We’re lucky smash is such a great game to have lasted so long even when the single player campaigns have long left our thoughts. Whether you’re a casual player or a pro, the majority your melee time is probably devoted to the Versus mode (multiplayer). Though my save-file has been lost several times, my current records speak for themselves. Out of the approximate 600 hours of play time, 500 of those hours fall under VS. play time. Out of the near 3000 matches played, only 42 were coin matches, and 10 were bonus matches. The rest is unevenly split between the 288 time matches and 2450 stock matches. This greatly upsets me. Why would the developers bother spending time to develop modes that nobody wants to play?
<p align="center">Â <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/classic-monopoly.jpg" title="classic-monopoly.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/classic-monopoly.jpg" alt="classic-monopoly.jpg" /></a></p>
Firstly, I invite everyone to boot up Melee and leave a comment with some of your records (Data->Melee Records->Misc. Records). Post that information as well as what kind of Smasher you consider yourself to be.
Secondly, I’ll discuss each mode noting their pros and cons or attempt to explain why nobody wants to play them.<!--more-->
<strong>MELEE:</strong>
<strong>Time: </strong>This mode is great if everyone wants to play. Unlike stock mode, all the players play from the beginning to the end of a match. The winner is determined by whoever has the most kills in the end. This is where this mode starts to break down. According to Melee the kill is awarded to whoever last hit a dying character. This means that even when the player is unable to return to the stage, any kind of project can strike them achieving that last hit stealing the kill. Fox is notorious for this strategy. Because he can fire his lasers easily and quickly off the stage, his kill stealing ability skyrockets. Furthermore, the game doesn’t always count kills that are made when the dying players appears to kill themselves because their opponents take away their options. Many first person shooters have refined this style of gameplay by including Assists. This means, when you help (or assist) someone with a kill, the point value is divided among both players. Usually whoever does the most damage gets the bigger piece of the “pie.” All in all, Time isn’t a bad mode to play, but there is still one glaring flaw. Generally matches get very exciting. I always felt that once the timer hit zero, I was just getting to the good part of the fight. In competitive play, this unacceptable. Most players feel that if they’re going to lose a match, then they had better be dying in the end. No one wants to lose just because the time ran out before they delivered that last blow.
<strong>Stock:</strong> Probably the most popular mode in all of Smash Melee. Each player has an equal number stock or lives. When they die, they lose a stock. Once you lose it all, you don’t get any more chances. The only way you can lose in a stock match is if you lose all of your stock. It’s quite simple and effective. The downside is, no one can win until one player loses all of their stock. If two players refuse to fight each other, then the match can technically last forever. This is why timed stock is preferred in tournaments. The stock sets the amount of lives, but just in case the match is dragging on, the timer provides extra incentive to fight. Unfortunately there are no options to set different amounts of stock for each player.
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/coin_mode2.jpg" title="coin_mode2.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/coin_mode2.jpg" alt="coin_mode2.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Coin:</strong> This mode appeals to the Scrooge McDuck in us all. The more shiny coins you have by the end of the set amount of time the better. Strike opponents and watch coins fly into the air. To make this mode work, you can’t grab the coins that are beaten out of you right away. This gives the attacker a chance to scoop up the loot he worked for. When you die, you lose half of the coins you have collected. This mode encourages taking care of your life while not being afraid to run in and grab the coins. If you die to the left or right extremes, half of your coins rain back towards the stage. This give the killer a chance to make some quick cash. Unfortunately, the coins hardly travel far enough for any character to grab them safely (unless the stage is a “closed” stage). And if you die up or down, no one has a chance to steal your booty. This seems like an awful waste of money as the coins fall into the bottomless pit of poor design. Coin mode is a lot like time mode, except it’s more balanced kill wise. It’s too bad, the coin collecting favors fast characters like Fox.
Combining Coin mode with stock mode instead of time would have added an interesting twist. In this mode, you would try to collect as many coins as you could. If you run out of stock (with 3 or more players) you lose chances to grab more coins. Each time you die, half of your coins are removed and the other half are “banked.” When you start a new life, you have a fresh chance to get more money without risk of losing what you already invested. With 3 or more players, the players in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place will receive increasing penalties. For this reason you want to hold on to your stock, but ultimately it’s all about the money. This mode sounds a lot like Smash Monopoly. I can see it now. Instead of Park Place, the property is Final Destination.
<strong>Bonus:</strong> This mode is a mess. It’s basically time mode with a goofy judgment system slapped on to the end. Because there are so many awards and penalties it’s nearly impossible to know them all and be conscious of them in battle. Because it’s so easy to accrue unknown awards, this mode is reduced to normal smash gameplay where a player is picked to win at random. Perhaps if there was roulette that displayed a random goal, and whoever achieve it first won some points, the mode would be more accessible. There’s a reason why this is the least played mode.
