Super Smash Brothers Brawl might be my favorite game of all time. So, it is not a coincidence that SSB: Brawl has a heavy co-op element. If you have seen our review, we think highly of the game and its co-op aspects. Brawl is one of the games that I am constantly playing and is always on my "to play" list. So it's not really surprising that I have many good stories to regale. This week was no different, as Brawl continues to impress me. With the popularity of last week's Crackdown love-fest, I will now tell of fun stories that have come from a week worth playing SSB: Brawl.
I regularly play the "Brawl" mode with a teammate, fighting against two computer players. This is my favorite co-op mode, though Subspace Emissary is often very fun. However, most of my experience is with Brawl mode.
- My favorite character to play as is Snake. Part of it is because of his versatility with all his explosives. However, Snake is not that great for co-op, since many of his explosives are non-discriminate. I was playing with my partner, who was playing as Zelda. I had planted a Claymore on a particular platform. However, my teammate was blissfully unaware of said Claymore. Before I could warn him, he fell onto the explosive, which killed him. He just stared at the screen and wondered aloud about what killed him. I didn't have the guts to say that it was me.
- Subspace Emissary is often overlooked because its not the quickest mode to "get in, get out." However, it is a fun mode, and has created many fun moments. One that I always laugh at is the "teleport" feature that allows one player to catch up with their teammate. However, if you get frustrated with your teammate (as I sometimes did), you can abuse this feature, which turns your teammate into a sort of yo-yo. Often my teammate would be happily exploring part of a level, only to completely disappear, replaced by a flying orb (the teleport feature in progress) obediently following me. This of course, was followed by the grumblings of my teammate, apparently mad at my abuse of power.
- It's not really recommended for you and your teammate to use the same character. Not only can it be somewhat confusing, it also creates an imbalance; i.e. the light Zelda needs someone tough like Ike to back her up. However, my teammate and I are pretty good with Zelda, so we decided to double up. Part of the thinking was that Zelda can also turn into Sheik, so technically she's really two characters in one. However, our complex and well-planned strategy went out of the window, because I couldn't tell the difference between my character and my teammates, and accidentally died several times. To be fair, it wasn't my fault; there was a large amount of action going on at the time. However, all you really saw was a Zelda (my Zelda, unbeknowngst to me) drifting over the edge, slowly falling to her doom. Only when I noticed my life counter went down by one did I realize what had happened.
So, my week o' Super Smash Brothers was eventful, as it always is. I really could have written pages on fun things that happened to me playing Brawl, but these three examples show the diversity of fun and goofiness that occurs in SSB: Brawl. So, anyone else a Brawl-er?