Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee, known in Japan as Dairantou* Smash Brothers DX**, and often shortened to "SSBM" or "Melee", is a 2.5D fighting game for the Nintendo GameCube. It was released in late 2001 in America and Japan, shortly after GameCube's launch, and early 2002 in Europe. It is the second game in the Super Smash Bros. series, following its predecessor, Super Smash Bros. and was succeeded by Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Like Super Smash Bros., its predecessor, Melee features gameplay unique from that of other fighting games. Compared to characters in other fighting games, Melee characters have simple movesets and lack complicated button inputs and lengthy natural combos. Instead Melee emphasizes movement and ringouts. Indeed, edge-guarding in Melee takes on much more significance than it does in most other games due to copious mid-air jumps and other methods of reaching the edge unfettered. The game has sold over seven million copies and is the best-selling GameCube game. Melee is also the first game in the series to be rated (by ESRB) T. Brawl was also rated T, making Super Smash Bros. the only game in the series to be rated E. Opening Video:

http://youtu.be/hNryMDpp0rM

Dr. Mario is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. This is his first 3D appearance as well as his first appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series, as he stems from a series of Mario puzzle games. As a clone of Mario, Dr. Mario and Mario have nearly identical movesets with obvious differences in attack physics.

Mario is a starter character who has appeared in all four games in the Super Smash Bros. franchise. His appearance in Melee was announced at E3 2001. Mario debuted in the arcade game Donkey Kong in 1981, and has been the mascot for Nintendo since he rose to fame in Super Mario Bros..

Luigi is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Luigi's moveset is markedly similar to that of Mario, though his attacks often differ in knockback and trajectory.

Bowser, known in Japan as Koopa, is a character in Super Smash Bros. Melee and is available from the start. Announced at E3 2001, a stronger form of Bowser also appears as the "final" boss in Adventure Mode.

Peach is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee and it was her first appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Yoshi is a character in all three games in the Super Smash Bros. series. He was announced as a playable character at the E3 2001. He possesses a more realistic dinosaur crouching posture and mottled skin in Melee.

Donkey Kong is a default character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He returns from the original Super Smash Bros., but with faster moves and agility, as well as an improved recovery.

Captain Falcon, announced at E3 2001, is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Ganondorf is in his original human form as he appears in the more recent installments of the series. His design is based off his appearance from the SpaceWorld demo, which is itself based off of his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Ganondorf is a clone of Captain Falcon. As such, he fights in a style similar to Captain Falcon, except in a slower but more powerful manner. Ganondorf is also an unlockable character.

Falco is a hidden character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He is considered a clone of Fox, sharing many normal and special attacks.

Fox is a playable starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He is emblematic of speed and he can dominate foes with his rapid attacks, quick movement and overpowering offense in all areas of his game.

Ness is a default character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Announced at E3 2001, he was originally going to be replaced by Lucas from Mother 3; the ultimate cancellation of the game caused Ness to reappear, and in Brawl, the two characters appear alongside each other.

Ice Climbers, known in Japan as Ice Climber, are playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Kirby is a starter character in all three games of the Super Smash Bros. series. Although tier-wise he was the second-to-top character in Super Smash Bros. topped only by Pikachu, in Super Smash Bros. Melee, he became severely nerfed.

Samus Aran is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. She is a very versatile character in the game, possessing an excellent moveset that allows her to handle all kinds of situations. She is also fairly heavy and has arguably among the best recoveries in the game, due to bomb jumping, a long grapple beam, the ability to wall jump, and slow falling speed. Announced at E3 2001, Samus also has an intriguing assortment of useful techniques such as the Super Wavedash and the extended grapple. Like Link and Luigi, she is much higher on the Melee tier list than she is on in the tier list of Super Smash Bros. She was last on the Smash 64 tier list and currently ranks somewhere in the middle of the Melee tier list .

Zelda is one of the more unique characters in the lineup for Super Smash Bros. Melee. Zelda's most notable traits are her array of powerful magical attacks and her unique ability to transform herself into her alter ego, Sheik. This alternate form is very different from Zelda, and each was intended to help balance the other's weaknesses, so that ideally, one would change between the two so to match the flow of battle. Sheik is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. She transforms from Zelda by using her down special move (Transform), and can transform back. By holding the "A" button at the stage loading screen, Zelda will automatically transform into Sheik at the start of a match.

Link is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Link returns as a veteran character from the previous game, acting mostly the same as before, as a swordsman with powerful short range attacks and a wide variety of long range attacks. Link, however, has received some large buffs, making him a considerably better fighter in Melee.

Young Link is a character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He is a direct clone of Link, with some minor differences. Young Link was replaced with Toon Link in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Pichu is a Pokémon character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. It is unlocked by completing Event Match 37: Legendary Pokémon or by playing 200 vs. matches. Pichu is the "baby" pre-evolution of Pikachu, and in Melee Pichu has a nearly identical moveset, making it a clone.

Pikachu is a Pokémon and starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Like Kirby and Ness, Pikachu was nerfed from the original to Melee, albeit not as strongly.

Jigglypuff is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee from the Pokémon series, making a return from the first Super Smash Bros game. Jigglypuff retains most of its moves from Smash 64, though with some modifications.

Mewtwo is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. It is one of eleven playable characters that can be unlocked in the game.

Mr. Game & Watch is a character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He was designed as a composite representation of various generic characters featured in the Game & Watch series, created by Gunpei Yokoi in 1980. He is the last character to be unlocked in the game.

Marth debuted in the first game of the Fire Emblem series, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragons and the Blade of Light (Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi). Marth was placed in Super Smash Bros. Melee due to heavy requests from Japanese players; as his games had never been released outside of Japan prior to Melee, his character was among the most obscure in the game in other regions. His popularity as a character, alongside Roy, eventually caused Nintendo to begin releasing the Fire Emblem games internationally; the first internationally released game came two years after Melee.

Roy is a secret character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Roy is a clone of Marth, with all of their moves having the same animations and most having similar functioning, although they do also have their differences in their fighting styles (primarily in the location of their sweet and sourspots). Like Marth, he is a hidden character, making Roy the only clone of an unlockable character.