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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, known in Japan as Dairantō Smash Brothers DX (大乱闘 スマッシュ ブラザーズ DX, Dairantō Sumasshu Burazāzu Derakkusu, lit. "Great Fray Smash Brothers DX"), 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. Super Smash Bros. Melee is the GameCube's best-selling title, with sales of 6 million games sold worldwide.[1] It is often referred to by its initials, SSBM, Smash Bros, or Melee.

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee is different from most traditional fighting games in that simply inflicting damage does not always mean 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 and is much like in real life sumo wrestling. 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 (e.g., Super Mushrooms [the character grows], Poison Mushrooms [the character shrinks], Poké Balls [release Pokémon which perform various actions such as damaging an opponent] , Koopa shells [to be kicked or thrown at foes] and several other items that relate to Nintendo games or merchandise [an exception being the food apearing on screen]). 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.[2]

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 (no extra lives).

Single player also offers the Events mode. The player is forced to complete the task under a certain condition listed in the event description. Each battle will be timed and the event's time records will record the battle cleared the fastest anytime the event(s) are played. The mode begins with 12 different events. As more characters, stages, etc. are unlocked so are the events. There is a total of 51 event matches that can be unlocked.

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).

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).

Tournament Melee

Tournament Melee is a tournament for up to 64 players. There are 3 possible options to choose from. In loser out and winner out, the player that loses/wins is eliminated; in tournament, a standard knockout tournament is player.

Special Melee

Special Melee is a melee that has special rules. No records are saved. Some of the special melee modes include a camera melee, which allows the fourth player to take pictures, giant melee, which makes the players as big as if they had a super mushroom all the time, and invisible melee, in which all the players fight the match cloaked. Some of the other inclusions in Special Melee is a Lightning Melee, in which the game is set at a fast-paced double speed match, and Super Slo-mo Melee with a constant half-speed gameplay.

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 and Australian) versions 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. 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 obtained 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-Birdlike creature due to the fear of animal cruelty controversy. The in-game Topis were also changed.
  • In the Japanese version, the Motion-Sensor Mine was designed after the same weapon in Perfect Dark. However, in the international version, the item's appearance and name were changed to the weapon from GoldenEye 007. The reason for this change is unknown.

Errata

Some trophies in the game contain some errors:

  • Princess Daisy's trophy claimed that she appeared in Mario Golf, though they meant, NES Open Tournament Golf where she was Luigi's caddy while Peach was Mario's caddy and love interest, and later, she was re-introduced in Mario Tennis in 2000.
  • Samus Aran first appeared in Metroid for the NES when it was officially released in the United States in August 1987, but it was incorrectly identified 1989.
  • In Japan, the trophies that the character appeared in a game for the Famicom Disk System, the official abbrevation for that console is "FDS", but in the game, the abbreviation was incorrectly identified as "FCD", despite the fact that "FC" stands for the Famicom console (Family Computer), a.k.a. the Japanese NES.
  • The coins that appear frequently in the Mario series were first proven to be the currency of the Mushroom Kingdom in Super Mario RPG, but its trophy says that no one knows if it's the currency of the Mushroom Kingdom.
  • The Master Sword first appeared in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the SNES, but was incorrectly identified as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in the U.S. version of SSBM. This was remedied in the Player's Choice Edition of the NTSC version.
  • The Great Fox first appeared in Star Fox 64, not in the original Star Fox for the SNES.
  • Meta Knight first appeared in Kirby's Adventure for the NES, not in Kirby Super Star for the SNES. However, he wasn't named until Super Star.
  • Ayumi Tachibana first appeared in Famicom Detective Club for the FDS, but the trophy incorrectly claimed she first appeared in the sequel.
  • Birdo's trophy claims that she was long missing in the Mario franchise, but she had also appeared in Wario's Woods and Super Mario RPG. In Japan, she first appeared in Doki Doki Panic, but her debut was incorrectly listed as Super Mario USA, the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 outside Japan, despite the fact that she first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 2 outside Japan.

In the Japanese and Early North American versions of the game, the back of Daisy's trophy contains a third eye, as one of the glitches. Many call this the "Mutated Daisy" trophy – the third eye was removed in the Player's Choice Edition of the NTSC version of Super Smash Bros. Melee and in the PAL version.

Other details

  • Many fans state that there is an error on the Waluigi trophy, despite the fact that Waluigi's relationship to Wario is unclear. This is not an error. It was only mentioned in Mario Tennis for Wario and Waluigi to have a clear relationship, but in some later games, Wario and Waluigi were partners but not brothers and relatives, which Nintendo states Wario and Waluigi being opposed to relatives.
  • In Japan the Poison Mushroom debuted in Super Mario Bros. 2 (Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels), but outside Japan, it debuted in Super Mario All-Stars in the game, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. There is no error in any version. "Japan Only" refers to trophies of characters and/or items in a series of games that was not released outside Japan.

Characters

Template:Spoiler

Playable

Non-Playable

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 are unlockable. 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. Players must keep moving in order to stay visible and alive.

In the prototype, which was playable at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (or E3), some stages were different compared to the same ones in the full version. They can also be seen in some outdated preview videos. For instance, in the prototype version, the lab in the Great Bay stage was penetrable, allowing players to move the characters inside of it. Players can also see the characters through the lab's window. In the full version, the lab became part of the background, and never was penetrable. Also, the window was blue instead of clear. The Yoshi's Story and Mushroom Kingdom stages were also simplified for the actual release. Template:Endspoiler

Hoaxes

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 score 20 K.O.s 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 (close inspections of the screenshots would reveal a glaring inconsitency, as the life icons for Sonic's head pointed in different directions). [3]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 hoax.

