Operation: Connect; the Campaign to Optimize SSB4's Online Play

Link to original post: [drupal=4430]Operation: Connect; the Campaign to Optimize SSB4's Online Play[/drupal]



Brawl's online was lacking; this is something that both casual and competitive fans agree on. At E3 2011, Nintendo revealed the WiiU and with it promised that its online will be on par with the 360/PS3. Nintendo also announced SSB4 and that development would start in October. SSB4 will no doubt have online features but will they meet the fans' standards? That's where this project comes in.

The project is Operation: Connect. The idea is to create a professional letter no more than 2 pages long expressing no more than 5 fleshed out ideas for what fans expect with SSB4's online. The ultimate goal is to create one of the best, if not the best, online experience Nintendo has ever offered that appeals to both casual and competitive players. Any ideas are welcome at this time to make this goal a reality and make SSB4's online unforgettable.


You may be reading this and wondering why anyone would bother investing time in this. “Fan projects like this hardly ever succeed,” you may be thinking but Operation: Connect is not like a vast majority of fan projects that have been done in recent years. How is it different and why should I support it? I’m glad you asked:

1. Most fan projects usually involve asking for sequels or games to be localized. Sequels involve making a whole new game and the localization of games involves translating, marketing, distribution, etc. What we’re asking for is some things to be added to a game that’s already planned and will be released worldwide.

2. When people generally ask for things to be added to games, the games have already been in development for months because the announcement of games are usually accompanied by a trailer. Sakurai estimates that development for SSB4 will start in October of this year. At the time of this posting, it’s July and that gives us, the fans, roughly three months to plan and flesh out something respectable to present to Nintendo before production begins.


3. Nearly all the past Smash fan campaigns have focused on one thing: characters. The problem with characters is that they affect a very small part of the gameplay and that there are very few characters that most people agree on. With Operation: Connect, we are focusing on a much larger aspect of the game that more people will care about then just one or two characters.

4. As I said earlier on, Brawl’s online was lacking. From casual players to competitive players to gaming sites to professional reviewers, this was probably the most common complaint of the game next to tripping. As a former online tournament director, I commonly experienced the short comings of Brawl’s online and I believe nearly everyone who picked up a copy of the game experienced them too. With that being said, that gives a very large percentage of the Smash community something we can agree on: Brawl’s online left a lot of room for improvement for the next game.

5. Brawl’s online was one of the big draws that got people interested in the game and that will no doubt be the case with SSB4. Nintendo probably knows this already but at the same time probably doesn’t know how to go about it this time around. This is where the fans should step in. Basically what we’re going to be doing is helping to make SSB4 more appealing to consumers on a large scale. In a way, we’d be doing Nintendo a big favor by helping them create a better product. As a big business, this should be very appealing to them.

Okay, I’m interested; how can I help out? ​

There are two big ways that you can help support this project:

1. Contribute your ideas. This is supposed to be a community project so I’m expecting many different people to offer their thoughts about what they believe would optimize SSB4’s online experience. You can post your ideas here or in the official discussion group. Don’t know where to start? Here are some ideas that people have already suggested: player IDs, online tournaments, lobbies, video streams, leader boards, downloadable content, maps to select which regions to play in, voice chat, etc. Feel free to build off of the ideas of others. The five most popular ideas by the beginning of October will end up in the letter.

2. Spread the word! The more people that contribute to this project, the better it will be. The idea is not to limit this just to Smash Boards but to take it all over the internet, from the biggest sites to the smallest fan forums. Start an Operation: Connect thread of your own or simply show your support in your sig with a link to this page or the offical discussion group. Every little bit will help.

I hope to turn this into something big that the Smash community by in large can get behind to show Nintendo that despite our differences in play preferences, we still love the Smash Bros franchise and want to see it at its best. May we be successful in our venture.


1. This is not a wish list. If you present an idea, explain it. If you agree/disagree with an idea, explain why.

2. Don’t mindlessly bash people’s ideas. This is meant to be a community project so I’m expecting input from the COMMUNITY, both casual and competitive. If you disagree with something, I ask that you use constructive criticism if you feel like you absolutely have to say something.

