Super Smash Bros. Melee is a 20-year-old game that is still incredibly awesome. The graphics are still crisp, the characters are still iconic, and most importantly, the gameplay still produces some of the most electrifying competitive experiences that modern fighting games rarely eclipse.

How Melee has managed to stay fresh to its loyal community is an accomplishment game developer across all genres can probably learn from. Even so, one team of modders have been hard at work doing the impossible -- making Melee even better.

Team Akaneia has managed to add a plethora of new content to Super Smash Bros. Melee, including a new playable character from the Starfox series, Wolf.

Leffen, one of Melee's top competitors, is having a whole lot of fun destroying opponents as Wolf.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗸𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗶𝗮 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 is described as "new viable and authentic content" made possible by Akaneia's "𝗺-𝗲𝘅 system" you can download the build here to try out this fan-made content. In addition to the new character, The Akaneia build also features new stages, new color variants for the entire cast of characters, and a new Volleyball game mode:

This isn't the first time a group of dedicated modders has transformed existing Smash Bros. titles into new content.  The most well-known example of this is the 2008 mod of Super Smash Bros. Brawl called Project M developed by a group known as "The Project M Development Team".

The team eventually stopped updating the game to avoid future legal dispute between Nintendo but has since formed Wavedash Games, the studio behind Icons: Combat Arena.

Nintendo has been characteristically harsh on the Melee community over the past months, so many approaches enjoying the mod with caution, as there is no telling when Mario's infamous team of lawyers might show up and pull the plug on the entire project. Towards the end of 2020, Nintendo sent legal threats to one of the largest melee tournaments of the year simply because they were playing Melee online via the Slippi.gg mod that requires a ROM of Melee to operate.

If Nintendo is willing to crack down on the mere emulation of Melee, how might they respond to direct changes and additions to the game? Melee fans can only hope the mod doesn't cause too much attention and awake the sleeping giant that is Nintendo's legal team.