Master Hand glitch

By performing the glitch, Master Hand can be used on any stage.

The Master Hand glitch is a subset of the Name Entry glitch in Super Smash Bros. Melee that allows the player to use and control Master Hand on any stage. It is not possible to use any other non-playable characters through this glitch. Although any player is capable of being Master Hand, only the third player is capable of actually controlling it. Like any other character, Master Hand will appear with a damage percentage meter. Since it takes no knockback at all, it cannot be KO'd except in Stamina Mode. Any options that would affect knockback, such as handicap and damage ratio, will not effect Master Hand at all.

Performing the glitch

There are two ways to perform the glitch. One requires only one controller; the other requires two.

Method One (One controller)

This method works on all modes except Tournament, but many things freeze the game.

The player must have a controller in slot 3. Using this controller, place the cursor over the name field on the character selection screen. Now press the A and B buttons at the same time, and the player will come to the name selection. Hold the B button, but release the A button, then go down with the cursor until they are over the "name entry field". Then press the A button at the right time. The game should want to go back to the menu, because the player held the B button, but it should also want go to the name entry screen, because they pressed the A button over "name entry". If performed correctly, instead of going to either of these, the game should go to the stage selection screen (or, in Single Player, straight to the game). After selecting the stage, the player will be playing as Master Hand.

Method Two (Two controllers)

This method is much simpler, but only works in Melee mode. To perform it, simply have two controllers, and have one be in the third controller port, and the other in any other port. Have the controller that's not player three select a character, and then hover over the back button, while the one in the third port goes to select a name, and have them hover over the new entry button. Both controllers must then hit A at the same time, as to select their option, and the stage select screen will appear (there is very little leeway between selection, less than a second). On whatever stage selected, player 3 will be Master Hand.

Controls

These move names are not official.

Move	Name	Notes
A^	Jet	Master Hand makes a vaguely plane-like shape meteor smashing the player if in the middle of short hop or recovering (It can be meteor cancelled), then flies into the background. It attempts to fly into the player, then flies in from the right. 10-30%
A>	Ram	Master Hand flies off the screen, then appears in the background as a fist. It attempts to slam into the player, then flies back onto the stage from the top of the screen. If the player is in the middle of their jump, the player will be meteor smashed, therefore the ram attack cannot KO a grounded player unless the player is at a very high percentage. 34%
Av	Crush	Master Hand flies off the top of the screen, then appears in the background. It attempts to flatten the player. Its palm can semi-spike the player powerfully. Any character who is close to the thumb will be sent upward. 30%
B^	Lasers	Master Hand shoots a laser beam from each of his fingertips. Only the endpoints do damage. 9% each
B>	Gun	Master Hand makes the shape of a gun, and fires sets of bullets. It fires 1 set if above 100 HP, and three sets if below. 10% (one set) 6% (three sets)
Z^ or >	Grab	Master Hand grabs his opponent and begins to crush them. They can escape by button mashing, but, if they fail to do so, Master Hand will toss them away. 13% crush, then 18-20% afterwards. Depending on the direction pressed with Z, Master Hand will throw the opponent differently. If up is used, he will throw them upward behind him. If right, he will slam them into the ground.
R<	Poke	Master Hand pokes the air three times. The third poke is more powerful. 7-34%
R>	Punch	Master Hand hovers over the target, then quickly punches down. 24%
Rv	Slap	Master Hand slaps the ground. 26%
R^	Drill	Master Hand flies up, then slams down while spinning in a drill-like fashion. Almost no knockback if the player doesn't utilize DI. If the player utilizes DI, they will be sent sideways with decent horizontal knockback. 1-48%
L^	Slap	Master Hand makes a slapping motion across the platform. 25%
Lv	Walk	Master Hand "walks" using his pointer and middle fingers. When he reaches his opponent, he flicks them. 10-30%
L>	Sweep	Master hand makes a large sweep across the stage.

Note: Master Hand's moves are typed in on the d-pad, not the analog stick. Also, the player cannot move him. The player can only get around by doing moves.

Explanation

Each character in the game has an ID number. When a character is selected on the character selection screen, the game loads that character's number. This glitch forces the game to advance to the stage selection screen before the player selects a character, which results in the game not being told what character to load. Because of this, the game loads the character whose ID number is 0, which happens to be Master Hand. Also, the reason a controller must be in socket 3 is because in classic mode (or event match 50), Master Hand is always character 3; character one is the player, and character four is reserved for Crazy Hand.

