By: Daniel Kendle

…because why not have 2 shacks?

Hello, hello, welcome back to JOYSTiCK Reviews, and today I have a special treat for you: a 2-parter episode! Upon closer inspection of the title, you’ll likely notice a sly “A” next to the episode count. That’s not a misspelling, but instead a notice for you to check out the companion article to this, instead with a “B” next to the 14, along with a new phrase.

Before diving into today’s topic (‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’) I should specify that this article will be about general gameplay and characters, while the “B” article will revolve around the game’s “World of Light” campaign, and related items of interest to it. There may be some overlap between the 2 articles, but for the most part they’re separate entities, conjoined at the hip. I do hope you read part 2, right after this 1st part, of course.

Anyways, with that context out of the way, you might be wondering why I’m currently standing in the middle of a field.

I don’t know, really; it’s a slow week, and seeing as comedy’s a dying art form, a common substitute for true humor is to put a character in a random place, then have both them and the writers flail their arms around in desperation (just ask SNL). Also, it just so happens that a witch in a gingerbread house beat me up, inflicted a magical curse on me, and then teleported my unconscious body thousands of miles from my house, which explains the odd choice of locale. And the antlers.

…

Boy, it’s hot out here.

…

Anyways, I’ve got nothing better to do than hitchhike home, so I might as well flap my gums a bit longer. Prior to my home invasion of a candy house and subsequent banishment from Minnesota, I was playing a lot of ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,’ a fighting game exclusive for the Nintendo Switch. The 5th game (or 6th, depending on who you ask) in the series, its primary claim-to-fame is its character roster, containing over 80 different fighters to choose from. With every past character in the series returning, this is an extraordinary feat of game design, resulting in the title being a true celebration of video game history.

Meanwhile, I’ve been a little late to the party: I only picked up the game this year. So now, just over 3 years after the final DLC character dropped, I have to ask this: does the game hold up? Is ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ still the ultimate package, or have the sands of time eroded the marble column this bastion of human effort once rested upon? Like clockwork, let’s find out.

To begin, let’s review the basics: ‘Ultimate’ is a 2D fighting game where your main objective is to knock opponents off a stage using various attacks and button combos. When attacking a foe, instead of losing health, they take a certain percentage of damage. This percentage, located at the bottom of the screen, causes them to take higher knockback as they stomach more and more hits.

The title’s mostly designed around multiplayer, similar to most fighting games. You can play in local or online matches, and in multiple different formats. You could have, say, a 1-on-1 match, a 2-on-2 team match, or a battle royale-style match where a group of players duke it out without alliances.

This isn’t to say anything of the game’s other types of fun. Like I mentioned earlier, the “World of Light” campaign offers bosses, collectibles, and a storyline to follow. There’s also Classic Mode, where each character in the game has their own individual campaign where they fight some pre-selected AI fighters, play through a bonus obstacle course-like mode, and fight 1 of the game’s bosses at the end. Then, there’s the ability to relisten to music, create your own custom stages, practice fighting against CPU’s…there’s a lot!

Before going into any of the extra junk, I believe it’s best to give my impressions of fighting, the main crux of gameplay as a whole: it’s wonderful. I’ve dabbled in fighting games in the past, but ‘Ultimate,’ as well as the rest of the ‘Super Smash Bros.’ series, excel in tight matches and smooth controls that help aid the flow of combat with other players.

There’s a lot of different control types, so I’ll list them here. These might not be all of them, but I’ve tried to culminate as many as I can remember into a handy-dandy chart to reference when reading this article:

• Movement– Left Joystick (Up, Down, Forward). Sprinting, running, and walking options available. Tilt up to jump, and down to pass through a thin-enough platform.
• Standard Attacks– A Button (Neutral, Forward, Up, Down).
• Standard Air Attacks– A Button when midair (Neutral, Forward, Up, Down, Back).
• Dash Attacks– A Button while sprinting forward.
• Get-Up and Ledge Attacks– A Button while getting up from being knocked down or hanging off a ledge, respectively.
• Special Attacks– B Button (Neutral, Forward, Up Down).
• Special Air Attacks– B Button when midair (Neutral, Forward, Up Down). These attacks are often identical to their grounded variants.
• Grabs and Throws– L or R Button to grab, A to jab, and the right Joystick to throw (Up, Down, Forward, Behind).
• Jumping– X or Y button, or Left Joystick Up to jump, with most characters getting 2 max (some more). Also, most characters’ Up Special functions as a third ascension option.
• Shielding– L, R, ZL, or ZL to shield, with the former 2 options activating after the grab animation plays. The shield functions as a way to block damage, but is depleted and shrunken per hit. Does not protect against grabs.
• Dashing– While shielding, tilt the left stick.
• “Smash” Attacks– Right Joystick (Up, Down, Forward). Can be held for a short amount of time.
• Taunts– D-Pad. Pressing the up, left and right, or down buttons features 3 different taunts for each fighter. Rarely, taunts can damage opponents.
• Short Hop Attack– Quick Press of X or Y for a shorter jump than normal. Combine with A Button for Short Hop Attack.
• Final Smash– Once a gauge near your percentage icon is fully-charged, press B without tilting the stick to prepare a powerful, all-out attack that often K.O.’s the opposing player. The caveat, however, is that most smashes for each character rely on timing and physically connecting with the foe.

