With the release of the new Smash Bros. just around the corner, it's hard not to think of what kind of secrets the developers at Nintendo have in store for us. In terms of characters, series franchise creator Masahiro Sakurai has already stated that the new game's character roster may not be any larger than the roster of Super Smash Bros. Brawl before it. However, that hasn't stopped modders from taken things into their own hands and upping the Brawl roster to 100 characters turning the game into a Marvel vs. Capcom vs. Nintendo free for all.


So how does one go about getting characters like Peter Parker, Travis Touchdown, Zero, and Lucina to face off in the same game?


At the core of the mod is a custom written game module that gets hooked into the game during the game's startup. In addition to relocating and expanding various game data tables to increase the total character count to 100, it also provides an interface in which characters can be customized using a set of configuration files and resources loaded from the SD card. This allows modders to easily create, distribute, and use custom characters in the game. Character files can be distributed alongside their associated configuration files ensuring that the character is properly configured for each player.

There were a lot of issues to overcome before the game could fully support 100 characters. In addition to the aforementioned data tables, there were also issues with getting 100 characters to fit onto the game's character select screen. The game only allocates enough resources for showing a total of 50 icons on the screen. Fortunately, it was possible to trick the game into using the 50 shadows that are normally shown underneth the icons as an additional 50 character icons (so no, the header image is not photoshopped). Another nasty bug had the potential to partially corrupt the game's save file when it tried write record data for the extra characters. Fortunately, the current release of the mod takes extra measures to prevent this from happening, and if it does happen, there are codes that can be used to undo the damage.


Customized character movesets for Super Smash Bros. Brawl have been around for a while now dating back to 2009 not long after the game was released. Originally, they began with simple speed hacks that allowed characters to attack much faster than normally possible. While these hacks were impressive, they weren't very much of a departure from the original character's moveset.

Moveset modding took a large leap forward following the release of two modding tools: the Smash Attacks moveset editor and the BrawlBox resource utility. The first tool, Smash Attacks, allows modders to open and modify characters' moveset resource files. This allows complete control over the mechanics of a character ranging from when hit bubbles and projectiles should appear to which animation should be played for an attack. the second tool, BrawlBox, is a resource omni-tool that supports opening and converting a large number of Brawl's common resource files. In the context of custom movesets, this includes models, textures, rigging information, and animations.


Over time, as the members of the modding community got better at editing movesets and the tools became more sophisticated, we started to see some really awesome movesets emerge from the community. Some of them are subtle changes to existing characters such as the cleverly made Orbitar moveset which arms Pit with a pair of Orbitars from Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Other movesets are completely unrecognizable in comparison to any existing characters - such as this mod which recreates the character Marisa Kirisame from Touhou using 2D sprites:

Some mods even change the mechanics of the game entirely. These movesets may emphasize stringing together long combos as opposed to Brawl's traditional knockback based system. Creative modders have even managed to include point based super moves that can only be triggered after a certain amount of damage has been dealt or received.



As with any modding scene, not all mods are polished and nice looking. There's no standard for quality, so many of the mods uploaded are imbalanced, contain bugs, or just look ugly. Even with the publicly available mod repository Brawl Vault, finding a nice looking, polished character or moveset involves sorting through a lot of poor quality work. Shadow the Hedgehog alone has gained some infamy for having dozens of models and movesets created for him with varying degrees of quality. There's also a number of MUGEN-esque god characters which are grossly overpowered to the point of parody. While these characters are hopelessly imbalanced, it's hard not to be impressed by the spectacle of characters like Olimar bringing about armageddon on the battlefield.

Up until recently, these custom characters could only be used in the game by replacing an existing character in the roster. With the release of the Brawl Expansion Project, characters can be freely added to the roster without having to remove someone else. Unfortunately, while the current release of the mod boasts a capacity of 100 characters, certain technical limitations prevent that cap from ever being reached. That being said, a new upcoming version of the mod that aims to alleviate this issue is quickly nearing completion and should be available soon.


Anyone interested in trying the mod out now - albeit a few characters short of 100 – can download a publicly available starter pack at the Brawl Expansion Project information thread. Other information about the mod itself, how to use it, and how to troubleshoot it can also be found at the same thread.

For myself, I'm proud to be able to call myself the developer of both the Brawl Expansion Project and the Smash Attacks moveset editor. However, most of the credit goes to Brawl's enthusiastic modding community and the staggering amount of customized content its members have created. While there are too many well known members to name individually, it has been a privilege working with such creative individuals. It's a thriving community that continues to expand and grow. Feel free to pay us a visit at the Kitty Corp Meowmix modding forums where the majority of the community gathers and showcases its work.


Videos credited to Youtube users PerfectedIdiot2, tel1204, and Lhasheil.