Project+
- For information on Project+'s predecessor, see Project M.
Project+ is a gameplay modification of the Brawl mod Project M (based on Legacy TE) with the aim to improve the balance among the cast by making small moveset changes to all or most characters. Project+'s development started in 2018 and version v1b was released in April 2019. On March 17, 2020, Project+ 2.0 was revealed with additional content, such as new modes, revamps to some characters movesets such as Bowser getting a new fireball attack and Charizard getting Thunder Punch, and the reveal of Knuckles the Echidna as the only new playable character beyond what Project M had.
Shortly after its initial release, Project+ received high levels of popularity among players. By April 8, 2019, Project+ had received 100,000 downloads[1] on its primary site alone. Since its release, Project+ has become the main mod over Project M in several tournaments, most notably and recently Blacklisted 5, Low Tier City 7, and The Encore, with many majors switching from Project M over to Project+.
Changes from Project M and Legacy TE
Like the mods Project+ was based on, this mod focuses on improving the overall gameplay. While Project+ has many minor changes, these are a handful of the noteworthy ones.
One of the biggest changes, which is the main focus of Project+, is the significant removal of various bugs and memory leaks featured in version 3.6 of Project M. These bugs are universal and pertain to either stages, movesets, alternate costumes, sounds, or previously outdated codes used in Project M. While Project+ still has a few bugs, they no longer impact the overall performance as easily as they did previously, thus reducing crashes and freeing a large amount of memory. Tourney mode, which previously redirected to the Rotation mode due to glitches, is now replaced by a debug mode.
Many more music tracks were also added, bringing the standard to a total of over 500 songs. In addition to the music found in Project M, songs from other games are included as either new arrangements or from their original source. These include songs from Paper Mario and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, as well as unused tracks in Brawl's files such as "New Age Retro Hippie" from EarthBound. Thanks to the bug fixes and memory expansion, it is now completely possible to add music without replacing songs in the default game.
As mentioned by the development team, most of the changes are merely aesthetic. Noticeably, the character select screen now features a new HUD, matching the theme of Project+, and includes diamond portraits. The names of the character are now completely omitted. All characters have original artwork for their select portraits, with their alternate costumes also sharing the same pose rather than having unique poses per costume, as was the case with Wario's costume in Brawl. Additionally, every fighter now has a standard of 17 costumes, with 15 in the base and two hidden skins accessible by holding R or Z.
Characters
Project+ retains the same roster as Project M, albeit with the addition of Knuckles from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. All of the characters received balance changes based on input from the competitive Project M community. Characters previously considered low tier were given better tools to help with their viability while characters previously considered high tier were nerfed to bring them closer to the rest of the cast. Additionally, certain aspects of characters deemed oppressive or frustrating by the community were balanced in an attempt to alleviate such issues while still maintaining the appeal it had to players who had used it.
The mod marks the first time where characters have had their default designs significant revamped, with two of them no longer using their given Brawl designs. The first is Samus (whose design was changed to a combination of her design seen in Metroid Prime and Metroid: Samus Returns), and the second is Zero Suit Samus (whose design was changed to be similar to her Other M appearance, a concept that was initiallyplanned for Project M). Many characters received a visual overhaul and major touchups to their alternate costumes in Project+: one of them is Toon Link where his Outset alternate costume was upgraded and given new shirt designs based on charts in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and his Linebeck alternate costume receiving the shield design as seen in Phantom Hourglass. The Shiny color schemes of characters like Charizard and Mewtwo now have an aesthetic effect where they sparkle like in the mainline Pokémon games during their respective intros. Lastly, Roy was given major polygon improvements to smooth out his armor and boots as well being given a cleaner and more red hair texture when compared to Project M 3.6's last revision. Roy was given a trophy which he lacked in Brawl while both Mewtwo and Knuckles had their trophy models changed.
Bold denotes characters not in Brawl.
Stages
All stages from Project M 3.6 return. Some remain untouched, while others such as Metal Cavern and Castle Siege were given new layouts for tournament use. Battlefield and Final Destination have a 4th hidden alternate that accesses their appearances in the 1P Mode of the original Super Smash Bros.
