Nintendo characters are back for round two, and what a round it is.
I'm going to ignore the graphics when I talk about this because it's N64 vs. Gamecube, so that's not fair in the least bit. But I will go over the comparisions other than that to determine the truly better game, and I'll base it on a point system on the essentials of a game. Let's start.
CONTROL
The actual gameplay between the 2 is the same. Nintendo characters fighting each other to knock each other off of the stage, and the higher damage that the character accumulates, the farther they fly. So, this isn't a comparision of gameplay, but the control. Both games seem to have some flaws with control, but while most of the problem in the first Smash was based on the controller, Melee's problem seems to be stiff movement in the characters. You can combo well, but your character always seems to hit the ground hard if you don't use the dodge roll as you hit, and it takes a little time to use another attack, even if you're using the fastest characters, like Pichu, or Captain Falcon. However, the Gamecube is the best designed controller that's ever existed, and the N64 controller is one of the worst. The damned thing is pretty unresponsive for Nintendo's standard, and while the movement is smoother on the original. It doesn't last as long in one setting as Melee does, because Melee doesn't have a controller that want to dig into your skin. I understand that that isn't the game's fault, but it is Nintendo's fault, so the ruling stands. Point to Melee.
SSB - 0 Melee - 1
STORY
OK, why am I going over this? Nether of these games have any semblance of story at all. The story has to do with trophies of Nintendo characters coming to life to kill one another. Why do they want to? What's the main conflict? I know it has something to do with Master Hand, but what? There's no context in the game. Melee has Giga Bowser as a villian in it, so I have no idea what context that has... One thing that I think would be cool is to have Giga Bowser as a final boss in a regular Mario game. You know, since they have Bowser grow in giant to fight in virtually every Mario game ever! But I'm getting sidetracked. With these two games, even if you held a gun to my head, I still couldn't choose, because both of these games basically have no story. No point for either.
SSB - 0 Melee - 1
REPLAY VALUE
OK, Melee wins this by a long shot, and for several reasons. First of all, Melee sports an adventure mode along with the basic arcade mode from the original. This adventure mode has you going through all of the already unlocked stages, and has you going through levels of old style games, and is really fun. Granted, the original is fun, too, but Melee has the old style as well. Plus, it simply has more characters, which means that there are more ways to play the game than the original. Point to Melee.
SSB - 0 Melee - 2
DESIGN
This category consists of stage design, and where you fight in the game. A common annoyance is moving stages, because if you go out of bounds, you lose a life, and moving stages have moving borders. While some of the stages in Melee have a more interesting design, they are much harder to fight on, because of the control issues. The first one had less interesting design, but they were much easier to fight on. Melee has an unfair advantage, though, because of the adventure mode. They let you play through old style games in the Melee style, which has excellent design. However, even with this, I think the original still wins, because Melee has a ton more useless stages that will never ever get pick to play simply because they are too hard to fight on. Point to the original.
SSB - 1 Melee - 2
FIGHTING STYLE
Since I'm not using graphics because of cross system differences, then I had to make something up, and the last major difference seemed to be movesets. Melee added one move that honestly should have been in the original, and that's the over B attack. Luigi was given a missile attack that was a much better rescue move than that up B uppercut. Fox was given a super dash, and Kirby got a hammer attack. It honestly should've been in SBB but wasn't, and I have no idea why. The A button got an over attack, so why not the B button? Was it because of your insistant policy to release games on a f@%king time limit. Point to Melee.
SSB - 1 Melee - 3
And after all of that, in fine analysis. Melee is the superior game. The reason I went over the comparision is because the games are so simular and there is no other like these... At least, not during the time of Melee's release, so I might be doing this a few other times. But in all seriousness, Super Smash Bros. Melee as a whole is a really good game, and well worth your time. Anybody with a Gamecube should check it out.