NBrid

Smash Brothers 2: First Exclusive Preview

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Written by: Hybrid

Everyone should know that Super Smash Brothers for N64 is my all time
favorite game... but if you don't, read my
review. Anyway, what made this game so great was not only being able
to kick Pikachu's ass with a superior icon, but also the depth that not
everyone can see. Some people criticized SSB for its simple play mechanics
of 1 button moves and no real combo system. There inlies the beauty, for
unlike most fighters, SSB does not rely on perfectly timed button executions.
Instead, you're forced to "smash" some guy off a platform a
certain number of times. How do you do this? The sheer number of ways
makes this game so deep. But if you want to hear about them, go read about
the original Smash Brothers, because this is the wrong place for that.
It's time to tell you about one of the most eagerly anticipated titles
in the GameCube lineup. Smash Brothers 2 (name TBA).

Platforms: GameCube, GameBoy Advanced

Developer: Hal Labs (in cooperation with: Sonic Team, Smile Bit,
and EAD)

Publisher: Nintendo

Number of players: 8

Supports: Voice recognition, modem/broadband, keyboard, Wavebird

Release Date: TBA

Let's get right down to business. SB2 is light-years ahead of the original.
So for all you lazy 'brids that hate skimming paragraphs, here is a list
for your convenience:

• 67 playable characters, all from Nintendo and Sega published games.
• Online play for up to 8 players (read more below).
• Special meter for advanced attack moves.
• Team up attacks with special moves for character combos.
• Voice recognition for online play (not recommended for modem users).

Hell, if you want to know the rest, just read...

Table of Contents

• Game Modes
• Gameplay
• Bonuses
• Items
• Arenas
• GameBoy Advance Support
• Fighters

First off is the GAME MODES:

As with the original, SB2 will support a 1 player mode, Vs. mode, practice,
and bonus stage modes...



• This
time in 1 player mode, depending on the fighter you chose, you are taken
through about 25 stages as you progress a virtual library of video games
past and present. In between you will find up to 6 bonus stages to test
your strengths, and you will be able to save after every 5 rounds. What
do you get when you win? Look under BONUSES for that later.



•
Now in SB2, you can play online with up to 7 of your friends (or total
strangers if you prefer). You will meet in an online visual lobby after
creating a simple character to represent yourself. You could also chose
to meet in a restricted lobby in which you can talk via GameCube controller
to up to 3 other people. As in Phantasy Star Online, you can trade guild
cards to stalk...er locate other people. A total of 4 people can play
SB2 in the number of stages the team leader has unlocked. An optional
other 4 people can be watchers who have control of the cheers and hollering
from the stands, as well as item select. One lucky watcher will even be
able to control the "master hand" and throw people off the arena
(depending on the settings made while creating teams). While in play with
only 1 person online, you can use the GameCube controller to talk smack
in mid-smash move. While playing with 3 other people, you COULD talk via
keyboard, but I recommend that for the watchers only. After each match,
everyone has the option of just staying and chatting, restarting a game,
or going back to the lobby. Also in online mode is team battle and team
quest mode (2 players). Same rules apply for the offline version.



•
Team modes: Once you unlock your teammate (see BONUSES), you have the
option of playing team quest with him. Team quest is very similar to 1
player quest, only...you have another guy on your team...*cough* Of course
you can also play with the same options in Vs. mode as with SSB.



•
Finally, not quite a game mode, but remember that history of games SSB
had for each character? Well this time it is MUCH more comprehensive.
Who ever heard about summarizing Mario within 3 games? Please...

GAMEPLAY

I'm going to assume we all know how to play Smash Brothers, so I will
just get to the new stuff. As usual, items will be randomly dropped all
over the play field, and you can unlock a mode called "item select"...use
your imagination on what that does. Here are some of the more notable
changes:



•
Remember those long runs where you killed 3 of your friends over and over
again and still stayed on the platform with 150% damage on you? Well now
you get rewarded my friend. Depending on your settings, once you rack
up 1000% damage, you can perform your fighter's "hyper attack"
(to learn more about special moves, see FIGHTERS).



•
You may have noticed that the team modes are more extensive than last
time. Another new team feature is "team attacks" Any 2 fighters
can do a team attack together, but certain combos can do the most devastating
move together. However, a team attack does not add to either one of your
special meters.



