Battle Arena (専用部屋, Private Room) is an online mode that allows players to battle with each other in an arena. Arenas allow a large amount of customization, including most of the rules from Smash and some exclusive to Battle Arenas. A Battle Arena room can hold up to 8 players with the matches supporting up to 4 players depending on the settings the Battle Arena creator selected.
When joined, players will be represented by tokens displaying the character the player has chosen for their Smash tag. The tokens can be moved by the player to place them into the ring for the upcoming match (if there is space), the waiting line for the next match, or the spectating stands to spectate. Players also have the option of choosing the fighter and preferred stage (if enabled), however doing so will force their token out of the ring, line, or stands, making them rejoin after making their selection. As of Version 6.0.0, players can press the right shoulder button or trigger to open a message menu, which they can use to send pre-written messages to other players.
Matches are started when any of the players in the ring presses start. All of the players will then have 15 seconds to press the join button to ready-up, or holding the special button to back-out. Any players that back-out or do not ready in the 15 seconds will be put in the back of the line, allowing other players into the ring. Once every player has readied-up the match will start with any player in the waiting line or spectator stands watching that match; if a player was not in line or the stands they will not be able to spectate. At the end of the match the player placements are shown to everyone in the arena and players are rotated out based on the arena settings.
Battle Arenas created by friends are visible on their friend lists, regardless if the arena is set to 'Public' or 'Friends'. People who aren't registered as friends can still join other player's Battle Arenas, however they would need to search for the Arena ID.
Creating an Arena
Creating an arena will present the player with the following options:
- Password; lets the arena creator assign a password to the arena, with the option of up to 8 numbered digits.
- Type; most of the options will not do anything, only indicating the type gameplay to be expected.
- All Skill Levels (orange)
- Veteran Players (red)
- Glorious Smashers (purple)
- Anything Goes (blue)
- Playground (green)
- amiibo Battle (teal); locks amiibo settings to "on"
- Beginners Only (green)/Elite Only (yellow); Beginners Only prevents players that have a fighter in Elite Smash from joining and can not be selected if the creator has a fighter in Elite Smash. Elite Only is the opposite, allowing only players that have a fighter in Elite Smash.
- Visibility; changes who can join the arena.
- Public; anyone can join
- Friends; only players on the creator's friends list can join
- Format; controls the maximum number of players that can be in the ring
- 4-Player Smash
- 3-Player Smash
- 1-on-1
- Team Battle; allows 4 players
- Rules; contains many of the same options as Smash. Some options were moved to 'More Settings', such as allowing amiibo or Spirits.
- Rotation; determines which players will be removed from the ring after a match.
- Top Two Leave; not selectable in 1-on-1 or team battle
- Top One Leaves; not selectable in team battle
- Bottom Two Leave; not selectable in 1-on-1 or team battle
- Bottom One Leaves; not selectable in team battle
- Winner Leaves; Team Battle only
- Loser Leaves; Team Battle only
More Settings
These settings tend to control either the core match style or don't impact gameplay.
- Max players; controls the maximum number of players allowed in the arena
- 2–8 players
- Stage; controls the allowed stage types
- Choice
- Random
- Random Battlefield form
- Random Ω form
- Random Battlefield and Ω form
- Custom Stages, amiibos, voice chat and spirits; controls if players can select Custom Stages, use amiibos, use the Nintendo Online Switch app to talk to each other or have spirits enabled
- On or Off for each
- Room Music; lets the arena creator choose the music that plays when opening the arena
Joining an Arena
To join an existing arena, players have 3 options:
- Friends' Arenas; will display arenas from anyone on the player's friend list, even if the arena is not set to friends only.
- Public Arenas; will display arenas based on what settings they want to see, such as Type, Format, Style, etc.
- Enter Arena ID; lets the player enter the Arena ID to join. The Arena ID is found in the top-right corner of the room.
Updates
- 3.1.0: amiibo can now be used in Battle Arenas.
- 6.0.0: Numerous quality of life changes were made to Battle Arenas. A player can now open up an arena that only allows those who are able to participate in Elite Smash through the new arena type "Elite Only", while another arena type, "Beginners Only", excludes players who have reached Elite Smash. Players can also use preset messages to communicate with everyone in the arena outside of battle. The arena now records consecutive wins from a player, as well as the total number of matches played. Players can also change the rules of a battle arena without needing to disband it.
- 8.1.0: Removed the black border of the question mark icon when selecting a random character or stage.
Trivia
- Players will always be ordered by when they join the arena rather than by their current port number. This means that the host of the arena will always enter the stage first during their on-screen appearances.
- This also affects the order for all characters on the "No Contest" screen when a communication error appears.