In addition, along with the remaining stages from 64, Melee, and Brawl, 17 new stages have been added; they all have 3 alternate layouts or skins to choose from by holding the button shown on the stage selection screen:
- Bell Tower - A stage inspired by Generation II of the Pokémon franchise (Gold, Silver, and Crystal) as well as their Generation IV remakes. It is located in the Johto region, more specifically Ecruteak City, where players fight against the city's Gym Leader, Morty. Ho-oh appears in the background and flies in front of the signature Bell Tower, where it must be fought and captured. The stage occurs at sunset, a reference to the title screen of Pokémon HeartGold. Bell Tower has a large platform that periodically shifts to a nearby building below and then back up again. A similar concept for a Gen II Pokémon stage was actually planned for Melee, the Sprout Tower, which appears as an alternative version of the stage by holding the Z Button while selecting it.
- Clock Town - A stage inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. It is located in the game's central hub, Clock Town. In the background is the signature clock tower located in South Clock Town, where Young Link begins his journey, and behind the tower is the Moon. The stage has a day-night cycle based on the three-day cycle in Majora's Mask, in which the moon draws closer as the time progresses. The cycle lasts for eight minutes, and restarts after it ends; near the end of the cycle, Skull Kid appears and causes the moon to come close to the tower.
- Cookie Country - A stage inspired by Kirby's Return to Dream Land. It is located in Cookie Country, the first level of the game, specifically the first stage of Cookie Country, where Kirby begins his journey.
- Dead Line - A stage inspired by Sonic Rush. It is located in Dead Line, the seventh zone for both Sonic and Blaze's stories. It has a swinging platform similar to Green Hill Zone, but has a much larger main platform, and four extra platforms, two on each side of the swinging platform, that periodically move around.
- Dinosaur Land - Returning from Melee, it is a renamed version of Yoshi's Island (SSBM).
- Dracula's Castle (not Dracula's Castle of SSBU) - A stage inspired by the Castlevania franchise. It is located in Dracula's Castle, a frequently recurring area in the series, being the lair of the aforementioned Dracula. The version found in this game is specifically based on the castle's appearance in the Dimensional Rift stage of Castlevania Judgment. Originally in Project M, it was removed in 3.6 due to copyright concerns. It features periodically moving platforms similar to Delfino's Secret.
- Golden Temple - A stage inspired by Donkey Kong Country Returns. It is located at the Golden Temple, the ninth and final world of the game. It contains two platforms in the middle with one above the other.
- Mario Circuit - A returning stage from Brawl.
- Metroid Lab - This stage doesn't seem to be based on anything in particular, but it bears a resemblance to the Restricted Laboratory from Metroid Fusion, which also contained Metroids in it. It uses the old Norfair layout from Project M, with two platforms that move in random directions.
- Mushroom Kingdom (SSB)
- Minecart Madness - A stage inspired by the level of the same name from the original Donkey Kong Country.
- Planet Zebes - A reimagining of the N64 stage of the same name, with a new design inspired by the opening area of Metroid: Zero Mission. Holding the X button before choosing the stage will instead load Brinstar.
- Poké Floats
- Rainbow Cruise
- Sky Sanctuary Zone - A stage inspired by Sonic & Knuckles. It is located on Angel Island, with it being the next zone the player goes to after Hidden Palace Zone. The stage contains two slanted platforms, with the teleporter and signpost from the game appearing in the background.
- Subspace - A stage inspired by the Great Maze in the Subspace Emissary. It is an amalgamation of the various stages where players must fight Tabuu's puppet fighters. The platforms rotate every few seconds.
- Venus Lighthouse - A new stage inspired by the Golden Sun franchise. In the first game, the Venus Tower is the final location in Isaac's quest to save Vale; the stage takes place on the very top of the tower, where the game's final boss is located. The tower can be seen breaking open with a gigantic sphere of psynergy, referencing the ending of Golden Sun where the tower has been activated. It closes after a few seconds.
- WarioWare, Inc. - The stage rewards Turbo mode when succeeding in a microgame like in Project M, and the X button can be held before selecting the stage for Brawl rewards as well.
