Why Melee Is Better Than Brawl

[Lizard Dude]

Show of hands: Who knew and/or cared about Fire Emblem when Melee was released?

I'll be the first man to take the walk of shame:

When Melee released, I did not know of Fire Emblem, Ice Climber, or of Captain Falcon though I knew what F-Zero was. Also, I had only the vaguest pre-knowledge that something like a Pichu existed.

EDIT: I suppose I did know Captain Falcon ...because of N64 Smash. Re: Brawl: I had no prior knowledge of Lucas or Lucario or Ike.

[beanDude]

I don't know, but personally, the more you know about the characters in Smash Bros., the more fun it is. I, having been a huge Nintendo person for a long time, know background info of about 95% of everything in Smash Bros. It's also really cool when you see a stage based off of your favorite game, such as the Great Bay stage in Melee. I think the thing that makes that stage so awesome is the fact that it almost looks like you're INSIDE Majora's Mask. If you look in the background, almost everything in that stage is like the real place in Majora.

On the other hand, I have a friend who knows nothing about Nintendo, and says that "Smashville" in Brawl is a stupid and childish level. For people who have played either game of the Animal Crossing franchise, our opinions differ greatly.

[jdaster64]

I had never heard of Marth/Roy (though I liked them in SSBM), Pichu, Mewtwo, Ness or Ganondorf. I was well acquainted with Ice Climbers, G&W and some other obscure ones, though.

[Turtlekid1]

I had never heard of Ganondorf (who soon became my best character), Marth, Roy, Ness, Captain Falcon, or Ice Climbers when I first played Melee.

[Chupperson Weird]

I am not particularly a fan of Animal Crossing (though I did play the first one a lot), but Smashville is a good stage, plain and simple.

Also, don't you get your gaming license revoked or something for not knowing who Ganondorf is, as late as 2001?

[Glorb]

No, some nerd just flips out and comes to your house and throws you through your TV.

[SolidShroom]

I'd never heard of Ganondorf before Smash either, because I've never really been a huge Zelda fan. I guess this means I'm gaming without a license. I'm so bad it hurts.

[jdaster64]

I'd never heard of Ganondorf before Smash either, because I've never really been a huge Zelda fan. I guess this means I'm gaming without a license. I'm so bad it hurts.

Ditto. Same goes for Pokemon and Metroid, though I'd heard of a few major characters from all three series.

[Glitchy]

I didn't know about Mario when I got Melee.

[Luigison]

I didn't know about Mario when I got Melee.

Glitchy
Sad joke

[ShadowBrain]

I think the only characters I didn't know when Melee came out were Marth and Roy. Ice Climbers... I might have vaguely known them.

Marth/Roy were also extraordinarily stupid characters to include as they were basically clones of eachother, none of those games had ever come out in the States, and when they did... didn't Roy not exist and Marth had a different name? Also, it must have taken tremendous balls to think Americans desperately wanted to play as Fire Emblem characters in Melee but refuse to release Mother-related games as much as possible.

[BP]

Marth was put in by popular demand in Japan, and Roy to promote the next game to come (Melee was actually his debut). At least, that's what I think I read some time back somewhere.

I was still in a little capsule a while after Melee. The only characters in Melee who I knew from games I'd already played by then were the Mario characters, the Pokémon, and Mr. Game & Watch. That's pretty bad.

When I realized how bad that was I played some Kirby and Zelda, played Ice Climber, and then Brawl was announced. Between that time and Brawl's release, I played EarthBound, the entire WarioWare series except MPG, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Metroid Prime and Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut. Afterward I got into F-ZERO and SolidShroom gifted me Star Fox 64. I've yet to play Pikmin,  Fire Emblem, and a good Sonic game, and haven't played a lot of Kid Icarus or Donkey Kong Country... but I have, somewhere along the line.

That was all partially my fault and partially not. When I was a kid, my parents didn't just buy me any game if they weren't sure I'd like it. And I wouldn't either. I rarely had/have enough money for that... But I regret that. I should've rented more games. Yeah... I play more than just what's in Brawl though.

[Ultima Shadow]

Marth was put in by popular demand in Japan, and Roy to promote the next game to come (Melee was actually his debut). At least, that's what I think I read some time back somewhere.

That's a partial truth; the Fire Emblem characters were always going to be in Melee in Japan, but were due to be removed from the American/European/whatever release; however, they were reincluded in those versions thanks to popular demand.

And yeah, it is a bit weird that a character's debut in a series is in a separate crossover series showing off Nintendo's famous characters. >_>

[jdaster64]

Roy and Marth were definitely planned to be included in Japan's SSBM, and were only kept in the US version by popular demand. Personally, I think they are two of the better characters. ShadowBrain (or Brian?) is also correct in that Roy's debut was in Melee. I guess the game must not have taken off, as he was removed from Brawl (albeit he has an unused model in the game's code).

[Chupperson Weird]

Taken off? It was one game in the Fire Emblem series which regularly features different sets of characters.