•
In the game, items will come out of boxes, barrels, eggs, TV's (whatever
those things in Sonic are called), and special areas within arenas.

• Return
to the Table of Contents...

BONUSES

There are numerous ways to unlock bonuses. For fighters, most are unlocked
when you beat the game with their teammate. HOWEVER, who wants to beat
this game that many times? You have the option of just playing Vs. mode
24/7. Once you have played vs. mode 25 times and have gotten at least
300 TKO's with a certain fighter, in comes a new challenger. Other special
fighters are a little harder to get...Items and arenas are accessed by
unlocking them with certain fighters as well. However, some arenas may
take more than that...

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to the Table of Contents...

ITEMS

Sure, there were a ton of items in SSB, but not enough...This list will
go as follows: All the original items are back, except for some of the
lamer ones. The old items are listed first, then the new ones are listed
followed by its function.



Old Items

•
Poke Ball

•
Bomb-omb

•
Motion sensor mine

•
Beam Sword

•
Hammer - Please note that I hate this item, but it has to be in...

•
Home Run Bat

•
Fire Flower

•
Star rod

•
Maxim Tomato

•
Heart Container

•
Star

•
Green shell

•
Red shell



New Items

•
Spray Can - You can paint a nice little tag on someone and distort their
controls. It will also allow their teammates to attack them.

•
Blue shell - Chuck it, homes in on closest guy for 25% damage.

•
Flashing Shell (unlock with Yoshi) - Hover on this to trip up people or
Yoshi can eat it and stomp the ground or fly.

•
Feather - Player gets a cape and can fly by continually pressing Jump
for about 20 seconds.

•
Mushroom - Makes your fighter 3 times his size, and hits twice as hard...yeah
I know my math...

•
Speed Boots - Boosts speed for a limited amount of time...don't fall!

•
Bomchus - Throw it and it homes in on the closest person, takes less damage
than bomb-omb.

•
Turnip - Every game needs its pussy item.

•
Tetris block (unlock with Kid Icarus) - Throw it down on someone for a
devastating 50% TETRIS attack.

•
Confidence Pills - Increases defense and power for a limited time.

•
Laptop gun (unlock with Joanna Dark) - Fire off a few rounds or throw
it and let it shoot people all around. It detonates when it's out of bullets.

•
NES Zapper - Like the old Zapper but not as gay. It shoots a steady red
beam as you hold B.

•
Mag (unlock with FOmarl) - Good for 1 photon blast, but not that stupid
heal one. If you keep it on you, it slowly increases your special meter.

•
Lightning shield(unlock with Tails)-not only does it make you invincible,
but also drags all opposing team members towards you with shocking results.

•
Boot (unlock with Toad) - Hop on in and crush people in your way.

•
Brick - Hey, it's a brick, chuck it...fun fun. Not only is this the best
weapon for throwing but it also knocks whoever it hits out cold for 5
seconds.

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to the Table of Contents...

ARENAS

If you haven't looked at the character list yet, I commend you. It must
be eating you alive. In the beginning, you have access to 10 brand new
arenas. As you progress, more will be unlocked. Some ways of unlocking
arenas include how long you take to beat the game, how many stock you
use, or the sheer number of TKO's.

•
Casino Night Zone - Bumpers and flippers, and slot machines that dispense
items.

•
Grind Square - Modeled after the city in Jet Grind Radio with plenty to
wall jump off of (if your character can do that...)

•
Venom - StarFox's final confrontation. Andross might be laughing at you
and swarms of ships will keep on comin...

•
Mario Cup - You fight on a race track and in the stands trying to avoid
passing cars. The hot air balloon drops items.

•
Mother Brain Lair - Little metroids fly around and could either help you
and drop you to your doom.

•
Meta Knight's Castle - Kirby's rival: Meta Knight, has a futuristic castle
with platforms everywhere.

•
Fighting Vipers Arena - Barbed wire covers the edges in which you would
normally grasp on before you fall.

•
Bowser's Castle - Lava pits (not like the old Metroid level) and pipes
for random teleporting.

•
Zelda's Castle Marketplace - You're in the market, feel free to kick the
dogs and smash the happy mask shop.

