character to have a symbol. As for Resetti, if he doesn't appear on this stage, Assist Trophy. Almost definitely.

thores said:

dancesinunderwear said:

However, FSs are a 1 time only thing,

Okay, I think this has been GROSSLY misinterpreted. Yes, Sakurai says the move can only be used once. But I don't think he means once per round, or even one per life. Cause then what happens when you've used your Final Smash and a Smash Ball appears on stage again. Does it just go through you? What happens if every player has used a Final Smash and a Smash Ball shows up? Does it just float around the stage, useless?

I think what Sakurai was trying to say is that you can only use the attack once each time you obtain the Smash Ball, so novice players wouldn't think that you're super powered for the rest of the match. You get the Smash Ball, you can use your Final Smash once, and then you have to get another Smash Ball if you want to use your Final Smash again. It doesn't really make sense if you can only use a Final Smash once per match. Because, for one thing, that would mean that ZSS doesn't have a Final Smash. And that can't be right.

And also, a reminder that I still get things wrong sometimes:

thores said:

I want the FLUDD as an item. Initially I wanted E.Gadd to use this as an Assist Trophy, but then I realized how much more potential it could have as its own item. When using the Fludd, you can aim the nozzle in 8 directions, and you can either spray your opponents (which would do minor damage and slowly push them backward) or spray the floor, causing opponents to slip on the water. Also, if you aim downward and use the FLUDD in midair, you can hover! So holding onto the item and using it to recover when you get knocked offstage would actually be a great strategy for characters that have lousy recovery otherwise.

Mr. Saturn also HAS to make a return. He HAS to.

[Snuka7]

The only thing I wished for was for Mr. Saturn and FLUDD to be playable. But it looks like they're not playable. Just kidding.
I wanted Sonic and I got him. GO...SONIC!

[Deleted]

I remember being vehemently against the concept of Red being a playable character before the DOJO re-launched in May, largely because I was under the misconception that, if he were a character, he'd be fighting directly. Since Pokémon trainers never fight directly, even the evil ones, and there ought to be some sort of reliance on Pokémon that didn't seem hack-kneed, and the focus should actually be primarily on the Pokémon themselves, I didn't think it would ever come to pass.

I was partially right, in any case. While Red did wind up making the cut as a player character, he also did it while doing everything I thought he should be doing--staying in the background and letting his Pokémon do the fighting for him. Now he's one of the newcomers I want to try most (after Meta Knight and Wario), and is certainly one of the most interesting.

I also thought, at one point, that Zelda and Ice Climbers wouldn't come back, and that Zelda would be replaced by Tetra. Whoops.

So far, though, my greatest expectations--Falco, and a deeper look into the F-Zero universe--haven't come to pass. The latter, I believe, is tue to F-Zero just not being one of Nintendo's larger franchises, and it doesn't even have the same benefit as MOTHER by having a very recently released installment in the series.

I'll take a deeper look into my naive expectations when I have a little more time.

[Johans Nidorino]

sgtmajorkururu said:

I remember being vehemently against the concept of Red being a playable character before the DOJO re-launched in May, largely because I was under the misconception that, if he were a character, he'd be fighting directly. Since Pokémon trainers never fight directly, even the evil ones, and there ought to be some sort of reliance on Pokémon that didn't seem hack-kneed, and the focus should actually be primarily on the Pokémon themselves, I didn't think it would ever come to pass.

I was partially right, in any case. While Red did wind up making the cut as a player character, he also did it while doing everything I thought he should be doing--staying in the background and letting his Pokémon do the fighting for him. Now he's one of the newcomers I want to try most (after Meta Knight and Wario), and is certainly one of the most interesting.

^_^ Hey, that means you were totally right. Something to be ashamed of at 0%.

Not only the character was given his role from the games (controlling Pokémon), but also he's nameless. Red seems to be just an avatar in Brawl, like in the Stadium games, Colosseum games, and linked battles. That's really fine, as the role-playing level you have when playing as a Pokémon Trainer is almost the same as playing as yourself.

[Sqrt2]

I've got everything I wanted so far, except Captain Falcon, Luigi, Jigglypuff and Sonic not being playable.

But I can't do anything about that anyway, so...

[Captain Walrus]

Captain Falcon and Luigi are everything but confirmed, and Jiggly's chances are pretty good I'd think. So you might be just a hedgehog off from a perfect score.