Smash Bros. One of the greatest video game titles of all time. It's been around since 1999, originating on Nintendo's first console readily capable of 3D graphics, the Nintendo 64, and has resulted in sequels on every Nintendo home console since, as well as one mobile console release, Smash Bros. for 3Ds. One of the biggest things that sets Smash Bros. apart from other games in the industry, is the fact that with each iteration, the series has seen dramatic and steady improvement. At my house, Smash Bros. is nothing short of a legend, and maintains more hours of enjoyment than any other game title we've ever experienced.
To give a little bit of history on our opinions of past Smash Bros. titles, I'll start with the one that introduced us to the franchise, Smash Bros. Melee. Melee was the second installment, released in 2001 on Game Cube. For many gamers who were around during the run of the Game Cube console, it represents the golden age of 3D Nintendo gaming, and it is true to say we deeply share in this emotion. Melee is one of the reasons. When you stack it up against newer releases, Melee may seem horribly flawed, the fact of the matter being that it is simply much older. No it is not the best game for true competitive tournaments, fighter balancing sometimes seems non-existent, and comboing seemed more like a joke than an actual possibility, but the Melee experience was still a great step in the right direction, with many improvements over it's predecessor, and still, as a game should be, just really fun to play.
Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii, 2008. While most Wii games seemed to take a turn for the worse, Brawl represented a serious jump ahead in execution for a Smash title. Comboing was real, aerial attacks had new meaning, the experience was much smoother, and comparatively, graphics were highly realistic. The real accomplishment that really sets Brawl apart from all it's siblings though, is the Adventure Mode. Real purpose built levels were made to go along with a sequence of awesome videos that told an actual well made story, mixing the entire cast of Smash into it.
Then we have Smash Bros. for Wii u, or as it really should have been named, Smash Bros. 4, released 2014. While every Smash has always brought in more fighters than the previous title, Smash 4 did a good job of continuing this trend with a record setting 51 fighters, if you include the three new customizable Mii fighters. The biggest disappointment of Smash 4 was the lack of Adventure Mode, and while they did make some cool advertisement videos, it simply wasn't a replacement. If you can get past that though, Smash 4 made widespread improvements on almost every aspect of the game. It was the epitome of precision, matching Nintendo's first HD resolution console, capable of a 60 Fps frame rate, with all the lessons learned from it's three ancestors, Smash 4 provided the best experience of core gameplay.
When the Switch was first announced by Nintendo, I had a subdued interest to see what would come from the console. In my opinion, Nintendo has always done a very decent job at producing their hardware, what would really make or break the Switch was the games. First we saw big releases like Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a great game but you could get it on Wii u, and Super Mario Odyssey, interesting for sure, but not enough to motivate me to consider purchasing the console. But when Nintendo announced Smash Bros. Ultimate, it was a goose bump moment. Now they had our attention. It didn't take long after the game's release for us to get a Switch, and of course, a traditional, actual hard copy, of Smash Bros. Ultimate, (not a digital download.)
It is always a big deal to play a new Smash, and we were intensely excited to see what was in store. It has been cited to be the biggest Smash to date, including every fighter that has ever made an appearance, plus new faces as always, as well as bringing back most of the stages from previous Smash titles, but with totally revamped appearances. It was cool for long time fans like us to be able to fight with favorite but retired fighters from Brawl and Melee, like Roy, Wolf, and Snake, on the very same stages of their respective games. And a very exciting moment was had when we read on the back cover that it also included an "Adventure Mode!" Was the beloved Brawl Adventure game mode being revisited?
First impressions were that the game seemed to harken back to Melee by way of fight physics. Not the same really, but things were more choppy, not the super smooth feel of Smash 4. This did not put us off much though, as it just seemed different, not necessarily worse. However, one thing that did immediately put us off was the user experience design. The problem revolves mostly around one huge issue, that you are required to re-select your fighter, and color, after every fight. So annoying! I almost never use a fighter just once before switching, and I gave up using alternate colors because it was just a waste of time to keep changing it back. The other issue was that it was hard to change the game rules, but this was somewhat offset be the fact that you could now make game rule presets, which was responsible for the problem. These things though, were both ignorable if gameplay was still great.
