Getting down to the Wifi Basics: Sakurai talks more about Nintendo WFC

<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi04_071207a-l.jpg" alt="Nintendo WFC" align="middle" border="0" height="315" width="400" /></p>
Today’s update left me kind of wondering what to make of this update. Sakurai revealed some unique but baffling information. He discusses With Anyone/Basic Brawl functionality, the issue about seeing hidden characters and how the Subspace Emissary is involved.<!--more-->
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi04_071207b-l.jpg" alt="The usual..." align="middle" border="0" height="315" width="400" /></p>
Nothing new here, just select With Anyone if you don’t have any friends to play with which I’m sure no one is really going to have a problem with.
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi04_071207c-l.jpg" alt="Basic Brawl" align="middle" border="0" height="315" width="400" /></p>
<p align="center">Pick Basic Brawl if you’re not up for a team battle or spying on other matches.</p>
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi04_071207d-l.jpg" alt="Character Select Screen" align="middle" border="0" height="315" width="400" /></p>
Now here is the one that had me puzzled and Sakurai makes kind of vague. Does he mean to say, “Pick your character and stage” and that’s it or can you modify item settings as an option? I’m assuming the host of the game makes these choices, but the stage selection screen goes up on a lottery system and everyone playing can choose to vote for the stage they wish for.
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi04_071207e-l.jpg" alt="Stage Select Screen" align="middle" border="0" height="315" width="400" /></p>
<p align="center">Once a stage has been chosen, it is just a matter of time before the match starts.</p>
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi04_071207f-l.jpg" alt="Ounch that sandbag..." align="middle" border="0" height="315" width="400" /></p>
Now Sakurai didn’t really explain items very well. So it really is unknown how item settings will be taken into account online since he left so little explanation on them.
<p align="center"> <img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi04_071207h-l.jpg" alt="Gasp, a CPU!" align="middle" border="0" height="315" width="400" /></p>
He did however do something I thought was kind of interesting but weird. If you happen to drop out during a “With Anyone” match a CPU will replace you. Of course, what happens if all four players drop out, does the match still continue on their server and if not on the server which Wii console CPU will the other players be relying on? We don’t have to worry about friend matches ending up this way because I think Sakurai realized the futility in doing such a thing.

Sakurai also brought up a question we all have asked here.

“What will happen if I go online and see secret characters I haven’t unlocked yet?”

It is simple really, if you fight the character online, you’ll be able to unlock them, but if you don’t want everything spoiled for Sakurai suggest going through “Adventure Mode” before going online so nothing is spoiled for you. While I did pretty much covered what he said, I’m going to go ahead and leave this paragraph for everyone to contemplate over:

Masahiro Sakurai said:

<blockquote>When you have a battle mode that runs online like Basic Brawl, the problem of what to do with hidden characters arises. If one of your opponents chooses a character you haven’t unlocked yet, it will be spoiled for you immediately.

But even without this mode, given the proliferation of the Internet these days, the existence of hidden characters is going to get exposed anyway.

So, this time I’m moving in the direction of not being too hung up on hidden characters.

You can earn most characters by playing through Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary. For those of you who look forward to those encounters, I recommend you clear this mode before playing Basic Brawl.

And as the case has always been, I’ve made it so you can play the characters you unlock in battles.</blockquote>

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Um, I dont think he meant that if you run into a secret character online its automaticly unlocked. Its just spoiled for you.

well at least we know what the coins are for now

Misto-Roboto said:

It is simple really, if you fight the character online, you’ll be able to unlock them

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He meant it means you are able to unlock them, they won't be unlocked immediately by simply facing an opponent with that unlockable character

sdhonda said:

Um, I dont think he meant that if you run into a secret character online its automaticly unlocked. Its just spoiled for you.

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That's not what I said.

I like this update. Wonder if he's gonna show secret characters on the dojo?

I want to know if you'll be able to change the settings. Sakurai said that you don't worry about settings. Does that mean you can't choose stock match or stuff like that?

Note that the screen shows a two-minute timed match and Sakurai didn't mention any way to change it. So what, you can vote on the item switch, but have no control over the mode? You'd think that would be a much higher priority.

I was hoping that at the very least, matches would be set to longer than two minutes. With all the time it'll take to connect and find opponents, we'll wind up spending longer in the menus than on the battlefield.

Not that I ever truly expected anything other than forced two-minute time matches for With Anyone. I was still hoping that they'd surprise me, though...

I also think he meant that seeing them online would spoil the characters, not being able to unlock them.

I'm actually pretty impressed with the way he set up the wifi, especially for a Nntendo game. Though it starts to feel a bit pointless to play online when you can even see another's name and they can be bot-ized at any moment without notice.

I wish you could at least choose stock and use a different time limit.

It looks like "With Anyone" is gonna suck unless you have a good connection and there are plenty of people on. But with it so sucky, maybe there won't be too many people on. So... yeah.

I am very impressed with this update... Simple yet Awesome. And the way he said it is just the way it is. I mean Internet does spoil alot of stuff so he didn't even want to bother with the secret characters.

