Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee, known as Dairantō Smash Brothers DX (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズDX) in Japan, is a crossover fighting game for the Nintendo GameCube, originally released in late 2001 in Japan and North America and in May 2002 in Europe and Australia. It is the second installment of the Super Smash Bros. series and the sequel to Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. Many aspects of Super Smash Bros. Melee were improved on, such as graphics and the inclusion of more characters and arenas. Samus returns as a playable fighter.

Characters

 * Mario
 * Pikachu
 * Bowser
 * Peach
 * Yoshi
 * Fox
 * Ice Climbers
 * Ness
 * Captain Falcon
 * Kirby
 * Link
 * Zelda/Sheik
 * Samus
 * Dr. Mario
 * Luigi
 * Ganondorf
 * Falco
 * Young Link
 * Pichu
 * Jigglypuff
 * Mewtwo
 * Mr. Game & Watch
 * Marth
 * Roy

Game modes
In the 1-P Classic Mode, the player can fight Samus Aran on the Brinstar stage. She can also appear in her metal form near the end of Classic Mode.

In the 1-P Adventure mode, the player fights Samus on the Brinstar stage and then has to escape the exploding planet Zebes afterwards, much like the ending of Super Metroid. The player will lose a life if time runs out.

There are a few Metroid-centric Event Matches.

Alternate costumes
These are Samus's alternate costumes:


 * Orange and Red: Varia Suit, used when Samus is on the Red team.
 * Pink: The Gravity Suit in Super Metroid, according to Masahiro Sakurai. However, it is more similar to the appearance of the Varia Suit when missiles are selected in the original NES Metroid.
 * Black (Brown)
 * Green: Green Samus, used when Samus is on the Green team.
 * Blue (Purple): Similar to the Gravity Suit, used when Samus is on the Blue team.

Items
The game introduces one item from the Metroid franchise, the Screw Attack, which made its Super Smash Bros. series debut in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Here, the Screw Attack is a held object that causes a character's jumps to become Screw Attacks. The ball could also be thrown at an opponent to damage them and force them to involuntarily perform the maneuver.

Stages
Two stages derived from the Metroid series appear in Melee. Planet Zebes: Brinstar is available from the start of the game, and the Brinstar Depths stage is unlockable.

Trophies

 * Samus Aran (x3)
 * Screw Attack
 * Kraid
 * Chozo Statue
 * Samus's Starship
 * Metroid
 * Ridley
 * Samus Unmasked (only available through discontinued Japanese events or via a cheating device)

Music

 * Brinstar (Melee)
 * Brinstar Depths (Melee)
 * Warning Siren
 * Samus's Victory

In addition to the music above, a music album was released called Smashing...Live!, which featured fifteen rearranged themes from Melee, one of which was Depth of Brinstar, a fusion of the Brinstar and Brinstar Depths themes.

Debug Menu options

 * SAMUS MASK GET' - Awards the "Samus Unmasked" trophy, normally unlocked through long-since-passed Japan-only Nintendo events.
 * SPLWSAMUS - If the CPU is Samus, she uses her Down + B attack.

References to Metroid games

 * In Adventure, after beating Samus, the player needs to evacuate under a time limit, alluding to how countdowns were a recurring element in climactic scenes for Metroid and Super Metroid. The room at the top of the shaft is lifted directly from an elevator room in Crateria.
 * In addition, regardless of whether the player manages to escape or not (unless the player got a game over), the player is treated to a scene that shows a planet crackling up and then exploding violently, alluding to Zebes' destruction in Super Metroid.
 * Samus's Adventure Mode ending screen depicts her jumping while a code red is in effect, which also alludes to how Samus needed to escape Tourian in the aforementioned games (and in the case of the latter game, Ceres Space Colony).


 * In the Brinstar (Melee) theme, bars from Samus Aran's Appearance Fanfare and Title can be heard briefly. In the Brinstar Depths (Melee) theme, bars from Silence can be heard briefly.
 * The Planet Zebes: Brinstar stage features Koma blocks, a Torizo, and a gelatinous brain-like organism in the background evocative of Mother Brain.
 * The Planet Zebes: Brinstar Depths stage features Kraid as a stage hazard. More Koma blocks can be seen on the underside of the stage.
 * Samus's scene in the opening cutscene referenced Ridley's theft of the baby on Ceres Space Colony in Super Metroid.