Super Smash Bros. Melee/Multiplayer Modes

Super Smash Bros. Melee is divided up into specific play modes. They are described in brief here. Click on the titles for more in-depth walkthroughs of specific sections.

Regular Matches
The three main 1 Player story modes.

Classic Mode
The classic battle after battle mode, ending with a showdown against the master hand. In SSBM, the round characters are randomized although they follow the same pattern. Also, depending on what difficulty you are on, Crazy Hand(The left hand) will join Master Hand in the final fight.

Adventure Mode
A more story driven classic mode, with longer platformer levels separated by tradition arena matches.

All Star Mode
A mode where you battle all 25 characters in groups of 1,2 or 3, with the last match fighting 25 Mr. Game&Watches. Your damage stays with you between matches, but there are three one-time use heart pieces that you can use. Only unlocked after you have unlocked every character.

Event Mode
These matches are individual arena type matches with specific circumstances or characters. There are 51 in all. To get Event Match 51, you have to beat all the other 50 first.

Stadium
These are specific tests to player skill.

Target Test
A mode where you use a character's skills to break ten targets in a specialized arena. You are also awarded points for time taken.

Multi Man Melee
These involve fighting lots of light, stupid, easy little wireframe male and female figures. The stage is a basic big platform on bottom with pyramid arranged floating platforms on top. The wireframes come in 5 at a time.

Defeat 10 of them to succeed. More of a time test than endurance.
 * 10 Man Melee

A little harder because the AI gets smarter with the last 25 or so.
 * 100 Man Melee

Defeat more and more as the AI gets better and the wireframes get heavier. As the title suggests, it is in fact endless.
 * Endless Melee

Stay alive for 15 minutes. The wireframes are endless until the time is up. The best strategy to beat this is to be Donkey Kong and stay in the middle of the stage and use his down+b attack the whole time. It attacks on both sides, and kills the wireframes instantly. Just do this for 15 minutes and you win. Your hands may cramp up, so it is advisable to do this with a friend or two and alternate.
 * 15 minute Melee

When you beat this, you get the hidden stage Donkey Kong from the original SSB.

Instead of light and stupid, the wireframes in this one are all at an AI level around 11(the real numbers stop at 9) and are super hard to knock off the stage. They are endless, but even the best don't survive long anyway.
 * Cruel Melee

Home Run Contest
You basically are on a stage with a sandbag and a homerun bat. Your job is to to the most damage to the sandbag without knocking it off the platform in 10 seconds and then whacking it with the homerun bat smash. It then tells you the distance you smashed it. The best way to beat this is with Yoshi. Simply jump above Sandbag and do the Down-A attack about 4 times, or till you have around 120 damage. Then go pick up the bat and smash it. All characters have the potential to hit the sandbag over 3000 feet, while Ganondorf and the Ice Climbers both have the potential to exceed the track limit (11,347.2 feet)

Knocking the sandbag around 1000 ft. will earn you the Sandbag trophy. If you get more than 1300 ft, then you get the Stage Yoshi's Story from the original SSB.

Multiplayer Modes
The main draw of the series. They can be played with 4 people or AI controlled characters. The AI characters can be at different difficulties. Aspects of the battle can be changed, such as the damage ratio and stage selection, and handicaps can be added. Any mode can also be played with teams of different colors.

Time Melee
Up to 4 players can fight for a certain amount of time. KO's count as 1 point to a players score, and self destructs count against a player's score.

Stock Melee
Players have a certain amount of lives, and play until all but one has no more lives.

Coin Melee
Like timed melee, except when you attack someone, coins will fall from the sky. The more powerful the attack. the more coins fall. Coins also fall sporadically around the stage. If you touch a coin, it is added to your total coin count. If you die by normal means, you lose half your coins. Whoever has the most coins at the end of the game wins, regardless of KO's or falls.

Bonus Melee
Like Timed Melee, except instead of counting KO's for wins, The bonus score is counted. The bonus points from the awards your player receives counts for your score. Whoever has the most points wins.

Special Melee
Special condition melees, with settings like slow motion, permanently big characters, and invisible mode.

The game runs twice as fast.
 * Lightning Melee

The game runs half as fast.
 * Slo Mo Melee

Everyone is permanently invisible. Temporarily visible when you attack.
 * Invisible Melee

Everyone is permanently big, as if they had touched a super mushroom item. Grab a super mushroom for a ridiculously large character. Grab a poison mushroom to turn to normal size. Bad fight for small levels.
 * Giant Melee

Everyone is permanently small, as if they had touched a poison mushroom item. Grab a super mushroom for a normal-sized character. Grab a poison mushroom to be about 1/3-1/4 the size of a capsule. Oddly, the items are still regular-sized and may be picked up, making it easier to hit other people.
 * Tiny Melee

The game camera stays at a full zoomed-out state for the entire battle.
 * Fixed Camera Melee

Instead of time or lives or percentage damage, each player has 150hp. 1hp is equivalent to one percentage point of damage. Attacks decrease hp. When a player's hp reaches 0, the player is out of the game. Have fun beating knocked out bodies off of the arena because they will get in the way. If you fall off the stage you immediately die.
 * Stamina Melee

You can only use the A button, the control stick, and the y-stick. People who use the X and Y buttons may find it hard to jump well, and there is no triple jump, since in this mode the B button is disabled. This melee is better for beginners, as there aren't very many buttons or combos to take into account.
 * Single Button Melee

Everyone starts out with 300% damage, creating a very quick game if played by beginners. It is advisable not to play this at Brinstar Depths. The original damage may be healed by any healing item.
 * Instant Death Melee