RUMOR MILL: SUPER SMASH BROS. BRAWL… NOW WITH R.O.B.?!

Okay, I'll freely admit that I haven't been following all the supposed leaks surrounding Super Smash Bros. Brawl as closely as I should, but one thing I saw over at Joystiq today certainly caught my attention… R.O.B..

For those of you who may be too young to remember R.O.B., back when the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) launched in the United States, it included R.O.B., your Robotic Operating Buddy, a little robot who would play along with you in one of the included games. The initial idea was to use R.O.B. to help differentiate the NES from other gaming systems in an attempt to get retailers and customers to accept it in a post-console crash world. 

In reality, R.O.B. was a dismal failure. Only two games were ever released that made use of him (including the pack-in) and in truth, even those games played better without R.O.B. than they did with him. At his best, R.O.B. was a trojan horse that got the NES onto retailers shelves in those early test markets, but one that soon found himself on the outside looking in on the NES' success. Discontinued and alone, it seemed R.O.B.'s glory days had passed – at least until today…

If the screenshots over at Joystiq are real, it would appear that R.O.B. (along with many other borderline Nintendo stars) has found his way into Nintendo's highly anticipated Wii title Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I've always held a soft spot in my heart for the little guy, and the fact that he may finally be seeing the light of day once more is more than enough to pique my interest in the title.

Check out all the latest details at the below links – Good luck little buddy, I'm pulling for you. 

• Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Official website
• Super Spoiler Bros. Brawl: Major leaked roster update, videos & more – Joystiq
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Wikipedia entry
• R.O.B. – Wikipedia entry

NINTENDO SHOWS OFF WII ZAPPER

While "Wii Zapper" just doesn’t sound right, it looks like Nintendo has an attachment for the Wii that holds both the remote and analog stick in a gun configuration. Gamespot is reporting that Nintendo is showing off this device at their booth and calling it the "Zapper" – in apparent homage to the old NES light gun. Can R.O.B. be far behind? C’mon Nintendo, bring back R.O.B.! Check out the Gamespot article here for more details and join with me in hoping that everyone’s favorite little unemployed Robotic Operating Buddy can find work again!

Just to be perfectly clear, Nintendo is showing off a light gun form factor for the Wii that would hold the standard Wii controls. They have said absolutely NOTHING about bringing R.O.B. back. The R.O.B. thing is just part of my twisted thinking.