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Super Smash Bros. Melee

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Super Smash Bros. Melee
File:Super Smash Bros Melee Players Ch.jpg
Developer(s)HAL Laboratory
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Designer(s)Masahiro Sakurai
Platform(s)Nintendo GameCube
ReleaseJapan November 21, 2001
United States December 3, 2001
Europe May 24, 2002,
Australia May 31, 2002
Genre(s)Fighting
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer

Super Smash Bros. Melee (大乱闘 スマッシュ ブラザーズ DX, Dairantō Sumasshu Burazāzu Derakkusu, Great Fray Smash Brothers Deluxe) is a popular fighting game released for the Nintendo GameCube shortly after its launch in 2001 (2002 in the PAL region). It is the sequel to the 1999 Nintendo 64 fighting game Super Smash Bros. It builds on that game's broad appeal and involved multiplayer mode, adding new features. Melee is the GameCube's best-selling title with sales of 6 million games sold worldwide. Due to its large and somewhat unwieldy name, it is usually referred to by its acronym, SSBM, or, more informally, Smash or Melee.

A sequel, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, is under development for the Nintendo Wii.

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee is different from most traditional fighting games in that simply inflicting damage does not guarantee victory. In normal play, a player must force the opponent off the stage's boundaries, termed as a "KO"; this can be likened to a ring out in standard fighting games. Attacks both inflict damage and can, if enough damage is dealt, knock back the enemy; inflicted damage increases that distance, so sufficient damage must be accumulated before attempting a KO. Each character's strength is measured by a percentage damage counter. The higher the percent value, the weaker the player is, and the easier they are to knock off the stage. However, he or she may be able to jump back to the stage ("recover") using multiple "mid-air" jumps and special moves, and continue to fight. During the game, items fall into the game field . The speed of gameplay can be very fast-paced compared to the original at times, mainly when using aerial attacks.

The controls for Melee are simple: almost every single move in the game can be accessed via one button press and a joystick direction. This control scheme contrasts with that of standard fighting games which often require the player to memorize complicated and sometimes lengthy sequences of button inputs to perform effective attack combos. Different attacks can be accessed depending on which button is pressed or whether the control stick is tilted or "tapped" (quickly tilted). Tapping the control stick in the proper direction and/or along with the appropriate button presses allows the controlled character to run, jump, and perform the game's eponymous "Smash attacks", which are very powerful moves with substantial damage and knockback. In addition, each character has unique special moves, such as Link's boomerang or Mario's fireballs. Characters also have a number of defensive moves, such as the dodge and roll which combine shielding and tapping of the control stick of the GameCube controller. Though the core controls are simple, they have also been praised as equally sophisticated.

Single player

Single player mode provides the player with a variety of fighting and side-scrolling challenges. The three main playing modes are "Classic" (similar to the single player mode in the previous installment, but with all matches except for the last randomized), "Adventure Mode", in which the player character travels from one side-scrolling level to the next while battling foes, and the unlockable "All-Star Mode" -- in which the player character must fight all of the game's playable characters with only one stock life. One can also practice in Training Mode, or use the Stadium to play various minigames: Target Test (known as "Break the Targets" in Super Smash Brothers; the character must destroy 10 strategically-placed targets), Home Run Contest (after damaging Sandbag, the player must launch him as far as possible with a Home Run Bat or any attack in the characters arsenal) and Multi-Man Melee (fights with the Fighting Wire Frames, paced by time or number of foes). The Event Match mode allows the player to attempt to negotiate various scripted challenges (such as fighting a Pokémon themed match, or defeating an enemy in less than seven seconds).

Multiplayer

In multiplayer mode, up to four characters may fight, either in a free-for-all or on teams. All characters may be controlled either by humans or the computer. CPU characters' AI difficulty is ranked from 1 through 9, with 1 indicating that the AI is weak and doesn't attack much, and 9 indicating it attacks faster and more often. The victor is determined in one of four ways, depending on the game type: Stock mode (a solo or team-based last-man-standing), Time mode (in which points are lost for a fall or self destruct and gained for a KO, with whoever has the most points after the chosen time period being designated the winner) Coin mode (in which coins are dropped by players when they take damage, with the winner being the player that has collected the most coins at the end of the time period) and Bonus mode (in which the players are ranked by points awarded for fighting style). A variety of other options are available, such as determining the number and type of items that appear during the battle. There are also special modes that involve changes to the game mechanics (speeding up or slowing down the game, for example).

