Smash Ultimate ranked mode would make online play more interesting

Smash Ultimate players are wishing for a proper ranked mode to be implemented into the game, and there isn’t a better time than now to try and make online play more interesting with in-person tournaments being canned.

While Smash Ultimate is a great game at its core, its online play has been widely criticized. Between clunky netcode, bad matchmaking, and a poor ranking system, it’s more for fun than anything else.

Some players want to bring back the competitiveness of Smash though. In this time where not a lot of in-person tournaments are being held, Twitter user ‘Inoblit’ has devised an online ranked mode that’d satisfy those with the competitive itch.

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Inoblit’s concept would be akin to Valorant or Overwatch. The two FPS games have MMR based ranking systems, where your rating changes based on your performance in each game.

While whether you win or lose is the main factor, smaller things like individual performance and MMR differences also weigh in with how much you climb or fall.

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Inoblit’s system would ditch Global Smash Power (GSP) for Smash Points (SP). It would work on the same principle of other online games, where your SP will correlate to your rank, and if you reach a certain amount of SP, you’ll rank up.

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However, an important distinction is bringing back an actual ranked mode. While Global Smash Power is a thing, there’s no distinction between a casual online game and one where you are playing for glory.

Given this exists in most other games ⁠— and used to exist in Smash 4 ⁠— it’s surprising that Smash Ultimate’s online play doesn’t work like this. Separating ranked queues from casual queues is a must in Inoblit’s system.

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While Elite Smash is a thing in Smash Ultimate to try and alleviate this, it still isn’t perfect. In this ranked mockup, the Elite level will just be the top rank. If you get matched into an Elite battle, it’s meant to mean something.

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This ranking system has been universally well received by the Smash community, who have been advocating for sweeping changes to Ultimate. #FixUltimateOnline was trending a couple of weeks ago, with players asking for an update to the netcode and balancing fixes.

The implementation of a proper ranking system would be the cherry on top for Smash players, and would make grinding the game online actually meaningful.