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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s online experience is awful—here’s what Nintendo could do to fix it

Nintendo really struggles to create a good online infrastructure.
Image of Adam Newell
Adam Newell
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Published: Dec 9, 2018 02:03 pm

This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players aren’t impressed with the state of the game’s online experience.

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There are a bunch of threads appearing on Reddit and pro players have been weighing in on the whole fiasco, going as far as to call it the worst online experience available in a Triple-A title in a long time.

Similar to a lot of Nintendo Switch games, the issues come from the lack of online options available to players. When you enter matchmaking, you’ll be paired with players on a random ruleset. This means that players who want to play one-vs-one games with no items (competitive matches) won’t always get the mode that they desire.

Even Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s “For Fun” and “For Glory” options were a better step up than what Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has to offer. There, you had two distinct modes that gave casual players a chance to play together and the competitive-minded players had an area to get their game on.

Related: How to play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with friends online

Of course, players can always create a Battle Arena and set up custom matches with players around the world, but it can take ages to find matches in some instances and games also don’t count toward GSP. So, if you want to gain access to Elite Smash Battles through this method, you’re out of luck.

How could Nintendo fix this?

Nintendo could implement new online game modes that give people the option to join one-vs-one no-item battles. This, however, could create issues with Nintendo’s already-unstable online network.

Nintendo could also create a system that only matches online players looking to play with the same rulesets. This could put players into long wait times for matches, though.

Another potential option would be to bring back Brawl’s “For Fun” or “For Glory” modes. These modes were disliked for a reason, however, and would cost the company a lot of time and money in the process to implement.

Honestly, at this rate, it feels like no matter what Nintendo decides to do in the future, they aren’t going to make everyone happy.

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Author
Image of Adam Newell
Adam Newell
Assigning Editor. In 2015, Adam graduated from the University of Aberystwyth with a bachelor's in Media and Communications. Working in the industry for over ten years. If it has anything to do with Nintendo and Pokémon chances are you will see me talking about it, covering, and likely not sleeping while playing it.
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