Visually diffent, but similar effectively. Well, unfortunately, I haven't played many Zelda games, so have never seen her actually fight.

Arent all FS similary effective seeing as most of them are like one hit KOs???
Ganondorfs will probably be different because he has actaully something different to do (transform into Ganon). Zelda doesnt, cus she doesnt do any fighting in the series except the Light Arrows in the last fight.

Well, yeah, but the way they do it isn't different. Link's is mostly based on trapping them. Hmm, is Ganon that weird monster thing in Zelda game?

the huge pig/boar thing yeah

I guess that will be like Bowsers FS, then, though he could have different attacks?

Bad news im afraid The japanese release date and US release date have been pushed back. In jap its now out on the 31st? and in US its out on the 9th of march rather than 10th of feb which is like a WHOLE MONTH!!!!
Which is why I HATE NINTY atm weve had sooooooo many delays for this game its unbelievable!!!!! Jap date is ok probably bcus they are short of stock atm, so need time to make more. But for US they dont have that excuse! it sucks
There is still no confirmed release date for Euorpe version but fingers crossed for Q2 release.

I wouldn't blame Nintendo just yet. Remember, it's Sakurai's company making this game. Only with slight input from HAL Laboratories and Nintendo itself.

I thought he was going to be well aware of Translation issues of whatever kind. We already know the game has "Gone Gold" in Japan, so it is merely a translation issue for US and Europe. I have however remebered the fact that Melee came with language settings for both Japan and US. I know this doesn't sound important, seeing as most modern day games do not have language selects... But it might say something about Sakurai's trying to get as much money out of this game as he can. Afterall, it could be the last Smash Brothers.

Still, it looks like it could be 2 YEARS late for Europe. Initially it was meant for dual launch with the Wii itself in Summer '06. That never happened as the Wii was pushed back until Christmas. Brawl, Galaxy and MP3 were also moved into (supposedly) '07. Galaxy and MP3 were finished and released kinda on time... But Brawl is STILL being finished off and refined. Hopefully it really is because they are trying to make it the most memorable game ever.

On a different note, it is now 16 days until Japan release. That means a Thursday release date again, and 11 more updates. After that, I'm pretty confident a lot will be spilled via videos and blogs across Japan that will be translated. Keep tabs on Youtube and IGN/GameSpot for the latest news...

Today was the Pikmin Stage. It looks interesting... Could be a very aerial affair if I have read it correctly. Water and the forggy things are extra hazards. Water flows down a tube on the left, which looks like it is impossible to get out of, and likely to be an instant KO.

I was looking back on intereviews with Sakurai in ONM and after E3 when it said Brawl would be realse date he hadnt even been approached! so the game was actually in developemtn tehy just said it was. So technically it would never have been a launch unless it was really rushed. Galaxy and MP3 were in developemnt longer than brawl which is why it is so behind.
ok i agree its not nintys fault directly. but tehy SHOULDNT give out realse dates unless they are 100% sure.

Super Smash Brothers: Forever, anyone?

It's just a part of the games industry now, I don't know any game released on schedule, and a lot that have been delayed so much that they become legend (if you got the above joke, you would know what I mean).

However, I don't take it too badly, games are quite often worth the wait in my experience. Can't rush it, after all. Plus, release dates are always unrealistic, they're just to build hype.

From my area of experience (PC Games), two games immediately spring to mind;
Half Life 2 - Delayed by 2 years (ish) and was pretty much declared the best FPS (PC, to stop any flamewars) of all time. The episodes shared a similar story (1 year delays, excellent games).
TF2 - This game was nearly 10 years in the making, and damn it was worth it. Most fun MP game I own.

Also worth noting is that release dates are often set by publishers, and are usually very unrealistic. Developers don't like rushing to a date, it makes the end product half baked and fail quite badly, forgotten in the mists of time. I don't care when games miss release dates, I know it's for the best, even if I want to play it sooner.

I'm guessing that, as a Nintendo player, you're not really used to release hype and such (AFAIK). As primarily a PC gamer, I'm just used to it, release dates are more "wouldn't it be nice if" dates, now.

True... Console Gamers do get very much overhyped games... GTAIV springs instantly to mind...But not on all. Only the bigger names people know about. Smaller games (Sometimes, which are equally as enthralling, look at Strikers and Zak & Wiki) don't usually get anywhere near as much hype... But still play as absolute classics. I suppose the majority of PC gamers, and the general online community, word srpeads very very quickely amongst core players about certain games which produces more hype faster...

Truly HUGE games like Brawl, MGS4 etc... Shouldnt have a release date set until they know for sure that they can make it IMO. Making public delays in translation/development is a bad move, because the mood of the gamer community is usually very negative towards it...

Actually, I believe the 360 is now subject to the same hype machine as PCs, just the Nintendo type gaming is less subject to it.

