Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee (also known by the acronym SSBM) is a fighting game for the Nintendo GameCube and the sequel to the smash-hit Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. Additionally, the game is the predecessor to Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii. Super Smash Bros. Melee is an incredibly popular video game, and is the best selling game for the GameCube.

Super Smash Bros. Melee is a fighting game where various characters from Nintendo's popular franchises battle on different courses, also taken from Nintendo franchises. SSBM almost solely focuses on multiplayer mode, but has two decent single-player modes; a new mode called "Adventure" mode, and the original Story mode from Super Smash Bros. There is also an unlockable "All-Star" mode which pits you against every character in the game with limited healing items and 51 Event Matches which put you in specific scenarios, such as rescuing Peach from Bowser or protecting a Yoshi Egg.

The game's soundtrack was released as Super Smash Bros. Melee: Smashing...Live!.

Playable Characters
There are twenty-five playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee; seven of which are from the Marioverse.

Marioverse Characters

 * Mario
 * Princess Peach
 * Yoshi
 * Bowser
 * Donkey Kong


 * Luigi (secret)
 * Dr. Mario (secret)

Mario

 * B - Fireball
 * B → - Cape
 * B ↑ - Super Jump Punch
 * B ↓ - Mario Tornado

Yoshi

 * B - Egg Lay
 * B → - Egg Roll
 * B ↑ - Egg Throw
 * B ↓ - Yoshi Bomber

DK

 * B - Giant Punch
 * B → - Headbutt
 * B ↑ - Spinning Kong
 * B ↓ - Hand Slap

Bowser

 * B - Flame Breath
 * B → - Koopa Klaw
 * B ↑ - Whirling Fortress
 * B ↓ - Bowser Bomber

Peach

 * B - Toad Block
 * B → - Peach Bomber
 * B ↑ - Parasol
 * B ↓ - Vegetable

Dr. Mario

 * B - Megavitamins
 * B → - Super Sheet
 * B ↑ - Super Jump Punch
 * B ↓ - Dr. Tornado

Luigi

 * B - Green Fireball
 * B → - Green Missile
 * B ↑ - Fire Jump Punch
 * B ↓ - Luigi Cyclone

Other Characters

 * Link from the Legend of Zelda series
 * Princess Zelda/Sheik from the Legend of Zelda series
 * Samus Aran from the Metroid series
 * Captain Falcon from the F-Zero series
 * Fox McCloud from the Star Fox series
 * Ness from the EarthBound/Mother series
 * Kirby from the Kirby series
 * Pikachu from the Pokémon series
 * Popo and Nana, The Ice Climbers from Ice Climber


 * Ganondorf from the Legend of Zelda series (secret)
 * Young Link from the Legend of Zelda series (secret)
 * Falco Lombardi from the Star Fox series (secret)
 * Pichu from the Pokémon series (secret)
 * Jigglypuff from the Pokémon series (secret)
 * Mewtwo from the Pokémon series (secret)
 * Marth from the Fire Emblem series (secret)
 * Roy from the Fire Emblem series (secret)
 * Mr. Game & Watch from the Game & Watch games (secret)

Items
There's several items in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Some from Mario games, and some from other games.

Marioverse items

 * Bob-ombs, used to throw at another character to make an explosion, or if left on the ground for a few seconds, starts walking around on the ground.
 * Fire Flowers, used to shoot fire at someone.
 * Freezies, used to throw at another player to freeze them in an ice block. Using fiery attacks will make them normal again.
 * Green Shells, used to throw. It slides along the ground, and can hit multiple characters.
 * Red Shells, pretty much the same as the green shells, but does less damage and homes in on characters.
 * Hammers, a massive hammer from Donkey Kong if picked up it can do some great damage, but the player can't double jump, nor can he/she drop the item. The head may fall off and be picked up and thrown to get an almost guaranteed KO.
 * Metal Box, makes the player weigh a lot and can't be thrown off the stage easily, but if he/she gets thrown off, it'll be harder to survive the fall.
 * Super Mushrooms, makes the player double in size, and thus become stronger, harder to KO, and slower, but easier to hit (due to the size) and less flexible.
 * Poison Mushrooms, the opposite of Super Mushrooms. The player shrinks in size, gets easier to KO, gets weaker but runs faster. He/she also gets more flexible and easier to miss.
 * Starmen, makes the player invincible for a moment. That means, the player can drown in the acid lava in Zebes.
 * Barrel Cannons, used to trap a character inside, and then the barrel rotates, depending when the trapped character presses a button, he/she'll be fired out in a certain angle.
 * Star Rods shoot stars when used. Even though in is know as a item from the Kirby series, Bowser used it in Paper Mario.

