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.

• August 29: "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 Pokémon use in the actual Pokémon 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 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.

• August 30: "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 angle can be influenced mid-flight with the Control Stick as well.

• August 31: "WarioWare" [18]: The newest stage revealed is WarioWare, based off the eponymous Wario subseries. Screenshots and accompanying text show that it is a series of environments where you start off at a typical battle environment, and in rapid fashion you are temporarily transported to a different dimension thematically modeled off one of the microgames from the first WarioWare game.

• September 3: "Pit's Descent" [19]: Another trailer is released to continue the "story" set established by the previous two mini-trailers for the Subspace Emissary mode. The invasion of the Subspace Army has engulfed the world in chaos, so Pit is sent by Palutena to depart heaven for earth and embark on a journey.

• September 4: "Diddy Kong: Special Moves" [20]: Two of Diddy Kong's B moves are described, and both have rather complex functionality. His Neutral B is the Peanut Popgun which he whips out and shoots a peanut projectile with. Like the Super Scope, the Peanut Popgun can charge up for increased speed, but it will backfire and explode if overcharged. Occasionally the peanuts' insides will pop out upon impact and become tiny pieces of food for replenishing life. Diddy's Up B is the Rocketbarrel Boost, which acts pretty much as expected in the realm of a third jump. The jumping height of this move can be charged up, during which you can determine the direction Diddy will curve over to by pressing a direction. And while in flight, if Diddy is attacked, his rocketbarrels will detach and fly away randomly on their own, being potential projectiles in their own respect.

• September 5: "Meta Knight" [21]: Meta Knight is given his official profile at long last; Sakurai, curiously, specifically comments that his "introduction was delayed for some reason." Other than his updated character portrait, essentially no new content is revealed.

• September 6: "Pokémon Stadium 2" [22]: The Pokémon stage is officially identified as Pokémon Stadium 2, named after the console game of the same name as a follow-up to the previous name used for Melee, Pokémon Stadium. It functions very similar to the Melee stage, with four alternating stage layouts based on the Electric, Ground, Flying, and Ice elements, and Pokémon will appear in the background of each of these stage layouts, like Cubone and Dugtrio in the ground version. In this update, we learn that Sakurai is, in fact, incorporating 4th Generation Pokemon into Brawl. 4th Generation pokemon Drifloon can be seen in the far background of the Flying-Type variation of Pokémon Stadium 2.
• September 6: "Mario: Special Moves" [23]: Also provided as an update is a replacement of Mario's Down-B move: F.L.U.D.D., the water-based gizmo used in Super Mario Sunshine. Hold down Down B to make F.L.U.D.D. appear on Mario's back and charge it up with water, then when it lets loose as a water stream it inflicts damage-free knockback to targets. Mario's old Down-B move, the Mario Tornado, is described as now being one of Mario's normal attacks.

• September 7: "My Music" [24]: On this date, three separate music-related updates are posted simultaneously. This first one reveals a new option called My Music that now every stage has multiple available songs which the player can determine will play by preference, in effect revealing that this game will have much more and varied music than even Melee. Players can even add to the game's list of available music by collecting extremely valuable items called CDs that occasionally appear in battle like trophies and stickers would.
• September 7: "Pokémon: Pokémon Stadium/Evolution" [25]: The second update is a music file that is one confirmed stage music for Pokémon Stadium 2. It is an arrangement of the music heard when players enter Pokémon gyms in Pokémon RPGs, with the Pokémon Evolution theme heard at the end.
• September 7: "Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Main Theme" [26]: The third update is another music file that is the reposting of the previously revealed Super Smash Bros. Brawl main theme.

• September 10: "Munchlax" [27]: Munchlax becomes the first 4th Generation Pokémon to be officially confirmed by Sakurai as being present in the game. In this case, Munchlax is a Poké ball Pokémon, the first one seen in almost two months since the last Pokéball update. When Munchlax is summoned, it goes around the stage looking for items to eat. The example item used happens to be Lip's Stick, thus also confirming its return to Brawl.

• September 11: "Lyn" [28]: The next Assist Trophy to be revealed is Lyn, one of the stars of the first localized game in the Fire Emblem series, aptly titled Fire Emblem and the seventh actual game in the full series. Lyn uses her sword to deliver one devastating strike against an enemy character. The site specifically compares her function to that of Samurai Goroh.

