Neither I nor a friend of mine own a GameCube, but we were so obsessed with Smash that we decided to rent one for $20 (plus the $250 depsit) and rent Melee along with it. We stayed up until 6 AM the the next morning, playing the game probably 9 hours straight. It has everything that the other one did, and so much more. The gameplay is noticeably faster-paced, but it still has the exact same feel, and many times the addictiveness.

I, of course, played as Samus to start out. Her moves were all exactly the same, unlike some other characters that had changed moves. Her control felt the same as well, though faster, of course. Being faster, her beam charged and fired much more quickly. (This is great against Fox or Falco, because they don't have as much reaction time to reflect.) She had a new move, which, as you may know, is the homing missile. I haven't found much use with it yet, except against somebody who is flying through the air. Overall, I think she's a lethal foe.

The other characters whom I liked in particular were Fox, Falco, Link, Zelda/Sheik, Marth, Roy, Ganondorf and Capt. Falcon. Falcon's voice was changed, so he as a different accent now. I was a little dissapointed, but he's still fast and powerful. Also, Link has become considerably faster and much stronger in Melee, so I would recommend him as well.

Being run at twice the bitpower, Melee is a graphical feat within itself. The characters have such incredible detail that there is no polygon to be seen. The detail is stunning, and the wind effects were amazing as well. For example, Peach or Zelda's dress and hair will blow in the wind in a given direction. Facial and cloth detail is equally impressive. No longer do Mario and Luigi wear plad blue overalls, but instead, blue denim overalls. You can actually see the detail in the denim, the small brass rivets, and all.

The only references to Metroid that I saw in the game, aside from Samus, were the trophies the Brinstar Level and the Brinstar Depths (Kraid's hideout) level. The Brinstar level followed the same basic example of the previos one in Smash 1, like the fluctuating lava, except that there is a Chozo statue that occasionally moves around in the background. There are also parts of the level that can be destroyed to change the arrangement of platforms just a little bit.

Then, Brinstar Depths is a large platform that rotates. The cause for the rotation is the massive Super-Metroid-style Kraid that is raging in the background as it beats the platform with its arms. He doesn't actually take any part in the fight, but he's still awesome. If you fall off the platform, you fall into the lava. In my own opinion, the music for this level was awesome and it fit well. It was a remixed version of Kraid's hideout music from the original Metroid.

Then, there are 9 trophies. First was Samus' ship, 3 different trophies of Samus, a Metroid, Kraid, Ridley, a Chozo Statue and the Screw Attack (the famous "S" logo). They are very well detailed, especially the Metroid trophy. Overall, I would give Melee a rating of seven. That is, seven out of five. It was everything that Smash 1 was, and so much more. The character and level detail was so far beyond anything the N64 could ever do. If and when I finally break down and buy a GameCube, this game is definitely on my list.