Trophies

File:Tamagon.jpg
Screenshot of the Tamagon trophy, which is unlockable via a special cheat device

Trophies ("Figures" in the Japanese version) of various Nintendo characters and objects can be collected in the game. These trophies include statuettes of various playable characters, accessories, and items associated with them, as well as secondary characters not otherwise included in the game. The trophies range from the well-known to the obscure, and even characters or elements that are or were only released in Japan. Super Smash Bros. had a similar system of plush dolls (Biographies); however it only included the 12 playable characters.

There are 290 trophies in the NTSC (North American) and PAL (European) version of Super Smash Bros. Melee, but 291 trophies in the Japanese version. There are three extra trophies which are obtained through use of cheat device such as an Action Replay in the NTSC version, but only two extra trophies in the PAL and Japanese version. The trophy, Tamagon, was removed due to alleged association with Satanism. Tamagon can be obtained in the NTSC version with an Action Replay, but is not in the PAL version at all. In the Japanese version, it can be gotten via normal means. The other two trophies, which can only be accessed using an Action Replay in all three versions, are Samus Unmasked and the Mario & Yoshi trophy. When the game was released, there was a promo event in Japan at Toys R Us stores, where people could get these two trophies written to their memory cards.

Two trophies were altered for the international release:

  • The Topi trophy was originally a small seal, just as it appears in the original Japanese version of Ice Climber. Like the original NTSC/US Ice Climber release (and Famicom Disk System pseudo-sequel), the seal was replaced with a Yeti-Bird-like creature due to the fear of animal killing promotion. The English descriptive text in the Japanese and US versions is identical. The in-game Topis were also changed.
  • In the Japanese version, the Proximity Mine was designed after the same weapon in Perfect Dark. However, in the US and PAL versions, the item's appearance and name were changed to the weapon from GoldenEye 007 (also used in the original Super Smash Bros.). Probably why the Proximity Mine's trophy has "TOP SECRET" in the slot where the game title should be. The reason for this change is unknown.

Characters

File:SSBM-SelectScreen.png
Character selection screen with all characters unlocked.
See also: Super Smash Bros. (series) § Fighters

All eight original and four secret characters from Super Smash Bros. return along with four new characters available from the start of the game. Two of the secret characters from the original game are now automatically available from the start in Melee (Captain Falcon and Ness). Nine new secret characters have been added in addition to the two remaining secret characters for a total of 25 playable characters.

In addition, there are also 5 non-playable (only playable within Action Replay) characters: Master Hand, Crazy Hand (in some cases both the Master and the Crazy Hand are at the end of Classic mode on higher difficulty levels), and Giga Bowser, a heavily enlarged and mutated version of Bowser. Also, there are male and female wire frame fighters (weakened versions of the Captain Falcon and Zelda characters that lack special abilities), found in both a later stage in Adventure mode and the Multi-Man Melee mode, and an utterly helpless Sandbag character, used as a target in the Home Run Contest mode. Neither the wire frame fighters, Sandbag, The Hand Bros., or Giga Bowser are playable without the use of an Action Replay.

One of Peach's alternate costumes very closely resembles Princess Daisy; she even becomes a brunette with daisy's flower broach. Similarly, one of Mario's costumes resembles Wario and one of Captain Falcon's costumes actually is that of Blood Falcon, which can be seen if the game is paused. Also, in two of the Ice Climbers colors, Nana becomes the one in front, instead of Popo.

Video game developer Hideo Kojima originally requested Solid Snake, character of the Metal Gear series, to be playable in Super Smash Bros. Melee, but the game was too far in development for him to be included. Snake has been confirmed to appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Stages

There are a total of 29 playable stages in the game, a threefold increase over the number of stages in the original (eight + one unlockable). Three of the stages from the first game may be unlocked for play here. Of the 29 stages, 18 are available from the start of the game, while the remaining 11 must be unlocked by achieving certain goals and completing specific tasks. Melee also boasts a number of "moving" stages, in which the camera scrolls along a fixed path. In order to stay alive, you must remain visible on the screen.

Initially-Available Stages

Sonic and Tails hoax

In 2002, the April edition of the video game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly listed a "cheat" for the game that would baffle many players. The issue claimed that the Sega characters, Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower, were unlockable characters in the game. In order to be able to unlock them, the player was required to eliminate 20 of the wire-frame characters in the Cruel Melee mode. Then, both Sonic and Tails would supposedly fight the player simultaneously. If defeated, they would then become playable. EGM also stated that if a player completed Classic mode with either character, they would be given "a special surprise". To convince readers, EGM included some "screenshots" of Sonic and Tails in play.

