By: Nintendo

Super Smash Bros. on the N64 was the first fighting game to sport a four-player multiplayer with a bunch of Nintendo's mascots. With the announcement of a Smash Bros. title for the GameCube, many wondered if the game would undergo more than a technical upgrade. The result is a game filled to the brim with extras and hours of gameplay for you and your friends to feast upon.

At its core, SSBM is a 2-D fighting game that pits Nintendo's best mascots against each other. There's Mario, Luigi, Link, Pikachu, Samus, and even Mr. Game and Watch (from old-school Nintendo LCD games). No doubt you'll hum along to the Zelda and Metroid themes as you fight in classic Nintendo stages.

Some people are quick to blow it off as a button-masher. Indeed, I was one of them. It's true that anyone can pick up the game and start playing, but after a few games, you can easily separate the experts from the novices. The reason for this harsh criticism lies with the fact that the gameplay isn't the standard fighting setup. Gameplay in SSBM is all about the timing of 'smash moves' to increase the amount of damage done to a player. Players score kills by knocking characters out of the arena. The more damage taken, the harder it is for you to get back into the arena. Gameplay is fast, at times frantic, and fun. First-timers are bound to be overwhelmed with the speed of the game. Throw in some hilarious items that appear randomly in a match that can quickly change the momentum of the game, and you're in for some serious kills and laughs.

The extras in SSBM are very impressive. There are 12 hidden characters and multiple arenas to unlock. Also, there's an adventure mode where you play through side-scrolling levels from classic Nintendo games, including goomba-stomping a la Mario World. There also 51 event matches with specific scenarios and restrictions. Finally, there are over 300 trophies of famous (and not so famous) Nintendo characters to collect. Each trophy is beautifully modeled, and has a high nostalgia factor for people like me. I really wish all games would add these kinds of extras.

Super Smash Bros. Melee takes all the fun from the original, improves the graphics, sound, and gameplay, and adds a ton of extras. And if you've got 3 friends, you're wasting valuable time reading this review. Get it!