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| Nintendo Reviews Rating: Age 10+ |
| Posted: October 14th, 2003 |
| Super Smash Brothers Melee is a smashing good time with four players, and even by yourself! Is this the best fighting game for Nintendo Gamecube? Read the full review. |
| Sound I'll start with the sound effects. There are tons that you'll hear, but most of it is stuff we've heard. They are nice to hear in battle, and although you'll hear the same ones a lot, they don't get old. To spruce up the wide variety of effects, there are voices or grunts from each character when executing an attack. The voice talents are fairly well done; you can't always hear them, but it's not like you need to hear them anyway. Marth and Roy were not given any English voices, though. The original Japanese voices are what we hear. Not a bad trade-off, if you can understand them. The music is what blows my mind! The developers worked hard to bring back nearly all necessary songs from Nintendo's past; even a re-creation of the DK64 rap! There are so many songs in this game, you'll have to unlock every level and play through everything to hear all of them. And the original score is also very well done. The music samples are long, and varied. For most cases, they always fit the mood of the stage. There are even short music samples you hear for each character when they win a match. There's plenty to hear in this game, and most of it is stuff you'll actually want to hear. Nice job, HAL! |
| Control This game has one of the most amazing control systems I've ever seen! A is the main attack, B delivers a strong attack, but you have to be near the opponent usually. The cool thing is, you use the control stick while pressing these buttons, to do Smash Attacks and even different types of moves. X and Y, as well as Control Stick up, is jump. This makes things more accessible, and players have more choices when jumping. Z is grab, and you use the control stick here as well to do different stuff. R is shield, and you can combine it with the control stick to do a rolling block, or, what I like to call, the shielding float (in the air). Basically, the interesting thing is the ability to combine with the control stick. This allows for different attacks, making the possibilities for attacks a big number. It is nearly identical controls to the N64 version, so people used to that version won't have very much trouble on this one. Players from the old version will appreciate the new characters, bringing more possibilities of attacks and moves. The menu designs couldn't be any easier. Once you find out the C Stick trick, you may regret it, though (gets annoying when somebody else is jiggling the screen). There are many options for different types of battles; you can even customize with you're own rules. The 11 Blocks this takes on your Memory Card is well spent. This game loads very fast, making your battles come faster. You won't find other games that allow the player to do so much, even without much experience. Let's hope to see more games' controls like this in the future. |
| Graphics There's not much to say, because the graphics are basic. Although I say basic, they are still darn good to see. What really amazes me is the ability to show so many characters (up to 6 at once) on the screen, plus all the effects of the background and even the items that fall. There aren't too many lighting effects, but what there is is shown vibrantly well. Although a lot of the action goes quick, you can catch some of the effects of the action by pausing the game. Most of the moves look a bit comical, but they meant to do that. You can also take screenshots of up to three characters doing whatever you want. The cool thing is, you center the camera wherever you wish. The graphics show up well even when zoomed out. If you save it, it won't show up as great quality, but that was only to prevent the game from using too many blocks to save them. The comical look of the graphics are still 3D and look very much so. You'll always see something that catches your eye, and you'll realize that the graphics aren't half bad. |
| Replay If we were not introduced to this game, we would never realize how much a video game can have in it! There's nearly endless amounts of stuff put into this game. There are 25 characters to unlock, which aren't too hard to get. But try to master all of their moves and attacks. Most players will pick one character and stick with it for a while. But since there's 25, you usually won't have to worry about a friend who picks the same one. There are plenty of levels to choose for your battles, and plenty more to be unlocked. The thing that keeps players coming back are the trophies. There are nearly 300 trophies to collect. That is a lot! Most of them are easily collected by playing classic and adventure modes, and by getting coins for the lottery. Playing versus mode with a lot of lives is a good way to collect coins. Other trophies are collected by completing things under certain conditions. You can get a Captain Olimar trophy just by having a Pikmin save file, but most of the other trophies are obtained through a single player mode and the lottery. The amount of replay is basically due to the design. You'll basically just want to keep playing this again. For both single players and multiple players, this will keep you coming back for more. Even two years later, this is the game everyone wants to play! You will almost never get bored of this, especially with some players to keep you company. |
| Design The game's flawless design comes by the way everything is made. It's really the variety that spices things up. There are tons of levels and characters to choose from to suit your tastes. Flexible options give players full control on how they want to battle. The arcade feel is still here, but it seems more in-depth. There's so many ways to play, and some players won't even know all the ways, making the fun non-stop. I really can't find words to explain this game's design any more. It's not a hard-core fighting game, but that's good. The design revolves around the replay that is so high. There really isn't much I can say that hasn't already been said. There's a reason Super Smash Brothers Melee is the highest-selling Nintendo Gamecube game. More and more keep discovering how much fun this is. It invites you to play with three others more than any other game. This is a must-have! |
| Scores |
| Sound 9.0 |
| Control 9.3 |
| Graphics 8.4 |
| Replay 10.0 |
| Design 9.3 |
| 9.2 |
| Final Words I honestly don't see how this could have gotten a Teen rating, but it did. This is not gratuitously violent, in fact according to the ESRB, it's Mild Violence. The comical moves are also a warning, but most people won't be offended by this game. This was the game to have two years ago when it first came out, and with the reduced price tag, this is definitely a must-have. Don't miss out on this amazing multiplayer game with enough action and replay to keep you more than satisfied when the day is done. |