Character models are a marvel. Pause the game while playing and zoom in on Mario to notice that his pants now have stitches. Look a little closer and you can spot each individual hair sprouting from Fox's body; watch as a lightning bolt cracks down and surrounds Pikachu's body, causing the sky to darken; 2ater splashes, fire sparks and just about everything else has its own effect. This game has 50+ items, each possessing a different look but all retaining a high level of detail. It's fabulous to watch as with each hit Link's face scrunches in pain, or Kirby's body effortlessly goes from giant brick, to doubling his size as he floats through the air.

As mentioned earlier, you notice things like the detail of Mario and it's not just with a few characters. Some of the characters that have yet to make the next generation jump each have gotten a graphical face-lift. The most impressive thing about the art in this game is the fact that every character looks as if they were taken from their respective games and put into a free-for-all battle. The design for each character is either as good or even better then their appearance in their last game.

Interfacing in this game is done quite well as menus are easy to navigate and you won't have much an issue going from a three lives, no item battle on planet Zebes to having a tag team hammers-only timed battle on top of Big Blue. Very user friendly to even the newest of newbies, you'll be jumping around throwing fireballs and smashing with the best of them with just a few hours of training. Don't mistake that there isn't a level of skill involved as this game requires much more than just jumps and energy blasts.

Controlling your character is a pretty easy thing to do. Newbies will like the fact that there's just two buttons for attacking. A normal attack and special move buttons - pressing up, down, left/right and just a single button grants you a total of five attacks. Whether using normal and special attacks the same applies for your characters ability to throw your opponent. Hardcore fans of this game will appreciate the dodge and parry moves that are present in the blocking system, and the fact that each normal attack possesses a charge adding more power to those who've master timing there moves.

The sound in the game is very well done. Rather then creating new music for the levels the developers made very wise move and updated the music from each game the level is based upon. Listen to the Jungle Hijinx theme while fighting Giant DK in the Congo Jungle, or rage war on Gannondorf while the classic Zelda theme plays on in the background - it ads so much nostalgia for any fan of Nintendo games.

There's not much to say in terms of storyline, which I found disappointing because the potential for a good story as to why each of Nintendo's franchises are duking it out could have been mind blowing. Take every one of Nintendo's franchises, throw four of them in a level from one of their games, toss in tons of weapons and watch the fun unfold. This adds for tons of replay value as you'll be playing well into the night with friends or just by yourself as there are 8+ characters to unlock through story mode or the other challenges the game presents.

The levels are jaw dropping. You'll go from fighting high atop Princess Peach's castle to fighting it out atop an F-zero race in progress. This game has got the most impressive line of levels in any fighter I've encountered. Watch your step or you'll get crushed by a bullet bill, picked off by an Arwing or blasted away in a barrel. Some levels even change mid-stage, the most impressive of these levels being Rainbow Cruise which takes both fighting ability and paying close attention to the landscape which is constantly changing - merging it into a platforming/fighting game (for just that level). The levels are multi-tiered and on a 2D plane but there's so much space to move around in the 3D environments you'll hardly be bored while playing.

The design of the fighting system is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Up to four fighters can be on screen at once. They're eliminated one-by-one or in teams. All pretty standard if you've ever played a wrestling game, but the most interesting thing about this fighting game is that it ditches the power bar in favor of a percentage. It works like this: the more damage you take, the higher your percentage; the higher your percentage the higher your chances are of being knocked off screen. It creates so many frantic moments as you'll find yourself screaming "Please come back!" more times then you'd like to mention.

The game sports hundreds of game modes in multiplayer, and offers more then enough to keep the single player interested with survival matches, classic (the set up of the N64 Smash Bros) adventure mode which includes several different tasks and mini games to perform, different games to play like Home Run Derby, Break the Targets and a few others. In addition to all of this there's a trophy collection of well over 200 items to try and collect throughout the game. Immersive to say the least.

Overall, Super Smash Bros Melee is a game for everyone. With an adjustable difficulty level, newbies and pros alike can have fun with this game. Kids and adults can both appreciate the fighting system and level design. I love these sorts of games that allow you to either just pick up and play or sit down for a good amount of time and get into the deeper aspects. The only people I could see not enjoying this game are gamers not big on fighting as the overall concept, or gamers who want a little more depth in storyline. Other than that this one is a must have for any and all gamers.