Super Smash Bros.: Melee

The Good
Above all other things, this is quite possibly the greatest multiplayer game ever conceived. I have a group of friends that meet regularly for sessions, and we are always up until insane hours of the night, and have logged hundreds of hours. Between the huge number of characters and levels, and the sheer chaos of the game, it never grows stale. (Even as we've burned out on other "party" games within a couple days)

The play dynamics, as invented in the original Smash Bros, are still highly unique. Instead of simply playing "last man standing," the point is to knock as many players out of the ring as many times as possible. No one is removed from gameplay at any point for more than a few seconds, and last second comebacks are quite plausible. Furthermore, the game seems to almost equally reward skill and button-mashing - unless you're up against a Grand Master player, even newcomers will be able to hold their own while learning the ropes.

The one-player games are nearly as good. There are a multitude of different adventures, tournaments, and various challenges you can engage in. The "adventure" mode turns into an odd homage to side-scrolling adventures, with your character of choice running through levels inspired by all the games represented, along with certain important battles that come along. And there's always the option of simply playing battles against the computer - whose AI is quite good at the high levels.

The graphics, while not the best the Gamecube has seen, are pretty much as good as this sort of game would allow. Some of the levels are QUITE huge, and all the character animations are spot on. There's never any slowdown no matter how much is happening. Sound is similarly great - around half of the soundtrack is comprised of orchestral arrangements or classic game themes, performed by a full orchestra. And the various sound effects for the characters are spot-on as well. (I take great demented glee in the pathetic "Piikkkkaaaaaaaaaaaaa" when Pikachu sails into the sunset)

The Bad
My one big complaint is how they make you jump through hoops to unlock the hidden characters and levels. I hate that, and some of the trials they put you through are nearly impossible. You will be made to log a lot of hours with the game, some of them very frustrating (cough15 minute battlecough) to open up all the secrets.

Also, the game can be unforgiving to players with smaller TV sets. Some of the battlegrounds are so large that, if the camera pulls back all the way, it's virtually impossible to tell what's going on, or even who is who. (this effect is especially bad on the Hyrule castle level, leading to the occasional called truce as we move back to the center of the field)

The Bottom Line
In terms of entertainment and hours spent relative to cost, this is quite possibly the best game purchase I've ever made. Cannot be recommended strongly enough.

The Good
Super Smash Bros.: Melee sports some of the most astounding graphics ever. After 2.5 years, the crisp and vibrant graphics still leave you in awe. The gameplay is simplistic enough that beginners can have great fun with it, while at the same time the level of depth which you can play with can keeps it fresh for veterans. The variety of characters spanning over the entire Nintendo dynasty also makes for very fun and wacky matches (there's nothing like seeing Donkey Kong smashing Samus Aran off of a floating tree-island from Kirby's Dreamland). The replay value of this game is tremendous with its incomparably addictive four-player smash-fest.

The Bad
While there are plenty of well-designed stages that are perfect for 1-on-1 matches which can, theoretically, be played with 4 players, the only flawless level for 4 player mode is the Hyrule level. More larger levels would have been nice. Also, some characters are too similar to each other for my taste. For example, Ganondorf is really just a heavier version of Captain Falcon, with different colored attacks and sounds. This is not terrible, but it just seems like a cheap way to throw in an extra character.

The Bottom Line
SSB:M is an insanely addictive game which pits Nintendo characters in a deathmatch. It's great controls/fight mechanics coupled with its great graphics, sounds, design, and replay value, makes this an almost obligatory title for any Gamecube owner. The pro's of this title outweigh the con's without contest warranting this title with a spot as one of the greatest games ever released.

The Good
This game is a zany cross-over of all of your favorite Nintendo characters. Link, Samus, Mario, Kirby... they're all here and ready to play a super-simplistic game that also happens to be a lot of fun. The goal is simple. Hit, wack, throw, pummel, nudge, smash, bounce, launch to try to knock them off the edge. Even if you don't succeed, you might just hurt your opponent causing their damage meter to go up making them fly farther and jump less... between the two effects, the next attack you make has a better chance of knocking your opponent out of the arena!

