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.

TWBB Website

Watch all of the TWBB episodes on EscapistMagazine.com