Countdown to Ultimate Part 2: Super Smash Bros. Melee

[SonicMario]

Onto part 2 of the countdown to Ultimate. Now we’re on to the competitive smasher’s favorite in Melee



I do gotta admit that while I do see it as a good game of course, I probably have the least attachment to both Melee itself and it’s pool of Newcomers then I do for every other game of the series. Melee is no doubt the better game then SSB64 but somehow I still hold better memories overall and for some reasons or another even if they’re entirely personal I also much prefer Brawl and Smash 4.

My favorite Melee veteran is probably Mewtwo. I do find Peach, Bowser, Ice Climbers, Zelda/Sheik, Falco, Marth, Ganondorf, and Mr. Game and Watch all cool additions as well but they all don’t personally excite me all that much. And even in Mewtwo’s case, I didn’t really fell all that upset when he was left out of Brawl and base game of Smash 4. Perhaps most of that could be because I got my dream character in Sonic. But it’s still kind of a testament to my feelings about Melee’s newcomer pool compared to other Smash games that even my most favorite of the Melee newcomers I actually felt for a time that I could do without if need be. I just don’t use many of the Melee newcomers all that often while I have at least one or two characters from each of the other games that I use a lot and will probably use a lot once Smash Ultimate comes out.

Sorry if I’m going to be the one guy doing any sort of negative thoughts on Melee and/or it’s Newcomer pool. But I think I have made it clear that I’m not too much of a big fan of some of the choices done with Melee that have led to other inclusions later in the series that I’m not too big of a fan of.

 

[Koops]

Out of all Melee newcomers, the two I feel most like I am most hyped to trying out are probably Marth or Roy.

They just look cool. Even then, I still feel the Brawl newcomers are probably the strongest of the series, so picking one here is pretty hard.

 

[YoshiFlutterJump]

Bowser. I just love how powerful and heavy he is.

Peach is also pretty okay, though.

 

[Starlight24]

Peach.

 

[Alex95]

 

[Ray Trace]

I feel like Melee is really unpolished and unbalanced these days and the more I play the recent installments, the less I want to go back to it. Especially how Ness is pretty much trash here.

My favorite veteran from Melee is Ice Climbers. I love the duo fighter mechanic and I'm so glad they're returning in Ultimate.

 

[SonicMario]

BTW quick question for you all. When I get to Brawl's poll in October. I thought I'd ask what you'd guys prefer I do for Pokemon Trainer on the poll.

My default plan is to have Pokemon in Trainer in general AND each of the individual Pokemon on the poll. Mainly because now in Ultimate you'll be free to only use one of them if you really want to. However if you think I should keep Pokemon Trainer together regardless of people preferring individual Pokemon. Tell me and I'll do that.


If it's the former the poll options would be like this for Pokemon Trainer

33-35: Pokemon Trainer (in General)
33: Squirtle
34: Ivysaur
35: Charizard

 

[Daniel Dyce]

My favorite characters from the list
(Old Man) Ganondorf (my current smash 4 main)
Mr. Game and Watch (my brawl main and my smash 4 main for most of it's run)
Roy (my 3rd ranked main)
and the Ice Climbers (who I was never good with)
I don't care what anybody says I love professional wrestler Ganondorf. I've always loved the image of ganondorf delivering sick chokeslams, big boots, and knockout punches.

 

[Koops]

BTW quick question for you all. When I get to Brawl's poll in October. I thought I'd ask what you'd guys prefer I do for Pokemon Trainer on the poll.

My default plan is to have Pokemon in Trainer in general AND each of the individual Pokemon on the poll. Mainly because now in Ultimate you'll be free to only use one of them if you really want to. However if you think I should keep Pokemon Trainer together regardless of people preferring individual Pokemon. Tell me and I'll do that.

Not that it would impact my pick by any means.

