Global Smash Power
Global Smash Power, abbreviated GSP, is the online ranking system found in Super Smash Bros. 4. Announced during the Super Smash Bros. Direct, the system ranks all players' scores on a numeric scale, with the number referencing how many players that player outranks. For instance, a player with a rank of 251,357 would have a better score than 251,356 other players. The system is unusual for being an inverse ranking system; whereas other games would feature 1 as the best player, the Global Smash Power would rank 0 as the worst player, with the rank meaning that the player is better than 0 players. While this means players cannot measure how far they are from the top-ranked player, and the top-ranked player doesn't even know that they are, the system is overall more friendly to players of lower skill, using "you're better than X" instead of "you're worse than X" as a metric.
Global Smash Power is used only for solo play modes (and separately for their co-op equivalents), and not for multiplayer matches. However, according to Masahiro Sakurai, there is "some sort of matchmaking" during online play, though this matchmaking system is not visible to players.
Scores included
The following modes feature Global Smash Power rankings:
In each of these modes, Global Smash Power is displayed for each individual high score as well as for the player's total high score (i.e. the sum of their high scores with each character). Global Smash Power is also shown during gameplay and rises along with the player's score, allowing them to see how many other players they have already outranked before finishing.
Global Smash Power rankings are updated whenever the player goes online. If they have not yet been online at all, Global Smash Power is not displayed.
