Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a fighting game for the Nintendo Wii. It is the third entry in the Super Smash Bros. series, following Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 and Super Smash Bros. Melee on the Nintendo GameCube. It was released on January 31, 2008 in Japan, on March 9, 2008 in North America, and on June 27, 2008 in Europe.

Subspace Emissary
The Subspace Emissary is the storyline of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In it, all of the Nintendo characters live on a single world, which is one day attacked by an army of robots (known as ROBs) and shadow creatures from an alternate dimension known as Subspace. Another aspect of this world is that when a character "dies," they are transformed into a trophy until someone else touches the trophy and revives it.

Note: The player has the ability to reverse the roles of Princess Zelda and another Nintendo princess, Peach from the Mario series, within the story. However, as the story remains relatively the same, and as only one character actually affects the story, that character will be Zelda in the following summary.

The story begins with Princess Zelda and Princess Peach watching a battle between two other characters in a large arena. However, the stadium is invaded by the Subspace army, and Zelda and Peach are trapped in cages by another character. One of the characters from the first fight, Kirby, survives the attack and manages to save Zelda by flying away with her. Unfortunately, they are forced to crash land.

Meanwhile, Link has claimed the Master Sword from a pedestal in a forest, when he and another character, Yoshi, are attacked by the Subspace army. They follow the army's ship, the Halberd, to a nearby lake. They find Kirby and Zelda at the lake, when all of a sudden they are attacked by the villain Bowser, who turns Zelda into a trophy while creating an evil clone of her using Subspace matter. The clone then battles the nearby heroes Mario and Pit, whom Link and Yoshi attack after having seen them kill the Zelda clone, mistaking the clone for the real Zelda. The real Zelda trophy is taken from Bowser by another character, King Dedede and Mario, Pit, Link, Yoshi, and Kirby chase after him. Before they are able to rescue her, however, Bowser defeats King Dedede and takes Zelda to the Halberd.

However, if the player rescues Peach, Link and Yoshi defeats the clone of Peach causing Mario to attack Link. After defeating both Mario and Pit, Link spots Dedede getting away with Zelda's trophy.

At this point, Ganondorf is brought into the story, as it is revealed that he was commanding Bowser and the Subspace army. Ganondorf is in turn working for the main villain of the Super Smash Bros. series, a giant disembodied hand known as Master Hand. Soon, a trio of other Nintendo characters (technically a duo of Nintendo characters since Solid Snake is owned by Konomi) board the Halberd, freeing Peach and Zelda from their prisons. Zelda transforms into Sheik to help Peach reach the deck of the Halberd, while Lucario and Solid Snake follow Meta Knight to the bridge. After Meta Knight reclaims the Halberd from the Subspace army, they use the ship to gather the remaining heroes, including Link, and head into the Subspace dimension.

Upon their arrival, Ganondorf betrays Bowser, turning him into a trophy. He then summons Master Hand, possibly intending to betray it as well, (this can be interpreted through his facial expression since the only line of dialogue in the story is spoken by Solid Snake) but it is revealed that Master Hand is also being controlled by a mysterious and powerful entity called Tabuu. Tabuu uses his power to turn every single character into trophies. However, King Dedede had placed timed restoration devices on certain characters to restore them, and they in turn restored the rest of the characters. With everyone alive again, Link and Zelda team up with Ganondorf, along with all of the other characters, and defeat Tabuu, saving their world from Subspace.

It is later shown that Toon Link was on Tetra's Pirate Ship during the whole adventure, and had never participated in the story.

Characters
Playable characters from the Legend of Zelda series include Link, Princess Zelda, Ganondorf, Sheik, and the cel-shaded form of Link from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, named "Toon Link." Link, Zelda, and Sheik are starter characters, while players have to unlock Ganondorf and Toon Link to be able to play as them.

There are two non-playable characters featured in the game as well as the ones mentioned above. One of them is Tingle, who appears as an "assist trophy", a character who helps out the player who summoned them. The other one is King Bulblin, who charges across the Bridge of Eldin stage, and sometimes drops a bomb in the middle of the stage, causing the bridge to be destroyed for a short amount of time.

Stages
The Bridge of Eldin makes an appearance in the game. The stage is mostly flat, although King Bulblin occasionally appears, riding Lord Bullbo, who will use a bomb to destroy a section of the bridge, similar to the section of the bridge destroyed in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Another stage is the Pirate Ship, which is based on the pirate ship in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It sails the Great Sea and can hit an island, be followed by the King of Red Lions, be swept up into the sky by a storm, or come under fire from bomb towers.

The Hyrule Temple stage from Melee also returns.

Link
In the previous two Smash Bros. games, Link's costume and fighting methods were based off his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. In Brawl, Link's costume has been updated to look similar to his green tunic which he wore in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and his artillery now includes more recent additions, such as the Clawshot and Gale Boomerang. Dark Link also is playable as a palette swap for Link.