What works

Mode	Does it work?	Why not/Notes
Classic	Freezes after the glitch is executed. (Sometimes goes to the vs. screen before freezing the game, however, the game will not show Master Hand or the computer player's contestant picture.)	Can't load. Master Hand doesn't have a contestant picture for when it shows who the player is challenging.
Adventure Mode	Master Hand will fly into the center of Mushroom Kingdom, and will stay there, as he can't move left and right normally.	Master Hand always spawns to the right side of the stage. However, in the Mushroom Kingdom stage, characters are always spawned in on the left side. Therefore, this makes him to spawn in the middle of the stage. When Master Hand attacks, he needs a character to target (except for the laser and sweep attacks). As Goombas and other Adventure Mode enemies aren't considered real characters, the game freezes, as Master Hand can't target anything.
All Star	It lets the player play through the first level, but Master Hand can't go anywhere in the Rest Area. The game freezes if he attacks.	When Master Hand attacks, he has nothing to aim or attack at. When attacking, Master Hand must have some sort of enemy to attack at (except for laser and sweep attacks). Otherwise, the game will freeze.
Event Match	Works on any event where the player can choose their character. It will even save records.	Ocassionally freezes in the middle of the event for no real reason, especially on All Star Matches. As Master Hand cannot be KO'd, he is useful for completing difficult matches. However, he is not as useful on timed matches. Also, there are some events such as Pokémon Battle that cannot be completed at all, as they require items or specific goals.
Home-Run Contest	Works. (See Notes)	The player can get Master Hand in, but there is no way to get any distance.
Target Test	Master Hand's laugh is heard, then it freezes.	Can't load. Master Hand doesn't have a target test.
Multi-Man Melee	Works, and like event matches, it will save.	As Master Hand cannot be KO'd, Cruel Melee and Endless Melee can only be finished by quitting, though records will still be saved. Also, his high scores go to Mario. As Master Hand cannot be KO'd, he is useful for completing 100-Man Melee and 15-Minute Melee.
Training mode	Works. It will even save.	All max combos go to Mario.
Melee	Works on every mode. Freezes when the match is over if Master hand wins. Master Hand can still lose on a Coin or Bonus match by having another player to get more Smash Coins (or a higher score at Bonus matches). If done so, data is shown normally on the results box, except that there is no profile image, and Master Hand's name appears as "Sheik", with the Legend of Zelda icon. No player can be Zelda (possibly because of this). Teams work. Sudden Death also works when scores are even.	The game freezes after the match because it can't show Master hand as the winner, as he doesn't have a victory pose. The reason other stuff freezes the game is unknown. One is possibly because the crowd appeals a characters when he/she achieves enough KOs or succesfully does something, but Master Hand doesn't have a "crowd cheer" voice clip. Also, if many characters are chosen on a hazardous stage like Corneria or Mute City, the game may freeze at the beginning. If Master Hand loses a Coin or Bonus match, the records will be given to Mario.
Special Melee	The game freezes when the match is over. No player can be Zelda (except in Lightning Melee and Slo-Mo Melee). Teams work.	Same as above. In Giant and Tiny Melee, Master Hand appears giant/tiny with no problem, with his attacks' damage being normally changed, except that his voice won't be modified when he first appears. His controls are not affected at all in Single-Button Melee. He also becomes invisible with no problem in Invisible Melee: this is also the only instance in which he can so, as he can't use Cloaking Devices. For some reason, Zelda can be selected in Lightning Melee and Slo-Mo Melee without the game crashing.
Camera and Stamina	Both work perfectly except for the fact that no player can be Zelda.	In Camera Mode, the player can take pictures of Master Hand and they save. Stamina Mode allows for fair matches with Master Hand as he can be KO'd (he cannot be KO'd in normal matches as he does not experience knockback). If Master Hand is defeated in Stamina Mode, he will fly off the stage exploding like in Classic Mode, except that the camera won't freeze on Master Hand, and he won't scream. However the match will end before he makes it all the way off the stage, as the announcer will shout "GAME!", except if he is defeated before another character on a battle with three or four combatants. After being KO'd, the game won't freeze, as Stamina Mode doesn't have a results screen. For some reason, Team Battles don't work, as they always cause the game to freeze.

Notes/Trivia

• There is a subglitch that can be done called the Master Hand Laser glitch.
• Metal Boxes, Starmen, and Lip's Stick all work on Master Hand without freezing the game. Screw Attacks can also be thrown at him, but they have no special effect. Any other item also works, with the exception of Mushrooms: they mostly freeze the game when they make contact with Master Hand. Also, if this happens, the GameCube controller for Master Hand may rumble indefinetily until the console is turned off.

• As Master Hand cannot receive knockback, being giant, tiny or metal won't affect him at all, other than size/physique changes.