Now, add the fact that 4 players can play... and the fact that the levels are gorgeous!, even the single player ones (which is greatly improved over the N64 single player modes) and tons of unlockable features and "collecting items"... and you have yourself one fun game!

The Bad
Not very much. If there's one complaint I have with the game it's clone characters. That is the characters that play suspiciously similar to one another... these include Mario & Luigi, Ganondorf & Captain Falcon, Link and Young Link, Pikatchu and Pitchu (although in this case there's enough of a difference to be forgiven instantly).

That and the game is hard to put down! =)

The Bottom Line
Zany cartoon Violence Fun for the whole family... that features lots and lots of Nintendo characters. Almost no skill is required... just pick-up and play! And thank you Nintendo for making my zany cross-over dreams come true!

The Good
For one of the the "first" games on the system, the game is beautiful. It still is, even by today's standards. From a Nintendo fan point of view, there is so much that is visually and aurally pleasing that it's more a playable version of Nintendo's history.

The character selection is significantly enhanced from the original game, adding villains and more female characters outside of Samus Aran. The game even takes a nod towards more obscure titles like Ice Climber and the Game & Watch series, as well as introducing the Fire Emblem heroes. Every character is full of the appropriate personality.

The music is a full soundtrack of classic NES/SNES/N64 hit after hit after hit. It's fun to hear which tunes comes next, and repetition is not terribly common.

Control wise, the game does exactly as you want it to. It offers precise control that allows for a strong chance to get out of even the worst situation.

The options are equally as impressive. Playing through the Adventure Mode the first time is just great. Link in the Mushroom Kingdom? Kirby in Hyrule? Pikachu in Brinstar? Again, it's a Nintendo fan dorkgasm that isn't thrown together to simply say "Look! I'm here!" Everything is fun to explore and stays accurate to the individual game's history, and each stage offers creative challenges from within the levels, and are just incredibly thought out.

It's nice to see that they actually took time to make the single player modes interesting. Also noteworthy are all the little challenge modes that players can test themselves to beat. Whether it's endurance modes, breaking targets, or the individual challenges, players aren't left wanting. Even collecting the trophies is tremendously addictive, full of Nintendo history, and just fun to display. It was not uncommon going on a mad quest to collect as many trophies and unlockables as possible. It's equally as addicting as the gameplay itself.

Multi-player allows a fantastic amount of customization options, adding all new aspects to every time you play. And Smash Bros Melee makes for a highly fun party game.

As a whole, the game has aged very, very well, and is still as relevant now as it was 5-6 years ago.

The Bad
A few minor things: The "clone" characters aren't as diverse as one would hope. Dr. Mario is another Mario. Pichu is a bit silly, especially when there are more powerful Pokemon to offer, or even Ash. How different are Roy and Marth, honestly? Why couldn't Luigi be equipped with some of his "Luigi's Mansion" abilities? There are a lot of characters, but some are a little too similar to the others, which is more disappointing as some other characters could have been included instead. The game is very Mario-heavy on its character roster, and some unique characters missed their chance to shine.

Where was Pit from Kid Icarus? Any of the boxers from Punch-Out!! Wario? The sequel is addressing some of these questions, but for the current game, there were a few missed opportunities. But not everyone is going to be satisfied, so it's a tall order to fill.

The Bottom Line
Nintendo's characters are to the video game industry what Disney's Mickey Mouse and company are to animation. You can't think of the medium without a handful these characters springing to mind. It's hard to say much "new" about a game that everyone knows, everyone has played, and everyone is waiting like fiends for the sequel.

Super Smash Bros. Melee is the "Captain N: The Game Master" episode we always wanted to happen on Saturday morning, but never did. It's wild, fast-paced, fun, and so laden with nostalgia, that you can't help but remember those nights of staying up all night long trying to beat some level on your NES.

