If you play online games, you’ve probably heard someone say that a rival or a teammate is playing on fast food Wi-Fi. “Taco Bell Wi-Fi” is the putdown I’ve witnessed most often, but in the Smash Bros. community, players apparently like to say that people are on McDonald’s Wi-Fi. Whatever the establishment, the message is the same: This person is lagging or sucking so hard, there’s no way they’re on a stable internet connection, right?
For Smash Bros. fans, connectivity is a big topic of concern — for one, the Switch can’t connect directly to an Ethernet cable without the purchase of a dongle. Worse than that, though, is that Nintendo games are notorious for being poor online experiences. This is how we arrive at McDonald’s Wi-Fi: Everyone is kind of on it, because multiplayer can be terrible.
Smash superstar Gonzalo “Zero” Barrios, who is known for having an ungodly winning streak, decided to test the insult out this week. Barrios went to an actual McDonald’s, Switch and GameCube controller on-hand, and played Super Smash Bros. Ultimate online as Ganondorf.
Yes, there was lag — about one second or two of delay, by Barrios’ estimate. “Horrible,” he remarks. Despite the handicap, Barrios somehow ends up winning most of his matches, including one with another pro player. “Easy,” he laughs as the GAME screen splashes on the display.
Turns out, if you’re good enough, nothing can stop you — not even McDonald’s Wi-Fi.
