Was Wolf the "Thank You For Waiting" Gift?

[ElvishSpirit]

Was Wolf, the last "brawler" to be unlocked in Brawl, the "thank you for waiting a little more" gift? ElvishSpirit looks closer into this.

When Brawl was set for a release on December 3rd, 2007, everyone couldn't wait. The game the have been waiting for since May 2006 (E3), was only months away! At this time, though, not much had been revealed, not even Ike. Lets fast forword to October 14th, 2007...

Everyone woke up, waiting for the normal update as usual. Maybe Geno, Olimar, Sonic, Lucario, Bowser Jr etc etc....day was today! Well, when we all finally decided to check, jaws dropped. ZOMG, SONIC!!!!! But......huh? Wth? The release date now said "TBA". What is going on?

Not only was October 14th one of the greatest days for smash fans, it was also one of the worst. All day, people were posting that IGN said the game was delayed, people (like me) said "nah, IGN never tells the truth". They were infact right. A couple days later, Brawl was delayed until Febuary 10th, 2008. Now lets go to..sometime in late January, I think?

Woke up, checked the update. Expected a very boring update, as the new updates at the time were not very interesting. (Yawn), that was interesting......HOLD UP. What is that on the top? DELAYED AGAIN? MARTH 9TH? WHEN WILL THIS END??

Between the dates of October 14th-March 9th, hell was freezing over. People finally learned to accepted that the game was delayed, but people said things like "Man, they better give us an extra char for this madness!". Was Wolf this charater?

"Wolf, Wolf, Wolf. How did you not show up in the Subspace storyline at all? Why were you the absolute last charater to unlock?"I thought to myself. "Wait.......was Wolf put in late in the game?" Let me put it this way-

Was Wolf the charater that is saying "Sorry for delaying Brawl twice, we put in a extra brawler for all your support"? Let me state from facts that might help you agree with me-

-Absolute last charater to unlock. As awesome Wolf is, he shouldn't be the last charater to unlock. He ain't no Mr.G&W.

-Had absolutely no storyline in Subspace. And you think he would, honestly. He could be right up there with Wario, in terms of role.

-While no charater should have been left out of Subspace, Jigglypuff and Toon Link seems right where they are right now. But Wolf? Another villain? Why wouldn't Nintendo take advantage of that?

-Toon Link seems more like a Mr.G&W type of charater, you know, the art of.......uniqueness? And yet, he is 2nd to last.

-And, unlike Toon Link (Stage, MANY songs) and Jigglypuff (One of the "Smash 12"), Wolf had absolutely no purpose to be one of the "after charaters" and nothing along with the charater itself, no stage, only a couple songs (Only 1 which was recorded by the "Smash musicians". It even seems like he was rushed......

-And finally, yes, I'm sure in a 2 months time they can make 1 charater and any proper changes.

That about wraps it up. I'm not really trying to prove anything, more like expressing my view on something.

Discuss.

 

[captainfalconmute]

if thats the case then it wasnt a very good gift...

 

[jwj442]

The whole roster besides Sonic was decided by Sakurai back when the game started.

We don't know why specifically the game was delayed. It could have been for polish and balancing, or for marketing (so it wouldn't overshadow Mario Galaxy), or a lot of other reasons.

 

[emb1234]

At GDC, I believe Sakurai mentioned that Sonic was the last character to be decided on. And then he mentioned that he wasn't put in until 2007. Something to that effect, I at least think. I really don't think the delay gave us another character, just a more balanced game.

 

[Wyvernkni]

Unlikely. Afterall, they only delayed the Japanese version for One week, the full production of a character just to say "I'm sorry" seems a little excessive. Besides, not only that, but you don't HAVE to unlock wolf last, I unlocked him BEFORE Jiggs and Toon Link IIRC.

 

[MiniMeMilo]

if thats the case then it wasnt a very good gift...

I disagree completely. Wolf, although very similar to Fox and Falco, was actually a unique character. Sure, his specials are almost the same, but his attacks are fiercer and, in my opinion, look really cool. He is a hell of a lot stronger than Fox, which can make up for his lack of speed. Wolf was a good choice, but I think they could have done better.

 

[Kyle29]

The whole roster besides Sonic was decided by Sakurai back when the game started.

We don't know why specifically the game was delayed. It could have been for polish and balancing, or for marketing (so it wouldn't overshadow Mario Galaxy), or a lot of other reasons.

I would agree, 35+ characters must be a nightmare to balance.

 

[ElvishSpirit]

Unlikely. Afterall, they only delayed the Japanese version for One week, the full production of a character just to say "I'm sorry" seems a little excessive. Besides, not only that, but you don't HAVE to unlock wolf last, I unlocked him BEFORE Jiggs and Toon Link IIRC.

While true, Brawl was set for America on DECEMBER 3rd. So I'm sure Japan was expecting it before that.

And, in order of the hidden charaters, I believe it goes like this whether you unlock one before the other.....

Ness
Marth
Luigi
Falco
Captain Falcon
Lucario
Snake
Mr.G&W
R.O.B
Ganondorf
Sonic
Jigglypuff
Toon Link
Wolf

 

[captainfalconmute]

I disagree completely. Wolf, although very similar to Fox and Falco, was actually a unique character. Sure, his specials are almost the same, but his attacks are fiercer and, in my opinion, look really cool. He is a hell of a lot stronger than Fox, which can make up for his lack of speed. Wolf was a good choice, but I think they could have done better.

im very fussy when it comes to characters. i dont look at all the in-depth stuff, like the difference in speed between two characters (e.g. fox and wolf), or how heavy they are, or how powerful they are in comparison to eachother, etc.

i HATE clones. yes, you could argue that Wolf has completely different A-moves, and is slower, more powerful, whatever, but for me that just isnt anywhere near different enough.

