This is the big one.
Mario Kart 8, Breath of the Wild and the core Pokemon RPG coming in late 2019. These are the giants whose shoulders the Switch stands on.
The big boys who drive sales and get the people goin’ like Will Ferrell, treadmills and lady humps. Smash Bros Ultimate joins elite company and suplexes lower class games with its sharp-as-knives gameplay and woos the boys and girls with cold-as-ice blue eyes.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Review
Masahiro Sakurai is back with a record-sized bag of goodies, just in time for Christmas. You’ve got 74 fighters, every map from previous Smash instalments, over 800 songs and hundreds of spirits.
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The scale of Smash Bros Ultimate is enormous. Everything about it is big. The Adventure mode is large and in charge too.
If you’ve never played Smash Bros before, you’ve suffered some form of abuse. In my capacity, as a volunteer game review journalist, I can promise you that the void in your life can be filled with Smash Bros Ultimate.
I’ll try and calm down for the sake of clarity, though it won’t be easy. I’m still high on the crack like addictive qualities of Smash Bros Ultimate and I don’t expect to come down for a while.
Y’all got any more of them Smash Bros
Smash Bros Ultimate is the fifth edition of Smash to grace our Nintendo Consoles. It’s fight club for all the big names in Nintendo AND some other popular dudes and dudettes.
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You punch, kick, elbow, knee, bite, fireball, laser-cannon, time-sword, helicopter backpack, lightning bolt, body slam and Falcon punch your way to victory in a fast-paced high-flying battle to the death. You can throw down in a number of modes but the big four are Adventure, Smash, Online and Classic.
Classic is the original recipe of the series. Select your fighter and progress through a series of fights tailored to your chosen combatant.
The more success you enjoy the more difficult the battle becomes. Fall to your enemies, watch your score plummet and feel the sting of defeat as you’re forced to cough up coins from your coffers to continue your adventure.
Adventure Time
Each hero’s classic journey has a theme. For example, Bowser fights every predominately red character because Mario has ruined rouge tones for the Koopa King.
Fire Emblem’s Roy fights every other Fire Emblem character on his quest for glory on a journey of swords.
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Each classic mode culminates in a boss battle. I think for the majority it’s a rematch with the iconic Master Hand but for some characters, a personal grudge draws them to different final destinations.
This is best demonstrated by the Castlevania boys. Both Belmonts’ boiling blood bubbles before beating boss bloodsucker beyond (b)recognition. It’s a Dracula showdown folks and you’re gonna need whips and chains.
Wanna Smash?
If you’re wondering where the beef is, look no further than Smash.
This is the spinal cord of not only Ultimate but the whole series. Grab ya, partner, grab ya mates, grab kids from the bus stop!
You pick the rules, you set the stage and you get down to business. Smash Mode is like a quick match in other competitive titles. Just jump in and start blastin’ asses. Stock mode on Final Destination, NO ITEMS; if there’s honour on the line.
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Though you might want to play random levels with all items on and a bunch of low-level CPUs if your girlfriend wants to bond with you except, she’s trash and you’re morally opposed to pulling punches.
The majority of your hours will be spent in Smash Mode because once all the challenges are completed and the story mode is finished, the real Smash begins.
World of Light
Adventure mode is pretty tight in Ultimate. A whiling amalgamation of hard light, angelic feathers and master hands burst into the Smash Universe and slays the whole roster with a pre-emptive spirit-stealing strike.
Everybody is incapacitated except for Kirby the Killer Gum-Wad and it’s up to you to save the day and get in a little smashin’ on the side; if you know what I mean.
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Similar to the thematic nature of each fighters’ classic adventures, each fight in Adventure mode is modified to reflect the spirit you are attempting to capture. If you fight a dragon spirit then the combatant will be Yoshi, Bowser or Ridley.
An exemplary battle is the WarioWare Inc Ashely fight. The music is from the Ashely mini-games in the Wario series and the Ashley assist trophy is present for the beginning of the fight.
After a short duration, the assist trophy is gone and a Mii Fighter decked out to look exactly like Ashley becomes your main target. The whole fight takes place on the WarioWare stage. I really enjoyed the clever way they represented fan favourites by modifying the fight conditions and using different colour schemes on the roster of fighters.
Take Your Fight to the Streets
The online mode is where you jam your wallet in your mouth and try and start flexing on inferior specimens.
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If you beat someone you collect their personalized tag to hold their shame for eternity. I’m a real competitive sort and taking dog tags for kills really amps me up.
I also have shit internet, so I hand the tags out more often than I have them. Excuses aside it’s great to jump into an arena and throw down with friends and foes alike. There is a little bit of work to be done with matchmaking and customizing of matches though.
It shouldn’t be a problem to 1v1 with 2 stock, NO ITEMS on Final Destination but as is… I’m still having a bloody good time.
Smash or No Smash?
Overall, I’ll tell you the game is fantastic.
I’m a long-serving fan of the series and had very few moments of displeasure. A lot of the Final Smashes have been altered for balance and some of the more unique smashes have been changed.
These changes have made a lot of them, “If you are in front of me you die.” I have no quarrel with parity between fighters being a priority. I just wish they included some flavour text behind the Spirits.
Collecting the 2D Spirits isn’t as rewarding as the trophies of old. However, the huge pool of unique spirits available and the brilliant thematic style of the fights around these spirits more than makes up for it.
Smash Bros Ultimate really is the ultimate Switch game and one that every self-respecting Nintendo fan should play. Though, the removal of Home Run Contest is criminal. Hopefully, Sakurai gets my vaguely threatening tweets and adds the mode back in.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate was reviewed on Switch using a digital code provided by Nintendo and one purchased by the reviewer.
PowerUp! Reviews
Game Title: Super Smash Bros Ultimate
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Every Fighter to Date - 10/1010/10
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Perfectly Chromulent Additions - 10/1010/10
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Waluigi should be a fighter not a trophy - 6/106/10
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Unique playstyles all over the joint - 10/1010/10
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An insane amount of content - 10/1010/10
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Spirits are a gamechanger - 10/1010/10
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Perfect game to Smash Tins - 10/1010/10
