It’s mailbag day! Today, we’ve got five questions tackling advanced techniques in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, character models in Final Fantasy IV for the DS, Sonic’s next platforming adventure on the Wii, and upcoming RPGs and big franchises headed for Nintendo’s little console. What does The Tanooki’s staff have to say? Check past the break to find out!

Wavedashing (a special movement technique that abuses the airdodge) was not originally intended to be in Super Smash Bros. Melee - it was a strange quirk of the physics engine. Many of the techniques pros use are extremely difficult to learn, master, and implement in gameplay. Do you think Brawl will also have this capacity for elitist play?
- Michael

Joey: Given the enormous amount of success that Super Smash Bros. Melee has enjoyed for many years now, Nintendo knows that there is a devoted, hardcore crowd of gamers that are highly anticipating Brawl. Nintendo also knows that if they want people to continue playing Brawl for years to come, they need to keep this hardcore audience satisfied. Because of this, there is very little doubt in my mind that the physics engine for Brawl will be almost identical to the one used in Melee, which means that wavedashing and other similar techniques will also return in the next game.

That being said, I personally would be very happy if my prediction did not come true. While I have nothing but respect for people out there who are able to perform this difficult technique, I myself prefer to play Smash without wavedashing. It’s not that I can’t wavedash, I just have more fun when I play Smash normally. Also, I have a strong feeling that the split second timing that is required to perform this technique will not work well when playing Brawl online. If there is even a little bit of lag, then wavedashing just won’t work, and as a result, could give non-wavedashers the advantage in an online game.

Christian: I hope not, but then again I’m not a fan of all that mastering of the physics engines of party games just to beat everyone else. I’m also not a fan of the whole “no items” setup that a lot of the so-called elitists demand players always play with. However, that’s another rant for another time.

As for whether or not I think such opportunities will exist, it’s extremely likely. The physics engine can’t be perfect, and gamers on message boards all over the internet will be sharing information on what they find. I don’t know much about the physics engine to be used in the game, but as I said, no engine is perfect.

Even without the whole taking advantage of the game’s physics, Melee had many complex moves and combos that made way for some great strategy that some of us don’t like to bother with, and others will just love to master. That development team behind Brawl is made up of franchise fans that surprised director Masahiro Sakurai with their level of devotion to just playing the game. They had played thousands of matches on the team’s GameCube and had literally worn off the rubber from the analog stick. I’m sure they’ve included all their favorite aspects of Melee and thrown in a lot more.

Michael: While I haven’t had the chance to learn all of the in’s-and-out’s of Smash Bros., I would think that any and all features such as the Wavedash would make a return in the newest game. I for one, am not a fan of the elitist moves such as Wavedashing or Snaking in Mario Kart, although they are put in there deliberately. Most of my friends are at my skill level so we can still have fun playing on a fairly even field. Going online might be a pain however if I run across someone who can pull off all of the high-skilled moves. Its not fun when there’s no contest.

The one question that I have is regarding the remake of Final Fantasy IV on the Nintendo DS. When I played it originally on the SNES when I was a kid, I loved the type of characters that were playable: Black Knight, Paladins, Wizards, etc. But why does every Final Fantasy game now have to have characters that look like the “Precious Moments” kids? I mean even the remake of this game took cool characters and made them resemble 9 year olds in bad halloween costumes. Are you editors at thetanooki happy with this direction that squeenix is taking?
- Billie

Christian: I’ve grown to like the new character model style after having played through Final Fantasy III on the DS. Keep in mind, that’s not what Square Enix sees that actual characters as looking like (at least not in these games…Crystal Chronicles games are different). The official character renders on the box, in the manual, and in the game’s pre-rendered videos are what they really look like. However, I really don’t see these as actual 3D models during in-game battles when considering the resolution and polygon limitations of the DS. The “9 year old” make things easier and cleaner to see on screen, whereas models like those in FFVII and FFVIII, while possible, wouldn’t look as good due to the low resolution. They’d be thin, jagged figures. That, and it’s simply a style choice.

Michael: While I much prefer the look of the characters that we have been seeing through the scans, the “9 year old” makes it much easier to look at when you’re in battle or walking around. Keep in mind that the DS really isn’t capable of anything past the “9 year old” look at this point anyway. I personally don’t mind the direction Square-Enix has taken with this game. They’ve done a great job and I can’t wait to try it out for myself.

What are the chances we’ll see a Sonic and the Secret Rings 2? The first was the best 3-D Sonic game since the original Adventure, despite a few flaws. I think the next incarnation could be a huge improvement. What do you think?
- Matt

Christian: Generally speaking, lackluster sales and bad reviews prevent companies from releasing more games of the same series. As we’ve learned in recent years, this isn’t true with Sega and the Sonic franchise. Luckily, while Sonic and the Secret Rings didn’t rake in massive returns, it was critically rated as one of the better Sonic games since the Blue Blur made the jump to 3D. The control scheme and new gameplay elements, while not perfect, worked and could see a return and even improvement.

