Tremendous and unique fighting gameplay still stands strong years later.
Super Smash Bros Melee is the second game in the popular Super Smash Bros series, and it improves on its great predecessor in every way.
As usual, fights are played in a 2-D battlefield with 2 to 4 players. There is a wide array of characters, some of which are available right from the start. While the game itself is 2-D, it's important to note that graphically speaking, everything is 3-D.
So, the gameplay. Super Smash Bros Melee is very fast paced. There's a main and secondary attack button, shields, grabs, and scores of items to pick up and attack with. Not to mention that each attack button performs a different function depending on how you use the control stick when you press it. Ultimately, the system is extremely intuitive but incredibly deep, which you'll figure out as you learn the nuances of the system. There's lots of stuff in the game that you will just not figure out unless you take the time.
Fortunately, that time is easily invested. Pretty much every mode of play in this game is very fun, but it's really versus where it's at. While both 2 and 3 player battles are potentially extremely fun, four player is pretty much guaranteed perfect mayhem, and is an experience that is one of the most transcendental in gaming. The game is practically infinitely replayable, especially with the numerous maps, modes, and characters available to you. But it's the strong gameplay that really shows, because people can pick one character and never, ever get bored with him or her. It's simply a great game.
The levels are very unique. They're extremely interactive, and, just to name a few things, move, transform, morph, explode, and send flying ships to attack you. Dealing with the hazards of the level is another element in the gameplay is great fun, and if you don't learn to interact with the level around you, you will undoubtedly be beaten down by somebody that does.
Items are another important part of the game. There are tons of items in the game (and some have variety within themselves - pokeballs, for instance), and they're endlessly fun. Whether it's the sudden mad dash towards a jackhammer as it falls from the sky or the fearful dodging of the one hit - one kill swings of the home-run bat, the game's items are all unique from one another and are all useful. Items provide an endlessly fun part of the action.
Moving on to the graphics, then. This was a launch title for the Gamecube, which means it's pushing four years now. However, the game still looks fairly stunning graphically. The animations are tightly and quickly done, and the characters are certainly some of the most detailed renditions of Nintendo characters done, when zoomed in. The levels are equally spectacular, and you are often tempted to simply sit back and look at the levels (but you don't).
The sound is one of the very best things about the game. Each individual thing in the game reacts differently and thus sounds different as well. You'll wince (seriously) as you hear Peach's cooking pan whack into an opponent, and you'll come to recognize the menacing sound of a fireflower's devastating flame. Of course, the sound is only the half of it. The score in this game is absolutely terrific. Naturally, this is because every song is typically a redone theme of a past Nintendo game. However, with such a wealth of songs, and such terrific and uplifting renditions, the music certainly adds significantly to the experience, and there is absolutely nothing to complain about.
As I said before, the versus of Super Smash Bros Melee is simply endlessly replayable. Nevertheless, HAL still felt obligated to give us an absolute feast of options to gorge on. Not only are there countless modes, from the set-up event matches to the often cleverly done adventure modes, but almost every mode is customizable in numerous ways, and none more so than the main attraction of the game - versus. As if all this wasn't enough, you'll want to check out all these modes anyway, as this is the only way to unlock most importantly all the characters but also all the levels. This kind of thing annoys me in other games and usually compels me to get cheats, but I didn't do that for this game, simply because all the modes are so much fun to play anyway. Lastly, HAL rounds things out with trophies. Trophies are little models, always of something in a previous Nintendo game, but that's not to say you'll always recognize them. Each of these trophies has a couple paragraphs on whatever it's a model of. You get these trophies either through betting your well-earned coins in the lottery, or picking them up in various single-player modes - occasionally they're just lying around, and sometimes there's a trophy bonus stage.
There are HUNDREDS of trophies. While you can build up a fairly substantial showcase just by playing the single-player parts, the only way to really get all of them is to seek them out actively. This will take hours for the ones who want to do this, and only adds to SSBM's already superlative value. While this kind of thing is beyond my focus, if seeking out "easter eggs" and their ilk are your thing, this will simply eat up your time.
Overall, Super Smash Bros Melee is just an incredibly unique, very fun, and relentlessly addictive fighting game for pretty much anybody willing to try it. I can not recommend this game highly enough.