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The 10 most dissapointing things about Brawl

An article by Jomingo

30 August '09

Admit it, Super Smash Bros. Brawl was dissapointing in many ways. It's true. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic game that's gotten over 156 hours of game time out of me, but it was dissapointing. The main reason for this dissapointment was the large amount of hype everyone gave it before it's release. Of course it couldn't live up to everyone's expectations of being the perfect game. And it didn't. So for some odd reason I decided that over sixteen months after I got the game, I would make a list of the most dissapointing things about it. So here is that list.

Please note: these ten things are in no particular order. Also, if any of the opinions expressed in this article contradict those displayed in my Brawl review, please remember that I wrote that over a year ago. People change, and so do their opinions. Deal with it.

. . .



#1: Konga Beat

Konga Beat is the name of Donkey Kong's Final Smash. It involves DK pulling out the DK Bongos and pounding out large sound waves. Not only is this move representative of one of the worst games in DK's history, but it is an ineffective and useless move to boot. Surely throughout DK's lengthy history there is something more interesting and effective that could have been used in place of this. They could have involved barrel cannons, animal buddies, coconut guns, minecarts or any other popular mechanic that DK has used in the past. But no, we are stuck with this waste of a move.

#2: 3rd Party Characters

The entire purpose of the Super Smash Bros. series has been to bring together all of Nintendo's major franchises of past and present together. But with the inclusion of Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog the door has now been opened to 3rd party characters, thus making almost any character possible. Not only does this defeat the purpose of the franchise, but these characters are taking spaces that could have been used to accommodate more deserving franchises. Sonic is somewhat understandable. He is a gaming icon and Nintendo's classic rival. But Snake's inclusion is so off the wall that there is now an excuse for any fanboy on the internet to suggest completely random and ridiculous choices for the next game. And the sad part is, none of them are out of the question now that we have Snake.

#3: There are no Miis

This may not be the highest priority item on this list, but it was a dissapointing exclusion none the less. Miis, the lovable yet soulless caricatures created for the Wii series of video games. Although I'm not the biggest fan of games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit, I still admit that they are one of Nintendo's biggest franchises and including a Mii could have been an easy way to represent the "Touch Generations", not to mention that it would be downright fun to Brawl with all of your Mii creations, from Jerry Seinfeld to Adolf Hitler.

#4: Clones

Although I don't usually agree with the use of the term "clone", it is the best word to fit with my fourth gripe. There are several characters that are unnecessarily similar to other characters on the roster, examples of which include Toon Link and Wolf o' Donnel. These characters could very easily have been given more unique moves or even been replaced by more unique characters in their respective series, like Wolf Link and Krystal for instance.

#5: Stage Builder

The Stage Builder, although having the most potential of any mode in the game, leaves the most to be desired. The kinds of tiles you can place and where you can place them are too limited, there are only three backgrounds to choose from, the stages you can make are dull and ugly, and you can't play your stages Online.

#6: Retro Characters

I don't care how important retro games are to Nintendo, nobody cares about Pit, Ice Climbers, R.O.B. or Mr. Game and Watch. Period. They are just taking up space and don't belong in this game.

#7: DK's Stages

Instead of getting a Gangplank Galleon stage, or any other classic DKC stage, we get a DK Arcade stage and a Jungle Beat Stage. Mario has like 6 stages but this is all we got. Not even the inclusion of the Jungle Japes Melee stage can redeem this!

#8: Online Multiplayer

The online multiplayer, although an admirable attempt, isn't great. The lack of any form of communication is the part that ruins it for me.

#9: Severe under-representation

The Metroid and F-Zero franchises still only have one character. What's up with that? Ridley and Goroh should've been playable, but instead they got stuck as a boss and an AT respectively. Tsk tsk.

#10: King K. Rool is nowhere in sight!

The most shocking dissapointment about Brawl was the utter lack of any significant appearance by the Kremling King. I was absolutely sure that he would be in, especially after the Kirby series, which was in a very similar situation as the DK series, got two new characters. King K. Rool would have been more unique than half the roster. Even StarFox got three representatives!

. . .


Well, there you have it. The ten most dissapointing things about Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Let's just hope they remedy some of these complaints when the next Smash Bros. rolls around in god who knows when.

- by Jomingo -


This article was written by a DKC Atlas Forum staff member. All opinions expressed within this article are those of the writer, and are not necessarily shared by DKC Atlas, or the DKC gaming community.
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