I'm disappointed with this game.

I don't know if anyone else remembers when game journalists were expecting the Switch to fail like the Wii U, but that's the environment in which this game was greenlit. It's clear Nintendo was desperate for their two best-selling franchises - Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. - to drive early console sales. So they gave Sakurai $20 and a bag of pixie dust, locked him in a closet for two years, and released the result.

And the result is a game that is essentially a deluxe Wii U port with an unusual amount of thought put into it. There is a plethora of UI and gameplay tweaks, the kind of small alterations you'd find in later deluxe Wii U ports like Pikmin 3, that cost next to nothing to design or implement. Dozens of small additions and QOL improvements - like the internal music player, and reversing the stage and character select screens - that Sakurai probably coded himself over a weekend.

The biggest tell is the story mode - a glorified event match mode, where you walk around a giant JPEG collecting stickers. Sakurai probably spent $15 of his $20 on the opening and closing cinematics, which doubled as the advertising budget, as they were recut to be Ultimate's commercials.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is more a success in marketing and copyright negotiation than as a game. Because it was marketed as a sequel and not a port, then of course the game had to have marginally better graphics than the last one...even though the Switch isn't much more powerful than the Wii U.

So they sacrificed the gameplay for a marketing trick. I don't hear many people talking about this, but the controls are awful. Graphics improvements like advanced lighting and particle effects add a significant input delay to the game, the worst of any Smash game yet. Pile an overwrought buffer system on top of that, and my character's throwing out attacks I inputted 20 minutes ago, instead of doing what I'm inputting RIGHT NOW. The amped up movement and launch speed exacerbate these problems into a slippery mess.

I only ever play the game in handheld, because connecting JoyCons directly to the Switch shaves off a few precious frames of input delay. Docked, Smash Ultimate is just an excellent, casual party game, begging to be taken more seriously.

I have... complicated feelings on this game in retrospect.

As an older teen, I loved this game. I was super-glued to its hype cycle like there was no tomorrow. I 100%ed the game, all the way up to the final Sora update. I rabidly defended this game from any criticism, no matter how valid the complaints were. I totally fell for the narrative that this was the ultimate "celebration of gaming."

But looking back at the game in retrospect, after freeing myself from the shackles of Nintendo fanboyism and expanding my horizons into other communities... I'm not so sure about it anymore. Now, granted, a lot of this does stem from prolonged interactions with another crossover-obsessed community: Marvel Mods, creators of mods for the game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, as well as more recent observations gained from revisiting Smashboards. I will fully admit that they have influenced my views on media, and crossovers especially, in ways I probably wouldn't have thought of otherwise.

With that little disclaimer out of the way, let me first describe the issues I have with both the game and its culture surrounding it nowadays. For one, that input lag is just plain weird and I don't fully know why it exists. I don't know how I didn't have an issue with it back in the day either, guess I was too brainwashed.

The single player content, while much better than Smash 4's, still does feel lacking in areas. I don't inherently mind Spirits (and I sorta enjoyed World of Light more than others), I do understand why they exist in lieu of the (superior) trophies, but the lack of descriptions hurt. I know it's the internet age, but not having descriptions of what these things are from across Nintendo/some third-party gaming history still sucks. It feeds in to a complaint some have with the series, in that it doesn't tell you WHO these gaming icons are. I personally find that a bit disingenuous when the trophy system of old exists, but this game is the worst at it, since they're... not here. But even now those are minor complaints compared to some of the more... meta-contextual views I have.

For one, the game's marketing acts so... overly-important, you know? Perhaps a part of it is a community thing, but characters getting into Smash is now treated like some sort of great achievement, the best thing that could ever happen with a character, and... I get the series is big, but I'm sorry, I just don't agree with that view anymore. Crossovers themselves have become pretty over-saturated by now, so having Steve from Minecraft meet the bing-bing-wahoo man isn't as impactful these days. Not to mention the negative effect this kind of marketing has on the community. Arguments over who "deserves" to get in just creates a toxic environment for all.

