So it’s been almost a week since Brawl has been released. It has matched all expectations, which is rare for me. Usually they’re set either too high or too low.

Wifi - Haven’t gotten around to adding any FC’s yet. The With Anyone part though, has a lot of potential. It’s lots of fun, and since you generally have no idea who is playing, it’s a lot of fun. The main problems are the lag, and the time it can take to find people to play with. Which are really big problems, but if these every do get fixed (on my end, and Nintendo’s), it will be a lot of fun.

SSE – Fun and lacking at the same time. To have a plot with this many crossover characters, it’s going to be hard to make a really good one. My expectations for this weren’t too high. I’ll have to replay this someday though; the first time was to unlock as many characters as possible of course. Oh, and the last boss is hard. Makes up for how easy Bowser was in SMG, I guess.

Stage Builder – Needs more backdrops, and more doodads in general. I haven’t unlocked the last stage builder parts yet, so maybe… but definitely more backdrops.

Trophies – I don’t remember much of it in Melee, but I like some of the descriptions for some of the trophies in Brawl. It’s like an extension of the official website itself.

Now for the more interesting bits: Stages and characters. Let’s start with stages. I will not cover all of them, cause that would simply take too much time, and I haven’t played that much to give a valid opinion on everything. Speaking of opinion, everything here is an opinion, we’re all entitled to our own.
Final Destination – They managed to make the background even better in this new one, and the music is epic. That alone makes this stage worth it for me…
Smashville – Just got back from the K.K. Slider concert. I selected this stage probably about 50 times tonight, and my friends probably got sick of it. But the concert was fantastic. The crowds got a little violent though. Oh, and K.K. Slider seemed to be passing out free CD’s in his concerts.
Port Town – What’s up with that pit in the middle?
Lylat Cruise – Threatens to contend with FD for the stage with the best background.
Hyrule Temple – A lot of people like this stage. But late last year, my roommate and a friend played this stage, with either Fox, Shiek, Marth, or Roy everytime they played Melee. It got old really fast. Yes, I did say Roy. My roommate wanted to prove Roy was better. He gave up after a couple of weeks.
WarioWare, Inc. – Best stage ever?
Shadow Moses Island - Very fun stage. The walls diminish the KO rate quite a bit, despite the stage overall to be small. Still don’t know what’s up with the spotlights and Metal Gear REX and RAY.
Mario Bros – Like Shadow Moses, only there are ceilings. The retro music really adds to this stage.
Yoshi’s Island - They finally got Yoshi’s stage right this time. But I think part of that is due to the inclusion of the athletic theme from Yoshi’s Island (one of the best platformers known to man).

Now for the characters. These are just my own opinions… NOT A TIER LIST. Listed in no relevant order.
Mario – Still thinking his down-B is the Mario Tornado, but that’s actually his down air now. So whenever I’m Mario, I tend to pull out a FLUDD and stand there. Probably doesn’t help Luigi’s down B is still the cyclone.
Luigi – Pure awesome. Smash’s all seem much stronger, seems better at recovering–but so is everyone else I guess. VERY floatly, but I prefer that to the alternative.
Ike – Slow. Hits like a damn truck. Lots of fun, and generally popular on Wifi and in my dorm. He is pretty kick ass… and he has a sword that’s cool, and big. But not big to ridiculous proportions like Cloud. For a melee guy, you’d be shock at his range. And then he has amazing priority on a ton of his attacks.
Zelda/Shiek – Really glad Shiek is nerfed, but Zelda seems buffed quite a bit. Nearly every Zelda player I see wants to spam over-B. Which is potentially more annoying than Pikachi’s thunder spam.
Pit – Everytime I play against Pit, it seems like he ends up getting the Final Smash.
Diddy Kong – Seems very popular in my dorm. He’s not a bad character at all–clings to walls, fast, good aerials, good recovery. Then he dies after a final smash cause he’s either off the stage or below it.
Ganondorf – Like Captain Falcon as if someone gimped his legs. Still hits ridiculously hard. His voice got changed, all for the better in my opinion. In Melee, he sounded, and sometimes looked like a Captain Falcon wannabe. Here, he has a much more darker and sinister feel to him. As he should be.
Captain Falcon – When you have the supreme evil of Hyrule copying your moves, and Solid Snake wanting to copy your moves, you know you have something going for you. Show me ‘ya moves!
Bowser – If they have Toon Link, then there really shouldn’t be any reason why Paper Bowser can’t be in Brawl either.
Yoshi – Yoshi finally gets his third jump! Yoshi! It’s not much, but usually saves me whenever I use it.
Pokemon Trainer - I really dig the versatility of this umm, character. Everyone likes Squirtle, and I can see why. Some people also like him because he’s fast, and speed dominated in Brawl. Don’t see the hate on Charizard though; he’s a heavyweight, but a little faster than the others. I dunno, I’ve just had some good matches with him. Better than Ivysaur, at least.
King Dedede – A lot of fun to play as. But like Ike, he’s slow. His smash attacks are even slower than Ike’s, but he has good tilts, and good recovery. And his chain grab is fun in a very cheap and guilty way.
Snake – Snake is so different from the rest of the cast in so many ways. He plays very differently from everyone else; him and Olimar are the most oddball characters to play as. His down smash plants a proxy mine. His up smash is an RPG launched up, and drops back onto the ground. His forward smash is a rocket launcher, but at first glance I thought it was his down smash. Overall, his attacks hit quite hard, but they either require a lot of setup, or are slow. Maybe not the best overall character to use, but a LOT of fun to play as.
Wario – I don’t know what’s up with all the Wario hate. I’ve been a fan of Wario ever since Super Mario Land 3. Like Yoshi, he started out as a supporting Mario character, but eventually branched out into his own series. I’ve had a lot of success using him. He good aerials, his moves aren’t too slow, but aren’t too weak either. If his bike is going at full speed, it’s very hard to knock him off. He can also use it for his recovery. His down taunt is also a lot of fun to use.