One disappointing decision made for Smash Ultimate was to remove a universal constant that has been present since the original release; trophies. Trophies were replaced with what they called Spirits, which play a role in the Adventure Mode, but are really just a picture of a character. No more 3D trophies of the actual game models from their own games. A little disappointing but it still is not the main attraction of Smash.
Something that was actually an improvement was the Classic Mode. All of the fighters get a customized set of challenges for Classic, so it is easier to play through with every fighter without it becoming monotonous. At first they didn't have the ever novel Home Run Contest mode, but we were glad to see this was added later on.
As for the Adventure Mode we got so excited about... Sigh. A few poor video sequences of little substance, and essentially just a sequence of gimmicky battles organized across a 2D map layout. If I'm being honest, it actually wasn't a bad addition to the game, it had it's fun aspects, but calling it a Adventure Mode, seems like a major stretch. It is essentially an organized version of the Spirit Board mode, which sets up a battle themed after whatever character the Spirit features. If you beat it, you get the Spirit along with some ability that can be gained by equipping that Spirit. I won't give anything away, but the story is really rather useless, it doesn't add much value.
To reiterate once again, though, the most important element of Smash is the core gameplay. After playing many hours of Smash Bros. Ultimate, I can confidently give you our verdict. It quite frankly is not as good as Smash Bros. 4. Why? It's all in the details of how the game plays. Overall the sum value of these details is that the tactics revolve more around going for the "cheap shot," so to speak. It requires less skill and more gimmick to take down your opponent. Now there are doubtless many opinions on the subject, even among K-tech we have those who don't mind it so much, and those who don't want to touch the game anymore, but the general consensus is that this is the first Smash that took a step backward.
This could have been caused by a good many things that are not obvious from the outside, but my guess is that Nintendo bit off more than they could chew. Bringing back every fighter, most of the stages, an Adventure Mode (even if it wasn't great,) and attempting various improvements to other parts of the game at the same time, is just an enormous task.
Fighter balancing also took a hit, but how couldn't it? 74 fighters at purchase, plus two announced waves of 4 DLC fighters, and Piranha Plant just thrown in for good measure, make good balancing predictably difficult to ensure. Perhaps in attempt to assuage some of the pain caused by balancing, Smash made a first ever attempt at custom balancing, a system that let you increase or decrease a fighter's power by up to 30%, in 10% increments. Before I even looked at it though, I immediately said, "They won't let you change it in small enough increments." And sure enough this was the case. For a few select fighters it was even impossible to lower their power enough to suit our liking.
So in conclusion, it is with a disappointed heart that I say this is the first Smash Bros. that we find to be worse than the previous installment. That being said, it is only fair to recognize that the game didn't fly completely off the rails. Though individual opinions may vary, I believe that this is still Smash Bros., a game that I will continue to look on with respect, and I will still continue to anticipate the next fight. Overall, I consider Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to be worthy of 7/10.
Notes On Content
Rated E-10+ For:
- Violence
- Suggestive Themes
We take note of any questionable and/or inappropriate content in any games we review in order to inform players of their presence and caution them if it is not suitable for them.
Smash Bros. Ultimate includes some fighters wearing suggestive clothing that some players may not be comfortable with. They are relatively avoidable in the basic game modes if you simply wish to play without using them, but do appear in the Adventure Mode, as well as occasionally in Classic mode, and obviously you do not have control over what fighters other players use in online play. In addition, there is a number of Spirits portraying suggestive content that can appear in both the Spirit Board mode and in Adventure Mode that are relatively unavoidable but infrequent.
If any of these things makes you uncomfortable we advise against purchasing this title.