This morning on Masahiro Sakurai’s Smash Bros. Brawl blog, the game’s creator brought us something old (in the form of grabs and throws), as well as something new.
Joining the fight as an Assist Trophy will be Solid Snake’s rival from the Metal Gear Solid series, Frank Jaeger, aka “The Gray Fox” and “the Cyborg Ninja.” When used, the character leaps into the fray in a lithe fashion before using his sword to slice at foes repeatedly, deflecting projectiles in the process.
This marks the first appearance of a third-party character as an Assist Trophy in the game, which now also lends a little credibility to the purported rumors of Sonic’s allies Tails and Knuckles being included as Assist Trophies. Those rumors remain unfounded, but now that a precedent has been established, the possibility is now out there.
And perhaps more interesting still is Sakurai’s wording in the blog entry for Gray Fox:
“He approaches stealthily with lithe jumps, coming right in then slicing repeatedly. Awww! It makes you want to use him as a playable character.”
“Gray Fox, who engaged in a grand battle to the death with Metal Gear REX… To think that he would reappear on Wii, and alongside Mario and Sonic at that!
You never know what might happen in this world.”
Perhaps too much is being read into it here, but might Sakurai be dropping a sly, vague hint that maybe, just maybe, there is some way to play as Gray Fox? Or is he simply gushing over the professed coolness of the character.
Time will tell, and so will AMN should such a secret be revealed.
