Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube) Reader Review

SSB, these 3 letters mean a lot to a fellow Nintendo fan. I bought Super Smash Bros for my N64 just because I was curious as to how all these Nintendo guys can beat the smack out of each other. And I loved it. Then I got out of it.

Now here's SSBM, M being melee. Along the way, they've added new modes, better graphics, but the balance...

In singleplayer mode, you have the traditional arcade mode and the new adventure mode.

The arcade mode consists of the player choosing a fighter, the being paired off with a CPU opponent for several stages, each with a different character. Along the way, there are bonus games, such as hitting targets in a Marioish level, where you jump around platforms and break circular targets. Once you defeat the final boss, you get credits to buy things at the shop.

The shop sells trophies that come out randomly. You can see a collection of these if you want and zoom in or out. You can also unlock more characters, but that requires doing certain tasks such as beating the game with no deaths. Then you are given a special battle with the hidden character and if you beat him, you unlock him. If you don't... you'll have to try again.

Anyway, there's also story mode. Here battles will be themed towards the character you are facing. For instance, the Mario level will have you completing a Mario platforming stage before you face Mario and Peach on the next stage. There are bonus levels thrown in as usual and you also get credits at the end.

In the versus modes, you have a choice of timed or stock types. Timed matches end at a certain time and stock means you lose if you have 0 lives. You can also control the rate of items that drop and if you want handicaps or not. Up to four players can play as usual.

The basic gameplay of SSBM is fighting. Unlike most fighting games, you can jump rather high. In fact, you can do double or triple jumps easily. You are given a set of moves. The A button is for melee attacks and the B is for special attacks. The B button can be pressed as itself, or you can press B with an arrow direction for more attacks. You can also grab, charge your A button attacks and attack in the air.

As you damage your opponent, their damage percentage goes up. The higher this percentage is, the easier it is to knock them off the screen with a strong attack. Or you can make them fall off the stage.

There are many levels in SSBM. Some are rather plain such as Final Destination, which is a floating platform that is flat. Others such as the F-Zero level, have cars that will knock you off if you contact them.

There are numerous other modes and challenges to partake as well.

My gripe with SSBM lies within it's balance. A super fast character like Shiek can easily combo and knock a fat guy like Bowser. Speed is an amazing advantage. Also, the singleplayer of the game can be boring because the AI is terribly limited. Finally, glitches are abound, the most famous being wavedash. By doing a certain button and stick combination, you can move slightly faster.

What SSBM does well is that it's simple enough for anybody to join in. That and it's a four player fighter.

Overall, SSBM has a simple touch for the casuals. But it lacks a good AI, moves and balance to make it last.