What? Super Smash Bros. Ultimate allegedly almost had rollback netcode

Ping me when it’s in

So Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is pretty great, and it’s somehow still getting content and has remained relevant (checks calendar)…nearly two years after launch. That’s pretty great! But you know what’s not great? Its netcode and online play experience.

While you can chalk this up as “classic Nintendo,” new details from an upcoming Famitsu article seem to claim that rollback netcode was once planned for Smash Ultimate. The news comes from Nintendo insider and translator PushDustIn, who explained on Twitter that rollback netcode was “looked into during development,” but due to some “adverse side effects,” it was dropped. More info is said to be coming once the full Famitsu column is available.

In other Smash news, more “adjustments” will be coming to 1v1 modes in Smash Ultimate, and Sakurai confirms that Smash has peddled over 20 million copies. Given that it’s sitting at 19.9 million right now on Nintendo’s official site, that checks out.

If you’re curious, you can find more info on how rollback netcode works here, or watch the below video! The short of it is, rollback netcode is harder to implement in many circumstances (but not all), so we don’t see it as often as the industry standard: delay-based netcode. 

Smash Ultimate [Famitsu via PushDustIn]