Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズDX Dairantou Smash Brothers Deluxe in Japan) is a colorful fighting game for the Nintendo GameCube with many modes of play. It stars many Nintendo characters, including Mario, Link, Samus Aran, Pikachu, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong. It is the sequel to the Nintendo 64 fighting game Super Smash Bros., and includes all the characters from the previous game plus new ones. Super Smash Bros. Melee is a Player's Choice title and the first GameCube title to appear on the cover of Nintendo Power. The ESRB rating of 'T' is one level up from Super Smash Bros.'s E rating.

Like its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. Melee is an easy-to-learn, hard-to-master game that, while being child-friendly, can provide enjoyment for the adult gamer. It provides casual entertainment as well as deep challenges.

Super Smash Bros. Melee also has orchestrated tracks of classic Nintendo themes and victory fanfares, conducted by the aptly-named Orchestra Melee.

Playable characters

Characters available from the start of the game

• Bowser – from the Mario series
• Captain Falcon – from the F-Zero series¹
• Donkey Kong – from the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Country series¹
• Fox – from the Star Fox series¹
• Ice Climbers – from Ice Climber
• Kirby – from the Kirby series¹
• Link – from the Legend of Zelda series¹
• Mario – from the Mario series¹
• Ness – from the Mother and EarthBound series¹
• Pikachu – from the Pokémon series¹
• Peach – from the Mario series
• Samus – from the Metroid series¹
• Yoshi – from the Mario series¹
• Zelda/Sheik – from the Legend of Zelda series

¹These characters appeared in the original Super Smash Bros. Captain Falcon and Ness were also available as unlockable characters.

Unlockable characters

• Dr. Mario – from Dr. Mario
• Falco – from the Star Fox series
• Ganondorf – from the Legend of Zelda series
• Jigglypuff (Purin) – from the Pokémon series²
• Luigi – from the Mario series²
• Marth – from the Fire Emblem series
• Mewtwo – from the Pokémon series
• Mr. Game & Watch – from Game & Watch games
• Pichu – from the Pokémon series
• Roy – from the Fire Emblem series
• Young Link – from the Legend of Zelda series

²These characters appeared in the original Super Smash Bros. Jigglypuff and Luigi were also available as unlockable characters.

Non-playable characters

Master Hand – A giant, floating, white glove, similar to Mario's, that first appeared in the original Super Smash Bros. at the end of the 1 Player game.

Crazy Hand – Crazy Hand is almost identical to Master Hand, but is more difficult (and is a left glove, whereas Master Hand is a right glove). Crazy Hand also has several attacks that Master Hand does not.

Crazy Hand only shows itself when certain requirements are met: when the player proceeds through Classic Mode without using continues on at least the Normal difficulty, and gets Master Hand down to at least half of its HP. Additionally, it can be found in the fiftieth (second-to-last) Event Match.

Its behavior is more random than Master Hand's. Its attacks are more devastating, and overall it is more difficult to defeat than Master Hand.

Fighting Wire Frame – The Wire Frames are wires in the shapes of men and women, apparently wrought from the power of Master Hand. They bear its symbol beneath the "skin" of their face. (Of course, they are a tribute to the wire frame models used in the early stages of character creation.)

They appear in Adventure Mode and the Multi-Man Melee challenge, replacing the Polygon Team from Super Smash Bros. Like the Polygon Team, they are the game's generic weak opponents. Usually it takes a large group to even stand a chance against a reasonably skilled human player; However, in Endless and Cruel Melee modes they are much stronger and do pose a danger. One fights them on a stage called the "Battlefield".

Giga Bowser – Giga Bowser is a possible final boss in the game's Adventure Mode, and can only be fought when the player beats the Adventure mode on Normal difficulty or higher, without using any continues, and in under eighteen minutes. At this point, where the credits would normally begin, Bowser returns from the abyss surrounding the Final Destination field and transforms. He becomes far larger, quicker and more powerful than Bowser was, and can be quite a challenge. Additionally, he can be found in the last Event Match alongside Mewtwo and Gannondorf.

Sandbag – The Sandbag appears only in the Home Run Contest (see "Stadium" section below). In the Home Run Contest, the player's goal is to hit Sandbag as far as possible. According to the game's trophy description, "Getting hit doesn't hurt Sandbag at all!", which is fortunate for Sandbag, as its flight distance is proportionate to the damage it has accumulated. In order to get the Sandbag Trophy, the player must hit Sandbag 984 feet (300 m). The player has 10 seconds in which to damage Sandbag, then smash it off the screen as far as possible with a provided Homerun Bat.

