Smash Bros. DOJO!! updates

In 2007 up to the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. Dojo!!, the website dedicated to information about the game and hosted by the game's chief developer Masahiro Sakurai, underwent a redesign and proceeded to show pieces of new information about the game at a rate of once every weekday. Each update provided by Sakurai to the site is reworded and reposted here.

List of updates

This list of updates covers all updates posted from August 13 to the present; for updates posted from May 22 to August 10, see Smash Bros. DOJO!! updates (archive).

• August 13: "Pokémon Trainer" [1]: Perhaps the most unique new character yet revealed; A generic Pokémon Trainer is a playable fighter, but instead of brawling with his own moves he (visually along with the player) remotely controls one of three Pokémon fighters: Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard.
• August 13: "Pokémon Change" [2]: This subsequent update describes Pokémon Trainer's Down-B move: The Pokémon Change, which from a gameplay standpoint is identical to the Zelda-Sheik transformation. Pokémon Trainer as a playable character entity is a Zelda/Sheik-style alternating character with three forms instead of two, and they switch between each other using the same down-B move; as such, they all share the same damage meter. Visually, during battle the human trainer stands in the background and does not influence the action, while the player controls one of his three available Pokémon as standard Smash fighters. The weaker Squirtle is playable first, and at any time the player may commence the Pokémon change to replace Squirtle with Ivysaur. Likewise, anytime afterwards the Pokémon Change move will become Charizard, and the process cycles through back to Squirtle. Each one of these fighters are expected to have their own standard and special move arsenals. What would influence the player's decision to which Pokémon fighter is chosen is a stamina meter of sorts, which discourages switching that is either over-eager or over-prolonged.

• August 14: "Devil" [3]: The next Assist Trophy character revealed is the Devil enemy character from the NES game Devil World, the game where Melee's famous Tamagon trophy came from. This character causes the stage's camera and KO boundaries to shift off to the side so that it appears the stage itself appears to drift off to the other side, and characters foolish enough to stay put in the same spot will end up KO'ing themselves.

• August 15: "Stickers" [4]: A new collection element to the game is introduced: Stickers which players can collect and put into their albums in their save files, like the trophies of the previous game. Stickers can be collected off the battlefield in the various game modes and feature pictures of all manner characters and elements in the game, and players can save screenshots and put them in their albums along with the stickers they collect.

• August 16: "Tether Recovery" [5]: This Tether Recovery update basically explains that, similar to Link's Hookshot in Melee, some character's moves can function as tether-style recovery moves, remotely latching onto the ledge of a stage to save oneself from a fall. The Plasma Whip Up-B move of Zero Suit Samus is confirmed to be one such move.

• August 17: "Peach" [6]: Peach is given her official character profile as a Veteran Fighter. While visually revamped, Peach appears to fight the same way she does in her Melee appearance, including her floating jumps and her Toad B-move, though in one shot she is seen holding her parasol while standing on the ground.

• August 20: "Link: Special Moves" [7]: All four of Link's special moves are described, as well as his grab; they are similar but modified versions of the Melee Link's moves to correspond with the Twilight Princess theme. The Bow is now the Hero's Bow, which is mentioned as fast, but it is unknown if this means it's even faster than the Bow; the Boomerang is now the Gale Boomerang from the game, which has wind-based powers that can lightly pull the bodies of foes it hits and comes back from; The Bomb appears unchanged from a gameplay perspective; and the Spin Attack is chargeable, making it the first chargeable Up-B. His Hookshot is also now the game's Clawshot, which flies to the closest ledge if Link is falling off the stage and uses it, making it much more practical and is based on the Tether Recovery mechanic.

• August 21: "The Subspace Army" [8]: More of the "story" of the Subspace Emissary mode is described in detail, complete with a new 47-second clip. The mode pits characters against a force of "formless" enemies belonging to the Subspace Army, commanded by a new character called The Ancient Minister, and the generic robotic grunts seen in previous Adventure Mode updates are called the Primid. The Army's objective is to cut apart the world by detonating Subspace Bombs (operated by R.O.B.s) that destroy portions of the world and carry it into Subspace. It is up to the Smash Bros. fighters to stop the menace. The video itself continues where the previous mini-trailer left off, introducing the above characters and properties, as well as a surprise appearance by Petey Piranha.

• August 22: "Diddy Kong" [9]: Barely a week after the last Newcomer profile, Diddy Kong is revealed to be playable for the first time in Brawl. According to Sakurai, he moves in a unique way, and he brings some of his inventions from Donkey Kong 64 to the fray with him, in the form of his Rocketbarrel Boost jetpack and his Peanut Gun.

• August 23: "Animal Crossing: Go K.K. Rider!" [10]: The music for Smashville is posted as the next music update. Among normally serene Animal Crossing music, this is more appropriate for a fighting game, as Sakurai jokes.
• August 23: "Yoshi: Final Smash" [11]: In this simultaneous yet unrelated update, Yoshi's Final Smash is revealed as the Super Dragon: He sprouts white bird-like wings and is able to fly around spewing fire for a brief period of time, during which the stream of fire can be interrupted by a stronger fireball projectile from Yoshi by pressing a button.

• August 24: "Petey Piranha" [12]: This clarifies Petey Piranha's role in the Subspace Emissary mode as the first boss character that must be fought, and most likely indicates that he is not a playable character. When fought, Petey will be either holding or attacking the cages of Peach and Zelda, and the player's character will end up saving one princess over the other by causing one cage to ultimately break before the other. What happens to the princess rescued and the one that is not, from both story and gameplay perspectives, remains to be seen.

• August 27: "Superspicy Curry" [13]: The ninth item revealed by DOJO!! and classified in its Normal Items division is the Superspicy Curry, a plate of extremely hot food. Characters can pick it up to eat it in battle and cause them to automatically spit out fireballs and perform other fire-related moves for a period of time. It's a positive effect.

• August 28: "Andross" [14]: This Assist Trophy character is the first incarnation of Andross as it was seen in the original SNES Star Fox. His method of attack is straightforward; he will appear, go into the background, inhale, and exhale a storm of white panels from his mouth in an attack similar to Lugia from Melee.
• August 28: "Four Special Move Types" [15]: This is the second week in a row where a second update is posted alongside the first yet is unrelated to it. This explains as part of the basic gameplay of Smash Bros. Brawl the four different types of special moves all characters have, and to demonstrate the update reveals all four of Meta Knight's Special moves: The Mach Tornado neutral B, the Triple Dash smash B, the Shuttle Loop Up B, and the Dimensional Cape down B previously seen in the first trailer.

• Pokémon Trainer: Special Moves" [16]: Reveals two more special moves for each of the playable Pokémon belonging to the Pokémon Trainer, in effect revealing six new special moves, all named after attacks these Pokemon use in the actual Pokemon RPGs: Squirtle's Up B is Waterfall and its Forward B is Withdraw. Ivysaur's Neutral B is Bullet Seed and its Up B is Vine Whip. Charizard's Neutral B is Flamethrower and its Forward B is Rock Smash. Taking this together with the Pokemons' shared Down B move revealed previously, the Pokémon change, only Squirtle's Neutral B, Ivysaur's Forward B, and Charizard's Up B remain unrevealed.

• Gliding [17]: Establishes the Gliding ability seen on Meta Knight as a class of midair jump held by any character with wings, including Pit and Charizard. The Glide can be achieved by holding down A when doing a midair jump, or by rapidly tilting the Control Stick backward to forward to link the peak of the midair jump to a glide, and the gliding direction can be influenced mid-flight with the Control Stick as well.