Other items

 * Beam Swords, from the original SSB
 * Ray Guns, also from the original SSB
 * Bunny Hoods, from the Legend of Zelda series
 * Cloaking Devices, from Perfect Dark
 * Flippers, from Balloon Fight
 * Homerun Bats, from the original SSB
 * Lip's Stick, from Panel de Pon
 * Mr. Saturn, from EarthBound/Mother 2
 * Motion-Sensor Bombs, from Perfect Dark
 * Fans, from SSB
 * Parasols, from the Kirby series
 * Party Balls, introduced in SSBM
 * Poké Balls, from the Poke'mon series
 * Screw Attack, from the Metroid series
 * Star Rods, from the Kirby series
 * Super Scopes, from the SNES game Nintendo Scope
 * Warp Stars, from the Kirby series
 * Maxim Tomatoes, from the Kirby series
 * Food, introduced in SSBM
 * Heart Containers, from the Legend of Zelda series

Stages
There are 29 stages in Super Smash Bros. Melee.


 * Infinite Glacier: Icicle Mountain
 * Mushroom Kingdom: Princess Peach's Castle
 * DK Island: Kongo Jungle
 * Termina: Great Bay
 * Yoshi's Island: Yoshi's Story
 * Dream Land: Fountain of Dreams
 * Lylat System: Corneria
 * Superflat World: Flat Zone
 * Mushroom Kingdom: Rainbow Ride
 * DK Island: Jungle Japes
 * Hyrule: Temple
 * Yoshi's Island: Yoshi's Island
 * Dream Land: Green Greens
 * Lylat System: Venom
 * Planet Zebes: Brinstar
 * Eagleland: Onett
 * F-Zero Grand Prix: Mute City
 * Kanto: Pokémon Stadium
 * Mushroom Kingdom
 * Planet Zebes: Brinstar Depths
 * Eagleland: Fourside
 * F-Zero Grand Prix: Big Blue
 * Kanto Skies: Poké Floats
 * Mushroom Kingdom II
 * Special Stages: Final Destination
 * Special Stages: Battlefield
 * Past Stages: Dream Land
 * Past Stages: Yoshi's Island
 * Past Stages: Kongo Jungle

Gameplay
Players can use their attacks to hurt other players. This causes damage, measured in percent. The higher the percentage is, the more fast the player is knocked out. The damage can exceed 100%.

To fight, players can also use items or grab and throw their enemies.

There are four standard fighting modes in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Time
Players gain points by KOing other players, and lose points by going KO. When the time limit has run out, the player with the most points wins.

Stock
Players have a set number of lives. They lose lives when getting KOed. The last player standing wins. Optionally, a time limit can be specified. When the time has run out, the player with the most lives wins.

Coin
Players have to collect coins. Coins appear by hitting an opponent. When a player gets KOed, he will lose half of his coins. When the time limit has run out, the player with the most coins wins.

Bonus
Players get points for their fighting style. There are 249 different kinds of bonus points. Bonus points can be simply for KOs, for jumping a lot, for looking in the same direction all the time, for getting a rare Pokémon out of a Pokéball, etc. When the time limit has run out, the player with the most points wins.

When there is a tie between two or more players in any of these modes, there will be a Sudden Death. It is a quick stock battle, where each of the players who are tied will fight. All start with 300% damage. The winner of the Sudden Death wins the match.