The alternate layouts include one for Spear Pillar based on the Ultra Deep Sea area of Pokémon Sun & Moon where the Mother Beast (being Lusamine, the leader of the Aether Foundation, upon being possessed by the Ultra Beast, Nihilego) is fought at the climax of the games, one for Green Hill Zone based on Marble Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis, one for Poké Floats taking place in a blue sky and featuring floats of Pokémon like Kirlia and Gengar, one for Pictochat based on the main screen of Mario Paint, and one for Pokémon Stadium 2 based on the area where the Kalos Region's champion, Diantha, is fought at the end of Pokémon X & Y.
Tier List
On January 9, 2022, the first-ever Project+ tier list, coordinated by Sabre and Motobug, was released. It was created using ballots from the following players: Blue, Boringman, Cloudburst, Comb, Fearless, Kycse, Malachi, Motobug, Nogh, Rongunshu, Tealz, The Doctor, and Yono. Players were asked to rank the cast. Their ballots were then averaged together with outliers removed to avoid having any one ballot dramatically skew any character’s placement. Pit, Zero Suit Samus, and Ike rose the most on the tier list, with Zero Suit Samus rising to 2nd. Snake, Mr. Game & Watch, and Peach dropped the most. Meta Knight remained ranked 1st, and ranks 7th-9th of Sheik, Fox, and Captain Falcon stayed the same. Luigi, King Dedede, and Jigglypuff dropped into the bottom tier. Knuckles made his debut at 10th, at the top of A tier. The tier list scores can be found here. Toon Link and Peach have equal scores, but Toon Link had a lower score including outliers and had less overall variance.
| Project+ Official Tier List v4 [2.29] | ||||||||||||
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| S | A+ | |||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ||||
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| 1.82 | 2.18 | 2.64 | 5.36 | 6.18 | 7.73 | 8.64 | 8.91 | 9.00 | ||||
| A | ||||||||||||
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | ||
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| 11.45 | 12.00 | 12.45 | 13.09 | 13.64 | 14.73 | 15.18 | 16.09 | 17.00 | 18.27 | 20.09 | ||
| B | ||||||||||||
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 |
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| 22.73 | 23.55 | 24.18 | 24.27 | 26.18 | 26.91 | 27.55 | 28.36 | 29.45 | 29.82 | 29.82 | 30.45 | 31.09 |
| C | D | |||||||||||
| 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | ||||
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| 34.36 | 35.09 | 35.27 | 35.64 | 35.73 | 37.18 | 38.82 | 40.27 | 41.09 | ||||
Errors
Like with Project M due to Project+'s mainly focusing on the competitive aspect of the game, the mod experiences some errors and abnormalities regarding non-competitive aspects:
- Saved replays currently only support GameCube controllers, and may desync in certain gameplay conditions. Additionally, replays of games with only one player will malfunction.
- In the classic mode credits shooting sequence, when using either Mewtwo, Roy, or Knuckles, the character selected will be displayed as Mario instead.
- The high scores for Mewtwo, Roy, or Knuckles in the single player modes and max combos for training mode are shared with Lucario, Marth and Sonic respectively.
- Because Sheik, Zelda, Samus, and Zero Suit Samus have individual character slots, this can give two players the same palette swap if the corresponding characters transform into each other, without even using the same color glitch.
- The Sound Test is almost unedited from Brawl.
- When Snake uses Codec Conversations on Mewtwo, Roy or Knuckles the conversation for Mario plays.
- The Subspace Emissary, while playable, contains several glitches and inconsistencies:
- Pokémon Trainer related glitches:
- In All-Star Mode, Charizard will be fought with three stocks instead of having Squirtle and Ivysaur.
- In The Subspace Emissary, Pokémon Trainer (after obtaining all three Pokémon) defaults to Charizard as usual but you can't switch to Ivysaur and Squirtle meaning you can't naturally play them after getting Charizard.
- Like with Project M and other mods of Brawl, the game may crash at random. This especially happens if items are turned on.
Downloading instructions
The mod can be downloaded here.
References
External links