Hey there is one way we can tell if we're fighting a tounry/elite before a match! If they bet every coin they have to turn items off, then you will know XDD

I'm just joking. I really like this update, Sakurai really has thought of everything! =]

So I guess we'll get the Character Updates rolling in now!

I knew he would show them on the Dojo first, why did people think he wouldn't?

The coin in the stage select picture isn't the coins you earn in the game, they are they 1P, 2P, 3P, 4P coins that you put on your character when you pick who you want to use. Since each player needs to vote for a stage to play, it shows your coin and which stage you placed it on.

Something I'm wondering about is, when a player gets d/c'd and the CPU takes over, how does that work? One of the other player's Wii's starts up its AI and then that Wii is sending TWO inputs online? I'm guessing it'll be a random level CPU, as well.

What about the item switch? How many items will randomly be turned off? Will there always be some items turned off? Can it turn off Smash balls? Can it turn off all the items?

If characters aren't being hidden online, I suspect stages will follow suit. If you wanna know all the characters and stages that can be unlocked, just go online on like the 2nd or 3rd day after Brawl comes out!

If you earn most characters through the SSE, how does that work exactly? You play through it once and you have 3/4ths of the roster? That seems pretty lame. If there are lots of branching parts like choosing between Zelda and Peach, then I can see having to go through multiple playthroughs, one time getting Zelda, one time getting Peach. But not them, since I'm pretty sure they're starters. Also, I'd guess you still unlock a couple characters through Event mode, and Jiggs is still unlocked from your first time through Classic. And there will be a character like Mr. G&W, who you unlock only once you've unlocked everyone else.

A very mysterious update indeed...

Cool, sounds simple and effective.

So on to speculation - surely that e for all roster is a placeholder!? That can't be the starting roster; not without zelda and kirby, at least!

This update is very thorough, and that's what I like about it. I love it when Sakurai explains the why's and how's of Brawl's features.

The "with anyone" mode is pretty much what I thought it would be. Just a simple way to set up basic 2-minute matches. It's a quick-fix for anyone who just wants to play a match and doesn't have any friends from their list around at the current time.

And yeah, that roster is the one from the E for All demo, obviously. Sakurai thinks he's pretty darn smooth.

psyniac_123 said:

Cool, sounds simple and effective.

So on to speculation - surely that e for all roster is a placeholder!? That can't be the starting roster; not without zelda and kirby, at least!

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That was the demo Character select screen.

I got the impression that the item situation WAS explained... each item is voted on by the server depending on each player's settings. So if all 4 players had items off, there would be no chance of items...

I just wish there were different lengths of battles...

well, i was hoping for better but you can only wish so much. I wish their was more details on whether or not game settings (i.e time or stock) can be changed, but the vagueness leaves me to believe it will only be 2 minute matches.This will be fun for some quick matches but i suppose i'll just have to make some onllne smasher friends

Wyvern said:

Note that the screen shows a two-minute timed match and Sakurai didn't mention any way to change it. So what, you can vote on the item switch, but have no control over the mode? You'd think that would be a much higher priority.

I was hoping that at the very least, matches would be set to longer than two minutes. With all the time it'll take to connect and find opponents, we'll wind up spending longer in the menus than on the battlefield.

Not that I ever truly expected anything other than forced two-minute time matches for With Anyone. I was still hoping that they'd surprise me, though...

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I completely disagree. What if the time set that wins the lottery is 99 minutes set by some prankster. Even if you're given 3 preset times (2,5,10 mins) and asked to choose between them, when playing With Anyone, everyone should expect the same time range. Feel fortunate that you can pick a stage and the items (which is also determined by lottery, methinks you lose a coin for every item you want off). If you want longer matches, go to With Friends mode, or play a Vs. match offline - With Anyone has satisfied all my expectations, and I'm very happy.

It seems like you can choose items like you choose a stage... so for anyone who prefers no items... if everyone turns off items then you won't play with items...




And I'm curious about the "Options" button...

Will you get to choose stock and time limit etc in here??


And my thoughts on the secret character thing... Why would people be looking at this site if they didn't want spoilers... is he or is he not going to post ALL the secret characters before the game comes out? (he's already posted some...)

"Options" is almost definitely to manage your connection settings, not game settings.

I suppose that's probably true v_v

Looks like online play is gimped just like in every other Nintendo game ever. What a major disappointment.

ShadowXOR said:

Looks like online play is gimped just like in every other Nintendo game ever. What a major disappointment.

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It's the game's "random" mode for setting up quick matches. Sakurai made it to be simple.

"With Friends" will definitely be a deeper online experience. Save your judgments.

'So, this time I’m moving in the direction of not being too hung up on hidden characters.'

Is this just refering to Sakurai wanting to reveal all characters before release?

I dunno, he can mean to reveal, or not to reveal at the same time.

Yeah, regarding that time limit thingy... it doesn't look like we're gonna be able to change that if you look at the character select screen near the top right, you can see 'item' and 'stage' for that whole lottery thing. Seems to have nothing on the time limit/stock options, sadly.

