Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee
U.S. Release Date: December 3, 2001
The GameCube Archives Score: 9.8/10
After the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, my son has had Smash Bros. fever. He had the Wii U and 3DS iterations of the series, but for some reason, this new Switch Smash Bros. game just touched a nerve. He's had me take him to in-town Smash Bros. tournaments (where he's done okay, and I've been summarily destroyed), and also asked to see the older Smash Bros. games. At the top of his wish list to watch: Super Smash Bros. Melee.
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| Oh, the geometry |
Despite its popularity with franchise fans, and despite the fact that I'd owned it for 17 years at that point, I'd never been able to deeply get into the Super Smash Bros. Melee. However, I'd put hundreds of hours into the original Nintendo 64 Super Smash Bros. In the Summer of 1999 and the years shortly after, my brother, two cousins who mirror our ages, and I played in four-player matches that sometimes led to actual fistfights. My main was Captain Falcon, my cousin of comparable age's Samus. My brother used Link, and the cousin his age, Mario. Oh the memories. We even pulled the old classic out for one of our bachelor parties years later.
However, when Melee was released, I was deeper in to college, had less free time, and the four of us as a unit had more or less scattered. The cousin my age and I put some hours into it on my little CRT at my dingy apartment. However, we were both a little off-put by not only the game's faster speed, but more chaotic gameplay. After a few months of playing, I put the game on the shelf and never played it, or any other Smash Bros. game again, outside of a little bit of Wii U and Ultimate with my son.
However, as soon as we fired up Super Smash Bros. Melee and I saw the things I had left to earn, I remembered that the whole reason I started reviewing GameCube games was to finally appreciate the system more. What better game in which to do so than one emblematic of my entire original experience with the GameCube?
However, when Melee was released, I was deeper in to college, had less free time, and the four of us as a unit had more or less scattered. The cousin my age and I put some hours into it on my little CRT at my dingy apartment. However, we were both a little off-put by not only the game's faster speed, but more chaotic gameplay. After a few months of playing, I put the game on the shelf and never played it, or any other Smash Bros. game again, outside of a little bit of Wii U and Ultimate with my son.
However, as soon as we fired up Super Smash Bros. Melee and I saw the things I had left to earn, I remembered that the whole reason I started reviewing GameCube games was to finally appreciate the system more. What better game in which to do so than one emblematic of my entire original experience with the GameCube?
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| I know Mario is excited |
More than 17 years removed from the game, but having recently experienced the Wii U and Switch Smash Bros. games, I feel like I finally have a comparison point for Melee outside the series. Due to the high level of technicality involved in truly excelling in the game, Melee is most similar in feel to Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, released just a couple years prior. The overall gameplay is far different between the two, as the Smash Bros. series is composed of non-traditional fighting games and Street Fighter wrote the book on fighting games. However, for both Melee and 3rd Strike, a large amount of attention to detail, as far as counter moves and exploiting single frame events, is crucial to success at either game.
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| Also crucial: an appreciation for insanity |
Personally, I prefer to just brawl. I liked using Captain Falcon in the first Smash Brothers game because I loved the visceral appeal of Falcon Punching the crap out of my foes. The 64 game moved more slowly, and landing such heavy blows was quite easier. Good lucking going to a Melee tournament today and finding someone using Captain Falcon, let alone landing Falcon Punches with him. Yes, Melee is a different beast entirely.
But so is the Smash Bros. series. Unlike traditional fighters, where one fighter is defeated when their opponent has hit them enough to completely deplete their power meter, a Smash Bros. player is only defeated when they are thrown out of the stage/arena. Smash Bros. arenas are usually bordered by bottomless pits. The more damage a player has taken, the farther they fly backward when attacked. Get knocked too far, and you can't jump back onto the arena. Fall into the pit, and it counts as a knockout. Some arenas don't have bottomless pits, but getting knocked far enough out of the left or right frame in those will count as a knockout.
But so is the Smash Bros. series. Unlike traditional fighters, where one fighter is defeated when their opponent has hit them enough to completely deplete their power meter, a Smash Bros. player is only defeated when they are thrown out of the stage/arena. Smash Bros. arenas are usually bordered by bottomless pits. The more damage a player has taken, the farther they fly backward when attacked. Get knocked too far, and you can't jump back onto the arena. Fall into the pit, and it counts as a knockout. Some arenas don't have bottomless pits, but getting knocked far enough out of the left or right frame in those will count as a knockout.
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| Pictured: Fox and Peach getting knocked into a pit, while Samus waits for Falcon--glorious Falcon, to whom all Smash power be--to knock her out of stage right |
A match can be set to "stock" or "time." With "stock," players essentially get a set allotment of times they can be knocked out. Once they've hit that number, they are eliminated. With a timed match, whoever has caused the greatest amount of knockouts, minus the times they've been knocked out themselves in the allotted time, wins. It's as simple as it sounds.
