Name Entry glitch
The Name Entry glitch is a glitch for Super Smash Bros. Melee. This glitch allows a match to start under conditions which normally wouldn't be allowed, with effects such as enabling the player to play as Master Hand, among other things.
The Name Entry glitch is unusual for the amount of time it took to be discovered; it was discovered in 2008 on a German gaming website by Smashboards' Exchord92 and was posted to Smashboards in June 2009, a year after the release of Brawl and almost eight years after the release of Melee in 2001.
Performing the Glitch
The Name Entry glitch can be performed to achieve one of four different purposes. These purposes are to:
- Play as Master Hand (discovered by Exchord92)
- Use an all-black character (discovered by Exchord92)
- Perform a 0-Second Melee (discovered by Exchord92)
- Play alone (discovered by REVOLUTION324)
General Execution
There are two ways to perform the Name Entry glitch, one using one controller, and the other using two controllers:
Method one
Place the cursor of player three's controller over the name field on the character select screen. On this controller, press A and B simultaneously. Release A, but hold onto B. Scroll down to the "Name Entry" button. If A is pressed again at the same moment that the game attempts to go back to the menu because of the B button, the game will skip to the Stage Selection screen. Select the stage. If it loads properly, the game has not frozen and the player will have performed Method One of the Name Entry glitch with success.
Method two
Using two controllers in VS. Mode, hover one cursor over the "Back" button and the other over the "Name Entry" button in the name field. Press A simultaneously on both controllers. The game should skip to the Stage Selection screen. If the stage the player selected loads up properly, they have performed Method Two of the Name Entry glitch with success. (This can be used with "Single Person Melee" by having another Player turn the person on the "Back" button to OFF instead of HMN or CPU)
Specific scenarios
Master Hand glitch
The Master Hand glitch is the most popular of the four scenarios. It is performed by not selecting a character on one, some, or all of the four slots (note that although the player can use four Master Hands, he can only be controlled through Port 3). Perform the glitch normally (note that if Method Two is used, at least one character will not be Master Hand). Select the stage (using controller 3 to minimize chances of freezing). When the match starts, Master Hand will fly in laughing maniacally. However, the announcer still says "Ready.. GO!" like in a standard match. If the player is able to use Master Hand with controller 3, they have successfully performed the Master Hand glitch.
Black Character glitch
This glitch can be used to play as an all black character.
Set the mode to Team Battle. Next, select four of the same character and have them all on the same team. Perform the glitch normally. Player 4 will be a black silhouette of the character. Note that because all players are on one team, stock matches will end immediately, and CPU characters won't attack, as they have no opponent to fight (although they will recover, and use certain items, like Poké Balls). Friendly Fire can be turned on to simulate a normal time match.
0-Second Melee
This glitch can be used to play a melee that lasts 0 seconds.
Set the mode to stock, with any number of stocks. Next, choose a character, but choose no opponent. Use either method of the glitch. The melee should end the second the announcer says, "Go!"
Selecting PokeFloats in v1.00 will trigger the All Floats Glitch.
Single Person Melee
This glitch allows the player to play alone, with no opponents.
Set the mode to time, bonus, or coin. Next, choose a character, but choose no opponent. Use either method of the Name Entry glitch. If performed correctly, the player should be fighting alone. Note that this and the Master Hand glitch can be done at the same time if the player didn't choose a character; however, if the player attacks, the game will freeze as he has nothing to home in on.
Explanation
The Name Entry glitch forces the game to receive two inputs at once: Back and Name Entry. In its confusion, it advances to the Stage Selection screen; the equivalent of the Name Entry screen function outside of the character selection screen. The reason that the Master Hand Glitch works is because all characters in the game are assigned an ID number. The game is programmed not to let the players progress to the Stage Select menu if not all of the players have valid ID numbers. The default number, zero, is also Master Hand's number and is not supposed to be accepted by the game. However, when the glitch is performed, it forces the game to the Stage Select screen, leaving the players' numbers as zero, thus loading Master Hand as their character.
The All Black Character Glitch works, because when two or more of the same character are on the same team, those same characters have to be the same color. To help identify who's who, the game has sub-colors it throws on these characters. P1 has no sub-color, P2 is lighter, And P3 is darker. Normally, there aren't supposed to be 4 people on one team, but in this case there is, so the game loads the next sub-color, which happens to be all black (there is also an "all grey" sub-color, only available through the debug menu).
Video
This video shows all four outcomes of the Name Entry glitch.
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