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Our huge hands-on report of what's possibly the most anticipated Wii game of the year.

I'll come right out and say it; Super Smash Brothers Melee is my favorite game of all time. So as you can imagine, going into E For All, my anticipation for the latest iteration of Nintendo's mascot brawler was through the roof and floating somewhere in the stratosphere. Now that I've had the chance to finally get my hands on it, I must say that while my astronomically high expectations weren't quite met due to the fact that I couldn't use a Gamecube controller, I can still say with complete confidence that Super Smash Brothers Brawl is everything that Smash Brothers fans have been salivating for.

At first glance, you might view Brawl as simply an upgraded version of Melee with a few new characters and prettier graphics. The returning characters have pretty much the same moves, with the exception of Mario who now has his FLUDD device from Super Mario Sunshine as his down B. However, once you've got the controller in your hands, most seasoned Smash Brothers veterans should pick up on some of the subtler and not so subtle changes to the gameplay.

What's New:

Let's get the biggest change out of the way: Wavedashing as we know it, is dead. For those unfamiliar with the practice of wavedashing in Smash Brothers Melee, it's basically tapping the jump button and then immediately air dodging diagonally towards the ground to make your character slide across the floor. It's a technique that, when mastered, separated the men from the boys in the Smash Brothers world. The reason why this technique is impossible now is because of a newly implemented air dodging system. With this new system, you can no longer air dodge in any direction you choose. Instead, your momentum determines the direction and length of your air dodge. So for example, if you were to jump towards your opponent and start an air dodge to avoid one of their attacks, you would dodge in the direction you were going and would keep the same momentum that you had going into the dodge.

Some other gameplay tweaks include the ability to grab the ledge even when you're not actually facing it (In fact, grabbing the ledge in general felt a lot more forgiving), being able to grab items while in midair, being able to move while firing items like the Super Scope, and being able to jump onto people's heads if you manage to jump at precisely the right time. The game also felt a little similar to the classic N64 version of Smash Brothers with the revitalization of the character introductions and slower falling speeds. Fox for example, now falls noticeably slower than he did in Melee, making him a bit more reminiscent of his Smash Brothers 64 counterpart. Of course, he still retains all of the moves that he had in Melee.

While it would take too much time to go over every single item that's new in Smash Brothers Brawl, there is one in particular that deserves some special mention. Of course this item is the Smash Ball, which upon breaking will grant your character the ability to unleash his or her Final Smash. Final Smashes can be a devastatingly effective way of turning a match totally around as the majority of them can easily wipe out the entire competition. It's not just a simple matter of pressing a button though. Some Final Smashes require you to actually control the character during the attack. For example, Sonic's Final Smash transforms him into Super Sonic, and enables him to fly around freely, dealing out heavy damage and knockout power to any enemy that he happens to fly into. Bowser's Final Smash is probably the most impressive as activating it will turn him into the terrifying Giga Bowser, whose size, power, and toughness are all ten times greater than normal Bowser's. The transformation doesn't last forever of course, but you had better hope the level is big enough for you to run for the hills, otherwise there's no escaping Giga Bowser's attacks.