Super Smash Bros. Brawl fans may recognize this version of Andross as he appeared in the original Star Fox for the Super NES, but much of New York's commuting populace will be puzzled by the polygonal antagonist's cover up of their favorite glowing advertisements. You can enjoy photos of the Andross installation at Posterchild's Blade Diary.

Andross [Blade Diary]

This is the biggest debut for a Wii title.

Between December 3 and December 6, the game sold 936,734 copies, posting higher first week sales than the previous top first week Wii title Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which sold 816,000 titles.

ミリオン目前、『New スーパーマリオブラザーズ Wii』の初週販売本数が発表 - ファミ通.com [Famitsu]

Courtney Whitmire, a freshman at the University of Maryland, suffered tragedy this year when flooding wiped out her house and most of her small town in Georgia. Working together with people in her dorm, Whitmire and some other students organized a tournament that would donate its buy-in money to flood relief efforts in her hometown.

"It clicked all of a sudden," sophomore English major Quinn Hargitai said. "We love to play Smash Bros. - we play it all the time. We never study."

It's an awesome idea and a fine bit of reporting on our ex-intern's part. It seems like only yesterday Freedman was updating our massive photo galleries and checking my spelling. They grow up so fast!

A smashing act of charity [The Diamondback]

Image Cred

Except exactly which flavor of Ninja Turtles to expect. The series evolved a lot since the 1980s, so it's important for fans to know whether they're dealing with the original Peter Laird/Kevin Eastman envisioning of the Turtles, or the new 4Kids Entertainment cartoon.

In Smash-Up, it turns out you're dealing with all the different incarnations of Ninja Turtles at once. Though the character models clearly resemble the 2007 CGI movie and the back story used to drive the "Hey, let's have a massive beat-down" gameplay is more kid-oriented, the entire game is a pastiche of all that is Turtle. Minus the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III movie – but I don't think anybody's going to be too upset about that.

Loved
Easy Beat Down: Thanks to developer Game Arts experience on the Smash Bros. series, it's pretty easy for any Brawl fan to scoop up Smash-Up and start kicking butt. There are some minor tweaks to the GameCube/Classic Controller control schemes and a bit of an overhaul to the Wiimote scheme (to add more motion controls), but it really does feel just like Smash Bros. once you adjust to the item-throwing system and the jump controls.

Awesome Cut Scenes: My favorite part about fighting games is unlocking new cinema scenes after blitzing through a single character's story mode. Smash-Up obliges me with homage to the Turtles' origins in pen-and-ink comic book style cut scenes that look just like the original comics. That made me worried at first because I thought they'd just re-use the same ending sequence for all the Turtles, but so far every character I've played has a different ending. Whew.

Environmental Hazards: The stages in Smash-Up aren't static environments. They have collapsing platforms, destructible obstacles and usually some sort of environmental hazard (like beehives or crocodiles). Rather than being an annoyance, the random chance of death-by-crocodile can make for an interesting multiplayer match. It also livens up arcade mode quite a bit.

Hated
Not As Good As Smash Bros.: It's almost unfair to compare Smash-Up to Smash Bros., but you just can't help it. Aside from having a developer and most of the control scheme in common, the sheer notion of mashing together all that is Ninja Turtle into one game smacks of the same decision making behind cramming all of Nintendo's beloved characters into Brawl. Once you've started down the path of comparing the two games to each other, it starts looking really bad for Smash-Up because it just can't match Smash Bros. in terms of unlockables, mini-games and charm. Really, the only thing Smash-Up has on Smash Bros. is fully voiced cut scenes and that ain't saying much.

Slow Unlock Rate: You start the game off with a bland selection of characters, but you just know you're going to unlock so many more based on who you encounter in story mode and who's on the box art. However, after playing and replaying story mode and sinking a lot of love into multiplayer and mini-games, I still hadn't unlocked more than a trailer and a few alternate character costumes. This means either I'm playing the game wrong (which is weird, because there's only so many ways to play a fighting game), or that the game is too stingy with unlockable content.

GET UP! It takes forever to get your character up off the ground once they've been knocked down. You can mash the attack button, press up on the analog stick to jump or just swear incoherently at your screen. But they'll still just lie there like they've got all the time in the world for a nap while the AI character keeps kicking them.

