Melee is notably the first Smash Bros. game with a T-rating, and between the hard-hitting sound effects, intense gameplay, relatively serious tone and considerable amount of scares, it DEFINITELY earns it.
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◊ image appears when you clear All-Star Mode with Peach, making her look unusually sinister. - The Brinstar Depths stage is a giant piece of space debris that could be spun around by Kraid, who looms out of the lava in the background. Plus, not only is the stage creepy in that Kraid emerges out of nowhere and roars at the players — which made many think that he was going to outright attack them — but the music is chilling; being a sinister, atmospheric remake of Kraid's own lair theme.
- This game introduces Crazy Hand, the more sinister "left hand" counterpart of Master Hand. While fighting Master Hand is not entirely unlike one's action figures trying to kill one's hand, Crazy Hand is much creepier; since he idles erratically, giggles like a lunatic, and has a few oddly creepy attacks. It doesn't help that he's tough to take out considering he turns the fight with Master Hand into a Dual Boss.
- There's one little detail about fighting Crazy Hand in Classic Mode that makes it even worse - Instead of being around from the start of the fight, he shows up when Master Hand is at half health. Just imagine meeting the criteria to fight him for the first time without knowing about him, getting Master Hand down to half health, and then the game suddenly pauses — followed by Crazy Hand showing up out of nowhere, cackling madly, and attacking. If you're not expecting it, shivers will run down your spine.
- The Challenger Approaching sequences. Unlocking any character by succeeding in certain criteria — which would often be completely unknown to newer players — will trigger it. Without warning, you cut right from the mode you were playing to a very loud and deep warning siren, a silhouette of the new character on a trippy wireframe background, and a jarring “A NEW FOE HAS APPEARED!” prompt. The suddenness and mood shift is bound to give any young kid or easily-disturbed adults night terrors. What really makes said sequence so bad, however, is the contrast between it and the version from the last game. While the screen in the former gave the impression of “Congratulations! You get the chance to unlock a new fighter! Good luck!”, this one seems to be saying, “Something horrible is heading your way, and you need to get out of there RIGHT NOW".
- Much like the Metal Mario fight, this is especially worse if you end up reaching Luigi through either one of two conditions: the first is by beating the first half of Adventure Mode Stage 1 with a 2 in the seconds part of the timer, then beating Luigi and Peach in less than a minute before rounding out Adventure Mode. The second condition is by enduring 800 V.S. Matches. What will you be greeted by once either condition is fulfilled? Luigi doing a pose right out of Stone Ocean... and that isn't an exaggeration.
- Much like the Metal Mario fight, this is especially worse if you end up reaching Luigi through either one of two conditions: the first is by beating the first half of Adventure Mode Stage 1 with a 2 in the seconds part of the timer, then beating Luigi and Peach in less than a minute before rounding out Adventure Mode. The second condition is by enduring 800 V.S. Matches. What will you be greeted by once either condition is fulfilled? Luigi doing
- Giga Bowser's introduction in Melee. Just after getting to the end of Adventure Mode and beating Giant Bowser, Bowser's trophy suddenly lurches back on stage with a loud thud, is struck by lightning, and then crumbles apart; revealing a colossal, far more vicious-looking, SNK Boss version of the Koopa King, who is much stronger and immune to grabs. And his transformation ends with a silent roar, complete with Glowing Eyes of Doom that freezes in frame (which is the current page image) while the actual fight starts loading.
- There's also something unnerving about the cutscene that plays when you beat him. With Giant Bowser, you see Bowser's trophy tumble off into the black abyss. With Giga Bowser, you get the same cutscene except now it ends with the trophy smashing into dust on the floor. The fact that you can barely hear the sound of it breaking adds to it.
- Like Crazy Hand, Giga Bowser comes out of nowhere, with the only indication that you'll fight him is the results screen saying "Stage Clear" instead of "Game Clear" if you've met the conditions, which is easy to miss. It can be startling to think you've beaten Adventure Mode as usual, only for the cutscene to play and the game to continue out of nowhere, with you having to fight this... monster.
- Zooming in on Daisy's trophy from the back in early versions of Melee reveals a glitchy, deformed eye on the back of her head.
- When you earn a trophy in the Lottery, and it happens to be something like the Moon from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask or something equally terrifying. Given that all trophies quickly pop up in the middle of the screen when earned, it could also double as a Jump Scare.
- As mentioned in the 64 folder, Metal Mario, especially how he's introduced. He falls from the sky head-first and lands on the Battlefield stage still stiffly head-first before falling over... and then extremely fluidly stands up to face the player while ominous music plays. It's even worse if you've unlocked Luigi, since Metal Luigi will join in on the fight if you have, doubling the creepiness factor.
- The music for Flat Zone, is rather unsettling and downright alien; giving the impression of a place that almost shouldn't be. Especially so if you've never heard of the Game & Watch series and you're doing the unlock battle for Mr. Game & Watch, which can easily leave you wondering just who or what he's supposed to be.
- While most of the North American chants in this game aren't terribly scary, just rather bored sounding, a few are rather creepy. Take the chants for Yoshi and Falco for example. It sounds like a group of spirits in a haunted place calling to them.
- Ganondorf's one is suitably off-putting, while the crowd saying "Ness, Ness, Ness!" can also be eerie if you know what the reference is.
- Ganondorf's one
- The Special Movie has an eerie moment where the Majora's Mask trophy inches towards the screen, slowly rotating, just like in that game's intro.
- The Great Bay level has the infamous Moon in the background leering above the stage. If the battle goes on long enough, you actually get to see the Moon begin to fall towards Termina. Granted the Giants push it back into the sky, but it's still quite disturbing; especially if you don't know about the game.
- When Mewtwo wins in the Western versions of the game, it makes one of two noises; a sinister laugh or an unsettling zombie-like growl. In the Japanese versions, Mewtwo not only maintains the monstrous growl, but can also speak, much like in its various movie appearances. It does so in a deep, raspy and distorted voice that really emphasises it being an unnatural and very powerful creature.Mewtwo: Watashi wa makeru wake niwa ikanai!noteMewtwo: Watashi wa naze koko ni iru no ka...? noteMewtwo: Orakana. note
- While most of the game's Star KO yells tend to err on the side of comedic, Zelda's loud, shrill scream as she's sent flying sounds surprisingly painful and realistic, to the point it can be an effective Jump Scare if unexpected. Notably, while Zelda maintained the same voice actressnote as in Melee across the next two games, her Star KO yell had to be toned down to something less agonized for those appearances.
- The stage "Poke Floats" feels a bit...off-putting. Namely the fact your fighting on top of pokemon models designed as the titular floats with nothing but a background of clouds.
