Super Smash Bros Melee

Fighting game from Nintendo. Played on Nintendo Gamecube.
A childish button bashing party game at first glance, and indeed fun can be had playing it that way; the aim of the game is to pick one of several Nintendo fighters, then outlast your opponents or score as many k.o.s as possible by knocking your opponents off the chosen stage. Rather than using a traditional energy bar, a damage percentage builds up, and when it is over 100% the character is in danger of being knocked off the stage by a strong attack. This varies per character, as every character has a different weight, and some are fast fallers, some float, etc. Items appear and the tide of battle in a multiplayer melee can shift dramatically with this random element.
However, beneath this frantic exterior is one of the deepest combat systems in any fighting game. Pro players play one on one with no items on simple stages, relying only on their character's moveset; and when two skilled players clash, the amount of mind games, feints, dodges, counters, and combos is in my opinion beyond that of any other fighter. At this point, while the game is still frantic, every move is carefully calculated, as combos are adapted to the opponent's weight class and damage percentage. With friends becoming equally skilled at the game, this can literally be years of fun.
The game has a variety of nintendo characters and locations, and trophies can be collected depicting hundreds of nintendo characters; it is therefore a massive nostalgia trip for any nintendo fan. Collecting these trophies also adds lasting value to the game, which is already crammed full of different game modes. My only criticism of the game is that the adventure mode can become repetitive, but as it is only a small part of a much larger package, I have to give the game 10/10 regardless.