Melee is better than Brawl

This is about the Super Smash Brothers (SSB) video game series. I will be arguing that Melee (SSBM) is a superior game over Brawl (SSBB). The original and Wii U version are not up for debate. Please try to give as many reasons as you can in the first response, the next 2 rounds will be discussing the merits of the first response. READY, GO!

Here are my reasons as to why Melee is better than Brawl:
1. Melee allows for both fun casual play and serious competition.
1a. Brawl feels like it has been slowed down in favor of casual play over competitiveness. It alienated its fans for the sake of a broader audience.
1b. In Brawl, characters run slower and when knocked up float down like dainty petals in the wind. This makes it difficult for competition because the character movements can't keep up with the speed of the fingers.
2. Brawl introduced needless features into combat that most people hate, namely:
2a. The smash ball, most people I know just turn it off.
2b. TRIPPING IS BS; I'm trying to fight, when I run I don't want to worry about falling flat on my face for no reason!
3. Melee has a fairly reasonable tier system/balance, but with Brawl this is not the case! Meta Knight, nuff said.
3a. I'll never forgive Brawl for nerfing Sheik and Marth! I had high hopes for Olimar, but he's crap too!
4. Did Nintendo really think anyone wanted to play Brawl on the Wii-mote? Melee was made for the Game Cube, the essence of SSB is in the Game Cube. The Wii wishes it was made for Brawl.

To summarize; Melee has soul; Brawl took the fun of Melee out, and added stupid stuff. Brawl is a watered down version of Melee. And I could probably beat you 1v1 in Melee.

I accept this debate. Allow me to answer your arguments in turn
1. Brawl has both casual and competitive ways to play. That's why there are professional brawl players and no professional melee players
1a. Brawl is not slow at all. The other day I lost track of where I was because the fight was so chaotic
1b. Characters are not slower (in relation to each other). Some are floaty but that is just one of their weaknesses as a character. To name some non floaty characters: falco, ganondorf, bowser, fox, wolf, ice climbers, Marth, Ike, meta knight, snake, the list goes on.
2a. The smash ball is completely optional. It's there in case anyone wants it. I never played with items on any of the ssbs anyway. Everyone once in a while I play with people who want to spice the game with a smash ball or other items.
2b. Granted prat falls suck. No getting around that one
3. Meta knight seems op but he has a weakness: he's really light. Meta knight is a pro character because he has good save moves, he's fast, and he can combo attacks. He takes skill to handle correctly. Any pro can make a good character look op.
3a. Sheik was never that good as a whole (her down and up smashes are good though) and both Marth and olimar are pro characters which makes them not really nerfed at all.
4. I for one enjoy the wii remote. It's not that hard to use. The nice thing about the wii is that you can use GameCube controllers for almost any wii game which makes complaining about the wii remote for brawl completely pointless. Lastly you are wrong to assert that the essence of ssb is in the GameCube. You are wrong. The essence of ssb is in the Nintendo 64.

In the first round you were suppose to give your own reasons why Brawl is better, not directly counter my points. But since this is where we are I'll roll with it.

To say there are no professional Melee players is patently false. This is a link that lists 15 professional melee players and shows tourney footage: http://www.gamesradar.com... I think it aids my point that even though Brawl is the newest edition there is still a large Melee following 13 years after release. If Brawl truly was better, everyone would have gone with the "upgrade".

You probably lost track of yourself in that battle because that "chaos" you describe is due to all the needless flash. This comment interests me: "Characters are not slower (in relation to each other)." Is this a tacit admission that when comparing the games the characters in Brawl are slower?

You contradict yourself at one point, of the characters you list as "non floaty" meta knight is on the list, but later in your argument you describe meta knight as "light". How can a light champ with the ability to fly not be considered floaty?

Sheik was never good??? In Melee she is top tier. I own as Sheik.

I'll admit because you don't have to use the Wii mote or Smash Ball the point is moot, but they are still both stupid. In regards to the essence of SSB, the N64 may have been the original but Melee was an improvement in every way, if a sequel is better than the original it's because it embodies and improves what made the original fun. In my opinion Brawl fails to take the title of best SSB from Melee.

In reading the comments TheDebateWinner mentions that it is harder to die, which adds to my point that the game moved away from competitiveness towards casual. Noobs hate dying, competitive players know death is part of the game and skill comes in the speed of the draw. Although I"ll concede his point about character originality, Melee has too many blatant clones.

Because my opponent FF the round I'm just gonna leave this here.