40-45, I say. Give me a ton! I don't want them to miss a single worthy character.
We already missed Ness. >_> Still, this is too true.
Don't get your hopes up. That was just a blanket statement to make people feel better about the delay, just like when Bungie said they were delaying Halo 3 to add a "new gameplay mechanic". Except less, that way, you'll be surprised and happy, rather than disappointed and angry.
Bungie always givees disappointment. And there was a ton of new stuff. But that's Bungie Microsoft, this is Sakurai and Nintendo.
We have stage builder, classic mode, the Subspace Emissary, co-op Subspace Emissary, boss fights, trophies, stickers, trophy launcher, target test, co-op target test, home-run contest, co-op home-run contest, online home-run contest, event matches, co-op event matches, stickers, assist trophies, trophies, and so on. Besides, Satoura Iwata (aka the President of Nintendo himself) started off working for Sakurai, was the person who convinced Sakurai to make Brawl (along with Ejji Anouma a couple of days earlier), and has been personally overlooking Sakurai and Brawl.
Also, over a dozen companies are working on this game. Sora, HAL, and "the Studio" are working almost exclusively on Brawl. Nintendo, Monster, Game Freak, the Pokémon Company, APE, Shigesato Itoi Studios, Cero (how Ejji Anouma is working with Brawl=with his company), Koonami Studios, Kojima Production Studios, SEGA, the Sonic Team, and possibly more. That's 14 right there-plus I have a feeling Retro Studios is contributing, along with Shiegru Miyamoto's team from Super Mario Galaxy(hint: Rosalena or whatever is a assist trophy; FLUDD and Delfino Plaza look exactly the same). Point is, we're getting 40 plus playable characters. We'll probably get over a thousand thanks to stickers, trophies, boss battles, assist trophies, all the 497 Pokémon (playable, bosses, Pokéball Pokémon, and Pokémon that make random apeparances, like the crowd in Pokémon Stadium 2=they are ALL Pokémon).
If getting all that isn't a signal we're getting 40 on up characters, I don't know what is. 14 companies are working on this game; 3 almost exclusively on this game, if not exclusively. 36 "original" composers plus a few more. And maybe more thanks to 3rd party support and potentially more 3rd party characters.
We've gotten 11 newcomers-that is 3 less then we got from smash 64 Melee. Melee's origianl commercials said "over 20 playable characters" about 4-8 months before it's release. Ya, we got 26...why wouldn't they say "over 25 playable characters"=??? With Brawl, around 20-22 veterans will return. We got 12 so far. We're missing 8 at most, and that is if Sakurai is cut happy, and he isn't *points at the Ice Climbers*. Plus we're going to get more newcomers then in Melee-guarenteed.
All in all, a large playable roster is ALL that will please the fans. That is the TOP PRIORIETY behind only basic pysics and a balanced roster and game0. Assist Trophies, Stickers, Trophies, Story, One-player Mode, Online, Pokéball Pokémon, Music, Createable Stages, NPCs, Cameo Appearances, Co-op modes, Group Brawl, Tournament Mode, items, stages, etc. all AREN'T EVEN A PRIORIETY NEXT TO ROSTER SIZE! Sakurai shocked us with 26 characters in Melee-we were expecting around 20 or 21. With Brawl, for some odd reason everyone STILL EXPECTS MELEE 2.0, and just 9 more characters. I'm not buying Melee 2.0, I'm buying f***ing Brawl-it's hardly even a sequal-it's more of a original game. Just like Melee and smash 64 were.
We're getting more then we could have ever imagined with Melee, and we're getting it soon. Prepare to Brawl folks, as it is upon us. If this is "suppose" to be the last game a man works with his 3 favorite characters he made and the series that he made that was suppose to be Class-D Japan-only "average" game, and became a miracle AAA class hit around the world, then he sure as hell work hard on it-with all those 14 companies. He's been working on it since May 10th, 2005-and it's January. Brawl could or could not have gone gold yet, but alas, it's upon us. He's spent more timeon Brawl then Melee thus far (he spent around two years on it with probably not even half the staff; probably half of that with Smash 64, with half the time), which is 32 months, or 2 years and 8 months. That is one heck of a long time for one game. It's goint to blow us out of the water harder then Melee, and it is going to go beyond our expectations. I'm just one of the few who probably knows how far into our expectations it will go.
In short-this game is being made like the last game of Sakurai's life. He's getting help from gaming giants like Satoura Iwata, Shiegru Miyamoto, Kojima, Ejji Anouma, and so on. This is probably going to be the biggest game of this age of gaming. This is a hit or miss game, and it's not missing-not by a long shot. It will be a AAA-class game's AAA-class game. It will top all before it, and shall be played until the end of time. This is smash brothers people, and prepare, as Brawl is upon us. All I can say is-Prepare To Brawl 2008 AND BEYOND! Us true smashers (smashers who enjoy all smash series games, and will never stop playing them, regardless of skill level, who we use, or how we play) shall play Brawl, and keep on Brawling. If Brawl isn't going to be a LEGENDARY GAME, I don't know what ever will. It's got "Best Game of the Age" written ALLLLLL OVER IT! Therefore, our expectations should be high-as the higher they are (within reason), we'll be more satified when we find out we're right.