It’s hard to say yet whether or not the next Sonic action/platformer for the Wii will be a direct follow-up to SatSR, especially since that story doesn’t lend itself to sequels. SatSR’s development team wasn’t even the primary team for Sonic games. They could go back to the “main” series, which took a sharp turn with Sonic the Hedgehog for the 360 and PS3, but the horrid reviews of that game for both gameplay and story might suggest making a new game and pretending Sonic Next-Gen wasn’t an integral part of the series. You’ll almost certainly see a new Sonic platformer on the Wii, but I’m going to assume its control scheme will blend that of SatSR with a more traditional set-up, and we might not see the whole ring/RPG system again in favor of a system that doesn’t take 3 or 4 hours of playtime before the game really becomes fun.

Matthew: I think Christian answered everything pretty well. It’s pretty obvious that we will get a new Sonic game on the Wii, but whether or not it will be a sequel to SatSR is up in the air. I would personally love to see a stellar next-gen remake of either Sonic 1 or 2. That’s right, all the meat without any of that “story” mumbojumbo or anything that forces me to not blaze through a stage as fast as I could, destroying everything and everyone in my path.

Better yet, I think I’ll just go fire up my Virtual Console. If you need me, I’ll be playing the last Sonic game that didn’t suck (alright, Sonic Adventure 2 wasn’t that bad…).

Joey: My feelings toward the Sonic franchise are very mixed right now. Although I have been a Sonic fan for over a decade now, it is no secret that many of Sonic’s latest 3D titles have been one huge disappointment after another. Even though fans of the series continue to address their concerns about the games, namely the terrible camera and the presence of frustrating glitches, Sega seems to just ignore these problems.

While Secret Rings was a step in the right direction, the recurring technical issues were not completely resolved for this title. Unless Sega is willing to take a serious, critical look at these problems, it is unlikely that the quality of Sonic’s 3D games will ever improve.

To answer your question, though, I do believe that we will eventually see a Sonic game for the Wii, but I am not sure if it will continue with the story presented in Secret Rings. Sega has not made any official announcements for the game yet, but I think it is safe to say that we can expect to see a new game within the next few years. Let’s just hope that Sonic Team takes this time to finally give its fans the improved, higher quality game that we have been waiting for.

I’m a big fan of RPG’s and I was just wondering if there were any good looking, hardcore RPG’s coming out for the Wii anytime soon. Was I dreaming or is there talk of a Symphonia sequel?
- Zak

Christian: You most certainly weren’t dreaming. Keep in mind there are other RPGs on the way, including Dragon Quest Swords, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers, Sword of Legendia, Project O, and even Nintendo and Intelligent Systems’ own SRPG, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

Michael: Also, although it has been in hiding the last little while, Opoona looks like a solid RPG.

I was thinking about how great a Pikmin game on the Wii would be the other day and it got me wondering which game or franchise you guys would like to see done on the Wii?
- rickytheleaf

Matthew: Good question Ricky the…leaf? If you are true to your name, then your computer skills are impeccable.

I can answer your question in two words: Animal Crossing.

And now for a whole lot of words: Animal Crossing was amazing and Wild World was, well, the same game. I was hoping My Sims could fill in that Animal Crossing void on the Wii for a few months until we here something about the series making a triumphant return. But alas, My Sims was awful. With a title like MY Sims, you would assume they would cater our desires instead of Ms. Phillip’s 1st Grade class. For shame.

Here’s to hoping that the inevitable Wii release of Animal Cross includes some all out WiFi elements, especially when it comes to online furniture shopping!

Joey: As I’ve said in a previous Mailbag, I am looking forward to an innovative, fun dancing title for Wii, and I think that Elite Beat Agents would be a great franchise to provide this. Nintendo could do some really cool things with the Wii remote to make EBA on the Wii just as fun and addicting as its DS counterpart.

Christian: That they haven’t done or announced already? I’d definitely love to see 1080 game. A lot of talk has been going around about it being done on the Wii Balance Board, though I’d be fine seeing it use the Wii remote and nunchuk as well. Get some AmBX wind technology for that as well, and I’d snap that game up in a heartbeat.

Golden Sun or a good Star Fox game might be fun as well.

Michael: Well, Matt covered my number one most anticipated and yet unannounced game in Animal Crossing. But apart from that I would like to see Donkey Kong Country 4. I know Rare’s magic is all but gone, but I think if Nintendo wanted to they could do it. Stop innovating and make a good DK game for once! If not an actual DKC game, I would be happy with a sequel to the Donkey Kong 64 game. There’s just not enough Donkey Kong on my Wii, or DS for that matter. (King of Swing doesn’t count)

Well, that covers the mailbag for this week. Be sure to send us more stuff for next time. Thanks for reading, everyone!

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