Hopefully, that gets you acquainted with what we’re dealing with here. Virtually every fight you have, computer or real player, will be unique each and every time. The vast amount of moves, while maybe not anything radical compared to other fighting games like ‘Tekken’ or ‘Street Fighter,’ is certainly ripe with creativity to be found from its user base.

It’s hard to critique this system, really: the games have abided by these controls for decades, so if it works, then what’s to complain about? If there was anything really heinous about it, then it probably would’ve been addressed by now, in my opinion. So yeah: fighting’s great, matches are awesome. I’ll be talking more about stuff like items, assist trophies, and spirits during part 2, so you’ll have to wait for my stances on those later.

I will say that I think that a more viable, more easily-accessible tutorial for your full moveset in game would be great. If you head to ‘Ultimate’s’ official website, clicking on the “How to Smash” prompt takes you to a page that basically sums up fighting as “hit the opponent off the stage to win!” Unless your age is in the triple digits, I think that telling someone this is practically-pointless. Like, imagine if you go to college for, say, astrology, and your first class there just has the professor say “um, just look, like, UP , ya loons!” In-game, there is a video that shows basic controls, but is only accessible by going to…the cutscenes menu?

This is a weird fluke in the title’s accessibility measures that makes me question things, but really, it’s a small nitpick. But with that aside, I think my verdict for the titular fighting in this fighting game is clear: it rocks. Good controls, good learning curve for both new players and old, and an impressive assortment of fighters to choose from makes fighting others always engaging. And speaking of fighters…

I think that talking about combat leads us to ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s’ infantry of potential paladins, and what a roster it is! 82 characters, each* with unique movesets for millions of players to pick their poison with. This is a ludicrous total, and requires some delving into in order to examine the roster’s highs and lows for me.

First, the * next to “each” is no typo: “Echo” Fighters, a concept prevalent throughout the series but only formally-named in ‘Ultimate,’ are characters who’s moves (and sometimes animations) are near-identical to another fighter’s. Their main differences come down to occasional move variations, a new coat of paint through a different model, and an alternative play style to their original root character, providing players a change of pace to their possible mains. I like these guys; obviously, seeing the little E next to an Echo Fighter’s name makes their existence just a little less interesting compared to new, original combatants, but just the fact that people have alternatives to some characters helps the game’s meta remain interesting.

For example, Ryu, a fighter from the ‘Street Fighter’ franchise, has an Echo Fighter in Ken, hailing from the same games. Their playstyles, while similar, are varied enough to give 2 players different potential identities in how they use each, and execute attacks. Echo Fighters, while not the most “exciting” or “insane” parts of the games, have their place in ‘Ultimate’ as different choices for people who like playing their non-Echo counterparts, making gameplay and matches more interesting.

Moving away from Echo Fighters, the majority of the roster is composed of video game characters whose movesets are completely original to themselves, often referencing aspects of their series. There’s far too many to go over individually, but I will mention some of my favorites, or “mains,” as most players say.

There are several types of fighters when it comes to how they fight. Grapplers are characters who specialize in grabs, throws, and even carrying opponents around. Heavyweights are unsurprisingly heavy in the air and fairly bulky, while their opposites, Lightweights, excel in movement and fast aerial attacks. Zoners specialize in projectiles and fighting players from a distance, All-Rounders are universally good and balanced at everything, and Trappers focus on defense and luring players into – you guessed it – traps. These are only a handful of possible archetypes you can choose to spec into, but I think they cover a wide range of different players’ styles.

