Super Smash Bros. Melee currently stands as the all-time best-selling game for the Nintendo Gamecube, finding itself a home in college dorm rooms and countless households around the world as one of the best multiplayer experiences the gaming world has ever seen. It has been a long time coming since Melee broke onto the scene in 2001, but with the launch of the Nintendo Wii now approaching, the Cube's most successful game is finally getting a sequel in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and, best of all, original series director, Masahiro Sakurai is returning to head its development.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl came as a surprise announcement at this year's E3, making its name known to the gaming world via an absolutely brilliant trailer (go download it and see for yourself), and compared to Melee there will be a lofty jump in visual performance, if the footage shown is any indication of what the finished game will look like. All of the characters appear far more detailed thanks to the Wii's hardware upgrade - Link's model now resembles his realistic counterpart from the upcoming Twilight Princess for example - while the backgrounds of each stage showcase much more environmental activity and excitement. More than anything else, though, the Wii's greater power over the Gamecube shines through the most thus far in the noticeably flashier special attack sequences and effects - some of the new attacks will simply make your jaw drop to the floor in amazement.

Graphics aren't the only obvious improvement either; one listen to the game's epic theme song in the trailer, which just so happens to have been composed by the Final Fantasy composer guru himself, Nobuo Uematsu, and you'll be sold on how good the audio is likely to be as well. Don't believe me? Head over to http://www.smashbros.com/en/music/index.html where you can download an MP3 of the theme song yourself. I know it's already in constant play on my iPod right now.

Above and beyond any technical improvements, the trailer's unveiling of Super Smash Bros. Brawl's new character additions has incited the most excitement. New to the Smash Bros. cast for Brawl will be Meta Knight, a master swordsman and nemesis of Kirby; Pit, the oft-forgotten yet much-beloved hero from the NES's Kid Icarus; Zero Suit Samus, the famed Metroid heroine sporting a sleek cat suit-like outfit minus her Power Suit; and a character who needs no introduction, Wario.

These new characters alone would be more than enough to go nuts over, but Nintendo had one more surprise up its sleeve with a cleverly produced introduction - for none other than Snake from Metal Gear Solid. That's right, Snake will be a new playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Brawl! Are you jumping out of your chair with anticipation yet?

If not, swirling rumors abound (and I do heavily stress the word rumors) regarding other possible character additions, mainly with regards to Sonic the Hedgehog joining the fray, so rest assured, Nintendo more likely than not has plenty of surprises still left up its sleeve that should do the trick. [My anything-goes, world-without-copyright wish list would include Abe from Oddworld (with wheelchair-bound buddy Munch on-hand as a special attack), Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell, Dante from Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Serious Sam, Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings, Homer Simpson, Lara Croft, Voodoo Vince, Jak with Daxter, Ratchet with Clank, Woody and Buzz from Toy Story, Indiana Jones, Crypto from Destroy All Humans!, Sly Cooper and of course Master Chief from Halo! But I'll carry on dreaming… Ed].

As of now, concrete gameplay details are rather thin, but from what we've seen there's no reason to expect the game to change from its successful formula. Fast-paced fighting action is clearly still in place, with a refined and simplified control scheme said to be in the works to further enhance the series' already stellar playability - but no word has been given to exactly what, if any, use will be made of the Wii's motion-sensing remote. In an intriguing bit of news on this topic, however, Sakurai has stated that overuse of motion-sensing controls won't work well with the game's style, even going as far as to say that gamers should hold onto their Gamecube controllers (hint, hint).

Another hot topic amongst hopeful fans and speculators is whether or not Brawl will feature support for online play using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service through the Wii, and at this point Nintendo isn't calming anyone's nerves on the matter. During E3, Sakurai did say online play was something the team was going to try and make happen, but pessimistically added that the four-player fighting style of the series was going to be tough to effectively pull off in an online environment. So you'd better cross your fingers and start praying to the Nintendo gods, and hopefully they'll make it happen.

Admittedly, there really isn't a whole lot of solid info available right now, but based on the early facts, the awesome game trailer and the series' past history, you'd be out of your flippin' mind to not be waiting on pins and needles for Super Smash Bros. Brawl to grace the Nintendo Wii when it ships sometime in 2007. We'll continue to keep you posted as new details emerge, and with the Tokyo Game Show coming up we hopefully won't have to wait too much longer to start hearing more.

Previewed by Matt Litten for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).