Hey! This is Antwan, giving the full scoop on gaming! Well, as you know from the title, today's Review is on Super Smash Brothers Melee, a gigantic hit for the GameCube. Anyway, I will be reviewing it CAREFULLY. (Misty Koopa might've exaggerated on the Review with all those 10s.)

Objective? You just have to fight your opponents and knock them out by sending them flying off the course in any direction. During the fight, you will find items, obstacles, and much more. It's great, because most fighting games I've seen are only moves and that's it. No items, no obstacles, nothing. You just fight. Although I do favor Tekken, it just would be nice to see a little more... function.

I rate on a 0-4 star scale, where zero is not even a pinch of greatness and four is superlative effort in a surprising way. A * means one and a ` means half. Here's the Review.

System: GameCube
Rated: T for Teen for Animated Violence and Mild Explosions (Way too minor to have a T, so kids should get it)
Type: Fighting

Graphics: ****

Well, what can I say? The graphics just plain blew me away. Everyone has texture. The clothing is detailed, nicely rendered, and moves gracefully in battle, Mario's overalls look exactly like the Oshkosh overalls at K-mart. The animals have scales and fur and not like the cheap, still fur, which is just a bunch of lines drawn on the skin. Also, the courses are amazing. Nice use of texture, and the lighting was nearly perfect, but it's only minor. Everything is nearly flawless. I wish the other games on the GameCube were, too.

Sound: ****

Another four stars. To me, music has to be catchy, atmospheric, and played well. I got tons of the music stuck in my head from this game, it was like a flipping jukebox grew in my brain! The Captain Falcon songs are really catchy and the lyrics to Donkey Kong's Rap are great to say over again, even thought rap is hard to repeat. And, if you unlock every course, you can get the sound test, where you can relax and listen. However, one of the Battlefield themes reeked, but one bad tune can't lower the score when there are 40 musical numbers.

The sounds are nice, although the audience cheers and boos are a little repetitive, but the characters have a superb voice. They sound just like they should, and the punching and kicking sounds are not annoying and very loud like in some fighting games I've seen.

Characters: `

Wow, what a choice! You got Mario and the gang from the Mushroom Kingdom. Kirby, Captain Falcon, Ness, Fox, Samus, Pikachu and some other Pokemon, and many more Nintendo characters. They even got Japanese characters from Fire Emblem, which started a new series in USA after that.

However, what's with the lame characters, Pichu and Jigglypuff? They, in my case, have a lot of disadvantages and so few strengths. Plus, a B-attack hurts Pichu! That is the lamest weakness ever. I'm hoping these are handicaps.

Plus some characters are look-alikes with very few minor differences: Mario and Dr. Mario, Marth and Roy, Pikachu and Pichu, and Fox and Falco. Ugh, the next game better change their differences A LOT.

And, I would've added a few more characters in there as well. Why not Wario instead of that dumb Mario in Wario's clothing? And the same goes for Daisy and Peach! They are totally different from Mario and Peach! Moreover, Diddy Kong, King Dedede, Bomberman, and a lot of other guys should be added as well.

I give them credit for the variety and going to their old roots the right way, not the wrong way where you make remakes of crummy games. However, when I saw a lot of characters from the 80s as trophies, I realized that three just isn't enough here. Oh well. At least it's good enough to use in battle.

Here's the list of characters. A * means it's a secret character.

Mario Games: Mario, Luigi*, Bowser, Peach, Dr. Mario*
Yoshi Games: Yoshi
F-Zero Games: Captain Falcon
Starfox Games: Fox, Falco*
Pokemon Games: Pikachu, Jigglypuff*, Pichu*, Mewtwo*
Kirby Games: Kirby
Earthbound Games: Ness
Fire Emblem Games: Marth*, Roy*
Game and Watch Games: Mr. Game and Watch*
Legend of Zelda Games: Link, Young Link*, Zelda/Sheik, Ganondorf*
Ice Climber Games: Ice Climbers
Donkey Kong Games: Donkey Kong
Metroid Games: Samus
Super Smash Brothers Games (not useable for players): Male Wire Frame, Female Wire Frame, Master Hand, Crazy Hand, Giga Bowser, Sandbag

Courses: ***`

Awesome is all I have to say. The courses are unique, and with the superb graphics in this game, it makes it look beautiful as well. The obstacles are nice and the surrounding environments are awesome.

