Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Review

Welp, the year is ending, so I thought I should close it out by doing something productive for once.

Welcome to my review of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, one of the most anticipated games of this past year and directed by the highly respected Masahiro Sakurai. Announced at the end of the March 8th Nintendo Direct, showing actual gameplay during E3 2018, and then followed by two major Nintendo Directs specifically catered to it, Smash Ultimate has had people once again riding the hype train. Now that it's finally released, I've played it enough to give a proper review. A bit of a warning though, because this will contain spoilers for it's Adventure Mode: World of Light, for those of you who have yet to beat it. I will mark said spoilers with a beginning warning and ending notice in bold letters. Besides that, I will dissect most of the individual modes Smash Ultimate has to offer. Without further ado, lets dive right into it. Bit of a warning though for this game and any review I write in the future: the bigger the game, the longer my reviews tend to be, and this game is pretty big, so get ready for a lot of reading.

Presentation, Graphics and Sound

At first glance, the menu's of Smash Ultimate look incredibly minimalist, but this is actually a step up from the mess that was Smash 4's menu design. The menu is already much better to navigate, and each highlighted option has a fun picture to go with it tat gives you an idea of what the mode is like. It's simple, sleek, easier to navigate, and much better on the eyes. The main menu even has every option you highlight have some shapes animate in the background so that nothing is too simple or boring to look at. Selecting a Menu option has simple, yet sleek transitions that the eyes can handle Probably the best Menu we've gotten for Smash yet.

The Graphics are like a middle ground between the gritty realistic textures of Brawl and the eye-popping, vibrant colors of Smash 4, creating an honestly beautiful-looking game. Some characters do look weird though. It's mainly Bowser, whose coloration and textures was gotten right in Smash 4, but now he's more awkward to look at in Ultimate. Doesn't mean I need eye bleach, though. Some characters have amazing detail, though, like how detailed Incineroar's fur is or how gorgeous Zelda looks. The stages also look great as well, with some old ones being re-textured to be up-to-date with Smash ultimate, and even the retro-styled games add charm to the game. Definitely the best-looking Smash game yet.

My favorite part about any well-made game, however, is the soundtrack and holy crap is it rockin'! The Main Menu theme of Smash is amazing as well as SMash's other original tracks, the new remixes of Smash music like Ridley's Theme, City Trial, Vampire Killer, Lorekeeper Zinna, and especially Gangplank Galleon are like food to the ears. If you really like these, you can save playlists of these musical pieces and even play them while the screen is off like an oversized MP3 player. Getting off the topic of music, the sound design while fighting is like music to my ears as well. So many satisfying sounds made while you're punching, kicking, slicing, and just plain obliterating your opponents whenever you can. Some characters have even gotten new voice clips or entirely new voice actors, like Marth, Voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, Roy voiced by Ray Chase, Zelda voiced by Ayumi Fujimara, Pichu recieving an entirely new set of voice clips by Satomi Korogi, and more. Overall, fantastic sound design.


Gameplay, Characters, and Balance

At it's heart, Smash is a game best played with others, be it on the couch, or online (I'll talk about online in a later section). The core gameplay has remained the same with some added touch-ups and mechanics. This game is also MUCH faster than Smash 4. Not as fast as Melee, but its still sometimes ridiculous. Directional Air Dodging returns, but if you don't use it wisely, its easy to get punished. In fact, dodging and even blocking is much harder to do, which gives players the incentive to play more offensively than defensively. The rules of the game have also changed. First, you select your rules before fighters, which means you no longer have to manually switch the battle to Stock. You can also create rulesets that, when configured, can be selected immediately when going into a battle. Next is stage selection, in which there are over 103 stages to choose from. Holy crap. Anyways, this is done also before fighter selection so that you can choose a fighter that best suits the stage.

However, Smash is still the fun game it was back when it was released for the Nintendo 64. All of this technical stuff doesn't matter too much when you just wanna have a blast with friends or by yourself with the CPU's. Speaking of which, the AI for CPU's has drastically improved. I sometimes can't tell if they're computers of actual human beings behind a controller playing, and at Level 9, they become ridiculous. Overall, Ultimate is still enjoyable however you want to play it.

The characters included in this game is a whole other story. For the first time (technically since Melee) in Smash history, every single character ever included in the past Smash games have all been reunited for this one game. This includes characters like Solid Snake, Star Wolf, the Ice Climbers, the Pokemon Trainer with Squirtle and Ivysaur, Young Link, and even Pichu. In addition to that, we have some newcomers including the Inklings from Splatoon, freaking Ridley from Metroid, Simon Belmont from Castlevania, King K. Rool from Donkey Kong, Isabelle from Animal Crossing and Incineroar from Pokemon. In addition to them, Sakurai has also added characters that work similar to other characters, dubbed Echo Fighters. While we already have the likes of Lucina and Dark Pit, we have newcomer Echoes like Princess Daisy from Super Mario Bros, Richter Belmont from Castlevania, Chrom from Fire Emblem, Dark Samus from Metroid, and Ken from Street Fighter, all of who are echoes of Princess Peach, Simon, Roy, Samus, and Ryu respectively. This brings us a grand total of 74 playable characters, which is insane! Thats not even including DLC, which will bring us Piranha Plant as a free fighter and Joker from Persona 5 as one of the five characters of the Fighters Pass, upping the total of playable characters to 80!

