Would you like to see Melee HD?

[Ace_]

I think it would be pretty cool. Especially if they added a few characters/stages and an online mode.

Thoughts?

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I'm good with Smash Ultimate having brought back those characters and most of the stages. As for adding content and online play, I can't see them matching (much less surpassing) what hackers have already done in keeping the Melee scene alive with no compromises. I've seen Melee's commentators argue that a remaster is the best way to get new eyes on the game, but an official remaster would probably be based on the most up to date version of Melee, the PAL release. And nobody competing approves of that version of the game. you would only alienate new players by telling them the version they're playing on their super switch is not tournament legal. The PAL release doesn't even address Roy or Game&Watch's buggy, unfinished moveset, it's an awful situation.

If all they do is add a Melee ROM to a lineup of Gamecube games on NSO, that's probably the best case scenario. You would have the high latency online play option with your friends on that. But seeing as the original still isn't on Switch, I'm not holding out hope for that possibility.

[Florete]

No. I have no attachment to the specific way Melee works, so it would be a pointless downgrade to me.

[vanguard333]

Not really. A re-release of Melee would mainly appeal to the hardcore, the purists, and those who participate in tournaments, and they would understandably want nothing to change except maybe the addition of online multiplayer, so at most, the game would have an HD reskin and online multiplayer, and I just don't see the appeal of a Melee release with an HD skin that would probably be expensive when Nintendo could easily just make a Switch port of the game with online multiplayer for $20. 

Something like Super Mario RPG, for a recent upcoming example, would be able to get away with just a graphical update because the fact that it's getting a re-release at all is a bit of a miracle, as it was a collaboration between Nintendo and Square Enix that was released before Square Enix abandoned Nintendo in favour of the PlayStation. Melee is a different story; Nintendo could re-release Melee any time they wanted.

Also, I still have my copy of Melee, so I personally wouldn't be interested in a Switch version.

 

All that said, Melee's Adventure Mode was great and I would like to see Nintendo look back on it and Subspace Emissary when designing the campaign for the next Smash Bros. game.

Edited July 4, 2023 by vanguard333

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Not particularly, no. It'd just be a downgrade from Ultimate, a step backwards that doesn't really need to be had aside from maybe some nostalgia.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I really can't see it happening. Nintendo wouldn't want to dilute / take away from the current big Smash Bros. game.

22 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

Something like Super Mario RPG, for a recent upcoming example, would be able to get away with just a graphical update because the fact that it's getting a re-release at all is a bit of a miracle, as it was a collaboration between Nintendo and Square Enix that had underwhelming sales when it released

This is a bit of a tangent and not that important to your main point, but it's definitely not true that SMRPG had underwhelming sales at all; quite the opposite.

Of course, as you note, the falling out between Nintendo and Square that occurred shortly thereafter, and more generally the fact that both companies hold copyrights to different parts of the game (Nintendo owns the Mario characters, Square the content unique to SMRPG). Similar to how Rare moving their ties from Nintendo to Microsoft had an impact on ports of Donkey Kong Country, and stranded Goldeneye in limbo for over two decades.

[vanguard333]

1 minute ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

This is a bit of a tangent and not that important to your main point, but it's definitely not true that SMRPG had underwhelming sales at all; quite the opposite.

Of course, as you note, the falling out between Nintendo and Square that occurred shortly thereafter, and more generally the fact that both companies hold copyrights to different parts of the game (Nintendo owns the Mario characters, Square the content unique to SMRPG). Similar to how Rare moving their ties from Nintendo to Microsoft had an impact on ports of Donkey Kong Country, and stranded Goldeneye in limbo for over two decades.

Thanks for the correction; I had done maybe five minutes of research on Super Mario RPG after the trailer dropped. I read something about sales having been hindered by it releasing on the SNES only a few months before the PS1 and N64 released; I guess I must've misunderstood that as meaning that the sales were underwhelming. Sounds like it actually did extremely well for a game released near the end of the SNES' life.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

My understanding of the competitive Smash community is, essentially, it's divided between Melee and Ultimate. If you introduce a Melee HD, then you wind up siphoning some (but not all) of the Melee players... and perhaps a handful of the Ultimates. It's not all, because I'm sure they'll do character rebalancing, tweaking movesets to de-clonify the clones, and maybe even removing unintended elements like wavedashing. There we go, now the competitive community is split into three factions rather than two. And it doesn't do much for casual players, too, since there's not a ton it offers that Ultimate doesn't already. The Adventure Mode, Break the Targets, Event Matches, and Poke Floats are the only ones that come to mind. So I just don't see a lot of positive coming out of it, unfortunately. 

[Lord_Brand]

I mean, if Melee fans are happy, great, but the only way I'd be excited or interested in a Melee remaster is if we get some actual new content, ideally fighters that haven't yet been playable in the series (and preferably from the GCN era, like Krystal). So, I'd prefer a Melee Deluxe, myself. Sort of a "What might Melee have been like at the end of the GCN's life cycle?" experiment.

Edited July 9, 2023 by Lord_Brand