Super Smash Bros.: Melee

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.

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
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!!!