Despite its faults, Smash-Up is a perfectly good way to pass an afternoon with friends who remember what the Turtles were in our youth. It might even be a good game for kids because it's not a difficult game to play. But while Smash-Up brings a bit of nostalgia and doesn't build any walls between generations of Ninja Turtles fans, it also doesn't really do much else. Besides make me want to go watch the live action movie and order a pizza.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up was developed by Game Arts and published by Ubisoft for the Wii and PlayStation 2 on September 22. The Wii version goes for $49.99 USD and the PS2 version goes for $29.99. Played all game modes in both single and multiplayer modes.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Nintendo is the principal investor, owning up to 72 percent of the company.

The company is hard at work at a game, but it's not another Smash Bros. title. Sakurai added, "I can promise an experience that's different from anything [you've played] up until now."

Project Sora's website gives a straightforward tour of its new office in a brand new building, located in Tokyo's Iidabashi. The purpose of the site is primarily to attract new talent, but it does give a peak behind the curtain: there are game consoles, desks, a video conferencing to communicate with Nintendo, computers running 3D Maya software and a cactus.

About that new game, the site says, "It's a secret! It's totally a secret!!"

Office Tour [Project Sora]

To that end, there will allegedly be different characters from the new kids TV show, the old kids TV show, the comic books and possibly even from the other video games. Unfortunately, Ubisoft is saving most of its announcements about TMNT's stage and character lineup for San Diego Comic Con later this month, but from what few characters were available, it looks like the April O'Neil they're working with is the anorexic-looking chick from the new show. Alas.

What Is It?
TMNT Smash-Up is a brawler in the same class as Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It even looks like Brawl probably due to the fact that the developer, Game Arts, did preliminary development on Brawl for Nintendo. Gameplay is a straight-up smackdown between for playable characters in various stages with environmental hazards like man (or turtle) eating crocodiles.

What We Saw
UbiNintendo's schedule was running a little bit behind, so journalists only got about 20 minutes of hands-on time with the brawl mode. The build we were on only had four selectable stages and just seven characters (although an additional two were announced at E3 and more are still to be announced at Comic Con, we're told).

How Far Along Is It?
Not very, based on what stages and which characters were available. The game is due out September 22, 2009.

What Needs Improvement?
My Thumbs For A GameCube Controller: Currently is only demoing two control schemes – a Nunchuck/Wiimote setup and a sideways Wiimote setup. Because this is a fast-paced brawler where you have to tap twice on the D-pad to dash, that second control scheme is absolute murder on your thumbs. I asked if the GameCube controller would be an option and was given a definite yes. Although, the associate producer did tell me that Game Arts is aware of Smash Bros. fans' preference for the GameCube controller.

I'm Uneasy About Motion Controls: I noticed a mechanic where if a player's grab was broken or they took a bad hit, they'd get dizzy and an icon would encourage the player to shake the Wii Remote to restore them. This was hard to accomplish with the sideways setup because you had to turn the controller around in your hand to a normal Wiimote position to shake – and it was border-lining on the tacked-on feel many Wii games give into when integrating motion controls. Again, the associate producer says the developer is aware of the revulsion many gamers have to waggle-fests.

Ugh. April: I'm sorry, but I just don't like this version of longtime turtles ally April O'Neil. Her character model isn't very attractive and the yellow ninja outfit she's sporting is even more of an eyesore than the yellow 80s jumpsuit she wore in the cartoon of my childhood. Bring back the raincoat-wearing, jean-sporting April from the comics; she was cool. And a computer hacker!

What Should Stay The Same?
Yay For Brawling! I rather liked the fighting styles of most of the characters and the controls were easy to figure out by virtue of knowing Smash Bros. inside and out. Donatello had a good range with his bo staff and Raphael had speedy combos with his sai; the special ninja attacks were easy to trigger even with the sideways Wiimote setup and the grab system allows for players to break free and inflict dizziness on the jerk who grabbed them.

Detailed Environments: One of the cityscape stages maybe a little bit too much like something out of Smash Bros. (think Earthbound levels), but I could tell the sewer and jungle levels were all turtle. Each environment was interactive in some way – like the jungle level, you can destroy the hanging platforms that would normally protect players from crocodile attacks – and it looks like some stages will have multiple parts.

Final Thoughts
It's early days yet, so I'm not really sure how I feel about TMNT Smash-Up. On the one hand, I'm glad to have another Wii brawler, especially one developed by the guys who had a hand in Brawl. But on the other hand, I don't really watch the new cartoon and I haven't seen enough homage done to other parts of the Ninja Turtle franchise for me to justify buying it. Guess I'll just have to wait and see what turns up at Comic Con.

