Smash Ultimate players angry at Nintendo for Japan-only ladder mode

North American and European Super Smash Bros Ultimate fans are voicing their displeasure after discovering that Nintendo set up an exclusive ladder-like system for Japanese players.

The mode, which appears to be called “Raging Battle,” has been around for some time in Japan, coming and going as a limited-time event.

In it, players compete in a series of match qualifiers where they play under a particular ruleset. In this case, it’s four-minute games with two stocks on the new Small Battlefield stage.

While this ruleset is hardly anything like its LAN tournament counterpart, it’s still a mode with a leaderboard system with the top ten ranked players advancing to the finals.

Despite the mode existing since February 2020, for some players in the west, its existence has only recently come to light.

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It started when Twitter user EmJay10 tweeted out some screenshots of the mode and the leaderboard. From there, other users discovered that the mode and tournament is seemingly sponsored by a Japanese ad company. While this explains why the mode is region-locked, it’s bizarre that it doesn’t exist in any capacity for players in the west.

Top Peach player Ezra ‘Samsora’ Morris was shocked to see that an actual ranked mode exists for Smash in some capacity.

“Lmao Nintendo does it again,” snarkily remarked Melee’s God-slayer William ‘Leffen’ Hjelte.

However, not everyone was that upset. Jestise ‘MVD’ Negron viewed it from a glass-half-full perspective.

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“What if this is a test run to see how it works?” he asked, suggesting that Nintendo would want to improve the system before globally releasing it.

As it stands there’s no indication that the mode will ever be coming to other parts of the world, despite players craving some sort of built-in competitive feature.

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That said, with Ultimate still having five DLC fighters to come, the game’s lifespan could last a long time. The only question is: will that be long enough for Nintendo to implement some sort of mode built for those who take the title as a serious esport? Only time will tell.