Slippi lands on Android, brings Melee netplay to handhelds

Melee rollback netplay has finally slipped out of the desktop box. An unofficial Android build of Slippi now runs on handhelds such as the AYN Thor, letting players jump into direct-connect, unranked, and teams play with auto-saved replays built in.

The port arrived as v3.6.0-r1 on May 11, 2026, and its maintainer describes it as the first Android release of Slippi, using the Ishiiruka fork. Project Slippi already gives Melee rollback netcode, integrated matchmaking, and automatically saved replays, so the Android build closes a very specific gap: portable Melee netplay on retro handheld hardware without having to stay tethered to a PC.

That matters most on devices built around recent aarch64 Android chips, especially models with Adreno-class GPUs. The port was tuned for the AYN Thor, a dual-screen Android handheld with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 options, Android 13, hall sticks, and a 6-inch AMOLED main display, but the README says it should also work on most newer aarch64 Android devices with comparable graphics hardware. On the Thor itself, the build is described as running Slippi netplay at full speed in direct-connect, unranked, and teams modes. Ranked queues are disabled in this Android release.

For controllers, the port covers most of the usual Melee handheld pain points. It supports the official GameCube USB adapter, listed as WUP-028, along with Bluetooth controllers and the AYN Thor’s built-in controls. Replays are part of the package too: matches are auto-saved locally, then browsable inside the app. Training Mode, specifically Community Edition Training Mode, can be downloaded and set up through the launcher, which gives the port a second life beyond netplay alone.

The build also leans into mobile-friendly performance choices. Vulkan is the default graphics backend, and audio goes through Oboe and AAudio with selectable buffer presets for lower latency. That makes the port feel aimed at actual play, not just booting to a menu, even if the maintainer is blunt about what it is: a personal hobbyist project with no warranty and no affiliation to Project Slippi.

A separate Slippi Ishiiruka experiment on ROCKNIX points to where this could go next. That beta proof-of-concept was tested on an AYN Thor Max with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Adreno 740, and the maintainer said online play worked, even while warning about known issues. For now, though, the Android release already does the important thing: it turns a desktop-only Melee netplay setup into something that can live in a handheld case and still feel close enough for real practice.