Super Smash Bros. Melee

Sorry peeps, I tried it a bunch, but I just can't enjoy SSB games.

I recommend checking out the competitive Melee scene. It's the perfect microcosm of racial harmony. It's still toxic and full of assholes, just not racists.

Melee has a lot of cool movement options that far exceed even some of the best fighters, but there's a lot of other shit that bogs it down for me. For example, while the movement is good, it's kind of finnicky at times and certain techniques are actually physically painful to do consistently. There's also a lot of lame bugs and dumb mechanics like wobbling that I could never get behind. Maybe I'm giving it too much flak, but the community gives me aids and none of the playstyles appeal to me.

there's a reason this is still the go-to Smash game for so many people. the killer app for the GameCube and the game I've spent more time playing than possibly any other, enough so that childhood memories begin to blend into adult ones. a treasure, iconic, perpetually great.

All my friends liked this game so so much more than I did. I'd get bored after 3-4 games and they would carry on playing for hours. so I kinda have bad memories of it but it's still a good-ass game

Lots of good childhood memories. Still holds up.

So, this is where Smash Bros peaks. I hold out hope that Sakurai will bring the franchise back to these heights (the power and elegance of the Switch has me excited -- and yes, I just dated this review), but even then will it top Melee? Hard to imagine. The gameplay was refined to perfection here. This is why sequels since have missed the mark: how do you improve on perfection? All you can do is meddle with it and make it worse.

The pinnacle of the Super Smash Brother games. It was still fresh enough to be better than Brawl, and improved enough to be better than the original. A solid collection of characters, the solo mini games were entertaining, but the multiplayer was where it's at.

This is a game that gamers love and, by extension, that I'm even worse at than normal in relative terms. Nonetheless, it's a really fun game even to lose at.

Though I have no skill whatsoever at the deep tournament-level metagame, me and my friends played this for literally hundreds of hours in high school. Not misusing the word literally. Literally literally. Hundreds of hours. So much fun.

If you had a GameCube and a couple friends back in the day, you'd be quite the loser if you didn't have this. It's fun, balanced, features all of the cool characters every Nintendo-playing late millenial likes, and follows the golden rule of "easy to play, hard to master". But well, you can still win with the good ol' "button smashing" tactic. So, I liked it as even I could win sometimes.

Ok fighting game. I think I liked the one on the N64 better. Again this isn't my type of game. But like to see the guy booted off the screen.

Best fighting game

One taught me love

The fact that a competitive scene was born out of this game that has lasted for 15 years is a credit to how well made this game is, even if the studio that makes it lacks any understanding as to why it was such a hit in the first place. It's not for me but it is compelling.

It loses a little due to some copy and paste issues with a few characters. Reeks of desperation to pad the roster. Aside from that, Melee is a adrenaline rush and the best game in the world to play with close friends. And probably one of the few Nintendo multiplayer party games which won't break apart said friendship.