(The following stats are pulled from the usage data shared by more than two million Wii users through the system's Nintendo Channel. For more information about how we calculate these total playtimes, check out this week's earlier Wii stats post)

Average Per-Gamer Playing Time For Nintendo's First-Party Wii Games (as of July 1)
(Release Dates in Parentheses)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (March 2008) — 68 hours, 51 minutes
Animal Crossing: City Folk (November 2008) — 54 hours, 16 minutes
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn (November 2007) – 46 hours, 40 minutes
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (November 2006) — 46 hours, 9 minutes
Wii Sports (November 2006) — 35 hours, 47 minutes
Mario Kart Wii (April 2008) – 31 hours, 40 minutes
Super Mario Galaxy (November 2007) — 27 hours, 37 minutes
Super Paper Mario (April 2007) — 24 hours, 13 minutes
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (August 2007) 21 hours, 37 minutes
Mario Party 8 (May 2007) — 20 hours, 39 minutes
Pokemon Battle Revolution (June 2007) — 20 hours, 2 minutes
Wii Fit (May 2008) — 18 hours, 18 minutes
Mario Super Sluggers (August 2008) — 17 hours, 39 minutes
Excite Truck – (November 2006) 12 hours, 39 minutes
Battalion Wars 2 (October 2007) — 12 hours, 23 minutes
WarioWare: Smooth Moves (January 2007) — 11 hours, 39 minutes
Excitebots: Trick Racing (April 2009) – 10 hours 56 minutes
Wii Play (February 2007) — 10 hours, 7 minutes
New Play Control! Pikmin (March 2009) – 9 hours, 44 minutes
Endless Ocean (January 2008) — 9 hours, 41 minutes
Wii Music (October 2008) — 9 hours, 17 minutes
Wario Land: Shake It! (September 2008) — 8 hours, 47 minutes
Punch-Out!! (May 2009) – 7 hours, 55 minutes
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (June 2007) — 6 hours, 56 minutes
Mario Strikers Charged (July 2007) — 6 hours, 18 minutes
New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis (March 2009) – 6 hours, 14 minutes
Link's Crossbow Training (November 2007) - 4 hours, 55 minutes
Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast (October 2007) — 4 hours, 41 minutes
New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (May 2009) – No Data Listed

As of June 30th, 2009, the current service that accepts user-generated snapshots, stage designs, and replay data will no longer be available. Please note, however, that we will continue to distribute such data after that date.

An explanation as to why Nintendo decided to end this service was not provided.

Smash Bros. DOJO! [Official Site Thanks, Steven!]

On January 22 of this year, Sakurai's company Sora Ltd., a first party Nintendo developer, created a new company with Nintendo called Project Sora. Sakurai is serving as director for this new project.

Nintendo is the principal investor, owning up to 72 percent of the company.

About this project the new company is working on, Satoru Iwata assured that it's not another Smash Bros. game, saying, "It's not Smash Bros. I asked for." Sakurai added, "I can promise an experience that's different from anything [you've played] up until now."

Project Sora currently has 30 employees and is currently looking for "talented individuals."

Project Sora [Official Site]

All it takes to throw a party centered on the greatest thing in entertainment since Pictionary is a bit of effort and a little planning.

Before The Party:

Day Before – Pick out what games to play. Ideally, you’ve got one game in mind, but it’s considerate to have a back-up or two that people can vote on. Keep the selection limited to three – a fighting game, a racing game, or maybe a shooter – so you don’t spend half an hour arguing over your sizable selection.
Do: Pick a single-player game if 1) you’re willing to pass the controller and 2) can put up with backseat gaming from your guests.
Don’t: Make people watch you play a single-player game in silence.
We Recommend: Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Dead Space, Tales of Vesperia, Gears of War 2

Above: Ico is a strangely good game to play with people, as long as you can stand backseat gaming. Bully, not so much - and you can forget Fable II. That multiplayer camera is murder on the eyes.