Okay. I'm going to put my thoughts on the whole Wi-Fi thing. The only complaint I have about the whole thing is the anonymous players and lack of ability to choose to add him or her to my list., but it's not anything to go crying home to mommy about, to be honest. The way he handled the "With Anyone" is honestly quite interesting and fun though. Hmm. Let me break it down into points though.

1. The whole competition vs. casual is quite silly and has no place in everyday smashing unless one is setting up a tournament. If you're playing at home by yourself, or with friends online or at the house, expect casual because that's exactly what it is, there's nothing at stake, except maybe your pride. Just because you play by tourney rules all the time, doesn't mean other people do or even care. If you want a tourney, call your friends and arrange it before hand, don't expect it to be handed to you on a silver platter.

2. I'm quite honestly surprised no one has flipped over the lottery thing for the items. You do realize the game saves the data for the Item Switch on your memory card right? Whatever items you had selected in the options menu under VS. stays that way until you change it. I'm guessing one of two things. One, the server uses one player's Item Switch selection. Or two, it goes with the majority selection for each item individually, i.e. the majority have pokeballs turned on, then we get pokeballs for that fight.

3. I don't know if any of you realize this, but I'm seriously wondering how Sakurai is going to handle the stages. Hidden characters are one thing. I mean, if you don't have him or her, you're just going to be spoiled when he shows up to beat your butt down, or be beaten down, but stages? There's going to be hidden stages too, you know. So is he going to have a preset selection of stages or will we just be able to select from the ones we have available and be pleasantly surprised when we find ourselves fighting on a stage we've never seen before?

4. About the type of matches? That could very well be preset to 2-minute timed, or we might be able to set up the type of match that we want beforehand and the server automatically hooks us up with other players seeking the same or similar type of matches.

im ok with everything except for the time limit.

also isnt everyone ignoring the true gem of this update? TEAM BATTLE.

Great...Nintendo screws up again. Not only can i not see my opponents names, but now i cant even tell if theyre real or just a cpu...Wasnt the WHOLE point of going online was to play a REAL person. The idea itself is cool, IF THEY TELL YOU YOUR FACING A CPU. But since they dont the play with anyone mode is dumb and pointless. Way to go nintendo, way to screw up the only wifi game i cared about.

I'd like to state that Sakurai never explicitly ironed out that we couldn't make friends with people after random matches with them...

jamesss said:

well at least we know what the coins are for now

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What are you talking about?

Select the ones you have available, Aurora. You select your character, then stage.

JJBro1 said:

Great...Nintendo screws up again. Not only can i not see my opponents names, but now i cant even tell if theyre real or just a cpu...Wasnt the WHOLE point of going online was to play a REAL person. The idea itself is cool, IF THEY TELL YOU YOUR FACING A CPU. But since they dont the play with anyone mode is dumb and pointless. Way to go nintendo, way to screw up the only wifi game i cared about.

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What a whiney melodramatic first post.

The most interesting part, I would have to agree, is the suggestion that Sakurai will be revealing the entire roster either sometime around the release date. We already suspected this, but it's just more confirmation. So I'm guessing he'll start revealing some more characters before the Japanese release, and then step it up to cover the remainder in between the Japanese and American release, since he realizes that his time is limited after it gets into players' hands.

I wouldn't expect more than one or two characters to be unrevealed by the time of the American release. Namely whichever character is available last and thus the least likely to be unlocked in the 2.5 weeks the Japanese have the game before Americans. But since some people will be playing it like mad after the release, either Sakurai will reveal it all before the American release, or he'll be preempted if he doesn't. Either that, or the last character will be insanely difficult to unlock (or require you to do something really unusual, or require you to play the game for a very long time, etc.).

Aurora Jenny said:

So is he going to have a preset selection of stages or will we just be able to select from the ones we have available and be pleasantly surprised when we find ourselves fighting on a stage we've never seen before?

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That sounds the most likely.

The other solution is to only allow you to select from the stages that all players have available. But if he's not doing that for characters, I'm guessing it'll be like what you said.

And like I said before... I'm mainly just annoyed at the fact that you can only play 2 minute timed matches.

They should at least give you the option to play stock matches. I understand why they would want to limit your options for time, so that people can't pick ridiculous times. And because of that, they can't give you too many options, otherwise they'll have trouble matching people's preferences. But if they at least gave you the option to play 2 min, 5 min or 4 stock, that would be so much nicer.

jamesss said:

well at least we know what the coins are for now

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...what???

SeriousWB said:

What a whiney melodramatic first post.

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what a crappy way to greet a new user.

JJBro1 said:

what a crappy way to greet a new user.

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I described your first post, that's how I usually greet new forum members. Whiney melodramatic first posts get told so.

SeriousWB said:

I described your first post, that's how I usually greet new forum members. Whiney melodramatic first posts get told so.

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well dont you agree with me? I mean this whole idea of you dont know if your playing a real person or a cpu is really really stupid and pointless dont you think?