Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee is a 2001 fighting game developed by HAL Laboratory for the Nintendo GameCube, pitting Nintendo's most iconic characters against one another in fast, chaotic platform-based brawls.

Rather than depleting health bars, players build up opponents' damage percentages to send them flying off the stage, with higher percentages making launches easier. Melee dramatically expanded the roster to twenty-six fighters, added dozens of stages and items, and packed in extensive single-player content, trophies, and the multi-round Adventure and Classic modes. It ran at a brisk pace that rewarded precise movement, and unintended techniques like wavedashing gave it remarkable technical depth.

It became the best-selling GameCube game and, thanks to that depth and speed, developed a fiercely dedicated competitive community that has kept it a tournament mainstay for over two decades. The series has continued to grow on newer Nintendo hardware with ever-larger rosters, though Melee itself retains a uniquely devoted following among competitive players.