Smash Bros. Ultimate Players Aren't Happy With New Online Tournament Rules

Well, I never bothered to play this since online is terrible for the game (please Nintendo, have dedicated servers!) but those rules do indeed sound awful...

Why not have multiple rules and rotate them periodically?

Nope, since I never play on like anyway, haha.

Still though, a one stock match is pretty silly. That's not long enough to feel out your opponent.

I secretly hate people who set preferences to two stock... one?!
I usually just do the event ones anyway, so it doesn't effect me massively.

Darn this was the one good way to have consistent competitive matches too, since tournaments pair you nearly instantly and with good connection. 2 stock - 2:30 already rushed matches, why are they trying to casualize 1-on-1s? Back to elite smash i guess sigh

The main problem with the ruleset is that with only 2:30 of time in a 2 stock match, almost half of my matches were going into Sudden death. Players can easily stall the last minute if they are at a high % to force the SD. Not a fun way to end multiple matches in a night.

With characters such as Ganondorf or King Dedede that can end you in three hits vs characters like Peach or ROB that need to work for KOs, this is completely unbalanced. Yeah it's a tourney and you're supposed to be super-good, but man, how are you gonna expect to formulate a competent strategy without at least two lives to make a comeback?

I always thought two stocks was weird, so I'm fine with this.

I haven't touched Smash since before they released Hero. Playing online with random people, or playing alone with the CPU just isn't interesting. Smash is basically only a party game for me.

It’s been a little while since I played this game online. But that pretty whack for those who play the online tourney. Hopefully Nintendo will fix that.

I get it's not cool that they changed the rules. Put in an extra option or something so people can choose. But change the rules after a year is not very nice. I never play online. I game to get away from people, not the other way around 🤣😝.

This is the Franklin ruleset, so I'm pretty happy.

I've been to a couple of local tournaments, and found the best of three, 3 stock matches, tedious.

If you can't win with one stock, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen is my view.

That said, I think they could simply give more choices for online tournament rulesets.

I only need the "always win" function.

@Gridatttack Smash is p2p...

I actually prefer the one stock rules. As a mix between a casual and competitive player (I know all my mains moves, play with no items and care about buffing and nerfing but I’m no good), I rarely win. I can still see players who are really into it feel annoyed that Nintendo didn’t tell them, but I just think 2 stock is a bit too long.

Lure the Belmonts/ Little Mac slightly off the ledge for the win. 🌚

Very stupid change. Will no longer be playing this. It was already bad enough that in my region, there are only 8 players in Online Tourney as opposed to 64 players in other regions so it only takes 3 matches to win a tournament but now with 1 stock fights, I get no satisfaction even when I win. Nintendo likes to make some really absurd decisions sometimes. Like adding Online Game Invites and having basically no games that support it. I can understand keeping that from 3rd party game developers so the info doesn't leak before it's announced (actually I can't even understand that), but none of their first party games support it either. They just released a major update for Smash. Would it not have been common sense to wait till Online Game Invites was announced and then include it in the Smash update?

@Gridatttack I find that playing online tourney 1v1 matches is 99% of the time lag free. I'm assuming it's because there's only two characters fighting?

I don't know what's changed lol I've never done smash online so have no clue

@YagaMaki There is something that doesn't quite add up about Online Tourney...for me anyway. How is it possible that it is (like you said) almost always lag free and the slots ALWAYS fill up quickly no matter the time of day, yet in Quick Play, it can take ages for me to find opponents?

@Xelha
Lol, they're not happy with your comment either.

Reddit users are not representatives of "smash bros. ultimate players". New applied rules are just fine.

@JJtheTexan

It is shameful.

And the fact that 2D levels in Mario Maker were struggling online rather suggests that the problem is Nintendo, not our servers, as has often been mooted.

I approve. Most online players are annoying, evasive campers, so the quicker I can be done with them the better.

I feel online so far from me... Especially in this game. I like Smash Bros., the sheer homage to video game History in it, but don't go online. Not only because I suck (let's face it: there is professional level people playing since day one in this game), but also because people is always unhappy about everything and worrying about tiers and allegedly overpowered characters and rules.

I like to use all the characters I love, no matter how good or bad they are. And luckily this entry has enough single-player offline content.

These things are trivial IMHO. That's coming from someone who plays competitively. Well to each their own.

