Lag is simply the worst. When you’re playing a game, and it begins to lag at pivotal moments, it can make playing a platforming game like Super Mario Maker 2 almost impossible as the inputs will not register correctly, and will likely cause you to fall to your death, not great in competitive multiplayer.

Not only that but like with many of Nintendo’s online games that require as little input lag as possible (looking at you, Super Smash Bros.), the stability of their servers are questionable, to say the least, so reducing potential lag sources makes for a great game.

With that said, if you are experiencing lag and want to optimize your set-up to avoid it, then here are a few things that you can do.

When people refer to lag, they often mean latency, which is the time it takes for your router to respond to the server’s information with updates back based on what the game can handle. You can have a high upload speed, but still, have issues with latency. This effect typically happens most often when playing on Wireless but all connection types can be affected depending on how much network traffic your router is handling.

Other people using the network can affect this, as can the distance that your connection from your home is to the server that you are connected to. The further away from the server that you are connected to, the higher your latency will be. If the issue is based on location, the lag is unlikely to be avoidable, and it’s simply best to try again and hope for a closer server on the next game. However, if you are using shared Wi-Fi, see if you can confirm that it’s worse when other people are using bandwidth intensive applications (E.G., Netflix Streaming) and play accordingly. If your router is capable of prioritizing bandwidth to certain connections (known as QOS, check your router’s manual for this), doing so should minimize latency when others are using the internet.

If you are capped by a data cap each month, this could also be the other issue behind lag, in which case, you may not have the data to keep playing online due to your internet service provider restricting you.

This is a better solution if you tend to play your Switch game online while Docked, and is more of broad improvement to your connection in all games, not just Super Mario Maker 2. While Wi-Fi is incredibly convenient, a wired connection (or LAN connection) will always provide a more stable experience, with a higher down and upload rate and less chance to encounter latency.

WiFi can be very dependent on quality as well as range, which is produced by your router. Being able to reach further is not an indication of a quality connection, so if you are experiencing lag or online related issues on Wi-Fi regardless of where you are, consider purchasing the Switch LAN adaptor as this will likely resolve this issue immediately so long as your router is not faulty. A LAN Adaptor can be found here.

Sounds simple, but if you’re getting lag when you wouldn’t usually be getting this, it could be a sign of an issue in the router itself, especially if you see problems across many devices with latency. A router restart should do the trick to fix this issue.

It is recommended that you unplug the router from the power outlet fully, and leave it unplugged for about 30 seconds. This should allow any static electricity left inside the router to entirely clear and provide a proper power reset when plugging back in. Don’t worry about any setting you may have. Typically, these will still be there and are only removed by a manual reset button, though we recommend checking on your router first before to ensure this is the case. This should hopefully eliminate the lingering issues and ensure smooth gaming once again, assuming the game’s servers are not the issue.

We hope this helps get you back to a great Super Mario Maker 2 Online competitive experience!