I know this topic would probably have been better 2 years ago, but I have only been here a couple of months.
I waited, and WAITED, and WAITED for Smash Brothers Melee. My roommates and friends in College sacrificed who knows how much time and grades playing Smash on the 64. My favorite character, by far, was Fox. To this day I would challenge anybody in that game on the N64. I had the character down to a work of art.
Out comes Melee for the Gamecube. Who is the ONLY character to drastically change, and for the worse? FOX.
Changes to Fox:
1) His "forcefield" that bounces back items or weapon fire at opponents. First, they gave it to everyone with that weird little blocking maneuver that essentially does the same thing (so it is no longer unique to his character) and second, it no longer *charges* the item or weapon that bounces back at his opponent. This made Fox a weaker character.
2) They weighted him down. I barely jump before I'm back on the ground again. This makes air attacks incredibly more difficult. Both because there is less time in the air to establish your attack, and because you have to do the attack so quickly before he hits the ground that it is very difficult to time when he will be at the top of his jump. On the 64, you could jump-kick someone and recover in time to do a "double-jump" before falling to your death. Now if you jump-kick someone, you'd better have something to land on. This made Fox a weaker character
3) The laser. It no longer stuns anyone and therefore loses the little bit of defensive benefit it had before. This made Fox a weaker character.
4) The forward-strong attack. On the 64 Fox "hopped" forward, giving him some range. They changed it to some sort of roundhouse kick with much less range. This made Fox a weaker character.
5) The Quick-Attack. Though sometimes surprising to your opponent, it is incredibly risky if you're near a ledge (which is almost always) and it's easy to do on accident. I'll give a neutral on benefit/hinderance but it certainly didn't make up for the handicap they gave Fox.
What do you think? Am I wrong here? Fox was my favorite character and this is honestly the only Nintendo sequel I have ever felt let down with. Anybody think another character was adversly affected? Am I the only one here that thinks Fox and his fans got the shaft???
I thought I fell out of my chair and woke up back in 2001, like some sort of "Peggy Sue Got Married" plot twist.
