My Top 10 BEST Super Smash Bros. Melee Characters

This list is in no particular order and was NOT stolen from another individual. Copyright Infringement will not be tolerated and all property goes to Steven Chung....AH SCREW IT! I don't care...do what you want. :) 

- Blog #31: One of the greatest feelings in the world is nostalgia. Super Smash Bros. Melee is a game that just reeks of nostalgic memories. It was in an entirely different league of its own, away from the classic version that the N64 had to offer. In fact, the US marketed every Nintendo GameCube system to have a Super Smash Bros. Melee game with it. So, two things are concluded from that. Nintendo made LOTS of money from the GameCube just from that one game. And, if you've never played or don't have Super Smash Bros. Melee, you don't have a GameCube. So many people bought the GameCube just for that one game. And who could blame them? Who doesn't love taking some of their favorite Nintendo characters and have them beat the living hell out of each other. WHICH LEADS ME TO...this. My list of what I believe to be the best-of-the-best...of those characters in the picture above. "GO!!!"

1. Ness - The strange thing is that I've never heard of this guy, until Melee came into the picture. Truth is, I don't think I've ever met anyone who knows the game he's from. Earthbound/Mother/whatever. I've never heard of it. Maybe that was the problem. Poor marketing in North America. But, anyway, on with Ness. If you know how to use all of his moves to its full potential, his attacks are very powerful. Just like most ways of psychic powers, it takes time and patience to master. Being able to muster the power of PK Flash, especially, can be the equivalent of overkill. PK Fire is quick and easy to use. Just press (B + left or right D-Pad) and he shoots a bolt of fire that, on impact, bursts on the opponent. And that's useful if you want to stun your opponent for a moment. PK Thunder takes some logical thinking, but once you learn that using the attack on yourself creates a charge move, you've got a "Luigi Missile" at bat. Speaking of bats, my one complaint about Ness is that he uses a bat as a weapon. There's nothing wrong with that, as it may be important to his role-playing authority, but there's another item called the "Home-Run Bat" that you can use. That bat can knock your opposition off the field with ONE hit. So, you're telling me that even though both bats look the same, Ness' bat is just a regular bat? Damn...   

2. Fox McCloud - I just want to start this one off by saying that I love Star Fox! If Fox and his team are supposed to be some of Nintendo's top guys, then use them more! I wish Nintendo games featured other Star Fox franchises. There has to be a remake made soon! I've played the latest game, Star Fox: Command, for the Nintendo DS. It just didn't hold a candle to what the series really stood for. It had Fox and the team in the Arwings. OK, but what about all those mapped out courses that you had to navigate through. Unfortunately, those ruined some of the fun. Fox in Melee is absolute win. Falco's cool too, but the problem resides in his speed. In Smash Bros. games, speed counts as something important when you're trying to beat your enemy as fast as humanly possible. Fox's blaster gun is faster, he runs faster, and he uses his FoxFire move slightly faster than Falco. Falco jumps higher? Sure, but getting too much air doesn't always lead to success. Just ask "Balloon Boy" on how successful he was in the air.

3. Kirby - This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who plays the Super Smash Bros. games. Having the ability to copy anyone's main move by swallowing them and shooting them out...is...awesome. You could do anything. And that seems to be the main consensus of what Kirby is capable of. But who said you had to swallow your enemies? You could always keep them in your mouth and perform the infamous "suicide dive" off the bottom of the screen, if you're close enough so that they won't escape. As far as being off the screen goes, Kirby has amazing air abilities that could really save him from any which way he's thrown. Plus, he's a pink ball of fun! His games are great and Melee wouldn't be complete without him. It should also be noted now that, so far, every entrant on this list is a "Perfect Attendance" member in the Smash Bros. series. Here's another trivia fact about the relation between Smash Bros. and Kirby. It seems that not many people know that the boss of the Final Destination stage, Master Hand/Crazy Hand, are one and the same or a variation of the Kirby boss.

4. Bowser - Yup. Bowser. He's a heavy set. Sure. His attacks seem simple. Yes. And he could get tossed out pretty quickly. Most likely. But, when you need to unload some real punches on your opponent, Bowser is the winner's choice. Especially when it comes to those Multi-Man Melee contests, Bowser is one of the best characters to use when you need to kick some wired-people's technological butts away. His grab and hold attacks are pretty standard, as well. It's not hard to control Bowser, but one word best describes him. Absolute-beast! Yes, that's one word. Take a note on hyphens. Plus, Melee loved Bowser so much that they created a Giga-sized version of him, specifically for the final adventure battle/challenge. They didn't use Ganondorf, because his attacks are slow and he's just plain slow altogether. Bowser's a little quicker and he's just more memorable to fans. And Mewtwo...well. Mewtwo's in a league of his own. Don't get what I mean? Well, maybe this next entrant will specify things...

