Super Smash Bros Ultimate

The Super Smash Bros series is a franchise that I’ve held close to my heart for many years. I have so many fond memories of playing the original N64 title with friends back in the day and spent countless hours playing Melee on the Nintendo GameCube with my little sister. And when Super Smash Bros Ultimate was announce I could hardly contain my excitement.

Super Smash Bros Ultimate does what it says on the tin. It truly is the “ultimate” Smash game in almost every way.

Classic Mode has been borderline perfected in Ultimate. In Classic Mode, you chose a fighter and journey through a series of battles before facing a boss at the end. But what sets Ultimate apart from all of the other Smash games is that each individual character’s Classic Mode journey is themed specifically to them, instead of being the same fights over and over again. Even the final boss fights for each character vary. It was so much fun tackling Classic Mode with each character and figuring out what their theme was. The only downside is the very lackluster race to the finish style minigame before the final boss. It’s the same generic pattern for each character which was disappointing after seeing the amount of variety and care placed into the rest of the mode. I feel like this was a big missed opportunity to bring back break the targets or board the platforms that have featured in previous titles.

Spirits are the new collectible in Smash Ultimate and after seeing their introduction at one of the Smash Directs, I was thoroughly confused and thought it was overly complicated. But upon playing the game, it is all relatively simple once you have a play around with it.

Spirits come from numerous franchises and can be collected either from completing fights on the Spirit Board or through playing the single player campaign, World Of Light.

The Spirit Board contains a random, periodically refreshed collection of Spirit Battles, which pit the player against Spirit possessed fighters under special conditions. I loved the frantic nature of looking at the board, seeing what you wanted to get, and then trying to complete the fight as quickly as possible to you could get back to the board and get into another battle before the board refreshed. The only real issue with the Spirit Board is the fact that after you complete the Spirit Battle, you must then shoot the Puppet Fighter to obtain the Spirit. It has a shield that will prevent the player from obtaining it. I can’t even begin to describe how irritating it was when I’d won a really tough fight, only to be denied the Spirit because I want able to successfully complete the cheap minigame. It’s a poor mechanic and should be removed from the game.

World Of Light was touted as the big return to a single player campaign and honestly it was a really mixed bag for me. After seeing the big reveal trailer and the amazing opening cinematic I was hoping for more cool cutscenes sprinkled throughout even though the creators did state that it would not be like the Subspace Emissary from Brawl. But sadly there was really nothing more than that which was a bit of a letdown.

In World Of Light, you are tasked with freeing trapped Spirits and fighters. It’s pretty much the Spirit Board but on an overworld. I tried to really dig into it for long periods, but found myself getting bored with the repetitiveness of the gameplay and would end up going back to the Spirit Board or Classic Mode.

Overall, World Of Light is fun to play in short bursts but would have greatly benefited if it had a more fleshed out and realised story.

Smash Modes are so customisable that you can play the game any way you desire. You can play timed or stock matches, toggle items how you like and fun new modes such as everyone starting with 300% damage make for a lot of hilarious fun.

There is so much beautiful music in Smash Ultimate. Every franchise is treated well with numerous songs and remixes. The addition of a jukebox mode which allows you to listen to the music while your Switch is in sleep mode and the ability to create your own playlists is a welcomed addition.

Super Smash Bros Ultimate is easily the definitive Smash title. The small quality of life changes that have made the game quick and easy to play, coupled with the amazing portability of the Switch has created a game that will have a long lifespan. It is the perfect party game.

5/5

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