Although Yoshi is often said to be the best choice of character for the challenge, the world record distance for furthest distance with any character is 11,347.2 ft, done with both the Ice Climbers and Ganondorf. However, it is often said that the player should choose a character whose attacks they are familiar with. (When Kirby uses his copy ability on Sandbag, he does not receive any abilities.) If Sandbag is hit over 1,350 feet, the Yoshi's Island past stage will be unlocked.

The track is believed to have two ending points. In the Old Version (version 1.0), the track ends at 4556.6 ft; in the New Version (versions 1.1 and 1.2), the track is believed to end at 11,347.2 ft. It has been shown that there is a slight increase in distance hit when the game is switched to the Japanese language than in default English. Also, the area in which the player stands on to damage Sandbag is noticably larger in Japanese than in English.

Terms/Tactics

SSBM is different from most traditional fighting games because simply inflicting damage does not guarantee victory. In normal play, winning requires that the opponent be forced outside of the stage's boundaries, similar to a ring out. Inflicted damage increases the distance which attacks send an opponent, and so sufficient damage must be accumulated before attempting to KO an opponent (usually with a forceful Smash attack). Insufficient damage allows an opponent to recover and land back on the stage.

At tournament-level play, several odd nuances of the physics in SSBM have been discovered, and are noted here. See List of fighting game terms for a list of more general terms.

Crouch Canceling – Holding down to crouch while being struck will greatly reduce knock back from certain moves. It can also stop a characters movement, allowing a quick change of direction.

Directional Influence – While prone and airborne, the control stick influences the direction your character flies in.

Edge-guarding – Waiting at the edge of the arena as an enemy recovers, and knocking them back out again.

Edge-hogging – Grabbing the edge of a platform so that a recovering opponent cannot do the same.

Fast-falling – Holding down while airborne increases the speed of the fall.

Jump Canceling – Canceling the lag after certain actions by jumping. Dashing and shielding are both good examples of actions which benefit from JC.

L-canceling – Tapping L (or R) as the character lands while performing an aerial attack reduces lag by speeding up the recovery animation.

Meteor – A move that sends recovering opponents down to the bottom of the level, also referred to as a spike. An opponent can jump or otherwise gain altitude immediately after being hit by a meteor, referred to as a Meteor-cancel.

Power Shielding – Tapping L/R to bring up the shield at the exact point of impact, completely negating the attack and reflecting projectile attacks. Cannot be broken.

Shield-grabbing – Grabbing an attacking target while shielding.

Shine – Fox/Falco's Reflector, particularly in reference to using them as close combat weapons.

Short-hopping – Tapping the jump button lightly to perform a much lower jump than normal. This reduces time spent airborne and thus makes an aerial attack faster.

Teching – Tapping L/R as you are hurled into a solid surface, in order to quickly spring back to your feet. Can be done off walls and ceilings, too.

Tilt – Also known as 'power attacks'. Tilt the pad slightly in any direction while on the ground, then press A. Tapping the pad quickly all the way results in Smash Attacks instead.

Wavedashing – Air dodging into the ground at an angle in order to slide forward quickly. Generally done immediately after jumping.

Trophies

Trophies of various Nintendo characters and objects can be collected. There are 290 of them in the U.S. version of SSBM, and 293 in the Japanese version. One trophy, the character Tamagon from a game called Devil World released only in Japan, was locked out of the U.S. version possibly because of the title of the game in which he appeared. Additionally, the Motion-Sensor Bomb trophy originally bore a resemblance to the Proximity Mine in the game Perfect Dark; the trophy was altered in the U.S. version to resemble a proximity mine from the N64 game GoldenEye 007 for unknown reasons, and its game of origin was changed to "TOP SECRET." There were also 2 trophies that could be won in a contest at Japan. One featured Mario and Yoshi, and the other one showed Samus Aran without her helmet on. However, all three of the locked-out trophies can be unlocked with use of the Action Replay, a cheat-code tool on the Gamecube. There is no way to obtain the original Motion-Sensor Bomb trophy outside of the Japanese version, however, and setting the U.S. version's language to Japanese will not work either.

