SSB Melee to SSB Brawl. Why the drop in quality?

[swankyfella]

I was playing Melee the other day with my roommate who was not very familiar with the series. We were playing on my Wii (I sold my Gamecube since Wii is fully backwards compatible) and he asked if they made a sequel. I told him they did, but found myself making a bunch of excuses to keep us playing Melee.

Later on I wondered to myself why I did that. I mean, I bought Brawl on launch day and played the shit out of it. I had some genuinely good times with it, too. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized Brawl is a much worse game than Melee. Worse than the original, too.

So my question to you, fellow Escapists, is do you agree? And if so, why do you think that is?

 

[Drakmeire]

I personally think Brawl controls much better and the animations are more fluid, I played melee with friends and was having a hard time landing hits and combos but when we switched to brawl the movements felt much more clean and precise. I assume nostalgia filter or personal preference for challenge.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Mewtwo himself is quality.

Without Mewtwo, there is less quality.

 

[2xDouble]

What exactly do you mean by "poorer quality"?

The visuals are greatly improved, as is the level design. The moves and mechanics have been "balanced" (ha!) a little better. The controls are more or less exactly the same, if you use a Gamecube controller (which is the only correct way to play Brawl).

If anything, I'd call Brawl an update or expansion for essentially the same game. Maybe that's the problem.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

The only real issue I had with Brawl is that all the jumps are too floaty. Brawl has a much larger focus on aerial combat which kind of threw things off for me.

 

[tjs09]

I was playing Melee the other day with my roommate who was not very familiar with the series. We were playing on my Wii (I sold my Gamecube since Wii is fully backwards compatible) and he asked if they made a sequel. I told him they did, but found myself making a bunch of excuses to keep us playing Melee.

Later on I wondered to myself why I did that. I mean, I bought Brawl on launch day and played the shit out of it. I had some genuinely good times with it, too. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized Brawl is a much worse game than Melee. Worse than the original, too.

So my question to you, fellow Escapists, is do you agree? And if so, why do you think that is?

Why do you think Brawl is worse? You have to give us a reason, man! Without it, I feel compelled to jump to conclusions and call you an idiot XD

I like Brawl because it has more content, characters, and stages (like a great sequel should). Better graphics and animation don't hurt, either. And I can't even imagine playing any SS game without Final Smashes.

 

[yanipheonu]

HOw is Brawl WORSE in any way?

I mean, it's a fighting game, and minute things will change, like controls, and like any fighting game, some people prefer older version just on the way they play (like some people still play Street Fighter II or III even when IV is out).

But I really don't see how Brawl is considered worse??? It added more to the series, that's all we can expect from it. It may control differently or play differently, but that will always happen with new versions of a game.

 

[Blazingdragoon04]

In terms of production values and sheer amount of content, Brawl is better.

In terms of gameplay, Melee is better. I can come up with a list of reasons why Melee is better at the core, and all I ever get is people calling me a troll, so I won't. But yes OP, Melee is better, and that's not just the nostalgia filter talking.

Then now we have two people saying that Melee is better but won't give any reasoning for it, which just ultimately looks worse than if you decided to actually put some reasons down.

OT: I liked Brawl better. I liked the addition of more characters, and some of the most fun I've ever had playing characters has been in Brawl, and despite most of the online competition being either Pit or Meta-Knight, as opposed to Falco and Marth, I find it a lot of fun to play with friends.

 

[Gigaguy64]

Im not sure what you mean OP.
Maybe your Nostalgia Goggles are on too tight.

Brawl was built much better, had more content, and some better characters while eliminating the "Clones".

Melee though was a absolute blast and i often went back to it because of my memories of it and how fun it is.

And we got Lucario in place of Mew-Tew, a improvement in my book.
Also Wolf, freaking Wolf.
Plus Samus and Zero Suit Samus.
And Meta Knight.
Oh! and Ike, and a improved Marth.
And we cant forget about R.O.B.

 

[brunothepig]

Well, I actually prefer Brawl. I am saddened that they removed characters, I miss Lucario, but the controls seem tighter, it looks prettier, there is more characters, and some new cool characters etc. Basically, yeah, I disagree so I'm no help here.
I will say that you can't play as Master Hand in Brawl... So that is one flaw.

 

[Sharalon]

The real drop was from the first one to melee and brawl was just more of the same. I still like to play the original and I it's the only fighting game I have ever enjoyed.

