9: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Developer: Nintendo
Platform: Wii
The Super Smash Bros. series got its start on the Nintendo 64, and gamers everywhere spent countless hours playing as their favorite Nintendo hero and beating their friends’ favorites to a pulp. A couple of years later, and the GameCube’s Super Smash Bros. Melee seemed to dwarf the original in almost every way, and had people hooked more than ever. Seven years passed before Super Smash Bros. Brawl would hit store shelves and would again dwarf its own predecessor.
With a bigger and more balanced (not to mention more logical) character selection, including third party characters Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is, by far, the biggest Smash Bros. to date. What made the roster all the better was the clever uses of the characters (no tossed-in clone characters this time), some of which, like Snake or Wario, displaying more creative movesets than Melee’s entire roster.
But it wasn’t just the characters, the entire game expanded the entire Smash Bros. experience in just about every way. From the multitudes of whimsical stages right down to the wonderful musical score (composed by many of the biggest names in video game music), everything about Brawl was made bigger and better than ever before.
If any drawbacks are to be found, it’s in the underwhelming adventure mode (more a means of unlocking all the characters than anything) and the lack of options in its online mode (unless you’re playing against friends). But these trivial quibbles are forgotten almost entirely by the seemingly endless replayability of the whole package.
It’s hard to imagine what else can be done with Smash Bros. Of course, we thought the same thing with Melee. Though Brawl is definitely a hefty act to follow.
Remembered for: The brawl to end them all
Immense hype surrounded Brawl years before its release. Its E3 announcement trailer revealing the first batch of new characters, which included the shocking introduction of Solid Snake, set the wheels of expectation in motion. As time went by, series creator Masahiro Sakurai revealed bits and pieces of the game through his personal blog, which would eventually reveal Sonic the Hedgehog, bringing to life the old question of who would win in a fight between the blue hedgehog and Nintendo’s iconic plumber (as if time didn’t already answer that).
It all worked, as Brawl became the best-selling fighting game of all time, and many would say they’ve spent more time on it than any game of the current console generation.
11 comments so far
Good list, bub. I played most of those games and have no issues with their spot (not that it would matter if I did). Most of my choices didn’t make the cut but that’s how the cookie crumbles sometimes. I am a little sad with the lack of representation of old school NES games though (other than Mario games). I’m also disappointed that no fighting games made it. Oh well… like you said, this was chosen by the people so it’s gravy. Thanks for taking the time to do this.
PS – Super Mario 3 is still the best Mario game and one of the best overall games ever made. I just spent a couple hours the other week playing it through. P-Wing, baby!
April 6th, 2011 at 6:01 pm
this list has a lot of Mario….kind of iffy that there are so many games from the same series…(Metal Gear Solid, Mario) but I’m way happier with this list than I thought I would be… totally expected a bunch of Call of Duty n Gears of War type stuff to own the list…. great job… good read… glad Zelda made the list a couple times
April 9th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
Considering that Mario (and to a lesser extent, Zelda and Metal Gear) have had so many games in their series, many of which sell millions of copies and get great reviews, it shouldn’t be too surprising that they’re consistently popular.
April 9th, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Lol, what a coincidence O_O
I made a video last year, a tribute to SMW in which i said “Only Ocarina of Time is greater than this game”.
I foretold the future =)))
April 11th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
I think its fair to say bioshock deserves a place on this list.. totally original game with an amazing storyline. also too much mario.
September 5th, 2011 at 2:04 pm
Two things.
1: The list was voted on by people on Twitter, YouTube, GameSpot, and other such places. It was a majority vote, you can’t really argue with what “should have” been there (a few of my own favorites aren’t even on here).
2: Too much Mario? The series still produces multi-million selling, critically heralded titles more than 25 years down the road. I think it’s fair to say the series’ longevity in popularity and acclaim warrant a multiple entries.
If Bioshock is a personal favorite of yours, that’s all good and fine. You can have your favorites, but you can’t really argue what the majority of opinions voted on.
September 5th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
I agree with that list 25 best video games.
Thanks
March 16th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
very good list Yams,i think ocarina of time,really deservit,i am sad megaman didnt make it,but oh well…good list,amazing games
April 7th, 2012 at 12:47 am
If I had any real say-so in the list, Mega Man would have found a spot in there. The list was based off of a poll (or survey, or whatever you want to call it) over the course of several months. A “people’s choice” kind of thing. I wrote the descriptions for each entry, but the compiling of the list was based solely on the various opinions of people on the internet.
April 7th, 2012 at 1:30 pm
I literally giggled with excitement when I saw Ocarina of Time as #1. That definitely deserved the title. I was a little surprised not to see any Elder Scrolls or COD. (I know you didn’t necessarily make the list, not complaining, just surprised.) But all in all, great list. Before I read the comments, though, I thought, “This guy really likes Mario…” But now I’m just thinking, “Do this many people still play Mario?” Again, great list, very accurate, informative.
June 28th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
I’m sad because sonic the hedgehoh wasn’t on the list.He is my number 1 caracter but i’m happy because you put super mario bros on the list.Mario is my 2nd favourite gaming caracter.
July 14th, 2012 at 5:03 pm
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