Quick Thoughts on Smash Ultimate

Hello there. It's been awhile, but I am back with a new Amino blog.

Well, I finally have Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! I ed it on my Switch last Monday, and it is so much fun. Now that I enjoyed the game for a week, it's time to summarize my thoughts on it so far; a mini review of sorts. Let's hop right in, shall we?

Note: I have not played the World of Light story mode yet. I would like to get better acquainted with the roster before I tackle on the hefty campaign. Just an FYI...

Visuals and Soundtrack

To start things off, this game looks absolutely amazing. I have watched many YouTube videos about Ultimate, but the game looks much prettier in person. The lighting is fantastic, and each of the redone stages boast spectacular effects. The Fountain of Dreams from Melee is certainly a highlight.

As for the soundtrack, it is brilliant. As Mr. Sakurai noted, there are just shy of 900 songs total in the game. That is a LOT of songs to enjoy! My favorite new tunes include the Wrecking Crew Medley, Gangplank Galleon, Kass' theme, Wood Man, and Mappy Medley.

Everyone is Here!

Next, I would like to say that this roster is utterly fantastic. The fact that everyone from the past four games came back is so good. It feels neat to use characters like the Ice Climbers, Wolf, Young Link, Pichu, Snake, and Cloud again. What's more, there are some nice fanservice-y newcomers, including Ridley, King K. Rool, Simon Belmont, and Inkling.

At first, I was concerned about having to unlock 66 characters, but in practice, it wasn't so bad. ittedly, I...took advantage of an exploit regarding the reset feature to speed up the process of getting the fighters. It took only two days for me.

As for the general aesthetic, I don't have a problem with the fighters' subdued colors. Yes, I do like the more colorful vibe in SSB4 more, but 95% of the time, the characters look pretty darn nice. Allow me to highlight some fighters that I enjoy.

The Pokemon Trainer comes back from Brawl, complete with his team of Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard. He has been greatly buffed thanks to the sped-up Down B and removal of stamina. Now I can enjoy using any of his team for a full match. Many don't like how Red sounds in this game; I prefer his previous Brawl voice myself, but the new voice makes it harder to confuse him with Ash Ketchum.

Squirtle has seen some buffs. He now runs faster and his attacks feel a bit better. One nerf that he got is that his Water Gun special no longer can do damage when uncharged. Charizard more or less feels identical to his solo appearance in Smash 4; the only significant changes he received include the lack of Rock Smash and a changed Final Smash to Triple Finish with his comrades.

As much fun Squirtle and Charizard are, my favorite of the bunch is Ivysaur, just as in Brawl. Incidentally, Ivysaur is my favorite Pokemon in general.

This character was buffed more than his buddies; Ivy now feels like an all-around middleweight fighter with more practical use of his specials and Smash Attacks. I love using Ivysaur for many battles.

Princess Zelda has seen a significant facelift. Her design, an amalgamation of the looks in A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds, has her looking much more chipper and energetic. She looks happy to be part of the battle now.

I never had any issues with her Twilight Princess appearance; I felt it made Zelda look classically mature and elegant. Plus, Smash 4 had her smile occasionally, and she looked shy and cute in Melee with the Ocarina of Time design. Regardless, Zelda's look in this game is her best in the series.

With Zelda's new design comes a modified moveset. Namely, her Side B is faster and more reliable, the Down B has the Phantom come out later for a better setup, and her Final Smash is wildly effective at sucking in opponents. Thankfully, I can continue to use my goofy strategies with Zelda as I have since Melee.

Wolf O'Donnell is another veteran last seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Honestly, I am happy to see him back. He looks cool with his general design and voice. Incidentally, I liked his accent in Brawl more, but I can get behind Jay Ward's new direction with the character in Ultimate.

While I loved using Wolf before, he ittedly felt a bit wonky. Don't quote me, but I think it's because he was one of the last characters developed for Brawl. Now that he was put back as a base character in Ultimate, he feels better to play with.

The first newcomer I will discuss is the first DLC fighter, Piranha Plant. I still can't believe that a regular, garden-variety enemy is an official Smash Bros. fighter.

After picking him up, I can say that I like the Piranha Plant fighter. For a heavyweight, his moves are rather versatile. You got range with the Neutral and Down B, damage-racking with the Side B, and a fantastic recovery. I also dig the Petey Piranha Final Smash, where he traps, burns, then slams the enemies. So cool!

Truthfully, I am not part of the Plant Gang, but I can happily say that the Piranha Plant is one of my Top 3 newcomers. The references to the different species are great to see, and his Palutena's Guidance was very funny.

Ridley, Ridley, Ridley. This fearsome space dragon was the subject of many memes of being "too big". Indeed, Sakurai himself stated more than once that he was best designed as a scary boss and couldn't be a fighter, but here we are now.

Ever since he was confirmed at E3 2018, Ridley has been a character I wanted to try out. Now that I have the game, Ridley is one fun fighter!

His moves have some callbacks to previous boss fights throughout Metroid and Smash, with a few original ideas. I especially like the Down B move Skewer. It's tricky to land, but if you nail the sweet spot, you can do almost 60% damage!

It is so cool that Ridley made the jump from a non-playable boss NPC to a full-blown player fighter. I just wish that more players actually play as him.

Similarly to Ridley, King K. Rool was a fighter that seemed all but unlikely to ever the battlefield. For K. Rool in particular, his last significant appearance was in Mario Super Sluggers, released over 10 years prior to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

As soon as the Kremling King was confirmed, I promised myself I would main him. After playing as him for the past week, I can affirm that King K. Rool is my favorite fighter in this game!

Incidentally, K. Rool was the very first character I unlocked. I had no idea that he was the first character obtained through Link's Classic Mode; I skipped through his unlock criteria on SmashWiki. That was such a pleasant surprise!

His moveset is great. He boasts excellent damage on his Smash Attacks, decent versatility in his specials, a rather useful air game, and is the second heaviest fighter. Lovely!

The one thing that I was most concerned about was his Belly Super Armor. In my time playing as K. Rool, I have had minimal trouble with it. The only time I broke the armor was during a practice battle when I was trying him out. In general gameplay, King K. Rool's belly armor is largely not an issue for me.

Yes, King K. Rool is my main in Ultimate.

Final Thoughts...for now

I can happily confirm that I am enjoying my time with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! It is a must-have for Smash fans and Nintendo fans alike. Later, I will do a follow-up blog explaining my thoughts on the World of Light mode after starting it next week.

Thanks for reading!