Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)

First time booting up a Smash Bros. game and it's really cool seeing so many characters together in one game, but I am left with one massively unanswered question... HOW DO YOU PLAY THIS GAME?

I found the tutorial section which left me staring at a chalked up Donkey Kong. Watched a "beginners introduction" and felt like I was attending an academic lecture. I feel like I'm entering the realm of elite gamers here

Edit: whilst typing this the game went idle and showed a short tutorial. Maybe the gaming elders were listening.

Prior to this month, I've never played any Smash Bros. game for longer than one match. I would usually hop on for a round and then get bored and stop playing. But after recently beating Smash 64, Melee, Brawl, Smash for 3DS, and now in the process of beating Ultimate, I've now also fallen in love with this franchise. It's simple to pick up and play, with moves being easily performed with directional inputs, and controls being universal for every character. This makes character experimentation less daunting and more inviting. And because it's so simple to start playing, it actually makes it more enticing to master the limited move-set that each character has. This game is the shining example of a game that is easy to pick up and play, but hard to master.

And then when you add the impressive roster, vast soundtrack, fantastic visuals & animations, smooth performance, highly customizable local multiplayer, and content-rich singe-player offerings to the highly polished gameplay, then you get a recipe for a near masterpiece of a fighting game.

Smash Ultimate is truly the ultimate fighting game. A roster of 89 characters from a diverse array of titles, including the Nintendo icons like Mario, Link, and Pikachu, but also encompassing other franchises such as Metal Gear Solid and Persona. (also almost 10 Fire Emblem characters but we don't talk about that) Every match of Smash Ultimate feels fresh and fun to play; the controls are very smooth and there is no character that feels overpowered. You can also change the settings to your liking: you can change the CPU difficulty, allow items, etc. There isn't just a brawler in Smash Ultimate. This game also boasts a wide array of different challenges, including:

• Classic Mode, where you choose a fighter and difficulty then fight your way through a handful of fighters and fight a final boss
• World of Light, where you go through a massive world to free fighters and unlock spirits to aid you in battle
• Video Editor, where you can edit clips and highlights of your great battles and edit them together!

Overall, Smash Ultimate is a very fun party game, whether you be playing against a CPU or against other players online in a tournament. Just have to choose a fighter and fight with them!

finally playing through world of light, and i'm just picking up on quite a few glaring oversights and wasted opportunities

• lack of custom specials that were in smash 4
• no quick pause -> retry option in world of light battles
• no option to remove particle effects (or at least minimize it. it is so so so easy to lose track of what's happening due to all the unnecessary visual flair that happens with everything)
• 1v1 stamina battles not having traditional fighting game health bars at the top of the screen to more easily gauge where we're at -- i understand sticking to smash bros tradition by using the bottom UI for HP, but that still doesn't change the fact that it's objectively harder to grasp/read during fast paced action. health bars at the top of the screen (shortening towards the center) are prevalent in 1v1 fighting games for a good reason. it's for ease of readability. numbers being the sole available way to read current HP values only harms this game's stamina mode imo

a huge amount of quantity over quality in my overall experience playing this game. i feel like they didn't work on this game to make it feel like a rich nuanced unique experience, and instead just said "let's pad it out with as much crap as possible" -- e.g. the adventure mode being what it is as opposed to a shorter and sweeter experience (like subspace emissary). world of light and its spirit battles work well as a catch-all to appeal to most players, like i'm not denying that it succeeded in what it was going for. and it's incredibly neat how they're constantly updating the game and adding new characters which end up being big events. that last remark is probably the coolest thing about this entry in the series -- and it does make it feel worthy of the "ultimate" title in some sense. it's just always a mindless experience for me, which tbf sometimes that's what i need. brawl felt way more nuanced and unique for its time (probably not fair for me to say since a- i was younger, and b- i was exposed to few things at the time)

If this turns out to be the final game in the Smash series, you won't hear any complaints from me. They have crammed a ton of content into this, stacked roster, stacked stages and a large number of enjoyable modes. The games story mode was surprisingly great and the addition of spirits kept battles fresh. Masahiro Sakurai has crafted one of the great video game series in existence and you can see just by playing the care and dedication he puts into his games.

(First non-archive review for the site!) I was going to wait until the last DLC fighter was announced first, but since I'm just finishing up 100% of the achievement screen I feel like I might as well throw my hat in the Smash Ultimate pile.

It's alright. This is a 'quick review' but I'm going to have to take this step by step so there's some categorization here.

Spirits: This mode in particular isn't very good. It's pretty much an AI stomping ground fit for mostly weakish fanservice respective to every spirit. I guess for a fighting game campaign it's not too bad but I feel like I wasted a lot of my time bothering with it.

Fanservice/Party: As a party game Ultimate is pretty good, there's a lot of item combinations and the stages are all fun to play on. There's a shitton of fanservice for so many franchises that I don't know how the game is going to look when it finally goes golden with its roster after all the new additions. Just the music remixes and character reps alone give so much power to the game's legacy.

Gameplay: It's mediocre pure and simple. It's certainly stronger than Smash 4 but neutral game here is still a very safe endeavor and foxtrots are a ridiculously gutted dashdance. I don't like the movement while fighting and I certainly don't like playing as most of the fighters. Combo game is very restricted, thanks in no small part to them removing a shitton of grab combos and giving a big Fuck You to SDI which is a design decision I still don't get at all. Ultimate wants people to play by turns which is all good and fine but I didn't enjoy 90% of the roster's toolset due to how restrictive they all play. Compared to the likes of really any modern fg on the market it's incredibly lacking. There are exceptions ofc, I really like Ryu/Ken's special canceling taken over from SF, especially Terry's toolset. I also approve of Link's bomb zoning and spacing setups. I'm just far more a fan of slower paced fighting games that make up for its lack of APM with strong mindgames and decisionmaking but Ultimate seems to be very limited in scope of both due to the more streamlined options.