Trophy errata

Samus Aran (trophy number 10) appeared in Metroid when it first came out in August 1986. Super Smash Bros. Melee chose a later release date (1989) for the Samus Aran trophy description.

Meta Knight (trophy number 240) first appeared in Kirby's Adventure (later enhanced-remade as Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land), not in Kirby Super Star. However, he was not mentioned by name in Kirby's Adventure, which probably caused this overlooked fact.

Ayuma Tachibana (trophy number 286) was the protagonist of the original Detective Club game, even though the trophy description states that she appeared only in the second Detective Club game.

The "Coins" trophy speculates that they may be the currency of the Mushroom Kingdom; however, Mario and other Mushroom Kingdom characters have clearly used them as such in several games.

Although the games the Land Mine and Cloaking Device are from is listed as "TOP SECRET" one of the ending credits clearly states that "Certain characters and items from Perfect Dark[...]", implying, if not, outright stating the source of these items.

Stages

Unlocking secret characters

Jigglypuff is the easiest to unlock. To unlock Jigglypuff, one must complete the Classic Mode or Adventure Mode once, or play 50 Versus Mode matches.

To unlock Dr. Mario, one must beat the Classic Mode or Adventure Mode using Mario, or play 100 Versus Mode matches. Dr. Mario is very similar to Mario, but throws capsules instead of fireballs and wields a white sheet instead of a gold cape. He is also somewhat more powerful, but somewhat slower.

To unlock Pichu, Pikachu's evolutionary predecessor, one must clear Event Match #37 or play 200 Versus Mode matches. Unlike Pikachu, Pichu's electrical attacks do damage to itself.

To unlock Falco, one must beat the 100-Man Melee, or play 300 Versus Mode matches. Falco's blaster shots are not as rapid as Fox's, but they cause opponents to flinch.

To unlock Marth, a character from the Fire Emblem series, one must use all of the initial (non-secret) characters in Regular Match mode or Versus mode at least once, or play 400 Versus Mode matches. Marth is a "magnificent swordsman", according to the his trophy description. His standing B-button attack, Shield Breaker, is chargeable. His Down-B move serves as a counterattack move.

To unlock Young Link, one must complete Classic Mode ten times, or play 500 Versus Mode matches. Young Link is faster but weaker than adult Link. He shoots fire arrows, but his overall range is shorter than adult Link's. He can do wall jumps.

To unlock Ganondorf, one must complete Event Match #29, or play 600 Versus Mode matches. Ganondorf is a slower, more powerful copy of Captain Falcon.

To unlock Mewtwo, one must play 700 Versus Mode matches or 20 total hours of Versus Mode. Mewtwo uses mainly its psychic abilities to fight.

To unlock Luigi, one must finish the first level of Adventure Mode with the time limit seconds ones digit being a "2" (e.g. 1:32:87). After that one must finish the Adventure Mode in order to fulfill the goal, then Luigi is unlocked. Another way is to play 800 Versus Mode matches. Unlike Mario, Luigi's cyclone and uppercut attacks hit once per attack, and his fireballs defy gravity. His Green Missile move sends him horizontally, and randomly misfires, lanching him much farther than normal.

To unlock Roy, another character from Fire Emblem, one must complete Classic or Adventure Mode using Marth without using continues (or Smash tokens), or play 900 Versus Mode matches. Roy's and Marth's B-button moves are nearly identical, but Roy is stronger and slower, and does more damage with the center of his blade where Marth operates best with the tip.

To unlock Mr. Game & Watch, one must complete Classic or Adventure Mode with the other characters, or complete the Target Test for all the other characters, or play 1000 Versus Mode matches.

Stadium

In the single player mode, there is an option to go to the Stadium. In the Stadium, players can choose between three mini-games: Target Test, Home Run Contest, and Multi Man Melee.

Target Test

This mode provides easy access to the target-breaking mini-game found in Classic Mode. The object is to destroy all ten targets within a certain timeframe; completing the Target Test within certain timeframes unlocks things. Each Target Test level is tailored to a particular character's attacks.

Completing the Target Test under certain time constraints can unlock things.

Home Run Contest

In the Home Run Contest, the player's goal is to hit a character named Sandbag as far as possible. Only 10 seconds are allowed and the more damage inflicted on Sandbag before time's up, the farther it will fly when struck with the provided Home Run Bat. This all has to be done on a small platform, though, and if Sandbag goes off one will have to restart. The player can choose any character to beat up Sandbag.

