Super Smash Bros. Melee - All GameCube Games

[Cube]

15 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It was released on the original Xbox. I remember it being very hyped up by various magazines but it ultimately was pretty disappointing.

It's also one of a few bonus games I'll be covering as part of this, due to how big it was as part of the early GameCube showcases. Until I researched this, I had no idea that the game ended up getting released, I thought it was cancelled at some point. 

[Dcubed]

1 hour ago, Nicktendo said:

As I was reading through this thread I remembered this:

I'm sure we've all seen it. I watched it multiple times back in the day. Amazing that Donkey Kong Racing disappeared without a trace and wasn't reworked in some way. And Kameo of course, finding a home on the Xbox. I always thought the Galleon trailer was amazing. What ever happened to that game? 

 

It actually was reworked! It was being reskinned into an Xbox game that was going to be called Sabreman Stampede before it was cancelled mid-development…

 

[Cube]

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

Welcome to my world

• NA release: 18th November 2001
• EU release: 3rd May 2002
• JP release: 27th June 2003
• Developer: Neversoft
• Publisher: Activision (NA/EU), Success (JP)
• NGC Magazine Score: 87%
• Mods Used: Widescreen Code

 

After going through N64 games and its versions of Tony Hawk games lacking a bit in presentation, it’s nice to finally play a full version of the game. The full, good quality songs really add so much to the game, and the soundtrack for Pro Skater 3 is no exception. When I was younger, I played a lot of Pro Skater 4, and a lot of the muscle memory from that still applies to Pro Skater 3, and it still feels great.

 

 

The create-a-skater is very solid this time round, and you can upgrade your stats by finding tokens in levels. There’s some more interesting objectives as well that encourage you to explore each level, some of which are larger than previous games, but not too large, all of it filled with interesting sections and ways to transfer tricks from one section to the others. It’s the kind of game where you’ll have fun pulling off tricks and linking combos even when you’re doing the non-trick challenges. There are also even more interactive elements, and you can even trigger an earthquake in one level.

 

 

There’s also a few more fun special characters this time, such as Wolverine and Darth Maul alongside some silly ones like the Neversoft eyeball in a Frankenstein body (who starts with one point in every stat), a demoness and Kelly Slater on a surfboard, so there’s a lot of fun to be had. I’m still not overly fond of the time limit, but it’s still an incredibly solid skateboard game with an addictive nature.

Great

Quote

Attaining that elusive high score is still as relentlessly enjoyable today as it was when, say, Space Invaders appeared in arcades just over twenty years ago and, ultimately, it’s all you need – a hefty slice of gameplay that’ll keep you coming back. Tony Hawk’s 3 has that in spaced.

Neil Randall, NGC Magazine #67

Remake or remaster?

A remake is currently in the works.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3.

[Dcubed]

Coming out only two weeks after the PS2 version in the US is a big improvement over what we saw on the N64, but this of course was not the same in Europe, where the game was much older by the time the console came out.  Unavoidable, but also quite unfortunate.

Thankfully this is a really solid version of the game, featuring all of the content of the PS2 original, coupled with improved performance and better loading times.  So it was quite the statement of intent from both Activision and Neversoft coming off the N64, which always saw very late and highly compromised ports.  Though the Xbox version (which came out later) has the best performance, as well as an additional level (The Oil Rig) and an additional character (X-ray); it doesn’t take away the sheen that THPS3 would’ve had at the GCN’s launch.

As for the game itself? This is the last of the classic THPS gameplay format, with smaller stages designed around the 2 min lime limit.  The Revert is a true game changer, to the point that the lack of this mechanic can make it rough to go back to THPS2 (let alone the OG).  It was so groundbreaking that the remake of THPS1 & 2 actually went out of its way to implement the Revert, despite never appearing in either game.  The level design is once again superb, and even more dynamic than before, with moving cars, obstacles and pedestrians.  It’s very much the apex of the classic format and one last hurrah, before Neversoft began moving more towards an open world format with future titles.

[Cube]

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Nintendo’s all-stars are ready to do battle! Let the melee begin!

• JP release: 21st November 2001
• NA release: 3rd December 2001
• EU release: 24th May 2002
• Developer: HAL Laboratory
• Publisher: Nintendo
• NGC Magazine Score: 95%
• Mods Used: Widescreen Code

 

While the N64 Super Smash Bros was a wonderful novelty, Nintendo realised what potential the game had and decided to go all out with Smash Bros Melee, bringing more characters into the fold and adding in a load of extras to make it a love letter to Nintendo’s history. Melee solidified Super Smash Bros as an important franchise for Nintendo, with each game getting bigger and bigger.

 

 

Singleplayer has gained a few new features, including Adventure mode, where you play through a mixture of different kinds of stages. Some are platforming levels created specially for this mode, while others are fights on regular stages. The platforming levels do feel a bit odd using the control style of Smash Bros, but they’re still immensely enjoyable and set the stage for more to follow in the next game. There’s also the more traditional fighting mode, event fights and some minigames, like Home Run Contest, which are initially simple but are made quite deep due to the mechanics of the game. There’s plenty to do here when friends aren’t over.