Now we come to Special Melee:
Overall, the worst part about these special melee modes it that they weren’t designed to be taken seriously. Most of them lack the structure for a fun and satisfying gaming experience, and the rest lack the options to make them accessible for perennial play. Pointing out their shortcomings won’t take long at all.
<strong>Camera Mode:</strong> Taking pictures and saving them is a great way to immortalize smash memories forever. It’s too bad we have to be in a special mode to do so. It would be infinitely better if the snapshot options were available in any mode when you pressed the start button. They let you mess with the camera while paused anyway, why not let us take a picture while we’re at it? And this way, the fourth player won’t have to be stuck being the camera man.
<strong>Stamina Mode:</strong> The best special melee mode. Like traditional fighters each player has a certain amount of health. When the health points are reduced to zero you die. I don’t know why Sakurai didn’t include the option of setting your own values of stamina. Because Melee gives the player control over just about every other option in the game, I’m lead to believe that these modes were tacked on without.
<strong>Super Sudden Death:</strong> All the structure in smash is nearly thrown out the window in this mode. Almost any move kills. Having fun in this mode would require the players to create structure around this chaos. That’s not our job.
<strong>Giant/Tiny Melee</strong>: Level design is compromised in these modes because of the size of the characters. The physics have also gone askew due to the size changes and the way some moves were programmed. If you want to see how big Mario can get, I suggest giant melee with giant mushrooms and plenty of taunting. Otherwise, stay far away from these modes.
<strong>Fixed Camera: </strong>This mode invites us to play melee like we would if there were two annoying players camping on the far left and right sides of the screen. If you play on a large stage like Temple, the characters look like lemmings. Was this mode even supposed to be fun?
<strong>Single-Button Melee:</strong> This is my second favorite special melee mode. Though this mode is not great for beginners (despite what it says), this mode is great for seeing how well you can adapt to not being able to do much. There’s still strategy involved even if you can’t use your up+B to return to the stage. Too bad they didn’t give us the option of setting which single button we would like to use. Or better yet, have a spinner that spins during the match and lands on a random button. This random button would be the new “single” button the players are forced to use. I think that would quite interesting.
<strong>Lighting/Slo-Mo Melee:</strong> If you feel like wasting your time and possibly throwing off your timing, play these modes. Melee is already fast enough as it is. Beyond that, I don’t know what was supposed to make these modes fun in the first place.
<p align="center"> <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/tournament.jpg" title="tournament.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/tournament.jpg" alt="tournament.jpg" /></a></p>
That’s it for Melee modes. If you were reading with a keen eye you might have noticed that I skipped over Tournament Melee. I have enough to say about this mode to fill up an entire blog entry. Until then, here’s hoping Sakurai learns from his many “special” mistakes.
<p align="center">Â <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/classic-monopoly.jpg" title="classic-monopoly.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/classic-monopoly.jpg" alt="classic-monopoly.jpg" /></a></p>
Firstly, I invite everyone to boot up Melee and leave a comment with some of your records (Data->Melee Records->Misc. Records). Post that information as well as what kind of Smasher you consider yourself to be.
Secondly, I’ll discuss each mode noting their pros and cons or attempt to explain why nobody wants to play them.<!--more-->
<strong>MELEE:</strong>
<strong>Time: </strong>This mode is great if everyone wants to play. Unlike stock mode, all the players play from the beginning to the end of a match. The winner is determined by whoever has the most kills in the end. This is where this mode starts to break down. According to Melee the kill is awarded to whoever last hit a dying character. This means that even when the player is unable to return to the stage, any kind of project can strike them achieving that last hit stealing the kill. Fox is notorious for this strategy. Because he can fire his lasers easily and quickly off the stage, his kill stealing ability skyrockets. Furthermore, the game doesn’t always count kills that are made when the dying players appears to kill themselves because their opponents take away their options. Many first person shooters have refined this style of gameplay by including Assists. This means, when you help (or assist) someone with a kill, the point value is divided among both players. Usually whoever does the most damage gets the bigger piece of the “pie.” All in all, Time isn’t a bad mode to play, but there is still one glaring flaw. Generally matches get very exciting. I always felt that once the timer hit zero, I was just getting to the good part of the fight. In competitive play, this unacceptable. Most players feel that if they’re going to lose a match, then they had better be dying in the end. No one wants to lose just because the time ran out before they delivered that last blow.
<strong>Stock:</strong> Probably the most popular mode in all of Smash Melee. Each player has an equal number stock or lives. When they die, they lose a stock. Once you lose it all, you don’t get any more chances. The only way you can lose in a stock match is if you lose all of your stock. It’s quite simple and effective. The downside is, no one can win until one player loses all of their stock. If two players refuse to fight each other, then the match can technically last forever. This is why timed stock is preferred in tournaments. The stock sets the amount of lives, but just in case the match is dragging on, the timer provides extra incentive to fight. Unfortunately there are no options to set different amounts of stock for each player.