Hitting the Sandbag certain distances, at once and as a combined total of all the characters' records, unlocks things. For example, if Sandbag is hit over 1,350 feet, the Yoshi's Island past stage will be unlocked.

Multi-man Melee

Multi-man Melee mode stars the Fighting Wire Frames. There are five types of Multi-man Melee modes: 10-Man Melee, 100-Man Melee, 3-Minute Melee, 15-Minute Melee, Endless Melee, and Cruel Melee.

Meeting certain requirements in the Multi-man Melee modes unlocks things.

Character "clones"

There are six pairs of characters that quite resemble each other (having similar attacks and movement). Although the moves of the characters may appear similar at first glance, there are very subtle differences between the characters that keep them distinct, especially to more advanced players.

• Mario and Dr. Mario
• Link and Young Link
• Pikachu and Pichu
• Fox and Falco
• Captain Falcon and Ganondorf
• Marth and Roy

Falco is an adaptation of Fox as he appeared in the original Super Smash Bros. game.

Voice actors (seiyus)

• Narrator – Dean Harrington
• DK rap performance – James W. Norwood Jr.
• Captain Falcon – Ryo Horikawa
• Chikorita (Chicorita) – Mika Kanai
• Falco Lombardi – Hisao Egawa (Japanese version), Ben Cullum (English version)
• Fox McCloud – Shinobu Satouchi (Japanese version), Steve Malpass (English version)
• Ganondorf "Ganon" Dragmire – Takashi Nagasako
• Jigglypuff (Purin) – Mika Kanai (Japanese version), Rachael Lillis (English version)
• Kirby – Maiko Okamoto
• Link – Nobuyuki Hiyama
• Luigi – Charles Martinet
• Mario – Charles Martinet
• Marth – Hikaru Midorikawa
• Mewtwo – Masachika Ichimura
• Ness – Maiko Okamoto
• Peach – Jen Taylor
• Peppy Hare – Chris Seavor
• Pikachu – Ikue Otani (credited as Ikue Ohtani)
• Pichu – Satomi Kourogi (credited as Satomi Kohrogi)
• Popo of the Ice Climbers – Sanae Kobayashi
• Roy – Jun Fukuyama
• Slippy Toad – Chris Seavor
• Yoshi – Kazumi Totaka
• Young Link – Fujiko Takimoto
• Zelda/Sheik – Jun Mizusawa

Sonic & Tails Rumor

In 2002, the April edition of the video game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly included a "cheat" for the game that would baffle several people for years to come. The issue claimed that the Sega characters, Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower were hidden characters in the game. In order to be able to play as them, the player was required to eliminated 20 of the wire-frame characters in the Cruel Melee mode. Then, both would supposedly fight the player at the same time, and if they lost, then they would become playable. The magazine also said that if one completed Classic mode with one of them, then they would be given "a special surprise". To convice readers, they included some screenshots of Sonic and Tails in play.

However, this was revealed to be a hoax shortly after. It was included in the April edition for the sole purpose of being an April Fool's joke, reminiscent of their equally cunning Sheng Long joke for Street Fighter II. There are also several factors that also prove this false, such as Nintendo not joining forces with Sega until after the game was released, as well as the fact that there is a screen that tells the player that they have achieved all of the hidden characters. In addition, these characters were not included in any strategy guide.

Future

The future of Super Smash Bros. series currently lies in the balance. It has been widely speculated across Internet forums. Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Super Smash Bros. and Kirby video game franchises, resigned from HAL Laboratory, Inc. in June 2003. He said that he left of his own free will and neither because of poor relationships nor because of a desire to establish a new corporation. Some other sources said that Sakurai felt that he was unable to develop the games he desired for Nintendo to publish. He eventually decided to resign on this basis, and engage in freelance work that befits his skills and talents. Sakurai said that even though the Kirby video game franchise will still be developed by HAL Laboratory, he has not said a word about the future of the Super Smash Bros. video game franchise. New additions to the Super Smash Bros. series have been widely speculated to be in development for the Nintendo DS and the upcoming Nintendo Revolution.

External links

• Super Smash Bros. Melee guide: Nintendorks.com
• Super Smash Bros. Melee – GameFAQs.com
• Smash World Forums
• IMDb entry for Super Smash Bros. Melee – Entered under the game's Japanese title (The Internet Movie Database uses the Japanese titles for video games of Japanese origin.)