A roster of Nintendo characters flying off the platforms, and a controller heating up in your hands.

Here there's barely any tension: picked on gut feeling, Brawl sits ahead of nearly 80% of games, and the feel of play backs it up, racing ahead of 97% of titles. That's the beating heart of it. Attachment follows, above average. The rest eases back down: fun and the desert island land dead center, and then two low points. The urge to rediscover it for the first time is faint, which fits a brawler you replay endlessly rather than 'discover'. And the soundtrack ends up surprisingly low, on few votes, to be confirmed, given how celebrated Smash's music is.

Against other fighting games, Brawl plays its usual tune: the pure joy of couch multiplayer, the twitch, the controlled chaos. Its worth lives in the moment, not in the memory you cherish alone.

So, who's it for? For you if you love festive fights, a responsive pad, four-player couch nights. Much less if you're after a solo adventure that marks you, a story to rediscover.