Super Smash Bros. Melee

When Super Smash Bros. debuted on the N64 some 3 years ago it was met warmly by fans and critics alike- it's frantic 4 player battles were the toast of party gamers and Nintendo lovers alike. It was the much heralded and slightly deranged tribute to Nintendo's history and the fans loved it. Fanboys were also pleased to see characters such as Samus Aran and Ness return from gaming limbo, as well as seeing some great homage’s to their respective series in the form of the levels and remixed tunes.

Fast forward to a month after the GameCube's launch in 2001 and we see the highly anticipated follow up to the N64 favorite, with slick graphics and effects and even more levels with characters and theme tunes pulled from Nintendo's rich library of classic games. While the core gameplay (fighting engine) remains unchanged, save for the downplaying of throwing maneuvers, Nintendo and HAL Laboratories have made every effort to expand upon and reinvent the single player experience.

Perhaps the first thing that one notices upon playing Super Smash Bros. Melee, is the enormous amount of time the artists put in on the character models, from the facial expressions, to the ruffling of Link's tunic in the wind to the stitches on Mario's denim overalls, everything has been done in loving and maybe obsessive detail. In addition to the meticulously modeled characters, the stages are largely representative of the artists attention to detail in that more often than not, there is something going on in the background of the level. My favourite example is on the Termina level of Majora's Mask fame, with the moon hurtling toward the earth only to be stopped and sent back into orbits by the Gods. Marvelous stuff to behold, particularly for admitted fanboys like myself!

The sound is also something to be commented upon, familiar sound effects accompany familiar character animations, Yoshi's running jump, Mario's coin noise and Link's familiar yell all make themselves home, but perhaps even better is the plethora of familiar Nintendo music, all revamped, revisited and remixed after 20 years. One can't help but notice them during a fight, in the early stages of playing the game I was sometimes distracted by the nostalgic twinge of the ice-climbers music! If there were MIDI Grammy awards, SSBM would have walked off with it in 2001 (Metriod Prime would do the same in 2002, but I digress).

First up on the single player front is the new adventure mode in which we see players run through side scrolling levels and doing battle with enemies themed after a particular classic game, the first level being Super Mario Bros. In this stage, you must go through the mushroom kingdom stomping on goomba's and kicking koopa shells around until you reach the familiar flag pole and castle at the end, ala Super Mario Bros. After that, a battle with Mario and Peach ensues, continuing the themed mayhem. The adventure continues from there, through side scrolling Zelda dungeons to brawls with Shiek and Link and so on, one to punches in gimmicked adventures and brawls, until the last fight.

Another new feature is Event Mode, which is basically 51 challenges for you to overcome, each one being more difficult than the last. These matches will have you doing various things from a bounty hunters match with Samus and Captain Falcon to destroying 30 Kirby's. Needless to say that only hardcore gamers will reach and beat the 50th and 51st challenge, but let it be known that I have not seen such a display of sadism in a videogame in a long time; they were insanely difficult!

Of course the arcade mode returns where you pit your mascot against an assorted roster of opponents before engaging in the climactic battle with the Master Hand. Also making it's return is the practice mode, with a new baseball mini-game in tow. Also making a return, but with even more customization options, is the epic multi-player mode, pitting you against up to three other people in a frenzied, chaotic fight to the finish. Team options, style matches, 64 man tournaments and timed/stock games breathe life into a formula that many of us beat to a pulp in the original SSBM.

Of course the simplistic controls from the first game haven't changed much, simple button tap combos and button plus direction specials and smash hits make this game easy to get to grips with, but applying this knowledge in the vastly different characters is something that will take time to master. Unlike the the first game, the use of throws has been made much harder in order to decrease the cheap throwing contests that were found in the original. Although the controls are very sensitive, they remain tight and should not be of much trouble to anyone who puts the time into the game.

Something that will really hook the obsessive compulsive Nintendo lovers out there will be the trophies. With each character, arcade mode, adventure event or mini-game you can earn a trophy, or just use the money earned in the same events in the lottery. There are about 300 trophies in the game, all of legendary games in the company’s timeline, from ExciteBike to Donkey Kong Country to Balloon Man and back to Paper Mario the trophies and subsequent descriptions are worth fighting for. Gotta catch 'em all!

All in all, Super Smash Bros. Melee is a must have for fight fans and Nintendo fanatics alike, with unlimited multi-player value and almost limitless things to achieve in the single player environment. It should be no more than $40 by now. What are you waiting for? Run out and buy this classic game while your Cube is still young.