Super Smash Bros. Melee Is Back For A Brand-New Era

Published Sep 9, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

Known as 'Cyberpunk 2077's' biggest fan, Angharad is a Welsh games writer who thrives in anything related to digital storytelling. If a video game explores the intricacies and horrors of womanhood, she is there.

Thanks to previous work at GAMINGbible, GameByte, The Loadout, Game Luster, Angharad has built a strong understanding of both the digital world and what fans want from it and is eager to share her thoughts and expertise with readers.

Released in 2001 as a crossover fighting game courtesy of HAL Laboratory and Nintendo and published for the GameCube, Super Smash Bros. Melee is still remembered fondly to this day. Offering Nintendo fans the ultimate crossover experience, with the addition of characters from Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Pokémon, and Donkey Kong franchises, the fighting game featured multiple game modes and stages, and is still regarded as one of the most influential video games of all time.

It was so successful, that it swiftly became the best-selling title on the GameCube, with praise being received for its visuals, characters, soundtrack, and controls. Followed by Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which was released for the Nintendo Wii back in 2008, it is safe to say that Super Smash Bros. Melee was, and still remains, a worldwide phenomenon.

Now, in order to welcome a brand-new era of gaming, Super Smash Bros. Melee is back, and this time, it is available to play on the PC. Available to download on GitHub, the beloved fighting game has finally been 100% decompiled, meaning that it is now available to download and enjoy in its entirety. Thanks to a dedicated team of modders, the project comes alongside instructions on how to download it, so do not worry if you are new to it.

The news was announced by Twitter/X user Reticent who wrote, "Super Smash Bros. Melee is now 100% decompiled! *Used with AI (Claude)," alongside the link for the epic download. As such, fans of the GameCube title took to the comments to share their thoughts, especially with some users sharing their disappointment over the use of AI to complete the project.

"Works on a decomp for six grueling years straight, used AI to cross the finish line and all it did was generate one-to-one versions of the original game code," one user shared. "Everyone calls it slop, not understanding the difference between AI recomps and AI decomps." Another agreed, adding, "For people saying "slop": this has been in the works since 2020, if you still think its slop, it's been in the works before AI was good enough to do full decompilations (they still can't, they still need to be watched by humans)."

If you are unsure what a decompilation entails, it is the process of turning an already finished game back into its original source code in order to run it on a console of PC. In the case of Super Smash Bros. Melee, this changes it from a GameCube title to now being available to download on PC.

So, for the first time in almost 30 years, you can experience the hit Nintendo game on PC in the ultimate experience. Not only that, but it just goes to show how loved Super Smash Bros. Melee is to this day.