If it's the former the poll options would be like this for Pokemon Trainer

33-35: Pokemon Trainer (in General)
33: Squirtle
34: Ivysaur
35: Charizard

I know some people around the internet prefer one of the Pokemon over the others, so maybe it would be better to separate them? Although I dunno, some people maybe like to think that even though they main Charizard, they can still switch to Squirtle directly to do something else, but I personally would prefer separating them.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

As for Melee, I pick Dr. Mario. His f-air is great, and I like his u-smash's weird properties. He's also another Mario to play with. I actually didn't care for him too much at the time, but he grew on to me, and while I didn't miss him badly in Brawl, I do remember hoping that leak for Smash 4 showing him was real and, yes, it was real, much to my delight. He remains my secondary in these games. Strange, I haven't played any of his games.

 

[Moldomré]

BTW quick question for you all. When I get to Brawl's poll in October. I thought I'd ask what you'd guys prefer I do for Pokemon Trainer on the poll.

My default plan is to have Pokemon in Trainer in general AND each of the individual Pokemon on the poll. Mainly because now in Ultimate you'll be free to only use one of them if you really want to. However if you think I should keep Pokemon Trainer together regardless of people preferring individual Pokemon. Tell me and I'll do that.


If it's the former the poll options would be like this for Pokemon Trainer

33-35: Pokemon Trainer (in General)
33: Squirtle
34: Ivysaur
35: Charizard

I'd be good with this. I just bought Brawl yesterday.

 

[Shyghoul]

the competitive community constantly jacking it to this game has always irked me for...some reason? idk comp smash irritates me in general because i keep seeing it as a bunch of whiny "30 year old boomer" snobs who think they're too good for the casual crowd/any game that isnt "muh precious wave dashing melee wavedashes." even though tbh that is almost definitely not true at all and judging a game or any piece of media by its fanbase is extremely stupid af to begin with

...that said, i do appreciate Melee for bringing Fire Emblem to the west instead of it remaining as a niche japan exclusive series

BTW quick question for you all. When I get to Brawl's poll in October. I thought I'd ask what you'd guys prefer I do for Pokemon Trainer on the poll.

My default plan is to have Pokemon in Trainer in general AND each of the individual Pokemon on the poll. Mainly because now in Ultimate you'll be free to only use one of them if you really want to. However if you think I should keep Pokemon Trainer together regardless of people preferring individual Pokemon. Tell me and I'll do that.

Not that it would impact my pick by any means.

If it's the former the poll options would be like this for Pokemon Trainer

33-35: Pokemon Trainer (in General)
33: Squirtle
34: Ivysaur
35: Charizard

i feel the former would be better since people can still pick the pokemon they play as or just the trainer in general if that's how they roll. either way everyone wins with that format

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

It's definitely not true, though they carry a grain of truth, as with any stereotype. The reality is, most competitive people I've encountered are chill and show good sportsmanship. They can criticize you, but as long as you acknowledge them and they acknowledge you, it's actually pretty cool. I just don't enjoy their play style, and that's fine, and they're fine with it. It's only on the internet with the blanket of anonymity where people can be really harsh and condescending to each other, and I've seen negative attitudes to each other from both casuals and competitive and those in-between. They might come off as condescending if you're ignorant of the scene, however, and you try to make strong statements based on your limited knowledge.

It did so much for Smash Bros., though, adding solid mechanics like more dodging opportunities, side-special moves, a beefed out single-player, a superior training mode, trophies, introduced special mode, doubled the roster, fixed the team kills, made items easier to grab, introduced a ton of great items, and has far more varied stages, and that's from crunch-time: the development cycle.

