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why do yall hate brawl so much

Resolve_beta

Smash Rookie
Joined
Feb 20, 2021
Messages
18
I played through all the smash games and dont understand why yall hate brawl like come on you guys didnt even think about the clearly better graphics more characters and heck a story mode. Comment why plzzz
 

Pupp135

Smash Lord
Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Messages
1,810
Like the post above, the less competitive direction taken for Brawl caused some fans to dislike it (tripping, slower gameplay) on top of poor character balance (Meta Knight being broken, Ice Climbers also being pretty OP with chaingrabs, and Ganondorf being unviable).

While these are complaints, Brawl is the most nostalgic entry for me with the the Dojo, Sonic’s addition, introduction to Stage Builder, SSE (Ultimate is better now with 8 player smash and roster and stage selection more than twice as big as Brawl’s, but Brawl is special to me).
 
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Bowser D.X

Brawl Player
Joined
Jul 22, 2010
Messages
470
From a competitive lens Brawl is a huge downgrade. No wavedashing, slower etc. If you get used to playing Melee with advance techniques and then go back to Brawl you will see why it would have been a huge disappointment to the hardcore scene. That said it's still the best for how much new content it had at the time. I want to get back into Brawl now that it's scene is smaller, since I don't really take Smash that seriously anymore, and also out of nostalgia. Problem is it's literally the most dead Smash game.
 

Ben Holt

Smash Master
Joined
Mar 30, 2013
Messages
3,588
Location
The Moon
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3DS FC
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The roster is completely unbalanced.
I don't care about advanced techniques, as they make the game less accesible.
But Brawl had zero competitive viability. Meta Knight and Ice Climbers were WAY better than the rest of the roster.
Granted, Melee only has a handful of viable characters at the highest level, but it has a cult following.
In Smash 4 and Ultimate, almost any character is viable, which is why they are the best (besides having the biggest roster, which is always what actually drives sales).
 

Bowser D.X

Brawl Player
Joined
Jul 22, 2010
Messages
470
Meta Knight was broken as ****, but other characters were still somewhat viable. I.e Olimar.
 

YoshiandToad

Smash Hero
Joined
Dec 24, 2001
Messages
7,110
Location
Still up Peach's dress.
  • Random Tripping
  • Badly balanced roster even by Smash standards. Meta Knight being outright banned from tournaments is something we don't see very often even amongst the top tiers of each game when people call them broken, so MK is insanely broken.
  • Gameplay is overall too slow compared to Melee, Sm4sh and Ultimate. Yes it beats 64 but that's not a hard bar to beat.
  • Art style is grimy and colour palette is muted. This one's up to personal taste but when I think Nintendo crossover, I don't think apocalyptic greys and browns. Not for me.
  • Stickers might be the most forgettable collectable in any Smash title.
  • Story mode is really long but lacks much charm outside cut scenes and boss battles.
  • Doesn't feel like worlds are colliding with only Koopa/ParaTroopas, Goombas, Hammer Bros, Bullet Bills and R.O.B's being the only standard enemies from any of the crossed over worlds and everything else being a Smash OC. Smash Run in Sm4sh feels like it ran with the concept with enemies from all series colliding. Missed opportunity.
  • No real reason to return to it after Sm4sh or Ultimate came out as aside from the single player campaign which is a one and done deal for most people.
I'll give it this though; got a great Boss Battle mode, came up with some great ideas like the Final Smash and Assist Trophies and the roster had one of the better selection of newcomers around. Hard to top Sonic, Pokemon Trainer, Wario, Dedede and Diddy as newcomers in all honesty.
 
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StrangeKitten

Smash Lord
Joined
Mar 25, 2020
Messages
1,907
Location
Battle Royal Dome
I love Brawl, but it just had too much that killed it competitively:
  • Random tripping, which meant you could eat a big punish through no fault of your own. This only exacerbated the issue of the game being slow, since you were better off remaining stationary than moving. Or, you were better off in the air... and there was a certain character who could stay in the air for a long time...
  • Metaknight. He wasn't just good, he was broken. Having a broken top tier heavily stagnates a metagame, because all you see is that character and the few who do decently against them, killing variety. As a result, even Melee sees better variety despite its smaller cast. Smash 4 had healthy variety until Cloud and Bayo, and now Ultimate has at least 30 characters who can do excellently at top level, with those below them also not being unviable save for a few. So, Melee's variety and fast gameplay drew attention away from Brawl, and then Smash 4 and Ultimate came along with greater variety as well.
  • Near-nonexistent hitstun means combos and strings are few and far between in Brawl. This is the only Smash game where this is the case. I do think combos are overrated, but it's undeniable that players and spectators alike really like them. This slows Brawl's matches significantly, because you'll get through stocks faster if you can 0-60 your opponent (while likely still having a combo or two you can do past that) as opposed to maybe getting 0-30 (and having no further combos).
  • Momentum cancelling and move staling were at their worst in Brawl. So, not only are stocks a slow tit-for-tat without combos and strings, but closing out stocks is really difficult. Were you a % away from that up smash killing? Great, your opponent was able to cancel their momentum with a move that could do that, and now your move is stale so you can kiss that kill goodbye, even if you do another 30% before up smashing again. It's another thing that factored into the game's slowness.

And there's also the artstyle. Doesn't effect competitive play outside of how matches look, but I don't think people love the gritty look Brawl went for.
 

William5000000

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Mar 12, 2015
Messages
228
Location
North Carolina
"Brawl" is practically just a beta test and essentially non-canon. The same can be said for the poorly titled "Smash" game for 3DS and Wii U.
 

UserKev

Smash Champion
Joined
May 10, 2017
Messages
2,621
Brawl has its special moments, the intro leaking before the game, the Dojo, Final Smashes, Stickers and cut scenes. Brawl suffers from its forgettable stages and niche collecting, trophies weren't the same, CD's were tedium.
 
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