Smash Bros. Brawl Tutorial Videos
Sunday, November 9, 2008 at 12:08PM I made this series of ten short tutorial videos for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. They appear on the official Nintendo Channel accessible through your Wii, on Nintendo's website, and below from YouTube. Nintendo asked me to explain the game to new players in a way that shows them there is more going on than they might think. Remember, these videos are for new players, not for tournament champions and they're intended to help the Smash scene grow.
Smash Bros. sells well in the US and in Japan, but struggles more in Europe. It sells more in both the US and Japan, while the perception in Eurpose is that it's "that kids game with the Mario Kart characters." A strange and ironic statement considering that the "Mario Kart characters" aren't even originally from Mario Kart, but that game sells well in Europe so it's a point of reference for many. Maybe my videos and the reputation of my name will help increase the scene in Europe. (Note to anrgy commenters: this information is from Nintendo, not from me. The idea that my name as an expert on competitive games might help in this situation is from Nintendo, not from me, and that's why they contacted me.)
Special thanks to David "Scamp" Cantrell and Cedric "Ceirnian" Qualls for gameplay advice, Rich "FMJaguar" DeLauder for editing and secretly keeping sirlin.net working, and Mike "Bocci" Boccieri for his technical wizardry with video capture.
As more of the videos become available on youtube, I'll post them all below. If you're interested in these videos, you might try that new "share article" link below, for digg or one of those new-fangled link-swapping sites.
--Sirlin
Part 1: The Two Games
Part 2: Attack Types
Part 3: Evasion and Throws
Part 4: Movement
Part 5: KOs
Part 6: The Edge
Part 7: Controlling Space
Part 8: Super Armor and Auto-Cancels
Part 9: Items
Part 10: Tournament Finals Match
Sirlin
Part 5 is now up!
Sirlin
Part 6 is now up!
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Part 7 is up!
Sirlin
Parts 8 and 9 now available.
Reader Comments (174)
Excellent videos!
I have to mention that this is one of the funniest comments sections I have ever read!! There is no F-ing way you guys are being serious!
I'm honestly amazed: even an
arrogantexperienced player like me can learn a thing or two!Didn't think Brawl had this kind of stuff. Still a joke game though. It's interesting to see the comments here because I forgot how Brawl has the absolute worst 'fighting' game community out there. It's nice how you can tell which comments have the least content by glancing at if they have more then one paragraph.
I think the comments on the scene were more based off of overall sales in Europe Marc, more-so than the hardcore community that is already established. And tutorial vids aren't really aimed at that crowd to begin with, but either beginners; or in this case also offering some knowledge to people with no previous smash experience at all.
Sirlin isn't trying to go out of his way to insult Europe, I think he was just told by Nintendo that Europes sales were weak/Smash had some bad publicity and they wanted to get more information on the game to clear that up.
That said, not a bad series of videos; in the grabbing section you probably could have included how to escape a grab faster as well. And in the items section, covered canceling a roll animation with an item toss; but I could see reasons for leaving that out anyway.
Hello!
Great video, i have certainly learn something or two here! THis is something i will use as a reference!
However there is something which is not mention: once someone has break a "smash ball" as long as the final smash is not use, other player can beat the owner to release the ball again, and do not forget that we can use the final smash unless we are on the ground and in idle state. It also seem that you can beark it with some projectile and own the power.
This is important as it change the dynamics of the game and the way you trick your opponent. I want to mention that because i want to raise some other point about items and the discussion that had rage here in the comments. As a gamedesigner, there is some note i want to make in favor of items and randomness in smash bros. There is more skills involve in them than one may notice, especially regarding "pushing the risk" mecanism.
Coming from an isolate and small smash bros community in martinique (french west indies), we does play the game very differently. We find the regular game rather slow, we then only play the game in "sudden death mode" with items on, and with more than 2 players exclusively. That does change the way we play and understand the game. As i have seen on youtubes, here in europe (i'm now in europe), it seems that the "canon play" of smash bros is against two player like regular fighting games, i see that like the major source of complain from player of the game which is design with 4 player in mind, a very different paradigm.
