Smash Bros. Finally Teases Long-Awaited Ranked Mode
With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate "smashing" the competition in the world of fighting games, few titles offer as much of a varied roster, competitive gameplay modes, and updated content as the jewel in Nintendo's fighting crown.
Still, the constantly asked for ranked feature is nowhere to be found in the latest title - or is it? Players have spotted the Japanese version includes a Smash Bros. ranked mode, but there's a catch!
Despite plenty of praise, fans have called out Smash Bros. Ultimate's lacklustre online mode and even started their own #FixUltimateOnline hashtag. Although it's hardly the glowing review Nintendo was hoping for, it turns out Japan has its own region-locked version of a ranked mode.
In Japan, Official Tournament Qualifier (a literal translation) is a 1v1 match with two stocks and four minutes. This is very much a bare-bones mode that includes no items. Players duke it out on the newly introduced Small Battlefield arena.
As the above video of Shuto "Shuton" Moriya's run shows, the region-locked mode gives Japanese players the closest thing to a ranked mode we've ever seen in Smash Bros.' many options. It's been a big hit in Japan with players including Shuton, "Hero", and Takuma "Tea" Hirooka, who all broke into the top four and have qualified for upcoming September tournament.
Given that it's region locked, other countries can't can't even see the ranked mode, however, the Japanese Super Smash Bros. site lists more details and confirms its existence.
Older Smash titles have toyed with online play but always struggled to introduce a proper ranked mode. Only recently, Twitter user Inoblit devised their own ranked system that works in a similar way to Overwatch. The simple system would replace Global Smash Power (GSP) with Smash Points (SP) and see you rank up when you achieve a certain number of SP. Importantly, Inoblit put the competitive edge back in rankings and distinctly separated ranked queues from casual queues.
With COVID-19 disrupting the whole world of esports, there were calls for Smash Bros. Ultimate to introduce ranked mode. Considering in-person tournaments have been cancelled (for obvious reasons), timing couldn't be better for a ranked online mode. It's unclear whether Nintendo plans on rolling this out further than Japan, but for now, consider Japanese players to be a lucky bunch.
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Images via Shuto "Shuton" Moriya