Spectator Mode

Spectator screenshot.

Spectator is an online mode in Super Smash Bros. Brawl available with the game's Nintendo Wi-Fi setup, accessible within the With Anyone menu. Similar to spectator modes in other console games with online connectivity, this mode allows players to remotely view online brawls in action between other players. The match that is viewed is selected randomly, and none of the identities of the players controlling the characters on the spectator's screen are ever displayed. Stages and characters that are not yet unlocked will still appear in the matches.

The spectating players' own matches can be allowed by the players themselves to be available for any number of spectators to chance upon and view, by going into the game's Wi-Fi Options submenu and toggling "Allow Spectators" to "Yes". Spectator Mode actually loads replays of online matches, so allowing spectators will not affect server latency during matches. As such, some problems that sometimes happen with replays can happen here as well; desynchs on spectator matches are not unheard of. Occasionally, the Spectator Mode menu might be missing from the With Anyone screen. This is normally temporary, and happens when the replay server is down.

Betting

This article or section is incomplete. You can help SmashWiki by expanding or finishing it. The editor who added this tag elaborates: Confirm the multiplier for 3 people combating, and find just around how many stickers one gets on the medium bundle.

This mode can actually be beneficial to the spectating players' own game; they can place in-game coin bets on combatants before matches start, and bets on victorious combatants return more coins. Betting is optional, and the player can bet from 1 to 100 coins, provided they have that amount. 1 to around 12 Stickers are also randomly given out after a match in which the player has bet, regardless if the corresponding player or team won or not.

The more combatants, the lower the chance the player will bet on the winner, but the higher the reward in case they do. If there are two fighters, or it's a Team Battle, the better wins the number of coins they bet times 1.8. If there are three fighters, the number of coins is multiplied by 2.8. Finally, if there are four fighters, the coins are multiplied by 3.8.

Occasionally, the viewer will be offered a "Bonus Chance", whereby if they guess correctly who is going to win, a bonus reward will be earned, picked randomly from the following list:

• Small sticker bundle, consisting of around 10 stickers.
• Medium sticker bundle.
• Large sticker bundle, consisting of around 45 stickers.
• A relatively rare trophy.
• A CD, provided there are still random songs left to unlock.
• Double winnings from the bet.
• Triple winnings from the bet.

The coins are deducted from the player's count the second the match starts. This means that if the player can foresee that the character they bet on isn't going to win, they cannot quit the Spectator Mode in hopes of obtaining their coins back. Not even shutting down the console will work.

Tips

Even though the nature of online matches is relatively random, there are a few tips one can follow in order to increase the chances of betting on the winner. Keep in mind that these tips are subjective and not always true, so they should only serve as general considerations, not rules.

• Beginner players tend to have locked characters. If someone's playing with an unlockable character, chances are they've been playing for more than a couple of hours.
• Beginner players won't be aware that pressing certain buttons will toggle a character's palette, so betting on players who have a color that's different from the default is a bit more likely to be a bet on a more experienced player.
  • Likewise, beginner players won't be aware that one can press the character portraits to switch to a different sub-character, nor will they know straight away that one can hold a button to start as Zero Suit Samus. As such, if a player is using Sheik instead of Zelda, Charizard/Squirtle/Ivysaur instead of Pokémon Trainer or specially Zero Suit Samus instead of Samus, they're probably a bit more comfortable with the game and its small character selection quirks.
• Players with less experience tend to select certain characters:
  • Meta Knight, Ike or Lucas, given their cheap strategies, which can be easily overcome by more experienced players.
  • Mario, given it's the character most players try first and are comfortable with.
• Interestingly, beginner players tend to pick characters that appear stronger, and tend to avoid weaker-looking characters. As such, Mr. Game and Watch, R.O.B., etc. tend to be avoided by casual players, not to mention that these characters are also unlockable (read above). Similarly, characters with "mocking" colors, such as Captain Falcon's pink outfit, tend to be chosen by more experienced players, as to mock the weaker ones.
• Players only try Team Battles after they've gained some experience. As such, some of the rules above can't be taken as much into consideration on Team Battles. Instead, one should attempt to bet on teams who have a good dynamic, like a Bowser/Sonic team.
• Although a lot less applicable than in professional matches, character tiers can also be taken into account when selecting a player to bet on.
• If there are several taunt match characters, specially if they're all the same, and one character who doesn't fit, there is a chance that the latter will attempt to ruin the taunt party. Given that the match might become a 3-to-1 fight, the party crasher might lose.

Trivia

• On the NTSC version of the game, if a match is a free-for-all, the top-right corner will say "Quick Brawl", as opposed to the correct term, "Basic Brawl". This has been fixed in the PAL version of the game. There are also other minor changes between versions (please compare the image at the top with the one on the gallery).
• Viewers are given 15 to 40 seconds to place a bet. However, it's possible that when one leaves this screen and rejoins, the game will present the same fight, but with more time to bet than before.
• It's only possible to have a Bonus Chance match after at least one match has ended since the player last chose Spectator Mode from the With Anyone menu.

Gallery

• 

  Spectator Mode on the PAL version of the game.

• 

  A Bonus Chance match announcement.

• 

  A winning bet with the "small sticker bundle" bonus.

• 

  Follow-up to the previous image. The stickers won can be seen scrolling through the bottom of the screen.

See also

• Basic Brawl
• Team battle