From our experience items are not imbalance, but you need to consider that we play on dynamics that involve more than two player.
The way item work is that they shift balance of power and tacit short alliance form against the overpowered player, just like in a game like bomberman, the weaks team against the strong. Also there is strong evidence that the design favored comeback (which is always greatly heart pumping see: Street Fighter Tournament, EVO 2004, moment #37 http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=v7cW2nMf1gk ). Player may notice that the game constantly track playstyle of someone and on the fly, many of us had seen the game in melee always pit the character we had the most difficult when cpu character selection is set at random with high level difficulty. At the end of a match you can see points (positive or negative as weel as multiplyer) give according to "achievement" within that match, these are important ! They actually affect the gameplay and items dropping on the fly (or permanently if you have input a name) rewarding you or punishing you for your playstyles (especially with items failure. Once the player figure out how items work (with their fixed spawing point), it can became part of the mind game and how you trick your opponent.. You can use it at your own avantage by shifting game style constantly at key moment of the game, my brother do that all the time, not only it turn the game on his side but it also confuse the opponent about how his next move. There is randomness but also a lot of predictability. For exemple if you know that your in a position when item container will likely explode you can trick your opponent to open them for you or try to kamikaze kill him while having a plan b in case of the various effect that can happen.
And it's all about Group dynamics, not only you have to read your opponent, the environement and anticipate hazard, but also try to influence group dynamics in your favor with allience, betrayal and other trickery. A medium technically skilled can win, not because of the hazards but in succesfully pitting other player against themselves (essentially by controlling space within the two to create psychological conflict). Items also ensure movement around the level as they push/pull player with new zone of interest and give a dynamic flair to combat by creating dynamic chokepoint, player can take adventage of these chokepoint to plot social dynamics.
A clear exemple of that is the new "smash ball" in brawl, which is violently heart pumping as clearly overpowered but in the space of two days we have already came with counter mesure. When the smash ball apear it create great stake. If someone use it, he is clearly overpowered and with little counter mesure which is responsible for the great the stake. That mean the the breaking and the lauching of the power became the central element of the combat for a short moment, everytime the ball apear everyone position themselves and look at each other to see who will make the first step. We didn't know that the ball actually weaken after a while (we thought that hit point were random) but the "start game" with the ball is not hitting him but being the last to hit it, and as soon one as the power it became a prey. First he have to safely land, because other player will be likely to team with some in interception and some on reception, and he must have the time to safely lauch the power. If it does not suceed in securing himself there is a reversal as the ball is release back, many revearsal can happen with a single ball upping the climax to no end. Social balance can play, because someone can be confident enough in his ability to avoid the smash attack and trick another player in a false alliance to actually put him in bad situation or to get a revenge. Even when the power is lauch it depend of the character that get the power, the level and where he use that power (the landmaster for exemple ca be stuck in some place and left everybody else in a safe place), the social balance (maybe the powered player need to take revenge on a particular player), Etc...
There is a lot to say about it, i have just picth the idea.
Mariokart is also essentially the same, when you are first you can intentionaly break the item box to prevent follower to be a direct threat, items are distribute along a logic (front runner have defense items and back runner have offensive items) and there is all sort of trick to avoid it (skill, social or counter mesure), actually if you play against the cpu you can see it use them. The most powerfull item ever in all mario kart have always been the green shells as you can plan long terms effect with all sort of short terms tricks. My favorite is the multiple rebounds: as a player trajectory is fairly deterministic as he follow the track within a path of least resistance that depend of his playstyle, you can pretty anticipate all is reaction. You can use the green shell to tense him up with a "close targeting", he will think you have miss and then will build "over confidence" and his focus will shift to another hazards only to be surprise when the rebounds get them, it can be psychologically devasting especially when the effect happen long time after the initial lauch. You can fake targeting a player in front of you for another one in front or behind you, and the more rebounds the more uncertain for you but also for your opponent to read your tactics There is so many strategy and counter mesure with only this item that random is almost nullyfied at high level play.