With the exception of the new Echoes, all of the newcomers offer something different. Inkling is a fast character that can cover opponents in Ink to deal more damage, but you gotta watch your Ink Levels or your Ink attacks become considerably weaker. King K. Rool is a heavyweight that has armor on most of his attacks, allowing him to power through even the heaviest moves, though it does break after 3 hits, leaving the Kremling Kommander completely vulnerable. Simon uses his trademark Vampire Killer to dish out thin, but long-range attacks. He has the longest-reaching Forward Smash in the game, even longer than Corrin's. In addition to being good at close to mid-ranged combat, he's also almost busted in long range combat, as his special moves grants him many long range options that have almost no right to be as powerful as they are. Ridley is a giant powerhouse with a good air game and terrifying Special Attacks, such as his Tail Skewer and another special where he grabs his opponent and drags them fast across the stage until he reaches an edge to throw them off, which can kill at high percents. The last of the newcomers, Incineroar, is also the first grappeler. One of his Specials, Revenge, is a counter that when activated, powers up the next attack he lands, which can usually be an instant 72%.

Veterans to the game have also received some significant changes, such as Link now sporting his Champion Tunic from Breath of the Wild by default, and having access to Remote Bombs, being able to shoot two arrows, and a much longer Master Sword. Speaking of Zelda characters, Zelda herself now sports her design from A Link to the Past, and sports improved and flashier attacks, while Ganondorf has returned to his Ocarina of Time appearance, and now uses his sword in all of his Smash Attacks, giving him tremendous range and power. Little Mac's recovery has been buffed significantly, as his Side Special no longer makes him Helpless in the air, and can use his Up Special right after. Shulk can now cycle through his Monado Arts via holding down the button instead of mashing it several times. Bayonetta has been significantly nerfed since Smash 4, and most of her jank that assisted in her busted-ness in Smash 4 doesn't really work anymore in Ultimate. Wolf sports an updated design and new attacks as well, and the most ridiculous buff was Pichu. Pichu was originally one of the worst characters in Melee due its passive of any electric attacks damaging it and it being the lightest fighter in the game. While that's still the case, his attacks have been buffed significantly. Now he wrecks people left and right, and is even considered to be better than Pikachu. My main, however, will always be Sonic. I've mained him since Brawl, and I will stick true to my guns until Smash is officially over.

The overall Balance of the game is actually quite good for a recently released title. The only characters I hear brought up the most to be stupidly good are Inkling, the Belmonts, King K. Rool, Chrom, Ness and Lucas, and a few others. Like Smash 4, tiers don't really matter in this game, only your skill with your character. You could play Little Mac vs King K. Rool and still beat the Kremling King. You could play Jigglypuff vs Marth and still win against Marth. You can even have Incineroar vs Sonic and Sonic can still get his butt kicked. I guess the only things that need to be truly fixed are grounding moves, because King K. Rool's down throw at high percents is a guaranteed K.O. and Inkling's Splat Roller leaves you grounded for WAY longer than it should at even low percents.

In general, the game is still fun be it casually or competitively, and I think anybody can enjoy this game.

Spirits and World of Light

Unique to Smash Ultimate is its Spirits Mode (I'm gonna be saying the word "Spirit" a lot in this section, by the way). Spirits are a more open version of the custom items in Smash 4. Spirits take the form of basically .png's of characters from the various franchises that Smash Ultimate represents. While they're non-playable, they can be equipped to fighters to boost their power and give them special abilities. Some can simply boost your speed, while others can start the battle with increased attack at the cost of 30% at the start of the match. Others can be ridiculous, like ones that make you Metal and Giant, grants you Super Armor, makes it easier to defeat Assist Trophies, Metal and/or Giant characters, and even Spirits that equip you with items at the start of battles. There are two types of Spirits: Primary and Support, and these come in 4 classes: Novice, Advanced, Ace, and Legend. Primaries are equipped to your fighters, while Supports are equipped to the Primary to add special effects. All Primary Spirits can be leveled up to boost their power, and some special ones can be upgraded to stronger versions at the max level. You can speed up the process of leveling up Spirits via Snacks of the small, medium, or large variety, and you can dismiss Spirits to get Spirit Cores, which can summon more Spirits or level up your already acquired Spirits. Spirit sets can be saved and used in Solo, Local, or Online smash, so that's neat as well.