• September 12: "Battleship Halberd" [29]: The stage featuring Meta Knight's airship is finally explained and named the Battleship Halberd well over a year after its first appearance in the first SSBB trailer. The hangar the stage starts out in floats on an ocean, and the battle platform will follow the Halberd as it departs into the sky, and the platform will eventually land on it. The stage will be in the firing range of a double-barreled battery with an arm, first seen in the SNES game Kirby Super Star as a boss, and both the cannons and the arm will assault characters in its way. The battleship itself, but not necessarily the stage, will play a very important role in the single-player Subspace Emissary mode.

• September 13: "Special Brawl" [30]: Reveals the Brawl counterpart to Melee's collection of Special Melees: The Special Brawl system, which is now far more flexibly structured so that you can apply any combination of the special circumstances any way you like, rather than being forced to choose only one special circumstance at a time between them. The name of the type of Brawl match that will play is altered as you select and deselect special aspects for the match. As a rather flamboyant example, the site demonstrates a "Stamina Mega Flower Curry Heavy Slow Angled Brawl": a Stamina-mode-style match where all the characters are permanently large, are inflicted with Lip's Stick flowers, and are under the influence of Superspicy Curry's effect, with the stage's gravity adjusted to high, the game's speed is adjusted to slow, and the camera is at a rigid angle. Many new doors for unusual gameplay are opened.

• September 14: "Ice Climbers" [31]: The famous pair of playable characters from Melee make their return in Brawl with similar but more realistic appearances. Not much is actually said about them other than what the screenshots show.

• September 17: "Golden Hammer" [32]: Reveals both the return of the old Hammer and a new, rarer, and stronger version called the Golden Hammer from the Mario universe. The Golden Hammer is stronger, swings faster, and a swinging character in midair can float if the player repeatedly taps A. Like the old hammer, the Golden Hammer has a malfunctioning mode as well; it's the Golden Squeaky Hammer, which apparently does far less damage and knockback, or possibly even none at all, accompanied by a comical squeaking noise whenever it makes contact with an enemy.

• September 18: "Wi-Fi Play" [33]: This update covers Brawl's situation with the Wi-Fi scene. It allows for two setups of online multiplay: With Friends, allowing you to play remotely with Friends registered in each others Wiis, and With Anyone, allowing you to play with anyone in the world. As a general rule, the gameplay feels slower if your connection with the other wii game is distantly located. The With Friends mode features enhanced content: Not only would you have your "names" on your characters displayed, but you can send in short in-game messages in the form of word bubbles by the characters ("Want more?"), and your name and online identity in the Brawl arena comes complete with an in-game icon you can choose yourself. The update also reveals that while you're waiting for a Wi-Fi match to start, you can kill time by having your character hit the Sandbag on the loading screen.

• September 19: "The Enemies from Subspace" [34]: This update reveals many distinctive classes of the generic enemies you fight in the Subspace Emissary mode. Among the "more powerful" ones are the Roader, Poppant, Bytan, Trowlon, Shaydas, Auroros, Greap, and The R.O.B. Squad, all with their own abilities and threat levels to the player's character.

• September 20: "Piplup" [35]: This update reveals that Piplup, the 4th generation water-type starter Pokémon, will be appearing from Poké Balls. Once summoned, it'll use the attack Surf to slide across to an edge, with anyone caught in the attack dragged on with it.

• September 21: "Snake" [36]: Solid Snake is given an official profile, despite Sakurai's earlier statements that alluded him to being a secret character due to him being from a 3rd Party game. Snake is given a new render, and one of the screenshots show him using a possible grab move on Ike.
• September 21: "Snake: Special Moves [37]: The second update reveals three of Solid Snake's special moves, as well as the nature of a couple of his smash attacks. His Side B move is the Remote Missile, where Snake fires a missile from his Nikita and guides it. Sakurai notes that Snake can defend himself while doing so, so by pressing the shield button, Snake will stop controlling the missile. His Neutral B move is the Hand Grenade. Pressing the special-move button will pull the pin, causing the grenade to explode in a few seconds. Pressing the button again will throw the grenade. The tilt of the control stick will determine how far the grenade is tossed, forward-tilt for a strong throw, no-tilt for a mid throw, and a back-tilt for a soft throw. Finally, his Up B move is the Cypher, a flying reconnaissance camera that Snake can hang from.
• September 21: "Metal Gear Solid: MGS4 Love Theme (Smash Bros. Brawl Version)" [38]: One of the songs for the yet unnamed Metal Gear stage is the Love Theme from the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which is actually a PlayStation 3 game set to be released after Brawl for Wii.

