CT Chia
Smash Obsessed
Ok, so I know a lot of competitive smashers are starting to get their hands on the game, but that didn't stop me from writing up my impressions of the game so far after I got some time with it at Pound this weekend. I talk about the game overall including the absence of some techs from Melee, and some new things in the game. I also have an extensive about of information about Sonic and all his moves, as I played him the most.
THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS!!! I mention a couple of characters that haven't been revealed yet on the Dojo.
Source
"This weekend I attended Pound 3, one of the biggest Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments yet. One of the attendees was lucky enough to have a Japanese Wii and a copy of Brawl, and had it there for everyone to play. I got 6 matches in, 5 with Sonic and one with PKMN Trainer, all in 4 player matches. Half of them had smash balls on. Read on for my impressions from the eyes of a competitive Melee player.
Brawl is some of the most fun I have had with a video game in a long time. Perhaps the biggest shock was of how slow it was compared to Melee. It wasn’t really slow in all aspects especially playing as Sonic with the fastest horizontal movement in Melee or Brawl, but everything vertically is way slower. It wasn’t terrible as a Samus main in Melee, but after watching pros like G-Reg have trouble pulling off combos that he’s used to in Melee and losing a match to players who wouldn’t stand a chance to him in Melee, you know this is a whole new game.
I was quite surprised after playing with Smash Balls to find out they aren’t as broken as one would think, but they will definitely be banned in tournaments. Some are completely overpowered such as Marth’s which is pretty much an instant kill even at 0%, and yet others like Ness/Lucas or Kirby’s don’t pose much of a threat. Once a player gets a Smash Ball, they should use it immediately as they can have it knocked out of them, which happens quite often. This also changes things as some Final Smashes such as Sonic or Fox/Falco/Wolf’s can be activated anywhere without precise aim at first, when some like Marth or Meta Knight’s need to be used right next to your opponent. Smash Balls can be set to appear at intervals between very low or very high like the other items, and with playing a 4 player 3 stock match on very low Smash Balls, about 2 or 3 would show up per match.
As for the levels, there are plenty that are deemed “tournament worthy.” These are the more basic stages that don’t offer outside hazards that may affect the gameplay. This is why stages such as Final Destination or Pokemon Stadium were tournament legal in Melee, while stages like Big Blue or Icicle Mountain were banned. I only played on a couple of stages in Brawl, including Final Destination, Battlefield, and Green Hill Zone. GHZ is a lot different than I was expecting as almost the entire stage is one big slope which really confuses you while playing. Some ground in the middile also drops out at times which can make things quite hard in the middle of an intense match. Final Destination looks a lot nicer this time around, however the ledges aren’t quite as nice as they were in Melee as there is a bit of a cut-out in the ledge which can trap you, which lead to someone accidentally killing themselves while against me in a 1v1 match at the end of a 4 player match when we survived.
As for Sonic, he runs very fast… very, very fast. You have to be careful how you use this speed however as it takes a while to slow down to a stop, but if you play it right with running grabs or going to a spinning dash attack and retreating, Sonic proves to be a great character in the game. I worked on using his aerial attacks in the game which including a good spin attack for his neutral air that hits a couple times for small damage each time, a decent up air where he kicks his feet upwards, a back kick for his back air which has nice knockback and works great at the end of a combo, a forward air that acts as a drill which is nice to rack up some damage, and a unique down air that completely changed his moment to propel him down into a kick similar to Captain Falcon’s down B in the air. It has incredible delay afterwards, but as long as you hit your opponent, it has strong knockback so you will be able to get back up with no problem. Just don’t miss.
Sonic’s smash attacks are very strong and one of the more impressive parts of his game. His forward smash is a wind-up punch which definitely has a little bit of startup time, but it does decent damage and very nice knock back. His up smash has him quickly spinning into a ball and bouncing upwards, which has nice priority and deals good damage. His downsmash has him roll into a ball (again?) and quick move left to right on the ground. It covers a large amount of area and has decent knock back.
And finally for Sonic’s moves are his special attacks. I wasn’t expecting his neutral B attack (Homing Attack) to be good at all with the extreme startup time, but I was wrong. Sure it’s not a good idea to use it near your opponent as you can easily be hit out of the near 2 second startup, but it homes in on your opponent very well for a strong attack. I found it useful to use at the end of combos when your opponent is stunned, or as a surprise attack in a 4 player match. I haven’t gotten to try it, but I imaging the move could have nice edge guarding possibilities. His up B is his signature spring recovery move, which launches him quite high for a nice recovery move. Unfortunately Sonic does not sweetspot the edge with this move unlike many characters in the game, making recovery a little hard. However, in return for no sweetspotting, Sonic is able to execute aerial attacks and air dodges after his up B is done when he is still in the air. Most characters are stunned after their up B and can no longer perform attacks after their up B. Sonic can not perform any special attacks after his up B however without hitting the floor first, or grabbing the ledge.
