good gameplay and fun for many years
for the single player, you can choose between a classic, adventure and if you have found all characters (over 10 to find) all-star mode.
those who played the original game know what classic is all about: just fight yourself trough a serie of enemies, and defeat master hand at the end. this time it has not been set what your enemies are, so you don't know what enemy will be next. and if you play at normal rate or higher, you will also find master hands brother on your path.
adventure looks like a simple platformer, like you used to know in the mario bros. series. the first stage is indeed the mushroom kingdom, followed by the kogo jungle. at the end, you will find yourself fighting a larger version of bowser. fun to play, but characters who are capable to run fast and jump high are clearly at an advantage.
all-star mode is for the real professionals. choose a character, and pit it against ALL other characters. after you defeated one, you can choose to recover, or to take the damage with you to the next stage. if you lose just once, its game over. sounds difficult? it is!
and there i also the versus mode, to pick a fight with friends, or just a free fight against the computer. to play this game with a friend is the best you can do. or to go for a special melee. you are capable to let all fighters be giant-sized for example, or let them mve at lightning-speed. this is worthwile to polish up your skills at special situations.
you can also collect tropys while playing. there are about 300 to collect, and each of them gives you information about a certain part of nintendo's history and games. for example, you could find the 'Pit' trophy, which told you something about the game kid icarus. its fun to see who allready has the biggest collection.
the trophys and the many different characters, ways to play and the addictive gameplay makes this game a very longlasting one. for the graphics is 'detailed' the best word. if you have nothing usefull to do, you can even count how many scales Bowser has. the music and sounds are just great. especially the theme songs from the prologue.
this is one of the best gamecube games ever and nothing else!