In 1999, Nintendo released Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. It was a 4-player fighting/party game featuring some of Nintendo’s most popular characters. What made it so great was that it took the worlds from many of Nintendo’s games and merged them into one. Any fan of the Big N’s games was sure to love SSB. The game went over so well, that it spawned a Gamecube sequel in 2001. Super Smash Bros. Melee took everything that made the N64 game great and made it even better! It wasn’t just a fighter anymore. It had an adventure mode and many different events; not to mention even more characters to choose from. Melee wasn’t just a game, it was a Nintendo museum. You could collect hundreds of trophies of characters and items from countless Nintendo games and read about their backgrounds and the games they appeared in. Super Smash Bros. started out as just a simple game honoring Nintendo’s most beloved franchises. But upon the release of Melee, it became a brand new franchise of its own.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released in 2008 for the Nintendo Wii. Brawl featured characters from not only Nintendo’s games but also Konami and Sega. This made it the strongest contender out of all the Super Smash Bros. games. Brawl drastically improved upon Melee’s subpar Adventure Mode and brought us Subspace Emissary. This new adventure includes a story that is told through cut scenes in between levels. The scenes are fantastic and are done with character actions rather than dialog. Even so, there still isn’t much to the story.
Not long after Brawl’s release, Zach Grafton and Matthew Mercer developed a story of their own based on the game. This story would be known as “There Will Be Brawl.” Although it is fan-made, it has some very nice production value. You can really tell that the makers of this series are huge fans of Nintendo. And after seeing this series, I have become a fan of them. I’m going to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible. TWBB is much more enjoyable if you go into it not knowing what to expect.
Story
The story is very well written and it actually held my attention from start to finish. The series starts out with Luigi walking down the dark city streets of the Mushroom Kingdom. Right away, you realize it’s not the bright and happy place from the games. Episode 1 begins with Luigi (played by Matt Key) talking about how much the Mushroom Kingdom has changed. He mentions gang violence, depredation, abductions, and how they seem to be normal things anymore. The Mushroom Kingdom has indeed become a rundown slum.
Kirby is in jail for a series of killings that took place around the time things started to fall apart. And of course, he’s a cannibal that wears his victims’ skin. This story is not only tribute to Nintendo, but a homage to Silence of the Lambs. The kingdom is overpopulated and evil is running rampant. The big bosses of the games are precisely that in this series, bosses. Mafia bosses to be exact. The heroes we once knew have now become just normal people trying to survive in a doomed world. Basically, all of the other nations in the world (other game locales) have fallen and their residents migrated to the Mushroom Kingdom. With a new killer on the loose and crime syndicates on the rise, it’s time for them all to rise up and become the heroes they once were. The story follows Luigi, who has developed a brave new personality after the death of Daisy. All of the characters have different personalities than we have seen before. And it’s very refreshing to see them in this new way.
Costumes
The costume designs are excellent for a fan-made series. There are a few characters with subpar costumes such as Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong; but after seeing some of the others, you can’t help but think it was done that way on purpose. The more prominent characters in the story are the ones with the best costumes. Bowser’s costume completely blew me away. And he is only in one scene, although he is a large part of the story. They paid a lot of attention to detail. That makes me appreciate this series even more. The Mario brothers have large noses and the Hylians have pointy ears.
Cast
The acting in TWBB is on par with a Hollywood film. Matt Mercer, who is the series’ co-creator and plays Gonaondorf, Kirby, and Metaknight has done voice acting for many video games. Wario is played by Kyle Hebert, who is known for being the narrator of Dragon Ball Z and voice of Gohan as well as many other voice acting roles in anime and video games. Jeff Lewis, who places Vork in the award winning webseries, The Guild plays Waluigi. Palmer Scott, who plays Olimar (AKA End of Days) has had roles in TV shows such as Frasier, Nip/Tuck, and most recently played the Sit on You Guy in Adult Swim’s Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! All of the cast are amazing and you may have seen (or heard) many of them before in commercials, magazines, TV and even movies. It’s needless to say; TWBB’s cast is sure to be seen much more in the future.
Bonuses
There Will Be Brawl features a variety of Easter eggs; and the more you know about different Nintendo games, the more you’ll enjoy this series. The Lakitu news anchor (played by Jordon Krain) to the Phantos coming up behind Luigi as he unlocks his apartment door will be something any Mario fan can appreciate. If you’ve ever watched the old Zelda cartoon, you’ll laugh when Link (Tony Rago) tells Zelda (JoEllen Elam) “Excuuuse me, Princess.” Even popular internet memes are thrown in, like when Lil’ Mac’s bike gets stolen. There are a lot more than that, but it’s more fun if you try and spot them yourself.
With comedy, drama, mystery, suspense, sex appeal, homosexuality, and even blood & gore, There Will Be Brawl has something for everyone. It will put a smile on your face one minute and a tear in your eye the next. If you love Nintendo or just want to watch a good web series, I highly recommend checking out this amazing production.
My final rating is only against other fan-made materials. So keeping that in mind…
I give There Will Be Brawl a 10 on the Zippy Scale.