The way i see it is, we have 3 fox's. As if 2 wasnt enough.

And for that reason, I hate Wolf (and Falco for that matter)

 

[captainfalconmute]

The whole roster besides Sonic was decided by Sakurai back when the game started.

We don't know why specifically the game was delayed. It could have been for polish and balancing, or for marketing (so it wouldn't overshadow Mario Galaxy), or a lot of other reasons.

Mario Galaxy was overshadowed by every other game released at that time anyway.

NOTE: i know that isnt true at all, i completely overexaggerated. But i hate Mario Galaxy.

 

[Tinkerer]

There are multiple ways of unlocking characters, Wolf isn't necessarily the last. Also, Sonic was the last put in, so if anyone, he'd be the reason for the delay.

 

[FlyingMartini]

While true, Brawl was set for America on DECEMBER 3rd. So I'm sure Japan was expecting it before that.

And, in order of the hidden charaters, I believe it goes like this whether you unlock one before the other.....

Ness
Marth
Luigi
Falco
Captain Falcon
Lucario
Snake
Mr.G&W
R.O.B
Ganondorf
Sonic
Jigglypuff
Toon Link
Wolf

Quick question. How can you determine the order if you can unlock someone before someone in that specified order. ex. Wolf before TL and Jiggly like the guy up there said. If you mean unlocking in order of SSE I suppose that would be right considering you get Jiggly in a level previous to Toon Link, and Toon Link in a previous level to Wolf.

As far as discussion, I believe he wasn't. Jiggly and TL didn't have any part in SSE either.

 

[WolfCypher]

It always bothered me that Wolf is the final final FINAL character to unlock in Brawl. I would have made it Jigglypuff just for the irony that the easiest character to unlock from the past games who you almost always unlock 1st became the most rediculously hardest character to unlock. Plus, as a matter of opinion, it wasn't one of the better characters, so making Jigglypuff the final character would have had some 'poetic justice' to that. Wolf being the final character? What were the reasons to that? Why not Jigglypuff? R.O.B.? Mr. Game & Watch? Snake? Sonic?

 

[Aryman]

I unlocked Wolf before Toon Link and Jigglypuff. There's no definite order to them.

 

[GimmeAnFSharp]

Doubtful Wolf was the reason for delays... most everyone's mentioned that already, though.

 

[0RLY]

You know what? I'll bet my Wii and my copy of SSBB that if Wolf, was replaced with Krystal, you guys would appreciate it more.

 

[B!ggad]

0Rly: True.

I consider Wolf to be more of a slap in the face.

 

[The Flaming Lugi]

Well ive got to say, Wolf is just a surprise to everyone. He immitates falco and fox. everyone was dissapointed in melee for falco immitating fox, but WOLF! gotta be kiddin. They could of put someone else in t heir like peppy or slippy,maby even crystal. Just all jacked up. States that nothing is new to the people with star fox.

 

[Justin Wiles]

I hate Wolf because he has a Texas accent, his model design sucks, he has a Landmaster, his animations are sloppy and look rushed, and his special attacks are still lifted from Fox and Falco. Couldn't they clone Jigglypuff or something?

 

[ElvishSpirit]

Let me make a few things clear on what I mean-

I am not saying Wolf is the reason it was delayed, I'm saying Wolf was possaibly made DURING the delay itself.

And that order of secrets is true, I just forgot how I found it. I (without even knowing ) memerized it. The only one I couldnt remember was Ganondorf, but besides that....

I do remember the first 4 and last 4, I know that for sure.

There are 3 sources I found that reflect the order I posted-

1. The order of Secrets on Dojo

2. The order in Subspace (expect for last 3)

3. The order for number of fights in vs. mode needed to unlock.

The order I put seems to reflect #3 the most.

 

[DMurr]

If there was a character like this, which there's not, then Ridley should've been it, not Wolf. But, as others have said, the roster was predecided.

 

[Sariku]

Don't feel like reading all the posts, but all the characters (besides Sonic) was added in 2006. Sonic was in 2007.

 

[Deleted member]

If someone would be a gift, it'd be Geno.

 

[Zek]

No, characters were not added during the delay. The last character to be added was Sonic in early '07 IIRC. The "thank you for waiting" gift was a game that isn't unfinished.

 

[Unknownlight]

It always bothered me that Wolf is the final final FINAL character to unlock in Brawl. I would have made it Jigglypuff just for the irony that the easiest character to unlock from the past games who you almost always unlock 1st became the most rediculously hardest character to unlock. Plus, as a matter of opinion, it wasn't one of the better characters, so making Jigglypuff the final character would have had some 'poetic justice' to that. Wolf being the final character? What were the reasons to that? Why not Jigglypuff? R.O.B.? Mr. Game & Watch? Snake? Sonic?

I unlocked Jigglypuff last actually. Not because I tried to, but because I just did.

 

[joepinion]

I'll add to the pile of comments that say Wolf isn't always last; I unlocked Toon Link last. Most of your argument is really hurt by this.