orion120's Full Review: Super Smash Bros Melee for GameCube
Last Sunday when the price for the Nintendo GameCube fell from $200 to $150, my brother (still in grade school) purchased the system, and since then I have been back at home playing the game almost nonstop.
The First One
The first Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 gaming console released a few years back made a revolutionary twist in the realm of fighting games by combining elements of action, adventure, and of course, combat. The result? An innovation to fighting games that belongs up there with Virtua Fighter (or whatever game was the first to introduce 3D fighting), Mortal Kombat (the first real game with excessive blood), and Street Fighter (the first real fighting game).
The Second One
This sequel enhances the previous game engine by quite a bit - at least a lot more than I expected. While at first glance the two are virtually the same, the actual feel you get from playing is totally different. Where in the first one you could use cheap tactics (probably caused by minor bugs) such as throwing an opponent, rushing and grabbing and throwing again just as they landed, or juggling someone by shooting a laser again and again, Melee eliminates such elements by increasing the character reaction rates (by lowering the time your character remains "stunned") and by making such "cheap" items substantially weaker. The movement is also much more fluid and realistic, which takes some time getting used to.
Of course, the graphics are much smoother and rendered than the first game, but what else to expect when you use a system with twice as much graphic power (at 128-bits)? Still, I think that the picture quality is so colorful and amazing (wait until you see Kirby's Dream Fountain stage) that even my PS2 barely matches up. And for $50 bucks less, the GameCube is a hell of a deal.
Remember all those wacky stages from SSB1? Well now the stages are exponentially crazier, and there are also many more to choose from. About half the stages are similar in caliber to the first 9 (or 10?) stages on the original, but the other half are simply remarkable. Where in the world did Nintendo get so many great ideas (such as a level that rotates completely, and another one that MOVES, yes, MOVES)? I guess by neglecting the N64, Nintendo had ample time to create an all-star line-up to boost the GameCube's release.
Along with new stages are a slew of new characters, many of which create nostalgia in me of my younger days... Contemporary favorites such as Mewtwo (Pokemon) and Ganondorf (Zelda) are added, along with some classics such as the Ice Climber twins (Ice Climber), and even a mysterious character from the 80's whose appearance was so abstract that it blew my mind.
All those cheap items have been reduced in strength, and although some of you will be disappointed in that other (such as myself) can breathe a sigh of relief. A load of new items have been added, including the good ol' Super Scope (remember that thing from last decade?) and mushrooms (that do what else? make you GIGANTIC!)
With all these additions, it just sounds like Melee is an enhancement of SSB1. Not that there's anything wrong with that at all, since SSB1 was such a great game. But actually, there's more...
After watching movies like Bloodsport (starring Jean-Claude Van Damme), the idea of a tournament sturctured event always appealed to me in conjunction with combat, simply because there are no "lucky victories" as there might be in some sporting events such as football. The higher skilled pugilist wins, end of story. Melee offers a tournament mode that can accomodate up to 64 players!
The game even goes as far as adding a home run derby (which I found to be a good 15 minutes of entertainment) where you can fool around if you're creative enough. To add to the replay value, trophies (little iems that you can collect and that offer little blurbs on Nintendo trivia) are another feature. I've yet to collect them all.
Overview
Super Smash Bros. Melee is an awesome first-generation hit that has me hooked onto the GameCube, even more so than my own PS2 ever did. Perhaps Nintendo is trying to reclaim its throne in the video game market? With games like these, they're sure to give it a damn good shot.
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