Crazy Packers Fan said in his Review that Mushroom Kingdom II should have Sub-con stuff, like getting items from the ground and warping through the vases. I must agree, but it's too minor, because as long as you're fighting, you can't just stop and pick up the items.

Half a star was lost on account of Fire Emblem doesn't have any courses. It should show us what Fire Emblem looks like, since it's from Japan. However, that doesn't matter now, since the game is now in the United States.

Here's the list of courses. A * means it's a secret course.

Mario Games: Princess Peach's Castle, Rainbow Cruise, Mushroom Kingdom*, Mushroom Kingdom II*
Yoshi Games: Yoshi's Island, Yoshi's Story, Past Stages: Yoshi's Island*
F-Zero Games: Mute City, Big Blue*
Starfox Games: Corneria, Venom*
Pokemon Games: Pokemon Stadium, Poke Floats*
Kirby Games: Fountain of Dreams, Green Greens, Past Stages: Green Greens*
Earthbound Games: Onett, Fourside*
Fire Emblem Games: N/A
Game and Watch Games: Flat Zone*
Legend of Zelda Games: Hyrule Caste, Great Bay
Ice Climber Games: Icicle Mountain
Donkey Kong Games: Jungle Japes, Kongo Jungle, Past Stages: Kongo Jungle*
Metroid Games: Brinstar, Brinstar Depths*
Super Smash Brothers Games: Battlefield*, Final Destination*

Controls: ***`

The controls are nearly simple. Up on the control stick is jump, A+Direction is regular moves, B+Direction is smash moves, R is shield, A is to pick up items, etc. As a beginner, you'll screw up with some controls, but after some time, you'll get used to it. However, I still miss a few special moves. The responses are perfect. (Thank goodness.)

Gameplay: ****

W-O-W. This has got to be the best fighting game I've ever seen. Most fighting games involve lots of moves, no items, few surroundings that damage you, and you only need fast reflexes. Super Smash Brothers Melee is sort of the opposite of that; you got moves, you got arsenal, you got obstacles, and you got strategy! This is taking fighting game to a whole new level. Now I have completely abandoned the Tekken 3 machine at the arcade, just to play this game!

Items: ***`

Lots of stuff to use, way more than Super Smash Bros. You got the Metal Box to turn, well, metal, the Bunny Ears to go quicker and to jump higher, the Party Ball, which gives a big surprise if opened, and lots more. The Pokemon aren't pancake flat and the new Pokemon in Gold and Silver make for more variety to turn the game around.

However, some random items blow up easy and that kind of lowers my luck and makes me lose. Sure, some are supposed to explode, but others have some chance to blow up in your face.

Trophies: *`

Nintendo is on to something here: show trophies of all kinds of Nintendo stuff from Japan and America. However, I really don't care about collecting a trophy. Does it really matter? What would you get after getting them all? Plus, some trophies are hard to get and two of them need data from certain games to be unlocked. Also, I would think of putting a few more characters. But, this is a good concept, it's just not in the ball park.

You use your coins to get trophies in the slot machine; the more coins you put in, the higher your chances you will get a trophy.  The more new trophies you get, the lower your chances. It seems kind of dumb, as it's all about luck and I hate games with luck.

Classic Mode: **`

Classic Mode is where you fight characters in rounds. This time, the characters are random and there's not just Metal Mario, but metal anybody! Plus, the bonuses between the stage are nice. I am impressed by this mode. However, the bonuses become a little hard sometimes and Master Hand is hard to beat.

Adventure Mode: ***

This is a more complex version of Classic Mode. You go through some areas of the Nintendo World and fight all kinds of characters. Although the battles are not random, you can do a lot more than just fighting, and that is what make this fun! However, Bowser at the end is really hard.

All-Star Mode: ***

You get this mode when you unlock all of the characters. You fight in various, continuing battles with a rest stop in between battles. During the rest, there are three hearts to replenish your health, since damage you take after battle will stay. It's pretty tough, but the hearts heal you completely, making it much easier. Plus, the last level isn't that hard. Battles are also random here.

