Panda Global Plup plays Melee online with one hand, then blindfolded

Jul 13, 2020

It started out as a comment in Twitch chat challenging Justin "Plup" McGrath to beat someone online with one hand.

Plup, one of the best Super Smash Bros. Melee players in the world, regularly accepts random challenges from his online stream audience as a way to pass the time and make his stream more interesting. The truth is, when you are as skilled at Melee as Panda Global's Plup, the majority of matches online are decidedly one-sided.

Thanks to the fantastic netplay technology provided by Slippi.gg, Melee has never been more accessible to new players just starting out. Not everyone has been playing the game professionally for over a decade, however, so players like Plup routinely decimate their opponents until finding a decent challenge.

"The real challenge", one Twitch viewer commented, is finding someone skilled enough to warrant Plup's "focus" in-game.

Enter one-handed Melee

So when Plup decided to see if he could win a match with one hand, he naturally picked Marth ("1-handed Marth is high tier", someone in chat joked) and went to work.

After a questionable victory, Plup went into training mode, practiced some wave dashes, and gave it another try.

This time, he faced against a Peach opponent in a surprisingly (and comedically) intense set.

Ultimately, LPMageMan proved to be the better, more skilled player. Narrowly clutching out a victory and sending Plup back to the drawing board.

How about... blindfolded?"That combo -- did anyone see that? Because I didn't."

With a Twitch chat now fully on-board with the increasing absurdity of Plup handicapping himself, it was only natural that the next frontier of gameplay would be to try and beat an opponent blindfolded.

In juxtaposing realities of despair for the newest generation of Melee players and hope for the game's enduring ability to entertain, Plup reminded us all that, yes, the Melee gods really are that much better at you in Smash Bros.