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[Simply_Bry]

Don't get me wrong, the game is amazing with some huge improvements compared to the Wii U version (except Ryu's nerf). But when playing online I can't help but facepalming like I do always with Nintendo's online decisions.

First of all, the best part of For Glory in Sm4sh is that you can play with anyone you want for as long as you want with any character you want. Now you are only able to rematch the same person if you play with the same character, otherwise you'll lose connection. It's part of the fun to test each others skills with different characters and practice your skills.
Second, instead of playing the mode you want to play like you always do with any other game, you now only increase the chance of playing the mode you want to play. Even if you set your preferred rules to 1-on-1, there's still a possibility you'll end up in a 4 player free for all match with items and stage hazards. And you can't leave the match or you'll get a penalty and eventually banned. Terrific.
And finally the lag seems to be the same as previous installments, even when playing with people close to you. There's always input lag to some degree or stutters. Somehow I'm experiencing this way less with fighting games on Playstation, so why can't Nintendo do the same? They make insane amounts of money with the Switch and its software. They should be able to improve this.

I can't believe Nintendo is making us pay for this atrocious online system and how they managed to make it even worse than before. Do you guys think they will fix it? Personally I don't think so. Nintendo is completely out of touch with it's fanbase and online overall, even with the constant feedback available on the internet.

''Super Smash Bros Ultimate really is something special, man.
In what other game can you have a 4 man match where Cloud, Joker, Mario and Sonic face off, with pokeballs and assist trophies going off left and right, despite those 4 players all searched for 1v1 no items.
Amazing.''

— Leffen (@TSM_Leffen) December 9, 2018

 

[Tip_of_the_Hat]

Smash 4's was much better, the new one is just pandering to ridiculous levels of specifics.

 

[GenericUser]

Sad to hear Nintendo could not get this right. I know a lot of people looked forward to the game. Maybe Nintendo listens and will provide a patch. Fingers crossed Nintendo-bros.

 

[Fbh]

This definitely makes me not want to get it. Online would be a big reason for me and this sounds pretty bad.
Also if lag hasn't been improved from the previous one it means that to me it will probably be unplayable.

I'll buy it on some sale in 10 years .... (holy shit brawl is STILL 40?!?!?)

 

[Wings 嫩翼翻せ]

This definitely makes me not want to get it. Online would be a big reason for me and this sounds pretty bad.
Also if lag hasn't been improved from the previous one it means that to me it will probably be unplayable.

I'll buy it on some sale in 10 years .... (holy shit brawl is STILL 40?!?!?)

My brother actually bought the game, so me and two others get to play together.

But I considered (and still am, pending online gameplay change) getting a personal system to play this game, and that would require subscription to Nintendo Online.

That does not seem plausible. As someone who adored Smash for WiiU/3DS' online set-up, it sounds like people are effectively handing money to Nintendo as we speak.

 

[Yagami_Sama]

That is just awful to hear, And even worse because, now we need to pay to have this "privilege". And just pass the impression that Nintendo is just charging, but is no investing anything in their infrastructure. And I thought that they would improve.

Splatoon 2 still have issues, and this kind of game must have dedicated servers.

Nintendo must do something to improve their network environment.

 

[Wings 嫩翼翻せ]

We should start a new universal hashtag. #BringForGloryBack

 

[jshackles]

Particularly sad to hear since a lot of people were defending NIntendo's decision to start charging for online play by saying "It'll be worth it if Smash has good online".

 

[waylo]

2018 and Nintendo still has no clue how to handle online. And now they're charging for it. Ridiculous.

 

[royox]

Was going to buy a 1 month sub just for Smash but after reading the OP I won't. I want 1vs1, 2 lives, Final Destination matches when I play online so if I can't chose that I'm out.

 

[iconmaster]

It's possible this will get better as more players come online, especially after the holiday.

But this is roughly what you should always expect with a Nintendo online experience. (I don't say it's what they should provide, but it's what you should expect.)

