Brawl Minus 2.x.6 Netplay Edition - Current release: II

Doqtor Kirby

Doqtor Kirby

Resident Design Nitpicker
Minus Backroom

There comes a time when you're playing a game and you remember a certain version that you just really grew attached to. You keep it handy for those times you want to feel nostalgic for a change. But there is.... something about that one release that you just can't let go of, despite everybody else having moved on....

That person is me, and that version is 2.x.6.

----

Hey guys, it's Doq. Since I returned to Minus I've continually claimed that the best old Minus is 2.x.6. However, with the uprising of netplay and new technologies, the 2.x.6 release doesn't quite work anymore. As such, I'm introducing:
Brawl Minus 2.x.6 Netplay Edition II​
Netplay Edition is exactly what it is: A rerelease of 2.x.6 for netplay. Everything about objectively the best old Minus, now online! But first:
2.x.6 Netplay Edition Changelog
(from 2.x.6)

Gecko OS Screen:
- As much as the mspaint gecko screen is funny, I changed it. NAH I PUT IT BACK

Title Screen:
- Made Dedede look betterer.
- Changed the copyright banner.
- Some other background elements.

Menu:
- Some texts

Music:
- Some musics

Codes:
- Netplay codes, yes.

Stages:
- Replaced Rainbow Cruise with Fountain of Dreams.

Balance:
- NONE. This is vanilla 2.x.6 balance- and gameplay-wise.
Global
UI elements modernized, while still keeping true to the original feel.

Stages
Past stages are now on the past stages screen proper.
Battlefield replaced with a legal version.
(Original 2.x Battlefield replaces Frigate Orpheon)
Hanenbow replaced with Yoshi's Story.

Music
Moved Renatus - Soleily from X05 to T01, solely for Pin's ALLI FUMAAAAAAD to come back.
Added more music on menus and stages that needed them.

Known Issues
The SD switcher script to switch back to 4.2 says it's 4.0bc. This is just a text bug; the script otherwise works as intended.
The selection screen background looks kinda crappy.
And a download too. Drop the file contents in the same directory as Dolphin.exe in your 4.2 netplay build and select the one you want to use using the included scripts.
https://mega.nz/file/L5lnQYJB#pLiIMTWWRCLXR6F6OgrWAcNuMRN7qUbHq0GU4jDs0G0

There you go. Now.... the slogan is a lot longer than now, but it kinda just sums to "break the limits".
 
Last edited:
player_03

player_03

P3
It's fascinating to go back and see what's changed and what hasn't. In no particular order...

  • This version had more custom music, which is kind of nice. (Back when I played 2.X, I had my own music, but that wouldn't work with Netplay.)
  • I didn't mind the crayon loader, but the menu font made it a little harder to navigate. (I could have navigated by muscle memory, but I wasn't sure if they'd moved anything, so I stopped and checked at every step.)
  • Respawn invincibility was very short.

  • Egg Throw was exactly the same. (And honestly, I can't complain. It's good as-is!)
  • Egg Roll was useless in midair: slow, not cancelable, and low priority. It seems about the same on the ground, though. (I vaguely remember something about restoring a midair jump, but that must have been a different version.)
  • His grabs were a lot slower and had a lot more endlag, except for pivot grab. On the plus side, the grab hitbox lingered throughout the move (like it does now).
  • Uair had a sourspot.
  • Dair gave Yoshi a bigger boost.
  • No Yoshi Foot.
  • Dtilt didn't trip enemies.
  • Yoshi could jump out of shield. (I'm glad this one is coming back. Why was it removed, anyway?)
  • No using Z to perform aerials, but instead, using an aerial at the end of a midair jump halted Yoshi's momentum.
Conclusion: the new version is way better.

  • Inhale canceled into grab. (I understand why this was removed, but it still makes me sad, since this was the only reason I ever played Kirby.)
  • Stone was unpunishable, since you could instantly cancel the ending animation into an airdodge, then drift whichever way you liked.
  • Inhale was counterable.
  • Final Cutter could be canceled into an aerial, which made for a decent option when you were high in the air and trying to get back down. However, fair canceled into Final Cutter, so they had to take it out.
  • Hammer was faster in midair, but it always hit twice rather than lasting as long as you held the button.
Conclusion: I liked the old version better.

  • He had air mobility rivaling Jigglypuff. (You think he's hard to punish now? You should have played him then!)
  • Dair hit harder, but it halted G&W's momentum, and you couldn't hold A to fall slowly, making it weaker overall. (You could press down on the control stick after starting the move to slow it down, but you'd still fall at fast-fall speed.)
  • Chef acted a lot faster and tossed one piece of food at a time. On the ground, the move canceled into walking or dashing. The food hit harder and sent opponents up, leading to different sorts of combos, and it stayed dangerous even on the ground.
  • The bacon from Chef (only bacon and not other types of food) was dangerous to G&W. It could collide with and nullify other food bits, and it could charge Oil Panic. Ness and Lucas could absorb bacon but not other types of food.
  • Taunt didn't charge Oil Panic. However, catching any projectile charged it in one shot. Except with very strong projectiles, it dealt minimum damage, which was 18%.
  • The first windbox of uair pulled enemies down. This made the move a lot less useful to defend against powerful dairs.
Conclusion: I prefer the new version.

