smash bros

What to expect from Nintendo at E3 2012: Wii U, 3DS, and a sense of purpose

Heading into E3 2012, Nintendo is either the easiest of the Big Three gaming companies to handicap, or the hardest, depending on your perspective.

We know, absolutely, that Nintendo's next-gen Wii U gaming console will reappear at this year's show. We know that games will finally be unveiled for this system. Yet, we largely have no idea what those games are. Nintendo's veil of secrecy on its software lineup is a little more opaque than it is for Sony and Microsoft...or so it seems. Here's what we think will happen.… Read more

Smash Bros., brought back and demade

Super Smash Land is a classic and faithful imagination of a "what if" scenario that undoubtedly plagued the minds of the original series' fans. What if Nintendo had ported one of its most successful franchises to its most successful handheld? Would we have seen more Smash brawls than Pokemon battles on the playground?

Regardless, Dan Fornace has brewed up a simple and nostalgic tribute to the Super Smash series. SSL features four stock characters, with two unlockables. Controls have been simplified to two attack buttons to emulate the original Game Boy experience.

In addition to pixelated renditions … Read more

O Mother, where art thou?

Super Smash Bros. Brawl launched last week, and according to Nintendo it's already sold over 1.4 million copies. It features the biggest roster to date in the series, with major additions such as Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog. It also includes Lucas, a psionically powered child with abilities comparable to series veteran Ness.

Ness comes from Earthbound, a Super Nintendo role-playing game that has become a cult classic because of its quirky sense of humor and simple, cartoony art style. Earthbound was originally launched in Japan as Mother 2, the sequel to an NES RPG called Mother … Read more

Believe the hype: Super Smash Bros Brawl is great

A few weeks ago, I sat down with Super Smash Bros Brawl expecting more of the same. Instead of a compelling storyline and an interesting platform-esque experience, I expected a Melee redux. Instead of a slew of characters and fantastic combo moves, I expected another button masher. Instead of one of the best games released this year, I expected an average title that does little to push the series forward. I was wrong.

Let me get this out of the way -- Super Smash Bros Brawl is a fantastic game that you should buy as soon as you can come up with the $50 (and Wii) it takes to play this title.

Super Smash Bros Brawl is the result of years of time and effort put into a game that does all of the big things right and only fails on some of the smaller, less important facets of the title. And it's that dynamic that not only propels this title to instant greatness, but helps set a new tone in the industry.… Read more

Where we care more about the camera than coming up with titles

EPISODE 53

Gov. Spitzer.... [insert joke here]. Jeff's Mogul nabs an upgrade, and we reveal the winner of Super Smash Bros. Brawl! Plus, do we really need to be going into space? And If you want to win something, e-mail your best faux Steven Segal movie titles to us (the404 [at] cnet [dot] com). Don't worry about that bumper before the show, it's still us.

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