Watch all of the TWBB episodes on EscapistMagazine.com
January 16, 2010
#1
The Zippy Scale is priceless. Will it use decimals or stay with whole numbers?
January 16, 2010
#2
We’re gonna stick with whole numbers.
January 16, 2010
#3
I’m glad you like it. I was worried that we might be pushing the whole “Zipper” gimmick. Zippy implicates being active. But I couldn’t resist a few zippers for the graphics. Hopefully everyone remembers, we are called Zippy Gamer and not Zipper Gamer. haha
January 16, 2010
#4
I completely agree with the review, an excellent series and it’s no surprise to see the 10/10 rating. Good job!
January 17, 2010
#5
I’m a huge fan of TWBB myself, but I still wouldn’t call the series perfect (which 10/10 implies). A VERY strong 9/10 would be my score, but I still believe some things could have been made better had they had the time to do so, or some scenes lengthened to give it a better flow. Overall a very nice review, though some people might not like a few of the things you mentioned as they may spoil their experiences somewhat. (like how Bowser is only in one scene, kinda gives it away, no?
)
January 17, 2010
#6
I see what you mean. The article would have been fine without that part. But mentioned that he’s only in one scene isn’t to much of a spoiler because just seeing how well done his costume was makes that seem very small.
January 17, 2010
#7
Very nice review and great site overall. It was neat how they got Kyle Hebert to play Wario(I’m a big DBZ fan). Also funny to see Palmer Scott from Tim and Eric’s Awesome show, Great Job! Also, the chick who played Samus was hot.
Very well done series, with a surprising end.
Keep up the good work guys!
January 17, 2010
#8
Thanks ToadKart! Whoever did the casting for the series did a really good job.
January 18, 2010
#9
Awesome review, really does TWBB justice. Keep up the great work guys.
January 21, 2010
#10
I think this webseries was amazing:D
I will also give it a 10/10.
January 25, 2010
#11
wow great review joseppi i think you’ve given people a good idea of what the show is like without giving too much away, a difficult task indeed =)
January 25, 2010
#12
Thanks DarkFalco! It’s just so good that you want to tell everything. I had to hold back quite a bit. lol
April 5, 2010
#13
The reviewer needed to be a little more specific on what makes this good. I was uncommitted until Ganondorf was introduced, then I really got into it. Now it could be said that co-creator Matt Mercer saved the best lines for himself, but Ganondorf was a complete bas@$$ in this episode, and throughout the series. I was also impressed by the other two “Don” in the series; King Dedede and Bowser. K. D. was done in a very Pacino-esque voice that fit the character’s acting very well; and Bowser was also fascinating and well acted.
Other performances that were good Olimar, who was VERY creepy and was very convincing as a madman, and Link grew on me as the series progressed. The actor’s acting improved as the series progressed.
I am indifferent about Samus and Wario. These two roles were played by two of the more veteran actors on the set, but didn’t wow me. The Samus role was underdeveloped, with “the hooker with a heart of gold” act with no explanation as to why. Kyle Hebert’s Wario was equally two-dimensional. I got the feeling they expanded his role to get the most use out of an well-known voice actor (to his credit, he does a lot of free work, which led me to the series to begin with). Having him repeat “you do what you have to in a world like this” got boring quick.
Only three performances I had a problem with. First, Kirby needed a deeper voice. They were going for creepy (and got it, don’t get me wrong) but he should have been more menacing (more of the Hannibal they were homaging). I found Star Fox, and his buddies, wierd euro-trash accents annoying after time. Lastly, someone was dating the actress who played Peach. Why they cast a brunette who had to wear a wig is completely beyond me. Her acting was slightly off too at times. In The Silence of the Kirby scene, her timing seemed very off (they were out of money at this point, so we will forgive the lack of retakes.)
So all in all I highly recommend this series to anyone who’s played the game and is over 18 (this is very Rated R, which no one seems to be pointing out) 9/10 and would be 10/10 if they had had the budget for better costuming (still was impressed with the Dons though.)
April 5, 2010
#14
Those are all valid points TheDread. Considering this was a low budget film, it was very well done. And it’s very hard to review something like this and not get into a comparison an actual Hollywood movie. But I do see where you’re coming from. Looking back, I wish I though of some of them when I wrote the review. heh
April 25, 2010
#15
I have to say I was disappointed with the webseries as a whole. I knew it would be R-rated, but I must still say that it could have used its devices better. There was entirely too much gore. Gore should be effectively managed to maximize impact. I was also disappointed with the ending, though I won’t share that here for obvious reasons.
The accents were pretty bad. It had some value, but I have to say as a fan that having my favorite Nintendo characters offed one-by-one is not my idea of an enjoyable viewing.
I thought it could have managed itself much better. The acting receives an 8 or a 9 out of 10 in my opinion. The storyline, however, disappoints, and actually doesn’t seem to follow itself from start to finish. Overall, this receives a 6 out of 10 in my opinion, though I think were I willing to give it a completely unbiased review, I’d give it an 8 as far as fanmade work goes. It was always a bonus to see Vork from the Guild in it.
I’m gonna go have nightmares now…