• On Mute City, attacks where Master Hand dives into the background (either Ram or Jet) can destroy the F-Zero machines in the background during the move.

• Similarly, when Lugia is summoned, its Aeroblast can still damage him during the background portion of these moves.

• If Master Hand is used on Corneria, he will spawn below the blast line. This causes most of his attacks to be useless, but his grab becomes a one-hit KO.

• Similarly, on Peach's Castle, Master Hand will spawn inside the castle.

• On scrolling stages like Rainbow Cruise, Icicle Mountain, or Big Blue, Master Hand moves with the screen because the game treats him as a character, not as an object.
• If Master Hand enters Flat Zone he will come in from the front, not the side.
• It is possible to use the glitch on the event Final Destination Match, resulting in two Master Hands and one Crazy Hand. Once Master Hand defeats the CPU Master Hand, the player can use moves in conjunction with Crazy Hand, by inputting the D-Pad either up or right and pressing the Y Button. However, Crazy Hand will still see the human Master Hand as an enemy and his moves in will raise Master Hand's damage percentage but won't lower Crazy Hand's stamina.
• When the player makes the glitch occur with two players (or one player and one CPU) and they don't choose any character, all players will be considered to be Master Hand, but only one will appear until one of them moves. The two Master Hands can move only if one of them is a CPU, as a human player can only control Master Hand if he/she is Player 3. Also, if three or four players are chosen as Master Hand on a battle, the game almost always freezes, with Master Hand's laugh being heard at first.
• On Pokémon Stadium, the screen will say "Masterhand."
• If the player doesn't pick the stage with the player 3 cursor, the game has a higher chance of freezing. The game still might freeze if the stage is picked by P3, however.
• Whenever Master Hand doesn't have a target to use his moves on, the only move he can use without the game freezing is the laser move (^B). However, it doesn't move Master Hand.
• It is possible to have a computer player Master Hand if the player has a computer player with no selected character while using the name entry glitch. Interestingly, a CPU Master Hand will attack players even if he isn't Player 3. Also, it will always behave the same way even if the CPU Level is changed, as Master Hand only has one AI code.

• However, it is not possible to get a computer player Master Hand into training. There is no way to do the name entry glitch with no selected character for the CPU.
• Also, it's not possible to have only Master Hand CPUs on a battle, as the player cannot execute the glitch with CPU ports.

• The glitch was referenced on the 10th Melee tier list, with the bottom tier being called "Gengar", and being described as "Master Hand and other glitch characters".
• When defeated on Brinstar, Master Hand will continually repeat his defeat animation.
• When forfeiting a match, the game does not freeze and the name for P3 appears as Sheik, in the same manner as when he loses.
• Though Master Hand cannot battle against Zelda in VS. Modes (other than Lighting and Slo-Mo), he can still participate on Event Matches that involve her. She can even transform into Sheik, without the game freezing.
• Master Hand can still use names.
• As Pichu and Falco can be unlocked after defeating 100-Man Melee and Event 37: Legendary Pokémon, respectively, it is possible for Master Hand to face them in the Challenger Approaching battle. Defeating them will unlock them as usual, without the game crashing.
• When Master Hand grabs a character in Stamina Mode, if he defeats a character by crushing them, without being able to throw, the game will freeze.
• In a regular Melee, if Master Hand is teamed with another character and his team wins, but the other character gets the most points, the victory music of that character will play after "Game!" appears, then the game will freeze.
• As Master Hand wasn't intended as a playable character, CPUs will treat him as any other character and fight in their usual ways, which can result in things such as a CPU trying to grab Master Hand when close to the ground, as well as spamming attacks such as neutral aerials to damage him.

• When fighting against a CPU Ganondorf, he will still spam Dark Dive heavily, which won't have any effect. This allows to trick him very easily. Similarly, CPU Pikachus and Pichus may spam Thunder to attack.
• If a team of CPUs fight Master Hand on Corneria, they will stand still until he comes up to them (or if a valued item appears), which only works with the Grab attack.
• High-level CPUs will still perfect shield precisely against Master Hand's Gun attack (except for Bowser) to reflect it, as they do with most projectiles. Strangely, they will also powershield this way against his Slap attack, even though it's not a projectile, nor they were programmed to fight against Master Hand.

• When viewing detailed information of Master Hand on the results screen, none of his attacks will be counted, so all attempted attacks and grabs will have a zero. It will also count him as staying all time in the air, due to him being a floating character. Other records, such as maximum knockback achieved and peak damage, will still be counted.

External links

• The original topic on Smashboards.
• A video of a player using the one controller method.