 

[ThatStupidLion]

smh.

another generation goes by and nintendo still cant get online up to standards.

 

[Ten_Fold]

Out of every fighter I’ve played this game’s online is soo bad the gsp is crazy I had a friend playing next to me an he got into elite smash with 500k an I got too 800k an didn’t get in lol an we was playing the same character an the same time. Last thing they need to bring back for glory make a real leaderboard. I don’t enjoy playing FFA with items on. Nintendo dropped the ball hard with the online part.

 

[trufflepigg]

my buddy came over Friday to relive the glory days we had as kids playing Smash 64, and honestly we had a great time 1v1'ing for hours. Then we tried online....what a disappointment wtf Nintendo, I knew I was right to not sign up for the online initially but caved due to Smash, and now I'll cancel again. What a bunch of asshats over at Nintendo, honestly i have lost all respect for Nintendo as a brand

 

[Shouta]

There's a lot of problems for sure with quick play but rooms seems to be okay though. I'd stick with those if you're looking for specific matches.

The netcode though....

 

[robo_qwop]

You can set online matchmaking to pair you up with people in the background while you do other things. It also allows you to set the rules beforehand. I got 4 or 5 matches pretty quickly and with the rules i chose. Decent connection (but i'm wired). Give this method a shot!

 

[Blade2.0]

Game is great but Nintendo just can't do online

 

[DreamsiclesPlz]

And they have the balls to charge for it. I know hindsight is 20/20 but knowing Nintendo's track record, I didn't bank on the online working well. Fortunately for me, it's purely a party game for people to come over and play.

 

[olimariOA]

I remember playing GEARS online in 2006 or 2007 and how beautiful and seamless it was.
The voice chat just worked, too. Matchmaking was easy.

Smash more than a decade later isn't that elegant. Not even close, really.

 

[Pejo]

Sucks to hear this. I was on the fence about paying for the Nintendo Online, but at least for now I think I'll pass. I'm against paying for their online out of principal, but this news makes it easier.

 

[ChuyMasta]

Was going to buy a 1 month sub just for Smash but after reading the OP I won't. I want 1vs1, 2 lives, Final Destination matches when I play online so if I can't chose that I'm out.

You can do exactly that. Fox only if you so choose too.

 

[Sp3eD]

Let’s not forget that they have taken CPUs out of online custom games which for some of my friends the only way they wanted to play online.

Here is the kicker on that, if you go into local wireless play you can turn the cpus on just fine mimicking yhr smadh 4 online system options. Doesn’t make sense.

The positive for me is when I have played with friends I know are close to me the lag is almost non existent

 

[Codes 208]

Online chat is still a mess, but last night me and my friends played a private session with discord chat and everything ran pretty smoothly. I haven’t played matchmaking yet, and I probably won’t. I don’t like fighting randoms in fighter games.

It’s certainly a better situation than Mario party anyway. That game’s online is a travesty.

I remember playing GEARS online in 2006 or 2007 and how beautiful and seamless it was.
The voice chat just worked, too. Matchmaking was easy.

Smash more than a decade later isn't that elegant. Not even close, really.

Gears wasn’t perfect. It had a lot of D/C and host advantage back in those days and the issues got more severe with gears 2, especially lag. Gears 3 however was sublime because it had dedicated servers, something all games should strive for.

 

[Panajev2001a]

That is just awful to hear, And even worse because, now we need to pay to have this "privilege". And just pass the impression that Nintendo is just charging, but is no investing anything in their infrastructure. And I thought that they would improve.

Splatoon 2 still have issues, and this kind of game must have dedicated servers.

Nintendo must do something to improve their network environment.

Why though? Consumers are loving it and rewarding them looking at subscription numbers and sales of their online enabled software both going through the roof.

Seriously though, yes, I get what you are saying, but their core and very loud fanbase is normally praising them and seems to accept oddities such as smartphones being required for voice chat... they still have to fix “that”.