Super Smash Bros. Melee is a love letter from Nintendo to its fans. That pat on the head for buying their games all these years, and as much as they give you in this game, you keep wanting more, as the imaginations of Nintendo's various designers have given us so many worlds to play in over the years. And while I am admittedly gushing over this title, it's more than justified. This was THE game to own on Gamecube, and it's only built up hype for the Wii sequel to a frenzied pace.

Truly a fantastic and attention worthy game. Highly recommended.

The Good
First off, the graphics are top-notch. Not the best the GameCube will ever see, but definately top-notch. Special effects, like fire and such, look especially nice. And most characters have very detailed textures. So, graphics. Good.

The sound: Well, although the sound effects aren't something you really notice while taking part in a clash of video game characters, it has all the sounds you'd want including Mario's high-pitched shouting to Mewtwo's demonic grunts. The music, however, is something you'll notice. It's all your favorite music pulled straight out of Nintendo classics, like Metroid, Mario, Zelda, you-name-it, remixed and pumped into one game. It's every Nintendo fan's dream.

The single-player, while being a bit on the short side, still has a lot to do after a month of constant playing. There's the normal modes, Classic mode(Where you compete against every character in random battles, ranging from three characters against one giant character to just normal one on one), Adventure Mode(Which takes you through classic side-scrolling levels, with little fights inbetween) and All-Star Mode(A mode that's only enabled when you've unlocked all the characters, where you have to fight one on one, one on two and one on three matches with all the characters in the game). Then there's unlockable characters, bonus stages(like Sandbag Run and Target Practice) and Event Mode. Event Mode has you do specific missions, of sort, where you, for example, have to kill 128 tiny Marios. And if that's not enough, there's roughly 300 trophies of classic Nintendo characters and objects scattered around all of the modes, so get ready to do some collecting. As you can see there's enough to do in the single-player alone.

But that's not what'll keep you coming back to the game in a year. That'll be the multi-player portion of the game. Two to Four-player battles against your mates which almost always end up in heated discussions over how good a judge the computer was on that KO, and the throwing of controllers at opponents. Be ready to take a pause on your friend-ship, cause once you pick up the controller, you'll be pulling all the dirty tricks in the book in order to win. When it really heats up, opponents will start pulling your controller out of its plug, rendering you immobile, making you the perfect pray. Don't worry, not every game you'll be having will have this level of sportmanship. In time you, and your mates, will grow up and start fighting like men(or women.)

The Bad
For one, there could be more extras. It's nothing to complaing about, really. But the single-player portion of the game will be done in two months.

If I have to find any other flaw with the game, it's that most of the unlockable characters are pretty similar to the default characters. Mario is almost identical to Dr. Mario, and although Luigi can jump higher, there's not much different between them, except for strength. Still, I'd rather see my favorite characters in there, and have them be copies, than not see them at all. Put Wario in and have him identical to even Kirby, and I wouldn't care. (Well, having Wario identical to Kirby, as far as moves go, would be ridiculous, so scratch that idea.)

The Bottom Line
Trust me, this is the best multi-player game you'll get on the GameCube. We tried TimeSplitters 2, Mario Party 4, Super Monkey Ball. But it all ended at the same station. Super Smash Bros. Melee.

The Good
The sheer playability of the game and using so few buttons. You cannot have more fun with four mates on one screen all at the same time. An original slant on the beat-em-up genre, that leaves conventional fighters such as Tekken and Soul Calibur wanting in terms of fun and epic battles. The variety of the levels and the impact they can have on the battle make it a joy to choose between them. The ingenious array of about 30 pick up's and the awesome Poke-balls all of which are customizable create a multiplayer game unrivalled by anything else. The single player challenges offer a massive challenge which if you can complete really make you a master of the game.

The Bad
Slightly weak single player story mode.

The Bottom Line
Best multiplayer fighter ever made.

