I'll get right to it:
They had a bunch of booths set up, but sadly, the only option was to play with the wii remote. I have never enjoyed using the wii remote NES-style. It has always annoyed the crap out of me, and I would sooner be punched in the face than to play a game for an extended period of time with it. Aaaand it looks like Smash Bros. was no exception. I just couldn't get the hang of it (keep in mind I only got to play 2 2-minute matches). Contrary to pretty much all of the impressions that I have read about the game, I felt completely helpless with it turned sideways. I guess I can't bring myself to abandon my gamecube roots.
For the first match, I chose Pit and found myself doing the same move over and over again, all while being completely unable to navigate him successfully. He's got a crazy good jump, but executing it by pressing the up button felt way too unnatural to me. I need a separate jump button! Somehow I won the round, despite running around like a fool.
For the second match, I chose Mario, and felt more in control (maybe it was the character, maybe it was my slow adjustment to the control scheme). Mario felt just like I remember him, so nothing new to report here!
On the good side, the game felt incredibly polished, and, the big thing for me was that I found it easier to keep track of where the players were, compared to the gamecube version. I also felt some excitement trying to go after the small ball when it appeared, despite being totally unable to handle my characters. It's a cool mechanic, but the "purists" will probably turn it off.
There was a some new footage playing on the show floor, a lot of stuff I haven't seen yet (I've only seen what's on smashbros.com, the trailers, and a few videos during the smash bros blowout that happened a few months ago). Snake looked cool as hell, and some stages seemed pretty epic.
Oh, for stages, I saw the Wario Ware stage in action, and it looked cool as hell.
Umm...that's all I can remember! My impressions may sound a bit negative, but its just cause I really don't like the wii remote held NES style. Luckily, we have the option to use the GC controller! All in all, it looked like an even more polished version of the GC game, and my hype for it has not fallen, despite the poor first impression. I definitely feel that this is the Smash Bros everyone has been waiting for! (friend codes aside).
Too many generics... this isn't fun any more. ...'orange hair sword guy'.... Ichigo...
Seriously, I'm a big Naruto fan, and hile I can understand if some people don't like it, I get mad when they debunk it like that without offering any reasons as to why it's bad. ...you can ignore this, because it's reaaaaaally off topic.