MIT Develops 'Super Smash Bros. Melee' AI That Can Compete Against Top Players

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First Chess, then Go, and now Super Smash Bros. Melee?! Are the AIs finally getting the better of us at everything?

Not quite, but close enough!

Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have created a Super Smash Bros. Melee AI superior to the regular "target practice" you can already fight in the game. And it’s good enough to hold its own against some global top 100 players!

Super Smash Bros. Melee was chosen because, according to the paper's abstract, its "environment has complex dynamics and partial observability, making it challenging for human and machine alike. The multiplayer aspect poses an additional challenge"

The team, led by Vlad Firoiu, trained a neural network model to play the game by feeding it gameplay data and incentivizing play that resulted in the computer’s victory. Rather than watching the screen and learning patterns, it is more like an in-game computer player that’s learned everything from scratch.

“It uses a combination of human techniques and some odd ones too – both of which benefit from faster-than-human reflexes,” wrote Firoiu in an email to TechCrunch. “It is sometimes very conservative, being unwilling to attack until it sees there’s a opening. Other times it goes for risky off-stage acrobatics that it turns into quick kills.”

However, it doesn't fare well with projectiles and it has a secret weakness:

“If the opponent crouches in the corner for a long period of time, it freaks out and eventually suicides,” Firiou wrote. (“This should be a warning against releasing agents trained in simulation into the real world,” he added)

Below is a video of the AI playing against several top 100 global players, against whom it won more than it lost!



While not a reason to fret for your gamer skills (yet?), the research demonstrates the interesting way in which AIs can cope in new environments. Moreover, game devs could make use of such neural networks to provide a more serious challenge to competitive and professional players to practice their skills.

:arrow: SOURCE
 

Sonic Angel Knight

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Sounds familiar somehow... Mortal kombat games? Well yeah but hmm..... I wonder if there is a way to play against these improved Ai stuff. Wouldn't be different to just maybe use the AI from that cruel melee mode in normal mode somehow? Cause i can't beat them, and i dunno if "TOP 100 PLAYERS" Could either, or attempted to. :wtf:
 

The Catboy

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This sounds cool.
Nice to see Melee is still having such a huge following! ^_^
Melee's following is beyond dedicated. Imagine fusing the collective egos' of PC gamers, Arch Linux, and every single fanboy, into one community. It still won't reach the level's of Melee's community.

Although this is a rather interesting project. I want to see the Ai's fight each other.
 

LaPingas

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The AI doesn't look that much good. Maybe he's making the best choices, but it just can't do things like the pros to..
For example, wavedashing (or if we're talking about capt. Falcon, so dash-dancing and SHFFL'd nairs to approach)
Also it uses side smash with Falcon too much.. it might be good sometimes, but not that much.
Alsp near the end you can see the AI just doing strange sh*t.. It actually used up-b after up air which means he maybe programed to recover if you don't land after aerial-attacks
There's a lot to improve, but I can see it going well even in the near future.
 

BlueFox gui

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Maybe it could be true but no-one really cares. The game as a competitive game is awesome and you should definitely check it out
i like to play casually, but play on emulator its not so good, i would like to play more but i don't have reasons to improve skills in a game that I will not play with anyone, and how i get angry when i realized the developers used the same animations for captain falcon and ganondorf
 

LaPingas

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i like to play casually, but play on emulator its not so good, i would like to play more but i don't have reasons to improve skills in a game that I will not play with anyone, and how i get angry when i realized the developers used the same animations for captain falcon and ganondorf
You don't really need to play. To watch tourneys is more than enough lmao
 

LaPingas

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but i want to play too XD
but at the first stage on the multiple yoshi part, my emulator slows down ¬¬
and don't have anyone to play with
If you have a Wii/Wii U you can play without any of those slow-downs. I play with Nintendon't on a Wii U. I wish I could play on a proper setup, a CRT and my old Wii, but it is much harder on my country. The only reason for that is to provide less input lag, and it worths it if you are really into it.
 

BlueFox gui

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If you have a Wii/Wii U you can play without any of those slow-downs. I play with Nintendon't on a Wii U. I wish I could play on a proper setup, a CRT and my old Wii, but it is much harder on my country. The only reason for that is to provide less input lag, and it worths it if you are really into it.
no i don't have wii u, here its expensive it have almost the same price of the launch and sometimes more expansive
 

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People make this game so competitive that sometimes it's kind of boring, I just like to play casually XD
lmao everyone with his point of view.. If you don't that much understand the meta-game, you'll find yourself asking why are they spamming shines.
It excites me more than sf5 and any other fighting game
 
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