Olivia Richman is a seasoned esports journalist who has worked with Inven Global, Esports Illustrated, Esports.gg, and more. As an editor and writer at Esports Insider, she loves telling unique esports stories, especially within the FGC. When not working and gaming, Olivia loves collecting Kirby plush, eating sushi, and driving her cars at the track.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate hasn’t had an update since June 2025, but Nintendo just had to barge into the competitive space when it saw players attempting to thrive. Developers woke from their slumber like Godzilla sensing another kaiju landing in Tokyo and decided it was necessary to drop Patch 13.0.5, which only came with one single – but negatively impactful – update.
Now the developers have gone back into their underwater cave to rest.
Patch 13.0.5 has one single line. But the implications behind it are huge.
“Fixed behavior that occurs when invalid data is sent or received in online battles.”
While Nintendo didn’t really dive into what this seemingly simple update means, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players knew it was directly aimed at those who use Delay Mod. This is a mod that improves Nintendo’s horrendous netcode, ensuring there is no lagging.
Nintendo has continued to have notoriously crap internet, making competitive Smash quite challenging. Even on the Nintendo Switch, a newer system. This has made it quite difficult for pro Smash players to practice online, since the lag can completely destroy the competitive integrity of a match.
The online matches feel so different from LAN matches that there was a massive debate over if online tourneys even counted during COVID. The online play felt like an entirely different animal, requiring different playstyles, tactics, and strategies to deal with Nintendo’s netcode. Players who dominated Majors found themselves floundering against online warriors who had adapted to Nintendo’s crap internet.
During this time, a lot of pro players looked into mods to fix the lag issues.
In 2025, top Snake player Hurt announced a self-imposed two-month ban after he was accused of using an input delay mod while streaming. The Japanese player was at the top of his game around this time, having just won Genesis X2 the month before.
ENTER FORCE.36 said at the time: “As a result of our internal investigation, we have confirmed that Hurt had installed unofficial mods on one of the two Nintendo Switch systems he owns.
“According to the person in question, he had only used the equipment when playing private online matches with acquaintances, and the footage in question was an excerpt from a stream of an online match in which he was matched up with an unspecified number of people while unintentionally using the equipment.”
スマブラSP部門所属 Hurt選手の規約違反行為について、チーム公式としての謝罪並びにご説明をさせていただきます。 pic.twitter.com/r7564U5WaM
This caused a lot of controversy last year, with many feeling as though he was getting publicly shamed over nothing. What’s the harm in trying to improve Nintendo’s latency issues while playing with friends?
Even though the Delay Mod is only trying to fix what Nintendo refuses to do (possibly in an attempt to hold Smash esports back), it’s still illegal to mod Nintendo consoles. Japanese players have been outspoken about these kinds of mods, as Japanese law prohibits their use. With Japanese players afraid of the consequences, they often find themselves at a disadvantage aga…