Brawl is a difficult game to review because it exists in two different worlds. To the hardcore Nintendo fan, it is the epitome of all that is right with gaming. By bringing out all your favorite characters of the past 20+ years coming together to duke it out in a variety of creative and nostalgic levels, Nintendo has given its fans everything they could ever want and more. To the casual gamer, however, Smash is little more than a frantic fighter, with a bunch of random characters thrown together in cartoonish landscapes. These gamers can never understand why a little pink ball of fluff seems to be more powerful than a full-size gorilla, and they have no idea why the idea of Mario, Link, Pickachu, and Samus all facing off is such a tantalizing experience. At the end of the day, Nintendo has decided to pull out all the stops to make a game diehard fans are sure to love, and they manage to succeed in nearly every respect.

For the uninitiated, Brawl serves as the quintessential 2-D fighter. Up to four characters face off on a single stage, with the objective being to dish out enough damage that you are able to knock your foes off the screen and out of the fight. If it sounds like a simple premise, that’s because it absolutely is. There are no complicated moves to memorize, no lengthy combos to practice, and no secret moves to conjure. All combat is dictated by the control stick (or pad) and two buttons, made to welcome newcomers, while giving veterans the opportunity to experiment until they can find the perfect strategy with their favorite characters. A word to the wise: you are best served playing the game with either a Gamecube controller or the Classic controller in order to get the full Brawl experience. The game supports all control styles, but these two offer the most robust combat with minimal finger twisting. The Wiimote/Nunchuck combo is also a viable alternative, but stay away from using the Wiimote alone, as the game becomes nearly unplayable.

In what can only be described as fanboy nirvana, Nintendo has expanded the roster to include 35 brawlers from across the gaming universe. Series mainstays like Kirby, Jigglypuff, and Mario remain, and they are joined by newcomers such as Pit of Kid Icarus fame and Marth from the Fire Emblem series. Also rounding out the cast are Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake, two non-Nintendo mascots who make appearances nonetheless. It seems as though the inclusion of these two heralds an exciting future for the franchise, and gamers everywhere can begin salivating as the wonder what would happen if other favorites such as Master Chief or Ratchet and Clank were thrown into the mix.

Nearly as important as who will fight is where the beatdowns will take place. Brawl gives you opportunity to choose your arena by offering 40 different stages in which to do battle. While some are simple, fairly inactive areas, others are quite lively due to environmental hazards or benefits depending on where you happen to be standing. The constant fluctuations give the stages so much more life than most fighters and really make the whole experience feel more organic. Truly, the variety of stages and multitude of fighters mean that in all the time you spend with Brawl you’ll likely never play the same game twice.

Oh, and you will be spending a lot of time with this game, make no mistake about that. Brawl is first and foremost a multiplayer affair, whose bread and butter is getting a roomful of friends to sit down and duke it out (digitally, of course). In addition to the standard moveset, you can still snatch up items that litter the stage to use against opponents, as well as assist trophies that call out particular characters to come to your aid during battle. New this time around is the Final Smash, an attack which allows whoever possesses it to unleash carnage so massive that it borders on unfair. The Final Smash attacks, when successful, nearly guarantees a KO and can change the complexion of the battle in an instant. No doubt numerous friendships will be ruined and controllers flung due to a well-placed Final Smash that cost the current match leader that seemingly assured victory.