'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate' Players Find a Way to Dodge Online Games Without Penalties

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate doesn’t always put online players in their preferred game mode, but a [...]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate doesn't always put online players in their preferred game mode, but a workaround for backing out of the online matches has already been found that prevents players from being penalized.

When joining a "Quickplay" match in the game's online component, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players can jump right into any fight or can configure a set of preferences for match types. Through these preferences, players can tell the matchmaking system they want to get in matches that are only 1v1 situations, determine what items, if any, will be available, and what the time and stock settings are like. It's an important feature for those who prefer the traditional competitive experience that usually involves having no items or map hazards with only 2-3 stock in a match.

There's a problem with the preferences though: They don't always work. If the preferred match type can't be found quickly, players might be put into something like a four-player free-for-all game. The match still has to be played though or else players risk being penalized with a loss of Global Smash Power (GSP) and perhaps a time penalty for leaving games.

But as some players have found out, there is a way to avoid being penalized when leaving these games players find themselves in. According to accounts from players who used the method, putting the Nintendo Switch to sleep while in the waiting lobby for an online game, the matchmaking will be reset with no penalty being levied against leavers. You can know it's time to put the console to sleep if you're in the lobby waiting for a 1v1 match and more players slots appear down at the bottom to show more than two players are in the lobby. One player spread awareness of the workaround on the Smash Bros. subreddit and said it'd been working for them for 8 hours, and other players have corroborated the advice.

It's not the most convenient decision, nor is it one that'll leave everyone happy seeing how you're leaving a free-for-all game before it starts, but it's one of the only solutions players have now. They're likely going to keep using it too until Nintendo changes the system or patches out the workaround seeing how the game's online system doesn't care if you're in a preferred game or not when it comes to your GSP score that's different for every character. If you're playing with your main fighter and looking for a 1v1 match and end up in a laggy free-for-all game that you don't win, you lose GSP just as if you would've lost your preferred match. It's a situation that'll likely be addressed at some point in the future, but for now, expect some disconnects from players who don't get their favored matchup.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is now available for the Nintendo Switch.

0comments