Brawl Once "Had A Lot More Characters"

Smash Bros. Brawl has more characters than you can shake a lamb's tail at. Too many, perhaps? Don't dare suggest that, the series' fans will string you up. Instead, suggest that the game doesn't have enough characters. That'll wash over well. With fans and the game's creator Masahiro Sakurai, who says that earlier in the game's development he "had a lot more characters", but had to trim the numbers as they got closer to release. So which ones made the cut? Sakurai's not telling, leaving you free to chime in with your own hair-brained speculation. Me, I was hoping for one of the Rito postmen to make an appearance...

[Official Nintendo Magazine, via Wii Fanboy]

Dojo Dump: Smash Bros. Dojo Returns!

Welcome back, Smash Bros. Dojo! We were wondering if you were going to do anything to commemorate the European launch of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. We absolutely love it when you do these "Snapshots Galore" posts, because we need more images of Donkey Kong in a spotted diaper floating around our brains.

Sadly, we think the "return" of the Smash Bros. Dojo will be very short lived and that it will be some time before we see another update to the site. Our European friends who have expertly avoided spoilers up until this point will want to steer clear of this latest update, as unlockable characters abound.

Snapshots Galore #3 [Smash Bros. Dojo - thanks, Kiriphii!]

Amazon's Gold Box Kick Off With Super Cheap SSBB [Updated]

Amazon deals! No, no, no Amazon Nintendo deals! Today's Amazon Goldbox has kicked off with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, originally priced at US$49.99, but now going for $25.99. Whadda steal. Throughout the day, Amazon will be cutting prices on nine — yes, NINE — Nintendo titles. Expected games and times are:

Current - Super Smash Brothers: Brawl (Wii)

6:00 AM PDT - Yoshi's Island DS

8:00 AM PDT - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS)

10:00 AM PDT - Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

12:00 PM PDT - The New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo DS)

2:00 PM PDT - Mario Kart Wii

4:00 PM PDT - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, presumably, though possibly Gamecube)

6:00 PM PDT - Mario Party DS

8:00 PM PDT - Pokemon Diamond and/or Pearl (Nintendo DS)

Check Amazon during the day to see if these predictions are true — and more importantly, just how low the deals go.

Eds Note: Slight correction: Mario Kart DS, NOT Mario Kart Wii and Pokemon Diamond confirmed, not Pearl as a choice.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl [Amazon Thanks, FitzRhapsody!]

Smash Bros. Brawl Father's Day Tourney Winners

The Father's Day Super Smash Bros. Brawl Tourney drew about 35 father and son pairs to the Nintendo World store in New York this weekend.

The bracket-style tournament had the teams of two fight it out until Dannis Tighe and his son Michael were the last two standing. The two won a Wii, a copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a trophy and the right to rub their victories in the faces of all of those father/son teams who waste their training regiments on sack races and egg tosses.

Nintendo's Father's Day Smash Bros. Tournament

Sunday June 15th is Father's Day, and what better way to celebrate than playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl all day long? Alright, so some of you were planning on doing that anyway, but if you're in the New York City area that weekend you can get your father involved for a chance at fabulous prizes!

Nintendo is hosting a Super Smash Bros. Brawl Wii Father's Day Tournament at the Nintendo World store in Rockefeller Plaza on the 15th from 1 to 4 PM, with the winners of the bracket-style playoff walking away with two Wii, two copies of the game, and a trophy commemorating the event. Photographers will be on hand throughout the event to offer framed father and son pictures so at least you come away with something if the tourney only drives home the fact that you and your father have absolutely nothing in common.

This Is Nintendo's Excuse For Smash Bros' European Delay

Laurent Fischer is senior marketing director at Nintendo Europe. Laurent knows why Smash Bros. Brawl will be released five months later in Europe than it was in Japan. The answer? Exactly what you thought it would be: localisation timeframes, along with some bonus, very vague stuff about Nintendo's production capabilities. Answers Europeans are very accustomed to, and probably getting quite sick of, as they're only pointing out a disease's symptoms, not giving them news of a possible cure.

Nintendo explains Euro Brawl wait [CVG]

Zero Punctuation Beats On Smash Bros. Brawl

Wii Owners Don't Buy Games

According to a well-argued piece by the New York Times, Wii owners don't buy games. They look at the issue from a variety of angles, including the facts (Wii owners buy one game less per year than their 360/PS3 counterparts), the analysts (Michael Pachter explains this represents a "broadening of the demographic") and the consequences (Super Smash Bros. Brawl sales dropped 90% over the first four weeks, forcing companies like Walmart to turn to bundling the game).

All in all, it's a good thing that Nintendo makes loads of cash on the Wii, Wii controllers and accessories for Wii controllers. Because even their traditional franchises are failing to inspire many of those who purchased Wiis in the first place.

New Wii Games Find a Big (but Stingy) Audience [NYT]

Smash Bros. Dojos Past The Competition To Take #1 Spot In March

Yeah, dojos is now a verb. Live with it. Super Smash Bros. Brawl has not only beat out, it has final smashed the competition, selling 2.7 million units on its way to claiming the the title of top-selling game in the US for March. For reference, its nearest competitor - Rainbow Six Vegas 2 on the 360 - could shift "only" 752,000 units. And for perspective, Smash Bros. sold more than the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh best-selling games combined.

The rest of charts sees two surprise entries: MLB2K8 at #8 and the PS3 version of Army of Two (the only PS3 game in the top 10) sneaking in at #10. Meanwhile Wii Play continues its march towards sales immortality, notching up another 400,000 units, while previous two-time winner Call of Duty 4 hold onto a spot in the top of the charts with the 360 version managing to sell 237,000 copies.

Do Gaming Skills Develop Like Other Childhood Skills?

Brandon Erickson at Gamecritics puts forth an interesting question. Is there a "critical period" in children for learning video game skills, the same as there is for language? It doesn't preclude the learning of languages, or the innate hand-eye coordination specific to video games, later in life, but it may explain why younger kids who grow up using controllers second nature will, depending on the game, always whip the ass of an adult who learned on that stupid Colecovision phone-looking thing.

Super Smashing Proposal

Dojo Dump: The End

Well, this is it folks, the final Friday of regular Smash Bros. Dojo updates and, essentially, the final Dojo Dump wrap up. The final daily update to the official site will be on Monday, but we expect the odd new post, sometime around the launch of the PAL version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Oh, the bittersweetness of it all! You may already know that the Dojo had a bang up post for today, helping the medicine go down easier, but don't think we aren't crying ourselves to sleep tonight!

For the final, spoiler-filled wrap up, roll on.

Masahiro Sakurai is not amused! Apparently someone has been fostering an unnatural fascination with getting a peek at Princess Peach and Zelda's panties, sending them in to the Dojo on a regular enough basis that Sakurai needed a disclaimer at the bottom of the picture page.

Please understand that snapshots depicting inappropriate content or containing inappropriate comments will not be eligible for selection.

To this point, I've received a great number of screenshots that focus on peeking at the undergarments of certain Brawl combatants. So let me just say it again—shots like these will never be posted to the Dojo or sent out to users via the Smash Service.

Screenshot Collection #2 [Smash Bros. Dojo!! - Thanks Stephen!]]

Dojo Dump: Twilight