Why Melee Is Better Than Brawl

[Lizard Dude]

So there we were last night, debating which game to bust out. We settled on Brawl. But then my brother, who has spoken against Brawl nearly since day one, finally refused to play.

"I'll only play Melee," he says.

For some reason, we agree. Melee has been untouched since we officially retired it in a massive goodbye play-fest the eve of the Brawl launch. But now it's back. And I don't play on playing Brawl again.


Smash Balls Suck Balls
I always knew it deep down, but until playing an entire night of Melee did I fully realize how much Smash Balls hurt the game. They are way too powerful. The incredible power to kill granted by a Smash Ball negates everything done in the match requiring actual skill and gameplay. All the intricate fighting, dodging, and small-arms item use doesn't even register in the end because match results come down to one thing: who got more Smash Balls. Whenever power this great is granted in a fighting game, it needs to come with a sharp penalty for failure as well. For example, the Guilty Gear series has insta-kill moves, but you only get one use in a match and if it's missed or blocked you completely lose your Tension meter, preventing you from using any super moves at all for the rest of the match. But in Brawl? Risk-free insta-kills, doled out like candy on Halloween.


It Looks Better
Brawl looks like poop on a real TV. And I don't mean a nice smooth turd requiring no wiping. I mean a gnarly greenish string that comes in three parts and requires an entire roll of 2-ply before you can leave. But Melee, being 4:3, ends up more visually compressed and looking surprisingly better.


Fast Bats
This is the most important reason. Batting someone in Smash is one of the best feelings I've ever experienced in gaming anything. It's a spectacular combination of build-up, release, graphic, sound, and effect. In Brawl, the bat is so incredibly slow that you only get to hit someone if they're so bad as to not even be worth playing with in the first place. It's reduced to being just a really powerful throwing weapon. But in Melee last night? I batted like five people in one match (3-stock, how men play). That remound me what true fun is. And it's not in Brawl.



EDIT: Oh, I forgot. Dr. Mario, too. Even though he's a "clone", something is perfect about him. Normal Mario, especially normal Brawl Mario, blows but Dr. Mario is for some reason in my top two favorites.

[The Chef]

Turn off the Smash Balls and the bats and play on a better TV. Problem solved.

[Lizard Dude]

Turning off bats is the complete opposite of what needs to be done.

And you need to play on a worse TV to make Brawl look remotely palatable.

[Boo Dudley]

Yeah, wax museum of classic movie monsters Bowser looks way better than scaly Bowser. *nod*

[Lizard Dude]

Brawl has better graphics, don't get me wrong. But it looks much worse on an HDTV due to resolution issues.

[hydrakiller4000]

It Looks Better
Brawl looks like poop on a real TV. And I don't mean a nice smooth turd requiring no wiping. I mean a gnarly greenish string that comes in three parts and requires an entire roll of 2-ply before you can leave. But Melee, being 4:3, ends up more visually compressed and looking surprisingly better.

I'd have to disagree with you on that. For me, Brawl's graphics are very clear and better than Melee's, and I have a decent TV. Brawl has way more textures and has better blending patterns than Melee. When I go back and play Melee, I realize how very little detail is emphasized on the characters, as opposed to Brawl. Melee also looks pretty blurry compared to Brawl when I play it.

The incredible power to kill granted by a Smash Ball negates everything done in the match requiring actual skill and gameplay.

If you really want to play a match requiring actual skill and gameplay, simply turn off all of the items.

[NintendoExpert89]

I doubt that two items and slightly different graphics greatly outnumbers the better physics, online play, larger one-player mode, myriad multiplayer options, and the fact that the disk is loaded past the brim with content.

Brawl has better graphics, don't get me wrong. But it looks much worse on an HDTV due to resolution issues.

I have a HDTV at home, and it looks just fine when playing on it.

[Lizard Dude]

1) What is your TV type and size and how is your Wii plugged into it?

2) I really enjoy items in general, and obviously especially the bat. People I play with tend to hurl it offscreen just to torment me. Items do provide opportunities for actual skill and gameplay. And I'm saying which game is better here. If you have to improve Brawl by making it like Melee by turning off Smash Balls, that means point goes to Melee.

