Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee, known in Japan as Dairantou Smash Brothers DX (, Dairantō Sumasshu Burazāzu Dī Ekkusu, lit. "Great Melee Smash Brothers Deluxe"), and often shortened to "SSBM" or "Melee", is a 3-D on a 2-D plane fighting game for the Nintendo GameCube. It was first released on November 21, 2001 in Japan, shortly after the GameCube's launch, on December 3, 2001 in North America, and finally in May 2002 in Europe and Australia. It is the second game in the series, following Super Smash Bros., being not only the best game in the series, but also being indisputably the best game ever created.

Like its predecessor, Melee features gameplay unique in comparison to that of other fighting games. Characters have simple movesets that lack complicated button inputs and lengthy inescapable combos, instead emphasizing movement and ringouts. The game features many character appearances based on, but not identical to, their appearances in games from the Nintendo 64.

Characters
There are 26 playable characters in the entire game, the 12 veterans and 14 newcomers. There are 15 starter characters and eleven more which can be unlocked. While the original twelve characters have returned from Super Smash Bros., only ten are available from the start.
 * - denotes new character or item of the series

Default characters

 * 1) Bowser*
 * 2) Captain Falcon
 * 3) Donkey Kong
 * 4) Fox
 * 5) Ice Climbers*
 * 6) Kirby
 * 7) Link
 * 8) Mario
 * 9) Ness
 * 10) Pikachu
 * 11) Peach*
 * 12) Samus
 * 13) Yoshi
 * 14) Zelda/Sheik*

Secret characters

 * 1) Dr. Mario*
 * 2) Falco*
 * 3) Ganondorf*
 * 4) Jigglypuff
 * 5) Luigi
 * 6) Marth*
 * 7) Mewtwo*
 * 8) Mr. Game & Watch*
 * 9) Pichu*
 * 10) Roy*
 * 11) Young Link*

Non-Playable Characters

 * 1) Master Hand (Except by glitching or Action Replay)
 * 2) Crazy Hand* (Except by Action Replay)
 * 3) Giga Bowser* (Except by Action Replay)
 * 4) Male Wireframe* (Except by Action Replay)
 * 5) Female Wireframe* (Except by Action Replay)
 * 6) Sandbag* (Except by Action Replay)
 * 7) Single Ice Climber (Can only be played via debug menu, or in the Target Test; Action Replay)*

Stages
There are eighteen starter stages and eleven more which can be unlocked.

Default stages

 * Brinstar
 * Corneria
 * Fountain of Dreams
 * Great Bay
 * Green Greens
 * Icicle Mountain
 * Jungle Japes
 * Kingdom
 * Kongo Jungle
 * Mute City
 * Onett
 * Pokémon Stadium
 * Princess Peach's Castle
 * Rainbow Cruise
 * Temple
 * Venom
 * Yoshi's Island
 * Yoshi's Story

Unlockable stages

 * Battlefield
 * Big Blue
 * Brinstar Depths
 * Dream Land
 * Final Destination
 * Flat Zone
 * Fourside
 * Kingdom II
 * Congo Jungle
 * Poké Floats
 * Yoshi's Island

Single-Player stages
These stages cannot be unlocked, and can only be played under certain circumstances (or if the game is hacked).
 * Target Test Stages
 * Trophy Collector
 * Race to the Finish
 * Mushroom Kingdom Adventure
 * Underground Maze
 * Brinstar Escape Shaft
 * F-Zero Grand Prix
 * Rest Station
 * Home-Run Stadium
 * Majora's Mask
 * Goomba
 * Entei

Debug-Only Stages
These stages can only be used when the game is hacked. Some are functional, most are not.

Functional

 * Test
 * Zelda/Sheik's Target Test Stage

Non-Functional

 * AKANEIA
 * 10-2*
 * IceTop*
 * DUMMY*

* Can be activated with other hacks, but not Debug Mode.

