Almost every respondent in our survey noted there was substantially more lag when playing a random match than against a friend.

"At one internet connection, I was able to get a perfect connection with one of my neighbors. I also got a near-perfect to perfect connection with a friend that didn't live anywhere nearby at all. All 'with anyone' battles were terrible. At another internet connection, all internet battles have been terrible. As such, I know it can work but at least not on the connection I have now. Wireless routers and cable internet were used in all cases."

- Zasheir

That wasn't always the case, though. It all appears to depend on who you are connected to and what their connection strength is. This can frustrate the issue, as other players can be added or leave between matches. This can cause lag to appear in sessions where it had not been a problem.

"My first two random match-ups went fairly smoothly, lag was a minimal concern. The third match was much worse, almost grinding to a complete halt on several occasions."

- NA

Interestingly, there are people who have no major lag issues with either With Anyone or With Friends online matches. They do all note some lag, but say that it usually isn’t an issue.

"I've mostly been playing the "Play With Anyone" matches, as I haven't been fortunate enough to be brawling online to play with friends ... Anyway, I've probably played somewhere around 200 matches online at this point. Of those, I've only had two instances where the lag was severe and probably 10 - 15 matches where lag was noticeable but not game-breaking. Normally, when I have experienced lag, the problem seems to lessen if I play multiple matches within the same group."

-Sundoulos

Friend matches tended to be much smoother, according to our survey respondents. This is likely due to the fact your friends are often closer than a randomly selected stranger.

"My 'with friends' connection is practically flawless and there is no button lag. 'With anyone' is a little bit slower and there is occasional button lag. When I first got the game on launch, the lag was unbearable (server overloads I tell you!) but now it's great."

-SeaBass

The presence of latency isn't surprising, since it is the reality of all online gaming. As the game's designer, Masahiro Sakurai noted on the Smash Bros. Dojo blog, "because this form of communication is greatly affected by the distance between you and your opponent, your brawls may not run smoothly if you’re really far apart—like, for instance, if you’re connecting between Japan and America.

"The more distant you are, the worse your connection becomes, and the slower it feels. I apologize, but I hope you understand."

While lag may not usually be an issue, some respondents noted the game suffers more lag than other games they play from the same Internet connection. This begs the question, though: Why is online play in Brawl so sporadic, but near flawless in Mario Kart? Could the online toolset used by Nintendo been improved upon that much between the release of the two games?