 

 

There’s also a ton of options for multiplayer as well, there are stock or points based matches, add special features like making the game slower or faster, making all the characters invisible and you can adjust how frequently items appear and turn specific items on or off. All this means you can come up with your own ideas for matches. A personal favourite of mine was setting items to high, Pokéballs only and everyone had to be a Pokémon character. It’s pure chaos and an absolute blast.

 

 

Melee also introduced a compulsive form of collectible: the trophies. Some are earned by completing specific tasks in the game, while others spawn as items during other game modes. I would always dart towards one whenever I saw one. Once collected, you can view it as a 3D model and read a little bit about the character, offering some background on characters that many had never heard of, including some characters who had never left Japan.

 

 

What made the trophies extra special in Melee was the amount of trophies that were new depictions of characters. There are a few Custom Robo trophies that bring the art style of the N64 games into more detail, we also got our first 3D version of Pit from Kid Icarus, whose description interestingly ends with “Will pit ever fight again?” and just a ton to discover. It gave weight and meaning to the collectables, which made them so compulsive.

 

 

Melee just had a ton of lovely touches all around. The music is wonderful (you can’t go wrong with the DK Rap) and the game scores you at the end of matches in many different ways, with some amusing ones thrown in for being cheap or comedic. Even the menus get some love as you can use the C-stick to tilt them around, just because. It’s a wonderful package.

Fave

Quote

Even if Super Smash Bros for the N64 didn’t really do it for you, that’s no reason to dismiss Super Smash Bros Melee as just a bigger, nicer-looking update. You’d be missing out on an experience that matches many of Nintendo’s best moments of the last few years, because SSBM’s reworking of the Smash Bros theme is so comprehensive, you might as well consider the N64 versions as a mere trial run.

Martin Kitts, NCG Magazine #68

Remake or remaster?

A “complete edition” Smash Bros game with the gameplay styles of each previous one would be wonderful.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Super Smash Bros. Melee.

[darksnowman]

Having played Smash Bros. 64 quite a bit—like, daily at one point—and being all-in on Nintendo, I was looking forward to the follow-up on the new system. I remember sitting up until the wee small hours (playing Conkers Pocket Tales on GBC iirc) to catch a glimpse of Melee on Cybernet or something and was of course blown away by the intro. 

As for the game, I enjoyed the models and their descriptions as that was pretty novel. But I didn't get anywhere near as much play out of Melee and never bought another Smash Bros. game again. I easily got more time out of listening to the Smashing Live CD that later came with a magazine than I did playtime out of SSBM. Playing as Mewtwo in Smash Bros. remains a gaming "one that got away".  

[Hero-of-Time]

Melee

28 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

Having played Smash Bros. 64 quite a bit—like, daily at one point—and being all-in on Nintendo, I was looking forward to the follow-up on the new system. I remember sitting up until the wee small hours (playing Conkers Pocket Tales on GBC iirc) to catch a glimpse of Melee on Cybernet or something and was of course blown away by the intro. 

 

That takes me back.

Melee is still my favourite of the series. Plenty of single player stuff to tackle, satisfying unlockables, not too bloated and a fantastic multiplayer experience. Whilst I have still played and enjoyed every other entry, none have come close to recapturing that magic.

[Glen-i]

43 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Melee is still my favourite of the series.

Oh boy, add another one to our "differing opinions" list, because I think Melee is the weakest Smash.

Now that's not me saying it's bad, it certainly is not. And it's definitely not me saying it isn't hugely important to the series. Like @Cube said, it established the games as the "Gaming museum" it's become today. Granted, back then, it was only Nintendo, but it kicked that off.

But I find it hard to go back to now. It's quite stiff, the single player modes get awfully repetitive if you were aiming to get everything. Classic was done way better in Ultimate (Dedicated character routes, and multiple bosses really help with that), Adventure was done way better in Brawl, Event matches were recontextualised as World of Light in Ultimate, which completely dwarfs Melee!

The physics are much more refined later on, the art style of Melee is a bit drab (Not as bad as Brawl, but still), and the character roster is dreadfully balanced! There's like, 5 characters that are good, and the rest are absolute crap in comparison. Yes, Meta Knight in Brawl was insane, but you could ignore him and most of the other characters in that game were still solid.

Smash 64 is so weird, that it's still fun to revisit from time to time, but Melee has nothing going for it these days. Still, it did put Fire Emblem on the western map.

Game is mad buggy though! Which gives me an excuse to post this gem.

 

[Dcubed]

Crazy just how much of a jump this game was from the N64 game in more or less every respect.  Even crazier that they managed to pull off a game of this scope and magnitude in just 13 months of development.  The crunch to end all crunch!  It was so bad that it caused Sakurai to step away from day-to-day development entirely...  until he had to step in at the last minute and rescue Kirby Air Ride from development hell before he left HAL to go freelance.

While I do think the game is overrated in context of the wider series, it's hard to overstate what an accomplishment this game was for the time it launched.  It's no wonder why it ended up being the single best selling game for the console throughout its entire lifetime, it was the full package more or less right there at the console's launch!

Edited 20 hours ago by Dcubed

[BowserBasher]

2 hours ago, Cube said:

A personal favourite of mine was setting items to high, Pokéballs only and everyone had to be a Pokémon character. It’s pure chaos and an absolute blast.

This was mine too, and sometimes I'd add in that you can't attack anyone yourself, you could only use the Pokeballs and whatever Pokemon you got. So basically a Pokemon battle