• September 24: "Trophies" [39]: Update: Officially reveals the return of the trophy system introduced in Melee, as well as a lot of confirmed trophies in screenshots (such as Ooccoo). As expected, there is a whole new collection of trophies in Brawl that can be collected like stickers and CDs and viewable in a Gallery mode that provides a text description to each character. Added functionality to the Gallery mode provides the ability to custom-arrange the trophies you collect and change/add to more aspects of the background.

• September 25: "Diddy Kong: Final Smash" [40]: The Rocketbarrel Barrage is revealed as Diddy Kong's Final Smash. It makes simultaneous use of the Rocketbarrels and Peanut Popguns Diddy normally uses for his special moves; he "hangs" in the sky by his consistently-firing Rocketbarrels while the Popguns are auto-firing their explosive Peanut projectiles toward the ground for a period of time, during which his X-position can be maneuvered with the control stick. The angle of the stream of peanuts (which as usual can generate small healing items) can be influenced by how he is moved around in midair. The Rocketbarrels intensely explode when the Final Smash is finished.

• September 26: "Mr.Resetti" [41]: In an update both humorous in itself and in its in-game content, famous Animal Crossing character Mr. Resetti is confirmed as an Assist Trophy character. He appears and stands in one spot to provide a lengthy "lecture" on a Smash Bros.-related issue in Animal Crossing-style word bubbles, and characters that step near him get put to sleep. From a gameplay perspective he works just like Bellossom from Melee.

• September 27: "Pokémon Trainer: Final Smash" [42]: Reveals the Final Smash of Pokémon Trainer as the Triple Finish: When the current controlled Pokémon grabs a Smash Ball, the other two Pokémon temporarily appear and all three unleash powerful elemental attacks that combine into one mass of damaging energy. A cosmetic effect is the appearance of a text box on the bottom portion of the screen and displays battle messages in the style of Pokémon RPGs, identifying the names of the powers each Pokémon thematically contributes ("Hydro Pump" for Squirtle, "SolarBeam" for Ivysaur, and "Fire Blast" for Charizard), as well as the trademark "It's super effective!" message seen since the Pokémon series' first games.

• September 28: "Tourney" [43]: Visually showcases Brawl's version of the Tournament mode from Melee, renamed Tourney mode. The most apparent major new feature is the ability to edit the options within the Tourney mode, rather than editing it before you even start the mode. Plus characters seem to have more customization within Tourney mode.

• October 1: "Lucas" [44]: Five weeks after Diddy Kong's reveal, the next brand new playable character to the Smash Bros. series is revealed: Lucas, protagonist of the Japan-only title Mother 3, the spiritual sequel to EarthBound. Lucas is presumably the Brawl counterpart to Melee's Ness.

• October 2: "Snake Joins the Brawl" [45]: A 1:19 video clip showcasing Snake is posted in this update. The video shows Snake being informed by Colonel Campbell about Mario, and Snake receives orders to give it his all. The video then shows a lot of Snake's moves whilst fighting against Mario. At the end, Snake is sneaking about on Shadow Moses Island, when a surveillance camera spots him. Snake quickly uses Cypher to escape.
• October 2: "Shadow Moses Island" [46]: The Metal Gear stage seen previously in trailers is identified as Shadow Moses Island, primary location of Metal Gear Solid for PlayStation. It takes place in front of the structure in front of the helipad, in an area where the stage is "boxed in" by watchtowers on either side, making it a "caged" stage - but the watchtowers can be destroyed by moves. One of three of the eponymous Metal Gear weapons from throughout the series will appear in the background from time to time. And, as illustrated by three separate smaller video clips, Snake communicates with his Metal Gear-series team members via Codec to talk about key characteristics of his opponents in battle.