Night Before – Buy (or make) the refreshments. Trips to the grocery store always wind up taking longer than you think. It’s better to get it out of the way early than to have to postpone party start-time because you’re held up at BevMo.
Do: Serve things that can be eaten quickly with one hand – usually during a loading screen (pizza rolls, hard candies, gamer grub).
Don’t: Serve anything that will leave stains on your controllers or splooge all over the floor (Cheetos, pizza, mochi ice cream balls).
We Recommend: Sushi, M&Ms, corndogs

Morning of – Clean both the bathroom and the space you’re using for the party. That means restocking toilet paper and (gasp!) vacuuming carpets. This seems like common sense, but I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve gone to a party and had to clean off a couch before I could sit down. Or worse – got a gummy bear stuck to my sock because somebody hadn’t cleaned the floor.
Do: Get yourself some baskets or plastic bins or whatever for easy storage.
Don’t: Forget the bathroom. I was at a party where a guest came back from the john and asked, “Do you guys have a cat?” The host said no, and the guest replied: “So… all that hair on the floor in there is yours?!” Gross.
We Recommend: Angel Soft toilet paper, Dirt Devil dust buster, shoving magazines under your bed

Hour Before – Make sure all your gaming equipment is laid out and ready to roll. Untangle controllers, plug in whatever needs to be plugged in and test the sound and video. Nothing is more of a drag than watching the host fiddle with his component cables for twenty minutes or finding out your controller needs to be charged up for an hour before you can join in. And if for some reason you’re using a peripheral like the Xbox Live Vision Camera or the PlayStation Eye, test it before the guests get there.
Do: Put controllers on the coffee table.
Don’t: Put controllers on the floor – thing get stepped on and broken. And it looks messy, too.
We Recommend: Zip ties for keeping cords untangled, swearing at the TV before realizing it’s not plugged in

Ten Minutes To Go – Boot up the console and break out the snacks. The idea is to have everything ready to use as soon as people get there instead of having to spend 20 minutes or more "getting settled," while everyone waits.
Do: Put food in a central location instead of a corner or back in the kitchen.
Don’t: Put food on consoles.
We Recommend: Plastic bowls and cups for serving. Keep a sharpie handy to write names on the cups.

At the Party:

Mind Your Guests – These are basic rules of party-throwing. Get up and greet everybody that comes through the door (don’t just sit back in your beanbag and shout “Hi!”), make sure everybody’s got a drink to start with and introduce people who don’t know each other.
Do: Hand people controllers until you run out.
Don’t: Play loud music.

Keep the Drinks Coming – You should have fun at your own party, but as the host your first concern is your guests. If you notice someone with an empty can or cup, offer to get them a refill. If they don't want a refill, scoop it up anyway and toss in the trash. It’ll save you clean-up time later.
Do: Have a spare two-liter ready to open when the first few run dry (or go flat).
Don’t: Fix people plates of food. It’s a time-waster for you, and they can do it themselves.

Handle Problem Guests Sooner Rather Than Later – I’m assuming you’ve exclusively invited cool people gamers to this party; but if you didn’t or somebody’s brought along their non-gamer girlfriend, try to be nice. Smile, introduce the interloper newcomer to everybody and ask them what they like to do for fun. Then make sure they sit next to whoever brought them so they have somebody to talk/complain to.
If you have one of “those guys” at your party– the guy who hogs the controller, doesn’t understand how to lose (or win) graciously and sulks if he gets out-voted on what game to play – make sure you keep him distracted so he doesn’t piss off other guests. Talk to him about how his life is going, ask for his help in the kitchen (even if you’re just going in there for ice), or engage him on a rant about the latest game review he disagreed with.
Do: Make it a point to talk to everybody.
Don’t: Secretly hope that this will be the one day “that guy” doesn’t whip your ass in Halo and then do a victory dance around the living room. Because he will, and you invited him – so in a way, you’re just asking for it.

Left: Of the many gamer parties I've thrown since the Wii came out, I don't think I've ever seen anybody get up and do this. Maybe I need to invite more models.

Have Cleaning Supplies on Standby – Spills happen, controllers might get Cheeto’d, or maybe you picked a snack that exploded down the front of your friend’s shirt. Whatever happens, be ready to apply cleaning fluids to the site of the mess and don’t make whoever’s responsible feel bad. Unless they upended an entire two liter on top of your PS3 – then you can punch them in the face.
Do: Stock up on club soda and carpet cleaner stuff like Resolve.
Don’t: Wipe at stains with paper towels; you’re supposed to dab.