The Good
In my honest opinion, this may be one of the games that I have spent more hours playing than any other two games combined. It has almost limitless replay value, as long as you can one to three friends together. With classic characters like Mario, Luigi, Mr. Game & Watch and Samus, and new characters like Sheik, Ganondorf, and Doc Mario, it is just endless hours of competitive fun. While the single player isn't bad, I've only used it to gain trophies, or when unlocking other characters. Other than that, this game is completely about multi-player.

It's multi-player facets is one of best designed four-player fighting games ever. The stages are well done, with exciting and notable differences, rather than just generic scene changes.

The Bad
The only three flaws in this game are:

1) The repetitiveness of the single-player mode. There is only so often you can go through it, with every character. Even with the three modes, and the 'extra' target and homerun modes, it can only provided limited entertainment if you are by yourself.

2) Lack of some classic characters. It is unfortunate that classic characters like Kid Icarius and other famous notables didn't make it into the game, even though Marth and Roy did. And, rather than having young Link and Link, and Doc Mario, and Mario, I would have liked to see more variety. Having younger/alternate versions seems like a cop-out to me.

3) Some of the stages are really hard to fight on. Some stages are more hazardous than the other players, causing more SDs than anything else. I appreciate the novelty of some of them, like PokeFloats and Big Blue, but I would have rather seen them be less deadly against the players. After all, the players are there to fight each other, not run from a scroll screen in order to just stay alive.

The Bottom Line
One of the best games in the market - Don't walk, run to buy this game.

The Good
Super Smash Bros. Melee is a game that I MUST add to my list of favorite games! Just about everything from the characters (as well as the secret ones but I don't wish to spoil them to you) to the stages to the 1P Mode to the VS Mode, the trophies, the music, the amazing graphics, the sound effects, to the gameplay. It's great having loads of moves and attacks, as well as the fact that you can send your foes flying to oblivion. My favorite things about SSBM are some of the levels (including Brinstar, Mushroom Kingdom [from Super Mario Bros. 1], and a lot of the secret stages, but again, I don't want to spoil them to you), and some of my favorite characters to use are Mario, Captain Falcon, Link and Fox. And the multi-player battles, YOU GOTTA LOVE THEM!!!

The Bad
Very few things about SSBM annoy me. It would have been cool if they added some more levels and characters (which includes but is not limited to, Wario, and a stage from Luigi's Mansion). I also thought unlocking some of the secrets and passing some event matches was obscenely difficult. I love challenges, yes, but some of these were sooooooo frustrating.

The Bottom Line
NO Nintendo fan can say their collection of Nintendo games is complete WITHOUT this game! I was not the least bit disappointed when I bought this and neither will you. GO FOR IT!!!

The Good
The "texture" of the characters. And by "texture", I mean graphics. Although there is not much of a storyline, what precious little I did learn from visiting from this site, It seems to me, you have to put a lot of strategy into the fighting in the whole mess.

The Bad
What I did not like was the event matches. I mean they're great but some are a little too difficult to operate.This is like an equation, the input is the conditions and terms, the insides are what is added, and the output is the result of what you did and what is the finished product or result.LT's or like terms are the four biggies in all of math and life itself.

The Bottom Line
There are many a character you can choose from but the character is only as good as you are. You could have a character with great potential inside a match but is wasted due to your skills, (not to be offensive). Then again, a character with poor potential in a match isn't wasted because you are particularly good with that character.

The Good
I loved that fact that you can be your favorite video game hero/heroine. cough link cough This game gave a whole new style to the fighting genre. I love the fact that you dont have to worry about loosing health. The fact that if you can get back to the stage, you're still in the game! I also like to go into versus and create little "stories" of my own to go through and fight people to complete the next "level" or whatever! Its great fun.

The Bad
I dont like the fact that this game........ Wait, there isn't anything I dont like about this game! I guess if I were to change the game to what I wanted, I'd put in the option for versus mode, to play against random characters that would respawn after the first one got KO'd, or something like that. But as far as things wrong with it...... I guess the games statistics could be a little clearer, if you know what I mean.... If you dont, well, then you need to play the game and find out!