Single-Player mode
The single-player mode got expanded quite a lot since Super Smash Bros. There are several modes new in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Classic mode
The classic mode is based upon the single-player mode of the game's predecessor. However, it is no longer set what opponents you will fight. They are chosen randomly. Still, there is a set pattern for the battles.

In the beginning, the player chooses the difficulty (very easy - easy - normal - hard - very hard) and the number of lives (1 - 5) he will have for the whole mode.

All battles are in stock mode, with the opponents having one life, and a 3 minutes time limit. The arena is one of the opponent's home arena.


 * Stage 1: The player fights a single opponent.
 * Stage 2: A team of the player and an ally fight against a team of two opponents.
 * Bonus Stage 1: Target Test: The player has to hit all the targets within a time limit of 2 minutes. Each character has his own arena for the target test. When failing in the test, the player does not lose a life for his upcoming battles.
 * Stage 3: Again, the player fights a single opponent.
 * Stage 4: A team of the player and two allies fight a single opponent. However, the opponent appears in his giant form, just if he ate a Super Mushroom.
 * Bonus Stage 2: Collect the Trophies!: The player has to collect the trophies falling from above. To do this, he has to hit them so that they fall into his collection point. Again, when failing, the player does not lose a life.
 * Stage 5: Once again, the player fights a single opponent.
 * Stage 6: The player has to fight 10 opponents, all being the same character. He fights 3 at the same time. When one gets KOed, another takes its place.
 * Bonus Stage 3: Race to the finish: The player has to get to the finish. However, there are a lot of finishs around on the player's way. The farther away the finish he takes is from his starting point, the more coins he will earn. The time he has for this varies from character to character, but it is usually around 45 seconds. As with the other two Bonus Stages, failing does not cause loosing a life.
 * Stage 7: The player has to fight an opponent in his metal version. The battle is on the Battlefield stage.
 * Stage 8: The player has to fight the Master Hand on the Final Destination stage. Unlike the player, the Master Hand has hit points instead of percentage of damage. The number of hit points vary between the difficulty settings. Additionally, when the player is fighting on the normal or a higher difficulty setting and has finished the other stages of the classic mode in a time lower than 10 minutes, Crazy Hand will appear when Master Hand's HP hits its half. Then the player has to fight both hands at the same time. Crazy Hand has the same number of HP as Master Hand.

Adventure mode
The adventure mode is a mode taking place in all world of the games featured in Super Smash Bros. Melee. It features some special side-scrolling stages only available in adventure mode.

As in the classic mode, the player chooses the difficulty (very easy - easy - normal - hard - very hard) and the number of lives (1 - 5) he will have for the whole mode.

This side-scrolling level is totally influenced by the Marioverse. It features classical Mario enemies, Goombas, Koopa Troopas and Paratroopas, as well as Pipes and brick blocks. Toads are seen in the background. Near the end of the stage, the player has to battle 10 Yoshis, three at the same time.
 * Stage 1: Mushroom Kingdom:

When he has completed the side-scrolling stage, he gets to Peach's Castle. There, he has to fight Mario and Peach, who are in a team.

When the player has completed the first part of the Mushroom Kingdom stage with a 2 in the seconds place (XX:X2:XX) on his time counter, Luigi will kick Mario off the castle before the battle begins. Then, the player will have to fight Luigi and Peach instead. When the player then completes the rest of the adventure mode, he will get to unlock Luigi in the end.

In the first part of the DK stage, the player has to fight two mini-versions of Donkey Kong at the same time. The battle is in the Kongo Jungle stage.
 * Stage 2: Kongo Jungle:

After defeating the mini DKs, the player will fight Giant DK in the Jungle Japes stage.

This side-scrolling level takes place in an underground dungeon. The player has to fight Zombies and other enemies from the Zelda series. There are six special places in the dungeon. One is containing the finish, the Triforce. In the other five places, Link will appear and battle the player. He has a different color each time.
 * Stage 3: Hyrule:

When the player has completed the Dungeon, he gets to Hyrule Temple, where he has to fight Princess Zelda.

In the first part of the stage, the player has to fight Samus in Brinstar.
 * Stage 4: Brinstar:

When Samus is defeated, a self-destruction mechanism will be activated. The player then gets to a small side-scrolling level were he has to jump upwards to escape the exploding planet. When he fails to do it in time, he will lose a life.

