I wouldn't have played Brawl for too long if it didn't have online. Yes I know, its online is terrible, but from a standpoint of someone who never played Smash Bros with friends because they didn't like video games and whatnot, it's refreshing to this day to go against a human player, good or bad. Hell, to this day, I've been playing online every night since the day Brawl came out.
I'd try Melee's dolphin or whatever it's called if I took the time to learn about the computer file nonsense, though.