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[Trevor Collins]

Rollback netcode works because fighting games run on a fixed deterministic game loop, not a variable-framerate render loop. Each tick is exactly one frame (16.67 ms at 60 Hz), and both machines advance simulation state frame-by-frame in lockstep. The trick is that each side predicts its opponent’s actions by applying remote inputs optimistically the moment it can—usually one frame ahead—while displaying your own inputs instantly with zero delay. When a delayed packet finally arrives, the host isn’t waiting; it rewinds the simulation to the exact frame that input should have landed, re-simulates forward with the now-correct data, and snapshots the corrected state. This is why you sometimes see “rollback ghosts” or afterimages of the opponent—they’re the visual echoes of the frames you just rewound past. The critical insight most people miss: rollback doesn’t eliminate latency, it absorbs it into a rolling

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