GameIn
YEAR 2001
GENRE Fighting
PLATFORM Nintendo GameCube
ABOUT THE GAME

Super Smash Bros. Melee is a 2001 crossover fighting game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the second installment in the Super Smash Bros. series. It features characters from Nintendo video game franchises such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Pokémon, and Donkey Kong among others. The stages and gameplay modes reference or take designs from these franchises as well. Melee includes all playable characters from the first game and also adds characters from additional franchises such as Fire Emblem, of which no games had been released outside Japan at the time, in addition to new stages and gameplay modes. Like other games in the Smash Bros. series, Melee's gameplay system offers an unorthodox approach to the fighting game genre, with a counter that measures damage with increasing percentages, representing the knockback the character will experience, rather than the depleting health bar seen in most fighting games. Melee was first released in Japan on November 21, 2001, in North America on December 3, 2001, in Europe on May 24, 2002, and Australia on May 31, 2002. The game received widespread acclaim from critics, earning praise for its visuals, simple controls, gameplay, and orchestrated soundtrack, as well as several awards and acknowledgments from various publications; it is now considered one of the greatest video games ever made. It achieved strong sales upon its release, becoming the GameCube's best-selling title, with over seven million copies sold by 2008. Due to its fast-paced gameplay and continuously developing metagame, Melee has been featured in many competitive gaming tournaments, and has garnered a dedicated fan community which has kept its competitive scene alive well beyond the game's original lifespan. It was followed by Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii in 2008.

Source: Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0 — Super Smash Bros. Melee · retrieved October 19, 2026

PROVENANCE

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RECORD FACTS
Developer
HAL Laboratory
Publisher
Nintendo
First release
November 24, 2001
Series
Super Smash Bros.
Cover
Official thumbnail
Record ID
Q1052131

TIME SHELF

Across decades

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