I was once a Nintendo Fanboy.

It feels like decades ago, but it was only a few years back when I was one of the raging zealots on the NSider Forums. I was raised on Link to the Past, Super Mario All-Stars, Pokemon, Super Mario RPG…hell, playing Super Mario 64 with family created the most memorable experiences I have to this day (and luckily, I can share the joy with younger children through SM64DS). So when I couldn’t afford one of those “PlayStation 2”s everyone was talking about, I subconsciously became part of the Nintendo Army.

If you’re wondering how this ties in to the article at all, I’m getting there. Keep your pants on.

Like most children, I didn’t know sites like Gamers.com existed, so my gaming “education” was learned from walking past the magazine rack while grocery shopping, or through hands-on experience thanks to being in a family with all boys.

I will never forget the day my cousin brought his brand new GameCube to my grandparents’ home. It’s at this point that I should mention my cousin was (and still is) a spoiled S.O.B., and received the GameCube for just getting good grades for one term. ONE term. Ridiculous! Anyway, I had heard the name and seen the pictures before, but I never really knew what that black (yes, black) lunchbox could do.

“What are you going to play first?” unpolluted-by-the-gaming-industry Me asked.

“Super Smash Bros. Melee.” responded my spoiled-rotten cousin.

“You mean the Nintendo 64 game?” (which I absolutely loved)

“No, they made a new one.”

At the time, he had only one controller, so I call I could do was watch. But man, did I watch. I watched him scroll through the “Look I can move it with this stick!” menus, choose from 20 different characters (he hadn’t unlocked all 24 yet) and fight on weird, yet incredibly awesome battlefields like Poke Floats, Temple, and Big Blue. The fights in SSB64 that I had once held in the highest regard now looked like construction paper accidents compared to Melee.

That was about 8 years ago. I now know more about the gaming industry than most. I have PR contacts, I’ve met developers personally, and I’ve seen and read so much about the development process and layoffs and everything-else that I feel like I can no longer speak to the Average Joe about games without subconsciously “dumbing down” what I say. But I can take an objective and critical look at Super Smash Bros. Melee and still think “Wow. This is awesome.” That’s what I’m going to do right now. Try not to get distracted by the white background.

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Where to begin, where to begin…well, why don’t we start off with the characters?

Melee doubled the character roster from Super Smash Bros. 64, bringing the total list to 24 characters. The game rewarded us at the start with new additions like Peach, Bowser, and the Ice Climbers (Shut up, Smash n00bs), which satiated our appetite as we made our way through the game. If we hadn’t unlocked a new character for some time, we’d call our buddies on the phone and trade tips. By the way, if there’s one thing Melee knew how to do, it’s how to keep people playing. Seriously, the game rewarded you every time you played with Trophies, characters, stages!

Yes, there were clones…but at least everyone played differently. Yeah, Falco has the same move-set as Fox, but I prefer Falco’s speed and handling over Fox’s. Yeah, Young Link is “just a smaller, lighter Link,” but I have friends who will demolish me with Young Link, yet can’t hit me with the adult counterpart.

And yes, there were characters I initially didn’t think twice about. I thought Pichu was stupid for getting hurt by its own attacks, and Ice Climbers was nigh unplayable. And WTF was up with Mr. Game & Watch? He sucks. Even though I hated these characters, the game never punished me for not liking them. There was still a large roster of fighters I felt comfortable with, and I never felt like I was missing out on something for not using “bad” characters.

Which brings me to the most important thing about Melee.

It’s For Everyone.

Open up your IM client, look to the person next to you, or give someone a call, and ask if they know what Smash Bros. is. There’s a good chance that they’ll not only know what it is…they’ve played it too. Why is it that so many people who you wouldn’t think of as “hardcore” have played this game?

Melee was an accessible game. It’s something that anyone can pick up and play. The controls were simple enough to encourage passersby to get in on the fun, but complex enough to keep the devoted around. The characters and stages were bright and recognizable, but were so varied and evenly-matched that every fight was interesting.

The competitive Smash-player would probably disagree with that “evenly-matched” thing, but to the Average Joe, it’s true. It didn’t matter who was fighting who…whoever won just knew how to control their character better. Stats and speeds didn’t matter to the Average Joe.

That’s incredible! A game that anyone can play and love, but has enough depth to please the hardcore crowd. It’s almost Super Mario Bros.-like, isn’t it?

We need games that can entice the passersby with simple, yet fun, concepts that carry enough hidden-depth to keep them playing. We need games that will encourage passersby to explore other titles, rather than keep them in the realm of casual.

We need more games like Super Smash Bros. Melee.