# melee-pc: a native Super Smash Bros. Melee port that needs your own disc > melee-pc is a beta native PC port of Super Smash Bros. Melee, recompiled from the doldecomp/melee decompilation on top of aurora and SDL3. It ships no game data, requires an NTSC-U 1.02 disc image, and has no online netcode yet. **999sian/melee-pc** — Native PC port of Super Smash Bros. Melee (NTSC-U 1.02), built from doldecomp/melee on aurora. No game data; bring your own disc. - Repository: https://github.com/999sian/melee-pc - Stars: 396 · Forks: 19 - Language: C - License: not declared - Published: 2026-09-18 · Updated: 2026-09-18 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/999sian-melee-pc ## What melee-pc is, and the disc you have to supply melee-pc is a native port of Super Smash Bros. Melee for PC, and the working name is deliberately plain. The README is direct that this is beta software for testing, with crashes and missing features expected. One hard requirement shapes everything else: no game data ships in the builds. You supply your own disc image, and only USA revision 2 (NTSC-U 1.02, GALE01) is supported. The port even reads its font atlases out of the disc at boot, because that pixel data comes from the retail DOL and is not committed to the repository. The audience is Melee players on Linux, Windows or Android who already own the game and want a native binary rather than an emulator, and who can accept beta stability. If you do not have a matching disc image, the project has nothing to run. ## Recompiled from doldecomp/melee on aurora and SDL3 The mechanism is what separates a native port from an emulator. melee-pc is built from doldecomp/melee, a decompilation of the game's source, compiled to run directly on your CPU. It sits on aurora, a compatibility layer that reimplements the GameCube's GX graphics, OS, PAD, DVD, CARD and THP interfaces with a WebGPU backend, plus SDL3 for platform input and windowing. Rendering goes through Dawn and WebGPU, which maps to Vulkan or D3D12. Because the game code depends on GCC's scalar_storage_order big-endian attribute to handle the console's byte order, GCC is the only compiler that can build it. The launcher, written with RmlUi, verifies your disc's SHA-1 against the Redump database before boot, so it can tell you the image is wrong rather than crashing on bad data. ## Building from source with GCC, CMake and Ninja Building needs GCC, CMake 3.25 or newer, Ninja and a Vulkan driver; aurora fetches its own Dawn, SDL3 and nod prebuilts, and no disc data is required just to compile. The core build is two commands: ```bash cmake -B build -G Ninja ninja -C build ``` That produces the melee binary under build/. To make distributable artifacts, the repository ships the same packaging scripts that CI runs, so they work locally too: ```bash tools/package_linux.sh tools/package_windows.sh tools/build_android.sh ``` The Linux script writes an AppImage and a tarball to dist/, the Windows script cross-compiles from Linux with MinGW-w64, and the Android script needs an NDK via ANDROID_NDK_HOME and a JDK 17. These are the real script paths from the README, not a generic build recipe. ## Running a disc and what already works Once built, you launch the binary with no arguments to open the launcher and pick a disc, or pass the image path directly: ```bash build/melee ``` A valid path boots straight into the game; a missing or invalid one drops you back to the launcher. The README's status list is specific about what runs end to end: boot and the opening movie, memory card create and load, the title screen and attract demos, the main menu, VS mode with human versus CPU matches, and single-player Classic, Adventure and All-Star to completion with results saved. Training, Stadium modes, the trophy gallery and Event Match list are in. The prebuilt release AppImage runs the same way, for example ./Melee-x86_64.AppImage /path/to/melee.iso, and needs a Vulkan driver. ## Beta limits: no online play, no macOS, GCC-only The gaps are as clearly stated as the features. Online play with rollback netcode is planned and not implemented, which for a competitive game is the feature most players will ask about first; the roadmap places it in a later phase built on decentralized peer discovery. macOS is not supported yet and sits on that same future phase. The competitive fixes the Melee scene expects, direct 1000 Hz controller adapter polling and the Universal Controller Fix, are listed as upcoming, not present. The GCC-only build requirement is a real constraint if your toolchain is Clang or MSVC. And the whole thing is beta: the README leads with a warning to expect crashes. This is a project to try, not one to rely on for a tournament today. ## How it differs from Dolphin and Slippi The obvious alternative is Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator, and its Slippi fork for Melee netplay. The difference is architectural. Dolphin emulates the GameCube hardware and runs the original game binary on top of that emulation. melee-pc runs recompiled game code as a native application through aurora's reimplemented system interfaces, with no hardware emulation in the path. For a player today, the practical gap runs the other way: Slippi already delivers rollback netcode and a mature online scene, which melee-pc does not have yet. So the native port's appeal is native performance and PC-side features such as high internal resolution and custom textures, while Slippi's appeal is that online play works now. Both still require you to own the game. ## License ambiguity and release cadence The repository shows NOASSERTION for its license, which means a non-standard or mixed licensing situation rather than a clear grant. Given that the code derives from a decompilation and links several upstream projects, anyone planning to redistribute builds should read LICENSE.md and COPYING in the repository first. On cadence, the last push was on 2026-09-17, with beta tags arriving close together (v0.1.5-beta on 2026-09-16 and v0.1.6-beta on 2026-09-17), so development is active at present. Each release repeats the same requirement: bring your own NTSC-U 1.02 image, because no game data ships in the artifacts. ## Conclusion Try melee-pc if you own a Super Smash Bros. Melee NTSC-U 1.02 disc, run Linux, Windows or Android, and want a native binary with high internal resolution and custom textures. Do not choose it if you need online play, since rollback netcode is not implemented and Slippi on Dolphin remains the option for netplay today. Before building, confirm you have GCC and CMake 3.25 or newer, because the big-endian storage attribute the code relies on will not compile under Clang or MSVC. ## FAQ ### What is melee-pc? melee-pc is a native PC port of Super Smash Bros. Melee, recompiled from the doldecomp/melee decompilation on top of aurora and SDL3. It runs on Linux, Windows and Android and is beta software. ### Does melee-pc include the game? No. No game data ships in the builds. You must supply your own disc image, and only USA revision 2 (NTSC-U 1.02, GALE01) is supported; the port even reads its font atlases from that disc at boot. ### Can I play online with melee-pc? Not yet. The README states online play with rollback netcode is planned but not implemented. For netplay today, Slippi on Dolphin is the working option. ### Which platforms does melee-pc support? The README lists native builds for Linux (x86-64 and aarch64), Windows x86-64 and Android arm64. macOS is not supported yet and is listed on a later roadmap phase. ## Sources - [999sian/melee-pc on GitHub](https://github.com/999sian/melee-pc) - [Issues](https://github.com/999sian/melee-pc/issues) - [README](https://github.com/999sian/melee-pc/blob/master/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/999sian/melee-pc/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/999sian-melee-pc