The overall point is that randomness, with counter measure to create interplay, can be an especially strong design element when played in multiplayer game that exceed 2 (or 3) players, as it shift dynamics around the game and add high level of mind games between multiple elements. Best games with more than two player involve some kind of randomness (bomberman as exemple) with counter measure, other game without explicit randomness still have randomness generated by the sum of player's action (fps as exemple, did they take that health pack here?).
Hope that demonstration will help to see those game and design in more interesting light and promote new type of high level play in any game.
I'm also open to criticize :)
Sorry for my poor english
@neoshaman
You have some good points about what makes games fun, and I think a lot of people would agree that having slightly chaotic matches is fun and exciting.
I would also agree that social engineering a match in order to become the winner is an interesting skill, and useful in avenues other than video games.
However, in the interest in producing a fair, equitable competition I do not think that including large numbers of competitors in a "FFA" type of environment is a good idea for a real competition. I think most players would agree that while social engineering is a skill, and it is quite useful, it is not one of the skills we would want to test in a competitive video game tournament, which is the focus of many articles on this site. Most people want the best player of a game to win and not the person who has the most friends.
Regarding the randomness factor, most Smash players would agree that any sort of randomness manipulation is not a skill, and the only true skills in Smash are pressuring the opponent, punishing mistakes, and reading the opponent's moves. Not everyone subscribes to this belief, but there are many Smashers who do, and virtually all Smashers agree that many items give such large advantages that they should not be allowed in competitive play.
All of this is trying to say that while your beliefs are valid, they do not hold up well to the needs of self-improvement in a zero-sum environment.
I'd like to comment that I greatly appreciate these videos being made. Extremely clear and well made. In order to grow and maintain a community you got to keep new players coming.
For everyone complaining on here no thanks for harming the community I love. Those few individuals are really what create that negative smasher image. These videos can only help add growth. Why put that down?
@NeoShaman
You said - "do not forget that we can use the final smash unless we are on the ground and in idle state"
Is that supposed to be "CAN'T use the final smash"? Either way it's not true. After a very short pause upon breaking the ball (~0.5s) you can activate a final smash anywhere, airborne or not.
As for the essay on using items, post it in Smashboards.com, not here! please! This whole comments section has turned into 8 pages of "I have an opinion about items" :(
I watched video #10 through the N channel on the wii, it was a pretty interesting fight. Thanks Sirlin for a great set of vids :)
Olimar's Down+B has super armor also, but only for three frames right when he whips his head back.
Here's an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7xloSt-tbw
Fairly useless, but comon'!
I haven't watched all the videos, as I'm a competent smash player on my own.
First thing I have to say, is congratulations Mr. Sirlin. For all the work and effort you've put into collaborating with fans and high level players on a variety of games.
Next thing I have to say, is that you defined 'Auto Canceling' incorrectly. Auto Canceling is merely when an aerial move ends in the air, completely missing the normal landing lag an aerial move has when a character performing an aerial lands.
I believe that there is a constant number of frames, 4, for all characters when they simply land from the air. This is what 'Auto Canceling' refers to, not a reduction of lag, merely controlling your character in such a way as to take advantage of the fact that if you do not land while performing an aerial, and instead land while having your character in a 'neutral' state, that you will have 4 frames of lag instead of however many that an aerial will generate.
Ike's Aether has super armor too. I think it's the part where his sword is out of his hands.
Great videos Sirlin, thanks :)
@ Jazriel:
Though that's true for some moves, that's not generally what people are talking about when they refer to auto-canceling. A lot of moves have points WITHIN THE MOVE'S ANIMATION that if you land, there will be no lag. You can test which is which by going on a slope, and performing the aerial while DI'ing downhill, if if the move ended, you'd be able to double-jump when you reached the level of the ground is where you initially jumped.
This is most noticeable with moves that have enormously long periods where they auto-cancel, such as Wolf nair (which hits for an extended period, but basically will auto-cancel whenever you hit the ground). Do it after a full hop, do it after a short hop, do it at basically any point in the jump for either, you'll still be able to jab as soon as you touch the ground, even though the move had obviously not ended in the air.
