Smash attacks won't require gestural control.
Today's update to the official Smash Bros. Dojo blog gives an elementary explanation of the normal and smash attacks which have been around since the original Super Smash Bros. on N64. The interesting part is that the blog includes diagrams to show how these moves are performed on all four control schemes (Nunchuk, GameCube, Classic, Remote-Only).
When the blog first introduced these four methods of controlling the game, it gave no information on how basic elements of the game, including smash attacks, might be performed with each of them. The Remote-Only scheme was particularly mysterious, with many fans speculating that it would use some kind of motion control to execute smashes. However, this will not be the case.
With the Remote-Only scheme, the 2 button is used for normal (quick) attacks, a direction on the D-Pad with the 2 button produces a stronger attack, and a direction plus the 1 and 2 buttons simultaneously performs a smash attack. The dual button press is required for the game to tell the difference between a hard attack and a smash attack, whereas that difference is communicated through analog joystick motion in the three other control schemes.
This same blog update also confirms that charged smashes, introduced in SSB Melee, will return in Brawl. These are still based on holding the attack button during a smash attack and then releasing after a second or two. The only difference for the Remote-Only scheme is that both buttons (1 and 2) must be held and then released.