Be Ready to Improvise – So you’re all having a great time beating each other down in Brawl, but Johnny Buzzkill over in the corner is whining that it’s getting boring. It’s too soon to end the party – and everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves – but Buzzkill won’t quiet down. As the gracious and most awesome host, you’ve got to do something. You could kick him out, but it’d be better to switch things up a bit with the game by making special rules or looking up drinking games on the Internet.
Do: Try what people suggest, even if it sounds dumb. You might have more fun than you think.
Don’t: Say “That’s dumb,” and then stubbornly not do anything. That makes you look like an ass.

After the Party:

Left: Put games back in their boxes or at least in a CD jacket.

Ask Your Guests to Pitch In – Gamers (usually) aren’t New York socialites. That means it’s completely okay to ask that they throw out their trash before heading out. Just be a good sport and hold open a giant trash bag for them instead of making them schlep to the kitchen. Don’t ask them to do dishes, but don’t stop them if they offer.

Clear the Controllers from the Carnage – Before you try to vacuum the carpet or wipe down the table, get those controllers out of harm’s way. Unplug them from the console and wind up the cord for easy storage on a shelf while you go about cleaning. This goes double for that super-long Wii Sensor Bar cable – that thing is drawn to dust busters like a moth to a flame.

Wipe Down the Controllers – It’s a known fact that gamers are plague monkeys. To save yourself from a cold or any other touch-transmittable disease, wipe down the controllers with something antiseptic and not too moist. Do not do this while your guests are still around.

Other Advice From AJ’s A-Listers:

Crystal: Don’t be afraid to kick people out at the end of the night. After all, it’s still your party.

Andrew: If you’re doing a Rock Band party, let the singer pick the songs and switch instruments once in a while to keep things interesting. Don’t make fun of people who pick a lower difficulty. One time we were playing Panic Attack and this girl was playing bass on Medium while the rest of us did Expert. She saved the band like five times.

Teresa: If you're in a dorm, don't be afraid to let newcomers join, no matter how inexperienced and/or drunk they may be. There are few things more amusing than watching drunk people play DDR. (Just be careful that none of them overindulge and release bodily fluids near anything but a toilet. Ew.)

Brian: If some of your guests want to hang out over by the food instead of gaming, don’t cut them off. They’ll come around and jump back in when they feel like it.

Michelle: Drunk Katamary Damacy is basically, like, the best thing ever.

Supposedly, the team tasked with creating this 2.5D brawler is comprised of former Team Ninja staffers and folks who worked on Super Smash Bros. Brawl. GoNintendo is reporting that the Wii-bound fighter is scheduled for a late 2009 release and will feature online play said to outperform Brawl.

An Ubisoft rep is quoted as saying that the game, while licensed, is not directly tied to a movie or television show, but will be a standalone effort. Our interest in the turtles couldn't be much lower, as a grown man, but given the pedigree of the developers, we'll say "Go, ex-Team Ninja, go!"

New TMNT Game - More Details [GoNintendo]

The Mushroom Kingdom isn't what it used to be, indeed. Mario and Luigi are hard up for coins. The Lakitu-run media is questioning the Kingdom's leadership. Toads are turning to hustling and prostitution. Even the Ice Climbers are little more than thugs for hire. That's the backdrop of the newly launched web series There Will Be Brawl, a dark and dingy look at the story behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The first episode, "Twilight Ruin," is available for those mature enough to watch. We liked the production values and the last minute guest appearance, even if we don't have the patience for 12 minutes of this stuff.

There Will Be Brawl [Official Site - thanks, James!]

We also love our sequels. The only new properties to crack the top five on each of the big three platforms are Army of Two, Wii Play and Wii Fit.

Another fact that will likely not blow your hair back are the best sellers on the Nintendo Wii side of things. Four of the console's best sellers are published by Nintendo and four feature strong peripheral tie-ins. Consider us nonplussed!

2008's Top-Selling Games So Far: How They Stack Up [Gamasutra]

That is probably a question better suited for Nintendo than for Capcom. If they were to ask, I see no reason to say no. We'll see what happens.

Does that mean Nintendo didn't ask? If so, why didn't it? Questions, questions, questions. There's more questions over at the official Capcom Blog. Answers, too. Read them if you like.

Inafune-san Answers Your Questions! [Capcom]

EVO2k [Official Site]

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!]

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!]

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 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.

Nintendo explains Euro Brawl wait [CVG]