 

[royox]

You can do exactly that. Fox only if you so choose too.

Then what's the OP ranting about?

 

[Atanascovich]

I remember playing GEARS online in 2006 or 2007 and how beautiful and seamless it was.
The voice chat just worked, too. Matchmaking was easy.

Smash more than a decade later isn't that elegant. Not even close, really.

Yes! I remember Resistance in the lunch of ps3, i had a shit connection, like 1 mega, shared with 2 pcs and still it worked awesome, voice chat,no lost connections. Now,13 years later, we still get games running with shit netcodes, its unbelievable

 

[Väinömäinen]

This is online gaming for you. It is impossible to hide latency, when the whole play field is showing all the time, and this is why there are no online platformers with snappy gameplay.

This is also something, that I am really afraid of; that Nintendo finally budges under popular demand, and makes floaty Super Mario in order to make it onlineable.

I have thought, that Nintendo chose to implement the social aspect of mobile gaming into the phones, at least partially in order to take some load off from the bandwidth. (Of course the official reasoning was something along the lines of taking the Switch with you and having to do the online with the phone anyway)

 

[Iaterain]

I'm very happy with paid online. It is much better than I was expected!
Not only did they not provide dedicated servers it also didn't offer any special deals.
Basically, people were giving Nintendo money to be defrauded and Nintendo defrauded them completely!

 

[CloudStrife_ca]

I will say its a great game, I've unlocked all the characters and had a blast doing it, played some classic mode, started the story mode and I played online. The problem for me wasn't finding a match but just the laggy connection and no its not my connection cause I've played RDR2 online with no issues.

If Nintendo is insistent on charging us for the ability to play online, I would think it'd be better quality than when the service was free, not worse and this has been noticeable for Splatfests too in Splatoon 2. I'm almost certain they'll patch things up for Smash but maybe its time they considered hiring another company to help setup a proper online service.

 

[ChuyMasta]

Then what's the OP ranting about?

I havent played much, but if you want to change characters you are pretty much set back to the "lobby" if that makes sense. Whereass in WiiU you went back to the character selection screen after a match.

 

[MisterBrimstone]

Wow looks like some people were expecting a miracle.

 

[Simply_Bry]

I'm very happy with paid online. It is much better than I was expected!
Not only did they not provide dedicated servers it also didn't offer any special deals.
Basically, people were giving Nintendo money to be defrauded and Nintendo defrauded them completely!

You don't consider playing outdated NES games for the 5000th time a special deal? You little spoiled entitled male chauvanist

 

[Rock And Roll]

Nintendo online has always been terrible but the Switch seems like a huge step backward from the wiiu. I really don't understand how. Splatoon ran a lot smoother than Splatoon 2 and while I haven't played smash (not a fan) I believe OP when they say it's a downgrade. This is an area I doubt they'll ever get together, they want to promote local multiplayer and ignore online. It's a shame really because I do believe Splatoon could be a popular online shooter if someone else was handling it

 

[RuneFactoryFanboy]

I've only played online with my friends, but I preferred how it worked on Wii U.

This whole visual wrestling ring lobby is dumb. You need to pre-set your lobby's rules before you can even open it, and then it doesn't look like you can change it. Changing levels is so annoying so now I just leave it on random.

On Wii U it was quick and easy. Select a character from a beautiful spread of portraits, select a stage, fight.

 

[BlackProdigy]

lol Nintendont

 

[Iaterain]

You don't consider playing outdated NES games for the 5000th time a special deal? You little spoiled entitled male chauvanist

It is ones in a life time opportunity. Technological marvel people should pay for!

 

[Blade2.0]

Wow looks like some people were expecting a miracle.

Running better than decade old games is asking for a miracle?

 

[ThaGuy]

Honestly my online play has been pretty good. I am plugged up thru an ethernet cord tho so that helps. But I wouldn't mind some improvements.