Change it to anything else and you’ll still get the headline “Smash Bros Ultimate fans not happy with the new tournament rules”

Even after all this time they haven't properly managed online. There should always be two tournaments in my opinion. One with items and one without. 1 stock as mentioned creates a number of unfair situations. Fast projectile spammers will no doubt stall for sudden death. No option to join a tournament with a friend locally either. It's poor decision making.

"We will no longer be playing this..."

They already have your money.

This is a shame to be honest, I loved the fact after the first stock the game can do a complete 180 and people suddenly change the outcome lol

Do you remember when gaming was about having fun?

Bunch of sooks. Adapt or die.

Gamers are never happy so no news here.

@AlternateButtons First I've heard of the smash community as whiny. I've mostly seen them as greatful to Sakurai and complacent even with the most aggravating issues. Go on over to the official Reddit for smash and watch as your meaningful critique of online gets thumbed down with plenty of defenders of the game.

@Alztru it fills empty slots with CPU opponents. If your opponent has a normal name like "John" and walks a lot, then they are probably CPU.

Except half of the players in tournaments are actually CPU with those Human names. That's why it's lag free and that's the reason you always get to face the player with the weird name at the final match

So just make an arena, set it to public, & play with 2 stock buddies all you want.

Ah yes, the Smash community is mad about something new today.

@Xelha
Apparently they don't want people posting with the intention of getting thumbs downs XD. All I know is you've got six or more.

Don't the rule sets for tournament change like once a week? Seems like people should just wait a few days before freaking out.

Wouldn't "Smash players not outraged at thing" be a more traffic generating headline?

Personally, I feel like Stamina Battle at 200 HP should be the Standard for Tournament Play. Launch Speed remains consistent in that mode, after all.

Why only Final Destination in a platform fighter? Limits your character selection. Also, more stocks please, having only 1 is horrible.

@JDBaker
Then we would get the problem of getting bodied with the same combos (that work at lower percent) over and over again.

“Some competitive players are now even saying they will no longer be playing the tournament mode until changes are made.” Thank God for that, there’s some annoying people out there, that just take the fun out of the game. I played a tourney yesterday, and was surprised with the one stock rule. For me it’s better, faster matches and you put everything you have there.

@SimonCucho exactly why. When a console acts as the server, you're at the mercy of the other players connection.

@YagaMaki I suppose it depends on the host and client connection. I remember I was able to play Wii U online just fine enough, but here, nope. I have my own dedicated internet and have the LAN adapter, as well as the others, and we still get delay. :<

I've heard reports of other players too having this kind of issues. However, I won't say I haven't experienced any lag free battle, as occasionally, I have played some, but most of the time it happens.

wow they could of at least kept fp for a final smash move..

3 Stock, 7 minutes; just as the lord intended. There should be two options to choose from at all times. One for serious play and one for casual play. The casual one could rotate from 1v1 to free for all, team battle etc.

It’s just a game folks, calm down

but the rules are very VERY Dumb..

Tourney player: Wanted changes, insists it's always been 2 stock, 2:30 mins and won't play anymore...

@Jayofmaya
I don't know about the 2 stock 2:30 min tournament players you're referring to. Every tournament I've attended has 3 stocks and 7 minute matches and most players I know would want those rules for online tourneys.

@ninjapenguin1
@JR150
@soot_baup
Thank you for having good arguments in a Nintendolife.com Smash Bros article's comment section. I'm glad there are people here that put thought into their comments and don't just type "lol, smash players whine about everything".

When I play just a short match in smash, it's always going to be 3:00 - 3 Stock. I don't have a online subscription anyway, so this isn't a problem for me.

@IceHedge People like @AlternateButtons like to complain about things they don't care to understand. It's quite common, really, especially on this site when it comes to Smash Bros.

@Xelha That's true, but this new rule set is far worse than the previous one. Do you ever play 1 stock with your friends?

@Luffymcduck That's usually what you'll see in Quickplay, but the actual online tournament mode is 2:30 with 2 (or less now) stock. Check out a player on YouTube to see what we mean.

@TrainerX493 It makes a difference to the majority of Smash players, as most of them play online. Probably not all of them play the online tournament mode, but any change to online has an impact.

I'm glad you love to Smash with friends, though!

