Balanced Brawl

Balanced Brawl logo

Balanced Brawl, or BBrawl, is a hack of Super Smash Bros Brawl designed by Thinkaman and Amazing Ampharos with the goal of balancing characters in competitive Brawl with as few changes to core physics as possible. It is normally loaded using Smash Stack by comex so it is playable on any Wii, hacked or not. More information, videos, downloads, setup instructions, and chat can be found on the Balanced Brawl website.

Differences from Brawl+

Unlike Brawl+, none of the core physics have been changed:

• Character movement is the same.
• Hitbox sizes are the same for all characters.
• No stages are frozen.

Features

• Infinites and inescapable lockdowns are removed.
• Increased character balance.
• Increased stage viability
• Planking is removed.
• No random Prat Falling. Moves that trip the opponent such as bananas will still trip.

Stage Changes

• Luigi's Mansion takes twice as long to respawn after being broken.
• Mushroomy Kingdom 1-1 scrolls at half speed. Additionally, both Mushroomy Kingdom stages have higher ceilings.
• Pirate Ship bombs do less damage.
• Norfair lava pillars inflict less knockback.
• Port Town Aero Dive cars inflict less knockback.
• Castle Siege has significantly improved loading time.
• Flat Zone 2 lion tamers inflict fixed knockback.
• PictoChat has a few weakened hazards.
• Corneria has larger blast zones.
• Green Greens blocks spawn less frequently. Bomb blocks also do less damage.

Character changes

When Balanced Brawl was started, the creators decided to balance all the characters towards a power level about equal to that of Diddy Kong in standard Brawl. This meant some characters received several changes, while others did not need more than minor tweaks. Most characters were generally buffed, and only a few were nerfed.

Bowser

• Many attacks and throws do more damage.
• Whirling Fortress is stronger.
• Bowser Bomb has super armor.
• Down aerial hits more favorably.
• Grab release animation has been synchronized to normal 30 frames.
• Forward smash is more powerful, has super armor, and has a flame effect.

Captain Falcon

• Many attacks do more damage.
• Throws are better.
• Forward smash angled up and down smash is stronger.
• Pummel does 3% damage and has an electric effect.
• Falcon Punch has heavy armor.
• Falcon Dive is more powerful.
• Falcon Kick is safe on hit.
• Aerial Raptor Boost is more powerful and no longer sends Captain Falcon into helpless state on hit.
• Ending lag of Falcon Kick on the ground can be canceled into other special moves.

Diddy Kong

• The explosion of Peanut Popgun now damages enemies.

Donkey Kong

• Dash attack hits at a lower angle.
• Forward tilt is slightly more powerful.
• Down tilt has more SDI.
• Forward aerial autocancels.
• Down throw knockback has been slightly adjusted.
• Head Butt and Hand Slap are slightly stronger.

Falco

• Down throw is no longer a chain grab.
• Back throw and throw lasers knockback has been adjusted.
• Falco Phantasm and Fire Bird ending lag can be canceled into a wall jump.

Fox

• Fox Illusion ending lag can be canceled into a jump or wall jump in the air.
• Fox Illusion has does more knockback and sheld damage.

Ganondorf

• Throws are better.
• Pummel does 5% damage and has a darkness effect. (Most damaging pummel now.)
• Up tilt wind does 1% damage each.
• Forward tilt has super armor.
• Down Tilt trips enemies.
• Forward aerial autocancels.
• Down Smash properly links both hits.
• Warlock Punch has super armor and does significantly more shield damage.
• Aerial Flame Choke does more damage.
• Dark Dive does more damage and throws enemies at a much lower angle.
• Dark Dive has super armor while throwing.
• Uppercut of Dark Dive is a significantly more powerful KO move.
• Grounded Wizard's Foot is more powerful.
• Initial hit of aerial Wizard's Foot grounds enemies.
• Wizard's Foot is invincible while rushing.

Ice Climbers

• The partner has new AI behavior. Attempting a forward tilt results in a dash attack, an up tilt results in a jump, and a down tilt results in a dash grab with a four frame delay. Attempting so do ant throw results with the partner results in an up throw.
• Smash attacks and aerials are slightly more powerful.
• Down aerial falls faster with the lead Ice Climber than the partner.
• Down aerial autocancels and is interruptible.
• Dash attack is slightly more powerful and does slightly more shield damage.
• Tilts knockback has been adjusted.
• Throws for both Climbers are no longer chain grabs but do more damage.
• Dash attack and aerials for the partner do more damage and have adjusted knockback.
• Both Ice Climber's pummel do 2% damage, but it is slightly slower.
• Squall Hammer with both Ice Climbers is invincible.

Ike

• Neutral aerial autocancels and is interruptible much earlier.
• Back and forward throw are non-abusive against walls but more useful near edges.
• Eruption has heavy armor during the charge.
• Counter attack is invincible 2 more frames.
• Quick Draw no longer sends Ike into helpless state, and it is significantly faster.

King Dedede

• Down throw is no longer a chain grab but now an excellent tech chase.
• Jet Hammer rockets King Dedede forward upon use. The fully charged version sends him significantly further.