Dojo Day: Crushing Of Bone And Sinew

(Ed: Dojo Day has been moved back to the blog now) What's this? Dojo Day is no longer on the blog? How can we possibly disturb the natural order like this? Well, let me explain. It's a complicated process involving an Aztec priest, freshly grown cabbage, and usually a pint of blood from a newborn child. (Sometimes we use The Oracle's blood) We have to put all this together in just the right way, while chanting the Astro Boy children's chorus theme song, and then we have the gods' power vested in us in order to perform this monumental task. In all honesty though, I just felt that Dojo Day was sort of cannabalizing the blog, so I wanted to move it to its own area. Enjoy the news-only blog my friends! (previous entries will NOT be retroactively moved to the main site) Let's get started, shall we?

Fox's Misfortune: Here come more really high-quality yet oddly out-of-place videos. This one shows Diddy Kong finding Fox's crashed Arwing in the jungle. As he finds it, a Pokemon emerges from the lake and grabs him. Fox saves him, and the two leave together. (presumably to go on action-packed adventures and not for any sort of gay love scene by the lake) The video is, of course, a really nice looking piece of work. Even so, the lack of voiceovers continue to bring down any sort of cinematic experience Nintendo tries to create.

Fire Emblem-Fire Emblem Theme: With lyrics directed by Sakurai himself, the Fire Emblem Theme is a really nice sounding bit of music. The lyrics are in Latin to aid Fire Emblem's epic feel, and Melee players will recognize the tune.

Items from Previous Installments: This pretty much just confirms some classic Smash Bros. items. Set to return are the Beam Sword, Fire Flower, Freezie, Home-Run Bat, Party Ball, and Super Mushroom. The Beam Sword received a considerable aesthetic upgrade, and can stretch much further than before.

Gray Fox: Frank Jaeger, known to fans of Metal Gear Solid as Gray Fox, will be an Assist Trophy. With cybersuit donned, Gray Fox slashes up his enemies with his samurai sword. Those who have played the Metal Gear Solid games will remember Gray Fox as the awesome boss who chased you around asking for you to "hurt me more!" Of course, he also loved to discuss "the crushing of bone and sinew" with the hapless Solid Snake as Fox hunted you down.

Lucas-Special Moves: Welp, it's confirmed. Lucas is a slightly modified clone of Ness. His standard attacks are the basic fare, while not exact copies of Ness. He also apparently has some sort of rope snake attack (grab?) with which he can grab ledges. His PK Fire flies straight, his Standard B works the same way but is now a freezing move, and everything else is the same.

Norfair: This is a lava stage from Metroid similar to the Zebes stage from Melee. The platforms are the usual, but occasionally a lava wave will appear and engulf the entire stage. When this happens, everyone will have to fight to enter a small capsule that will shield from the lava.

It's a shame that this week's cool announcements are almost all hampered by small problems. For one, the lack of voice acting in Smash Bros. has never been a problem, but now that a plot is forming, it is important that Nintendo make that leap. In addition, Lucas being a clone is a disappointment, especially since I believe that Sakurai was quoted as saying that, for all intents and purposes, there would be no more clones. This also adds fuel to the vengeful fire of rumors that Sakurai will cut Ness and replace him with Lucas. I seriously hope not, since Ness has been a fan favorite since the first game. Finally, Gray Fox quite simply should have been a playable character. He's so damn cool, and as an Assist Trophy he is just saturating the lineup with another swordfighter. (Remember, we've already got Samurai Goroh and Lyn) Here's hoping for more MGS characters to get in, like Liquid or Ocelot.

Thanks for reading everyone. See you next week! Or not.

[via Smash Bros. Dojo]