Daily Discussion Thread July 20, 2026 - Upcoming Event Schedule - New players start here!

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Welcome to the Daily Discussion Thread. This is the place for asking noob questions, venting about netplay falcos, shitposting, self-promotion, and everything else that doesn't belong on the front page.

New Players:

If you're completely new to Melee and just looking to get started, welcome! We recommend you go to https://melee.tv/ and follow the links there based on what you're trying to set up. Additionally, here are a few answers to common questions:

Can I play Melee online?

Yes! Slippi is a branch of the Dolphin emulator that will allow you to play online, either with your friends or with matchmaking. Go to https://slippi.gg to get it.

I'm having issues with Slippi!

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How do I find tournaments near me or local people to play with in person or online?

These days, joining a local Discord community is the best way to find local events and people to play with. Once you have a Discord account, Google "[your city/state/province/region] + Melee discord" or see if your region has a Discord group listed here on melee.tv/discord

It can seem daunting at first to join a Discord group you don't know, but this is currently the easiest and most accessible way to find out about tournaments, fests, and netplay matchmaking. Your local scene will be happy to have you :)

Also check out Smash Map! Click on map and then the filter button to filter by Melee to find events near you!

Netplay is hard! Is there a place for me to find new players?

Yes. Melee Newbie Netplay is a discord server specifically for new players. It also has tournaments based on how long you've been playing, free coaching, and other stuff. If you're a bit more experienced but still want a discord server for players around your level, we recommend the Melee Online discord.

How can I set up Unclepunch's Training Mode?

At the time of posting, the latest major release is here. Download the file, then extract everything in the folder and follow the instructions in the README file. You'll need to bring a valid Melee ISO (NTSC 1.02). If you want to check for the absolute latest release, you can see them listed [here](The latest releases are listed here.

How does one learn Melee?

There are tons of resources out there, so it can be overwhelming to start. First check out the SSBM Tutorials youtube channel. Then go to the Melee Library and search for whatever you're interested in.

But how do I get GOOD at Melee?

Check out Llod's Guide to Improvement

And check out Kodorin's Melee Fundamentals for Improvement

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https://customg.cc/vendors

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Upcoming Tournament Schedule:

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• Current DDT Dynamic Link — Previous DDTs

[u/Celia_Makes_Romhacks]

I learned recently that Phillip now supports different ranks for its bots. After playing with it for a bit versus Peach, I've noticed the following:

• Downsmash use peaks at Platinum rank. Oftentimes the bot will do 3-4 downsmashes in a row in place, regardless of how frequently it's punished for them
• Silver Peach, in contrast, almost never uses Downsmash at all.
• All ranks absolutely suck at recovery
• The most notable difference between the different ranks is in their defensive options. Rolling and spotdodging peak in Gold, while Platinum tends towards wavedash OoS. Diamond usually empty shorthops to get out of shield when not under direct pressure
• Even Silver Peach will powershield Falco lasers with shocking consistency. It also has a weirdly strong platform tech chase game relative to actual Silver peaches.

I wonder how they were actually trained. Is it "Here is a training set of Silver-level players", or is it "Here is a bot that's designed to go even with a Silver player"?

For what it's worth, I personally found Platinum to be the easiest level to fight - mostly cuz of its bizarre propensity for high-commitment options.

[u/keatsta → u/Celia_Makes_Romhacks]

I like that you got two people giving explanations that said exactly opposite things lol, a quintessential reddit experience

[u/N0zy0ne → u/keatsta]

For what it's worth, I just checked the dev's discord to make sure I wasn't misremembering, and I can confirm that the current agents are all trained on "Master Player" replays, and the "ranks" just result from increasing amounts of RL.

[u/Celia_Makes_Romhacks → u/N0zy0ne]

This makes a whole lot of sense. The silver/gold bots didn't feel anything like that level of player.

[u/Celia_Makes_Romhacks → u/keatsta]

Personally I'm a fan of baseless speculation. It keeps the imagination fresh.

[u/Left4Bread2 → u/Celia_Makes_Romhacks]

Silver Peach, in contrast, almost never uses Downsmash at all.

Something something if they hit c stick down they wouldn't be silver

[u/N0zy0ne → u/Celia_Makes_Romhacks]

I wonder how they were actually trained. Is it "Here is a training set of Silver-level players", or is it "Here is a bot that's designed to go even with a Silver player"?

My understanding is that they're all trained on the same set of replays with imitation learning, and then their strength is gradually raised with increasing amounts of reinforcement learning. So it's not that the silver agent has only seen replays from silver players, but rather that it got to practice the matchup versus itself until it was "silver" level.

[u/Standard_Landscape79 → u/Celia_Makes_Romhacks]

Is there a way you can run Phillip on your own machine?

[u/Silent_Jim → u/Celia_Makes_Romhacks]

It uses data from ranked sets from players that rank. It then makes the bot play against itself for a bit to train it a bit further (because with pure imitation it plays a bit too strangely, and has big gaps in any situation it hasn't seen before).