Master Hand glitch

The Master Hand glitch is a variant of the Name Entry glitch in Super Smash Bros. Melee that allows the player to use and control on any stage. It is impossible to use any other non-playable characters through this glitch. Although any player is capable of being Master Hand, only the third player is capable of actually controlling him. Like any other character, Master Hand will appear with a damage percentage meter. Since he takes no knockback at all, he cannot be KO'd except in Stamina Mode. Any options that would affect knockback, such as handicap and damage ratio, will not affect Master Hand at all. There is a subglitch that can be done called the Master Hand Laser glitch.

Performing the glitch
There are two ways to perform the glitch. One requires only one controller; the other requires two.

Method one (one controller)
This method works on all modes except Tournament, though the game is highly susceptible to freezing after activation.

The player must have a controller in slot 3, or Master Hand cannot be controlled. It is much easier to do if there is only one name entered. Using this controller, place the cursor over the name field on the character selection screen. Now press the A and B buttons at the same time, and the player will come to the name selection. Hold the B button, but release the A button, then go down with the cursor until they are over the "name entry field". Then press the A button at the right time. The game should want to go back to the menu, because the player held the B button, but it should also want go to the name entry screen, because they pressed the A button over "name entry". If performed correctly, instead of going to either of these, the game should go to the stage selection screen (or, in Single Player, straight to the game). After selecting the stage, the player will be playing as Master Hand.

Method two (two controllers)
This method is much simpler, but only works in Melee or Special Melee mode. To perform it, simply have two controllers; one as P3 and the second one in any other port. Have the controller that's not player three select a character, and then hover over the back button, while the one in the third port goes to select a name, and have them hover over the name entry button. Both controllers must then hit A at the same time, as to select their option, and if done correctly, the stage select screen will appear (there is very little leeway between selection, less than a second). On whatever stage selected, player 3 will be Master Hand.

Controls
These move names are not official.

Note: Master Hand's moves are typed in on the d-pad, not the analog stick. Also, the player cannot move him. The player can only get around by doing moves.

Explanation
Each character in the game has an ID number. When a character is selected on the character selection screen, the game loads that character's number. In this situation, Master Hand's ID number is 1A, and NONE's ID number is 21. When the player enters the character selection screen, it will default to loading each character's ID number as 1A. However, if the player hovers the character slots and generates a player chip, the character ID number will be changed to 21. This is most likely the explanation behind why the game may occasionally crash when this glitch is attempted. In order for the game to re-register that the character ID number is 1A (Master Hand) instead of 21 (NONE), the player must either 1. enter and exit the name entry screen while the chip for the intended Master Hand player is being held by the player's hand, or 2. exit then reenter the character selection screen. So if this glitch is performed and then crashes the game upon entering a match, it is most likely because the chip of the Master Hand player was created and changed the player's character ID number to 21. Also, the reason a controller must be in socket 3 is because in Classic mode (or event match 50), Master Hand is always character 3; character one is the player, and character four is reserved for Crazy Hand.

In competitive play
The Master Hand glitch and Name Entry glitch are not explicitly mentioned in most tournament rulesets, which technically makes Master Hand legal for competitive play sometimes. However, the Name Entry glitch may still freeze the game, and since the glitch has to be done intentionally, this can constitute as attempting to disrupt gameplay, which is considered cheating in most rulesets and the tournament organizer can punish said player in whatever way they see fit even if there is no direct mention of the glitch in the rules.

There is also a potential conflict of two people attempting to pick Master Hand, as only one player can be Master Hand at a time. This alone is typically enough for Master Hand to be banned to avoid any conflict and hassle in deciding who gets to use a character.

If Master Hand is allowed in a game, he may at first appear to have a considerable advantage, as he does not take knockback and thus cannot be KOed at all. This means that the only way to win against Master Hand is to survive the full eight minutes while taking less damage than him and never losing a single stock. However, even with these advantages, Master Hand's competitive viability is considered to be worse than any regular character in the game. As typical of bosses, all of Master Hand's moves have both extremely long startup lag and ending lag, and he is unable to block or dodge opponents' attacks. This allows a skilled opponent to easily dodge all of Master Hand's telegraphed attacks, while using Master Hand's unavoidably large vulnerable periods to inflict damage, including slow high-damage attacks that would almost never successfully connect in a usual match. Master Hand's lack of competitive viability was referenced in the tenth Melee tier list; released shortly after the Master Hand glitch was discovered, he was placed in his own tier below all other characters, in a "" tier.

Since the Master Hand glitch most often causes a major disadvantage to the player using it, few players even consider the option, preventing the situation from being a competitive issue.

Master Hand's presence in doubles is more uncertain; for example he can give his partner three Share stocks (but no longer has the single-KO win condition), and his partner may prevent an opponent from dodging a Master Hand attack (but he has difficulty avoiding friendly fire in that case). He also cannot target the opponent whose port number is higher.

Trivia

 * Metal Boxes, Starmen, and Lip's Stick all have their unique respective effects work on Master Hand. s can be thrown at him, but they have no special effect when hitting him and so will only deal damage. Master Hand can additionally utilize the effect of Super Mushrooms and Poison Mushrooms, but Master Hand making contact with them on certain stages will crash the game.
 * This glitch is the only way to normally see Master Hand's idle pose, which is never seen in regular gameplay. For Master Hand's idle pose, he simply clenches his fist. This is because when the AI controls him, he'll never stay idle long enough for the animation to play.
 * On scrolling stages like Rainbow Cruise, Icicle Mountain, or Big Blue, Master Hand moves with the screen because the game treats him as a character, not as an object.
 * Whenever Master Hand doesn't have a target to use his moves on, the only moves he can use without the game freezing are the laser move (^B), the sweep move (^L), and the smack move (>L).
 * It is possible to have a computer player Master Hand if the player has one with no selected character while using the name entry glitch.
 * The glitch was referenced on the 10th Melee tier list, with the bottom tier being called "Gengar", and being described as "Master Hand and other glitch characters".
 * When defeated on Brinstar, Master Hand will continually repeat his defeat animation.
 * As Falco and Pichu can be unlocked after completing 100-Man Melee and Event 37: Legendary Pokémon, respectively, it is possible for Master Hand to face them in the Challenger Approaching battle. Defeating them will unlock them as usual, without the game crashing.
 * When viewing detailed information of Master Hand on the results screen, none of his attacks will be counted, resulting in the records always stating that the player used each type of attack zero times. Other records, such as maximum knockback achieved and peak damage, will still be recorded as usual.