 

[theheroofaction]

The only way I consider it worse it that they didn't keep the best of the old stages, Oh and they took out Mew2, but Lucario's better anyway.

I personally Like brawl better.

 

[swankyfella]

What exactly do you mean by "poorer quality"?

The thing I get every time I play is That it feels like they tried to add too many changes to the gameplay. The final smashes are cool, but they come around way too often. It'd be nice if they had their own frequency settings. As it stands, you can have one every 30 seconds or none at all. A lot of the new levels are gimmicky or just not fun to play. In a lot of the new levels, you're far more likely to be killed by the environment screwing you over than by other players actually killing you. They messed too much with the balance of some characters (like Ganondorf) and not enough with others (like Toon Link).

Overall, I think the gameplay is more focused and skill-based in Melee. Brawl looks nicer, but that's hardly the important issue in a fighting game.

 

[Space Spoons]

Brawl has more characters, more stages, more music, more items, more features in general, and isn't broken to the point that only two characters are playable (Meta-Knight notwithstanding).

I don't know what game you were playing, OP, but Brawl beats Melee on every conceivable level.

 

[Sean951]

Nintendo really need to stop milking their old franchises and make something decent, like a console that has more in common with the XBOX360/PS3.

No. Nintendo has sold more consoles this generation than either of them, and they didn't do it by making shooters and JRPGs.


OT: I like Brawl a lot more. For some reason, I prefer a Wii-mote/nun-chuck controller and I had a lot of fun in the campaign. Not to mention Link got better, at least in my opinion. I've been playing as him since we got the first SSB for the N64 and nothing will stop me from playing as him now unless they remove him from the game.

 

[Tendus]

One of the bigger differences I see in the games is the hardcore versus casual argument(or easier to get in into by newer players). Melee offered loads of techniques such as wave-dashing that were soon mastered by more hardcore players, while Brawl simply removed those altogether. It doesn't make it bad, but rather makes it easier for newer players to get into the game. I see it more as an improvement in my book, but then again, I lack the needed talent and dedication to be hardcore.

 

[Jakub324]

Nintendo really need to stop milking their old franchises and make something decent, like a console that has more in common with the XBOX360/PS3.

No. Nintendo has sold more consoles this generation than either of them, and they didn't do it by making shooters and JRPGs.


Umm, sorry to burst your bubble, but that's because everyone though it was going to revolutionise gaming. JRPGs are like Nintendo's child in that they are always together, and I own a Wii, and there are 3 games I like on it (out of 13), but I also own an XBOX, and I have 26 games and like 24 of them. I suppose a lot of it comes down to preference, but seriously, all Nintendo are surviving off is nostalgia-blinded fans who were kids in the '80s.

 

[Dellusions]

What exactly do you mean by "poorer quality"?

The thing I get every time I play is That it feels like they tried to add too many changes to the gameplay. The final smashes are cool, but they come around way too often. It'd be nice if they had their own frequency settings. As it stands, you can have one every 30 seconds or none at all. A lot of the new levels are gimmicky or just not fun to play. In a lot of the new levels, you're far more likely to be killed by the environment screwing you over than by other players actually killing you. They messed too much with the balance of some characters (like Ganondorf) and not enough with others (like Toon Link).

Overall, I think the gameplay is more focused and skill-based in Melee. Brawl looks nicer, but that's hardly the important issue in a fighting game.

Well I think your main problem here is that if the levels are killing you more often in the new game, then in melee, is that you simply played the old levels more then the new ones. Think about the games if they had come out at the same exact time, ignore nostalgia and graphics, and focus on them from an un-biased stand-point.

You also mention the super smashes, but seem to forget that you can turn them off, or lower the frequency of items, or turn them all of instead (as 99% of all real tournament play for the game does.) If you play each game an equal amount of time, I think you'd find that most of your concerns simply disappear, though in all fairness many people play many "outdated" versions of games, as it's simply a preference, like how Counter Strike 1.6 is played so much even though Source has been out forever, or how you'll find a lot of older gamers favorite games to be on the Atari or the NES, or in the arcade.

In summation I think that most people will prefer SSBB because it is, in fact, newer and updated, but that is no reason for you to play it over the older one if you prefer it, and you still have people to play it with.

Edit: Also, I'm not sure if that was what you were implying, but Toon Link is a great character if you know what to do with him. I've actually mained him for a while in tournament play because of the way 3 of his air moves work. It's not Ganondorf to worry about, it's Meta Knight, Snake, Pikachu, and in the right hands, Olimar.