Late last week, after watching the Super Smash Bros E3 trailer for the fourth or fifth time, I got the itch. So I dug out my Smash Bros. Brawl disc, and put it, for the first time, into my Wii U. I hadn't played Smash Bros. since being forced to abandon GameCube controls by virtue of transferring my save to the Wii U. Thankfully, the Classic Controller Pro is a capable substitute. I played a few matches against the computer to warm up. Afterwards, for a laugh, I hopped online and tried to play a random match.

Like most folks that I know, I hadn't bothered with the Smash Bros. online mode since a month or so after the game launched and it became pretty clear that it wasn't particularly functional. My thoughts last week, as I connected to Nintendo's Smash Bros. servers, were mostly morbid curiosity. Was the service even still available? If it wasn't, would anybody have noticed to report it? (If a tree is final smashed in the woods, does anybody hear it?) If the service is still available, is it possible that anyone was still looking for online matches? Perhaps, like me, people were going to hop back on after watching the E3 footage.

I did find a few folks in the random match, but alas they disconnected before the game started. So I took to Twitter and complained that I was ALMOST about to play Smash Bros. online, but couldn't find anyone to play with. Immediately, I got a reply from NWR Forumer TrueNerd: "Give me ten minutes and your friend code. Let's do this."

So TrueNerd and I played Smash Bros. It worked! It was a bit laggy, but it wasn't choppy. It was perhaps the best experience I've had, or even heard about, with the online mode for Brawl. We played probably about 10 matches, with him winning more than me, but me holding my own in one-on-one combat. We were fairly evenly matched which made for a very fun experience. It was honestly the most fun I've had playing Smash Bros in a very long time.

The experience got me very excited about the possibilities of a functional online mode in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. games for Wii U and 3DS. Super Smash Bros. is perhaps Nintendo's answer to the ultra-competitive multiplayer games like Call of Duty and Halo, but because the game is rarely played online, it doesn't have quite that level of cache with gamers. With a real, truly functional online mode, Super Smash Bros. could be that game that draws core gamers back to Nintendo after a long time away.

Even if it doesn't though, it has me very amped. I mostly played Melee with friends in college, but I'm ten years removed from that experience. Without the ability to play against friends who live far away, Smash Bros. will not be a game I play more than once every few months, at best. I may not live in a dorm anymore, but online play can make up the difference. I just hope that they get it right, and I have the opportunity to avenge my losses to TrueNerd for many months to come.