Nintendo's an old Japanese company and Japan can be kind of stubborn about embracing online stuff. It took forever for itunes, streaming, digital music, etc. to really start being a thing over there. Of course Sony is also a Japanese company but they're also a company focused on technology so I'm not too surprised. Fortunately most my online experiences with Nintendo stuff have been positive, but Smash can be a nightmare if any of your friends has crappy internet.