Smash Bros. and “Wii-Fi” – The Potential

I love the fact that Nintendo is finally embracing the online world. Nintendo has the greatest multiplayer games on the market and not being able to play them online using the GameCube was almost a sin. I have friends in the United States, Europe, Australia, and other parts of Canada (it’s a really frickin’ big country you see…) and I want to play Nintendo games with them. The DS finally let me do that. However, the DS system is incredibly faulty. What is the reason? Nintendo tried so hard to keep it simple, that they made it too complicated.

For an in-depth look of how Nintendo should tackle the online experience, click “Full Article” for the brainstorming session!

I love the fact that Nintendo is finally embracing the online world. Nintendo has the greatest multiplayer games on the market and not being able to play them online using the GameCube was almost a sin. I have friends in the United States, Europe, Australia, and other parts of Canada (it’s a really frickin’ big country you see…) and I want to play Nintendo games with them. The DS finally let me do that. However, the DS system is incredibly faulty. What is the reason? Nintendo tried so hard to keep it simple, that they made it too complicated.

The Nintendo WiFi Connection has a lot of pros. Obviously, the best part about it is that it’s completely free. Another thing people might have overlooked is that it’s relatively lag free. I’ve only experienced lag during maybe one or two sessions of Metroid Prime Hunters and never in Mario Kart DS (unless I was about to be disconnected). However, the cons are there too.

I don’t believe that wireless only is a problem at all. The USB Adapter is only $35 – $40 Canadian at most stores. Seeing as wires aren’t practical for a handheld and Wii will use a more powerful signal, it looks like wireless isn’t bad at all. Wouldn’t you rather have WiFi out of the box than pay over $100 for an adapter (Xbox 360)?

No, the problem lies with community building. First, the friend codes. I actually don’t mind the friend codes at all. They’re a bit complicated, which goes against everything Nintendo is trying to accomplish, but they aren’t too bad. I exchange friend codes to add people to my buddy list. Makes sense. It’s much like adding people to my MSN list. I add their e-mail and they appear on my list by their display name. However, having a username and a unified buddy list would definitely help keep things simple and easy to use. It’s much more intuitive. This is something Nintendo should think about. Friend codes are complicated, something they don’t want.

Now, the issue that this entire article is about – connecting to others. The way of starting games is just too poorly done. You are asked to randomly search for players and you’re automatically paired up without any regards to skill level. You have absolutely no control over the game rules. In Mario Kart DS, you are forced to play with 2 – 4 players depending on how many are available. You cannot choose how the game will be played and you can’t communicate at all. Metroid Prime Hunters functions the same way. However, if you are in a friends match in Metroid Prime Hunters, you have a variety of options open to you. This is how it should be for all games, not just friends mode.

I am a huge Super Smash Bros. fan and don’t want the online service for Super Smash Bros. Brawl to turn out like Mario Kart. My favourite way of playing SSBM is 1v1 without items. With Mario Kart DS‘ options, that would be impossible to do online. I got bored of SSBM using 4 players and items back in 2002. I still play SSBM 1v1 without items now in 2006. If I’m not given options, I’m going to lose interest and that’s something I don’t want to do.

So here’s my proposal, I’m going to use GunBound as the basis because although I find GunBound incredibly boring, it has a great online system in place. Not only that, GunBound attracts many people who don’t normally play games and it works for them. Just like Nintendo wants to do with Wii.

After selecting “Online” from the Super Smash Bros. Brawl screen, we should be going through the following:

Server Selection Screen (Click Thumbnail)

Here is where we automatically allow users to find others of the same skill level. As you can see, some servers are reserved for those below a certain skill level. Another few servers are for those above that skill level. There are also a large number of servers set aside for people of all skill levels to play together. There’s also some servers for players who pay to play the game, but let’s not do that 😉 So we click one of those and go in. Now what?

Game Selection (Click Thumbnail)

After selecting a server, we come to the lobby. The top part of the screen contains the most important part – the rooms. I’ll get to that in a bit. The lobby is filled with everything you need. On the bottom right is the buddy list. You can see which of your friends are online and which of them are offline. If you double click their name, you can send them private messages just like you would on AIM or MSN. If a friend is online, the server and room they’re playing in is displayed so that you can join in. To the left of that is the chat window to talk with others in the lobby.

At the very top are the rooms. The rooms are created by users. “Full” means the maximum number of players the game can hold (2, 3, or 4 by SSBM standards) is full. “Play” means that the people in the room are in the middle of a match. “Wait” means that they need more players to begin. Each room shows what type of game is being played (the die), what map is going to be used (the picture in the middle), and the amount of players it can hold (the number above the die). Informative and clean looking. To enter a room, you double click. If there is a lock on the room, it means it’s password protected. Usually, it means the creator of the room wants to play a specific person (who they would have given the password to).

Between the socializing tools and the rooms are a few filters. To the left of the two arrows (which let you browse through the pages of rooms available) are buttons that let you filter it by game type. For SSBM they would be time, stock, coin, and score. To the right, you have filters that let you display only games that have friends in them or are currently waiting for users to join. Another button lets you go straight to a room by inputting the room number. The last one lets you create your own room.

Let’s say you want to join a room. This is what happens after you double click:

Inside a Room (Click Thumbnail)

Now that we’re inside, we have a screen where the people in the room can talk to discuss how the game will be played. Ultimate power resides with the creator of the room. Information, including the stage and game type, is displayed in the middle of the screen. The teams (if there are any) are shown split on both sides. Your character is displayed as well. You can change teams and characters by clicking the respective buttons. If someone is being vulgar, you can mute them by clicking the “Mute” button or just reporting them to Nintendo of America. When you’re ready to play, click “Ready.” When everybody’s ready, the game starts with the options that have been decided upon.

That’s All Folks!

See? Now isn’t that a much cleaner, useful, and overall easier experience? It beats going through dozens of random battlers to find someone who actually puts up a challenge doesn’t it? It’s also much easier to create a room and password protect it to play against a friend instead of randomly searching “Friends” and hoping they’re the one online?

Super Smash Bros Brawl is a console game, not a handheld game. There should be a structured online service that allows us the users to have fun. When we play a console, we aren’t there for a “quick go” like on a handheld. We want a good experience. Hopefully, Nintendo realizes that. GunBound is free to play. Cost should have nothing to do with making an online system that’s intuitive and fun to use.

In the end, it’s all up to Nintendo. Whether or not we get the service that this game deserves is in their hands.