3. Try to be realistic and, remember, the idea is to suggest things that would be appealing to both casual and competitive players, not just one or the other.

Questions to Supporters (July Edition)​

1. What do you think would be the best way to present these ideas to Nintendo? Mail? E-Mail? Twitter? Facebook?

2. Who do you think the letters should be sent to? Nintendo of America? Nintendo of Japan? SORA? Reggie? Sakurai? All of the above?


*At least two people who can write in Japanese

*People who understand online infrastructure so we know what all is realistic to ask for

The only real problem is the lag/latency. Fix that and everything else either is solved by not being in With Anyone or falls under "bells and whistles" (an elo-based ladder would be nice, for instance, but isn't really crucial--see AIB). Current Wifi servers have 6-frame latency standardized AFAIK (better the devil you know than the devil you don't?); cutting it in half should be reasonable depending on individual connections.

Well, with that in mind, what do you think should be done to reduce lag? As I said in the OP, I know very little about online infrastructure so I'm not fully aware of how "online" really even works.

Truthfully, I don't know either. It seems reasonable given the exponential increase in processing power and whatnot, but...

Well, as Nintendo said, the WiiU's online should be on par with that of the 360/PS3 so I think things could really open up with online for SSB4. Brawl's online basically served one purpose: to get the job done and nothing else. It was bare bones mainly to mildly appease the droves of fans that wanted Smash Bros online. This time around, I think they can do a lot more. In short, I don't think lag will be as much of an issue which will let them focus on more than just "getting the job done."

One issue that needs to be discuss is how to make it safe for the "sensitive" players and still give all the bells and whistles that hardcore smashers want. I don't know much about online gameplay and I only did it a couple of times with Brawl. Without any knowledge about my opponents they really felt like cpu's.

This is some ideas that may work.

With the player ID's there can be a friendship list that let's you know when your friends are on. Only people on the friends list can you listen to voice or video chat.

voice or video chat can be selected on or off. Players on the other side can see if their mic's and cam's are on in order to talk with them.

I'm glad that you've finally made a thread for it. More people should know of this.

1. Get rid of the lag. The lag literally killed the online experience as it was insanely bad. One way to do this is instead of all connection being used at once, only use the one with the best connection (Matchmaking) or the host's (In lobbies).

2. DLC done right. That means all characters planned to be in the game but scrapped will be available but also highly demanded characters that did not make it. This is the perfect place to make irrelevant characters playable so that fans can buy it. Also have stages, music, and music.

3. Lobbies. It lets you customize the set-up to how many players you want in the lobby (Two to sixty-four players with the ability to have multiple matches going and spectate them), what stages you want, the time (1 minute to infinity), items (None to Very High on frequency and you get to choose what items you want in or out), and other settings. You should also be able to vote on stages, items, and other settings if the host gives you an option. Furthermore, if the host disconnects and there is more then one player, the room should not disappear, but instead be given to another person with the best connection. You should also have the option to invite everyone, only your friends, or specific level of skills. Lobbies should also show the host connection so people can make educated guesses in terms of whenever or not to join a host room with connection being a contributing factor (And host should be able to see how well their connection is)

4. More modes. Quick matches needs to be expanded. You should be able to pick what type of mode you want in quick matches and have quick matches go anywhere between one minute to ten minute. There should also be a Tournament Mode online where Nintendo and players online can set up tournaments online.

5. Voice Chat: You should be able chat with not only friends, but anyone as well, although with the latter, it should be optional whenever or not you want to hear non-friends speak.

Super Smash Bros. Fan said:

3. Lobbies. It lets you customize the set-up to how many players you want in the lobby (Two to sixty-four players with the ability to have multiple matches going and spectate them), what stages you want, the time (1 minute to infinity), items (None to Very High on frequency and you get to choose what items you want in or out), and other settings. You should also be able to vote on stages, items, and other settings if the host gives you an option. Furthermore, if the host disconnects and there is more then one player, the room should not disappear, but instead be given to another person with the best connection. You should also have the option to invite everyone, only your friends, or specific level of skills. Lobbies should also show the host connection so people can make educated guesses in terms of whenever or not to join a host room with connection being a contributing factor (And host should be able to see how well their connection is)

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I really like this idea. The other ideas were good too but I really like this one.

