Switch Up To Date - December 2018

Hello NSA! Welcome to December’s SUTD!

This month was one heck of a packed one, this time around, and you’ll see from all our segments put together today. We’ll get an exciting update, a special look at Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and we’ll find out who the Member of the Month is! So I won’t waste your time any further.. let’s get into it!

This Month’s News!

written by Ali3nzz_13

Smash

Let's start with one of the largest news on this month. Super Smash Bros Ultimate is out. We waited for long but it's finally here (or it has been here for a couple weeks :grin: ). This game is fantastic, it's really fun and has a lot of content. If you own a Switch it's definitely a must. For more info look at the Game Spotlight Section.

Mortal Kombat 11

Mortal Kombat was recently announced and they gave us a trailer with of course lots of gore and blood. But they gave us more than that, a surprise. Mortal Kombat 11 will be on Switch.

Joker s Smash

The Game Awards where a blast and we got a nice surprise from Reggie. Joker from the Persona series will be a DLC character for Super Smash Ultimate. That's really all the info we got but it's nice to see a new character .

Firewatch on Switch

Firewatch was is now available on Switch. It's a Mystery adventure game where you play as a "Fire Lookout" on a forest. It tells a heavy story as you play and experience mysterious occurrences. It's only available digitally for $19.99.

Dragonball Xenoverse 2 DLC

We got a DLC pack with the following content:

-2 Playable characters ( Broly and SSGSS Gogeta)

- 5 Parallel Quests

- 2 Costumes and accessories

- 8 Skills, 15 Super Souls

- And a new stage ( Tournament of Power Arena)

Fortnite Creative Mode

The game Awards showed Joker for Smash but also revealed the Creative mode in Fortnite. Of course this means Switch got the update too and now you can create your very own island to play.

Sword Art Online

Two games from this series are coming next year. Fatal Bullet and Hollow Realization are supposedly coming next year. There are no set release dates but its apparently coming no later than the Summer 2019.

Was

Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley had an update. You can now play with other people online. Build your farm together with friends.

There are so many news it would be a really long section if we covered them all. This is a small portion of the biggest news of this month, for more news I suggest checking the news category on the side menu. Thanks for reading :+1: .

A SMASHing Review

written by Maximinium

Super Smash Bros Ultimate

This has been my most anticipated game of 2018. I still the Direct back on March 8th when Smash Bros Ultimate was teased. I watching this Direct and not expecting Smash. The one Direct when I didn't guess Smash...had Smash in it...I don't mind being wrong of course, i'm glad I was wrong. The Hype Train has begun. E3 was coming up and we all knew what was coming, more Smash info. And oh boy, Sakurai really went all out for this installment. Not only has every character from a previous Smash game returned, but Sakurai and his team fooled us and gave us Ridley as a fighter. If you don't know, Ridley has been wanted since Melee and sometime back when Smash 4 was relevant, Sakurai said Ridley WAS too big Smash, hence his funny title during the announcement "Hit's the big time".

Over time we were given not just 1, but 2 Smash Directs before the games release giving us the full roster and other great information. A story Mode, what the menu will look like, Spirits instead of Trophies (RIP), DLC, and the other characters people have wanted for a while like King K. Rool as well as other unexpected fighters! To top it all off, hours before Smash's release, the first DLC Challenger Pack 1. Joker, the protagonist of Persona 5. I myself have never played a Persona game nor was I expecting Joker to be in Smash, but I have bought the DLC, and I am hyped.

Now that Smash is out, I am here to give a "small" review of it.

I'm confident enough to say that i'm pretty good at Smash. If you don't believe me just ask Sweetener. I do know most of what i'm talking about here. (Key word: most). Anyway let's talk about the basics of Smash first. The whole point of Smash is to strike your opponent(s) away from the stage. Whether you're playing in Timed mode, Stocks or even Stamina mode, that is your main goal. Rank up your enemies percentage to send them flying. The higher percentage they have, the easier they are to kill. One good thing to note is that some characters are stronger than others. Which is why the Smash competitive scene likes to make Tier Lists ranking each character. (You don't have to follow the tiers lists btw). I won't talk about Tier Lists today, but instead just say that they do exist.

Gamer Tip: when you're in a free for all, don't go for the same person. Especcially if they aren't in the lead.

I'm lookin at you Obby (T^T)

Now that we've talked about the Basics of Smash, let me get to the actual review part

My time with Smash Bros Ultimate

I Pre-Ordered on November 7th because I just really didn't want to wait untill Christmas for Smash. And i'm glad I didn't have to. Playing Ultimate has reminded me on how good this series is, and how rusty I am at it, I haven't played Smash in a year since my disc broke for Smash 4. But i'm back and better than ever...atleast I hope I am. I don't like to call myself a competitive Smash player, but instead a casual Smash player that takes the game seriously. I like to have fun once in a while but if it's a 1v1 i'm gonna expect you to fight me.

*cough*Goodboi*cough*

World of Light/Spirits

:warning: SPOILERS AHEAD :warning:

This single player mode is HUGE. Way bigger than I thought. I've never played Subspace back in Brawl so I can't really compare the two, but I can say that I have enjoyed World of Light. Did I mention that this mode is huge? There is so much stuff to do in this campaign. Each Spirit you fight has it's own difficulty to it. Some are easy, some are hard, some are nuetral. Obviously I had a hard time with the more difficult Spirits that are titled "Ace" and "Legend". For some in particular...

