Super Smash Bros. Melee

All I can say is that SSB Melee is the best game I have ever played in my life. There are new characters, stages, and much stuff to do, like the Multi Man Melee. The characters in the game include Roy from Fire Emblem, Falco from Star Fox, Ice Climbers, Bowser, and many new ones. Get this game. You will have a great time! =) Rating: 20 out of 10. P.S.: Falco kicks ass in the game!! ^__^

When it comes to multiplayer "party" games, fighting sims have usually been relegated to the older audiences for games such as Mortal Combat or other more graphic experiences. With "Super Smash Bros. Melee" for the Nintendo Gamecube, however, the contestants are none other than the colorful characters from Nintendo's cannon of crazy caricatures participating in some cartoonish smash-and-dash.

Besides the tight controls and great visuals/locals, the true hallmark of this game is the attributes of each individual character, which provides "something for everyone". If you just like mashing people? Go for Donkey Kong. Love to shoot a bow & wield a sword? Then Link is your character. The list could go on and on, as each character has abilities that make them unique to the game and allow for almost endless combinations.

Overall, "Melee" is perhaps the most engaging multiplayer GCN game ever created (with the possible exception of Double Dash). Literally hours of fun can be had pummeling your friends with Nintendo's characters and earning the bragging rights to go along with it.

SSBM is a fighter game of different proportions. It features four player action and some great 1 player modes as well. Adventure mode allows you to fight enemies in their preferred stages and explore stages not available in versus mode. Event Matches, Collecting Trophies, and so much more add to the games brilliance. This game has great symphony music as well, all accurate to some of our favorite tunes from Mario to The Legend of Zelda. That reminds me of one of the games biggest features, the characters! Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Samus, Link, Zelda/Shiek, and at least 10 others, all with unique attacks and specialties are available. The stages to choose from are also limitless. In simplest terms, there's about 1 or more stages for every character. All different. There is just so much to do in the game and its so easy to get into. SSBM goes down as the greatest fighter game of all time. It may even THE greatest game of all time.

Forget the Pc, Dreamcast and XBox. There's two consoles: GameCube and PlayStation2. The XBox is meant to make Bill Gates richer, the Dreamcast is short on games and is no longer being given games anyway, and the PC games come in three choices: 2-D, blocky or educational. The PlayStation2: great variety, online gaming and DVD player. GameCube: old reliable Nintendo favourites and extremely varied, original ideas. Just look at Super Mario Sunshine, Animal Crossing, or, a favourite, Super Smash Bros. Melee. Unfortunately brought up the wrong way, SSBM is not about "let's see who beats whom" when talking about whether Mario can cream Samus, or is Pikachu stronger than Fox. Because even if you match yourself against a computer, a compter versus a computer, or a human versus a human, you'll always get different results. No, the reason for this game is the features. 4-player versus. Adventure mode full of variety. Collecting trophies of Nintendo trademarks(not literally, I mean characters and things created by Nintendo), and much much more. The unknown of many things, like what Pokemon will be in that PokeBall, who will win this fight, is a bomb in this crate, and many other things make this game a sure win. It's meant o be played to have fun, not to settle arguments. And one of the reasons it's a hit: there's a character for everyone.

Mario and the gang have returned for another bout. Only this time, they have new moves, items, places to battle... and of course, several new Nintendo stars to battle with.

The characters have never looked better. There's a lot of nice texture work here--you can see even very minor details like the stitching on Mario's overalls or the scales on Bowser's skin. The game constantly runs at 60 FPS, or frames per second (really, really smoothly), and load time is anywhere from one-and-a-half seconds to almost none at all.

Thankfully, Nintendo has not decided to edit the sound effects for the English version, unlike what they did for the first title. (Grr...) The music is very nicely done. Most of the tunes are orchestrated, and they even included the DK Rap from Donkey Kong 64!

Controls are also very similar to the first game. Players jump with the Y Button, use regular attacks with the A button, use special attacks with the B button, shield with the L or R buttons, and grab other players with the awkwardly placed Z Button. I recommend practicing to get the hang of it all.

The arenas are a lot more unique this time around, too. For instance, in the F-Zero Mute City stage, the arena constantly moves, and you can even get hit by the F-Zero cars zooming by. (This has to be seen to be believed.) Or in the Pokémon Stadium level, the landscape changes at random. All of the stages have little obstacles and traps like these.

The game is LOADED with all sorts of modes, even in single-player. Adventure mode, for instance, takes you through all sorts of cool stages based on Nintendo games. Players have several battle options, and players can also fight in tournaments with up to 64 players.

What about secrets? Well, I won't disclose much, but there are many characters to be unlocked, like Pichu, Ganondorf, and Prince Marth (from the Japanese RPG Fire Emblem). The only one I would change is Jigglypuff, who doesn't do much of anything. You can even earn many new arenas.

With all these options, modes, and secrets, this game is sure to keep players busy for a long, long time.

My score: 10 out of 10