Nintendo's best game in it's 20 long years.

The gameplay for SSBM was revolutionary for its time. It has a large majority of Nintendo's most beloved characters (Bowser, Dr. Mario, Zelda, etc) and I personally think that's a large contributing factor to Super Smash Brother's popularity.

Going to the VS mode gameplay now. First you'll decide what "genre" or VS battle you'll compete in: Melee, Tournament Melee, or Special Melee.

Melee mode combines ultimate 3rd person combat with the choice of human or computer players, 2, 3, or 4 people and teams or free-for-all in a fun match of skills using your favorite Nintendo character on a large variety of choices even before you start the match such as computer difficulty, the type of match and the stage selection.

I'll do a little "touching up" on those 3 choices of variety: Choosing the difficulty of a computer is very easy. You have a slider that goes from level 1 to level 9 (easy to hard). After you choose your enemies and teammates, you can change what type of match, how long or how many kills, items or no items, handicap, etc. by going either to the bar above the character select or by going to the VS mode menu and going to "Custom Rules." Along with the many characters and customization of the match you're about to play is the huge selection of levels from previous Nintendo games. When you actually do start your match, you have (yet another) large selection in your control; The character's attacks. This (of course) along with previous experiences in this game or SSB determined who would win the match. And finally, after you win the match, you're taken to a screen that shows who won and various in-depth statistics (I personally think they did a great job on that).

Tournament Melee is something very unique. You can go up against as little as 4 and as much as 64 computers or humans (one human at a time, one battle at a time). This is the best feature if you have patient friends.

Special Melee is (along with many other things about SSBM) filled with varieties of choices. I can't do an in-depth look at the specific varieties, there's too many to go on and on about, so instead I'll just list the choices you're bestowed with in Special Melee: Camera Mode, Stamina Mode, Super Sudden Death, Giant Melee, Tiny Melee, Invisible Melee, Fixed-Camera Mode, Single-Button Mode, Lightning Melee, and Slo-Mo Melee.

Now the Single Player mode is just as spectacular as the VS mode. Instead of the same boring series of fights over and over, they have 3 different types of single player modes: Regular Match, Event Match, Stadium, and Training.

First thing's first, Regular Match: (Classic mode, Adventure mode, and All-Star Mode):

Classic mode consists of several randomized battles against your choice of Very Easy, Easy, Medium, Hard and Very Hard computers. First, of course, you choose your player and then you choose how many lives you think you'll need (1-5), I suggest 5 if you're going for Normal and up and 1 if you're doing Very Easy or Easy (assuming you're half-decent at this game). After you go through the various matches, you'll finally go one-on-one with the Master Hand (supposedly the 2nd hardest boss on Super Smash Brothers: Melee). If you're on Hard or Very Hard mode you'll go up against the Crazy Hand, (again, supposedly the hardest boss on SSBM).

After you're worn out with Classic mode, give Adventure mode a try. You'll go through various stages and you'll strive to achieve different goals on each one.

All-Star mode is purely endurance. You'll have a choice after each match (go figure) to either use a Heart item and heal much of your damage, or be a trooper, refuse to heal yourself, and get an extra 100,000 (or more) points. In All-Star mode you will have to go up against every character in SSBM 3 at a time until Mr. Game & Watch. So if you're wondering "Huh? I don't have All-Star mode..." unlock all of the characters and all of your worldly troubles will come to a screeching halt.

If you're still reading up to this point, inform me and I'll give a cookie.

The Event Match holds 51 (go figure again) event matches, certain of those cannot be played unless you unlock certain secret characters (unfortunately). If you want a true challenge, do all 51 of these in less than 3 hours. Go!

In the Stadium mode, you can either do Target Testing, Homerun Contest, or Multi Man Melee.

If you're familiar with Target Testing from SSB, then you'll find that SSBM takes it to a whole new level. Not really, but hey, at least the graphics are a lot more advanced than the N64 Super Smash Bros.

Homerun Contests are FUN! All you do is weaken the bag and swing that homerun bat for a record distance. I've gotten every one of my characters past 1,000 feet (just FYI).

In Multi Man Melee, it's pretty self-explanatory. You just fight endless waves of Wire Frame People (depending on the mode you choose). Tip: Donkey Kong is the best for this.

Training Mode is much better than it was on the last Super Smash Bros. game. You can have more than just 1 computer on the screen at 1 time (up to four) and instead of just the few modes that the computer has, you can actually make the character(s) human! OMG!!! I know, it's so cool, but please, calm yourself. You're scaring me.

SSBM has never gotten old, and in my honest opinion, it never will. I swear I'll be 80 years old and still be smiling while playing this game. The reason behind that is all the possibilities this game holds both in multiplayer and single player modes. I can already assure you that when I'm done playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl for the 500th non-stop hour, I'll take a break from it and play SSBM just to recoup some good memories. In summary: SSBM's lifespan is never-ending.

At the time, SSBM had the best Gamecube graphics anybody had seen. And the cool part about that, is that's still the case 5 years later. 5 years! And it still has the best graphics! I think that deserves a 10+2, but I could only give it a 10. Go Nintendo!

I gave the sounds a 9 on this game because most of the sounds on the characters from the last game were the exact same. Other than that they had a great quality and went along with the game very well.

If they had used some better ideas on the sound in this game, I could easily have given this game a 10, but a 9.99 will have to do. Sorry, HAL Laboratories, but I'm sure you'll pull a 10-pointer with SSBB. For those of you who read this review to either get a good idea of what SSBM is really like in the eyes of Scooby Jew, I have this summary to tell you: This is the best game I, myself, have ever witnessed, played, or heard. And to those who read this review to have some reassurance to get this game: Why don't you have it yet?! It's only been 5 years! Go get it! Trust me, it's worth your time, effort and money.

Review by Scooby Jew