"Super Smash Bros. Melee" did not have online capabilities and was released exclusively for the GameCube in 2001. Dolphin's emulator changed that, allowing players to play online against what is still considered the best competitive smash game.

This online functionality was greatly improved thanks to the development of Slippi, a fan-made plugin for Dolphin; Slippi has an impressive list of features, the most important being the implementation of rollback netcode.

The Switch version of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate does not implement rollback netcode, making online matches far less feasible than their Gamecube siblings (emulated versions). of Mortal Kombat 11 Some studios, such as NetherRealm, have retrofitted rollback netcode to already shipped games due to the advantages of rollback netcode.

Netcodes in particular are a godsend for the competitive community that has been forced to stay home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But Slippi offers a lot of other cool stuff: there is online matchmaking to "quickly find nearby opponents," extensive gameplay statistics are generated, and replays are automatically saved.

Smash pro Leffen outlines the benefits of Slippi in the following video.