Once players started fulfilling the supposed requirements, however, the "rumor" was revealed to be an April Fools joke, reminiscent of EGM's similarly executed Sheng Long for Street Fighter II. More recently, Sonic is top third-party character wanted for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Yuji Naka, the ex-head of Sonic Team has stated he would like to see Sonic in the next game. Solid Snake, a third party candidate from the "Metal Gear" games, is included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In the October 2006 issue of EGM, Miyamoto has stated that he would like to see Sonic in Brawl.

Debug Menu

The creators of the game left a special menu called the Debug Menu in the game's system. It can only be accessed by using an Action Replay or Game Genie software. The menu provides many new features, including seven characters that are otherwise unable to be played, Master Hand, Crazy Hand, Giga Bowser, the male and female Wire Frames, Sandbag, and Popo (the blue Ice Climber.) In addition, the Debug Menu provides many normally unusable and a few beta stages; including a long, untextured "Test" level that has an image of a coffee shop as a background. The menu can open up a complete sound test of every sound in the game, and the ability to alter the statistics and characters' records of gameplay.

Tournaments

In 1999, 13-year-old Ricky “Gideon” Tilden started Smash World Forums also known as Smashboards. In 2002 and 2003, the first tournaments began to appear on the website. These community sponsored events slowly grew, with certain tournament series proving to be milestones within the community.

Southern California’s Tournament Go (TG) series revolutionized the scene. By its sixth incarnation in the summer of 2004, Matt Deezie’s small local tournaments had exploded into a hundred person national affair. That year, Super Smash Bros. Melee was added to Major League Gaming’s (MLG) tournament roster.

In the summer of 2005, a crew in Mishawaka, Indiana hosted Melee-FC3, a tournament with nearly 200 participants from 30 states, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands . In two separate issues, Nintendo Power covered the independent and corporate Smash scenes, including Smashboards, MLG, and FC3. Shortly thereafter, MTV ran a special “True Life: I'm a Professional Gamer” featuring MLG Pro Smasher KillaOR.

MLG Anaheim, Chicago, and Orlando each broke over 150 participants. Zero Challenge 2 became the largest tournament on the West Coast and featured players from Europe and Japan in attendance. Melee FC6 finally broke 200 participants becoming arguably the largest Smash tournament to date.

Ken Hoang, the winner of MLG's 2004 and 2005 National Smash Championships, is generally hailed to be the best player in the world, having traveled internationally to play and defeat the best opponents. MLG has began its tournament circuit on the cable network USA Network.

Critical reception

Super Smash Bros. Melee received very positive reviews from most critics, including a 9.6/10 from IGNCite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page)., 90% at Game Rankings and 95% from the British Official Nintendo Magazine

Many reviewers felt that the game was vastly improved over its predecessor with more customization and characters as well as more polished graphics and improved gameplay. Fran Mirabella III of IGN, in particular noted the additions of the Event and Adventure modes, which he said added hours and hours of single player gameplay. However, Miguel Lopez of GameSpot described the controls as "hyper-responsive," but only noticeably so when making precise movements. Controversy has arisen about the games T rating for mild violence and comic mischief, whereas the first one was rated E. The ESRB defended themselves by saying the game's violence was slightly more realistic than the first one's.

Awards

  • Super Smash Bros. Melee was placed sixth in two GameFAQs events: the "Best. Game. Ever." contest, and a poll about the 100 best games ever.
  • In the 200th issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, the editors published a list of the "Top 200 Games of Their Time", which compared games based on their influence and popularity at release. Super Smash Bros. Melee was the 92nd most influential game of its time.
  • Nintendo Power named it the 16th best game ever to appear on a Nintendo console, though a poll based on player opinions held by Nintendo Power had SSBM placing in fourth. It also won the title of "Best Overall Game" in its 2001 year-end awards. The magazine named it the 20th best home console game thus far in its July/August 2003 issue. As of 2006 it is still on Nintendo Gamecube's Top Sellers List, since its release in 2001.
  • Filter named it the second best fighting game of all time, and best party game of all time.
  • X-Play gave it the title of 5th best Gamecube game in their Best of Gamecube episode.
  • It has been re-released as a Player's Choice title.

