Wyvern
Smash Journeyman
Really quick version for E for All attendees: If you ever get the chance, try playing as Samus and doing a screw attack from the ground (make sure you don't accidently jump before it goes off). You should notice that she doesn't blink, even though she looks like she's in a freefall state. Test if she's able to jump, attack, etc. from this state before hitting the ground.
If it works, try it out with Diddy and/or Fox too if you should happen to be playing either of them. It looks like Diddy might not be able to do it even if Samus can.
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I'm probably supposed to post this in the official update thread in the Dojo subforum, but there is way too much OMG SONIC going on for any actual discussion to occur, and this discovery strikes me as being very important.
Anyway, as we all know, in Super Smash Bros. Melee, after performing an up-B (or, in some cases, side-B) or air-dodging, your character begins blinking and cannot act in any way until hitting the ground or grabbing an edge. In today's trailers, it has been confirmed (or at least very strongly suggested) that this will change in Brawl, and you will continue to be able to act freely after performing a recovery move.
There are two pieces of evidence for this. First of all, look at the non-Sonic trailer, specifically the part where Fox grabs the Smash Ball. You will notice that he uses a Fox Illusion to get to it, and ends in mid-air. Under Melee mechanics, this would make him very dead, because the Fox Illusion uses up his recovery and would send him down to his grave. The idea that someone (even just acting for a trailer) would commit suicide like that is kind of silly as it would be completely avoidable. So, that suggests that Fox is probably still able to use his second jump after performing a recovery move (he did the Illusion from the ground, so he hadn't used it up yet). It's also possible that the Illusion is no longer treated as a recovery move, but being able to do both an indefinite amount of Illusions and a Firefox would make give the guy a pretty broken recovery.
EDIT: Someone pointed out that Fox's damage goes from 16 to 0 between here and the actual appearance of the Landmaster, so he may have died here after all and kept the Smash Ball through death. However, I still maintain that it's kind of odd for them to have him suicide for no reason.
The second occurance is in the Sonic trailer. This is a lot more definite, but also harder to see. Look very closely at the part a little before Sonic grabs Donkey Kong. You can see (very briefly) Sonic summon a spring and shoot into the air. This is almost definitely his up-B (you can see him doing it again in mid-air later in the trailer). However, at the peak of the jump, he does what appears to be an up-air and just keeps right on attacking.
So, what does all this mean? After doing a recovery move (and maybe even an airdodge, though we can't say for sure), it looks like you'll still be capable of attacking or using your second jump if you haven't already. (Obviously you couldn't use the recovery move itself again, but your other abilities would remain intact.) This could change the way midair battles work for many characters (something we know Sakurai has been trying to build on) and would make a lot of previously-useless moves a lot more effective in a combat situation (Samus's Screw Attack comes to mind, and Pikachu could do some really cool stuff with Quick Attack).
There is one more thing that must be noted, however, and that's that in both of these examples, the character in question initialized the recovery move from the ground. It's still possible that doing them from an airborne position will still work the same as it does now in Melee. But even so, it could still add some interesting new strategies for a lot of characters.
Any comments? If someone has evidence that we've seen Brawl characters in the old "freefall" post-recovery state, that would be particularly interesting, as it would suggest that either aerial recoveries or airdodges still take away your ability to act.
EDIT: There is, in fact, evidence of Fox going into freefall after using his up-B from an aerial position in the 15-second trailer. Therefore, it would appear that these changes only affect up-B moves used from a standing position (or it only works for Sonic, but that would just be silly).
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UPDATE! October 12th - New Gameplay Footage
Okay, today's new gameplay footage contains a couple of important developments!
First and foremost, Diddy Kong is shown doing his Rocketbarrel Boost from the ground, but he still freefalls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evajWSPy7SA at around 10 seconds). So, whatever is going on here, it doesn't affect everybody equally.
Secondly, it turns out that Sonic can ALWAYS act after doing his up-B, even when he starts from the air! See the last few seconds of this video here: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/116759.html
Even more interesting, though, is in regards to Samus in the Delfino Plaza free-for-all (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4lvbMpUVU4). She does a number of Screw Attacks in that video. Most of them are done from the air, and all of those put her in the standard freefall state, as expected. But there's one point in which she initiates a Screw Attack from the ground and, well, it's a little bit different.
The shots on the left show the standard freefall procedure. She blinks between being normal-colored and heavily darkened until she hits the ground, and is unable to perform any action.
Look on the right, though...the screenshots for the one time she does a Screw Attack from the ground. She's still spinning in the same way as on the left...but she's only half as dark, and most importantly, she NEVER BLINKS. She stays a solid color the whole time. It looks like it's a whole new state...one that's halfway between freefall and neutral. My prediction? This new semi-freefall state indicates a time when you can still jump and/or attack, but not do another recovery move.
The question is...why could Sonic and Samus act after doing a ground-based up-B, but not Diddy? The best idea I can come up with at the moment is that characters with aimable, multi-directional up-Bs (like Diddy and Fox) don't benefit from this mechanic, but those with fixed-trajectory up-Bs (Samus, Mario) will get the semi-freefall if they start from the ground. With luck, maybe teleport moves will allow you to take an action after doing one from the ground too, but it's impossible to say right now. And what about Sonic's total aerial freedom? Will any other character be able to match it? I'll keep my eye out for new developments as new videos come in. Feel free to do the same!
