Super Smash Bros. Melee
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50 free Super Smash Bros. Melee trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Super Smash Bros. Melee came out in 2001 and never really went away. Nintendo's GameCube brawler sold millions as a party game, then found a second life as one of the most demanding competitive games ever played, with a tournament scene that has run for more than two decades. This quiz covers both sides of the game. There are questions on the roster and the character select screen, hidden unlocks, stages, items and single-player modes, alongside the terms players use for advanced moves and the champions, rivalries and events that shaped competitive Melee. A few odd facts from the game's development are in there too. The early questions suit anyone who spent time with the game on a couch with friends. The later ones are aimed at people who follow the tournament scene and know their SSBM slang. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In Melee's Home-Run Contest, what do players batter for ten seconds and then launch with a bat?
Sandbag
Sandbag flies farthest when struck with the very tip of the Home-Run Bat, a hit players call a tipper.
Q 02Which playable Melee fighter has no portrait of their own on the character select screen?
Sheik
Sheik shares Zelda's slot and appears when Zelda transforms, which is why Melee's roster is counted as either 25 or 26 fighters.
Q 03Which Melee technique makes a character slide along the ground by air dodging diagonally into it?
Wavedash
Wavedash did not survive into the sequel: Brawl reworked air dodging so that it no longer carried momentum into a slide.
Q 04Which fighter joins Melee's Adventure Mode if stage one is beaten with the seconds ending in 2?
Luigi
Luigi replaces Mario in the battle that follows, and once Adventure Mode is finished he challenges the player for a place on the roster.
Q 05In a Melee Sudden Death tiebreaker, what starts raining from the sky if nobody scores a quick KO?
Bob-ombs
Bob-ombs begin falling after about 20 seconds, and because every fighter restarts at 300% damage, a single blast usually settles the match.
Q 06Which Melee collectibles, called Figures in Japan, depict Nintendo characters and objects?
Trophies
Trophies range from the playable fighters to obscure characters and items, including some from games that were only ever released in Japan.
Q 07Which Nintendo strategy series reached Western players only after Marth and Roy appeared in Melee?
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem had never left Japan, and its two swordsmen were meant for the Japanese version only until they won fans during the North American localization.
Q 08Which flat Melee stage with no platforms hosts the closing boss fight of Classic Mode?
Final Destination
Final Destination was reserved for single-player boss fights in the first game; Melee was the first to let players pick it in versus matches.
Q 09Which Melee newcomer is the game's lightest fighter and takes damage from many of its own attacks?
Pichu
Pichu takes recoil damage from its electric moves, even its recovery, so a careless player can push it into knockout range unaided.
Q 10Which internet meme was born from shouting commentators at a December 2008 Melee doubles match?
Wombo Combo
Wombo Combo was the cry as two teammates chained their attacks on one helpless opponent to win the game, and the clip later got its own mini documentary.
Q 11Which GameCube controller input gives Melee players a one-touch shortcut for smash attacks?
C-Stick
C-Stick smashes only work in versus matches: in Melee's single-player modes the same input just zooms the camera in and out.
Q 12Which character took Hungrybox to number one in Melee's rankings three years running, 2017 to 2019?
Jigglypuff
Jigglypuff became his main once he saw how effective its Rest move was, even though using it leaves the character immobile for several seconds.
Q 13Which Kirby creator directed Melee and later called it the sharpest game in the Smash series?
Masahiro Sakurai
Masahiro Sakurai called Melee the biggest job he had led up to that point, and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto served as a co-producer.
Q 21Which veteran fighter did Melee's team plan to replace with Lucas until Mother 3 was delayed?
Ness
Ness kept his place because Mother 3 slipped off schedule, and Lucas finally joined the series in the 2008 sequel.
Q 22Which Melee newcomer was picked to represent the NES era over Balloon Fight and Excitebike?
Ice Climbers
Ice Climbers won out over four other NES games, including Urban Champion and Clu Clu Land, whose heroes the team judged poor fits for a brawler.
Q 23Which Melee technique halves an aerial attack's landing lag with a well-timed shield button press?
L-canceling
L-canceling is read as either lag canceling or L button canceling, and the series' official website gave the trick a gentler name, smooth landing.
Q 14Standard Melee tournament matches give each player four of what, alongside an eight-minute timer?
Stocks
Stocks are the game's word for lives, and the community's standard rules pair four of them with items switched off entirely.
Q 15Which unlockable Melee challenge sends every fighter in the game against a player's single life?
All-Star Mode
All-Star Mode opens only once the full roster is unlocked, and it offers just three healing items for the entire run.
Q 16Which hidden Melee fighter is unlocked by logging 20 combined hours of versus matches?
Mewtwo
Mewtwo's clock counts player-hours, so four friends on one console can meet the requirement in just five hours of play.
Q 17Melee's last unlockable fighter is a flat black figure from which early Nintendo handheld line?
Game & Watch
Game & Watch handhelds first appeared in 1980, and their silhouette mascot joins the roster once a single-player mode has been cleared with all 24 other characters.
Q 18Which hero did Hideo Kojima ask to have added to Melee, a request that came too late in development?
Snake
Snake had to wait for the 2008 sequel, as did Sonic, whom Sega's Yuji Naka had separately asked to see in Melee.
Q 19Which Melee newcomer was added late in development as a slower, heavier clone of Captain Falcon?
Ganondorf
Ganondorf got the slot for his popularity and because an existing model of him happened to match Captain Falcon's body type.
Q 20Which Japanese studio, the birthplace of Kirby, developed Super Smash Bros. Melee for Nintendo?
HAL Laboratory
HAL Laboratory built the game in about 13 months, a stretch its director later called destructive, with no holidays and short weekends.
Q 24Among Melee players, what does DI stand for, the art of steering where a launched fighter flies?
Directional influence
Directional influence is officially called launch shuffling, and it works by holding a direction during the brief freeze as a hit connects.
Q 25Fox's Reflector move is better known among Melee players by which one-word nickname?
Shine
Shine hits on its very first frame and can be interrupted with a jump, letting skilled players repeat it or flow straight into another attack.
Q 26What do Melee players call a shield press timed just before a tumbling fighter hits a surface?
A tech
A tech lets the fighter spring up at once or roll aside, and a mistimed press is followed by a lockout that punishes button mashing.
Q 27Which early Melee champion, nicknamed the King of Smash, later competed on Survivor: Gabon?
Ken
Ken was widely considered the world's best player in the game's early years, had a signature Marth combo named after him, and finished fifth on the CBS reality show in 2008.
Q 28Which player nicknamed The Kid won Melee at back-to-back Evos and topped a 2021 all-time ranking?
Mango
Mango built his name on an aggressive, high-risk style with Falco and Fox, and his Evo titles came in 2013 and 2014.
Q 29Sweden's Armada, a two-time Evo champion, is rated the greatest Melee player of which character?
Peach
Peach was his main through three Genesis titles, and he stayed in the world's top two every year from 2013 until he left singles play in 2018.
Q 30Which fan-made tool gave Melee rollback netcode in 2020, making smooth online matches possible?
Slippi
Slippi arrived just as the pandemic shut down in-person tournaments, and it later added ranked matches with a running online leaderboard.