Frame delay

Brawl wifi, as well as smash 64 online using project 64k or Gamecube Wifi play using Dolphin is the different in frames in the amount of time between inputting a move on a controller/keyboard and the move coming out. Frame delay, commonly confused with lag, is the main issue with brawl online, as regardless of how good a connection is, it is impossible to have 0 frame delay. It is however possible to have 0 lag in a brawl match and massive frame delay.

Brawl wifi lag
Brawl wifi also shows the extent of frame delay. At the side of every person registered using friend codes, after completing at least one match and quitting (not restarting), a large dot will show up, being colored. People have discovered that this dot refers to the person's connection. The color coding from best (3 frames) to worst (more than 15 frames) is as follows:
 * Dark Blue
 * Light blue
 * Green
 * Yellow
 * Orange
 * Light Red
 * Dark Red

Server play
Server frame delay is due to the distance between a person and the server. There are 6 different connection types which can change a person's delay but the majority of people use either Excellent, LAN, or Good. This is shown by the ping of the person which is listed besides everyone along with their nickname. A connection below 30 ping on an excellent connection for example has 3 frames of delay while a connection below 30 on LAN has 1/2 frames of delay while the same connection on good has 5 frames of delay. The majority of people who are used to online smash can reasonably play on any connection that is better than 6 frames of delay. Excellent is the most common connection since LAN causes extra problems with most people online.

Player to Player (p2p)
Player to player, which connects one person's connection entirely to another person's connection reduces the amount of delay between players. This is very common to be used between 2 people on opposite coasts, or between a US and a European smasher.