If it works, try it out with Diddy and/or Fox too if you should happen to be playing either of them. It looks like Diddy might not be able to do it even if Samus can.
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I'm probably supposed to post this in the official update thread in the Dojo subforum, but there is way too much OMG SONIC going on for any actual discussion to occur, and this discovery strikes me as being very important.
Anyway, as we all know, in Super Smash Bros. Melee, after performing an up-B (or, in some cases, side-B) or air-dodging, your character begins blinking and cannot act in any way until hitting the ground or grabbing an edge. In today's trailers, it has been confirmed (or at least very strongly suggested) that this will change in Brawl, and you will continue to be able to act freely after performing a recovery move.
There are two pieces of evidence for this. First of all, look at the non-Sonic trailer, specifically the part where Fox grabs the Smash Ball. You will notice that he uses a Fox Illusion to get to it, and ends in mid-air. Under Melee mechanics, this would make him very dead, because the Fox Illusion uses up his recovery and would send him down to his grave. The idea that someone (even just acting for a trailer) would commit suicide like that is kind of silly as it would be completely avoidable. So, that suggests that Fox is probably still able to use his second jump after performing a recovery move (he did the Illusion from the ground, so he hadn't used it up yet). It's also possible that the Illusion is no longer treated as a recovery move, but being able to do both an indefinite amount of Illusions and a Firefox would make give the guy a pretty broken recovery.
EDIT: Someone pointed out that Fox's damage goes from 16 to 0 between here and the actual appearance of the Landmaster, so he may have died here after all and kept the Smash Ball through death. However, I still maintain that it's kind of odd for them to have him suicide for no reason.
The second occurance is in the Sonic trailer. This is a lot more definite, but also harder to see. Look very closely at the part a little before Sonic grabs Donkey Kong. You can see (very briefly) Sonic summon a spring and shoot into the air. This is almost definitely his up-B (you can see him doing it again in mid-air later in the trailer). However, at the peak of the jump, he does what appears to be an up-air and just keeps right on attacking.
So, what does all this mean? After doing a recovery move (and maybe even an airdodge, though we can't say for sure), it looks like you'll still be capable of attacking or using your second jump if you haven't already. (Obviously you couldn't use the recovery move itself again, but your other abilities would remain intact.) This could change the way midair battles work for many characters (something we know Sakurai has been trying to build on) and would make a lot of previously-useless moves a lot more effective in a combat situation (Samus's Screw Attack comes to mind, and Pikachu could do some really cool stuff with Quick Attack).
There is one more thing that must be noted, however, and that's that in both of these examples, the character in question initialized the recovery move from the ground. It's still possible that doing them from an airborne position will still work the same as it does now in Melee. But even so, it could still add some interesting new strategies for a lot of characters.
Any comments? If someone has evidence that we've seen Brawl characters in the old "freefall" post-recovery state, that would be particularly interesting, as it would suggest that either aerial recoveries or airdodges still take away your ability to act.
EDIT: There is, in fact, evidence of Fox going into freefall after using his up-B from an aerial position in the 15-second trailer. Therefore, it would appear that these changes only affect up-B moves used from a standing position (or it only works for Sonic, but that would just be silly).
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UPDATE! October 12th - New Gameplay Footage
Okay, today's new gameplay footage contains a couple of important developments!
First and foremost, Diddy Kong is shown doing his Rocketbarrel Boost from the ground, but he still freefalls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evajWSPy7SA at around 10 seconds). So, whatever is going on here, it doesn't affect everybody equally.
Secondly, it turns out that Sonic can ALWAYS act after doing his up-B, even when he starts from the air! See the last few seconds of this video here: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/116759.html
Even more interesting, though, is in regards to Samus in the Delfino Plaza free-for-all (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4lvbMpUVU4). She does a number of Screw Attacks in that video. Most of them are done from the air, and all of those put her in the standard freefall state, as expected. But there's one point in which she initiates a Screw Attack from the ground and, well, it's a little bit different.
The shots on the left show the standard freefall procedure. She blinks between being normal-colored and heavily darkened until she hits the ground, and is unable to perform any action.
Look on the right, though...the screenshots for the one time she does a Screw Attack from the ground. She's still spinning in the same way as on the left...but she's only half as dark, and most importantly, she NEVER BLINKS. She stays a solid color the whole time. It looks like it's a whole new state...one that's halfway between freefall and neutral. My prediction? This new semi-freefall state indicates a time when you can still jump and/or attack, but not do another recovery move.
The question is...why could Sonic and Samus act after doing a ground-based up-B, but not Diddy? The best idea I can come up with at the moment is that characters with aimable, multi-directional up-Bs (like Diddy and Fox) don't benefit from this mechanic, but those with fixed-trajectory up-Bs (Samus, Mario) will get the semi-freefall if they start from the ground. With luck, maybe teleport moves will allow you to take an action after doing one from the ground too, but it's impossible to say right now. And what about Sonic's total aerial freedom? Will any other character be able to match it? I'll keep my eye out for new developments as new videos come in. Feel free to do the same!
