NBrid

Super Smash Bros. Melee

No summary available.

Written by: Hybrid

Rather than write up a long and boring description of Super Smash Brothers
Melee in precise detail and over evaluating, I will make my statements
concise and tell you everything you need to know about the GameCube game
of the year. Always known to be the REAL flagship title for Nintendo's
latest console, SSBM created high expectations since E3 with its almost
weekly hyping from its official website overseas. Now I know I have used
previous installments of games to compare to their sequels (such as Sonic
Adventure 2) but I can honestly say this game destroys the original in
every way. Plus its few shortcomings are still better than they were on
Smash Brothers for N64. But I'll get into that later. Let's start off
with gameplay of course.

GAMEPLAY: Many people say that Melee is just the first game with
better graphics. How can you blame them? They are obviously using the
same moves they have always used. However in this game there are plenty
of distinctions that a Nintendo sequel should have. Besides the 25 total
characters, over 20 stages to play on, about 30 items, and tons of new
modes and options; the play mechanics in Melee have changed greatly and
yet anyone that has played the original could jump right in and feel comfortable.
Take throws for instance. Before you would grab someone and throw them
either left or right. Now you can throw up, down, left, or right, OR you
could grab them and beat them up for a little while, then throw them away.
Factor in the fact that you can grab someone while you're running, break
someone else's grab, and the throws don't go as far and you realize things
get even more complicated. There are tons of other little things you can
do now that you never could in the original. Getting into each of them
would take forever and it's best to just learn them as you go along. Basically
now you can jump back up from ledges as well as attack or just get up
in the original, evade attacks on the ground or counter a grab, evade
projectiles in the air, jump off of walls, perform more special moves,
chain combos together in certain situations, and reflect objects with
your shield at the right time. Add to this the fact that the characters
are more original in how they play this time around. Take for instance
Fox. Before he could jump high and run fast. Now since he is fast, he
also falls pretty fast, but this is rectified with his longer range "fire
fox" special. Or maybe Captain Falcon who has no long range attacks.
Instead he is able to utilize certain items for multiple attacks. The
most important addition to the gameplay has to be charging up smash moves.
Since throws have been weakened, you may end up depending more on smash
moves than before. The longer you hold the A button, the harder your character
hits and the further the opponent flies. Probably the greatest part of
Melee's gameplay has to be its flexibility. Again, you could just go in
using the same attacks and do almost as good as you could before. However,
mastering everything in your arsenal will benefit in those heated 4 player
matches.

VALUE: Here's a tough category. Remember SSB on N64 and how pathetic
the one player mode was? Melee brings back the classic battle ladder as
well as a new adventure mode. Classic is fun for a 10 minute romp once
in a while but Adventure takes a little longer and well…is a whole lot
better. Simply put, you run through 9 Nintendo universes battling melee
characters and goombas alike. Sadly there aren't too many side-scrolling
stages and half of Adventure tends to be just a standard battle with a
twist such as the only items are poke balls or all the kirbies with different
powers. Nevertheless it is still fun. Oh and Melee has the best end credits
ever.



1 player wise there is also a challenge mode that should keep you busy
for a little while too. One challenge would be to knock out Captain Falcon
in 7 seconds or defeat Pikachu with only poke balls. But how long can
you keep playing these modes? Melee is where the real fun comes in. Whether
you are challenging a million wireframes (polygon fighting team) in an
endurance battle or playing a special melee battle like gigantic mode
or "only use A button mode," there is plenty to do. After a
versus match, you will see a much more comprehensive stats screen and
even those little awards you get in Adventure and Classic modes.

Yup this category is a tough one. I'll simplify it for you again. You
can collect up to 300 trophies by way of earning lottery coins, finding
them in 1 player modes or accomplishing a certain task, unlock 11 characters
and numerous stages, take pictures of battle, customize vs. mode to your
heart's content, and if you're the type that has to master a game, you
will be set for a very long time. SSBM is easy to beat, but has much,
much more than it ever did. Anyone that mildly likes Nintendo owes it
to themselves to buy this game.

GRAPHICS: The world of Nintendo has never looked better. Everyone
is extremely smooth and detailed. Even now I still look in awe at how
Bowser's hair blows back as he breathes fire or the way Sheik moves around
the playing field so slick-like. The effects are much more detailed than
before. Everything is in 3d this time around. I think Hal used cell shading
for certain areas of some of the stages. Most of the levels look right
out of their former games. However some people do not like this and think
it takes away from the overall quality of the graphics. I personally like
how some of the stages look like NES games but other stages that are supposed
to look good really don't utilize GC's power. Take the Kongo Jungle level,
the water isn't half as decent as Waverace's water effects…well maybe
WR64. I only noticed this after someone complained about it on some website
but seriously people, the backgrounds look almost exactly as they should
look except for a select few that should of really gotten a facelift.
Playing in a cruddy NES quality level is cool but why should we keep the
bland N64 graphics on others? In conclusion, the characters look great
and run at a smooth 60 frames per second. The shortcomings are barely
noticeable and do not ruin the game in any way. Add in some smooth flowing
gowns and capes and you've got one purdy game. Oh and you even have the
option to toggle between smooth and extremely sharp quality graphics.
Now you can see what this game might look like on PS2…nah I kid, I kid
cuz I love.

SOUND: I will rate this category in 2 subcategories:



1. Everything BUT the redone voices in the Starfox level of adventure
mode: The music is all remastered in orchestral glory and anyone that
says they don't like hearing an amazing, majestic Kirby theme that sounds
like it would be played at a ballet with swans should be forced to play
Superman 64 until their eyes bleed. I haven't been so inspired by game
music since I first stepped outside in Majora's Mask. One of the oddball
tunes has to be the new DK rap from DK64. It's kinda funny but out of
place. It's pretty good but most everything else sounds better. As for
character voices, everyone returning sounds basically the same, only a
little more Japanese or British. Yeah I don't get it either but I'd like
to know how Ness got so manly all of a sudden. However not all the voices
work well…



2. The redone voices in the Starfox level of adventure mode: Oh my god,
it sounds like Hal hired one of their programmers to do a voice over for
Starfox 64 as a joke and they accidentally included it in the final game.
I wish I could do my impression for you but Slippy sounds like even more
of a wiener and Peppy sounds like your casual drunk hobo forced to read
in return for a piece of bread. Seriously they are really bad. The only
reason Falco sounds halfway decent is because they actually had to find
someone to do his voice seeing as how you can…eh that's enough of that
topic. If you can live with this horrid 6 second incident, the sound in
Melee is perfect.

FINAL VERDICT:



If you own a GameCube, buy this game. I was wrong when I said Sonic Adventure 2 was
3 times better than SA1, but Melee has to be 3 times better than the original.
Hell, it's on a whole new level. It's even more of a fighter than before
now that you can create more complex combos (as opposed to hitting someone
really fast and calling it a combo) and it isn't as much of an offensive
game as it was before now that there are a bunch of new defensive elements.
If you liked the original, you will love Melee. If you didn't like the
original, you will like this game. If you hate Nintendo, I hate you. You
buy it!

Gameplay: 5.0
Graphics: 4.0
Sound: 5.0
Value: 5.0
---: ---

Final Score: 5.0   (out of 5)