That's why it's called auto-canceling, it's not over, it actually canceled something by reaching the ground.
DK's up-B also has super armor on it right at the beginning. I guess we forgot a few.
Thanks much for all the nice comments, everyone.
There's an excellent list of super armors on page 7 of the replies.
Thanks again for all the nice comments.
great videos! Is there anywhere I can download high quality versions of these for my PC?
I read about three pages worth of comments and decided it's simply not worth wasting my energy reading them and skipped the rest.
I must say though these betters are better than I expected :) I never thought you'd really get involved much with the Smash community. I could see you raping in Melee, but not in Brawl, as it doesn't really sound like a game that'd appeal to you much (although I do like playing it... I know it's pretty awful compared to other fighters). I thought it was hilarious when you mentioned DeDeDe's infinite chaingrab, as that's something I wouldn't expect to see in a video sponsored by Nintendo.
Wario's Fsmash has a bit of Super Armor.
Ike's UpB, Olimar's DownB, too. Ike's super armor is the easiest to see it doing good things for you. Olimar's DownB is to tank a projectile while you gather your pikmin just before an UpB tether.
DDD's epic Fsmash sort of fakes it because it's so big, disjointed, and dangerous. The start up lag is among the worst in the game but the ending lag isn't so bad. Because it's always fresh, getting hit by a DDD Fsmash is too dangerous to try interrupting it, best to try a counterattack after it whiffs.
Read all the stickies at www.smashboards.com if you, say, want to know every move in the game that has super armor.
@Auspice:
Speaking as a 4X player (at least, that's my strong suit videogame wise), I think that social engineering is a perfectly valid aspect to competitive tournament video games. When you say "Most people want the best player of a game to win and not the person who has the most friends," you neglect the fact that in high-level tournament play, you're very rarely going to see people ganging up on someone out of simple dislike. You're going to see people ganging up as best suits their interests.
@people flaming each other over item use/Smashboards:
There's a good reason for people to actively argue for one side or the other: it's simple memetics. If the "Fox Only! No Items! Final Destination!"* games are filling up the whole of the online arena, everyone's stuck either playing that or setting up lone outposts that are anything else and just hoping someone else will join. This leads to the meme spreading to even the people who don't particularly like it, and now -they're- making FONIFD games, making it harder for any non-Smashworld Standard community to form. Starcraft used to be the same way for anyone who wasn't a Big Game Hunters fan.
So "we're trying to change the whole community and the gaming standard" is rather more relevant and rational than you might think (unlikely to be successful on a broad scale, but it can be, depending on whether a backlash forms or not), even before sheer dickery comes into play. When it does...frankly, the only viewpoints that can even be heard are dicks on either side, and the consensus of the Back Room that everyone follows as a matter of course; a lot of people don't even -think- of anything different unless it's brought up.
At the risk of sounding like a Chicken Little, Smashboarders being allowed to play their way is a danger to anyone else's ability to play their way, due to networking reasons. Same goes for any other attitude being allowed to play their way; it might compete with Back Room Standard.
*Yes, I know the Fox Only part of the meme is dead. Still part of all the funnier comics about it.
Sirlin, you should really use this opportunity to let Nintendo know that tripping really harms the games competitive potential. It seems as if Nintendo is using you to create a competitive scene because they could easily launch an advertising campaign to raise sales in Europe. Please use this chance to highlight the badness of tripping for Brawl AND futuresmash titles. In case you are somehow not familiar with the "tripping mechanic" Every time a character dashes they have a 1% chance to trip leaving them vulnerable for a few moments.
In the end I love "playing to win" Smash Melee was my pride and joy. It was the only unique game that stood up to the awesomeness that MvC2, ST, SF3, and CvS2 brought to the table. I dropped brawl two months into the games life it was that bad. I guess this is jsut a pointless rant sirlin.....ill shut up now.
~UtahsBowser