Super Smash Bros Ultimate is the latest release in a game series that has spanned since the original release on the Nintendo 64 in 1999. The Smash Bros franchise features various prominent Nintendo characters that can battle each other in a 2D “Street Fighter” kind of style. With every new release, more characters are featured, new in battle items are added, and new maps are created. Super Smash Bros Ultimate is the pinnacle of the franchise so it features over 70 Nintendo characters, over 80 in battle items, and over 90 maps. Every game in the Smash Bros series features a “Classic Mode” where characters have to play through a series of different battles and timed challenges to reach the final boss which is generally the series main antagonists Master hand and/or Crazy Hand. Smash Bros Ultimate built off this classic mode, giving each character their own unique battle sequence to play through and giving them a final enemy at the end that is an antagonist unique to the game series of the chosen character.

Not only did Smash Bros Ultimate make classic mode feel more personalized and more like a typical story mode, they also for the first time added an actual story mode. In the actual story mode, two powerful beings enslave every character except for Kirby with dark magic. The player then has 3 (or more- haven’t gotten that far) different possible endings depending on the path a player chooses and what challenges they choose.

Due to the wide variety of game modes on Super Smash Bros Ultimate it actually satisfies basically every category of Bartle’s Player Taxonomy. Normal local/online multiplayer smash games satisfy both the socializer and killer category. Speaking from personal experience, my friends and I have been playing Super Smash Bros Melee on the Gamecube since we were little kids so every time we meet up we have fun competitive games. In these games, everyone is not only seeking to win each fight but also cumulate the most kills collectively across the games for bragging rights. The achievement category of players will be satisfied by completely collecting the sheer number of characters, stages, and spirits. On top of that players then can strive to complete classic mode on the highest difficulty they can for each character. The exploration category is kind of satisfied by the new story mode due to the large winding map scattered with characters, dungeons, and treasure chests containing helpful spirits. I say kind of because the map is basically a board game with each space being a different regular smash match it is in no way explorative in the typical sense like an open world game.

Core Mechanics

Every character has personalized versions of the same kinds of attacks. Using the A button in any direction results in a neutral attack. Neutral attacks can be spammed, locking the player into releasing a short flurry of attacks or they can be held down and charged in what is known as a smash attack.The smash attack is one of the most powerful attacks each character has but they are frozen in place while charging the move. Each character also has various special moves which our bound to moving right, left, or down on the stick and the B button at the same time. These moves can be anything from physical/projectile counters to projectile moves or just different kinds of special physical moves. Every character also has a different recovery ability bound to up on the stick and the B button. Recovery abilities give the character a last chance to launch themselves back on stage after being knocked off. All characters can also jump two or more times using the y button or up on the stick. Characters also possess grab moves bound by the z button. After a player grabs another they have a short amount of time to pile on some extra hits and/or throw the opposing player in any direction they choose with the stick.

Learning Curves

Since every character possess different variations of the same basic move set it does not take much time for players to pick up on the combat system even if there may be a bit of a learning curve for each new character. There is also a learning curve for the more dynamic maps. Many times unsuspecting players can fall victim to jumping off the stage when the map changes or one of a map’s many hazards.

Feedback Loops

There are not many feedback loops in super smash bros since it mostly boils down to how skilled you can use your characters move set and the items that do spawn on the map are completely random and free to use for all players. However, recently some characters like Lucario or Little Mac have been given a bar that fills up as they take damage. As Lucario’s bar fills he is able to launch himself further with his recovery move. Similarly, when Little Mac’s bar is filled he can let loose a devastating K.O. move on his opponents. Both are examples of negative feedback loops

The impact of randomness versus skill in the game is actually one of the main debates players are divided on. The question to allow items into a match or not is something that can set off fights amongst friends before the match even begins. Items in general obviously add an aspect of randomness that can disrupt skill discrepancies between players because items spawn randomly and any character can pick up any item. Among the 80 items there are many that are either way overpowered or obnoxiously disruptive. Others may even require a fun combination of skill and luck to use like the Pokeball which can be thrown at players or tactfully placed and spawns a random pokemon that has varying levels of attacks and usefulness. While items can be individually added to the game and their drop rate can be varied it still is a chore to go through and get everyone to agree on a set of items to play with. At its base, these 2D street fighter style games are basically high-speed chess matches amongst experienced players. The player base is split between these purely skill competitions and players that argue dealing with the random often cluttered stages and items is how the game was designed to be played.

Overall Super Smash Bros ultimate feels like pinnacle of the series. It definitely builds off its predecessors by keeping many core mechanics the same but also adds fresh new game modes, maps, and characters. The creator of the games constantly struggles with being pressured to pump out new Smash Bros games while at the same time not wishing to pump out a bad game for the sake of releasing a game (as reflected abstractly by the characters constant struggles against Master Hand and Crazy Hand which themselves represent the creator). However, he should rest easy after this one because it truly did the series justice.