Samus Aran's costume from Metroid Fusion was also stated to be a playable character and would be shown under the name "Fusion" or "Dark-Fusion" (which changed based on region). It was proven false.

Another popular rumor was that Toad could be unlocked by shooting every credit at the end of a single-player mode.

Other sources have suggested that Meta Ridley and Fierce Deity Link were in the game as well. To date however, no method for obtaining them has been revealed. Their existence in the game is officially denied by Nintendo.

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.

In 2002 a Smashboards moderator by the handle of MattDeezie hosted Northern California’s Tournament Go (TG) series which revolutionized the competitive scene. This led to IVGF NorthWest Regional Gaming Festival and Tournament, the first corporate sponsored tournament, which was held at Seattle, Washington in the beginning of March 2003. During this time IVGF gave out a record $12,500 for the top 3 finishers of Super Smash Bros. Melee, a record that would be held for almost three years.[4] By the sixth incarnation of Tournament Go in the summer of 2004, MattDeezie’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.[5]

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 [6]. In two separate issues, Nintendo Power covered the independent and corporate Smash scenes, including Smashboards, MLG, and FC3.[6][7] Shortly thereafter, MTV ran a special “True Life: I'm a Professional Gamer” featuring MLG Pro Smasher KillaOR. [8]

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 brought over 200 competitors.[citation needed]

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. [9]

In 2007, SSBM was added to the Evolution Championship Series roster.

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 [10] and 95% from the British Official Nintendo Magazine. [citation needed]

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.

Some complaints included the view that the controls were a bit too sensitive.[11][12] Others have stated that certain characters in Melee are unbalanced.[citation needed]

Awards

  • Super Smash Bros. Melee has placed sixth in two GameFAQs events: the "Best... Game... Ever." contest, and a poll of the 100 best games ever.[13][14]
  • In the 200th issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, the editors selected Melee as the 92nd most influential game on their "Top 200 Games of Their Time" list.[15]
  • Nintendo Power named Super Smash Bros. Melee the 16th best game ever to appear on a Nintendo console.[16] Melee 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.
  • "Melee" has appeared on Nintendo Power's "Top 20 Bestselling GameCube Games" list from issue #154, in March 2002, until issue #212, in February 2007, when Nintendo Power discontinued printing GameCube sales data in favour of Wii sales data. However, the game continues to be one of the top 20 bestselling games.
  • Filter named it the second best fighting game and the best party game of all time.
  • In the "Best of GameCube" episode, X-Play selected Melee as the fifth best GameCube game.
  • For a short time, it was sold as a Player's Choice title for US$19.99, but is now sold as a "Best Seller" and currently retails for US$29.99
  • In 2007, it was named 3rd best Gamecube game of all time in IGN's feature reflecting on the Gamecube's long lifespan.[17]

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" respectively (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.
  • 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.
  • The trophies are called Figures in the Japanese version.
  • Donkey Kong's Japanese name is extended to "D.Kong" instead of DK.
  • In the Japanese and PAL versions, the Motion Sensor Bomb is called the Proximity Mine.

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 "Kakattekoi!", meaning "Come on!".
  • 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.
  • 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. This does not happen in the PAL version.
  • The crowd chanting heard whenever a player is gaining the upper hand in a fight is different in English and Japanese version. While most of the English chanting voices are a bit slow sounding and not so upbeat, the Japanese has faster paced shouting and chanting. However, some characters have the same crowd chanting for both versions.

Other changes:

  • 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. Additionally, the Japanese kanji replaces the English text when the language is switched to Japanese.
  • The PAL version has 4 other languages to choose from: German, French, Spanish and Italian.

References

  1. ^ Smashing Bundle Released
  2. ^ Mirabella, Fran. IGN: Super Smash Bros. Melee Review. IGN. December 3, 2001. Retreieved April 19, 2006.
  3. ^ http://ssbm.detstar.com/images/sonictails.cfm
  4. ^ http://www.gotfrag.com/cs/story/10451/
  5. ^ http://www.mlgpro.com/?q=node/50132
  6. ^ a b 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)
  7. ^ 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)
  8. ^ KillaOR in "True Life: I'm a Professional Gamer"
  9. ^ http://dpad.gotfrag.com/portal/story/32773/?spage=2
  10. ^ Game Rankings - Super Smash Bros. Melee (Retrieved April 3, 2006)
  11. ^ Lopez, Miguel. "Super Smash Bros. Melee for GameCube Review". November 30, 2001. GameSpot.
  12. ^ Williams, Bryn. "Reviews: Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube). December 3, 2001. GameSpy.
  13. ^ Best. Game. Ever. Bracket. GameFAQs. Spring 2004.
  14. ^ 10-Year Anniversary Contest - The 10 Best Games Ever. GameFAQs. 2005.
  15. ^ Semrad, Steve. The Greatest 200 Video Games of Their Time. 1UP.com. February 2, 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2006.
  16. ^ Nintendo Power #200
  17. ^ IGN GameCube Team (2007-03-16). "The Top 25 GameCube Games of All Time". IGN.com. Retrieved 2007-03-18.

See also

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