When playing Squirtle, Ivysaur, or Charizard, you could choose whether pressing down-B switched Pokemon or did nothing.

  • No Giga Drain!
  • Razor Leaf's critical wasn't based on spacing; it was random. Every now and then, there would be a spark at the start of the move, indicating that that leaf was super-powerful. Ivysaur could spam leaves, clashing with the opponent's moves, until it got a crit, which would tear through pretty much anything and kill the opponent. (Though if you're smarter than I was back then, I guess you could jump over.)
  • Dthrow comboed into either uair or fair, depending on the opponent's DI. Light characters could escape, but it was true against everyone else. These moves were just as powerful then as they are now.
  • Vine Whip sent opponents diagonally upwards rather than just sideways, meaning Ivysaur could chase you up and push you off the top.
Conclusion: I'm honestly not sure which I prefer, but the new one is more balanced.

  • Fair dealt a lot more damage, but only the initial hitbox dealt knockback, and that hitbox was a little smaller than the others. If you didn't sweetspot the move, it wouldn't kill. (And even if you did sweetspot it, it was worse at killing.)
  • Charizard could glide upwards, but couldn't gain anywhere near as much speed.
  • Fly (that is, up-B) was much worse at linking into itself, but the final hit was equally good at killing off the top.
  • Fly didn't snap to the ledge at the start of the move, but it did towards the end.
  • If you used nair while jumping upwards, the frame 4 hitbox wouldn't connect. It worked most of the time if Charizard was falling downwards, but you can't do that OOS. (Unless you shield drop, I guess.)
  • Neutral B was still Flamethrower rather than Blast Burn.
Conclusion: I prefer the new one.

  • Rest healed more.
  • Rest's flower lasted longer.
  • Sing's GFX were rainbow-colored.
Conclusion: what's the difference?

Zelda/Sheik couldn't cancel Transform.

  • Zelda couldn't teleport on hit.
  • Jab's ranged hitbox was farther away.
  • Ftilt had a ranged hitbox rather than a projectile. This hitbox was placed about where Jab's hitbox currently is, except that it could be angled up or down. It was weak and it pulled opponents towards Zelda.
  • The near hitbox of ftilt usually sent opponents up and behind Zelda.
  • Dtilt's ranged hitbox was farther away, under the stage, and sent opponents downwards. It could meteor opponents on the ledge, and that was about it. (It was also possible to hit with if Zelda was on a platform a short distance above the stage, but that was rare.)
  • Dash attack's ranged hitbox was larger, but it didn't linger or move with Zelda, making it harder to land. Like dtilt, it was a decent meteor.
  • Holding A during uair didn't send Zelda rocketing downwards, and uair had no landing hitbox.
  • Dair didn't have an extra hitbox that only affected midair enemies. This made it a lot harder to land offstage.
  • Fair and Bair's ranged hitboxes had fixed knockback. (Actually I'm not sure that's different.) Bair's fixed knockback was pretty weak.
  • Nair could be canceled sooner.
Conclusion: I like the new version better.

  • Dash attack had more endlag but turned her invisible. Most attacks would turn her visible again, with the exception of jabs, tilts, fair, dash attack, Chain, charging Needle Storm, and shielding. Everything else, including grabs and releasing Needle Storm, would turn her visible again. Dash attacking while invisible would cancel the move after the first burst of speed, letting her slide across the stage and jump, grab, or attack.
  • Needle Storm would keep "charging" as long as you held the button. However, it was capped at six needles, so there wasn't much point. To hold onto the needles, you had to shield.
  • Needle Storm wasn't cancelable into aerials.
  • Chain had electricity effects, but didn't stun.
  • Up throw wasn't jump-cancelable.
  • Dair was faster, but it wasn't cancelable on hit. On the plus side, it was cancelable after a set time. (Currently it's cancelable on hit and jump-cancelable after a set time.)
  • Vanish was a lot slower. This meant Sheik could jump farther at the start of the move, but other than that it was just worse.
  • Bthrow left enemies lying on the ground.
Conclusion: I like the new one a lot better. The only good thing about the old one was the way you could "charge" dash attack by turning invisible and then use it for a sudden approach.

Going from memory, I wasn't able to find a single difference. I even know the damage values for some of his moves, and they all seem to do the same amount (fair deals 17%, Giant Punch deals 32%, barrels deal up to 32%).