Where the game gets interesting is in the diversity of its 25 playable characters, and the fact that the 25 playable characters are all Nintendo mascots. Want Mario to fight Donkey Kong like its 1980? You got it. Luigi jealous that he isn't the only Nintendo mascot wearing green? Put him up against Link? The commercial for Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 sold this concept perfectly:
It sure sold me, at least. As soon as I saw this 30-second spot, I pooled together a couple of my Winn Dixie paychecks, and picked up Super Smash Bros. The concept of a multitude of Nintendo characters and franchises duking it out will always be cool. Using character specific moves, like the aforementioned Falcon Punch, Mario's coin-uppercut, and Link's spinning sword slash feel great. Considering Melee's got twice as many characters as the Nintendo 64 Smash Bros., it should be twice the fun, right?
Well, now that I've a had quite a bit of time to get over the fact that Melee and Smash 64 are different, I can not only much better enjoy Melee for what it is, but recognize just how much fun it is to play. In truth, if one approaches Melee as if it and 64 are the same game...one will get destroyed. They aren't. As I've mentioned, Melee is faster and more technical. While pulling off moves is just as easy, with most moves only requiring one button to be pushed (along with a joystick direction), actually implementing those moves in a fight is a bit more complicated.
This involves a ton of practice. Enough casual play will get you, or at least me to the level that I can defeat all of the games challenges, and take on the highest difficulty computer-controlled foes. However, if I play any human who has sunk hours upon hours in mastering Melee, I will have absolutely no chance at winning...but I'll get to that in a moment.
Where the game gets interesting is in the diversity of its 25 playable characters, and the fact that the 25 playable characters are all Nintendo mascots. Want Mario to fight Donkey Kong like its 1980? You got it. Luigi jealous that he isn't the only Nintendo mascot wearing green? Put him up against Link? The commercial for Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 sold this concept perfectly:
It sure sold me, at least. As soon as I saw this 30-second spot, I pooled together a couple of my Winn Dixie paychecks, and picked up Super Smash Bros. The concept of a multitude of Nintendo characters and franchises duking it out will always be cool. Using character specific moves, like the aforementioned Falcon Punch, Mario's coin-uppercut, and Link's spinning sword slash feel great. Considering Melee's got twice as many characters as the Nintendo 64 Smash Bros., it should be twice the fun, right?
Well, now that I've a had quite a bit of time to get over the fact that Melee and Smash 64 are different, I can not only much better enjoy Melee for what it is, but recognize just how much fun it is to play. In truth, if one approaches Melee as if it and 64 are the same game...one will get destroyed. They aren't. As I've mentioned, Melee is faster and more technical. While pulling off moves is just as easy, with most moves only requiring one button to be pushed (along with a joystick direction), actually implementing those moves in a fight is a bit more complicated.
This involves a ton of practice. Enough casual play will get you, or at least me to the level that I can defeat all of the games challenges, and take on the highest difficulty computer-controlled foes. However, if I play any human who has sunk hours upon hours in mastering Melee, I will have absolutely no chance at winning...but I'll get to that in a moment.
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| Apparently a trio of CPU level 5 schlubs are easier to beat than some dude who's been playing Melee non-stop in his mom's basement for the last 17 years. |
Like all games in the Smash Bros. franchise, Melee features items, which randomly rain down from the sky periodically during a fight. These range from a baseball bat or lightsab...I mean, light sword, to explosive mines and health pick-ups, to Pokéballs that unleash a random Pokémon to fight for whomever grabbed and tossed the ball first. This can lead to absolute chaos, and can also either equalize a fight between unequal opponents, or make it even more lopsided. Items, of which there are myriad types, can be shut off completely, slowed to a trickle, or set to a constant Seattle downpour. The item selection screen even lets the player choose between which items they do and don't want to appear.
Just as there are myriad items in Super Smash Bros. Melee, there are also myriad game modes. Of course, with melees, you can fight solo against up to three computer foes, with a friend and up to two computers foes...with two friends and one computer foe...with three friends...whatever you do, you can have four fighters going at it at once, all against each other, or on teams in the time or stock modes I mentioned above. However, Melee also brings back a renamed target challenge and Adventure Mode from Smash 64. The "Target Test," now lost to time, involves breaking ten hard-to-reach targets, strewn across an arena, unique to each of the 25 playable characters.
Just as there are myriad items in Super Smash Bros. Melee, there are also myriad game modes. Of course, with melees, you can fight solo against up to three computer foes, with a friend and up to two computers foes...with two friends and one computer foe...with three friends...whatever you do, you can have four fighters going at it at once, all against each other, or on teams in the time or stock modes I mentioned above. However, Melee also brings back a renamed target challenge and Adventure Mode from Smash 64. The "Target Test," now lost to time, involves breaking ten hard-to-reach targets, strewn across an arena, unique to each of the 25 playable characters.