The Bottom Line
The best game ever. Everyone needs to try it atleast once in their lifetime.

The Good
Did you think that SSB was an awesome game? Well, just wait until you play this, because this will blow your freakin' mind!!!

The gameplay for SSBM is basically like SSB: fight as and against your favorite Nintendo characters. Simple, but very well pulled off. What is different in this game, though, is there is twice as much in it. Not just more characters and stages, but new modes such as "Adventure", which is basically Classic but a scripted version. You know, like an action movie. lol But there is much more than that, such as "Multi-man Melee" and "Homerun Contest".

The music in the game is, in one word, good. When I say that, I mean that some tracks are freakin' awesome (such as the Fire Emblem track) and some I don't really care for (such as Green Greens). But over all, the sound track in this game is something I would definitely buy, a feat that most games can't make me want to do.

The graphics, I have to say, are amazing. What makes them even better is that SSBM was one of the first GC games (I think). I love how detailed some stages are. For instance, in the background of Rainbow Cruise, you can see a small town on the cliff. It even has a dirt path in it! Now THAT is attention to detail in my book.

The Bad
Despite how awesome this game is, there are a few problems. For example, in the camera mode, if you use NPC's, you will NOT get a good picture!

Also, on a small note, I don't like the announcer in SSBM as much as the SSB one. And I don't like how the match is started with "Ready? GO!" instead of "3...2...1...GO!". But these is only a small complaint.

Finally, something kind "personal" I guess is the fact that this game isn't as creative as the first title in the series (IMO). When I say that, I don't mean the graphics. They're excellent. What I mean is how "unique" the original was compared to this. Think about it for a sec:

SSB: The characters were literately stuffed dolls from a toy chest. The stages were supposedly made from common house hold objects (cardboard, pencil holders, blocks). Almost every stage is supposed to be taking place in the sky and/or is floating. Also, if you completed the 1-player mode, when the camera blacks out, you here a door slam, implying that the whole time, the fighting and violence was controlled by a child! And Master Hand was the child's hand!

The main point is that the original showed a child playing with their toys from their point of view. But in SSBM, they are clearly trophies coming to life. Even the intros of the characters are kind of lame. To me, it all seems slightly lazy.

The Bottom Line
Despite the fact that I think this game heavily lacks in creativity, this is a great addition to your GameCube collection.

The Good
Want a good beat'em'up this is the one for you. Its got good graphics, gameplay and even better you can literally smash your opponents into space. However if battling in melee's isn't your style. Go on classic mode, adventure mode or, after its been unlocked, take on the challenging all star mode. Plus even if that dosen't appeal to you try camera mode, giant mode, sudden death melee and even invisible mode. Then if you get bored with that have a go at wire frame battles, home run mode or just tune up your skill with practice mode. Even better is that all the time your getting new characters, levels and being awarded trophies.

The Bad
There's that much to choose from the chances are you're head is going to explode.

The Bottom Line
The best beat'em'up known to man. Know a better one then tell me I'd have to buy it.

The Good
The GameCube has proven to be one of the best consoles in the world graphically, and Nintendo has developed more than enough excellent games to make it sell like a huge sized burger! SSB:M is actually one of the best games I've ever played, you have characters ranging from Pikachu to Mario, from Donkey Kong to Link. Of course the classic mode might prove a bit too tough at the end when you reach "the hand" which is quite a pain to defeat. But the adventure mode is just too good to believe, you go through levels ranging from The Mushroom World, playing a Mario type game, to a Pokemon world! This game is great, and Nintendo seems to never stop making the best games.

The Bad
Well, this game is actually spick & span with absolutely no flaws whatsoever! Except the difficulty in classic mode that I already mentioned.

The Bottom Line
Nintendo has proven over the ages to be my favorite game developer, and they surprised again with this game, I wonder, will Nintendo actually make a bad game?

