For those of you that might have missed it, I posted a general impressions article on my hands-on time with Brawl yesterday and left with the promise of more in-depth descriptions of certain characters. My plan is to update with three or so characters per day until I’ve covered all of them, so be sure to check back here as often as possible for more info.

Hit the jump for today’s characters, Mario, Luigi and Snake!

Mario

Standard Special: Fireball
Mario throws a ball of flame at a diagonal angle that bounces until it dissipates. Fast, low damage, almost no knockback. Good for interrupting attacks and leading into combos.

Forward Special: Cape
Mario unfurls his yellow cape from Super Mario World, which can be used to turn enemies around and deflect projectiles, as well as aid in recovery.

Up Special: Coin Punch
Mario jumps up in the air, hitting enemies multiple times if they’re in the way. Used as his third jump, it has a good amount of vertical reach.

Down Special: FLUDD
Useless. Utterly useless. That’s what the “U” stands for.
Mario was always a favorite of mine in Melee. He was the most balanced character, which meant that he could adapt to a variety of opponents and usually come out on top. Well, not a lot has changed for the world’s most famous plumber. When it comes to power, speed, range and resilience, Mario is in the middle of the road. His forward smash seems to have been slowed down a bit and it doesn’t have as much knockback, but that could also be attributed to the fact that characters generally don’t fly off the stage until a much higher percent than in previous Smash games. His down smash is pretty much the same as before, a sweeping kick that covers both sides of Mario on the ground. What irritates me the most about Mario’s transition to Brawl is his irritating water-shooting companion FLUDD. Honestly, I hated FLUDD in Sunshine, and I hate FLUDD in Brawl. Not only does this move require charging, but it deals zero damage and has about as much knockback as getting hit by a feather. The only strategy I can think of that might make it worthwhile is to use it for edge guarding, but that hardly works since it can’t really shoot downward and instead flies in a predetermined arc. The only plus side to the addition of FLUDD is that Mario’s old down special, the Mario tornado, has been moved to down+A in the air and has been improved to the point where it’s actually useful.

As always, the best strategy with Mario is to use a good combination of attack and defense. Surprising enemies with tactical use of Cape is a must. His weakness lies in characters with long range in their attacks, like the sword users of the game. Overall, Mario is still a great character and one that any Smash enthusiast should master, if only because mastering Mario helps give a good starting point for mastering any of the other characters in the game.

Luigi

Standard Special: Fireball
A green ball of flame shoots out vertically. Similar damage and knockback to Mario’s fireball, but with less range and less overall usefulness

Forward Special: Green Rocket
A chargeable head-bash that sends Luigi flying horizontally. Usually used for recovery, but when it hits it deals a good amount of damage and has great knockback.

Up Special: Coin Punch
An almost-vertical jump that will hit a single coin out of an enemy. If used right next to an opponent, though, it will unleash a fiery uppercut that sends them flying.

Down Special: Luigi Tornado
Luigi spins around and hits people. It has even better vertical range this time around.

The award for most bizarre character in anything ever officially goes to Luigi. While his attacks are almost identical to what you saw in Melee, his personality has been refined to be… weirder. For instance, one of his taunts has him instantly striking poses (and I mean instantly) ala the picture-taking scene from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Moreover, his sound effect set has been redone to sound more… afraid? It’s hard to describe. It’s much more reminiscent of Luigi’s Mansion than anything else, though. As if that weren’t enough, his final smash has him doing a goofy dance that creates a ball of inverted colors that has a variety of effects on Luigi’s foes, such as damage over time and uncontrollable taunting.

One thing I noticed is that Luigi’s fire uppercut seems to have become easier to pull off. I was never very good at it in Smash 64 or Melee, but in Brawl I was able to hit people with it more than half the time I used it. Plus it seems like it has a tiny bit of horizontal reach this time, too. To add to the weirdness, though, his up special now flips him upside down when he reaches the apex of the jump, whereupon he’ll fall back down head first as though nothing were wrong. The unfortunate upshot of this gag is that landing on the ground has a bit more lag than it used to. I guess you have to take the good with the bad. Another thing I noticed is that the Luigi Tornado can go far! In Melee it was always more useful than Mario’s tornado because it could travel a decent distance horizontally. Well, now it can go even further! I’d say that I was able to make it about halfway across Final Destination with a single spin.

Luigi returns as a solid character, but I really wish they’d given him the Poltergust as a special move. After all, Mario god FLUDD, didn’t he? Regardless, getting good with Luigi will be a practice in learning how to best keep your opponents on their toes. Keeping a defensive strategy is probably the best way to play. Having an opponent come to you, shielding, grabbing, and then comboing into a fire uppercut seems like a perfectly tangible option, and I look forward to getting to know Luigi’s personality a bit more when the American version of Brawl is finally released.

Snake

Standard Special: Hand Grenade
Throws a grenade that deals a decent amount of damage and has a bit of knockback

Forward Special: Remote Controlled Missile
Launches a missile that can be controlled by the user. When it’s turning, it goes very, very slowly.

Up Special: Cypher
A little robot appears and flies Snake way up in the air. One of the best recoveries in the game, I’d say.

Down Special: C4
It’s a bomb that blows up if you hit it. Pretty self-explanatory.

While I only got a chance to play a few matches as Snake, I can tell you that he has the possibility of being one of the best characters in the game. He’s slow, but incredibly powerful. What intrigues me the most about him is that his up and down smashes have a delay. His down smash buries a mine in the ground, while his up smash shoots a missile into the air that falls down after it reaches its zenith. What I foresee is that people will be able to use these delayed attacks to force enemies into devastating combos. His up smash is amazing, though. It has all the range of a special attack with the power of a smash attack, which means it’s also chargeable. To give you an idea of the kind of power that Snake has, his up smash can break a Smash Ball in a single hit. From what I’ve seen, there aren’t many characters that can do that, especially not with a projectile attack.

To be honest, at first I was worried that Snake wouldn’t fit well into the Smash universe. He does, and I’m really glad they put him in. I’m a little concerned with the amount of detail they put into his ass, though…

Honestly! Look at that thing! It’s like a goddamn valley..!

Anyway, that’s it for today. Tune in tomorrow for more character profiles, and if you have any questions or anything you’d like me to add, feel free to leave something in the comments!