Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)

I'll keep this simple, no one is ignorant of what the appeal of the latest Smash Bros is (whether it's ultimate, or its predecessors in their time, or whatever comes in the future), especially with Ultimate's nearly unbeatable 'Everyone is Here' tagline.

But, fundamentally, I've never been a fan of 'Smash as a Fighting game', though I suppose that topic has become trite, I just know what a game like this felt like when you did play 'winner stays, losers leave' with 10+ kids huddled around a Gamecube, before the concept of stage balance, 1-on-1 matches, or itemless gameplayer ever really entered the zeitgeist.

From that perspective, as an actual family friendly title that you hand off to someone and go 'extract all the fun you can from this', Ultimate trips over itself. The spirit system, at first very entertaining, become monotonous even before the end of the World of Light campaign, which is far before someone begins to sink themselves into the trenches of Spirit Board grinding or managing their little currency economies. This was a flaw in the previous titles that they only doubled down on.

You can enjoy the game all you want for its pure gameplay, whatever that means to you, but I don't think anyone can honestly defend having 60+ hours of pure grinding the same, low-level cpu fights over and over just to complete the spirit list, or grab the collectables you want, The game just wants to put barriers in front of you for very little reason, with the most egregious being that the game is notably incompletable without purchasing both the DLC and the online subscription, which... is really just silly. If they have the spare effort to include a timing minigame after every spirit board fight, they have the capability to not reveal the missing collectables to you until you actually purchase the DLC or online content.

The game is good, I think they've made a point that they can make action that feels about as good as Melee or 64, despite what impression Brawl and 4 may have left, and if you think that's all the game is, cool, I suppose, but it's not everything that's on the disk and it's not everything that appeals to people who see past the illusion of a Nintendo game as a hardcore, competitive experience.

My first review! I don't really plan to make these in depth - more like quick anecdotes that summarize my thoughts on games. Very loose, very chill, that kinda deal. Got it? Okay, cool.

So! My favorite Smash Bros. game. It has everyone from the previous ones - by far the largest collection of fanservice I have ever seen in any game period. Banjo main myself (waited fucking YEARS for him man). Only complaint I really have is that they removed trophies. I don't care for spirits that much. They don't have the same appeal.

5/5. Pick it up if you haven't.

This game is probably my favorite fighting game. It has over 70 characters with 6 more on the way. I have over 200 hours in this game. It's creative and has variety. Over 900 songs and plenty of nods to the character's backstory from their respective franchise I play this game under competitive rules but that doesn't discredit my opinion of the normal mode. If you're wondering who I main... It's Ness

4/5

Smash Bros. holds a special place for me in my gaming life. Though I was never particularly good at the game, it was the first game that I actually had friends over to my house to play. We would bash each other around and battle the CPU endlessly, and from there we branched out into other games like Goldeneye, and eventually Halo etc... Smash Bros on the 3DS (along with that version of Ocarina of Time) got me back into gaming in 2015 when I needed an out from school/work.

This game is why I bought a Switch in the first place. I had some interest in Breath of the Wild, but after Smash got announced, I was sold. It lives up to it's name as the ultimate version of Smash with every character and every stage available, and tons of new competitors (and/or costumes) to play as. The graphics are great, and to my not super competitive hands the controls feel great (with tons of options for controller style).

The only issues I have with this release as are as follows:

• though it's better than nothing, the single player "story mode" is kind of weak, and I lost interest in it about 30% of the way through
• I much, much prefer trophies over the stickers in this game
• too many Fire Emblem characters clog the line up, and the DLC isn't helping...

Those issues aside, this is one of the best party games you could ask for, and a must have for any Switch owner.

This is just a review of the "story" based game.

I thought this wasn't ever going to end. I beat Galeem after 15 hours and I'm like "woohoo now I can go back to unlocking other characters," only for the game to be like, "NOPE THERES MORE."

When I got to the dark world, it started feeling more like a chore. I was just going through the motions so I could unlock all of the fighters (Not in the DLCs). I appreciated the addition of having different abilities you could use depending on each foe you fought, but it became a repetitive mechanic after a while. Really bored me.

For those wondering, I got the "good" middle ending. Yeehaw.

What sort of meaningful things can one person really contribute to the discourse on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Ultimate edition of Super Smash Bros. which is the latest Smash Bros. game in the Super Smash Bros. series. Ultimately, not much. Super.

If you liked a game called Super Smash Bros. one time long ago, or even more recently, then Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is very probably the next Smash Bros. game that you will play. Perhaps you will like these Smash Bros. the best of all the Bros. you have yet Smashed, but it is also possible you may defer instead to your fond memories of the Bros. of Smashings past and hold some such previous entry as the Ultimate example of Superbly Smashed Bros., yet you will play this game anyway for years to come because one thing is clear: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the most recent one of these.

If, on the other hand, you have never played a Smash Bros. game, then I am truly intrigued by the series of choices that has led you here, three paragraphs deep into one picture-less user review among hundreds--on a flagship title, on North America's 40,000th most popular website--written at what I suspect is pretty clearly Stupid O'Clock in the morning. I cannot distill the essence of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for you, vexing reader, though I'm sure there are others who have valiantly tried. Some Bros. just have to be Smashed to be believed.

People who have much more invested in this property than I do may legitimately debate whether various mechanical changes worsen this game as compared with previous iterations, but the main fault I find in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is that it is too good at being what it is. It is too good at being a game you can pick up for 3 minutes during a commercial break but also a game that can vanish an entire weekend. It is too good at being a casual button masher, but also a complex, competitive experience. It is too good at balancing itself between these extremes so as not to alienate anyone. It is too much the Ultimate version of itself.

It is as if we wished for the Ultimate version of Super Smash Bros. on the monkey's paw, and here it is, vast and incomprehensible and strangely hollow. We believed that we wanted this and yet it has ruined us--and also you still can't play as Waluigi.

After so many iterations on the Super Bros. and Smashing thereof, perhaps I yearn for new experiences. Without question, I have Smashed many Bros. in this game, more already than in any version of the past decade, and in all likelihood I will Smash many more still. And yet I feel that the Smashes do not fill up the empty space inside me as I'm sure they once did, in a simpler time. As each Bro. was Smashed across a map---some gorgeously rendered tribute to a vaguely related media property--or even as I was myself Smashed in turn, I found myself pondering what opportunities I had forgone in order to incrementally move the deep statistics the game keeps and which I will only ever glance at fleetingly if at all. With every slightly too long load time, I gaze glassy-eyed at my reflection in the black background of my Switch and wonder: In my twilight years, will I fondly remember re-reading this help text about Marth: In His Series for the fiftieth time? Is this... the Ultimate experience which life has to offer?