Sonic’s down and over B are very similar as they are both spin dash like attacks. Sonic’s down B is his Spin Charge, as you can charge it up for extra speed. His side special move, the Spin Dash is a bit slower, and he sort of jumps into the attack which can feel sort of weird at first, however you are able to jump from the attack into a ball which works nice for combos. Both moves can be used in the air as well which means they can be used as recovery moves, but not as effective as the spring jump.
Unlike Sonic however, I don’t have much to say about Pokemon Trainer. It was in a 4 player match so I was completely overwhelmed already from the action, making it very tough to keep track of 3 brand new movesets. Switching Pokemon takes a very long time, but you are invulnerable most of the time. I found this useful to help dodge some Final Smashes, but you have to be careful as there is still some time you can get hit out of it. Squirtle is very fast, but not all so strong, especially with his neutral B move doing no damage, and only pushing characters back, similar to Mario’s near useless down B FLUDD attack. Ivysaur is a good balance of speed and power. His smash attacks are very strong, and the razor leafs are a nice projectile. His recovery however isn’t as nice as Squirtle or Charizard. Charizard’s forward air attack is by far his best move, and has an impressively strong side B attack (Rock Smash), but I wasn’t able to do much else besides that. Even with the lack of moves though, Charizard is a great tank character. He is very heavy making him hard to kill, but also has 4 jumps and a nice up B (Fly).
As for the new Brawl techniques, I kept forgetting with how the new air dodge worked, but started to get used to it by the end. This definitely adds for more strategy in recovery to the stage dodging your opponents moves, and is very different from Melee. As for the shields, they are a lot worse than in Melee. Melee used analog shields where it knew how far you pressed the L or R button down, and gave you a different shield for how much it was held down, such as nice Light Shield (aka Z Shield) which could be done by just barely holding a shoulder button, or by pressing and holding Z. Since not all the controllers on the Wii offer analog shield buttons, analog shielding was completely taken out. In order to shield you must hold L or R down all the way until it clicks. I forgot to test if you can still do the Light Shield or not with just the Z button.
So all in all, Brawl is an incredibly fun game, and I can not wait until it launches in the US so the tournament scene can start up in full force. It was already announced that the MLG has signed Brawl up to be one of their main games, even after dropping Melee last year. Many people seem to be sticking by Melee with the love of the speed of the game and familiarity, but I’m confident that Brawl will catch on and become even more popular than Melee. That’s it for these impressions, but if anyone has any questions about the game, leave a comment here and I will update the thread with a reply."
Source
THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS!!! I mention a couple of characters that haven't been revealed yet on the Dojo.
Source
"This weekend I attended Pound 3, one of the biggest Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments yet. One of the attendees was lucky enough to have a Japanese Wii and a copy of Brawl, and had it there for everyone to play. I got 6 matches in, 5 with Sonic and one with PKMN Trainer, all in 4 player matches. Half of them had smash balls on. Read on for my impressions from the eyes of a competitive Melee player.
Brawl is some of the most fun I have had with a video game in a long time. Perhaps the biggest shock was of how slow it was compared to Melee. It wasn’t really slow in all aspects especially playing as Sonic with the fastest horizontal movement in Melee or Brawl, but everything vertically is way slower. It wasn’t terrible as a Samus main in Melee, but after watching pros like G-Reg have trouble pulling off combos that he’s used to in Melee and losing a match to players who wouldn’t stand a chance to him in Melee, you know this is a whole new game.
I was quite surprised after playing with Smash Balls to find out they aren’t as broken as one would think, but they will definitely be banned in tournaments. Some are completely overpowered such as Marth’s which is pretty much an instant kill even at 0%, and yet others like Ness/Lucas or Kirby’s don’t pose much of a threat. Once a player gets a Smash Ball, they should use it immediately as they can have it knocked out of them, which happens quite often. This also changes things as some Final Smashes such as Sonic or Fox/Falco/Wolf’s can be activated anywhere without precise aim at first, when some like Marth or Meta Knight’s need to be used right next to your opponent. Smash Balls can be set to appear at intervals between very low or very high like the other items, and with playing a 4 player 3 stock match on very low Smash Balls, about 2 or 3 would show up per match.
As for the levels, there are plenty that are deemed “tournament worthy.” These are the more basic stages that don’t offer outside hazards that may affect the gameplay. This is why stages such as Final Destination or Pokemon Stadium were tournament legal in Melee, while stages like Big Blue or Icicle Mountain were banned. I only played on a couple of stages in Brawl, including Final Destination, Battlefield, and Green Hill Zone. GHZ is a lot different than I was expecting as almost the entire stage is one big slope which really confuses you while playing. Some ground in the middile also drops out at times which can make things quite hard in the middle of an intense match. Final Destination looks a lot nicer this time around, however the ledges aren’t quite as nice as they were in Melee as there is a bit of a cut-out in the ledge which can trap you, which lead to someone accidentally killing themselves while against me in a 1v1 match at the end of a 4 player match when we survived.