Training Mode: ***

You learn how to fight in this mode. It's great since you can learn how to master the game with many techniques you can find out and you can practice your moves. However, once you've mastered it, it gets a little boring later on.

Event Stage Mode: **

This is where you test your limits by playing special modes. This mode is super hard, but you need to pass certain levels to go on with the game and that totally stinks, since it's too hard for me to beat. Plus, some of the stages are too cliche. What did you expect?

However, the challenges just make me go back and play it some more again. It's weird, but this mode is quite entertaining. It's fun, but hard.

Break the Targets: **

The objective here is to break all ten targets with a character. You have to use every move your character has to break them all. It gets a little boring, but sometimes its a really good challenge. You can see this mode in a bonus stage in Classic Mode.

I like the Ice Climbers' place best, because it really has the Ice Climbers environment in it and that makes it really unique.

Home Run Contest: **

Yeah, what's so fun about having ten seconds to beat up a sandbag to make it go flying with the Home Run Bat? Actually, it's pretty good. The concept is nice and seeing the sandbag fly gives me a warm feeling in my heart for some reason.

However, if the sandbag falls off of the platform, it's over and it will count the number of feet you have reached. That makes the game really hard since lots of the characters fight really hard to make the sandbag go flying already. Besides, you only get ten seconds of kicking it around and that doesn't give me enough time to finish giving this bag pain. It's pretty much average.

So far, Yoshi has the best distance and (gasp!) DK has the shortest.

Multi Man Melee: ***

This concept has six modes where you have to beat the wire frame people up. It's hard, but the people aren't polygons anymore and that gives it a big boost. Cruel Melee is tough, but I'll need six KO's to unlock a trophy in this mode. Hint: Press B+Down with DK repeatedly to send them flying.

Camera Mode: No Stars

This has got to be the biggest weaknesses in the whole game. First of all, the fighters will not stand still to give you a clear shot and that is what gives the picture that horrible, blurry look. Then, you got the camera itself, which was hard to control and the zooming was disoriented. Finally, the pictures take up from seven to twelve blocks! I definitely do not have enough room to save that! This is a very bad mode and next time, they'd better work out all of the kinks.

Vs. Melee: ****

The heart of Super Smash Brothers Melee, this multiplayer mode is the biggest proof that this game will make you come back for more! You can play up to four players with computers or players. You even have four modes to play with:

Time: Get the most points by knocking out other opponents before time runs out.

Stock: Try to knock out opponents, until they run out of lives. The last one standing wins.

Coin: Beat people up to get coins. The one with the most coins wins.

Bonus: Try to get the most bonus points (for how you fight) to win.

You can also set the timer, choose which courses can come up under random, pick what items you want, and some other things. I already explained how the game works, so you know it's tons of fun!

Special Melee: ****

This is Vs. Melee with some special modes to play. You got Big Mode, Fixed-camera Mode (try it with Flat Zone!), Invisible Mode, etc. I could think of a few new modes, but the best part of the game is that with so many options and these modes that come with it, you can make your own games! Like using Big Mode in a small world, while putting Super Mushrooms only to make you super huge! I like these special modes very much.

Tournament Mode: **

This is where you set up a tournament and try to see who is the best. You can set up to four players in a battle. Wow, that must take a really long time, and it does. However, you can skip the CPU battles, which is a good thing, because I don't want to stick around while seeing fighting for thirty-five minutes. However, it does take long and the long playing makes this mode quite boring.

Replayability: ****

Well, I'll tell you this much. I got this game in November 2001 with my GameCube and I am still playing the game on a regular basis. It's the most addicting thing I've ever seen.

Fun Factor: ****

My goodness, I have already explained the really fun things in this game and it kicks the crud out of any other fighting game I've seen. This thing is just plain fun.

Final Score: ****

Wow. They didn't give this the Best Nintendo Game Award for nothing! I know lots of people that have a GameCube that have bought this, but if you don't have it, then you'd better buy it! It's so addicting. In fact, it's so addicting, that I'm going to go play it right now!

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