•
Streets of Rage Elevator - The elevator keeps rising and sometimes jams
and falls...Dont get thrown out the windows or through the walls.



Unlockable Arenas

•
Carrington Institute - If you've played the game, you know what this place
is like. You can hide in the shatter proof elevator if you want...

•
Magicant - One word: Trippy. (From Earthbound)

•
Warehouse 18 - Ryo's job HQ, PLENTY of boxes.

•
San Francisco - Don't let Gus or BD Joe hit you as you scale the streets
of San Fran.

•
Emerald Coast - Loops if you're fast enough, and TV's all over. Watch
out for earthquakes.

•
Conker's "It's War" - The area outside the Casualty Department.
Contains a turret gun for your enjoyment.

•
Ecco's Ocean - Dolphins can't fight, so give them an arena. Unlike most
oceans, this water kills instantly..

•
The Desk - Remember that little desk from the original Smash Brothers?
Well it's back with drawers you can break down into and the polygon fighting
team comes by once in a while.

•
BONUS - Unlock all the original Smash Arenas with a certain glove...

• Return
to the Table of Contents...

GAMEBOY ADVANCED SUPPORT

A little cartridge comes with the first 500,000 copies of SB2 and can
also be bought at stores for $20. With this cartridge, you can create
your own items, have a more comprehensive create a character for online
play, scan through character game directories, play mini games, and it
could also be used to unlock other characters.

• Return
to the Table of Contents...

FIGHTERS

The first 10 teams for Nintendo and Sega have 1 team member unlocked
for a total of 20 fighters. The character to the right is their teammate
whom you have to unlock (see BONUSES...again...).



In Nintendo's corner, the first 10 teams are:



•
Mario, Yoshi

•
Link, Zelda

•
Kirby, Meta Knight

•
Samus, Joanna Dark

•
Captain Falcon, Black Shadow

•
Fox McCloud, James McCloud

•
Luigi, Daisy

•
Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong

•
Princess Peach, Toad

•
Pikachu, Mew



In Sega's corner, the first 10 teams are:



•
Sonic, Tails

•
Knuckles, Chaos

•
Beat, Professor K

•
E-102 Gamma, E-101 mkII

•
Ulala, Samba

•
Vectorman, Temjin

•
HUmar, FOmarl

•
Jacky, Sarah

•
Kage, Shinobi

•
Axel, Blaze

Once you have unlocked all 20 characters from each corner, you then
access 5 more characters. Did I mention you have to beat them all first?




Nintendo:



•
Wario, Waluigi

•
Banjo+Kazooie, Conker

•
Ness, Kid Icarus

•
Lolo, King Dedede

•
Birdo, Bowser



Sega:



•
Dr. Robotnik, Robo Sonic

•
Ryo, Lan Di (Chang Long)

•
Rune, Alyss

•
Alex Kidd, Vyse

•
Nights, Rent-a-Hero

Now you have your main 60 fighters unlocked...Congrats. There are more...eh
what the hell, I'll tell you how to get them:

•
Fierce Diety Link, Ganon - To obtain FDL, you must beat team battle with
Link and Zelda, plus have accessed every standard Nintendo character.
To unlock Ganon, you must have FDL unlocked, but also beat the GBA version
of SB2.

•
Dural, Pepsiman - To unlock Dural, you must beat team battle with Jacky
and Sarah, plus have accessed every standard Sega character. To unlock
Pepsiman, you must have Dural unlocked, but also beat all the GBA mini
games.

•
Metal Mario, Super Sonic - Every Nintendo and Sega character must be unlocked,
including FDL, Ganon, Dural, and Pepsiman must be unlocked. Once you do
this, a new Master quest is unlocked. Beat this with a Nintendo character
and get Metal Mario, beat it with a Sega character and get Super Sonic
(after beating them of course).

•
Master Hand - Once you have unlocked Metal Mario and Super Sonic, you
can now beat team battle with them to unlock the Master Hand. Don't worry...AI
won't suck this time.

That's about it for fighters. I hope that's enough. There's always room
for a sequel next year...

• Return
to the Table of Contents...

I hope you've enjoyed this little "never gonna happen" game.
Who knows, E3 is less than 2 months away now. This is Hybrid reminding
you not to conform, be an original.