  • Neutral B was Flamethrower, but pressing B+A on the ground turned it into Royal Rampage. Galactic Crusher didn't exist.
  • Royal Rampage lasted as long as you held A. It had Super Armor the whole time, and it could grab airborne opponents, but it couldn't grab opponents while Bowser was in the air.
  • Royal Rampage would whiff if the opponent shielded.
  • Royal Rampage's dthrow didn't send opponents as high, allowing them to tech.
  • On the ground, Bowser could cancel Flying Slam by holding A. This caused him to do Royal Rampage's dthrow instead.
  • If he grabbed them while he was in midair, Bowser could hold A at the apex of Flying Slam to bury his opponent. However, since this played the Bowser Bomb animation, it stopped him from moving sideways.
  • Dair's landing hitbox was very weak, making it harder to follow up.
  • Bowser Bomb's startup made Bowser float upwards if he started it right after a jump.
  • Bowser Bomb didn't bounce into the air after landing, making it far more punishable.
  • Royal Rampage and dash attack had colorful GFX.
Conclusion: the new one is better, but I'm not sure I like the easy-bake guaranteed combos.

  • No Thunderhand!
  • The sourspot of Fire Jump Punch applied the ping sound and fire effect, even though it only dealt a little knockback.
  • Green Missile's charge animation couldn't be canceled with L or R.
  • Green Missile randomly mis-misfired. A mis-misfire went a very short distance, dealt 5% and almost no knockback, and made the same sound as a green shell.
  • The late hit of nair sent opponents back behind Luigi. (Actually I'm not sure if this is different.)
  • Luigi Cyclone was cancelable in midair.
Conclusion: the new one is better.

  • Instead of Mortal Draw and the lunging dash attack, he had Ending Blow. By pressing B at the right time during fsmash or ftilt, he could jump into the air and stab the ground. This was a powerful hit, but Link had no control over his trajectory, making it really hard to land. (Also, if Link was in midair and hit a grounded opponent, they went to sleep for some reason.)
  • If Link released the control stick while performing Ending Blow, he could jump forward while charging an arrow, or jump forward while pulling a bomb. While situational, these options were many times more useful than Ending Blow itself.
  • The last hit of Link's zair pulled enemies towards him.
  • Link had normal, fire, ice, and light arrows. Every single one of these sent enemies away from Link.
  • Link had his vBrawl bthrow.
Conclusion: the new one is better.

Ike was my main back in the 2.X days, and he's my secondary now. Let's see how he stacks up...
  • When Eruption was charged, Ike could cancel Counter into Eruption. "Counteruption" led to a horribly unfun (or as Pin Clock put it, "toxic") playstyle, and it's the main downside of the 2.X.6 iteration of Ike.
  • Ike was unable to cancel aerial Quick Draw once it hit. Due to the endlag on the move, it meant that if Ike was low enough (about stage level or below) you could gimp him by jumping in front of Quick Draw.
  • Uair brought him much, much higher. This improved his recovery tremendously, though it also made him a little too good at pushing enemies off the top.
  • Dash attack had some armor before hitting.
  • All three of Ike's smashes had windboxes, not just fsmash.
Conclusion: the old version had many flaws (Counteruption!), but overall it was more fun to play. Why? Because of uair. And not because uair let Ike get super-early kills off the top; in fact, that was pretty unfair.

The reason uair was better is because: A) it gave him an amazing recovery, and B) even though the endlag was the same, it felt like less endlag. The reason for B is because Ike continued moving upwards during the endlag, so players didn't have to watch themselves start to fall back down for some distance without being able to act.

He wasn't very well balanced, but he was a lot more fun to play.
 
Last edited:
T

TDRR

Member
I oftentimes play Brawl Minus MAX 1.01, just because that's the last version you can get on an ISO :p

Talking about getting Brawl Minus on an ISO; anyone has gotten it to boot up? I mean, i could probably fix BrawlEx, but if it doesn't boot up at all then there is no point.
 
Doqtor Kirby

Doqtor Kirby

Resident Design Nitpicker
Minus Backroom
It has been a hot minute since this was last touched. Maybe nobody will see me drop Netplay Edition II.

Global
UI elements modernized, while still keeping true to the original feel.

Stages
Past stages are now on the past stages screen proper.
Battlefield replaced with a legal version.
(Original 2.x Battlefield replaces Frigate Orpheon)
Hanenbow replaced with Yoshi's Story.

Music
Moved Renatus - Soleily from X05 to T01, solely for Pin's ALLI FUMAAAAAAD to come back.
Added more music on menus and stages that needed them.

Known Issues
The SD switcher script to switch back to 4.2 says it's 4.0bc. This is just a text bug; the script otherwise works as intended.
The selection screen background looks kinda crappy.

grab

install: extract contents right over existing Minus Netplay install. it won't clobber anything. set 2.x.6 as SD. play.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top