Smash Ultimate community urges Nintendo to fix “laggy” online play

With the Smash Ultimate community shifting its sights towards online competition in wake of the current global situation, the issues surrounding the game’s various network problems are being put under a microscope. 

As the competitive Smash scene adapts in these unprecedented times, the game’s most prominent voices are taking to Twitter to voice their concerns about issues surrounding constant lag, input delay, and imprecise frame data. 

Some of the scene’s top players and personalities, such as Leonardo ‘MkLeo’ Lopez, Gonzalo ‘ZeRo’ Berrios, and Tyler ‘Marss’ Martins have weighed in on the situation, putting pressure on Nintendo to fix Ultimate’s online gameplay. 

https://twitter.com/zerowondering/status/1253430328741359617

“Smash Ultimate with an improved online experience would be even more successful and make the player base that much more happy,” ZeRo said.

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Longtime Smash veteran William ‘Leffen’ Hjelte countered the movement by noting that he felt the game’s community was “very misinformed” in regards to things such as netcode and the structure of online tournaments. 

However, the overarching issues surrounding online Smash haven’t stopped tournament organizers from holding their events online.

https://twitter.com/TSM_Leffen/status/1253496381207085058

From local events to national supermajors, events across the country are shifting to a widely accessible online format. 

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Additionally, content creators and high-profile community members are doing their part to keep the scene engaged throughout the global quarantine. 

Jacob ‘Alpharad’ Rabon and Charlie ‘Critikal’ White teamed up last month to launch “The Quarantine Series”, a set of online tournaments featuring some of the game’s most notable top players and a $50,000 prize pool. 

Still, as the Smash community moves into a WiFi-focused format for the time being, the calls for Nintendo to fix the game’s online gameplay system are louder than ever.

With an incredibly bright spotlight being shone on the game’s online sector during this transitional time, it’s imperative now more than ever that Nintendo dedicates itself to a massive overhaul for Smash Ultimate online.