Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is Nintendo’s 5th installment of one of their flagship titles. This 2D fighter was released on December 7th, just in time for the holiday season. At first glance, it may seem similar to past installments with only a couple of new characters added on, however, it doesn’t take long to see why this is the best Smash title to date.
The level of care that was put into the game was apparent. At the very start of the game, there is the iconic smash theme with a brand new chorus and cool cutscene. After that, you can get right into smashing! The starting roster is small. It is the same 8 characters from the very first Smash Bros. on the N64. This is a very cool homage to all the veteran players yet, it does not take long to unlock new characters. A random challenger will arrive every 8-10 minutes of in-game fighting. Defeating them will add them to your roster. However, unlike past titles, you are able to rematch with challenegers whenever you want.
The Ultimate’s roster is now a whopping 76 characters! Every character that has ever been in a previous Smash title is now playable in Ultimate. This includes past dlc’s plus 11 brand new characters. Even with all these characters it never seemed like a chore unlocking them all.
Ultimate feels smooth and responsive. This coupled with the fact that Smash Ultimate can be played with a Gamecube controller making it a more pleasant experience for the fans of the series. Many characters have gotten reworked. An example of this is Mario. Mario is now much faster and lighter. The new characters are also really fun to play! King K. Rool is surprisingly fast for his size, and the inklings have a cool paint recharge mechanic. Ridley is powerful but has limited reach, and Incineroar feels like a better jumping lil Mac.
The single player makes a return to the Smash series.It is a fun alternative that speeds up unlocking new characters. In single player, you start as Kirby and fight other heros possessed by spirits. When you defeat them, the spirits are freed and will help power up your fighter. Unlike other installments, Ultimate has gotten rid of their trophy system and replaced it with this spirit system. This is a good incentive to play single player but the allure of the trophy system was to see your collection grow and to interact with your trophies. Overall, it’s a small change that doesn’t affect the game drastically.
Ultimate is a must get game. On the surface, Ultimate looks very similar to Smash 4 graphically, but once you have the controller in your hand, you can immediately tell that Nintendo has mastered their most popular title. With over 103 stages, 700 music tracks, a fleshed out story mode, competitive online mode and numerous DLCs in the works, this game will keep you busy for years to come.