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/coin_mode2.jpg" title="coin_mode2.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/coin_mode2.jpg" alt="coin_mode2.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Coin:</strong> This mode appeals to the Scrooge McDuck in us all. The more shiny coins you have by the end of the set amount of time the better. Strike opponents and watch coins fly into the air. To make this mode work, you can’t grab the coins that are beaten out of you right away. This gives the attacker a chance to scoop up the loot he worked for. When you die, you lose half of the coins you have collected. This mode encourages taking care of your life while not being afraid to run in and grab the coins. If you die to the left or right extremes, half of your coins rain back towards the stage. This give the killer a chance to make some quick cash. Unfortunately, the coins hardly travel far enough for any character to grab them safely (unless the stage is a “closed” stage). And if you die up or down, no one has a chance to steal your booty. This seems like an awful waste of money as the coins fall into the bottomless pit of poor design. Coin mode is a lot like time mode, except it’s more balanced kill wise. It’s too bad, the coin collecting favors fast characters like Fox.
Combining Coin mode with stock mode instead of time would have added an interesting twist. In this mode, you would try to collect as many coins as you could. If you run out of stock (with 3 or more players) you lose chances to grab more coins. Each time you die, half of your coins are removed and the other half are “banked.” When you start a new life, you have a fresh chance to get more money without risk of losing what you already invested. With 3 or more players, the players in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place will receive increasing penalties. For this reason you want to hold on to your stock, but ultimately it’s all about the money. This mode sounds a lot like Smash Monopoly. I can see it now. Instead of Park Place, the property is Final Destination.
<strong>Bonus:</strong> This mode is a mess. It’s basically time mode with a goofy judgment system slapped on to the end. Because there are so many awards and penalties it’s nearly impossible to know them all and be conscious of them in battle. Because it’s so easy to accrue unknown awards, this mode is reduced to normal smash gameplay where a player is picked to win at random. Perhaps if there was roulette that displayed a random goal, and whoever achieve it first won some points, the mode would be more accessible. There’s a reason why this is the least played mode.
Now we come to Special Melee:
Overall, the worst part about these special melee modes it that they weren’t designed to be taken seriously. Most of them lack the structure for a fun and satisfying gaming experience, and the rest lack the options to make them accessible for perennial play. Pointing out their shortcomings won’t take long at all.
<strong>Camera Mode:</strong> Taking pictures and saving them is a great way to immortalize smash memories forever. It’s too bad we have to be in a special mode to do so. It would be infinitely better if the snapshot options were available in any mode when you pressed the start button. They let you mess with the camera while paused anyway, why not let us take a picture while we’re at it? And this way, the fourth player won’t have to be stuck being the camera man.
<strong>Stamina Mode:</strong> The best special melee mode. Like traditional fighters each player has a certain amount of health. When the health points are reduced to zero you die. I don’t know why Sakurai didn’t include the option of setting your own values of stamina. Because Melee gives the player control over just about every other option in the game, I’m lead to believe that these modes were tacked on without.
<strong>Super Sudden Death:</strong> All the structure in smash is nearly thrown out the window in this mode. Almost any move kills. Having fun in this mode would require the players to create structure around this chaos. That’s not our job.
<strong>Giant/Tiny Melee</strong>: Level design is compromised in these modes because of the size of the characters. The physics have also gone askew due to the size changes and the way some moves were programmed. If you want to see how big Mario can get, I suggest giant melee with giant mushrooms and plenty of taunting. Otherwise, stay far away from these modes.
<strong>Fixed Camera: </strong>This mode invites us to play melee like we would if there were two annoying players camping on the far left and right sides of the screen. If you play on a large stage like Temple, the characters look like lemmings. Was this mode even supposed to be fun?
<strong>Single-Button Melee:</strong> This is my second favorite special melee mode. Though this mode is not great for beginners (despite what it says), this mode is great for seeing how well you can adapt to not being able to do much. There’s still strategy involved even if you can’t use your up+B to return to the stage. Too bad they didn’t give us the option of setting which single button we would like to use. Or better yet, have a spinner that spins during the match and lands on a random button. This random button would be the new “single” button the players are forced to use. I think that would quite interesting.
<strong>Lighting/Slo-Mo Melee:</strong> If you feel like wasting your time and possibly throwing off your timing, play these modes. Melee is already fast enough as it is. Beyond that, I don’t know what was supposed to make these modes fun in the first place.
<p align="center"> <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/tournament.jpg" title="tournament.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/tournament.jpg" alt="tournament.jpg" /></a></p>
That’s it for Melee modes. If you were reading with a keen eye you might have noticed that I skipped over Tournament Melee. I have enough to say about this mode to fill up an entire blog entry. Until then, here’s hoping Sakurai learns from his many “special” mistakes.