5. Mewtwo - Mewtwo, Mewtwo, Mewtwo, Mewtwo. Definitely, Mewtwo. I still argue that having Mewtwo replaced with that aurora piece of dog-stew, Lucario, in Brawl was a VERY bad idea. Lucario gets stronger, as he gets weaker with energy? Bullcrap. Why not just stay powerful all the way through the match? Mewtwo is better than Lucario in all sense, shape, and form. When I said Mewtwo's in a different league of his own, I wasn't kidding. I haven't really been able to figure out if Mewtwo is really a good guy or a bad guy. In the movies, Mewtwo Returns and the end of Mewtwo Strikes Back, he's portrayed as more of a good guy. A savior of cloned Pokémon. OK, in Melee, he's more of a bad guy. I'm not so sure. Anyway, his skills. He can teleport! The most useful and innovative use of pressing (B + up on D-Pad). Dodging attacks without receiving damage and staying alive from elimination, one combination of buttons at a time. The Confusion attack is a bit awkward to use, but it does add a nice "spin" on the battlefield (he-he-he...Melee jokes). But, the teleport move. Boy, it helped me in quite a few battles in my day. Seriously. It's bad-ass...just like Mewtwo's laugh whenever he wins a battle.

   
6. Captain Falcon - "FALCOOON POUNCHHHHHHHH"......that is all you need to know.

7. Pikachu - From one Pokémon to another, Pikachu is another member who has been a part of the Smash Bros. series, since the franchise debuted. "Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest Pokémon of them all?" It's Pikachu! I already talked about how Pikachu has benefited Nintendo and the Pokémon phenomenon. Let's get to melee! Pikachu has a similar method of saving itself from elimination to that of Mewtwo's teleportation. It uses a Quick Attack move that has Pikachu move at a high-speed in two directions. It's a fast move, but not fast enough to completely avoid attacks in this phase. It's nowhere near as controllable as Mewtwo's teleportation, but it's helpful when used properly (Use B + up on D-Pad + any other direction on the D-Pad). Pikachu's basic attack is the Thunder-Shock. It stuns the opponent for a brief moment and only does damage to the opponent, unlike Pichu's thunder attacks which hurt Pichu every time an electric move is used. Who doesn't love Pikachu? I'll even say it. It's cute.           

8. Zelda/Sheik - Princess Zelda. Who knew she could fight? Well, she can't, really. Zelda has the power of all three of the Goddesses of the Triforce in her hands. She can teleport with Farore's Wind, cast fire with Din's Fire, and attack with crystal shards of Nayru's Love. She has magic. Awesome. Where are the martial arts moves that basically everyone else has? Well, her final ability is to transform into her alter-ego. She can turn into Sheik (Press B + down on the D-Pad) and use a variety of moves that are ninja-like. Ninjas are awesome. Enough said. It's like having two characters in one...actually, it is exactly having two characters in one. Having that large a move-set is perfect for any battle.

9. Roy - Am I the only one who also thinks that replacing Roy with Ike was a bad idea? I've never liked Ike. Roy's sword is more powerful and full of fiery passion. Out of every swordsman in the Smash Bros. series, I've always had the most fun battling with Roy. I'm not entirely sure why. It's not like I know the origin of his character, or any character from Fire Emblem. There's another series that I know barely anything about. I've heard more about it than Earthbound/Mother/whatever. It was probably advertized better, since there seems to be a large assortment of games like Fire Emblem: Gaiden or Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Similar to the choice between Fox and Falco, Marth was a strong pick to be on the list too. But Marth's move-set with his sword are a bit too weak. They don't do as much to increase the damage percentage. My one and only problem with Roy was that his charged, main attack does damage to him at full power. Other than that, I definitely think Roy is the best swordsman. Some argue Marth scores more KO's and is more effective, but that depends on how the player uses his character...yeah...deep. So, this may be biased. I just happen to be better with Roy. (I couldn't find a better picture of Roy from Melee)

10. Mr. Game and Watch - I was playing Super Smash Bros. Melee for the first time and I was on the verge of collecting every single character. I had never seen any videos or any sort of pamphlet on who the characters were. There was one spot left on the roster. I beat a round of Adventure Mode and...the warning screen popped up. All I needed to see was the silhouette and I immediately knew who the mystery challenger was. It was an electrifying moment. A flat character in a 3D beat-'em-up! The thing I like best about Mr. Game and Watch is that he's very easy to control. He also uses a variety of moves that refer back to his roots, from games like Chef or Oil Panic. Mr. Game and Watch can be ill-fated on the defensive, but he seems to grow stronger as he moved to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. When we talk about nostalgia, we can't get any more nostalgic than playing Melee with a character that emphasized "classic-gaming." In fact, my very first game I ever played was for the Game Boy: Color. It was Game & Watch Gallery 2 that got me started on the video-gaming experience. Fun times...

                                                 

- Done.