Smash Bros. Ultimate to host special Melee tournament

While Ultimate has become the dominant title on the competitive Smash Bros scene, there’s still a wealth of nostalgia for the breakout GameCube fighter which released back in 2001.  

Nintendo is capitalising on this nostalgia with a new tournament titled A Tribute To Melee, where players have to use fighters, stages and items which originally debuted in Super Smash Bros. Melee.  

The roster of available fighters in the tournament includes Bowser, Peach, Pichu, Mewtwo, Marth, Roy, Young Link, Falco, Dr. Mario, Ice Climbers, Mr. Game & Watch, Zelda, Ganondorf, and Sheik.  

The event takes place on Friday 3 January and concludes on Monday 6 January. 

This new tournament comes ahead of Melee’s 20th anniversary next year, although it remains to be seen whether Nintendo will celebrate the milestone in any capacity.  

Melee is highly regarded among the competitive community and has even forced Nintendo to release GameCube controller support for subsequent entries due to its popularity.  

In Ultimate, there’s one DLC character yet to be revealed in the first Fighter Pass, following Persona 5’s Joker, Hero from Dragon Quest, Banjo & Kazooie and Fatal Fury’s Terry Bogard.  

But who could the next candidate be? Check out the latest rumours here.  

There’s set to be even more fighters to come too, with creator Masashiro Sakurai confirming last year a second Fighter Pass is on the way this year.