 

[Ivellios]

It's possible this will get better as more players come online, especially after the holiday.

But this is roughly what you should always expect with a Nintendo online experience. (I don't say it's what they should provide, but it's what you should expect.)

People should not expect a paid online service to be a mess.

 

[Razzorn34]

I don't know what people were expecting. This is a fighting game made for a console that doesn't have ethernet port by default. Do you think your average person is going to run out and buy a lan adapter? For people not in the know... Wireless is terrible a terrible option for online play, especially for fighting games which want the least amount of lag possible! It will absolutely make your online experience suffer. Wireless is serviceable for most genres, which is why you won't notice for other games. It's just not good enough for fighters though. Nintendo could have top notch servers, and still your online experience would suffer if you are up against people using wireless. There isn't much that can be done about that.

In terms of the matchmaking, you do have the option to create your own lobbies with whatever rules you want. If you really can't stomach any game with items, just go that route. There are a ridiculous amount of lobbies with no items ready for you.

 

[struggler_guts]

Hugely dissapointing to hear, I really wanted to get this for online but it appears even with paid online it aint worth it. Guess ill just rent it for the single player stuff

 

[EDMIX]

2018 and Nintendo still has no clue how to handle online. And now they're charging for it. Ridiculous.

This.

I don't mind that they are charging as I get it, they are a company, but to have the same issues as the last Smash games AND still charge is a bit much. How can we pay for something that is not even being fixed when its being charged for? Its not even a few bugs here and there, its a issue where its always at this 1 second delay or so.

I've played Tekken, SF, MK etc online with basically zero issues outside of the normal stuff, but the issue with the Smash Series online have always been the same, this everlasting 1 second delay that makes the game almost unplayable online. 100 Million Wiis wasn't even for them to even fix that crap with Brawl.....

Why is anyone shocked that they are once again treating their fans like crap?

 

[Spukc]

Let's all just stop pretending nintendo understands online.

Look at how good diablo 3 online is on switch.
Now look at smash...
I can't even wow... no words.

 

[kizito]

What I don't understand is, they JUST had to copy paste Smash 4's online, which was one million time better, and everybody would have applaud !! Why they made all these changes for the worse is impossible to understand...

 

[Mista]

Nintendo and online. Why am I not surprised? They’ll get it right just like how they did with Mario Tennis at the end

 

[Porcile]

I mean, if we're being pedantic, the game was made by Sora Ltd and Bandai Namco, and not Nintendo. That's besides the point I guess.

Preferred rules has been mostly fine for me. Maybe because I'm playing in superior Japan.

 

[Alexios]

Honestly my online play has been pretty good. I am plugged up thru an ethernet cord tho so that helps. But I wouldn't mind some improvements.

Meh, this is a thread for those who are "sad to hear" or "lol expected" it so they can go around spreading word of its suck, none of those who have had good experiences with actually playing should chip in.

 

[Simply_Bry]

In terms of the matchmaking, you do have the option to create your own lobbies with whatever rules you want. If you really can't stomach any game with items, just go that route. There are a ridiculous amount of lobbies with no items ready for you.

Yeah but the problem is nobody wants to wait in line for 1 or 2 matches. Why do I need to wait up to 10 minutes if I can fight whoever I want within 1 minute in Smash 4? There is no reason to make it so difficult for us to play the mode we want to play. If they just copy-pasted Smash 4's online it would be a million times better than it is now.

 

[MisterBrimstone]

Running better than decade old games is asking for a miracle?

Knowing Nintendo sure it is.

 

[kizito]

I mean, if we're being pedantic, the game was made by Sora Ltd and Bandai Namco, and not Nintendo. That's besides the point I guess.

Preferred rules has been mostly fine for me. Maybe because I'm playing in superior Japan.

Also in superior Japan here, but still having trouble with preferred rules, so I think it's a matter of luck.