Super Smash Bros. Melee. Well, this is the one everyone's waiting for, isn't it? Hehehe. Well, I played about this quite a lot, but it was hard to get as much time as I wanted to in because it was the most popular game at the club. Which isn't surprising. Here's what I have to say:
Okay, well, first off, the multiplayer mode, which is all I got to play, anyway. I was two people: Peach and Yoshi. Now, even though all the character's moves from the original N64 version are there, they have a SLEW of new moves. The new controller takes some getting used to, (oh, and the controller rocks, by the way), but that's not too big a deal, and once you do, if you were good at the original you'll feel right at home with SSB:M. It plays almost exactly the same, and I just jumped right in. The first thing I noticed right off though, is everything is much crisper time-wise, and it's harder to knock people far and wide. Attacks that used to be devastating in the N64 version (Yoshi's butt stomp) are now like normal attacks, but it works better that way, because now the characters are pretty well balanced. Oh, and once you ARE knocked away, it's much harder to save yourself. Like I said, everything is just much quicker and crisper-- which is in many ways a good thing.
Now, characters. Yoshi was just good old Yoshi, with some new attacks-- what you guys really want to know about is Peach, Bowser, and the hidden characters, right? Well, I didn't play Bowser, but my mom (Yes, my mom) did, and if SHE could get 2nd place with him he must be pretty good. *wink* He did of course move slower and his jump wasn't as great as other characters, but that didn't really affect him much-- really. His spin attack is just as annoying as Samus' famous screwball, though. ^_^ Now, I did get to play Peach, and let me tell you-- she ROCKS. I'm almost better with her than with Yoshi, and I've been playing with Yoshi on the N64 version since it first came out. She's no sissy bimbo in THIS game. She has a parasol that she floats with, and can float in the air a la Super Mario Bros. 2, making it HARD to keep her down. Oh, and she uses a Mushroom Retainer as shield, which is hilarious, but there are screenshots of that already. She also does things like whack people with a golf club for a smash attack. Her down B attack, she pulls a turnip out of the ground and throws it, but that's only if she's standing on the ground-- it doesn't work in the air. ^_^ In all, Peach is a GREAT addition to the line up. Now, secret characters. I saw around seven slots on the character select screen. In one of the videos that was playing on the walls of the club, there were some shots of Ganondorf... ^_~ Oh, and Luigi's already been confirmed, I hope he has his Poltergust 2000 with him. *crosses fingers*
All right, and lastly, the one-player mode. I didn't get to play this, but I did WATCH someone else play it. They were Link, playing the Mushroom Kingdom level. Well, it was awesome looking- much better than the one-player mode in the N64 version. MUCH better. You can actually jump on the Troopas and throw their shells! :) Anyway, they first fought the Yoshi team on a Mushroom-shaped platform, and after beating them they continued through the Mushroom Kingdom until they reached Peach's Castle, at which they had to fight a team consisting of Mario and Peach. Very cool. The backgrounds and things are great-- at one place, there was a Mushroom Person running back and forth in fright-- very funny. Going through the level you're timed (this includes the little battles in the level), and you must reach the end destination within a certain amount of time. That's all I saw, and it looked great.
If I didn't cover something here that you really wanted to know, send me an email at the_mushroom_kingdom_squad@yahoo.com with your questions, and I'll answer them as best I can. Some of the other games I played were Wave Race Blue Storm, Eternal Darkness, Star Fox Adventures, Pikmin, and Super Monkey Ball. So if you want to know something about THOSE, email me and I'll see if I can tell you what you wanna know. I'm so nice.