An E3 Retrospective: Part 2 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2005-2007)

This will be a four part series briefly looking over Smash's presence at E3 before E3 this year

With Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Switch expected to have a big showing at E3, now is a good time to reflect on the series' previous E3 showings. While the series has found more activity in recent years at other events, particularly Nintendo Directs, it is fascinating to see how the marketing for Smash has changed from almost invisible to it's own form of a beast. Super Smash Bros. Brawl took advantage of the long release window, but, most of it's hype and marketing was outside of E3.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the second Smash game to be revealed at E3. At E3 2005, a quick statement was made saying that a new Super Smash Bros. game would be released for the Wii, or as it was still called at the time, the Nintendo Revolution.

Notably, Brawl hadn't even started pre-production when this announcement was made - according to an account from his Famitsu column, Sakurai wasn't even contacted about it until after the statement was made. When he asked Iwata what would happen if he turned down the offer to work on the new title, Sakurai was told that Nintendo might simply remake Melee with added online capabilities.

At E3 2006, Brawl was officially announced at the After-Hour Press Conference. This was a shock since games are typically announced during the main conference. Mario, Link, Kirby, Pikachu, and Samus were all confirmed to return, with Meta Knight, Pit, Zero Suit Samus, Wario, and Solid Snake joining the lineup. The trailer gave many people a shock and began the hype train to one of the most hyped games ever.

At E3 2007, a fifteen second presentation was given, mostly showcasing things already known about Brawl. The presentation accidentally confirmed Donkey Kong and revealed the North American release date of December 3rd, 2007. The game's release was pushed back twice until it's final North American release on March 9th, 2008.

Author's note: Were you old enough in 2005-07 to remember this? If so, what were your thoughts at the time? If not what do you think? Let us know in the comments below!

 

Brawl was the first Smash game I was old enough to follow the hype for. I must've been about 10 years old, already subscribed to Club Nintendo (Mexico's version of Nintendo Power) and just getting into gaming culture and forums. I bought it a week after it released, and it's the first game I can remember staying up until ungodly hours in the morning playing.

At the time, I didn't know about Smash as anything other than a casual party game that I could play with my family, so I thought Brawl was nothing short of fantastic. In a way, I think I still do.

 

This game is still one of my favorites, and it got me started on Smash Bros in general (started playing it at 2013-14-ish so I was very late to the party). Back then I was simply a casual player. I only got started at the focusing at the competitive scene a little bit before Pound 2016 (thanks Youtube VoDs for that), and finally started to really know the deal with the competitive scene at very late 2016 / early 2017.

Even now, I play Smash Bros casually at times, and boot up Brawl to have fun. I even attempt to play some competitive matches in Brawl with my brother as well ("attempt" because my console controllers suck lol). Thank you Brawl for introducing me to this big, exciting scene.

 

Brawl was the first game that I followed the "Hype train" on, and followed the official website's updates. I remember finding some crappy forums (didn't even know about Smashboards) and hearing the weirdest speculation. It was fun! I was shocked by Snake's inclusion, and didn't even know how to feel about it.

 

When I was younger, I used to visit a video game hint site called Cheat Code Central that also featured a section for game release dates. Around circa 2005, I remember visiting there and seeing Super Smash Bros. being a launch title for the Nintendo Revolution and telling my friends, wondering why it was taking so long to come out.

Like many, Brawl's development was the first that I followed religiously, though I only started following it at roughly December 2006 when I first discovered the E3 trailer and got seriously hyped to play as Pit. I had a screenshot of Pit as my desktop background for the longest time. When the Dojo started up for that game, I checked it every day; I had a buddy at the time who I would talk to on the phone all the time and the first thing we would talk about was what Sakurai posted. I remember being really hyped for Sonic's reveal, as well as Diddy.

I think my support for Dixie (my most wanted newcomer) started shortly after Diddy was announced and I saw her trophy featured alongside his in the 2007 trailer. At the time, I thought it confirmed her as playable as well and was slightly disappointed to see the final roster as a result. Needless to say, it was quite the roller coaster for me to watch the speculation around the Forbidden 7, especially since two of my Melee mains were Roy and Mewtwo (the other being Young Link, who also ended up getting cut). I remember there being rumors of those characters being added via a "Super Smash Bros. Channel" after the game was localized worldwide. February 2008 felt like a very long month for me.

All in all, Brawl's development was fun to watch and made for some good memories, though I started posting here on SmashBoards during Smash 4's development..

 

SSBB sure was a trip. Ha ha. Ha. Ha.

To be fair though, Brawl was hella fun if you're screwing around with friends, and still is. Subspace even more so. I was actually that kid back in high school who brought SSBB and an SD card containing Project M to the senior party. Barely anyone played it, but it was still one hell of a trip, mainly because everyone involved had the disadvantage of having to use the Wii Remotes.

 

It is better than Smash 4 that's for sure

 

It is better than Smash 4 that's for sure

So true