The Good
Taking characters from the Nintendo franchise and controlling them as they punch the hell out of each other is still one of my favorite concepts for a game ever. It allows for a lot of fun, revenge and memorable moments and at a party it will always prove to be everybody's favorite. This time around we expanded ourselves a bit further by adding characters from Fire Emblem and some retro titles, as well as adding several fighters from games that were already on the list (Peach and Bowser from the Mario series for example).

Despite of this expansion, the designers at least knew where to stop and this is where Brawl went wrong. The list of fighters in Brawl was indeed huge, but it features so many copies and complete unknowns that it was a bit overwhelming and a waste of space. I excuse Dr. Mario for been a very good reference, Young Link for the fact that Wind Waker was riding high on this system and Falco for just been a badass. That leaves Pichu as the only character that was genuinely a copy of another one. All the other new (and old) characters have their own moves and fighting styles and it compliments them much better.

The new trophies section is a giant Nostalgia trip for Nintendo fans of all ages, a whole gallery filled with information on classic characters that couldn't make it into the game. I would even go as far as to say that it is quite a museum, but it's kinda sad that there are only 300 trophies or so to collect. It's an impressive number, but dear god, you just never want to stop collecting these prizes.

The fighting is a huge improvement over the original Super Smash Bros.. The reason for this is that the controls are now 100% fluent and responsive, you have complete control over the characters you are playing as and you'll never run into a situation where you'll be justified to complain about the controls leading to your death. While this is hardly the game that absolutely required it, it is still nice to have and it makes the game great for tournaments with more serious friends.

All the fighters are really balanced and they all have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example: Sheik is a very fast and flexible damage dealer that can run at high speed and do a lot of damage, but at the same time he is rather fragile and lacks the power to perform the actual attacks that would launch you out of the map. Even the characters that you may find completely useless, like in my case the Ice Climbers and Pichu, are really effective when given to the right people.

The level design is simply gorgeous and there is a nice variety of maps to play in. Almost all the maps are based on locations from the games Super Smash draws its fighters from and compared to the original title these are a huge update both in terms of gameplay and graphics. Some of the maps look breathtaking and many of them have special rules that you need to keep in mind, for example Mute City has cars race over the course that you are fighting one.

The soundtrack is also fittingly awesome to hear and most of it consists once again of tracks from the games we all know and love.

The Bad
It is kind of a shame that the game doesn't feature any of the old maps from the original with a graphical update. It seems like a small task to put them in and they were genuinely entertaining to play (Pokémon stage!!!). There are some unlockable stages I believe, but that is not going to cut it, we want the full package.

The new story mode (or adventure mode) is pretty fun to play, but it lacks context. An adventure would imply you are on some kind of quest, but due to the lack of narration or even a few messages throughout the span of the hour-long trip, you just do the same thing as in the Classic mode. That's not to say that it isn't a lot of fun, but when you make your way through a cave filled with monsters from the Zelda universe in search of the Triforce, it would be at least fair to give us a little explanations as to why. (P.S. that is a pretty good idea for the next Zelda game, I liked that part a lot.)

If I am absolutely forced to come up with another argument, it would be that it's very hard to figure out which character you are playing when there is two copies of that character on the screen (an NPC might have picked it or another human player). It's okay in Free-For-All due to the difference in color, but when you go in teams the second player will have a lighter version of the character which is almost impossible to notice during hectic moments.

The Bottom Line
Melee is by far the best installment in this franchise, which also happens to be my second-favorite Nintendo franchise, so you can see why I am rather fond off this game. The combat is fun and due to the fluent controls it is great for parties, newcomers and even tournaments, all of these situations will come with great laughter due to the great concept this franchise has going. A few very minor issues can't ruin the experience for anybody.

Who can I not recommend this game to? If you have something against Nintendo than this is not really anything for you, it might be a good fighter, but you'll most likely be unable to put up with the premise.