My forgotten gem!

All this time, I was concerned with playing all my new games, and trying to juggle between work, XBOX Live! and this very forum. Well, I haven't been on Live! in a while, but that's another story. Anyway, among all these things, I forgot about one of my favorite games, a game that used to hold my attention of hours on end, and sadly, a game that has not been played in over a year. But luckily, I work with another "hardcore gamer". A gamer who absolutely loves this very game I am speaking of, and apparently more than I do. The game I am talking about is Super Smash Brothers Melee. A game that seems simple on the surface, but is actually very technical. SSBM is one of the most tactical fighters you will ever play, there is no doubt about that. What I like about it is it requires what I like to call, "true skill". No five-million hit super combos that fill the screen. No cheap ass special moves that can be fired from a distance to keep you away from your target. And most importantly, no life bar. Strange for a fighting game, but it does not rely on dwindling an opponents "life force" to nothing to win. You can take lager amounts of damage, and still come back for more if you are good enough. The goal seems easy enough right, push the opponent of the edge, make sure they don't come back, score a point, and have enough points in the end to win. But the execution is where things can get interesting. There are so many approaches you can take in trying to achiever your goal that it isn't even funny, and that is what I like so much about the game. And if you are good enough and if you fine tune your style enough, you can make the game seem like a form of art.

So, at work, during lunch break of course, I was talking with my friend about games. He then mentioned SSBM and how good he was at it. I told him that once upon I time I wasn't too bad myself, but that I haven't played it in quite some time. He then asked me why I didn't play it anymore and I told him that it was partially because I didn't have enough time and because I didn't really have anyone to play it with. Then we continued on with our discussion about different games. However, the thought of SSBM hadn't left my mind. I now wanted more than ever to give it a go, if only for a few minutes. So when I got home, I decided to dust of the Cube and hook everything up. I figured I would play for a few minutes, just to get the feel of things again. Well before I knew it a few minutes turned into a few hours, and I was actually having a pretty good time kicking the computers ass. It wasn't long before I was training again, bumping up the computers level after each match to see my limitations. After all that time of not playing, I was glad to find out that I still had it going on. The computer couldn't even kill me once, and I had it set on five, a decent but not too difficult setting. After I was finished playing I thought to myself, how could I ever forget such an awesome game.

My strategy in the game is to hit you hard and fast with smash moves and strong hits. I usually don't waste my time with throws and special moves. I settle instead for using strong hits that render your controls useless for a split second, so I can unleash a combo of attacks, mostly smash hits and strong hits. By the time you hit the ground, you have already acquired 100% damage. I will finish you with a run, dodge pass, turn and smash. All too easy. Oh, and you wont find me on the ground much as I tend to jump a lot, and I am always in the fray so don't think you can run from me. My character of choice is Roy. His fast running speed, strong hits and decent jump height is the prefect mix for me.

For those of you who don't like for companies to use their characters in spin off games, I feel sorry for you. You are missing out on a masterpiece. The only thing I wish Nintendo would have added for this game is online support, but we all know that will never happen. I just hope there is another installment before the Cube's life is up. More characters, modes, levels, extras, and online play, but who am I kidding. Nintendo can go through fifty million Mario Party titles, but they can't update SSB ever now and again, pathetic.

One more thing, if you read this entire post, thank you for bearing with me through this somewhat rant like trip down memory lane. It's been fun.

 

you little....!

read it all, but i felt a bit aimed with your comment on spin off games. :fu

 

well it was good, but i prefer the original myself. Not ranting on your perade though. I must say that this is quite a trip down memory lane.

 

Excellent game. We have a pseudo SSBM tournament going at work, unfortunatley my Mario got 86'ed with rapid speed.

 

I need to play mine more often...it is addicting.

Yeah, Samus Arans BASIC move is a long ranger.

 

Am I the only person left who plays like a hermit (i.e. no multiplayer and no online games)?

 

Its such a pitty, I was a total loyal nintedo freak in my youth. Now I hardly ever play there games or systems since beeing sucked into the sony/microsoft void. I almost feel quilty and a trader some times........ o well, back PGR2 on Live

 

Nah, I am too. None of my mates play video games (although i did get one of them quite into lumines on the train from london today), so i can't play with them. I also don't really do PC games, and i don't have LIVE so I cant play that. so its my 1 ps2 online game I can play...

