Index
This week provided only two non-spoiler updates; it appears that SmashBros.com is going heavily into "Game Guide" mode from this point out.
2/11/08: Quick Techniques
This update illustrated some additional techniques and tidbits that you won’t find in the instruction manual, but you can use nonetheless.
Ukemi: as in previous games, if you hit a shield button right before you hit the ground after being attacked, you’ll hop up instantly and be ready to attack again.
Perfect Shield: If you put up your shield at the very instant an enemy attacks you, you’ll perform this move; unlike a normal shield, the Perfect Shield ceases nearly instantly, leaving you in an ideal position to counterattack. The picture above shows Link pulling off a Perfect Shield.
Stale-Move Negation: the more you use the same move over and over, the less damage it will do, and the less distance you’ll get out of it. In addition to this update, players of Brawl have noticed this effect and report that this is more significant than in other games, though there’s no official confirmation of this.
Glancing Blow: sometimes you’ll only sort of hit your opponent with your attack, especially if you’re too far away; when this happens, the enemy won’t flinch or anything, so be careful.
Swim: if you fall into water, you’ll be able to swim for a short amount of time, so try and recover. The more damage you have, the sooner you drown.
Small Jump: merely tapping the jump button will net you a Small Jump, which is shorter than a normal one; Sakurai recommends using this technqiue to get close to opponents while dodging their attacks.
Pivot Grab: since I’m not precisely sure how this one works, I’ll quote the Dojo: "While dashing, press the direction opposite your current heading while performing a grab. You’ll get more range out of this kind of grab, so try pulling a 180 and scooping up your unsuspecting opponent with it."
Eating While Reclining: if an attack makes you hit the ground near some food, you can press the A button to eat it while you’re still lying there.
Breaking Reflectors: several characters have reflecting devices that will deflect projectiles while increasing the damage they do. If two players keep reflecting the same projectile back and forth, however, it will eventually break through one of the reflectors for massive damage.
2/13/08: Yoshi’s Special Moves
This update showed off two of Yoshi’s special moves, which remain essentially unchanged from the last game. His standard special move is the Egg Lay, in which he eats an opponent and turns it into an egg; here you see him egging Zero Suit Samus off of the edge. Te update also noted that you can affect the range of Yoshi’s Egg Toss by either tilting the control stick (to adjust the angle) or holding the button (to increase distance).
I like the idea of the Perfect Shield and the whole Breaking Reflectors thing.
SPOILER CONTENT BEGINS HERE
SPOILER CONTENT BEGINS HERE
Click the update names for a screenshot!
This stage, a faithful recreation of the original Mario Bros. arcade game from 1983, is unlocked by completing Event 19. Given the numerous ceilings around here, regular KOs are going to be pretty difficult. Enter the enemies; after knocking enemies onto their backs (by hitting the floor they’re on from underneath), you can throw them at enemies for a powerful hit that will fling your opponents directly sideways - the easiest way to KO in this stage. The POW block returns here as well.
2/13/08: Hidden Parts in Stage Builder
As you play through Brawl, you’ll slowly unlock more parts for your Stage Builder; three parts noted by this update were conveyor belts, springboards, and Ferris wheels. There also appeared to be some Easter Island-esque statues involved. Salurai notes that Stage Builder parts will start to appear quickly.
Sonic’s home turf, modeled off the first stage of the original Sonic the Hedgehog, is unlocked at the same time as Sonic. It mainly consists of a large dip in the middle of the stage, though the team took care to model a lot more of the stage pretty nicely. If certain parts of the ground are attacked enough, though, they’ll fall away, leaving a hole in the course temporarily; there’s also a midway point marker that appears, which you can hit to make spin around, though its function is not known to me at this time. Lastly, you’ll occasionally see Tails, Silver and Knuckles running through the loop in the background, and even though you’ll never see it, they’ve been nicely modeled as well.
Luigi’s returning for another round of Smash, and Sakurai hopes that this time he’ll be more than just Mario’s brother. He’s unlocked either by playing 22 Brawls, beating Classic without using continues, or getting far enough in the Subspace Emissary. The special moves shown were the Super Jump Punch, which deals more damage if it connects at the very beginning of the move, and the Green Missile, which sends Luigi rocketing to his left or right.
Luigi’s Final Smash is known as the Negative Zone, during which a circle appears on the screen around Luigi, bringing in funky music and color negatives. Any opponents who find themselves in this zone can experience a myriad number of effects, such as dizziness, randomly falling asleep, decreased attack power, being flung farther, slow increase of damage, and "uncontrollable taunting". If an enemy is in the air, though, they woon’t slip, sleep or taunt.
The Negative Zone looks like something out of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. I wonder why exactly they decided to give this to Luigi?
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