LogFAQs > #913347686

Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)

Gameplay
So totally in the minority here, but I don't think Melee's gameplay is that good tbh. I hate the faster gameplay. It makes the game feel closer to 'an actual fighting game' which I hate. Most fighting games usually have a huge divide between casual players and competitive players, almost to a point where a lot of competitive players act in a way that competitive play is the definitive way to play Smash. I know it's a little off topic and is more of an issue with a part of the fanbase. I do think it is a direct result of the gameplay and is still worth mentioning. That said a lot of the gameplay additions are incredibly welcome features that evolve the franchise in a way that's crazy especially considering it came out only two years after 64.

Roster
Holy shit, 64's was great, but this one's was even better. It's twice as large and adds a great combination of worthy characters and obscure ones to make a really cool roster. Marth and Roy being the obvious standouts seeing as how their inclusion literally brought FE to the US which is now a big Nintendo franchise. Now if I had to complain about the roster, it would be too many clone characters and yeah I get why they're viable, but Ganondorf especially gets hurt the most by this. He's a Captain Falcon clone for some reason? I get there was a big rush to get the game out, but like he's an important character, save him for Brawl and give that spot to Black Shadow. It's just such a disservice to the character and he stayed that way until now. Anywho still a minor complaint and the roster is still otherwise great

Single Player
This is where it gets really rough for me, if 64's content was limited Melee's was overkill. While I think Classic and All Star are great and a lot of fun, Adventure mode is rough though, conceptually it's one of the best single player modes in the franchise, the reality though is revealed after you clear it after a couple times and well it's super repetitive. The mode is too short to be a single adventure but it's too long to played by every character. So I think I gotta side with 64's minamilst approach on this one.

Bonus Content
Colossal step up from 64, there's a huge increase in bonus modes to play for starters, the biggest of which being Event Mode which is awesome and honestly I think is a way better mode than Adventure and should've honestly been more prominent. Secondly by making a good amount of characters and stages unlockable which always leads to nice surprises while playing. I will say though some of the unlock conditions are absolutely ridiculous, getting Mewtwo is the worst of it, most characters have two methods of unlocking either by playing X amount of matches or by a second method that's a little more secretive and fun to figure out. Mewtwo's second method however is to just play 20 hours of Melee matches. Like really, he's not even the last character it's just such an absurd requirement. The final addition is trophies, which are fantastic it's a great way to introduce people to new games as well some fan service to people that are already fans.

Overall
While I do think it's a tad overrated, thanks to the fanbase and it's pretty repetitive unlockables. But honestly all that's pretty minor especially when you consider all this game did for the franchise. Especially with how little time they had to work on the game, so overall I do think the advancements made to the franchise outweigh the little complaints I have. Definitely a stronger game than 64.
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