Brawl+ is a working project designed to make various aspects of Brawl more competitive. It is only available by modifying the Wii with specific software. More information can be found on the Brawl+ FAQ at Smash World Forums.
Currently available modifications include (but are not limited to):
Features
- No random tripping. Certain moves and bananas will still trip.
- A new character select screen with independent icons for Zelda, Sheik, Zero Suit Samus, and all Pokémon Trainer Pokémon.
- Decrease of hitlag in long hitlag moves, such as Captain Falcon's sweetspotted forward aerial and Marth tipped forward smash.
- Fully independent versions of Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard, though Pokemon Trainer can still be selected. For the stand-alone characters, Stamina has been removed, and the Pokemon will not cycle upon revival or via Pokemon Change. The Pokemon Trainer will not appear in the background or the victory screen if players choose to play an independent Pokemon.
- Automatic L-canceling, also known as ALR or Aerial Lag Reduction (most characters' landing lag from aerials has been reduced to 50%; Captain Falcon and Lucas to 40%; Link to 35%)
- Dash cancel. -Crouch to cancel a dash.
- No replay time limit. Replay icon still does not appear if the game is longer than three minutes, but if Z is pressed the replay may be saved normally.
- Shield during dash dance.
- Window of time for dash-dancing lengthened, enabling more Melee-like DDing
- No Stale Move Negation.
- Stage freezing. -Stops all stage movement, potentially allowing for more neutral stages. Only applies for:
- Luigi's Mansion - mansion is always destroyed and platforms never disappear
- WarioWare, Inc. - stage is always in original form
- Spear Pillar - Dialga, Palkia, and Cresselia stop appearing all together, removing stage hazards
- Pokemon Stadium 2 - Stage does not change forms
- No Auto sweetspot ledges.
- Lag-less edges - characters can now drop from or climb onto ledges immediately after grabbing them
- MAD: (Melee air dodge), meaning characters can airdodge in specific directions again, which enables Wavedashing (this code is omitted from standard Brawl+ code sets, but can be added by the player)
- Incorporates the File Replacement Code used in downloading texture hacks, meaning Brawl+ users can easily download pre-made character and stage textures with no extra codes required (most frequently used for custom-made character costumes)
- The Online Practice Stage is now loaded whenever New Pork City is selected. (Versus Mode only)
Gameplay Tweaks
- Character balancing. Captain Falcon, for example, has been significantly improved.
- Faster overall gameplay speed, largely due to reduced lag and sped-up attack frames
- Increased Falling Speed for most characters
- Increased fast-falling speed for most characters
- Increased hitstun, allowing for truly inescapable combos, and more comboing potential in general
- Tech window enlarged, making for easier teching
- Faster techrolls
- Perfect shield window decreased.
- Increased Shield Stun, meaning a character hit while using their shield is forced to stay shielded for a longer amount of time.
- Many moves received slight alterations (e.g.: Bowser's forward smash now produces a fire effect on contact with the opponent, Wizard's Foot gives another jump for recovery), and Rest now produces the familiar fire effect and launches the enemy at an angle instead of upward)
- Buffer time for moves has been reduced.
- Using the C-Stick for aerials no longer produces an auto-fastfall
- Triple jump glitch removed
- Unrestricted camera in replays and the pause screen in Versus matches
- Default Versus settings now four stock, eight minutes, Team Attack on
- Nametags are saved in replays
- Grabs give the victim back their second jump (removes ability to grab a character at the ledge and drop them to force a death)
- Modified out-of-bounds limits on certain stages
- Differently colored shields
"Melee 2.0" Claims
Despite constant disclaimers by the supporters of the Brawl+ project, many critics of the game (many of whom have not even played Brawl+) refer to Brawl+ as "Melee 2.0", stating that the hackers behind the making of the project are making nothing more than an attempt to "play Melee with Brawl characters and stages". This is entirely false, as stated on nearly every site supporting Brawl+. However, it is rather easy to jump to such a conclusion, as Brawl+ actually started out as a "Melee 2.0" project, which included basic codes for wavedashing and shield button-triggered L-Canceling (two features that were both in Melee, are critical to high-level play, and were removed from Brawl). These codes have since been removed from Brawl+, but the misconception remains, as Brawl's changes to certain moves (such as Rest) have been "undone" to match their Melee counterparts.