Personally, I lean more towards Zoners and Trappers; I like characters who use non-physical moves (of which are usually reserved to the Special Attacks) and unique button combinations to pressure others. My mains are Steve (my primary main) from ‘Minecraft,’ Piranha Plant, Ridley, and occasionally Greninja, though I can imagine myself eventually learning to play with Joker, Sora, Pokemon Trainer, and Kazuya. This is just an example of someone’s preferred playstyle, and goes to show that, with over 80 different options to choose from, the vast collection of characters present makes ‘Ultimate’ a spawning ground for creativity in its user base.

. . .

I’ve been walking for a while now, and have come across a lovely field of flowers! It’s quite lovely, and makes you wonder how such a perfect little spot of sunshine can exist only a few miles from the barren wasteland I once skulked in.

My journey’s only just begun, though – it’ll be a while before I’m anywhere close to St. Paul again. After that nice break in the field, let’s continue walking, and this review as well.

After talking about characters and gameplay, let’s rapid-fire through some non-combat related parts of ‘Ultimate, accessible through the main menu!

Clicking on the “Games & More” icon on the Home Screen brings you to a few different game modes to fiddle with. The most prominent is “Classic Mode,” an alternative to the game’s main campaign that harkens back to the series’ initial entries, and how they tackled a story-based option for players.

Classic Mode is a mode that allows each character a small selection of curated CPU matches that players are able to complete for rewards. Each fighter gets their own route and customized CPUs, of which often reflect parts of the games they come from. For example, Donkey Kong’s route has players fight alongside a computer-controlled Diddy Kong teammate, referencing ‘Donkey Kong Country’ and its sequels. Each route has 7 fights and a special bonus stage: 6 normal matches with CPU fighters, a fight at the end with 1 of the game’s bosses from its campaign, and just before the final stage, the bonus stage, where players run through an obstacle course, collecting points as they try to reach the end while escaping a growing black hole behind them.

To be short, I love Classic Mode, maybe even more than the main campaign! Treating routes as individual miniature story modes gives further incentive to play as different characters other than your select few mains, and the variety of unique fights in each is just the icing on the cake. The references are fun, the bosses are a blast, and it’s a great time overall. While I’d still recommend completing “World of Light” before tackling Classic Mode, it’s a wild ride that’ll keep you enthralled for hours.

The other game modes in “Games and More” are less grand, but still fun. Century Smash and its variants have you fight against 100 AI opponents, increasing in the CPUs’ intelligence and difficulty as you progress. It’s fine, but honestly more annoying than interesting.

Home Run Contest also isn’t very fun, in my humble opinion. You get 10 seconds to beat up a Sandbag (a unique character to the ‘Super Smash Bros.’ franchise), racking up damage before Side-Smashing it into the horizon. Depending on how far it goes, you get a score and potential rewards along the way. It’s more fun than Century Smash, but still not super engaging for me.

The Mii Fighter creator is much more fun, though. Mii’s are little Nintendo people that were introduced with the Wii console years ago, taking part in a character creator for it and subsequent systems. In ‘Ultimate,’ not only are you given a portal to create more Mii’s, you can also give them customizable movesets and costumes to play as in-game. It’s really fun to make your own and see others’ Mii’s. On my Switch, I’m literally able to have Hillary Clinton fight Charlie Brown; it’s great. I haven’t tried out Stage Builder, but it looks fun. You’re seemingly able to make your own stages to fight on, which looks cool.

Finally, Training allows you to simply test out any characters, items, and stages you want, letting you practice combos and whatnot. It’s super useful to have, and is a great feature for both newcomers and veterans to the series.

In the end, Games & More is a super fun hub for players who might not want to fight online with actual players. There’s a good selection of fun side activities, and topped-off with the main course of Classic Mode, I recommend checking it out once you’ve gotten used to the game’s controls.

…

O-oh, my gosh! Finally, this iPad’s working again. Um, yeah, if y-you haven’t deciphered already by my, uh, unfortunate location inside of a moving vehicle, I’ve been kidnapped.

Yeah, I was walking along the side of the road, when this white van pulled up and offered me candy. Me, a sensible, venerable fellow, obviously said no, but it turns out that refusing to follow a stranger’s orders is considered null and void in the face of a lead pipe to the skull.

So, now with a swelling welt, broken left antler, and lowered morale, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see where, or who, I’m being taken to. I’ve been Mr. Whatshisname, and this review – and story – isn’t over yet.

Will Mr. Whatshisname escape his captors and return home? Will ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s’ main campaign be fully discussed? And who exactly is this mysterious vigil that requests our annoying narrator’s presence? All of these questions and more will be answered in the next episode of JOYSTiCK Reviews, coming to you soon!