Gamernode: Interviews - The Competitive Brawl: Hugs and Gimpy weigh in on Super Smash Bros Brawl

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Dac: Back to the gameplay mechanics - What aspects borrowed from Melee seem easier to perform in Brawl?

Hugs: Nothing really. Most everything borrowed from Melee seemed to be exactly as hard or easy as before. I can't really think of anything that was easier.

Gimpy: Grapple recovering was on of the obvious ones, I think. Just in general, sweetspotting was definitely easier. You can now sweetspot on your way up, which was pretty interesting. And you can grab the ledge facing either direction, as well.

Dac: I saw that most moves now have more hitstun. Do you think this make advanced techniques like Smash DI-ing easier?

Gimpy: You have way more frames to DI out of moves to survive. But it seems like character recover from moves much faster, so it might be easier to escape combos.

Hugs: You know what, I had 2 minutes per match with items flying at me from every direction. It was tough for me to really notice the little intricacies of Smash DI. Though I can say that people survived much longer.

Dac: Does it seem like the bridge between noobs and pros will be much shorter?

Hugs: Not at all. That which made a pro a real pro back in Melee had much more to it than technical tricks. The noobs will have an easier time matching up technically, but the pros will still have the enormous advantages of experience and mindgames.

Gimpy: I agree. The reason noobs are noobs isn't because they couldn't grasp technical play. In fact, I think most people stress the technical game far too much. Obviously having complete control over your character is a must, but intelligent gameplay is the most important aspect of Smash 64, Melee, and Brawl. Noobs are noobs because they don't learn, they don't adapt, and they don't play intelligently. You need to treat is as a thinking game.

Dac: What are some advanced techniques that have already been adopted for Brawl?

Gimpy: We found out how to L-cancel, a new way to edgehog. We found out how to Waveland. Moonwalking is still in, as well. The new edgehog is just running off the stage and grabbing the edge backwards.

Dac: Are there any new advanced techniques that have already been invented strictly for Brawl?

Hugs: There's a new one called "hugging," named after some amazing dude. *Laughs* It's a technique where you can run off the edge, press back and edgehog. I still have yet to see if you can fast fall after coming off the edge to make it even faster.

Dac: Haha, I heard about the new "hugging" technique, and I like it. So, comparing Brawl to Melee, is it easier or more efficient to hug the edge as opposed to doing the classic Wavedash backwards?

Hugs: None of us were good enough to use it efficiently. So I can only answer the same way as I have been by saying "It seems like it." Oh, and here's the other new technique. You can now Waveland by doing certain aerials that push you back, right before hitting the floor. That one was brought to you by bob money. Also, the DBR guys mentioned to me that moves can be auto-canceled by merely fast falling the aerial attack. It seems to be true.

Gimpy: And there's another new thing. We tried to figure out how to repeat it, but we couldn't get it to work right. You can pivot in Melee, which is like, where you dash dance and cancel it out to do a standing move. There is a way to to it in Brawl.

Dac: Ah, the "Ink Drop?"

Gimpy: *Laughs* Yeah, sort of. That's what we thought would do it. Basically, you can do a pivot somehow out of a dash in Brawl, and we thought it had something to do with the new tripping mechanic. We thought we had it all figured out, but we didn't, so it's a mystery right now. Oh, just another thing to note... The new air-dodge is something that I really like a lot. The fact that you can air-dodge and then jump or do something else is going to make for a lot of creative tricks. I like it a lot.

Dac: Now, I heard that Fox had an alternate costume as Star Wolf. Does Wolf play exactly the same as Fox, or does the alternate costume minorly change the character? I.E., clones.

Gimpy: *Laughs* Hold on, now. I'm glad you mentioned this. Alright, so people have this idea that certain characters have alternate costumes. Peach does have daisy, Link has Dark Link, but Fox doesn't actually have Wolf, and Diddy doesn't really have a Dixie costume. The Fox "Wolf" costume is just a darker costume in low resolution that really looks like Wolf, but isn't actually wolf. But yes, the alternate costumes do all play exactly the same.

Dac: Alright, Hugs, I'm a Samus main, so this question's just for me. I heard the bomb jump has been changed up a bit. Can you explain the new physics of it?

Hugs: Well it seems as if it automatically sends you to the right or left. I have seen others bomb jump but I, personally, was unable to because I didn't get my VIP pass on time. People like Gimpy were in the Brawl area hours before the public got to it. Punks.

Gimpy: *Laughs*

Dac: Since you can't directional air-dodge anymore, is it harder to recover with Samus, since you don't get that extra "boost" when performing a tether recovery?

Hugs: It's definitely harder. There was a point where I realized I was too low to air-dodge plus grapple. My opponent was already edgehogging so I had no choice but to just fall and hope the grapple hit the edge. It didn't, and I died for no reason. I guess it just takes some getting used to.

Dac: So does the grapple only go towards the tip of the edge, or can you still latch onto walls?

Hugs: It goes straight for the edge, no matter what. I personally don't like it, but it makes things easier for people who couldn't sweetspot.

Dac: In the demo, items were constantly turned on. After playing with these, do you think that any of the items, like the Smash Ball, will be enabled in tournament play?

Gimpy: The Smash community won't revert back to items in tournaments, even if they can be controlled moreso than in Melee. It won't happen. The Smash Ball is a different story, though. Some people think they should be off. I, myself, believe they add a definite level of strategy to the game. But, I can see the argument either way. I think we'll see two types of tournaments: ones with the Smash Balls on, and ones with them off.

Hugs: Call me a purist or whatever, but I don't think any of these items should be enabled in tournament play. Some are viable for tournaments, but we'd be better off without them, period. And don't get me started on the Smash Balls. They were incredibly fun, but they have no place in tournament play. You should have seen my ledgehop to Final Smash finish. Incredible.

Dac: Alright Gimpy, Hugs. I appreciate the time you've spent letting us all know more about Brawl. Do you have any final thoughts for our competitive Smash community?

Hugs: Don't think that because you are good in Melee you will be good in Brawl. Same goes for those who think they will now suck in Brawl. This is a new game, don't expect anything to come for free. If you work at it enough, you'll be good.

Gimpy: The one thing that I cannot stress enough is this: Super Smash Bros. Brawl is NOT Super Smash Bros. Melee 2. While the game is similar on a conceptual level, the actual gameplay is drastically different. It's hard to explain or get people to fully understand that it is very, very different. But the game is purely entertaining. It's just fun.

So, as advanced players, should we have anything to worry about in Brawl? The very simple answer is absolutely not. The game is in good hands. In fact, the development team creating Brawl had over 10,000 Melee matches before they even began making the new game, so they were hardcore Smashers themselves. Brawl will be competitive because people will make it competitive, and while some techniques have vanished, new ones will constantly rise. If you're one of the purists who have already rejected Brawl because the changes, then in reality, you're nothing more than a scrub who shouldn't be playing, anyway. As for the rest of us? Well, we're ready to Brawl!

[ed note: for more of Gimpy's impressions, check out his thread at SmashBoards.]

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