Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee (大乱闘 スマッシュ ブラザーズ DX Great Fray Smash Bros. DX) is the second game in the Super Smash Bros. series and was released for the Nintendo GameCube. It features 25 characters, with many being unlocked through different ways. It also features various game modes, including multiplayer mode. It features the return of Ness, although this time as a starter rather than an unlockable. The game also introduced two EarthBound series stages, Onett as a starter stage, and Fourside as an unlockable stage.

Characters
There are a total of 25 characters (26 if Zelda's transformation Shiek is considered separate) Bold denotes EarthBound characters. Italics denote unlockable characters:

Veterans

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Yoshi
 * Donkey Kong
 * Link
 * Samus
 * Kirby
 * Fox
 * Ness
 * Captain Falcon
 * Pikachu
 * Jigglypuff

Newcomers

 * Dr. Mario
 * Peach
 * Bowser
 * Young Link
 * Zelda/Sheik
 * Ganondorf
 * Falco
 * Pichu
 * Mewtwo
 * Ice Climbers
 * Roy
 * Marth
 * Mr. Game & Watch

Stages
There are 29 stages in the game, with 11 needing to be unlocked. Bold denotes EarthBound series stages, italics denotes unlockable stages:


 * Princess Peach's Castle
 * Rainbow Cruise
 * Kongo Jungle
 * Jungle Japes
 * Great Bay
 * Temple
 * Yoshi's Story
 * Yoshi's Island
 * Fountain of Dreams
 * Green Greens
 * Corneria
 * Venom
 * Brinstar
 * Brinstar Depths
 * Onett
 * Fourside
 * Mute City
 * Big Blue
 * Pokemon Stadium
 * Poke Floats
 * Mushroom Kingdom
 * Mushroom Kingdom II
 * Icicle Mountain
 * Flat Zone
 * Dream Land 64
 * Kongo Jungle 64
 * Yoshi's Island 64
 * ''Battlefield
 * Final Destination

Vs. Mode
Super Smash Bros. Melee is probably best known for its multiplayer mode, which allows players to fight each other using various famous Nintendo characters. This includes several variable settings and configurations, such as item selections, timed battles, stock battles, team battles, and more. Other settings include various special rules, such as Super Sudden Death mode, which starts all players off at 300% damage, making it extremely easy to KO opponents. Players can even set up elimination-style tournaments with up to 64 participants.

1P Mode
The game also has several single-player options. In Classic Mode, the player makes their way through a series of battles and trophy-collecting mini-games. The final match is a fight between the player and Master Hand; if played on Normal difficulty or higher within a certian time period without using a continue, players may also encounter Crazy Hand during the fight. Adventure Mode sends the player through a series of specific challenges on various worlds, each of which is associated with another playable character. For example, Samus Aran, the main character of the Metroid series, will be found in Brinstar; in another match, the player must fight three copies of Ness in Onett. At the end of Adventure Mode is a showdown with Bowser; if the rest of Adventure Mode was cleared quickly enough on Normal or higher without a continue used, Bowser transforms into Giga Bowser for one last battle. The last single-player option in Melee is the All-Star Mode, where the player must battle each of the 25 playable characters in a row. Later matches will pit the player against more than one opponent at a time, and the final match always features the player against 25 Mr. Game and Watches.

Other game modes exist as well. In Training Mode, the player can fight any other character like in multiplayer mode. However, they have far greater control over the battle; for example, they can force items to spawn, decide on the speed of the battle, choose their opponent's tactics, and more. Multi-Man Melee tests players' endurance by pitting them against never ending streams of generic Wire-Frame enemies. The Home Run Stadium allows players to try to hit a Sandbag as far as possible, usually with the help of a Home Run Bat. Finally, Target Smash times players while they attempt to break a series of ten targets scattered throughout a character-specific level.

Earthbound Representation
Super Smash Brothers Melee features two Earthbound stages. Onett and Fourside. The former stage's music is a remix of Being Friends and the Eight Melodies from Mother 1, and Fourside's music is a remix of the actual music in Fourside, Held in a Skyscraper, and small background notes of Smiles and Tears. Onett featured the Drug Store and many cars drive by the stage, including the Runaway Five bus. On Fourside, the UFO from the intro to Earthbound will occasionally enter the Fourside Stage. When it does, the static effect from the intro will play. Fourside stage is fought on top of the Monotoli building helipad. Mr. Saturn is also a Projectile Item in Melee. Ness wields some PSI powers from Earthbound, and many memorable items such as the Baseball Bat and Yo-Yo. Ness Enters the stage using PSI Teleport.

EarthBound Events

 * Spare change
 * Space Travelers

EarthBound Trophies

 * Ness
 * Paula
 * Jeff
 * Poo
 * Mr. Saturn
 * Starman
 * UFO

Reception
Super Smash Bros. Melee has gotten relatively high scores from many gaming websites, getting an 8.9/10 on GameSpot, which praised the game for keeping many of the previous game elements but managing to be a game of its own. It was criticized for the Zelda stage in Adventure mode and over-responsive controls, however.

Trivia

 * Many of Ness's PSI abilities in Super Smash Bros. were not originally his, rather they were used by Paula and Poo. These abilities are PK Thunder, PK Fire, and PSI Magnet. The only move he uses that's originally his own is PK Flash. Paula's trophy description mentions she probably taught Ness PK Fire and PK Thunder.
 * PK Flash is interestingly a damaging move in Super Smash Bros., while it was a support move in Earthbound.
 * Lucas was actually planned to replace Ness in Melee; however due to Mother 3's delayed release, he would instead appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.