Event 51: The Showdown
| Event 51 The Showdown | |
|---|---|
| |
| Official description | Giga Bowser, Mewtwo and Ganondorf unite! |
| Character(s) used | Choose (3 stock) |
| Opponent(s) | Ganondorf (3 stocks) Mewtwo (3 stocks) Giga Bowser (3 stocks) |
| Stage(s) | Final Destination |
| Music | Multi-Man Melee 2 |
| Availability | Unlockable |
The Showdown is the 51st and final event match of 51 in Super Smash Bros. Melee, unlocked upon clearing the previous 50 events. This event match gives the player a choice to play as any playable character before the match, like most event matches. The match is a 3 stock match, and there are 3 opponents: Giga Bowser, Ganondorf, and Mewtwo. All are villains from highly represented franchises and share a darkness attack; Giga Bowser from the Mario franchise (though not debuting from that series), Ganondorf from the Zelda franchise, and Mewtwo from the Pokémon franchise in Pokémon The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back. The match takes place on Final Destination, which is unlocked after clearing this event.
Despite being the final event and arguably the most difficult under normal circumstances, the opponents themselves are weaker than usual-and most definitely considered a level 9; Ganondorf and Mewtwo are only level 5, while Giga Bowser is level 6 (and Giga Bowser's AI almost never shields). Additionally, they all deal decreased knockback (only a slight 5% decrease for Ganondorf and Mewtwo, but a large 35% decrease for Giga Bowser), and Giga Bowser sustains 50% more knockback (despite the massive increase in knockback sustained, Giga Bowser still sustains less knockback than every character in game, just now slightly less than the heaviest characters). The event's difficulty comes from the player simply being overwhelmed, by the opponents controlling most of the stage, opposing hitboxes covering a large amount of the stage most of the time, and the player sustaining massive damage whenever caught by any of the opponents. Additionally, Giga Bowser's massive size gives him massive reach, enough to cover nearly half the stage, necessitating aerial approaches, which then leaves the player heavily vulnerable to Ganondorf's frequent Dark Dives (who is also often behind Giga Bowser, leaving him usually safe from the player's aerial attacks, and making it easy for him to catch the player with Dark Dive). Also, with there being three opponents controlling most of the stage, it can be difficult to get items before the opponents do, especially if it's an item the CPU values.
The following items do not appear in the match, presumably for being overly powerful: all healing items, Hammers, Home-Run Bats, Poison and Super Mushrooms, and Starmans. Containers (except for the Party Ball) also do not appear. The lack of these items makes the event more difficult for less skilled players, as it significantly decreases the chances of them clearing the event by getting lucky with items. This also assures however the opponents can't use these items, which would prevent instances of higher skilled players, who can win without needing to rely on items, from losing by the CPUs getting lucky with these items. On the other hand, legendary Pokémon remain available to appear from Poké Balls, and other potentially swingy elements such as Party Balls full of Bob-ombs can appear.
Rewards
After beating this event, Final Destination is unlocked as a playable VS. mode stage, as well as its corresponding trophy. A special message is displayed if the event is cleared without losing a stock, saying, "You cleared Event 51, The Showdown, with no falls!"
Trivia
- The final event match in Brawl, Event 41: The FINAL, Final Battle, is very similar to this event match, with Giant Mario replacing Giga Bowser, and Sonic and Snake succeeding Ganondorf and Mewtwo. That event match is also fought on Final Destination.
