I'm not sure if there was that many, but I certainly wouldn't complain.
The DKJB level is exciting, but probably already ruled out in tourneys. Still, here's hoping for a giant strawberry to blow up at the top!

Although it wasn't an actual battle stage, remember in adventure mode when you had to escape from Brinstar after beating Samus? I liked that level, it was great. Another level I really liked was Poke Floats because it was fun to jump around on that stuff.

Icicle Mountain...the music isn't that great. The ice blocks are stupid as well. It just looks mediocre, but I guess that's what happens when you never play the original game.

I really liked the in-game elements of adveture mode as well, like Hyrule Temple with the ZII:AoL music, or the Mario level. Classic. I hope there's more of that.

I'm sure DK rumble falls will be a fun stage that people will pick so that characters with good jumps can just jump away from everyone and piss everyone off. Although I'm sure they could've just left Icicle Mountain as it was in smash and just ported it over. Theres no denying the fact that rumble falls is just a reskinned Icicle mountain.

TODAY'S UPDATE:

Yoshi.

Woohoo.

No, it isn't.

I don't know much about Yoshi, but from what I've heard people consider him one of the better characters to use. As for me personally, I thought he sucked. However, Yoshi's reworked Up+B move might change this perception for me...

Did Sakurai mention that Brawl would see broken characters getting a makeover, or was that another game?

It seems E3 was for the masses, not the core gamers. E3 was Wii Fit all the way.

The game already lets you punch Bowser in the vagina with Solid Snake, how much more MUGEN-like does it need to be?!

I always hated Yoshi's butt stomp. Those fucking stars make its range bigger than it should be and he can do it pretty quickly. A lot of his moves are pretty annoying. The only one I ever liked was his egg toss because I <3 throwing shit.

Awwww, Yoshi looks so adorable. But what the heck is he doing to Donkey Kong??
http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/chara..._070724d-l.jpg
Ever heard of the expression "having a monkey on your back"? Well here's a monkey with a dinosaur on his back!

That silly green donkey. :(

The stage probably moves just as much as Icicle Mountain if people start jumping up.

Hopefully not, that was the major problem with Icicle Mountain to much jumping and not enough fighting.

Another new stage! This one looks interesting, with the floor giving out on people. I'm sure it'll piss off newbs...

Am I the only one who is becoming increasingly unsatisfied with the stages? It seems that each new stage that is shown lacks any variance from the ones before it; they are all platforms with a scenic background. I'm hoping they'll show some interesting stuff soon, and not the same old shit.

Same here. Somehow I think all of the stages will have some elements of surprise in them that keep them interesting and it would be stupid to reveal those in advance. I hope so at least.

Complaining about the stages at this point is a waste of time. While I personally like what we've been shown, it's still much too early to be worried about a lack of variety.

Melee had something like 29 stages, the majority of which can be described as "platforms with a scenic background". We've seen what, something like 6 or 7 stages so far? And when you consider the fact that the only stages really different, such as Big Blue and Rainbow Cruise, were unlockable to begin with, I don't think variety is going to be an issue in Brawl if you were content with Melee.

But I personally am happy with the stages we've seen so far. While perhaps some of the layouts may be similar, most have something that sets them apart from one another, and potentially will make them an entirely different beast than other similar stages. Today's update, for example.

Considering the fact that myself and everyone I played against only battled in the flat and non-obstructive stages (Both Zelda stages, Battlefield and Final Destination), the stages shown so far leads me to believe that I'll be playing on more arenas than Melee. I like it so far.

Not only that, the distractions this time around don't seem bothersome. Hardly anyone played the Metroid Kraid stage and the Ice Climbers stage cause there wasn't enough fighting and the emphasis was too much on surviving.

I'm not saying they should be phased out, cause they added variety to the game (hello DK stage!) but maybe half for each type (what, 14-15 each type of stage?).

Does anyone know if they've added a Random Character Select option for the game? The only way we could come up with random select before was by turning the computer on and then off and picking whichever character the computer randomly took, but it would be nice to actually have it more random (since I can't remember anyone ever getting Pichu that way).

Also, you guys actually chose your levels? I thought everyone just went with random every time. :(

Hmm, I don't remember if you can do this on Melee, but I think I can pick a random character by pressing A (while holding the player chip) on one of the empty spaces (like on the right of Roy)? I recall the original having something like that, but again, not too sure.

^

Yep, that's how it works. Just 'drop' your P1, P2 [or whatever you happen to be] token on one of the empty character spaces, and it'll randomize which character you get.

I can't believe you didn't know this, RR.

New technique revealed!

Footstool Jump

What the heck is a Footstool Jump?!

Well, it’s a cool technique. Basically, you step on your opponent and jump off!

That’s it!

Jump! Now press the jump button with perfect timing...

Boing!

And then you jummmmmmmmp!

Using your enemy’s spine like a spring to launch you into the air
is pretty fun.

What? You say it doesn’t have much strategic value?

No, no, no. That’s hardly the case.

You can use it to perform Meteor Smashes! Incredible!

wow, a better way to spike, or should I say easier. Lovely lovely.