I've been playing the game for the last day or two and have been loving it; it's not entirely unlike Melee, but it's got more than enough changes for me to move on with pleasure. Some notes:
-The new Link is indeed not as close to my heart as his Melee counterpart, though when I realized I didn't have to charge up the spin attack, that helped matters. Still, while they made him lighter and faster, they didn't do so enough to balance out how much weaker he is now. I was starting to play Young Link more than Link near the end of my time with Melee anyway, so when I unlock Toon Link, I'll probably glom on to him.
-As others have said, Kirby is mercifully restored to his 64 version (they even fixed that roll of his that they added in Melee [can't remember which attack it is], it now involved kicks instead of a Kirby fireball and it just flows a lot better). I wish he had his own stage besides Green Greens, but it's alright.
-King Dedede and Ike are like tanks. Can't work 'em, though I've been making a little progress (actually won my first online match with Ike). Is it just me or should DeDeDe's B and Down-B attacks have been switched?
-Pit in his black outfit looks like a woman from the 80s in a tacky dress. It's true.
-Someone was saying the music was too quiet and I think they were right; I moved the sound bar two notches to the right and it seems better.
-Squirtle's finicky as hell; he keeps sliding all over the place, and I keep dying with his side-B attack taking me off the stage; when I'm playing PT I have to stay as Charizard most of the time if I want to win.
-Snake's also finicky, but he's strong, so I'm fine. I've only spent a little bit with Sonic but I dig him alright. I like his stage too, of which I'm apparently in the minority.
-This may also apply to Melee too, but why are there bombs in the 100-Man Melee? (had to do it b/c I was impatient to get Falco) It's hard enough to last that long with random explosions threatening to make you repeat the same 4 minutes over and over again. And for Brawl specifically, what sadist thought it was okay to have other characters appear randomly? I shouldn't have to fight off Meta Knight and 4 alloy guys at 90% health.
-SSE is awesome; so awesome, in fact, that I feel stupid for even listening to the people who were hating on it before. Though i guess I can see their viewpoint...I dunno, to me, I like it for the same reason I enjoyed Super Princess Peach; I knew it wasn't terribly long to begin with, but I loved the platforming and just the general feel of the game (and the character designs are great, honestly) so I'm glad to spend time going through the mode, especially since i don't have much opportunity here for VS matches. I feel bad for the people who blasted their way through it 8 hours after launch day then complained it was too short. Honestly, people. Also, the Brawl engine is great for platforming, I don't get why all the reviews said they weren't.