May 10, 2006 - Nintendo just pulled a fast one on us. At an after-hours press briefing a mere minute ago, the company pulled another ace out of its sleeve: Super Smash Bros. Brawl -- the next installment in Nintendo's popular Super Smash Bros. series.

Shigeru Miyamoto himself has confirmed the following playable characters:

# Pit (Kid Icarus)
# Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid)
# Zero Suit Samus (the blue "no-suit" Samus from Metroid: Zero Mission)
# Metaknight (Kirby)
# Wario (Wario)

Under the direction of series creator Masahiro Sakurai, Super Smash Bros. Brawl will feature classic, GameCube-style combat -- not Wii-style motion-controlled combat. That means players who prefer to play the game with the traditional control setup can look forward to using the GameCube control-style they're already accustomed to.

"We found that trying to implement too much motion-sensory functionality can get in the way of the game. We're looking at keeping the control simple, as it has been," said Sakurai. "The Wii hardware has sockets for the GameCube controller, too. So I'll just say now that you may not want to throw away your GCN controller yet."

The game also features a range of new nasty toys, such as the ability to unleash a puppy from Nintendogs that will run up to the screen, put its paws up and obscure the view of the action. Mario, Kirby, Pikachu and Link have been confirmed as returning characters. Sakurai confirmed that Wario actually has a fart attack and that Solid Snake can use his trusty cardboard box. In the video trailer, Snake gets out of the box and says "It's showtime!"

"We thought a lot about what to do with Snake and his moves in Super Smash Bros. Brawl," said Sakurai. "As you all know Snake walks around with a gun, but with Super Smash Bros. I didn't want to bring in a lot of real weapons. So that was a real challenge. But conversely, if we could use things like rocket launchers and other explosives, not only would that be fitting for Snake, but it would work for the other characters. But who knows. Maybe Snake will exclusively use explosives throughout the game."

Sakurai said the decision to include Solid Snake when Hideo Kojima himself practically "begged" to include the Metal Gear character in the last Smash Bros. game. When asked about the possibility of Sonic the Hedgehod appearing in the game as well, Shigeru Miyamoto said: "There are probably possibilities for other third parties as well, and it maybe that even know there are corporate discussions going on about including some of these other characters."

Even better, the game will be fully online playable in addition to featuring a robust multiplayer mode. "My plan is to include Wi-Fi connection compatibility and online functionality. One of the primary reasons Super Smash Bros. Brawl was created was that Nintendo, when taking Wii online, wanted to have Smash Bros. to do that," added Sakurai.

The bad news is that Super Smash Bros. Brawl will no longer be a Wii launch title, but will instead be released in 2007.

More as it breaks.

I love the sound of it, but...

WHY THE FLIPPIN' HELL IS SOLID SNAKE IN IT??? HE'S ON PLAYSTATION AS WELL AS GAMECUBE!!! SACRELIGE!!!

Anyway, I will get the Wii, 'cause I heard that they have Pokemon for it.

SSBM has since fallen into disuse, and I'm quite out of practice.

..and will this be moved to Other Games Discussion eventually?

I also think that Ephraim should be in SSBB for Fire Emblem.

Does anybody else think that the castle in the trailer is a Fire Emblem Stage?

This Topic is now about how Pikachu is utterly oblivious to Wario's fart.

...drawbridges are hardly exclusive to Hyrule Castle...