Zelda
Just like Link, Princess Zelda wore her costume from Ocarina of Time in the previous Super Smash Bros. Melee game. In Brawl, Zelda's costume has been updated to look similar to her dress from Twilight Princess. As part of the color changing options Princess Zelda outfit can be changed from her Twilight Princess look to her Ocarina of Time look from Super Smash Bros. Melee. She also returns with the ability to turn into Sheik and has the same exact move set as in Melee (with the exception of her Final Smash).

Sheik
Despite the fact that Sheik did not appear in Twilight Princess she nonetheless returns for Brawl. Sheik's appearance is based off of concept art used for Twilight Princess during early game development for that game. With the exception of her Final Smash (see below) she seems to have the same move set as she did in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Ganondorf
Like Link and Zelda, Ganondorf wore his costume from Ocarina of Time in the previous Super Smash Bros. Melee game. In Brawl, Ganondorf's costume has been updated to his form from Twilight Princess, though with a barely lighter color scheme and the wound on his chest from Twillight Princess is gone. Ganondorf is a slower and more powerful "clone" of Captain Falcon, with the exception of his Side Special move and a few of his regular A-button attacks.

Toon Link
Toon Link appears the same as he did in The Wind Waker, but he has more detail in his clothing and hair. His alternate costumes are his outfit in Red, Blue and Purple, representing the other three Links in the Four Swords games. The Four Swords version of Dark Link and a color scheme based on his earliest NES appearances (Brown hair and brown sleeves and leggings) are also selectable.

Link & Toon Link
Link and Toon Link share the same Final Smash, the Triforce Slash. Link shoots out a beam of light from the Triforce on his hand (which makes it necessary for the opponent to be in front of Link, and not blocked by any pieces of land), trapping his opponent in front of a shimmering apparition of the Triforce. He then repeatedly strikes his opponent in the air and finishes off with a final strike, which shatters the Triforce. Toon Link does the same, but with a more cartoon-like art style. See the gallery below to see images of this attack.

Zelda & Sheik
Zelda's Final Smash is the Light Arrows. In this Final Smash, Zelda summons a large bow and shoots a Light Arrow straight through the battlefield, damaging anyone in the line of fire. Sheik shares this Final Smash, but certain aspects of the attack are different, such as the direction in which struck players are launched. This Final Smash is based on what Zelda does in many Zelda games, shooting Light Arrows to stun opponents so Link gets a chance to strike. In this case, this is mainly based on her usage of Light Arrows in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, wielding a similar bow in both games.

Ganondorf
Ganondorf's Final Smash is his transformation into the Dark Beast Ganon. He transforms, then rams the ground. This paralyzes all opponents on the ground in front of him. Then he charges forward, doing great knockback to any and all he hits. At the end, Ganondorf warps back on screen to where he was when he transformed. This one attack totals 65% damage, making it one of the strongest Final Smashes in the game.

Items and Assist Trophies
Several Items from The Legend of Zelda series are featured in Brawl, ranging from basic items to Assist Trophies, which are trophy stands capable of summoning allies onto the field.

Items
The Heart Container is a support item which, when grabbed, will reduce the user's damage percentage by 100 points. It appears in its crystalline form from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The Bunny Hood is a support item which allows the wearer to gain increased agility, making him/her run faster and jump higher. It may be removed only if the wearer dies or if it is knocked off by a powerful attack. It has appeared in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, although its abilities in Brawl are found only in the latter.

The Deku Nut is an explosive item which the user may throw at an opponent to both injure and stun them in a flash of light. The Deku Nut may also be activated if it is attacked, and the blast radius may injure the user if he/she is too close to it when it explodes. These abilities are from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Assist Trophies
Tingle is the only assist trophy from the Legend of Zelda series in Super Smash Brothers Brawl. He appears in his cel-shaded form from The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, and will make items appear around him before disappearing. These items may vary from powerful Hammers to useless balloons.

Music
Various songs from the Legend of Zelda series are used in Brawl. Some were taken directly from the game they are in, while others were re-arranged just for Brawl. The titles for the songs are taken directly from Smash Bros. DOJO!!.

Original songs

 * "Dragon Roost Island"
 * "Great Sea
 * "Gerudo Valley
 * "Molgera Battle
 * "Village of the Blue Maiden"
 * "Termina Field
 * "Main Theme (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)"
 * "The Hidden Village"
 * "Midna's Lament"
 * "Temple (taken from Melee)"

Re-arranged songs

 * "Tal Tal Heights"
 * "Song of Storms"
 * "Main Theme (The Legend of Zelda)"
 * "Ocarina of Time Medley"
 * "Title (The Legend of Zelda)"
 * "The Dark World"
 * "Hidden Mountain & Forest"
 * "Hyrule Field Theme"
 * "Great Temple / Temple"