As for Sonic, he runs very fast… very, very fast. You have to be careful how you use this speed however as it takes a while to slow down to a stop, but if you play it right with running grabs or going to a spinning dash attack and retreating, Sonic proves to be a great character in the game. I worked on using his aerial attacks in the game which including a good spin attack for his neutral air that hits a couple times for small damage each time, a decent up air where he kicks his feet upwards, a back kick for his back air which has nice knockback and works great at the end of a combo, a forward air that acts as a drill which is nice to rack up some damage, and a unique down air that completely changed his moment to propel him down into a kick similar to Captain Falcon’s down B in the air. It has incredible delay afterwards, but as long as you hit your opponent, it has strong knockback so you will be able to get back up with no problem. Just don’t miss.
Sonic’s smash attacks are very strong and one of the more impressive parts of his game. His forward smash is a wind-up punch which definitely has a little bit of startup time, but it does decent damage and very nice knock back. His up smash has him quickly spinning into a ball and bouncing upwards, which has nice priority and deals good damage. His downsmash has him roll into a ball (again?) and quick move left to right on the ground. It covers a large amount of area and has decent knock back.
And finally for Sonic’s moves are his special attacks. I wasn’t expecting his neutral B attack (Homing Attack) to be good at all with the extreme startup time, but I was wrong. Sure it’s not a good idea to use it near your opponent as you can easily be hit out of the near 2 second startup, but it homes in on your opponent very well for a strong attack. I found it useful to use at the end of combos when your opponent is stunned, or as a surprise attack in a 4 player match. I haven’t gotten to try it, but I imaging the move could have nice edge guarding possibilities. His up B is his signature spring recovery move, which launches him quite high for a nice recovery move. Unfortunately Sonic does not sweetspot the edge with this move unlike many characters in the game, making recovery a little hard. However, in return for no sweetspotting, Sonic is able to execute aerial attacks and air dodges after his up B is done when he is still in the air. Most characters are stunned after their up B and can no longer perform attacks after their up B. Sonic can not perform any special attacks after his up B however without hitting the floor first, or grabbing the ledge.
Sonic’s down and over B are very similar as they are both spin dash like attacks. Sonic’s down B is his Spin Charge, as you can charge it up for extra speed. His side special move, the Spin Dash is a bit slower, and he sort of jumps into the attack which can feel sort of weird at first, however you are able to jump from the attack into a ball which works nice for combos. Both moves can be used in the air as well which means they can be used as recovery moves, but not as effective as the spring jump.
Unlike Sonic however, I don’t have much to say about Pokemon Trainer. It was in a 4 player match so I was completely overwhelmed already from the action, making it very tough to keep track of 3 brand new movesets. Switching Pokemon takes a very long time, but you are invulnerable most of the time. I found this useful to help dodge some Final Smashes, but you have to be careful as there is still some time you can get hit out of it. Squirtle is very fast, but not all so strong, especially with his neutral B move doing no damage, and only pushing characters back, similar to Mario’s near useless down B FLUDD attack. Ivysaur is a good balance of speed and power. His smash attacks are very strong, and the razor leafs are a nice projectile. His recovery however isn’t as nice as Squirtle or Charizard. Charizard’s forward air attack is by far his best move, and has an impressively strong side B attack (Rock Smash), but I wasn’t able to do much else besides that. Even with the lack of moves though, Charizard is a great tank character. He is very heavy making him hard to kill, but also has 4 jumps and a nice up B (Fly).
As for the new Brawl techniques, I kept forgetting with how the new air dodge worked, but started to get used to it by the end. This definitely adds for more strategy in recovery to the stage dodging your opponents moves, and is very different from Melee. As for the shields, they are a lot worse than in Melee. Melee used analog shields where it knew how far you pressed the L or R button down, and gave you a different shield for how much it was held down, such as nice Light Shield (aka Z Shield) which could be done by just barely holding a shoulder button, or by pressing and holding Z. Since not all the controllers on the Wii offer analog shield buttons, analog shielding was completely taken out. In order to shield you must hold L or R down all the way until it clicks. I forgot to test if you can still do the Light Shield or not with just the Z button.
So all in all, Brawl is an incredibly fun game, and I can not wait until it launches in the US so the tournament scene can start up in full force. It was already announced that the MLG has signed Brawl up to be one of their main games, even after dropping Melee last year. Many people seem to be sticking by Melee with the love of the speed of the game and familiarity, but I’m confident that Brawl will catch on and become even more popular than Melee. That’s it for these impressions, but if anyone has any questions about the game, leave a comment here and I will update the thread with a reply."
Source