That being said, the Melee fanboys are obnoxious and Melee is far from the best entry in the series. Kirby is ass, and the character balance is awful (though I can't say Brawl did a much better job), probably a consequence from its grueling development cycle. The game is not very fun to learn competitively and the gameplay has some mechanics I don't like being the ledge grabbing and I personally really don't like soft shield since my triggers aren't the best. There's also the obnoxious tap jump that necessitates the C-stick (which I don't use but I probably should use) and for some reason, single player forces C-stick to be a camera zoom, which is stupid. L-canceling is dumb too, and I don't see the point of it as opposed to just reducing ending lag for everyone. It's probably also the least accessible game right now, being in a supremely dated console and not being available on Virtual Console, and I'm not sure how expensive a copy of it is (I hope not). Super Smash Bros. 64 is at least available on Virtual Console as far as I know.

The Parasol is very fun.

 

[Fawfulthegreat64]

If it was up to me, Peach and Bowser should've both been in Smash 64 and Wario should've been a newcomer in Melee tbh.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Smash 64 was on super low budget at the time, so realistically, I don't think you can get 2 more reps in that game.

Wario should've been a Melee newcomer, but again, that would predate WarioWare and I love gross creepy weirdo Wario from Smash Bros..

 

[Koops]

If it was up to me, Peach and Bowser should've both been in Smash 64 and Wario should've been a newcomer in Melee tbh.

Funnily enough, Bowser was planned and Peach was rumored to be in the game. Even Marth, Mewtwo and Dedede were heavily considered, but the low budget amounted to them choosing only one more character that was easy to make.

Jigglypuff.

 

[GalacticPetey]

Ah Melee. No Smash game reaches this level of technical skill or entertainment value. I got into competitive Melee around late 2013, early 2014 and even though my interest has risen and fallen since then at various points, Melee will always hold a special place among the Smash games for having the most engaging competitive scene.

This game also gave me Marth, who I have consistently loved playing as in every Smash game from Melee on.

 

[Borp]

Wario should've been a Melee newcomer, but again, that would predate WarioWare and I love gross creepy weirdo Wario from Smash Bros..

To be fair, Wario was already a little bit weird and gross in Wario Land 2 and 3.

 

[Czario]

My favorite Melee veteran is Young Link. I've played as him a lot in the past, though recently I've been playing Dr. Mario more since Young Link feels clunky to me suddenly. (Btw favorite doesn't equal most important addition of course)

Melee is a great game and one of the three Smash games that I have trouble deciding which is best (Melee, Brawl, and Smash U). It improved on 64 so much by adding tons of new modes and features and turning it into a full experience. I will say that Melee is kind of overrated, but that just means it's not necessarily the best Smash Bros. ever and is more on par with the others which are all absolutely phenomenal. Recently when I play Melee, I've been finding it harder to get into because the controls have aged a little bit (it feels more difficult to pull off moves than later games and certain features aren't in it like Up Smash out of a dash). This is a minor complaint though. Melee had a ton of great stages and it's a crime that many of them are only now returning. The character additions weren't the best but they did as good as they could with the extremely limited time they had. The new modes are great and give the game much more to do than 64. Overall, Melee is the first Smash game to really feel like a full experience and it's still great to go back to today.

 

[Wintertime Peach]

The only game where Peach and Jigglypuff (two of my favorite characters in Smash) are very high on the tier list. It's unfortunate how much they've fallen in the later games, especially Jigglypuff who is trash in both Brawl and Smash 4. I still love her though.

Anyways, my favorite Melee newcomer is Peach of course. I also really like Zelda and Ice Climbers.

 

[London Parris]

I enjoyed playing as Roy, I say he is the best addition to Melee.

 

[Borp]

Melee gave us Bowser, Peach, playable Zelda, playable Mewtwo, and zany shit like Ice Climbers and Mr. Game & Watch...

...but Roy is the best addition?

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

Dude, it's just an opinion.

 

[Czario]

Melee gave us Bowser, Peach, playable Zelda, playable Mewtwo, and zany *bleep* like Ice Climbers and Mr. Game & Watch...

...but Roy is the best addition?

I can't speak for him, but he's probably just saying Roy was the addition he liked the most, not the one who deserved it the most.

 

[Shyghoul]

...but Roy is the best addition?

i agree marth was the best edition easily