Edited by xeGo.

Shouldn't we move this Project to a blog or something?

Question, how would I be able to spread this to other places without it counting as advertisement?

Super Smash Bros. Fan said:

Question, how would I be able to spread this to other places without it counting as advertisement?

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What, it SWF? I'd say just leave it in your signature or if you have an account on GameFaqs you could probably do it there.

OmegaXVII said:

What, it SWF? I'd say just leave it in your signature or if you have an account on GameFaqs you could probably do it there.

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No, outside of Smash World Forums.

Well for starters a good idea might be a social site such as Facebook or Twitter.

The advantages of using this would be that if we somehow posted information regarding this project on a social site, we might get potential Smashers who might get on the idea who would otherwise never even know about it, one way to draw people is to post either a link of this thread or post some information regarding this project and want we intend to accomplish.

We have to also be convincing that this is big and that we are very serious about this.

I've also been thinking about how were going to approach Nintendo, should we have a translator post something on Sakurai's Twitter? Should we send in mass letters concerning this to Nintendo of Japan/America? I think so, but I need some input on how we would actually do this.

I am planning on making pages on Facebook/Twitter once this has enough support.

Edited by xeGo.

nLiM8d said:

Should I remove my earlier post?

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No, I'm still thinking of how to respond to it.

Edited by xeGo.

As I said in the first post, all comments and suggestions are welcome as long as they don't go out of their way to bash the ideas of other people.

If you are going to write a formal letter to Nintendo or Sakurai it is best to follow the traditional business letter style format.

1. Introduction should be a brief but complete abstract of your letter. This is very important because they may not want to or have time to read everything in the letter. It allows them to get a taste of what in it. Bascially try to entitle your entire paper in one paragraph.

2. Use Headers: Make it easy for them to read and able to see your idea right off the bat.

3. Be direct: You don't want a lot of "fluff" in this paper to make it look huge. Say exactly what you need and be done with it.

4. Conclusion touches back to everything: You want to finish off with the conclusion as to review your ideas. It shouldn't be as detailed as your Introduction but reinforces the ideas that you want.

I do this all the time in college and it's one of the few things I'm good at. If you follow this it will give you the best chance to get your ideas out.

Also don't forget to leave contact information in case they want clarification on some of the ideas.

I intend to keep it professional. As I said, I'd like it to be no more than 2 pages and not just simply be a wishlist.

Would it help if you attached mock-up images of how you (we) believe the online interfaces should work out?

Visuals quickly get a point across, yes? :I

Oasis_S said:

Would it help if you attached mock-up images of how you (we) believe the online interfaces should work out?

Visuals quickly get a point across, yes? :I

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That might not be a bad idea but they wouldn't be part of the letter itself.

I made a thread on GameFAQs in regards to this in here. Hopefully, this will gain some attention and this is something I will be bumping.

Super Smash Bros. Fan said:

I made a thread on GameFAQs in regards to this in here. Hopefully, this will gain some attention and this is something I will be bumping.

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Lol why did it get deleted?

Jelley said:

Lol why did it get deleted?

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Apparently, they said I was spamming, which was not my intentions at all. I'm just hoping I do not end up losing my account over their because people won't listen to something as critical as this.

Ok I'll support this BUT people must keep in mind online doesn't matter if the gameplay isn't good.(Yes I'm talking about brawl lol)
Ok well online play is something everyone uses it for specific reasons. For Casuals they obviously want to play for fun. Then theres the Competitive players(ME:D) where we want to practice our techniques and combos to improve our gameplay.
With that Nintendo and Sakurai might want to consider splitting casual from competitive. This is something different because in games you usually get a rank system. I suggest one rank system to keep the competitive players in their own spot. If casuals just want to play then they'd choose the basic option. My idea might be a little weird to some but for those who understand, what do you think?

Actually it's not that hard to understand because I've suggested it myself in the past. Making leaderboards optional would probably be something that Sakurai could back up.

Nine said:

Ok I'll support this BUT people must keep in mind online doesn't matter if the gameplay isn't good.(Yes I'm talking about brawl lol)

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If all you're doing is whining about how brawl sucked then get out. The competitive audience aren't the only ones who are fans of Smash you know.