Overall I think it's a good party game and a mediocre fighting game. I think it's alright after spending roughly 200 hours trying to fashion out how I feel about it. If you're looking for a party game that plays well at a competitive level I highly suggest playing Duck Game instead. (6.5/10)

This is easily the best Smash game. The character roster is perfect, the music and stage choices are phenomanal, and the gameplay is TIGHT! My main critiscism is that the unlock character battles were too difficut when the game first released, although they are supposedly easier now. Another main critiscism is that World of Light is very repetitive and gets boring fast, and it's FIFTEEN HOURS LONG! Aside from that, this game is a masterpiece.

(Oh yeah, and there were no music tracks from SMT or Persona 2 included in the Joker DLC, so that blows)

In general, I don't like fighting games very much. I don't have the patience to memorize button combos, nor the dexterity to execute on them while anticipating the actions of my opponent. And while many overcome these misgivings thanks to the energy of local multiplayer, I seem to share my disinterest in the genre with almost everyone in my adult life.

So my personal measure of whether or not I'll enjoy a Smash Bros. game is simple:

1. Is there a large amount of engaging single-player content?
2. Is it fun for a newb like me to button-mash my way through?
3. Is there enough fan service to hold my nostalgic brain in thrall?

For Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the answers are yes, yes and yes. I 100% completed World of Light (though I plan to play New Game+ to max out my skill tree), I've barely scratched the surface of the themed Classic mode playthroughs, and I'm addicted to collecting and training spirits from almost every corner of video game history. All while remaining just abysmal at competitive play! Hooray!

In case you haven't already read the news, Ultimate sees the return of every playable Smash character, including those who have been previously discontinued, as well as a host of new characters. There are also tons of stages, items, and game rules to explore and tweak so that your multiplayer experience is whatever you want to be. If you want a super-challenging battle, it's as easy to make it happen as it is to have a goofy, hectic free-for-all.

Unlocking these things is also a piece of cake. For one, you start with all stages, their versions, etc., so really you only have to unlock characters and extras. There are multiple methods to unlock characters and I got them all a lot faster than I expected.The game really lets you get right to the fun part.

The single-player mode also exceeded all expectations. The adventure, called World of Light, is a massive experience which takes you through 3 world maps and 3 different endings, all characters, and 600+ other battles with all different rules, mechanics, and challenges. I was blown away. I played just over 40 hours to get 100%, which is the last thing I expected from a Smash story mode. (My start and finish dates for this game are actually in reference just to the World of Light adventure.)

And if you're a fan of Classic mode, All-Star Smash, and all the old single-player challenges, don't worry. Those are still waiting for you too.

This game really delivered on its promises and made Smash more fun and enjoyable than I thought it could get. Recommend for fans both old and new.

This game has it all - new and old characters and stages coming together in what might be the most satisfying entry in Super Smash Brothers. The game is straightforward enough - build up damage, knock the player off the stage, but there's so much packed into this entry to satisfy both multiplayer and single player fans alike.

Multiplayer wise there's a quick and easy way to unlock more fighters, with each of them feeling tweaked enough to feel vibrantly different from each other (sans Echo Fighters). Stages are now incredibly flexible with a large variety of tracks and Battlefield/Omega versions for more competitive standoffs. There's a now-dizzying lineup of items and Assist Trophies available, from the Arcade Bunny to the Healing Bulb to Death's Scythe to all the old favorites.

Single player is also very meaty as well, with the introduction of Spirits and the World of Light Adventure mode. Light on the cutscenes but heavy on the battles, Spirits are an incredibly engaging way to approach stickers and trophies, allowing the player to equip, enhance, and collect over 1300 (they keep adding more!) reference to every single property included in Smash Ultimate and in Nintendo games. It might be missing the 3D renders, but it makes up with an overflowing about of charm and gameplay mechanics - lifestealing, special move buffing, etc. The spirit battles themselves are also very addicting, taking event battles to new heights by fashioning unique battles around nearly every single spirit. On top of Spirits return Classic Mode and a few multi-man smashes. It may be missing the target smash and home run, but I'm not complaining about the laser pointed focus on Smash proper the game is choosing to go with.

All in all, I couldn't really ask for anything more from Smash Ultimate. It's mind-boggling how polished and jam-packed this game ended up, and continues to get content and support into the future. I'll be playing this one for years.

This game is the 'Ultimate' Smash Bros. game. A roster of every character, every stage, everything that has been worked on throughout the series' history. It all culminates together in what feels like the only Smash Bros. game we ever needed.

I do miss Subspace Emissary's surprisingly impressive 'story' and great cutscenes, but World of Light is definitely a worthy successor, if not entirely as good on that level. The challenges that, especially the Legendary class, spirits bring with them is definitely notable. That sort of difficulty curve was what made SSB4 a big of a chore and a slog, but SSBU has done a decent job of at least making that challenge engaging, and the spirit battles interesting and thematic.

Classic mode is immensely improved by being themed by fighter and having more differing final bosses (playing Kirby's and suddenly encountering a Kirby boss was a welcome surprise). Also, having co-op Classic mode is awesome, despite my sadness that it was introduced after I had couch gaming buddies to enjoy it with.

Still overall, I'm impressed by how much fun I've had with the game even by myself. It's a definitely engaging and enjoyable culmination of a beloved series.

My biggest and truest gripe with it is: 'WHERE IS MY GENO?!'