Super Smash Bros. Melee

"I have played SSBM every day since I got it and I cannot get enough of this game."

Guest's Score:

9.2

Super Smash Bros. Melee (SSBM) is the long-hoped for sequel to the Nintendo 64 classic Super Smash Bros. that was released in 1999, and what can I say, I like it. While it doesn't offer much depth to its gameplay, it's a button masher that will that appeal to casual gamers and diehard gamers who enjoy getting numb thumbs.

The game is easy to pick up and play--there isn't that much effort required to learning the characters' moves or the controls. The game is the best looking game on the GameCube and one of the best playing. The characters move right quick and the frame rate never drops below 60 frames per second.

SSBM offers gamers a Soul Calibur meets Tekken type of fighting game experience with a cavalcade of Nintendo's most treasured characters including Link, Mario, Donkey Kong, Princess Toadstool and more than 16 other familiar Nintendo-branded characters thrown in for good measure.

The object of the game is to attack your opponents and send them flying on any one of the 20 stages. There are also a number of items you can use to get the upper hand on your opponents, including the Super Scope and Bob-Bombs, which adds to the fun you will have with this game.

Gamers will be glad to know that some of the elements of the original Super Smash Bros. title have gravitated over to the GameCube, such as the Classic game mode, which has returned with its bonus stages in tact.

My favorite mode in SSMB is the Adventure mode. You will find yourself playing this mode over and over again until your thumbs fall off, until the power goes out or the sun comes up, three things that happened to me while playing the game for this review. Okay, maybe not that first thing I said.

You will enter some familiar territory, as one level in SSMB is like the Mushroom Kingdom from the original Mario Bros., while another level is set up like an F-Zero track.

Not only will the tracks and terrain seem familiar, so too is the themed music. I didn't really like the Zelda area, because it's pretty standard and boring. So much so that you might not even recognize the music because of the way it was remixed. But Hal Labs (the developer of this game) did a good job with the dungeon atmosphere.

The in-game models in are outstanding--they look DVD quality and almost too good to be true. Watching the computer generated cut scenes and then playing the game I soon realized that the cut scenes and the gameplay graphics are virtually identical. Definitely a far cry from the visuals found in Wave Race: Blue Storm where the graphics in that game was more suited to the Nintendo 64 than the GameCube!

Each of the characters has an arsenal of attacks and techniques at your disposal. The physics are incredible and with one attack you can send your opponents flying from the battlefield. The distance enemies get sent flying through the air is proportional to the amount of damage you have inflicted on them.

Nintendo has stuck with Hal Laboratory (the developer of the N64 version of Smash Bros.) and their formula of giving each character his or her own specific environment and backdrop. Each of the characters has their own special move including my favorite one, being Pikachu's. I don't want to give it away but with this one you should be able to wipe the battlefield clean!

Most gamers will recognize their tried and true character favorites, while diehard gamers will find Fox McCloud and Captain Falcon. In Captain Falcon's stage, F-Zero vehicles fly by under the multi-level battlefield and look as though they are taking part in an actual race. It's the same with the other environments--there is more going on in each stage, more background elements. The cute little guys wearing parkas are actually characters from the 1985 arcade and eight-bit Nintendo Entertainment System title Ice Climber. Some characters even make cameo appearances, including Tingle the map man. He shows his face in Hyrule castle, just as a battle is about to bust out.

Controlling your character in the game is a breeze, although mastering the many standard, strong and smash attacks will take you some time to figure out. There are more grab moves in this game as opposed to a boring throw fest, which was often the case in Super Smash Bros.

As well as the addition of new characters and arenas, Nintendo has added plenty of power-ups, hidden characters and tons of other secret stuff.

However, one of the problems with this game is the responsiveness of those controls. They are sometimes too touchy, but you will learn their limitations the more you play. Picking up items or trying to stop on a dime after a dash attack or making precise movements is at times hard to do.

The main thrust of the game is still on the single player of trying to knock everyone off platforms before they knock you off. However the fun lies in sitting down with a bunch of human opponents and putting the hammer to them, as is the case in this game. If you have a bunch of pals who play video games, buy this game so you can unload on them--it supports up to four players at once.

I have said in past reviews of Nintendo GameCube products like Luigi's Mansion and Wave Race: Blue Storm that those titles didn't offer up enough to warrant the purchase of a GameCube system. Well I have played SSBM every day since I got it and I cannot get enough of this game. This game along with Pikmin, Rogue Squadron II are reasons you should own a GameCube and are worthy of a system purchase to play!

Review by Todd Mowatt

Pros

Cons

Bottom Line

Guest's Score:

9.2