I play smash more competivitely, I'd say 1 stock is terrible if anything cause people sometimes accidentally SD at times (lose third jump but didn't know it, for example). If you're only playing at one stock, a loss which then costs you the tournament can feel unfair, where if it's 2 stock I see you having a chance to make a comeback or clutch victory. Some people complain about the time forcing it to Sudden Death, I'd say they should extend the time further if needed to account for it.
_
A fair point to make, perhaps, is to consider that Smash can be played casually and competitively. Neither is wrong, and the game can accommodate both. So it's not wrong for competitive smash players to complain and advocate changes to the playstyle they enjoy, as there are other modes already out there for the more casual players to enjoy (items, 4 player free for all, etc). If you don't care to play competitively, that's up to you, but don't harass or illegitimize those who care to play in that way.

bRUh. Don’t the tournaments rotate like after a few days or weeks cuz we didn’t start with that one at first

@Gridatttack the online is good actually

@JDBaker And sacrifice the mechanic that gives Smash its identity? You'd be moving Smash towards traditional fighters. There would be no reason to pick a character who excels off-stage because no one would ever get launched off the stage to begin with. The entire balance of the game would be thrown out of whack, with characters like Little Mac skyrocketing to S tier from the depths of F tier and characters like Pikachu having entire aspects of their core moveset made near redundant due to matches being entirely centred around grounded neutral interactions. There are dozens of fighting games already based around depleting a health bar through grounded neutral interactions that offer a hell of a lot more depth and intrigue in this context than Smash would. Smash's depth largely comes from the fact that the percentage system exists.

@Gridatttack the game is a lot less laggy for me, tho it might be because im in aus

@Xelha When you demand perfection, you expect perfection!

I'm yet to play this online because I'm still boycotting Nintendo Online until I really need it. I'll likely active the 1 week trial over the Christmas holidays and then reconsider.

@tenmetresam From what I have looked up, it depends on how much distance is between the opponent.

When I get those almost those delay-free games is by playing with people from my country.

@Cosats
You seem like the kind of person to time people out and taunt them...

@Dr_Corndog I mean I give an example of where to look and I get trashed for not being grounded in reality. Smash Reddit. Plenty of defenders. Doesn't mean they're not toxic, but the vibe seems pretty good everywhere I look.

@IceHedge But if they followed your suggestions then it would destroy their preconceptions, and we can't have that!

Really, though, it's not surprising that so many here have a negative view of competitive Smash. Go to SmashBoards, the biggest competitive Smash site on the net, and you'll find a lot of people there who don't really understand the competitive side. How much moreso on a general Nintendo site that tends to only report on the competitive scene when the news is bad?

@IceHedge After thinking about my last comment, I realize I should probably be more considerate, myself. There's nothing inherently wrong with ignorance, and you can't expect people who don't keep up with a scene to know what's going on within it. What's wrong is when someone starts basing opinions on their ignorance, and even worse, when they refuse to change those opinions in the face of evidence. There are relatively few on this site guilty of that last offense, I think, though like the bad apples in the Smash scene, they can give the whole community a bad name.

I feel like Nintendo is doing this to solve a few issues with the online tourneys, but the way in which this was done just doesn't work. 2:30 and 2 stock is honestly fine for fast paced tourneys, but many people disliked how people would take advantage of sudden death by running away and running out the clock, using a character that may have an advantage in the Sudden Death format.

On the other hand, 1 stock matches are lasting an average of 25 seconds. One mistake and you're out. The biggest problem I have with this is it stops being a tourney really...at least in 2 stock you have the opportunity to figure out what your opponent is doing and fix your game plan. Also, if Nintendo was trying to ensure players get to their next match faster, they may have succeeded, but at the cost of players being in loading screens and waiting lobbies so much longer than gameplay, since gameplay lasts at most 45 sec, maybe longer if someone is playing a run-away-and-spam-projectiles character.

It's unfortunate. I may keep playing because it's still slightly more fun for me than quickplay and lobbies, but winning now feels like you cheated an opponent who didn't know how to play against you and didn't have time to learn.

Someone changes something and some people complain on the internet using emotive language. Personally not too fussed. Unsure why I even posted this. Apologies for wasting 10 seconds of your time.

So we try this one time and then try somethign else the next time.

It'll be fine.

Thank You so much for sharing this information.