I have a knack for misleading or vague titles. This has nothing to do with the post, it was just a thought I had.

I know that everyone and their mother has already taken a stab at the Wii. Once upon a time, I would have dismissed all of these jeers as the rantings of the ill informed, or coordinationaly challenged. I had played the Wii quite a bit when it was released. I loved “Wii Sports” and had a great time with “Twilight Princess”.  However, those consoles were own by friends who lived over and hour away, so I never got true extended or varied gameplay.  But based on my initial outings, I felt that the Wii was a step in the right direction. The idea itself was something gamers had kicked around for years.  Having literal control over an object as opposed to simulating movements with analog sticks of button combos. I will concede to the “nay-sayers” that third party support for the Wii has stayed within the tradition set with the N64, but developers were being driven to the idea of motion control.

It sounded too good to be true, and my initial impression lead me to believe that it just might work.

That was until last Sunday.

I was at a friend’s house helping him out with some editing. At a point in which we were uploading to Vimeo, he decided to work on match strategies for an upcoming MTG Zindicar Tournament, and I decided to avail myself to his console systems.  My attention was first brought to “Bioshock”, but since his 360 was not hooked up, and the area behind his TV is a rats nest of multi-colored cables, I went with the system that was plugged in.  Since the Wii was bought primarily for his girlfriend, my choices were not exactly stellar. However he did have a copy of SSBB.  I had not yet been able to play this game, and since I had been a religious player of SSBM, I had felt more than a little shame for not putting forth the effort to get my hands on Brawl.  I popped the disk in.

I will admit that Smash Bros has never been a precision gameplay set up.  Hit fast, hit hard, and… well smash things.  Not difficult on the N64 or the Gamecube, but on the Wii, a bloody test of patience.  The controls feel unfamiliar and wonky, most often costing me lives and items.  And those moments when the super move items shows up and I can’t get it, I’m screwed.

Some have told me that you should just use a Gamecube controller, as it is compatible with the Wii, but in all seriousness why can’t Wiimote work?  It’s built for the system, it should be a good all purpose. I know that Nintendo is going with something different with the Wii, but this is a case where different isn’t better, or even just an alternative. It’s just bad.

I put down the controls after five frustrating matches.  I couldn’t bring anything resembling what I remembered from Melee into this game.  Perhaps it was made for new players, because it wasn’t made for us. The people that made the franchise popular.