2nd Op By

Mike Bracken 8.0 RATING

Like Caleb, Im not a huge fan of fighting games. Most of them seem to have limited replay value (unless youve got a houseful of friends who also like to play) and the mechanics of the games have just never interested me much. Melee looks like a fighting game, but in reality, its so much more, and thats ultimately what makes it so special.

One of the common complaints about this game and the original Super Smash Bros. was that each game catered to button mashers (those people who just flail madly about on the controller when playing a fighting game). At first, Melee does seem to cater to that crowd. With a simplistic control scheme that has players using a few buttons and the analog stick, its possible to win a lot of matches early on without knowing what youre doing. I cant help but think this is by design, though. Nintendo makes the game accessible to anyone right from the start. Melee is easy to learn, but it takes a lot of time and effort to truly master even one character. And when you consider that the game features more than 20 playable characters, mastering the entire game would be a tremendous undertaking.

So, while flailing about on the controller will certainly let the player win some matches (particularly against the computer controlled opponents), it will not allow you to beat a truly skilled Melee master. Dont believe me? Set the computers difficulty level up to 8 or higher and see how far button mashing gets you.

Because of this adjustable skill curve, Melee has a huge amount of replay value. Ive been playing the game for months and still havent totally mastered all the intricacies of Ness, and hes just one character. Because each character has a unique fighting style, mastering just one characters techniques will not make the player a master of all the characters. Its this depth that makes the game so unique.

The simplest way to describe the game is to call it a fighter, but thats only partially true. Melee is a fighter and then some, a game where just being good at fighters isnt enough to guarantee wins. Caleb mentions the multitude of environments to fight in, each with its own dangers and tricky areas. Couple that with a time limit, the staggering amount of offensive and defensive items that are dropped in the match, and the platforming elements present in each stage and one sees how Melee is something of a hybrid of fighting game and platformer.

Ultimately, though, the final criteria for any game is whether or not its fun. Super Smash Bros. Melee is a lot of fun. Whether tackling any of the numerous single player modes, or battling it out in a four-way contest with three of your closest friends, this game continuously entertains. While it may not move all that far beyond the original Smash Bros. as far as innovation goes, it doesnt really matter. When a game works, why tweak with the formula too much? Based on the fun factor alone, Super Smash Bros. Melee is a smashing success.

Public Opinion

ChillY BillY 9.0 Rating

I'd like to give it an extra mark in retaliation to Brad's comment, "Overall, Melee is every bit as good as its Nintendo 64 predecessor. "The game doesn't expand much past that point, though.'

Although this is a true, fair statement, my experience with the two games really makes me want to give it the extra points. My friends and I played Smash Brothers (for the Nintendo 64) so often its not funny. I'm talking many, many thousands of hours of multiplayer madness. Our playing slowly stopped for a few months until I bought the new game, now me and my mates play Super Smash Bros. Melee every chance we get, it re-sparked everything that the original started and I know it will continue to do so. We have hit our first 1000 hours and are going strong, no other game has achieved this in my experience (except maybe Mario Kart).

Definitely worth the $100.00 (AUS) I paid for it. One of the greats!

(Note that I only mentioned multiplayer for it is mainly the only part I use.)

Our honorable Horror Geek reviewed Super Mario Sunshine, asking if said game was praised because it was "feeding our sense of nostalgia". Pondering those words, his praise for Smash Bros. Melee had me thinking, "Mmm... irony". Nostalgia is easily the only reason the N64 game became popular in the first place.

One of the few things I actually liked about Melee was the briefly mentioned trophy museum. I'm a sucker for trivia, and this historical exhibit of Nintendo is a very nice addition; Hard to believe some of the company's games and characters never made it to the Americas. As for the game... well... it's a step up from the N64 title, yet still has too many of that game's flaws. (Read my public opinion of the N64 game, because I won't repeat myself.) The only significant difference between the two? Melee looks prettier.

Maybe my standards are too high, but Melee works far better as an advertising campaign than an actual form of entertainment. What Brad (Gallaway) said about Smash Bros. is something I can still agree with: Melee is as big a "waste of world-class franchise characters" as the first game was. For shame, Nintendo; we deserve better.

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