For more control over your matches, you'll have to connect to friends via the dreaded friend codes. Despite their annoyance, friend codes unlock a lot of otherwise unavailable options. Friend matches let you customize an online match the same way you would a local one, and they even open up a couple more game types. As an added bonus, you'll be able to add in extra local players, which isn't the case when playing with strangers. Lag has always been an issue with online games--and especially fighters--but of all the battles we participated in, only one of them suffered from any major lag, and most of them ran so smoothly that we wouldn't be able to tell that it was an online match if we didn't already know.
Competitive battles and cooperative missions aren't the only things to do with your friends in Brawl. Whenever you finish a multiplayer match that lasted less than three minutes, you can save a full replay of the battle for playback later, and at almost any time in the game or during these replays, you can pause and position your camera to take the perfect screenshot. Then, using the WiiConnect24 service, you can send these replays and screenshots to anyone on your friends list to show off.
Even though Brawl includes a multitude of fun and unique battlefields in which your matches can take place, in the event that you find yourself wanting more, it also offers a custom stage-editor tool so you can make your own from scratch. Using a simple interface, you can specify a size, background picture, and theme song to go along with your masterpiece. Then it's just a matter of selecting which of the premade terrain parts and platforms you want to lay out, and afterward you save the level. This tool works surprisingly well, and though your creations unfortunately can't be used in online matches, you can share them with your friends via WiiConnect24 just as you would a screenshot.
Though Brawl is primarily a multiplayer game, that doesn't mean it isn't without single-player challenges. Classic mode runs your character of choice through a variety of sequential battles as well as two bonus stages before pitting you against the sinister Master Hand, the mysterious disembodied hand that has appeared in every previous game in the series. Each time you play through classic mode, the rounds will change subtly, so you'll never go through the same version twice. Event mode is a series of individual challenges that force you to complete specific objectives to win. Training mode lets you hone your smash skills against opponents whose behaviors you can customize. In stadium mode, you can race against the clock to destroy targets in an obstacle course, try to score a distance record in a home-run contest, or face off against an army of enemies in the multiman brawl.
However, the main attraction in single-player is the adventure mode known as the subspace emissary. This is a retooled version of the adventure mode from Super Smash Bros. Melee that features a single story in which all of the characters in the game join together in an epic battle against a mysterious enemy. Subspace emissary follows the exploits of the various characters as they interact with each other, and is typically divided up into a number of loose story threads that eventually weave together; in one level, you may play as Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, and in the next you may be Lucas and the Pokémon Trainer. Between each level, you're treated with very high-quality and frequently hilarious cutscenes that further advance the story (and in typical Nintendo style, they are entirely dialogue-free).
The subspace emissary consists almost entirely of side-scrolling platforming levels that are filled with the usual bottomless pits, moving platforms, and enemies, and each one is designed to resemble some of the games that the characters are from. For instance, Donkey Kong's early levels are reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country, launcher barrels and all. These platforming levels are for the most part well designed and fun to play, but there are some--in particular the automatically scrolling ones--that the game could have done without, and there are some characters that just don't seem to handle platforming as well as others. Overall, though, the Subspace Emissary is an entertaining new experience for Smash Bros. and a full game in its own right, given that it will last you between eight and 10 hours. To sweeten the deal even more, Subspace Emissary, and in fact all of the single-player game types with the exception of the training and classic modes, can also be played with a friend cooperatively.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is easily one of the most impressive-looking games on the Nintendo Wii, and even when four players are battling each other onscreen at once in the largest levels, the frame rate never drops once. All of the characters look stunning in their new designs, and their every action, from their taunts to the expressions they make when on the receiving end of a blow, is exceptionally well animated. Equally impressive is the game's soundtrack, which boasts more than 100 songs from all over the Nintendo universe and beyond. Each of these tracks is arranged specifically for Brawl by a star-studded lineup of composers that includes notables Koji Kondo (Super Mario Bros.), Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger), Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts), and more.
Every now and then, a game comes along that is entirely must-have for every owner of the platforms it is released on. Last holiday season, Nintendo struck that kind of chord with Super Mario Galaxy, and now, less than six months later, that feat has been repeated with Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Its simple controls and gameplay make it remarkably accessible to beginners yet still appealing to Smash Bros. veterans. With the inclusion of mostly lag-free online play and the ability to share screenshots, custom levels, and game replays with friends, it offers an unparalleled multiplayer experience previously unseen on the Wii. Mix in all of the unlockable characters and stages, the lengthy single-player adventure, and the exorbitant number of collectible trophies and stickers to find, and you've got yourself the recipe for a game that, if its predecessors are any indication, people will be playing for years to come.
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