 

Yes, but you can easily dodge it. Remember that time you saw me play SVC: Chaos. I couldn't even move an inch because my opponent constantly used a long range move that couldn't be dodged. I was in "forever block" mode, and in the end I died -_-

 

The cheap-ass Tornado guy?

 

Welcome to the world of SNK bosses. Though contrary to what it may seem, that guy has a very discernable pattern that once you figure it out is easy to beat. Difficult, yes, but not unbeatable - that's up to the player's skill.

Though I do find it a more than a bit blasphemous that SVC be compared to something like SSBM... :smt096

 

Their only pattern was do the same long range attack over and over and over and over and over and over.

 

Hmm... Why would you say that. Do you think that just because it uses Nintendo charachters that SSBM is not a fighting game? And it wasn't a direct comparison, but an example. When I made that comment about the long range attacks, I was talking about most of your standard fighting games.

 

not really, kof is a very closed combat game, lots of combos and convinations, oh man i love kof :smt030

 

If you are a long ways away, they WILL use the cheap long range junk all the time. I dont even remember the enemy trying to get close.

 

It's SNK Vs. Capcom: Chaos. And combos and combinations are the same thing.

The inclusion of Nintendo characters has nothing to do with it being a fighting game or not. I can't really say I dislike the game, per se, but I don't especially like it, either. It's fun to play with a group of friends if you're just goofing around, but to me it doesn't come close to having the depth offered by something like Street Fighter Alpha 2 or Guilty Gear XX#reload. Plus, it's hard to like a game with so many ridiculously annoying characters - if only there were a mute button for Yoshi, Pikachu, his other bastardy abomination form, and the other annoying Pokemon thing I never took the effort to learn the name of.

And yes, Goenitz actually DOES have certain patterns he follows in SVC, but it's up to the player to be good enough to work with it. Faulting a game because it's glitchy or unbalanced is fine, but faulting a game because you can't deal with it is something else.

 

First, I was not faulting the game because of this -_-. I'm just saying that such things are not possible in SSMB because every attack can be dodged.

Second, on the depth part, it's probably because you have not put much time into the game, as you said yourself you only play it to goof around -_-. The fact is, though the game seems simple on the surface, it can actually be very technical. For example, a few years ago I played this game with one of my friends. It was a 20 minute match, two humans and two computers. Both of the computers were set on level 9 (the highest level), and at the time my skills were above level 9 characters. I could take three level 9's at once and still come out on top, though it would be tricky. The fight was a free for all. The person I am speaking of not only kicked my ass, and the CPU's ass, to the curb, but he did it with out losing a single life. He was up against two level 9's and a damn good human player, in a 20 minute match and he didn't die once. He made the game seem more like a form of art, and to this day I am convinced he has the prefect style.

The characters may not have hundreds of special moves like in other fighting games, but they are not needed here. The game stresses more on obtaining the prefect defense to win. Seeing how well you can react in a split second, because that's all it takes. Dodge, jump, block, crouch, roll, mid-air dodge, item return (grabbing an item in mid-air that has been thrown at you and throwing it back), etc. All these different things you can do to avoid being damaged, and coming back with a hit. If you can master all the different defensive moves, you will own this game, but that is much easier said than done. The characters don't need fifty thousand different attacks just to give the game depth.

 

As I said, I was never a huge fan of the game (mainly due to the bastadry characters I mentioned before), but your fervor has convinced me it might be worth a shot to pick it up. The GC version is cheap enough, and the N64 version can usually be found without too much hassle as well. It just never struck me as a game to sink much time into playing by oneself - it was always more fun in multiplayer, but unfortunately I was never able to round up enough people at once on a regular basis.

 

True, the game is better multiplayer, and I agree with you on some of the annoying characters. I usually avoid them at all costs. The CPU isn't really smart, but it can be a challenge, especially in the higher levels. Training with a level 9 CPU can be tough, and if you ever reach a point where you can master three of them, you are pretty good. BTW, SSMB has more depth than the original. Also, the character selection is better. I know it's fun to goof around in the game as well, but you can also take a serious approach to it. Depends on what you like

Have you played the GC version or just the N64 version?

 

I played the N64 version years ago when it first came out. but the one that usually gets played at gatherings is SSBM.