Meet the new Brawl challengers - Part 4 - a wily enemy
Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 9:00am by David
[There are 15 new challengers in Super Smash Bros Brawl. This series will feature each new contender and rank them on their fighting potential with the Infendo Smash-O-Meter! Spoilers are present, so be careful if you wish to remain unspoilt. Big thanks to today's guest writer: Will]
Wolf O’Donnell
Wolf is the leader of a Mercenary group of pilots under the name Star Wolf. He pilots a ship similar in design to the Arwing’s that Star Fox use, called the Wolfen. He was originally hired by Andross, the main Antagonist of the Star Fox games, to wipe out Fox and his team. He unfortunately failed miserably, thanks to the superior piloting skills of Fox. He has since vowed to get revenge on Fox for his failure, and to show that he is the superior pilot.
Wolf has appeared in many of the Star Fox games, first appearing in Star Fox 2 for the Super Nintendo which soon transformed into Star Fox 64. Wolf is known as Fox’s main rival in the series; he has even gone so far as to help Fox survive so that he can one day get revenge on him. Recently he has subsided his rivalry and feelings of hate for Fox, and has worked alongside him during some of Fox’s missions.
Game Appearances:
Star Fox 64, Star Fox Assault, Star Fox Command
Just like Fox, Wolf is a master of military hand to hand combat. He however has tweaked it with his own style of moves since he uses his claws as weapons. When Wolf was burning with vengeance, he studied fox and his team to understand how to beat them and has developed similar techniques. He has also developed a secret technique that is similar to Fox’s fire fox, where he propels himself upward with great speed.
Based on his skills as a mercenary, and his piloting prowess, how would you rank Wolf?
February 11th, 2008 at 9:25 am
I haven’t played Brawl, so I guess I don’t technically really know, but I hope that wolf is different enough from Fox so that I don’t consider Fox, Falco AND Wolf all to be clones. I mean, it’s bad enough that they all have the same final smash, I think they should have at least made those different. I personally was looking forward to seeing Krystal in Brawl. Despite her questionable origins in the disappointing Star Fox Adventures, she’s been integrated into the Star Fox franchise since in Command which was pretty good, and I would have LOVED to have had a staff-fighting character.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Yeah Rabbitduck, I was worried that he would just be a Fox/Falco clone as well. Although that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing - Falco was always my favorite character in Melee!
February 11th, 2008 at 9:52 am
I hate Wolf. He’s too similar to Fox and Falco, but I guess we can be thankful that he’s not a verbatim clone. I just think there are better and more interesting characters that could have taken his place on the disc…
If Midna’s not in Brawl, and it looks like she isn’t, I’ll be angry that he’s on here and she isn’t. Hmph.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:21 am
@Sykil,
Don’t mean to spoil much, But Wolf may appear to be a clone of Fox and Falco, But he does have a variety of differences.
Unlike Fox and Falcon, he can’t shoot rapid fire.
His Up Special isn’t a fox fire clone, he does a rapidly fast upward or directional kick. although he does use the same sweep move, I haven’t seen his counter.
I know Falco throws his counter instead of using it like fox.
Other than that, there is still some differences between the characters.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Yeah. Wolf plays very differently.
February 11th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
I’m stoked to see Nintendo showing the Star Fox franchise so much love in Brawl. Makes me very anxious to see what they have in store for the series on Wii.
I wanted to see Midna in Brawl, too. But Wolf is by no means a disappointment. The only negative is that all three of the Star Fox characters have the same final smash.
February 11th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
@Derek
We call that Land Master Syndrome.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I like Wolf’s inclusion, even though he is a second clone (a clone of a clone, if you will). What angers me is that they decided to keep Falco in, watering down the Star Fox characters.
From the videos I’ve seen of Wolf, he plays very differently and therefore can be considered “luigified” (basically the same moveset, but different enough to be a unique playing experience). His Landmaster Tank Final Smash really irks me, but I’ll get over it.
On my Smash-O-Meter, Wolf ranks %70. I’m pretty excited to play as him, but he’s not on the top of my list.
February 11th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
I’m going to predict that the Smash-O-Meter will be 100% for the next installment, since it seems to increment 20% every time.
I still no comprende the meter.
February 11th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Please don’t temp me with Megaman using a word like “wily”. -___-
But honestly THREE pilots from the Starfox series? I mean atleast Mario, Luigi, and Wario all fight differently!
February 11th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Wolf definitely looks like top-tier material. I like how he’s a luigified Fox and not a true clone. I can definitely see myself using him as an alternate if not maining him, depending on how Fox and Falco play.
February 12th, 2008 at 12:51 am
The only thing I do NOT like is how all three of them (Fox, Falco and Wolf) practically share the same Final Smash (The LandMaster).
They could had at least been creative with Falco and give him a Final Smash in which he rams and/or barrages you with lasers with his arwing.