Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee is a fighting game for the Nintendo GameCube. It is the second game in the Super Smash Bros. series, a fighting game series focused on major Nintendo characters battling it out, following the first game Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. It is succeeded by Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii. It was released on November 21, 2001 in Japan, on December 2, 2001 in North America, and on May 24, 2002 in Europe. HAL Laboratory developed the game, with Masahiro Sakurai as head of production.

Characters
Playable characters from The Legend of Zelda series include Link, Princess Zelda, Ganondorf, Sheik, and Young Link. Link, Zelda, and Sheik are starter characters, while players have to unlock Ganondorf and Young Link to be able to play as them.

Ganondorf
Ganondorf makes his debut in the fighting series in this game. He fights using powerful punches and kicks embedded with dark magic. He is shown using a sword in one of his victory poses but does not use one in battle. He can be unlocked by either playing 600 vs mode matches or clearing Event 29: Triforce Gathering.

Link
Link returns as a playable from the original game, Super Smash Bros. Like in the first game, he uses the Master Sword in battle along with a Boomerang and a set of Bombs. He also now uses the Fairy Bow and Hookshot. Like in the first game he can use techniques like the Spin Attack, Up and Downthrust.

Princess Zelda
New for the game is Princess Zelda. She fights using powerful magic including the three spells, Din's Fire, Farore's Wind and Nayru's Love, featured in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Sheik
Zelda can also transform into Sheik. Sheik fights using a chain and needles neither of which are featured in any main series Zelda games.

Young Link
The player can also unlock Young Link (Link as portrayed in the beginning of Ocarina of Time and throughout Majora's Mask) who fights almost identically to Link only slightly faster and shorter reach. He can be unlocked by beating Classic or Adventure mode with 10 characters (two of which must be Zelda series characters, i.e. Zelda, Link or Ganondorf) or by playing 500 VS. Mode matches.

Stages
The game also has two The Legend of Zelda-related stages to fight on. The first is Termina: Great Bay from Majora's Mask, with cameo appearances from Tingle, the Moon and the Four Giants. The other stage is Hyrule: Temple, a stage seemingly based on the various temples and dungeons in the Zelda games, but directly based off of the Great Palace from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The series' main theme is heard when in the Great Bay Termina stage, as is a reinstrumentalized "Saria's Song", if the L or R buttons are held down by all human players while selecting the stage. Hyrule Temple's music is the Palace music from The Adventure of Link. When playing in Adventure Mode, there is also a dungeon-like Zelda stage named the Underground Maze, where the player needs to find the Triforce within a time limit. In Event Match Mode, Majora's Mask is a playable stage. The stage can not be played outside of Event Match.

Items
Heart Containers return from Super Smash Bros. as in-game healing items. The Bunny Hood also appears as a new item. When worn, it increases the player's speed, agility, and jump height.

Adventure
In Adventure Mode players can transverse twelve stages the first ten of which are based on Nintendo Games. Stage Three is based on The Legend of Zelda series and consists of two parts. The first features the player wondering through the Underground Maze stage searching for the Triforce. The Triforce will be located on one of the six pedestals the other five contain the Master Sword which engages a battle with Link if approached. The second section of the stage is a straight forward battle with Zelda on the Hyrule Temple Stage.

All Star
In All Star Mode players must battle every playable character in the game. The player must fight four characters in straight forward battles, then four battles against two opponents at once, then four battles against three opponents at once and finally a battle against 25 Mr. Game and Watches. Every character has a stage associated with them in this mode. Link's stage is Great Bay, Zelda's stage is Hyrule Temple, Ganondorf's stage is Brinstar Depths and Young Link's stage is Jungle Japes. In between battles players have the option of healing their characters using Heart Containers but this can only be done three times.

Event Match
Event Match Mode consists of 51 battles most themed around Nintendo aspects or characters. Most events allow the player to select their character but some events make the player use a certain character.

Event 9: Hide 'n' Sheik, involves the player fighting two Zeldas on the Great Bay Stage. However the score is only calculated when KO'ing Zelda while she is transformed in to Sheik.

Event 18: Link's Adventure, involves the player fighting Dark Link as Link. The battle is supposedly meant to mirror the final battle from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The event's title nearly identical and is played on the Hyrule Temple Stage which is heavily based of the temples from Zelda II. Link also wears a red tunic meant to represent the Shield Spell which is usually used when fighting Dark Link in Zelda II.

Event 29: Triforce Gathering, involves the player fighting Ganondorf as Link with the help of Zelda. Both Link and Zelda have one stock while Ganondorf has two. If either Link or Zelda are defeated at any point during the battle the even is failed. If the player manages to successfully complete the event they will fight Ganondorf a third time for a chance to unlock him provided they have not done so already.

Event 34: Seven Years, involves the player fighting Link as Young Link on the Great Bay Stage. The Event is a reference to the seven years that pass in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Link's transition from childhood to adulthood.

Link, Zelda, Ganondorf and Young Link are also fought as opponents in Events 3, 20, 49 and 51. The player also must fight Marth using Link in Event 41: En Garde!.

Event 47: Trophy Tussle 3 features Majora's Mask as a stage.

Music
Various songs from the Legend of Zelda series are used in Melee. They are
 * Great Bay: Despite its name this song is actually the The Legend of Zelda Theme. It is played on the Termina: Great Bay stage.
 * Temple: A techno remix of dungeon music heard in Zelda II: Link's Adventure for the NES. It is heard as the primary track of Hyrule: Temple, and also in the Underground Maze area of the Adventure mode.
 * Saria's Theme: A simple flute-based remix of Saria's Song from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It is an alternate sound track for the Termina: Great Bay stage and is played when fighting Young Link in All Star Mode
 * Zelda Team Victory: The song played whenever Link, Zelda, Sheik, Young Link or Ganondorf win a match.

Trophies
The game also has "trophies", 3D models of various Nintendo characters and items with a small description that can be unlocked as interesting bonuses.

Playable Character Trophies
Link: Zelda: Sheik: Ganondorf: Young Link:
 * Link
 * Link (Smash Red)
 * Link (Smash Blue)
 * Zelda
 * Zelda (Smash Red)
 * Zelda (Smash Blue)
 * Sheik
 * Sheik (Smash Red)
 * Sheik (Smash Blue)
 * Ganondorf
 * Ganondorf (Smash Red)
 * Ganondorf (Smash Blue)
 * Young Link
 * Young Link (Smash Red)
 * Young Link (Smash Blue)

Miscellaneous Trophies

 * Bunny Hood
 * Four Giants
 * Goron
 * Heart Container
 * Like Like
 * Majora's Mask
 * Marin
 * Master Sword
 * Moon
 * Ocarina of Time
 * Octorok
 * ReDead
 * Tingle
 * Giant Turtle