Yes, delaying can be good, as it does anger some, but it can help hype. Personally, I never blame the developers, though, release dates are nearly ALWAYS set by publishers. Developers usually go for "when it's done, but hopefully sometime around QX 200X".

Sheik makes a very welcome return. As once again, being used as Zelda's transform move. Her Final Smash is the Light Arrows... So Zelda's maybe inclusive of the gods of the Zelda series.

She looks like it would of been a model from TP... But she must of bee cut from the game early, because her design was there, but never implemented.

Ah, I was close, she is a separate form of Zelda, just not the FS.

Is the down special of the pokemon trainer switch pokemon? Would make sense to have it on the same key. That would make 2 characters (AFAIK) with the ability to nearly completely change.

Well... A very interesting day for gossip...

We'll start with the accidental confirmation of 2 characters. If you head over to http://www.serebii.net/index2.html You'll find out just who they are...

That's right, unintentionally in a short Video for E for All, Someone hovered over a Groudon Sticker. At the lower corner of the Sticker, it has 4 Character icons... Using the information we know from the recent Sticker update (Where Kirby, King Dedede and metaKnight appear to gain a larger boost from a certain item), We have to assume Lucario and Jigglypuff both are included in Brawl.

Also, leaked information about Ness (In the same form), Luigi and Captain Falcon have all been seen in some way.

People presume Falco ( ) is returning also due to his huge popularity, and also Marth for the same reasons...

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/21/new-smash-bros-brawl-intro-video-looks-amazing/

Also looks promising... Other than the fact weve seen most of the footage anyway....

EDIT: Ash found the actual video, Dont know how long itll last.....Whatch it while u can...

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/21/nintendo-accidentally-confirms-lucario-ness-jigglypuff-for-bra/

EDIT 2: Yeah woops... Zelda's FS too

(Todays update = Zelda/Sheik FS - light arrow. Looks pretty poor to me, single directional strike)

Yey! NESS! It looks like they are building up for a launch a lot now.

Hmmm

Massive rumours and images are circulating...



Looks like a promising Starter Roster... However, the people seem in a kinda messy order...

Imo, its fake... We've seen the images for some of these characters already in one of the tech videos... All the images in this roster are exactly the same images as fro the Dojo updates. Weve also had reports about leaked rosters, that include people such as Black Shadow, Captain Falcon, Crystal, Ganondorf,



This is the only reason to think it ISNT fake... The immaculate and rather fuzzy image of the disk... IMO, taken with a webcam, or made to look fuzzy on purpose (Because its fake)

Manaphy was the true update today, with the very interesting Heart Swap ability. This makes you and one opponent (Or 2 random opponents) swap characters for a period of time. however, if you try to kill the opposing persons character via falling down on purpose, it counts as a Self Destruct on YOUR characters lives... COuld be very interesting...

EDIT: Peopl over at IGN are calling fake on the whole thing at the moment... Olimar's name is wrong, and people say Doc Mario is playable.... O.o Possible but unlikely...

I call fake on the whole thing. It's so easy to mock something like that up, especially with such low quality pictures.

Manaphy looks interesting to say the least. Should add a twist in the middle. I wonder what happens if you get switched with a smash ball?

http://www.brawlcentral.com/

This video also looks very very fake... other than the fact Pit's colours do change rapidly, he cleary shouts "Link" in a very Melee like voice when we know the commentator is very different.

Also, why stop RIGHT before the match would begin? You'd think he'd prove it if he had just let the CPU wonder around for a bit.....

Yeah. Menus are pretty easy to fake. That could just be a quick video made in flash or some other movie program then exported to DVD and put on the TV. Not hard, if you know what you're doing. The really low quality makes it incredibly easy, too.

This Brawl central looks like the best place currently for new material.

Todays update was a short video proving the effectiveness of the WiFi connection. In the video for the US and Europe, Mario beats Samus, Link and Sonic, and in the Japanese video, Kirby triumphs over Snake, Mario and Ike.

Looks very promising, very little lag.

http://www.brawlcentral.com/

Shows some awesome videos of other stuff too. More Subspace Emmisary Footage (Including what looks like Yoshi and Link working together)... Not very much else on the actual plot though. I think its incredible they have managed to keep that under wraps right up until now...

LOL hes already confirmed LMAO!! im guessing you mean falco????

Yes i meant Falco.... Its been edited now XD

Interesting video, looked like it ran well. That's good news, then.

WOW what an amazing contibution to the thread! the video ran well??? if your just going to post for the sake of posting then dont bother

Oh the irony...

Anyway, todays update looks fantastic - playable demos of featuring character's classic games. It doesn't say whether they require unlocking, or if they are all available from the start. For me, the latter is probably preferable, but the former would be more fun. The demos shown are;
Ice Climber
Super Mario Bros
The Legend of Zelda
Kid Icarus
Super Metroid
Lylat Wars
With the article implying that they are not all the demos available. Hopefully this also implies that they might make demos available over VC aswell, at somepoint, unless they already have?