Most people I know play stock matches, TWRoO. We start with, oh, 10 lives or so, and then duke it out. Last man standing wins.

That way, in stock matches, the not-as-good players die sooner...and they don't come back...eventually bringing the 4 player free-for-all down to a 2 person duel, and it's great fun that way...people cheer on for whatever player didn't kill them, etc...

Surprising, I've had Sudden Death post-matches go on for quite a while.   Usually it winds up to where both players are striking and dodging with extreme caution... so much so that the match can drag on until one player makes a mistake and the other capitalizes on it.

Stock matches typically work best when you have two players as both players can easily keep playing the whole match.  Timed matches work best with a lot of people so you don't wind up with one or two people sitting out for a long time. 

Timed stock matches are good for stock matches that would otherwise take a very long time.  Melee was exceptionally flexible in ways to keep the game moving.  The less waiting and more playing everyone does the better.

It's true, you should keep everyone playing...but I think my friends would agree that getting down to a duel in a stock match is very exciting too.

All of my sudden death matches end up with me and my brother leaping toward each other with a jump attack at the same time, usually we both get hit, but only one of us dies. It's always a matter of who gets to the other guy while he's trying to get away, so we both just go for each other and the first one to get hit with a clean shot always dies.

The problem comes when you have one or two people that are much better than the rest.  The match will always come down to those two players fighting for the win. 

At least Melee's handicap system was more useful than the original's...

Yes, that's true...my friends don't ever use handicaps though, it would hurt their pride.

We used to play 99 stock matches, beer and pizza compulsary.

When every single match ends the same, desperate measures are called for. 

For obvious reasons, I appreciate and also loath the handicap system. 

Ridley's Size has also been extremely variable. Much like Bowser. NES size of samus, SNES a little more than twice the size of samus, GBA and prime he's a hulk. I mean look at the difference

http://www.emulationgalaxy.co.yu/images/edit/metroid/metroid_1.gif

http://www.nintendomaniacs.com/images/ul3/SNES/super_metroid/ridley.png

http://www.planetgameboy.de/artikel/images/metroid/metroid13.jpg

He Grew ALOT.

Bowser NES, about the size of Super Mario, SNES he got a bit bigger, 3d bowser (64, sunshine, galaxy) he's huge.

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/1/13/Bowser_(smb1).png

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b303/milemaniac527/smw1a.jpg

and I couldn't find a could 3d bowser pic, but he's even bigger.

Size is a terrible argument for Ridley not being in Brawl, even the gamefaqs board knows that, that should say something.

If they can make Bowser only somewhat bigger than pikachu, they can make Ridley the same size as bowser.

TWRoO: Actually, there are four 'modes' in Melee:

Stock: Last one standing wins. As % go up, you fly further. Nothing more - although stats of pretty much everything is recorded and displayed after the match.

Time: Most points win - Sudden death if tied.

Stamina: You start with 150% "HP". You lose HP from attacks. Last one standing wins.

Coin_ Weird and useless. You collect coins dropped by other characters. You lose half your coins if you die. Most coins when time is up wins.

The last one probably won't be in Brawl.

As for Ridley: He's obviously a boss - Like Petey (see? similar names and everything!).

As for multiplayer: Well, you need someone to play with for that...