1-Player

 * Classic Mode
 * Adventure Mode
 * All-Star Mode (must be unlocked)
 * Event Match
 * Stadium
 * Home-run Contest
 * Target Test
 * Multi-Man Melee
 * Training

Multi-player

 * Versus Mode
 * Special Melee
 * Camera Mode
 * Super Sudden Death
 * Giant Melee
 * Tiny Melee
 * Invisible Melee
 * Slo-Mo Melee
 * Fixed-Camera Mode
 * Single-Button Melee
 * Lightning Melee
 * Stamina Mode
 * Tournament Mode

Action Replay

 * Debug mode

Unlockables
The game features several points to be unlocked, most of which include the trophies, unlockable characters and stages. Some of them are unlocked by a special way, like achieving a certain distance on the Home-Run Contest, while others are obtained by the Lottery. For a full list, see Complete Melee Unlockables.

Changes from N64
While Melee mainly follows the same formula introduced in the original game by retaining most elements, several differences exist between the two games. The following list, while not all-inclusive, addresses several of the changes. Please note that this list does not include obvious changes, such as a different button scheme/controller and Melee-only characters and items.
 * All characters have four special moves; veterans now have a new Side Special Move. In some cases (such as Link and Ness), the character's old Neutral Special Move got moved to their Side B, with the newly added move becoming the Neutral B.
 * The number of throws each character can perform has also been increased to four; all veterans now have an Up Throw and a Down Throw. Some Forward or Back Throws have been changed to a character's Up or Down Throw (Kirby's Forward Throw in Super Smash Bros., for example, is his Up Throw in this game). A majority of the throws themselves have been decreased significantly in power and knockback, though some are great for comboing.
 * While grabbing, characters can now pummel the opponent.
 * Characters can escape from the grab.
 * The pacing of the game has been increased.
 * The amount of hitstun a character suffers has been slightly decreased.
 * The single-player Board the Platforms bonus game does not return. It was replaced with Snag the Trophies.
 * Air dodging, moonwalking, and sidestep dodging have been implemented.
 * All characters can move while carrying a heavy item (albeit very slowly); in the original, this ability was exclusive to Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong is the fastest carrier, of course.
 * Most spikes are now Meteor Smashes and all have been changed to be slightly harder to perform. (All characters' Meteor Smashes now have starting lag, unlike the original)
 * Wall jumping has been implemented for some characters.
 * Wall Teching has been implemented.
 * Certain characters can now wall grapple using their Tether Recovery.
 * Items can now be grabbed before coming to a complete stop; they can also be grabbed by a character in midair.
 * Smash Attacks can now be charged by holding the A button.
 * Smash Attacks can now be executed immediately with the C-Stick. This only works in VS Mode.
 * The Heart Container's healing power has been reduced to simply healing 100%, while the Maxim Tomato's effect was also reduced to 50%.
 * On-Screen Appearances have been removed, focusing more on the game's concept of trophies coming to life.
 * There is a selection of time for stocks.
 * If one ends a game early, the statistics won't be saved.
 * The angle at which the menus are seen can be tilted with the C-stick. Also, the player can press L or R to view another fighter when the game is paused.
 * If a container is broken, an enemy from the Mario, Zelda, or Ice Climber series might pop out. The chances of this are slim. This is the only game in the series to have this feature.
 * 1P Game has been replaced with Classic Mode.
 * New Adventure Mode.
 * All characters can Dash Grab.

Tournament play
SSBM is widely known for its large and intricate tournament scene. The generally accepted birth of the tournament scene was caused by the creation of the Tournament Go series. Recently, the tournament scene has been bolstered by grand-scale tournaments such as the MLG series.

The community has constructed a set of standard tournament rules to regulate tournament play. All matches are played with timed stock (usually four lives and eight minutes), with items turned off and restrictions on legal stages. These regulations are enacted to ensure that gameplay at the highest level remains fair and interesting.