Melee, the second entry in the Smash Bros. series, remains to be one of the most beloved entries. However, did you know that there are actually officially licensed merchandise for Melee? Today, I’d like to give a brief overview of what I’ve found and their history. If you haven’t, check out Soma’s Melee timeline!
Note: I’ll be listing approximate prices in yen. Prices are just based on my own personal experience.
1,000 yen is currently around 9.70 USD (At the time of writing).
Melee Orchestra CD:
Melee’s music was orchestrated and released on a CD! Sakurai even discusses the orchestra event on the official Japanese website. The event was held August 27th, 2002 (a Tuesday) at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. Entry was 3,000 yen per person. The CD was obtainable through mail order Famitsu Cube and Advance in the December 2002 edition. There are 15 songs on the CD. About 1,000 yen for the CD.
Most of the following images are from GameCube Mania. A great resource for demo/ rare Gamecube games!
Melee Sample Disc:
This was a version of Melee that was possibly given to stores so they could demo it. It’s very likely it’s the final version of the game, just with a different disc and a sticker on the package. It’s a little hard to come by.
Over 9,000 yen for the disc on auction sites.
Melee Event Disc:
This is a version of Melee that was possibly given to stores so they could use it in competitions. This disc is rarer, and doesn’t pop up that much on auction sites that often.
The event disc limits to only 2, 3, or 5 minute matches. You also need 4 players. It seems to be the final version of the game. (Source)
Over 10,000 yen for the disc on auction sites.
Melee Movie Disc:
This disc was handed out to winners of tournaments (maybe the Toys R’ Us ones?). On the disc, is video footage of Jump Festa 2001, where Melee was played. There is also footage of someone playing Homerun Contest and Target Test.
I personally own this disc. The disc runs from 2,000-3,000 yen.
Melee Postcards:
It appears that after Melee’s release, several stores in Japan (I’ve been able to confirm Toys ‘R’ Us in particular) held Melee tournaments. In those tournaments, players who entered were given a random Melee-themed postcard. Note the names I’ve attached to them are unofficial. I’m not sure if this is all of them, but I’ve been able to find images of:
Mario/ Peach
Yoshi
Link/Zelda
Kirby
Samus
Japan Box Art Style
Opening Movie/ Japan Box Art Style Alt
U.S. Box Art Style
Crossover (Alt)
U.S. Box Style (Alt)
There may be more postcards. In particular, I find it odd that there’s no postcard of Pikachu.
I personally own the Samus postcard. The postcards aren’t that rare, but they quickly add up in price (About 500-900 yen per postcard).
JR West Sweepstake:
Shortly after Melee’s release, Japan Railways held a “stamp collecting” contest. In it, passengers had to collect stamps from various stations. Upon collecting all the stamps, they were given a random pin badge. In addition, they were given a chance to win a Melee lunch box or a Nintendo GameCube (only 30 winners). The stamps were decided on per station. Mario, Yoshi, Bowser and Peach were the stamps at the “goal” stations. The goal stations were Kyoto, Osaka, Tennoji and Sannomiya Stations. The promotion ran from: December 29th 2001 – January 6th, 2002. Then on January 12-14, the 19th and the 20th.
Some of the images in this section were taken from this website, which details the promotion.
There are four badges total. Mario, Link, Kirby and Pikachu! You can see them below (twice!).
Lunchbox
I personally own the Kirby badge. Badges run from 600-4,000 yen. I have not seen the obento box for sale, but I’d imagine that’d run over 10,000 yen, possibly 15,000 yen easily.
Melee Bandana?
I came across this item on auction sites, but I haven’t been able to find any additional information about it. It seems that a bandana was released at some point. The auction states that it wasn’t for sale, so it might have been given out through some sort of program. I’ll update this post as I find more information.
That’s all I’ve been able to find on official merchandise. There may be a memory card sticker for Melee, but I’ve only seen it once so it might be printed. Let me know if I missed anything in the comments below!
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I collected some of these. I got 2x of the bandanas and all the discs. As for the memory card. I found one where Bowser is getting fAir by Mario on Temple and one of the game’s name (in Japanese of course).
As for the discs. I’ve dumped them and Dan Salvato and I investigated them. They’re v1.01. There are actually 11 or so versions of Melee in total if you count all the demo disc packs.
Do you know where the bandanna came from? Can you take pictures of the memory cards and send them to me (Twitter is fine, I follow you. @PushDustIn) ?
Ahh, that’s something I was wondering about (if the discs have been data mined). Dan Salvato is the man to ask!
When you say v1.01, what does that imply? I’m familiar with the NTSC-US versions. I saw a youtube video of the red demo disc and it functioned a lot like the gold tournament video disc, which I have. There was half of adventure mode, and 2 minute timed melee mode with items. Only the 14 starter characters and the starter stages.
Any chance that you would mind shanring a scan of the Samus card, PD?
I wanna try and find the badges. The only one I could find on eBay was Link, and it was $35!!! Anyone mind helping me out?
Are you aware that the orchestral CD was available in North America from Nintendo Power as “Smashing…Live!”?
Getting that one is really really cheap too, it’s only around $6.
I bought two of the gold disc movie I have one used that I got for $40 and I got sealed version for $65 on eBay by the same vendor. He’s has one copy left for the golden disc, search up Super Smash bros melee movie disc Japanese. hurry though it’ll be gone soon his eBay name is yorozuya69