That and a lot of the newcomer choices themselves, while fun (come on, of course my monkey brain still loves that K. Rool, Ridley, and Sephiroth are here), still feel overly-engineered to generate the most "hype points", since a lot of them come from the ballot that had been hosted back in Smash 4. And because of that, those that aren't as popular or well-known like Terry or, God forbid, Byleth, get trashed by the ravenous fan base as a result. Again, toxic environment. (For the record... Terry was actually my most hyped newcomer.)

Oh shoot, and speaking of Steve... the moveset design for newcomers, especially for third parties. They try to act too close to their original games, which ends up creating an unbalanced environment, which is a problem since the game is also trying to be "competitive" in a way. Bayonetta was a menace in Smash 4, and now Steve and Kazuya have taken her place. Meta Knight in Brawl may have been broken but at least his moveset, on a base level, felt simple and traditional, his only issue was that it was overtuned, he didn't have crazy new mechanics that other characters didn't at the very least.

Anyways, back to more meta-contextual problems... anyone else getting tired of how overly-grandiose the game's music and overall tone is? This just loops back around to the marketing, I know, but it's treating this whole thing like "LE EPIC FIGHT TO END ALL FIGHTS FOR ULTIMATE DESTINYYYYYYYY", and it's like... no. This should just be some silly crossover between Nintendo and a few other game characters, not some grand fight to save the multiverse or whatever. I mean don't get me wrong, the music itself is great, it's just... the tone's gotten old, you know? I will say it's pretty emblematic of how I used to treat crossovers as a kid, but I've sorta grown out of that and want something simpler, more genuine. Less grandiose and more dumb fun, please.

And yeah, I don't think this game's a "celebration of gaming history." The "Everyone is Here" gimmick does make it more of a Smash celebration, but I don't think a true gaming celebration is even officially possible. You'd need way more third parties, trim down the Nintendo cast, etc... but I'd rather just have a fun crossover that doesn't take itself too seriously, rather than one that NEEDS to be a "history celebration" anyways.

I totally get it if some of these more meta things seem weird to complain about to you. In fact, my younger self would probably think these "complaints" are stupid and dumb. And that's totally fine! Hey, it's one of the best selling "fighting games," the stuff I'm not so hot on these days struck a cord with a lot of people... my younger self included.

I don't really follow modern gaming anymore, Nintendo included. This was one of the last first-party Big N games I've played, actually... I have retrospective issues with it and its vibes, but overall I'm still glad to say this was my Nintendo swansong.

But for the love of God please, change the marketing and general tone of the next game. I'm begging you. I'm well over this "le epic battle" shit.

This game is fun to play and it is the latest smash game yadayadayada but this game doesn't really have a interesting character roster. The characters don't really feel unique from each other and there isn't really a character within the roster I would consider fun or unique other than Steve. Any interesting characters (sans, Travis touchdown, dante, shantae, walugi, shovel knight, etc) that would've made the roster has been wasted on a assist trophy or a Mii costume which sucks. Also I find it funny how this game has a pretentious competitive style despite lacking training tools and nintendo being fucking DICKS to people who play their games competitively. also this game lacks any fun offline demos or old games so. suck my dick nintendo.

Everyone has one game with like 700 hours logged that when asked their opinion on it, they will respond with "it's okay." Smash Ultimate is that game for me. This game either really hits or really sucks and you won't know until you're a few games in and unable to put down the controller either way. If Pokemon Trainer wasn't in this game I don't think it would crack 3.5 stars, and with 80+ characters there is simply too much cringe to get competitively invested, although it's a great game to play with friends. At the very least, playing this game drove me to explore the wider genre of fighting games, if for no other reason than to not have to play the PT/Samus matchup anymore

i love this game
i fucking hate this game

every match I say those same 2 things

the game feels good, combos are fun, characters move well, nothing feels BAD... it just isn't my favorite smash game. i feel like I get bored too quickly
in terms of like GAME and BALANCE this is the best in the series BUT I DONT CARE ABOUT THAT I want to be cool and flashy and funny and le swag
I only get that REAL dopamine when I style on someone with doc mar
I doubt we will ever be getting another smash game tho
still super fun to play with friend in a more causal setting