For Glory

For Glory (ガチ, Serious) is an online mode that appears in Super Smash Bros. 4.

Overview

In this mode, all matches are played on Final Destination or on Ω forms of other stages, with no items naturally spawning, and with character customization disabled. Players can select to play two-stock one-on-one matches with a five minute time limit, two-minute time battles in two-on-two, either with a friend on their setup or by being teamed with another player online, or 4-player free-for-all matches. Self-destructing in a time match costs the player two points instead of the default one point.

Both wins and losses from matches are recorded in this mode, alongside other statistics. If these statistics influence a matchmaking system of some sort is unknown, as no explicit matchmaking system has ever been described by an official source, and players continue to get matched against players of wildly varying skill levels regardless of their winrates.

If a player disconnects during a match in For Glory, their character will from then on be controlled by AI set to a low level. A player who is idle for 15 seconds during a match will be disconnected automatically. However, this idle check only looks at the player's control stick; a player who is pressing buttons can still be disconnected for activity if they do not move for 15 seconds (such as a Mr. Game & Watch repeatedly using Chef to edgeguard an opponent that cannot get around it but remains alive). In rare instances where a connection is especially bad between the players with constant pauses that don't cease, the game may disconnect all players without penalty and automatically end the match in a no contest.

For Fun acts as a counterpart of For Glory in that it forces free-for-alls and items, as well as having a nearly unrestricted stage selection.

Reception

For Glory has received divided opinions from the community. For Glory's main draw is giving players a mode to get quickly and easily matched up with a wide range of other players online under competitive rules, without having to set matches up with players through external means. However, it has also received criticism from competitive players for encouraging only a small subset of competitive play, with the presence of only Final Destination and Ω forms preventing players from being able to practise on other competitively viable stages through For Glory. For Glory is also heavily criticized for its seemingly nonexistent or illogical matchmaking system. Despite it being claimed in the the Nintendo Direct that announced the mode that there would be "some sort of matchmaking based on skill" present, players find themselves matched up against other players of all skill levels at what seems to be random, from top competitive players down to seemingly first-time players, regardless of how frequently they win or lose. This lack of a logical matchmaking system led to the persistent belief that only low-level players play on For Glory, as higher level players are uncommonly matched up against each other on the mode. Additionally on Smash for Wii U, players' name tags are visible to each other, which griefers and salty players notoriously abuse frequently to insult and demean their opponents. One more criticism of the mode is it disallowing players from being able to play as the Mii Fighters, which is often cited as one of the main reasons, alongside their legality issues in competitive play, as for why each of the Miis became the least played characters in competitive play. However through modding it is possible to play as the Miis on For Glory without any repercussions.

Despite these criticisms, competitive players continue to frequently play on For Glory, whether it be for serious practice, to warmup for a later online play session, when they have no one they know available to play, or to just fool around, with even top players like Nairo and ZeRo frequently streaming themselves playing on For Glory. However players usually setup their own matches with other players on the With Friends mode, whether through Anther's Ladder or some other external means, when trying to get more serious practice online.

For Glory's 2v2 modes on the other hand aren't used for serious practice at all. Due to having team attack off and running on time mode instead of the competitive standard stock mode, competitive doubles can't be properly practiced. Additionally the lack of team attack leads to degenerate strategies exploiting it being prominent, including infinite stalling such as two Pac-Mans exploiting their inability to hurt each other with Pac-Jump to infinitely ascend.

For Glory Hell

While never officially documented nor ever referred to by official sources, players have discovered the existence of a system in place to punish players that have been implicated as a problem through the built-in report system. Dubbed by players as "For Glory Hell", infracted players are intentionally isolated by the system from the normal playerbase, and are only matched up with other players in the For Glory Hell system. When in For Glory Hell, players find themselves having drastically increased finding times for matches, and being only matched up with the same few players over and over, while these other players in For Glory Hell tend to be those whose connection heavily lags, abuse the name tags, play an extremely campy style, and/or grief to whatever degree they can do under For Glory's restrictions. However genuine players have found themselves in For Glory Hell before when they were falsely reported by salty players and griefers exploiting the system, particularly players who win a lot while playing a defensive style or frequently showboat have found themselves in For Glory Hell for this reason. How long players remain in For Glory Hell is unknown, with players usually finding themselves out of it within a week, though it has been observed that players who continue to play on For Glory while infracted have found themselves stuck there for longer periods of time, with it being believed that other players within For Glory Hell report their opponents, keeping players in For Glory Hell stuck there longer as the system continues to think they're a problem player due to the reports they keep receiving.

While the For Glory Hell system is generally considered well-meaning and works to cutdown on the much-maligned misbehaviors of online play, the system has mixed reception among the playerbase. The fact genuine players can find themselves in For Glory Hell through report abuse by ill-meaning players is the biggest criticism, and it's also criticized that players are infracted into the system silently, without ever being notified about it nor even being told how long they're infracted for. It's additionally criticized that Sakurai or any Nintendo representative has never explained the system nor even officially acknowledge its existence.

Glitches

• In version 1.0.1 of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Peach could have potentially triggered an automatic ban for "dishonest play" after plucking a non-Vegetable item via her down special, making the game believe that the player was cheating to bring items into the mode. Nintendo acknowledged the glitch and released an update that fixed this issue.
• Single person matches can happen. It is technically not known what causes this, but it is likely to be due to the opponent getting disconnected just as the match is beginning.
• If a player has a mod activated that gives access to normally unplayable stages such as the All-Star Rest Area, For Glory's random stage selection may select one of these stages to be played on for a round. However since these stages weren't meant to be played on, they don't have properly configured blast lines, which can result in players being unable to KO each other, or being instantly KO'd as soon as the match starts and as they get off the revival platform.

See also

• Basic Brawl
• With Anyone