What Smash Bros. Can Teach us About Climate Action
By Magali De La Sancha | September 2025
The crowd fades, my fingers burn against the buttons, and Sora’s power radiates in my hands. Victory feels close, but only if I can land this one move. In that moment, I realize: I’m fighting with the same short-sighted hunger as a world still hooked on fossil fuels. And if we keep playing this way, we all end up with zero stocks.
At first glance, you might be thinking “Super Smash Bros. and climate action couldn’t be more different.” In Smash, only one player can win, while the rest of the players get KO’d. Climate action, on the other hand, only succeeds if everyone works together. Yet, game theory shows us the two aren’t as far apart as they seem.
Think about a free-for-all match. Every player is tempted to look out only for themselves: spamming projectiles, camping at the edge, or waiting for others to fight it out first. Nations face the same dilemma with climate change: short-term gains from fossil fuels are tempting, but if everyone does it, the outcome is disastrous. Economists call this a Prisoner’s Dilemma, where cooperation benefits all, but the temptation to “defect” is strong.
Most importantly, both games change when the rules change. Items on? Chaos. 1v1 tournament mode? Strategy. Likewise, climate progress depends on the rules we set–carbon pricing, clean energy incentives, and global cooperation–that shift the incentives for everyone.
Sometimes, though, players form temporary alliances to take down the strongest opponent before returning to their own rivalry. Maybe it’s an amateur Kirby and Ice Climbers teaming up against a tournament-seasoned Minecraft Steve. That’s similar to the Paris Agreement, where countries cooperate to tackle carbon emissions despite incentives to free-ride. But just like in Smash, sitting back and waiting won’t save you, the chaos eventually catches up, and suddenly you’re hanging on by your last stock.
Smash might end with just one winner, but when it comes to climate, the only way to win is together: cooperating, coordinating, and leveling up as a team.