Super Smash Bros. Melee

Forget the Pc, Dreamcast and XBox. There's two consoles: GameCube and PlayStation2. The XBox is meant to make Bill Gates richer, the Dreamcast is short on games and is no longer being given games anyway, and the PC games come in three choices: 2-D, blocky or educational. The PlayStation2: great variety, online gaming and DVD player. GameCube: old reliable Nintendo favourites and extremely varied, original ideas. Just look at Super Mario Sunshine, Animal Crossing, or, a favourite, Super Smash Bros. Melee. Unfortunately brought up the wrong way, SSBM is not about "let's see who beats whom" when talking about whether Mario can cream Samus, or is Pikachu stronger than Fox. Because even if you match yourself against a computer, a compter versus a computer, or a human versus a human, you'll always get different results. No, the reason for this game is the features. 4-player versus. Adventure mode full of variety. Collecting trophies of Nintendo trademarks(not literally, I mean characters and things created by Nintendo), and much much more. The unknown of many things, like what Pokemon will be in that PokeBall, who will win this fight, is a bomb in this crate, and many other things make this game a sure win. It's meant o be played to have fun, not to settle arguments. And one of the reasons it's a hit: there's a character for everyone.

SSBM is a fighter game of different proportions. It features four player action and some great 1 player modes as well. Adventure mode allows you to fight enemies in their preferred stages and explore stages not available in versus mode. Event Matches, Collecting Trophies, and so much more add to the games brilliance. This game has great symphony music as well, all accurate to some of our favorite tunes from Mario to The Legend of Zelda. That reminds me of one of the games biggest features, the characters! Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Samus, Link, Zelda/Shiek, and at least 10 others, all with unique attacks and specialties are available. The stages to choose from are also limitless. In simplest terms, there's about 1 or more stages for every character. All different. There is just so much to do in the game and its so easy to get into. SSBM goes down as the greatest fighter game of all time. It may even THE greatest game of all time.

When it comes to multiplayer "party" games, fighting sims have usually been relegated to the older audiences for games such as Mortal Combat or other more graphic experiences. With "Super Smash Bros. Melee" for the Nintendo Gamecube, however, the contestants are none other than the colorful characters from Nintendo's cannon of crazy caricatures participating in some cartoonish smash-and-dash.

Besides the tight controls and great visuals/locals, the true hallmark of this game is the attributes of each individual character, which provides "something for everyone". If you just like mashing people? Go for Donkey Kong. Love to shoot a bow & wield a sword? Then Link is your character. The list could go on and on, as each character has abilities that make them unique to the game and allow for almost endless combinations.

Overall, "Melee" is perhaps the most engaging multiplayer GCN game ever created (with the possible exception of Double Dash). Literally hours of fun can be had pummeling your friends with Nintendo's characters and earning the bragging rights to go along with it.

We all have heard the saying "I bet Mario could beat Link in a battle." and then it continues on into a huge controversy. At least Nintendo invented this game. Now you can see just who would win in a Baddy vs. Baddy competition. Not only just a simple battle but you can test them out in many a different mode, from Tiny Melee to an RPG like Stamina Battle (One of my favorites, namingly because you can kick the corpses around after you defeat them =P). The wide range of extra's instead of 4 secret characters and 1 level is now 12 secret characters and 10 secret levels, making gameplay more different and extensive. Music is perfect (Fountain of Dreams is amazing!) and sound is crisp and fresh. Now I know many are going to get angry at me because of my title, but hey, I don't like XBox at all except the exception of Halo (Which I have not tried but looks cool) but if you ask me, which I know you won't, I think the Microsoft people should stick to computers.

Super Smash Bros Melee is the best fun you will have on a Gamecube. It features the best of Nintendo as playable fighters or even items and trophies. You start with characters such as Super Mario, Link, Pikachu, and of course, Ness. As I said, there are lots of items like Mr Saturn, Bob-Ombs and even the iconic hammer. You can unlock more content (like characters, trophies and stages) and is easily one of the best multiplayer experiences of ALL TIME. Even the music is memorable, and, with a fun event match mode (exclusive to Melee), what can go wrong?! You will marvel at the characters and even be shocked at what characters you can unlock! This game is easily in my top 50 of best games ever and is essential for any Nintendo fan of any age.