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| Meanwhile, the first level of the Adventure Mode really makes me wish Nintendo had done a 2D Mario game for GameCube in this exact graphical style |
The Adventure Mode itself offers several unique challenges (i.e., a randomized maze), as well as scripted fights against strange combinations of foes. Beat enough target and adventure modes with enough characters, and you can unlock new stages and other bonuses. But wait, there's more! Ever wanted to beat up an anthropomorphic sandbag, then hit it with a bat as hard as you can? There's a mode for that here, with the goal being to knock the poor sandbag as far into the distance as possible.
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| Now, Sandbag, you know this is for your own good |
There's even a survival mode, where you see how many character drones you can knock out before you yourself bite the dust, and an event mode, where you complete ever more difficult fight challenges. The game also keeps records of not only all your melee fights for every single character, but also when you've completed challenges and unlocked bonuses, trophies, new stages, and new characters. Unlocking new characters, usually done by competing in or winning enough melees, as in all Smash games, is incredibly addictive. The game gives and gives and gives. It's seemingly endless. Endless enough to where, though I sunk in some hours 17 years ago, I found recently I still had so, so many more things to unlock...and as of this review, I've finally unlocked them all.
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| There's, uh...a little bit of a gap there in the top two lines |
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| Finally! |
I've also come to appreciate that Melee doesn't have to have the same gameplay as Smash 64. Most people today find 64's gameplay to be too slow, anyway (I still love it, though). Melee's faster speed, and need for higher precision is actually quite addictive once you get used to it. I found, playing against CPU's and playing both with and against my son has been a blast, and a reminder of not just how excellent the Smash Bros. franchise is as a whole, but just how Melee stands out. Even its smooth graphics and excellent soundtrack, featuring countless classic Nintendo tunes from each represented franchise, are factors I feel I appreciate even more today. But I've also found a new flaw...
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| But right before I get to that, look at this detail! Moths around the candlelight. Cranky Kong hanging out behind the window. Captain Falcon making Link and Luigi look like dorks. |
I mentioned that my son wanted me to take him to a local competition. Our city, while a state capital, isn't exactly enormous, nor a mecca of video gaming. I figured the level of competition wouldn't be insane, and indeed, on the newer Ultimate, my son held his own. He didn't win the tournament or anything, but the grownups and teenagers there (my son was the only player under 10) soon learned they had to take him seriously. I decided to stick with Melee.
Before the competition, and especially 17 years ago, I felt that in the casual competition I took part in, the characters in Melee were fairly balanced. Few people were going to use Jigglypuff, but just about every character seemed viable. Not 18 years later. In the competition, I fought several people.
They all used Fox.
Every single person, 11 overall people in the competition besides myself, used Fox.
Fox's speed and rolling abilities, when used in conjunction with game exploits like fazing out for a single frame, make him absolutely impossible to beat. Super Smash Bros. Melee is broken.
At this point, on a competitive level, it might as well be called Super Smash Bros. Star Fox. Apparently, the only other viable character is Falco, Fox's wingman in Star Fox, who mirrors Fox's moveset. If a player puts thousands of hours into frame-perfecting Fox McCloud, they might have a shot at being a competitive Melee player. Otherwise, they're out of luck.
Before the competition, and especially 17 years ago, I felt that in the casual competition I took part in, the characters in Melee were fairly balanced. Few people were going to use Jigglypuff, but just about every character seemed viable. Not 18 years later. In the competition, I fought several people.
They all used Fox.
Every single person, 11 overall people in the competition besides myself, used Fox.
Fox's speed and rolling abilities, when used in conjunction with game exploits like fazing out for a single frame, make him absolutely impossible to beat. Super Smash Bros. Melee is broken.
At this point, on a competitive level, it might as well be called Super Smash Bros. Star Fox. Apparently, the only other viable character is Falco, Fox's wingman in Star Fox, who mirrors Fox's moveset. If a player puts thousands of hours into frame-perfecting Fox McCloud, they might have a shot at being a competitive Melee player. Otherwise, they're out of luck.
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| Also out of luck: everyone who wishes Nintendo would bring the Target Test back to future Smash Bros. games. I guess the modern world just can't handle it. |
There's a reason Melee surged in competition popularity, even after Smash Bros. games for far more advanced systems were released. Players connected with the higher degree of technicality, and Nintendo has never tried to duplicate that with any of their further Smash Bros. installments. However, it seems like Melee's popularity is finally starting to decline. It was dropped from EVO 2019, a major fighting game competition, where its number of entrants has slowly been declining since a 2016 peak. Many people will say this is mostly due to Smash Bros. Ultimate's popularity. That's probably partially true. However, I also feel like many gamers would be loathe to get into the competitive scene of a game where only two characters out of 25 can actually be used. Of course, with Ultimate, Nintendo now has the ability to constantly tweak the game's character balances through online updates. They've been doing so constantly. I don't know if they'll ever get the Switch Smash entry to a place of perfect balance, but at least Ultimate has a chance. 17 years in, Melee never has, and never will receive an update. It, like the GameCube, is of a moment in time--it is an eternal document of what was originally released in 2001. However, as it stands, as a game to play alone or casually with friends, Melee is near perfect...and by those parameters, it always will be.
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