There are 5 ways to acquire Spirits. One is by purchasing them in the various shops of the game via gold acquired from battles or Spirit Points. Another is by earning some by beating Classic Mode with any character (I'll talk about that later.) Another is by using cores from dismissed Spirits to summon even stronger ones. Next is Spirit Board, and this is where things get really interesting. The Spirits themselves inhabit the bodies of "Puppet Fighters" which are basically recolors of the playable fighters. These fighters usually have special conditions when you engage the fight, such as them being Giant or Metal, favoring to use certain Special Attacks or using stage hazards like there being strong winds that can blow you off the stage, certain items spawning that the enemy immediately goes for, poisonous clouds that can give you serious damage, or the floor is lava (literally), freezing, shocking, or sleep-inducing. To the game's credit, there are Spirits that can negate what would otherwise be annoying conditions, though honestly I find these changes to be quite charming since the Spirit battle is essentially trying its best to emulate the Spirit that inhabits the Puppet Fighters. One example is the Guts Man battle, who inhabits a Giant orange Mega Man that has Super Armor and favors grabbing you. Another battle is Blaze The Cat, a pink Robin where the floor is lava, the Robin favors her Side Special, ArcFire, and is equipped with Super Spicy Curry at the beginning of the match. If you defeat the fighter, to free the Spirit, you must strike it with the Puppet Shooter by timing the shot right between a rotating barrier barrier that protects the fighter. If you hit the barrier, you can try again using Spirit Points which are acquired via beating Spirit Battles. Strike the fighter and you get the Spirit. The higher its class, the harder the battle itself, and the faster the barrier rotates If anything, you can see these battles as a worthy successor to the Event Matches.

The last way to acquire these Spirits are through the game's Adventure Mode, World of Light. In this mode, the Main Antagonist of the game, Galeem the Lord of Light, wages war against the fighters with his army of Master Hands. he unleashes a devastating attack against them, vaporizing every single character and turning every non-fighter into Spirits by engulfing the entire universe in his light. The vaporized fighters are captured, and Galeem clones lifeless Puppet Fighters of them, forcing Spirits against their will to inhabit these Puppets and do his bidding. Kirby is the only survivor of Galeem's onslaught, and must now travel the world, free the fighters, and stop Galeem once and for all. 

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR WORLD OF LIGHT INBOUND. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. SPOILER ENDING AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PARAGRAPH. After defeating Galeem, a new threat appears from a crack in the sky, revealing the second main antagonist of the game: Dharkon. Dharkon and his army of Crazy Hands fight the already weakened Galeem, forcing him to flee. Dharkon takes control of the remaining Spirits and captured fighters, and opens a portal to The Dark Realm, his home dimension, where you must continue the fight. After defeating Dharkon, he retreats back into the Light Realm, where Galeem gives chase. When the fighters arrive, Galeem and Dharkon are in an all-out war against each other, with the freed fighters caught in the middle. As the fight in the third world progresses, the real Master Hand and Crazy Hand are freed from their influence, and help out the fighters against both Galeem and Dharkon. After creating a tear in the fabric of reality, Master Hand helps out by clearing out 50 false fighters to clear the way for the real fighters. For the first official time in Smash History, you control Master Hand in this awesome sequence! After that, the forces of Light and Darkness are pushed away, allowing you to challenge Dharkon and Galeem, where the game splits into three endings: two bad and one good. If you defeat Dharkon without challenging Galeem, Galeem will take full advantage of Dharkon's weakened state and erase him completely. He then proceeds to bathe the world in his light once more, vaporizing everyone in the process. If you defeat Galeem without fighting Dharkon, Dharkon will imprison Galeem and swallow the world in darkness, with the fighters dropping dead (Specifically Mario). The true ending is acquired when you take on the incredibly tough challenge of fighting both Galeem and Dharkon at the same time. With both of them defeated for good, the world is freed of their influence, and the Spirits migrate to the heavens to return to the real world. SPOILERS FOR WORLD OF LIGHT END HERE. YOU MAY CONTINUE READING WITHOUT SPOILERS.

Well, unlike in Spirit Board, simply defeating Spirits in World of Light will automatically give you the Spirit. There's also a Skill tree which can be expanded with Skill Spheres, acquired from winning battles in WoL. Also, if you haven't unlocked any fighters in the main mode, WoL is a good alternative, as freeing the fighters in WoL also unlocks them in normal play. The World itself has many sections that also resemble places from other Nintendo Games. There's even a city made up of Nintendo Consoles. You often have to get certain Spirits or push certain buttons in order to progress forward, and thought the battles are fun, it can get incredibly repetitive and annoying in this 20-hour campaign, since all you do for the most part is move on from battle after battle after battle. And if you're expecting a lot of cutscenes like in Brawl's Subspace Emissary, you're gonna be disappointed. There's only 7 cutscenes from WoL. The rest is mostly just gameplay. Also, WoL is more of a one-and-done game, unless you really gotta beat all the challenges for this mode. Overall, it's charming, it's pretty cool, but there's hardly any substance besides the Spirit Battles.