I'm also a competitive player but I do not post things like this. Brawl wasn't as technical but it was a good game.

Super Smash Bros. Fan said:

Apparently, they said I was spamming, which was not my intentions at all. I'm just hoping I do not end up losing my account over their because people won't listen to something as critical as this.

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I think it's cause we do not have enough supporters yet. We're only 14 people.

I think not too many people are supporting this because of how far away the release of this game is. If SSB4's development is about as long as Brawl's, this game won't even be out until 2014 at the earliest.

Fatmanonice said:

I think not too many people are supporting this because of how far away the release of this game is. If SSB4's development is about as long as Brawl's, this game won't even be out until 2014 at the earliest.

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I think this will be the biggest game in the series yet. I can easily see it going up to four years if they don't want to compromise any quality whatsoever.

Either way, we need to find ways to gather more support and fast. After my failed attempt at GameFAQs, maybe we can hit Nsider2?

I think Sakurai at least knows of Smash Boards (some of our members gave him smash boards gear and stuff, asked him a few questions, and let him know that we love smash bros and everything about it at some secret gaming event in San Francisco half a year after Brawl came out), and I’m sure some Nintendo people will probably lurk for ideas and whatnot, so all is not in vain. This is the biggest smash bros site in the world, so they have to know at least the basics of our wants from reading the forums and threads on the upcoming smash bros games on Wii U and 3DS (also, I have a feeling they’ve been working on concepts and the basic programming for at least a year).

On top of that, as smash bros players, they have to know what disappointed them, what new things, characters, and online features they (and we want), and where to take the series so all is not lost.
Really though, much of this comes down to Nintendo. It wasn’t Sakurai’s fault Brawl’s online sucked. It was the lag. There were enough features and modes to keep us satisfied to where we’d still be nutso on Brawl’s online if the online wasn’t laggy as heck (although they should still expand on them). Really, I think if Nintendo wants to be taken seriously, they have to take online seriously; and they will. I don’t see them failing this badly agin.

UNFORTUNATELY, I think something like this would gain loads of support... AFTER a trailer.

Try to think of something to make this go viral OR SOMETHING. Clever images, I dunno. Again, a YouTube video explaining the goals would be nice. Has to be nice though, most people wouldn't pay much attention to just some black screen with white text fading in and out. I'm guessing Twitter and Facebook are still part of the plan?

October is going to creep up fast.

Oasis_S said:

UNFORTUNATELY, I think something like this would gain loads of support... AFTER a trailer.

Try to think of something to make this go viral OR SOMETHING. Clever images, I dunno. Again, a YouTube video explaining the goals would be nice. Has to be nice though, most people wouldn't pay much attention to just some black screen with white text fading in and out. I'm guessing Twitter and Facebook are still part of the plan?

October is going to creep up fast.

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I was thinking of doing a Powerpoint presentation and put it up on Youtube. Unfortunately, I have no clue as to how to put up a powerpoint presentation on Youtube.

Oasis_S said:

UNFORTUNATELY, I think something like this would gain loads of support... AFTER a trailer.

Try to think of something to make this go viral OR SOMETHING. Clever images, I dunno. Again, a YouTube video explaining the goals would be nice. Has to be nice though, most people wouldn't pay much attention to just some black screen with white text fading in and out. I'm guessing Twitter and Facebook are still part of the plan?

October is going to creep up fast.

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I know how to use WMM but I don't think I could make a video that would be that appealing to a large audience.

@Johnknight1: I hope that you're right and they actually do recognize and read this forum. Listening to their fans is a must for SSB4 as it was in the past installments and one of the last things we as gamers want is a terrible online system, which we hope never happens again.

Things aren't looking that good right now but we still have roughly 2 1/2 months. As I said before, I think a lot of people are turned away because they wouldn't be able to see if this worked or not for at least three years. People like to see immediate results and they lose faith in things that take too long to properly play out.

Bumping this thread.

Right now, I am sending PMs to other potential supporters in regards to this group. Sorry for my laziness, now I'm finally playing more of my part.

Lets support this!!!!!