Firstly, the player has to fight a single Kirby in the Green Greens stage.
 * Stage 5: Green Greens:

When it is defeated, a team of 18 Kirbys, all having stolen abilities from other characters, will fight the player. He fights 3 Kirbys at the same time.

When the player has defeated the Kirby team within 30 seconds, a Giant Kirby will appear and also fight him.

The player has to fight Fox on the Corneria stage. In this battle, there are no Airwings seen.
 * Stage 6: Corneria:

When Fox is defeated, the Airwings will arrive and intervene in the battle on the Star Fox by heavily bombing it. In the meanwhile, the player has to fight Fox again. When Falco is unlocked, he might be there instead of Fox in the second battle.

The player has to fight a team of 12 Pokémon in the Pokémon Stadium. The team mainly consists of Pikachus. When they are unlocked, Jigglypuffs and Pichus can be seen, too. Additionally, the only item in this battle is the Pokéball.
 * Stage 7: Pokémon Stadium:

The stage begins with yet another special side-scrolling level. It is a part of the track of a GP race. The player has to complete it by foot. Occasionally, the F-Zero drivers will pass the player. He then has to hide on one of the platforms hovering above the track. Else, he is knocked out by them.
 * Stage 8: F-Zero Grand Prix:

When completing the race, the player has to fight Captain Falcon in Mute City.

The player has to fight three Nesses in the Onett stage. The only item found here is Mr. Saturn.
 * Stage 9: Onett:

As Icicle Mountain is a scrolling stage anyway, is acts like that here, too. In the beginning, the player has to reach a certain height of the level. On his way are a lot of Topis and Freezies.
 * Stage 10: Icicle Mountain:

When he has reached the certain height, the player will fight two pairs of Ice Climbers at the same time.

The player has to fight 20 Fighting Wire Frames, 5 at the same time.
 * Stage 11: Battlefield:

When he has defeated the Wire Frames, the player has to fight Metal Mario. When Luigi is unlocked, he will have to fight Metal Luigi at the same time as well.

The player has to fight Giant Bowser on the Final Destination Stage.
 * Stage 12: Final Destination:

When the player plays on a difficulty setting of normal or higher and has completed the past stages of the adventure mode in a time lower than 18 minutes, he will have to fight Giga Bowser as well.

All-Star mode
The All-Star mode can be unlocked by unlocking all secret characters. Unlike other modes, the player only has one life for the whole mode, and his percentage of damage is not set back after a battle. However, he can use up to three Heart Containers to restore his health.

In the beginning, the player chooses the difficulty setting (very easy - easy - normal - hard - very hard).

In the All-Star mode, the player has to fight all 25 characters of the game. All battles are in the stock system, with each combatant having one life.

In the first four rounds, the player will fight a single opponent in their home stage. In round five to eight, he has to fight two opponents at the same time, and in round nine to twelve three opponents. In the 13th round, he has to fight 30 Mr. Game & Watches in the Flat Zone, five at the same time. After each battle, he returns to a stage in-between, with his remaining Heart Containers, showing which characters he has already beaten and which he will fight in the next battle. Occasionally, a trophy can be collected.

Event match
Event matches are specially designed stages. They have a certain goal to be achieved. All the player can choose is his character, though even that is pre-defined sometimes.

Event matches can break the rules of a normal battle in Super Smash Bros. Melee. There is a level were the only items are Bob-ombs, Motion-Sensor Bombs and Pokéballs, and the opponents Link and Samus only use their bombs. There is also a level were the player plays as Mario and has to stop Bowser from harming Peach.

Recurring themes in the 51 event matches are All-Star battles, where the player has to fight a certain number of pre-defined characters with two lives and within a certain amout of time. There are also special levels where the combatants fight on giant trophies. When the player wins, he will get that trophy. One event match features the F-Zero GP level from the Adventure mode, played in the doubled speed.