[Luigison]

IMO Subspace Emissary makes Brawl the better game, but I've always preferred adventure and platform games over fighting games so I know I'm not the typical Smash Bros player.  

[Lizard Dude]

"better physics"  --I don't notice anything better.

"online play"  --Brawl's network code is unplayably bad.

"larger one-player mode"  --One-player Smash? Not even part of the discussion. Single-player in a fighting game is as worthwhile as single-player tug-of-war.

"myriad multiplayer options"  --Are you talking about 2-player Targets and Boss Rush? Again, meaningless to me.

"fact that the disk is loaded past the brim with content" --Thanks for reminding me Brawl has better trophies and music too.

[Lizard Dude]

Subspace Emissary was one of the least fun things I've done all year in gaming. The cutscenes were good though.

I just remembered another thing:


Game Title Vocalization
In Brawl, the announcer doesn't scream the title of the game on the title screen. This is absolutely unforgiveable in a modern fighting game. You think I'm joking, but I'm not.

[hydrakiller4000]

Besides what you listed, what do you find so much better about Melee? In the few instances that I watched a so-called "professional" Melee match, all I saw was 2 players wavedashing like crazy. If you just simply go up to them and hit them, it would most likely work, and I have done that before against many players who wavedash like crazy.

"larger one-player mode"  --One-player Smash? Not even part of the discussion. Single-player in a fighting game is as worthwhile as single-player tug-of-war.

You can say that for basically every fighting game, since the Mortal Kombat series, the Street Fighter series, the Super Smash Bros. series, and almost every other fighting game series have a single-player mode.

Normal Mario, especially normal Brawl Mario, blows

I really disagree with that statement. You must not know how to play Mario in an efficient manner, since I can play him very well in Brawl. I win most of my matches when I play Mario, regardless of the character my opponent uses.

You should think of it like this: Every character in Brawl is good if you know how to play him/her the right way. I can play a huge variety of characters in Brawl very well, even some that people claim to be "terrible," and still manage to win.

[MaxVance]

"online play"  --Brawl's network code is unplayably bad.

As opposed to none at all? My online games are usually fine.

Besides, Brawl's characters are far more balanced (though not perfectly--see Captain Falcon) than Melee's. This game comes down mainly to outwitting your opponent as opposed to using one character that rapes all the others due to the physics.

[Chupperson Weird]

I have to agree on a couple things here, those being that the home run bat is pointlessly slow in Brawl, and was a much better weapon in Melee. I will also agree about Smash Balls, as far as they shouldn't be so readily used. One per character per match or something would be a better design.
Also, Brawl gimped the Falcon Punch and all of Fox and has more lame stages.

However! I like the control in Brawl much better than in Melee, and it's opened up my character possibilities as well, I think. I'm better with more characters in Brawl.
I don't have to play my games on a 96 inch HDTV, so I find Brawl to be better looking. I'm also having a hard time understanding why being 4:3 and "compressed" is better.

Max, you don't want to play against me as Pikachu then.

LD has terrible internet, but the online should be much better than it is.

[Lizard Dude]

Besides what you listed, what do you find so much better about Melee?

Besides what I listed!? I listed the five significant reasons I prefer Melee. Anything I didn't list doesn't matter to me either way.

You can say that for basically every fighting game, since the Mortal Kombat series, the Street Fighter series, the Super Smash Bros. series, and almost every other fighting game series have a single-player mode.

I am saying it for every fighting game. They shouldn't be played single-player. That's what single-player games are for. Fighting games just get single-player thrown in so enraged friendless internet men don't flood Amazon with 1-star reviews.

I really disagree with that statement. You must not know how to play Mario in an efficient manner, since I can play him very well in Brawl. I win most of my matches when I play Mario, regardless of the character my opponent uses.

You should think of it like this: Every character in Brawl is good if you know how to play him/her the right way. I can play a huge variety of characters in Brawl very well, even some that people claim to be "terrible," and still manage to win.

Obviously. I'm just saying I (not you) love Dr. Mario and I (not you) don't like Mario. I'm not saying anything about the inherent balance of the characters.