Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Review

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the best entry to the Smash series to date.

As suggested by the name, Super Super Smash Bros. Ultimate strives to be the ultimate entry to the popular series. Ultimate does this not by “Quality over quantity”, but by prioritising both, resulting in a game of huge scale bursting with quality content.

74 fighters, 108 stages, and 1,299 spirit characters

The 11 new characters bring the same level of fun that players would expect from others in the series. The new addition from the Donkey Kong series – King K. Rool – stands out to me as a fresh, satisfying heavyweight character.

Smash Bros. Ultimate builds upon the fun and chaos of its predecessors, and this chaos is tied to the setting in which battles take place. Sadly, there are only 4 new stages in Ultimate, and somewhat underwhelming stages make a return. Stages such as ‘Pac-Land’ re-immerge with no change for the better. This does not take away from the other outstanding and gorgeous stages which look and play better than ever.

The spirit characters make exciting callbacks to other memorable – and not so memorable – series. This appreciation for popular characters and lesser known characters brought me a lot of joy and allows the player to appreciate those who didn’t make one of the 74 character slots.

Gameplay

Super Smash Bros. as a fighting series prides itself on its controls and gameplay – easy to pick up, hard to master – as smash attack controls remain solid as ever. The Smash Bros. series prides itself on its fluid, fast, and punchy gameplay. This has never been truer than in its latest entry. These result in a game that is really hard to put down.

Character Unlocks

“Everyone is Here!’ …but not right away”

The unlock process is a drag if you’re itching to play some characters. This can be an issue for casual players or players who don’t have the time to play games back-to-back in a grind to get them.

If you’re a fan of Chrom, Mewtwo, Bowser Jr., Dr Mario, or Palutena, then strap in – you’re in it for the long haul. These characters are the final 5 the player will unlock.

The only exception to this chronological – or somewhat decisive (See: World of Light) unlock process is for the Mii Fighters. These can simply be accessed from Games & More.

World of Light versus Smash Unlock Process

I chose to rattle through the somewhat tedious character unlock process by playing regular smash battles. I set out with the default 2:30 options and like clockwork, a challenger would approach every 10 minutes. After unlocking around 55 of the characters, I bumped it up to 11-minute battles ensuring a character after each match.

The world of light process is somewhat different and allows a bit more choice in which characters are unlocked first.

If you don’t successfully obtain characters the first time around then do not fear, these characters will reappear after a while via ‘Challenger’s Approach’ in Games & More.

Adventure Mode: World of Light
The long haul

World of light is a fun twist on traditional smash battles. After unlocking all characters via regular smash battles, I jumped into World of Light. Spirits are something fresh and despite the repetitive aspects and the basic map, elements such as the recognisable characters kept me coming back.

Its progression is steady but this sameness does lead to an inevitable sluggishness in the first half as it follows a particular cycle: Battle fighter, travel to next fighter/open chests etc. with the occasional: Find a fighter with an ability such as strong wind and then either battle them or obtain a spirit which counters this ability to ease the battle significantly. Battle conditions do change things up but after a while conditions repeat or are somewhat predictable.

World of light is a delightful twist on the traditional adventure modes thanks to spirits

Spirits

The level of depth involved in the presentation of spirits makes Ultimate all the more enjoyable.

Certain spirits possess valuable skills such as immunity to frustrating effects. Brewster, for example, possesses ‘Slumber Immunity’. This is an effect which: “Grants immunity to slumber floors and sleeping in general”. These effects can be crucial if the player finds themselves falling on slumber floors, battling strong winds, or drowning. These traits are always appropriately matched to the characteristics of the spirit, i.e. Brewster works in a café so his effects keep the player awake, and so forth.

Spirits can also be used to access areas or chests.

Classic Mode

“In Classic Mode, each fighter sets off on a unique adventure.”

Classic mode differs due to the fact each character will face a different roster of opponents and stages, hence each character having “a unique adventure”. Classic mode has many variables, such as Intensity – which indicates the level of challenge and therefore the reward. The mural scrolls depending on this level of intensity, and the further it scrolls the more points that the player receives. There is also a feature called bonus game where the player must outrun a black hole. I found myself enjoying classic mode a lot, despite it being a mode I briefly played in other entries and which I overlooked in Ultimate – until diving in depth for this review.

Multiplayer

The latest entry to the series thrives with online multiplayer, as have those before it.

Couch co-op and Nintendo Switch online both work almost flawlessly even in eight-player battles, which are as chaotic as ever yet feel a tad more comfortable – possibly due to the upscaled graphics and the switch’s better performance.