Revised: Winter 2022
Q: What is a crew battle?
A: A crew battle is a team-based competition for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Teams of 3 compete against each other, one player at a time. It's very fun!
Q: How does a crew battle work?
A: Let's run through an example.
Team A consists of 3 players: Lucina, Diddy Kong, and Zelda.
Team B also consists of 3 players: Marth, Samus, and Roy.
Each team selects a player to go first, without knowing who the first player from the other team is. Let's say Team A sends Diddy Kong, and Team B sends Samus.Â
Diddy and Samus will then ban stages. More on that later.
Diddy and Samus will then play a 3-stock game. Diddy wins with one stock left. Team B, having lost this game, must select their next player. The player must not have lost previously in the match. Let's say they pick Marth.
Diddy and Marth will then ban stages. Again, more on that later.
Diddy and Marth will then play a new game. However, because Diddy had one stock left last game, he must start this game with only one stock (at 0%, regardless of how much damage he sustained in the previous game). Diddy accomplishes this by running off the stage two times. After that, they will wait for the timer to reach 9:30, and then they will begin playing.
Play continues like this until every player on a team has been defeated. The team with 3 defeated players loses the battle. The score should be reported with the number of remaining stocks for the winning team. A perfect game will be 9-0, and the closest game will be 1-0.
Q: What is stage banning?
A: There are 9 legal stages for you to play a game on. They are divided into two categories, starters and counterpicks. There are 5 starters, and 4 counterpicks.Â
For the first game of every crew battle, teams will ban in a 1-2-1 order from the list of starter stages. Teams can decide who goes first however they want (usually Rock-Paper-Scissors or a coin toss). The winner bans 1 stage from the starter stages. The loser will then ban 2 stages from the starter stages. The winner will then pick where to play for the first game.
For every subsequent game, the winner of the previous game bans 3 stages from the entire list, meaning both starters AND counterpicks. The loser (in this case, the player who is selected to play next) will then pick any available stage from the entire list.
Players can skip the stage banning process by agreeing to "gentleman" to a specific stage. You can "gentleman" to any stage in the game. Most players "gentleman" to Pokemon Stadium 2 for game 1.Â
The stage list is:
Starters
- Battlefield
- Final Definition
- Smashville
- Small Battlefield
- Pokemon Stadium 2
Counterpicks
- Yoshi's Island
- Kalos Pokemon League
- Town & City
- Lylat Cruise
Q: What are the rules I need to create for my Arena?
A: First, from the main menu, go to Smash > Smash > Create Ruleset. Adjust the settings to be as follows:Â
Style: Stock
Stock: 3
Time Limit: 10:00 (this is the maximum time supported for online matches)
FS Meter: Off
Spirits: Off
CPU Lv.: Whatever you want
Damage Handicap: Off
Stage Selection: Anyone
Items: None
Random Stage Selection: Either Set None, or select the 9 legal stages
For the Advanced settings, choose:
First to: 1 Win
Stage Morph: Off
Stage Hazards: Off
Team Attack: On
Launch Rate: 1.0x
Underdog Boost: Off
Pausing: Off
Score Display: Off
Show Damage: Yes
Save these settings (feel free to name the ruleset anything that helps you identify it). Then go to back to the main menu, and select Online > Smash > Battle Arenas > Create Arena. Adjust the following settings:
Press X to toggle Password On (it is on when the tab in the top right says Password)
Type: All Skill Levels
Visibility: Public
Format: 1-on-1
Rules: [name of your crews ruleset]
Rotation: Bottom One Leaves
Press Y to open More Settings, and ensure the following are set
Max Players: 6 (note that having more than 4 people in the arena will cause extra lag)
Stage: Choice
Custom Stages: Off
Amiibo: Off
Spirits: Off
Voice Chat: Off
Room Music: Whatever suits your jam
Q: What is the Arena system, and how do I use it?
A: The arena system is the best way to play Smash against non-random opponents online.
Once you create your arena using the settings above, you can invite people to join your Arena by sharing the Arena ID (the 5-character code in the top right of the arena screen, NOT the arena name) and the Password (which you set). The standard format when sending this information to your opponent is [Arena ID]/[Password]. For example, if Lucina's Arena code was DHRNR and my Password was 236, she would message her opponent "DHRNR/236".
Q: How do I contact my opponent?
A: We highly recommend you contact your opponent in the UChicago Discord Server. This provides you a way to instantly contact your opponent both before and during the match. If you do not want to create a Discord account, however, emailing the captain of the opposing team is a perfectly acceptable way to schedule matches. Obviously, talking in real time via e-mail is difficult, but still possible.