Soundtrack

Nintendo released a special musical album in 2003 called Smashing...Live! which it gave away as a bonus for subscribing to Nintendo Power magazine in North America, and also as a free gift in an issue of the British Nintendo Official Magazine. It was released for sale only in Japan. It is not music taken directly from the game like most video game soundtracks but, rather, a live, orchestrated performance by the New Japan Philharmonic of many of the songs from the game.

Version differences

Naming differences:

  • Bowser and Jigglypuff are called "Koopa" and "Purin" (which can be seen by switching to the Japanese language on settings).
  • Ice Climbers appear as simply "Ice Climber" because many Japanese words are both singular and plural.
  • DK is shown as D. Kong, but it is still pronounced the same as "Donkey Kong."
  • Jigglypuff is called "Rondoudou" when switching to French, and "Pummeluff" when switching to German. Also, when German, Mewtwo is "Mewtu", but no voice change. Young Link is also changed, Link Enfant in French and Junger Link in German.
  • All the Pokémon names are capitalized when switching to French.
  • The PAL version doesn't have "Japan only", it says "Not released in Europe", instead.

Voice changes:

  • In the PAL version of the game, the language setting can be changed to various European languages. In German and French, the names for Jigglypuff and Mewtwo are changed (to Pummeluff/Rondoudou and Mewtu/Mewtwo respectively). The names of most of the Pokémon trophies were changed at the same time. The character voices are also changed to make the Pokémon say their localized name instead, as is the same in the English version.
  • In the English version, Mewtwo's voice consists of growls, screams and laughs. In the Japanese version, Mewtwo is given an actual voice actor, heard only in his victory screens.
  • In addition to Jigglypuff/Purin's voice change, in the Japanese version, Falco has two different taunts. In both, he shouts two different sentences in Japanese, changing randomly. In the English version, he will only make a "Heh!" sound. Similarly, in the Japanese version, Fox's taunt alternates between him saying, "Come on!" in English and Japanese. His Japanese taunt is "kakatte koi!" meaning "come and get me!"
  • In the English version, matches ends with "Game!" or "Time!", while the Japanese version has the traditional "Game Set" or "Time Up", as it was in the original Super Smash Bros.
  • If the player goes to Collection in the Japanese version or setting the game language in Japanese on trophies section, some of the game systems are replaced with Japan-only systems. For example, the original NES and SNES are replaced with their Japanese counterparts (Famicom and the Super Famicom). Strangely enough, the Virtual Boy is only seen in the Japanese version, despite the fact it was also released in North America. Worth taking note is also the fact that when beating the game in Single Player mode, the player gets to see a screen which is nearly identical to that of the Collection but an array of differently colored Game Boy portable systems can be seen that is missing from the actual Collection.
  • Some of the trophies, when the language is set in English, say Japan Only. If the user were to put the language in Japanese and translate it, it will say the year it was released.
  • There seems to have been a mix up between the languages. As said above, Bowser in the Japanese version is 'Koopa'. On the voice test, if you listen to the announcer's voice tests, he says 'Giga Koopa' in the English version, and 'Giga Bowser' in the Japanese version.

The American version of the game includes two language options: English and Japanese. The majority of the above differences can be heard in the American version of the game if this setting is altered.

References

  1. Mirabella, Fran. IGN: Super Smash Bros. Melee Review. IGN. December 3, 2001. Retreieved April 19, 2006.
  2. http://wii.ign.com/articles/707/707504p1.html
  4. ^ Andy Myers (October 2005), Smash Takes Over, Nintendo Power {{citation}}: Text "Nintendo Power, Issue 196, Page 106" ignored (help); Unknown parameter |access date= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. Andy Myers. (September 2005), Smash Planet, Nintendo Power {{citation}}: Text "Nintendo Power, Issue 195, Page 76-79" ignored (help); Unknown parameter |access date= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. KillaOR in "True Life: I'm a Professional Gamer"
  7. http://dpad.gotfrag.com/portal/story/32773/?spage=2
  8. Dyslexia (April 16 2006). "MLG To Bring Pro Gaming To the Masses". Major League Gaming. Retrieved 2006-04-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  9. Game Rankings - Super Smash Bros. Melee (Retrieved April 3, 2006)
  10. Best. Game. Ever. Bracket. GameFAQs. Spring 2004.
  11. 10-Year Anniversary Contest - The 10 Best Games Ever. GameFAQs. 2005.
  12. Semrad, Steve. The Greatest 200 Video Games of Their Time. 1UP.com. February 2, 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2006.
  13. Nintendo Power #200

See also

External links

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