Frame delay

Frame delay is the time difference between an input being given and the result being executed in an online game of Smash Bros. In other words, it's how long it takes for an attack to actually begin after the button has been pressed.

Frame delay is often confused with lag, though it is in fact closely connected with it.

• Every frame (60 times a second), the player's system must send what their input currently is, so that the other systems can know what to do.
• To attempt to compensate for lag, the input is not acted upon for a few frames; this is the frame delay.
• After the number of frames that the frame delay specifies, the input is acted on. If at least one system has not received the input yet, the game must wait until it gets the input, so it lags.

While it's possible to have no lag in a match, frame delay will always be present, even if by a tiny amount. This makes online matches much more prediction-driven than their offline counterparts.

Brawl wifi lag

Brawl wifi also shows the extent of frame delay. At the side of every person registered using friend codes, after completing at least one match and quitting (not restarting), a large dot will show up, being colored. People have discovered that this dot refers to the person's connection. The color coding from best (3 frames) to worst (more than 15 frames) is as follows:

• Dark Blue
• Light blue
• Green
• Yellow
• Orange
• Light Red
• Dark Red

Project 64k online lag

Server play

Server frame delay is due to the distance between a person and the server. There are 6 different connection types which can change a person's delay but the majority of people use either Excellent, LAN, or Good. This is shown by the ping of the person which is listed besides everyone along with their nickname. A connection below 30 ping on an excellent connection for example has 3 frames of delay while a connection below 30 on LAN has 1/2 frames of delay while the same connection on good has 5 frames of delay. The majority of people who are used to online smash can reasonably play on any connection that is better than 6 frames of delay. Excellent is the most common connection since LAN causes extra problems with most people online.

Player to Player (p2p)

Player to player, which connects one person's connection entirely to another person's connection reduces the amount of delay between players. This is very common to be used between 2 people on opposite coasts, or between a US and a European smasher. Template:UnofficialName