In the 51st event match, the player has to face Mewtwo, Ganondorf and Giga Bowser, who are in a team, on Final Destination. Everyone has three lives. When the player wins, he will unlock the Final Destination stage for the VS mode.

To unlock more event matches, the player has to win a certain number of the previous ones, and sometimes unlock additional characters.

Target test
Here the player can play the target test, as it appears in Classic mode, separately.

Home-Run contest
The goal of the Home-Run contest is to throw the Sandbag as far as possible. The player gets a Homerun Bat to do this. He has a limited amout of time to damage the Sandbag before hitting it, so that it will fly farther away.

The player can win special trophies by getting a specific distance at the Home-Run contest, as well as unlock the Past Yoshi's Island stage.

Multi-Man Melee
In this special mode the goal is to fight Fighting Wire Frames.


 * 10-Man Melee: The player has to fight 10 Wire Frames in the fastest time possible.
 * 100-Man Melee: The player has to fight 100 Wire Frames in the fastest time possible. When winning, he can unlock Falco.
 * 3-Minute Melee: The player has 3 minutes to kick out as many Wire Frames as possible.
 * 15-Minute Melee: The player has 15 minutes to kick out as many Wire Frames as possible. When winning, he can unlock the Past Kongo Jungle stage.
 * Endless Melee: The player has an unlimited amout of time to kick out as many Wire Frames as possible.
 * Cruel Melee: As in Endless Melee, there is an unlimited amout of time. However, the Wire Frames are a lot harder to beat and there are no items.

Training mode
The player can practice here. There are no rules such as Stock or Time, and the opponent can be controlled either by the Training menu, and set to statuses such as walking and standing, or by a human player. Items can be created to practice with them specially.

VS mode
In the VS mode, up to four players and computer-controlled characters can compete with each other. The player can set all the rules for the battles, such as the mode (Time - Stock - Coin - Bonus) and additional options about which items should appear, the computer level, handicap mode and the stage to fight on.

Melee
The basic VS mode. It works as described above.

Tournament mode
When more than 4 players want to play against each other, they can use the tournament mode.

Tournament: The number of entrants is selected and can be up to 64. The rules for the battles and the level of additional computer opponents can be specified. Each player chooses their character and the tournament begins. Up to four players fight in a battle, and the winner passes on to the text round, according to the tournament tree.

Winner out/Looser out: This mode is for human players only. A number of players fight against each other. The winner or the looser of the match, depending on the setting, gives his controller to the next player waiting for his turn to come. This continues endlessly, until the mode is cancelled. Players are free to change their characters while the tournament is ongoing.

Special Melee
This mode offers a couple of different rules settings for the Melee mode.

Camera mode
In this mode, the players can take screenshots. These screenshots are saved on the memory card. The number of blocks a screenshot takes is defined by how many objects are visible on it.

Stamina mode
As it is seen at the Master Hand in Classic mode, players have 150 HP instead of percentage of damage. When a player's HP hits 0, he dies. The amout of HP the players start with, however, cannot be changed.

Super Sudden Death
All players start with 300% damage. This will cause them to be KOed instantly when hit.

Giant Melee
All players are giant, as if they had taken Super Mushrooms.

Tiny Melee
All players are tiny, as if they had taken Poison Mushrooms.

Invisible Melee
All players are invisible, as if they had Cloaking Devices.

Fixed Camera mode
The camera is zoomed out as far as possible, showing the whole stage. It does not move in the battle. This may cause that players do not see their characters.

Single-Button mode
Only the control stick and the A button work in this mode, allowing only basic attacks.

Lightning Melee
In this mode, the games players a lot faster, making it hard for players to react on attacks.

Slo-Mo Melee
The opposite of Lightning Melee. The game is a lot slower, making it easier to react on attacks.

Trophies

 * Main Article: Trophy

Trophies can be collected in single-player mode, won in the special lottery mode, or acquired on special events, such as playing a certain number of matches in VS mode.

There are about 400 trophies in the game, with an enormous percentage being Marioverse characters, items, locations, and concept.

Note that each of the playable characters has three trophies, and two of them explain their SSBM background. They can be collected by completing the Adventure or All-Star mode with them.