Games and More

In this section, you have multiple modes to choose from. First is Classic Mode, where each fighter goes through their own unique classic mode route to reach the boss at the end. Some reference other games or fighters, like how Wolf's Classic Mode has him fighting against fighters that haven't been seen since Melee and Brawl, and how Kirby's has him fighting against characters known to eat a lot, with food items spawning frequently. Cloud's stages all have him fighting on stages with transportation vehicles like Big Blue or Corneria, since he gets carsick a lot. Sonic's has him fighting against some of the fastest characters in the game. Also for the first time in Smash history, the enemy waiting at the end won't always be Master Hand and/or Crazy Hand. Sometimes it may be a special character, like how Bowser fights Mario at the end of his before he transforms into Metal Mario, and other times it can be a completely new boss to the game, like Galleom from Subspace Emissary, Rathalos from Monster Hunter, or even Dracula from Castlevania. there are 3 other bosses, but these guys are best saved as welcome surprises to the game.

Other modes include the returning Training Mode, where you can test out fighters, items, combos, etc., Mii Fighter menu where you can customize your Mii Fighters, and amiibo menu, where just like in Smash 4, you can train amiibo Figure Players to become insane fighters.At level 1, they're weak, but by max level 50 they become ridiculously powerful and skilled. Mob Smash has the 100 Man Smash return under the name Century Smash, All-Star mode and All-Star mode has been replaced by All-Star Smash, where you must defeat as many fighters as you can before you're defeated. Cruel Smash is also back, and its still the same stuff as before. However, we now have a Smash Game without Home Run Contest or Break the Targets, and its a little sad to see them go since they we're mainstay modes since Melee. There's also a secret mode called Challenger's Approach, where if you've lost to a fighter trying to unlock them outside of WoL, you can rematch them after a while here, though once you've unlocked all 74 fighters, this mode becomes permanently unavailable.

While not part of Games and More, the Vault allows you to look at your saved replays, World of Light Custcenes, Shop for Mii Fighter costumes, Soundtracks, and Spirits and Items, look at tips, your Records, Listen to the games' awesome selection of music, and take a look at the many challenges you can take on to unlock fun pictures to look at. Unlike the previous games, I find the challenges in this game to be super easy to beat this time around. As of this review, I have done every single challenge except for the Online play challenges. Speaking of Online...

Online Mode

While I have yet to actually play online (as I am saving up to get a decent LAN adapter so I can have a smooth online experience), I've seen plenty of videos and enough comments on it to formulate an opinion. Nintendo has seemingly always struggled to make sure everyone has a good online experience, and this seems to be no exception. Gone are the modes of For Fun and For Glory. Instead, you can play matches based on your preferential rules. You want a free for all items experience, or do you want 2v2 doubles, no items, Omega Stages only? Its all up to you. The game also prioritizes peer-to-peer connections and whomever is closest to you. All of this sounds good on paper, but in execution, it couldn't be any worse. Players most often find themselves fighting battles they never set their rules to, or you fight a 1v1, everything is fine, only for a Smash Ball to appear out of nowhere and thus breaking the pace of the match. Not to mention that people that fight on wifi connections are the plague, since their less stable connections can lead to input lag, slowed-down matches, and even connection errors that can unfairly ban you if it happens enough times. I've legit heard people say "bring back For Glory" since they keep asking for 1v1 matches only to get free-for-all's with Spirits enabled. You can also create Arena's for the public to join or for specific people to join, though the problem is that even that can have the same problems as regular online gameplay, if not more. I've seen clips where someone chooses one character and a specific stage only to get a different stage and a different character that they never chose. What the heck is that all about? Overall, the Online aspect of Smash needs some fine-tuning before I can even call it okay.

The Verdict

Smash Ultimate is overall a fantastic game. The character selection is legendary, the presentation and sound design is awesome, the Spirits Mode is a neat addition to the game, Classic Mode is great, virtually everything about this game mode is great! There are several downsides, such as Spirits Mode not really doing anything too groundbreaking, the lack of cutscenes in World of Light, and the struggling online experience, as well as some modes not returning from previous Smash games, but the gargantuan amount of positives outweigh the handful of negatives this game has, as the core gameplay of Smash remains fully intact.

I grant this game a 9.5/10. If you've read my review up to this end, then I thank you very much for your time and patience. Let me know if there's anything about my critique skills that I need to work on.