That's different. Brawl is Melee's Successor. That's more like comparing Halo 2 to Halo 3. Succession is an exception.

Ugh, this is childish.

People are comparing sequels across generation to show system improvement. That's not the same as comparing Wii to PS3 graphics or DS to PC graphics. Each system has its own capabilities and should be judged within its own merits, not within the merits of others. If you are going to compare previous generation games to Wii games to show improvement that's fine, but clearly there is a vast improvement in all technical aspects from Melee to Brawl.

The way I rate a game's graphics (or any other element) is how they help or hurt the gameplay.  Do they make the whole gaming experience smooth or rough?  Do they add to the story and excitement and immersion and overall fun factor or do they get in the way?  Sometimes a game can look great but crappy camera work makes you focus on the beautiful backgrounds instead of your damn character and it ruins the gameplay.  It's the same with movies.  You don't say a movie looks like shit just 'cuz it's in black and white or has some handheld camera work.  I'd like to see a really nice black and white oldschool horror video game.  Each story has different needs that can be met in many different ways, so I'd say they (both games and movies) need to be rated using a case by case method.

This is art people.  We don't need to count pixels.  You don't walk into the Louvre and complain that the Mona Lisa only has 3 colors.  (I've done this and had my ass swiftly handed to me by some DaVinci-fanboys.)

Regarding Brawl, the gameplay is so damn fun that the graphics are completely irrelevant.  That aside, the graphics ARE amazing.  The character models are the best these characters have EVER looked ever, and the animations are smooth as hell even with a million Excitebikes and Pokemanz all over the screen.  Ridiculous detail was put into the stages this time around, and now even a boring-ass level like Final Destination is completely stunning due to the amazing background animations.  I almost want to stop and admire the beauty and see where Sakurai's team is taking me next.  But sadly, I'm surrounded by bloodthirsty Pikmin who will stop at nothing to eat my soul.  And there's a short big-nosed spaceman who can pick them out of the ground as fast as I can kill them.  And as if that wasn't distracting enough, there's a fat guy who smells like garlic driving a motorcycle right at me while farting all over the place, some dude hiding in a box talking about eating dinosaurs, and there's a fox in a giant tank rolling right at me.  If that's not art, I don't know what is.

That depends. If you gave me a PS3 game that had wonderful SIXAXIS controls (Let's say Warhawk, which I have heard praised), then I would probably rate it higher than a game like... I dunno... LAIR, where you have terrible controls due to the developers not putting enough thought and/or testing into the controls, not the controller's limitation. Now, if you tried to compare the PS3's bes SIXAXIS controlled game Wiimote Motion-sensing game (like Excite Truck), and the Wiimote is somehow Deemed ultimately superior (Like with the PS3/360's graphics being far above the Wii's), then you moght be able to say "Oh, this game doesn't have good controls because it's on the PS3!"

 BING BANG BOOM!  ZAP! 

Now thats an amazing score, and a well deserved one as well, I expect super smash bros barawl to be the best smash game of them all. As well as the 2nd best wii game.

Nintendo is smart, releasing there best mario titles earlier on in the wii's life cycle, that way sales will hold very high.

See, I disagree with this. You don't give Folklore's motion controls a 9.5. That would mean it's controls are on par with Resident Evil 4's or Super Mario Galaxy's, which we all know isn't true. That just isn't fair. Basicly you would be saying, "The games motion controls are mediocre, but that's good for the PS3. So, I'm giving it a 10!" I think that's a stupid way to review games.  There's a reason PSP games don't get the scores that Playstation 3 game would get—because it lacks the second analog stick and the graphics aren't as good. 

This is how I see your post:

Ratchet for the PSP's controls aren't really that good and it's camera isn't either. However, the PSP doesn't have the second analog needed reach high-level controls and a good camera. Therefore, we're going to ignore these flaws and give it's controls and camera a 9.5, because that's really the best the PSP can do.

You don't see the problem with reviewing games that way? When play a game with 9.5 controls, I expect it to control like a game with 9.5 controls, not great controls for that system but mediocre overall. 

I was hoping when I saw this thread that people would stop bashing IGN, but apparently not.  8.5 is really good, and probably just judged against other Wii games considering the good score.  I'd hate to see this site if any source gives this game lower than a 9. 

I hope a lot of people will stop bashing review sites when your chosen game doesn't receive a good score.