Super Smash Bros.: Melee

aka: Dairantou Smash Brothers DX, SSB:M, Smash
Moby ID: 5575
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Description official descriptions

The sequel to HAL Laboratory's Super Smash Bros., which pitted Nintendo characters against each other, ups the ante by including more levels, more characters, and more game modes.

The game is a Nintendo fighting game with different rules to it. Instead of knocking your opponent's health down, you knock him or her out of the battle field. You choose from the wealth of Nintendo characters like Mario, Bowser, Yoshi, different Pokémon, and even Link and then either fight through the single-player portion, featuring modes like Classic, Adventure, and Event Mode or battle it out with your friends in a four-player frenzy. More characters and stages are unlocked as hidden objectives are met, and coins rewarded for playing in all modes can be spent on a capsule toy machine. The toys in the machine represent games from Nintendo's entire video game history, and each can be viewed in 3D with a brief description. Also, with the simplified fighting controls, it's pretty easy for even your non-gaming friends to just pick-up and play.

Playable characters come from the following games:

Spellings

  • 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズDX - Japanese spelling
  • 대난투 스매시 브라더스 DX - Korean spelling

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Credits (GameCube version)

293 People (261 developers, 32 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 87% (based on 43 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.2 out of 5 (based on 177 ratings with 14 reviews)

More characters, more levels, and a lot better graphics than the prequel...

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?

GameCube · by Jim Fun (207) · 2002

One Of The First. Still The Best.

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.

GameCube · by Guy Chapman (1748) · 2007

Best Multiplayer game I have ever played. Playability through simplicity.

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.

GameCube · by Gareth Day (7) · 2004

[ View all 14 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Colon (or, rather, lack thereof) in title Michael Cassidy (21326) Dec 13, 2015

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Super Smash Bros. Melee appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Fire Emblem

Prior to this game's release, no game in Nintendo's Fire Emblem series had ever received an official North American release, which caused some confusion among western gamers who were introduced to Marth and Roy (two Fire Emblem characters) via Super Smash Bros. Melee. Initially they were going to be exclusive to the Japanese version of the game. However, when the developers were working on the North American version, they received favorable attention, so they were kept in the Western version.

Mr. Game and Watch

Even though the secret character Mr. Game and Watch is stylized as a 2D character, he is actually a 3D model of his 2D form. The Mr. Game and Watch model is flattened and his shading is different. This can be especially noticed when he's thrown or picking up an item box.

Ness

The character Ness was going to be replaced by Lucas, the main protagonist of Mother 3. However, due to the delay of Mother 3, the developers kept Ness.

Ratings

This was Mario's very first appearance in a game with an ESRB rating higher than E (Everyone).

Snake

Apparently, Hideo Kojima, director of the Metal Gear Solid series, "begged" Nintendo to include Solid Snake as playable character in Melee. However, the game was too into development for this to happen, but Snake appears in Brawl.

Soundtrack

  • There exists a re-recorded soundtrack for this game, released solely as a bonus for Nintendo Power readers. It features all of the "arranged" tracks as played in a concert. Unfortunately, the orchestra is poor, and virtually none of the renditions are as good as the ones within the game.
  • The Final Destination's sound track, if you listen closely enough, has some arrangements from the original Smash Bros. theme near the end.

Trophies

A trophy from the Japanese version of the game was removed for the US release: The trophy of Tamagon, a character from the Japanese-only Famicom (NES) title, Devil World was taken out due to the use of the word "Devil" in the game's title. His description read:

Tamagon

This is the main character of a Japanese NES game never released in North America. In this quirky maze game, your goal was to work your way through a series of scrolling mazes while battling the cyclopean henchmen of a large, winged demon. Tamagon not only had to worry about the evil creatures, but also the walls, which were extremely harmful.

Demon World

Japan Only

Some of the trophies have a few oddities when examined up close. The Barrel Cannon trophy reads "2L84ME" on the bottom. The Daisy trophy also has a third eye if you zoom in and rotate until you clip through her hair on the back of her head.

In addition, two trophies were changed for the US release. Topi was changed from a Seal (as he appears in the Japanese version of Ice Climber) to the Yeti-like creature in the Amercian version. The Proximity Mine was also changed from the Perfect Dark version in the Japanese release to the Goldeneye version (which was also used in the original Super Smash Bros.) for the US release with the game title mysteriously labeled "TOP SECRET."

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2002 – #8 Best GameCube Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
  • EGM
    • February 2006 (Issue 200) - #92 on the "Greatest Games of Their Time" list
  • GameSpy
    • 2001 – GameCube Fighting Game of the Year

Information also contributed by Big John WV, Bob the Stickman, colm52, Mark Ennis, Nelson340, Tiago Jaques and WizardX

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by JPaterson.

Additional contributors: Terok Nor, Warlock, BigJKO, Guy Chapman, Exodia85, FloodSpectre, LordRM, Patrick Bregger, Rik Hideto, FatherJack.

Game added January 11, 2002. Last modified March 27, 2024.