A couple of big announcements came out over the last two weeks that we brought you on the day of. Besides those, several other interesting bits of information were revealed, including one of the most interesting stages yet shown. Check out our summaries below and hit up the Dojo to read the original posts.

New Stage: PictoChat
In a relatively unexpected move, everyone's favorite piece of software that is built into the DS is getting it's own stage in Brawl. As time progresses, different drawings will be sketched onto the screen. These sketches can act as platforms and more for the combatants to jump on or avoid. In one example, a face appears on the right-hand side of the screen that blows air. This wind can push players off the left-hand side. In another example, fireballs are drawn that will actually burn players if they touch them. The music selection on the level is interesting as well. Besides the normal PictoChat theme, both the Mii Channel and Wii Shop Channel themes will be available, carrying on the hardware based concept. Strangely, Brain Age music will also be available, to round out the four possible songs.

New Video: Donkey Kong Makes His Stand

Donkey Kong's intro movie, which was shown at last week's E for All expo, was posted on the site for your viewing pleasure. Check it out by clicking the image at the right. Also, make sure you check out our latest preview, which compiles a lot of the adventure mode information that was revealed in the trailers shown at E for All.

New Game Mode: Target Smash!
The second feature of Stadium mode, Target Smash is making a return. It seems as if this mode has been downgraded slightly. In past games, each character would have their own specific Target Smash level to play through. This time there will only be five different levels of varying difficulty that can be played through by any of the characters. Strangely, this will render many of the character specific challenges obsolete. Items are also available, so choosing the correct character and using the items in the best way will really affect overall times. Also mentioned in this update, was that the game will feature a replay save mode across the board. Therefore your favorite Brawls can be saved and sent to your friends.

New Character: King Dedede
We told you about it when it happened, but King Dedede is in the game as a new heavyweight option to go along with Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Wario. He'll use his signature hammer, which absolutely dwarfs the hammers of the Ice Climbers. King Dedede joins Kirby and Meta Knight to seriously represent Sakurai's own Kirby series.

New Special Moves: King Dedede's Up, Side, and Down
To follow up King Dedede's unveiling, some of his special moves where shown. His up move is a simple high jump up in the air that looks like it will act as a standard third jump during recovery. He will also come smashing down with his hammer, presumably dealing significant damage, as a miss will cause him to be vulnerable to hits. To avoid this vulnerability, tap the control stick while he is in the air to abort the maneuver. His side special move, called Waddle Dee Toss, throws a Waddle Dee enemy into the scene. After he lands, the Waddle Dee will wander around. Occasionally, other enemies, like Waddle Doos and Gordos, will get tossed instead. The down special move, Jet Hammer, is a chargeable attack, similar to Donkey Kong's Donkey Punch. By holding the buttons, it can charge up. After it has been charged, King Dedede can continue to walk around, waiting for the best moment to unleash. The range of the attack is currently unknown.

New Game Mode: Stage Builder
As reported earlier, in what is probably the biggest news of the last two weeks, Brawl will feature a stage creator. Players will be able to create their own levels, send them to friends, and submit them to Nintendo for a chance to be featured as the stage of the day. Every day, Nintendo will make one fan created stage available for players to try out. It was also revealed that the screenshots will get a similar treatment, as the button that was blurred out before has now been revealed as a submit button as well.

New Game Mode: Classic
With the amount of hype and press being given to the Subspace Emissary single player mode, many have wondered whether the stand single player modes of past Smash games would be available. It was revealed last week, that the classic single player mode will still have a presence. Players will pick a character and difficulty level and play through a series of fights, some of which will feature specialized setups, like three people agains a giant Meta Knight, which is shown in one of the screenshots. At the end of each stage, a bunch of coins are awarded. Sakurai claims that these will be used in other places in the game, but not to shop. Does he consider the trophy dispensing machine from Melee shopping? Who knows, but coins will still play a role this time around.

New Stage: The Summit
The Ice Climbers got their stage on Wednesday. It is significantly different than the often-criticized Icicle Mountain from Melee. This time the battle will take place at the top of a mountain. Strangely, as far as the Ice Climbers game is concerned, the peak will crack off and slide down the slope, all the way to the icy water below. Once it hits the water, the Speedo-wearing Polar Bear will appear at the top and push it deeper. On top of that, the man-eating fish from Balloon Fight will be prowling the waters looking for his next meal. Overall, it sounds like a hectic level. The inclusion of the Balloon Fight fish should mean that, like in Melee, the Balloon Fight theme may play during the level.

New Final Smash: Meta Knight's Galaxia Darkness
Meta Knight's final smash starts out with a simple swing of his cape. In this swing, he must hit an opponent and trap them. If he doesn't, the Final Smash will fail. Once a player is caught in the cape, darkness will engulf the stage. Meta Knight will then cut through the darkness, dealing a ton of damage to the player under his cape as well as any other players nearby.

New Feature: On-Screen Appearances
The player introductions from the original Super Smash Bros. have been brought back in Brawl. Simply, whenever a match starts, the combatants will enter the stage in a stylish way. Several examples were shown in the update. Mario emerges from a pipe. Fox jumps out of an Arwing. The Ice Climbers fly in on the condor from the end of the original Ice Climber stages. Pit appears from a glowing light from the heavens. Lucas surfs in on Mr. Saturn's tea table. Ike appears on a strange warp pattern. Snake appears as his optical camouflage shuts down. Those were the only characters revealed in the update, but expect them all to have an intro animation.

That's it for the updates of the last two weeks. As we draw ever closer to the original release date it will be interesting to see if the updates keep coming. Do they have enough to show to take them all the way to the end of January?