Pauline, Jeff, Funky Kong (which is a Master Spirit), Geno, and others.

Fun Fact: My first Spirit was Kumatora from Mother 3

One part I love about World of Light is how all the series areas are combined into one, some series have special areas based around their own seperate games. Like the whole Street Fighter section starting in Japan, and going around the world fighting other Street Fighter Spirirts from where they are based off of, like Chun-Li in China. Some special areas have their own bosses. Like the Mario Area bringing back the Giga Bowser fight from Melee. Or the old fights from Subspace. The bosses are a really cool addition that I love.

For the ending, well, I haven't actually finished the real ending. The Galeem fight made me very nervous though. I went in with my main Villager not knowing what to expect. I wasn't dissapointed. I assumed Galeem was the final boss to defeat, nope. I was wrong. Theres a whole other realm to explore. I won't say much, but athough the Dark Realm isn't as big, it still feels like a lot. It also feels a little more difficult too, that may just be me though. I plan to 100% World of Light, so wish me luck!

:warning: NO MORE SPOILERS :warning:

Online

This is the part where I talk about my dissapointment. I'm taking a big risk here talking about negatives in a Smash game. But anyway, the online is very underwhelming. When Sakurai told us his ideas for it in the november Smash Direct, I thought it would be really good. That changed after I bought the game. I know other people have been being forced into Free-for-alls when they wanted a 1v1, but to me I don't mind that. I love free-for-alls. What I don't love is when there are items turned on, or when the stage isn't Battlefield/Omega form. I can deal with it, I just don't want to. Something I can't deal with is the internet connectability. Thankfully there was already a patch and it did make the connection better, not perfect, but better. Most of the times it is probably my fault since I don't have a LAN adapter, but I have no reason to own one since my Switch doesn't work in docked mode. Same thing goes with a Gamecube controller. (I don't actually know for sure if not being in docked mode has anything to do with it, but if someone could tell me please do)

Why did they change the online though? For Glory was perfectly fine besides the tryhards and internet errors. All they had to do was take that and refine it. I dislike the preferred rules thing since it only work half of the time. I really do think they should have just brought back For Fun and For Glory with updated modes and connections. While we're add it, can we make it so I don't have to choose the character every time I start a new match? That's getting pretty annoying. Now i'm not just gonna stop here for the online, I still have a lot to share.

Going back to how I said the online is underwhelming, there isn't much to do like last time. I'll start it off by asking this. Why can't we gamble on Spectate mode anymore? That was probably the only reason people used Spectate mode, it sure was for me. There isn't much point in a spectate mode now. If you want to watch Ultimate gameplay, just go on Youtube. For another issue, where is conquest mode? I will say that I barely used Conquest mode and I still have no idea what it is about, but I know people used it and wanted it back. I also dislike the whole thing with GSP. In Smash 4 it didn't really matter, but with Ultimate it's important. You need a high GSP with a character to get into Elite Smash, but the more people that buy Smash, the harder it is to get in. Before Christmas my highest GSP was around 1,750,00+ with King K.Rool. After Christmas it's over 2,000,000. Yikes.

But if there is one thing that I love about the online, it's the Arena's. This was a genius idea. That doesn't mean this has it's flaws. You can't fight Sandbag/U's while waiting, now you just have to sit there and wait untill someones ready. Personally I wished they brought this back. One thing that really bothers me is how anyone in the Arena can pick the stages. Let's say i'm trying to do battlefield Random, ok that's fine...Oh, normal New Pork City...great. That has happend btw. I personally think others shouldn't be able to manipulate this. It should only be the Arena creator. The Arena's are a great idea, it just needs to be more polished. That's all I have to say about the online mode.

Others

| Games & More | Vault | Smash |

Although Ultimate got rid of some fan favorite modes like Break the Target or Smash Run/Tour, theres still a lot to do. Classic mode is back and better than ever. Each fighter has a specific set of fighters to battle, similar to the 64 and Melee Classic Mode. Some characters even have special boss battles at the end. A Marx boss for Kirby, the Giga Bowser fight from Melee for Mario, even Ganon from OoT for Link. I love this mode and all the small refrences they're doing with it. That's not all Games & More has to offer, it obviousy has more to it. Amiibo, Training, Mii Fighters, the basics. They did bring back Multi Man Smash or "Mob Smash" as it it called now. Mob Smash breaks down into 3 categories. Century Smash, which is normal Multi Man smash. All Star Smash which is a mix between Smash 4's All Star mode and Century Smash. And lastly Cruel Smash which is something i'll never touch again.

For the Vault, it has everything a Smash Bros Vault would need. A shop where you can buy outfits, music, Spirits, etc. My favorite part about the Vault however are the challenges. I wanted to do all the challenges for the Wii U version, but there were just way to many. I did a lot for the 3DS version, but I never finished. Ultimates challenge section is better and more balanced. Instead of just a bunch of challenges thrown at you there are specific challenges for specific categories in game. I've already finished the "Online" and "Others" section of the challenges. I also love the new video feature for saved replays. If only we could them straight to our Youtube channel...

The Normal Smash mode brings a lot to it now with Ultimate. New modes are now available plus some being altered. Smashdown, Squad Strike, a better Tourney mode, everything is here. I haven't really used any of these modes that much but from the time I have used them, they're pretty cool. Squad Strike has you pick 3-5 characters against soneone else with their 3-5 characters. Great idea, i'll definitely use it when I have friends over. Smashdown has it so once a fighter is used once, they can't be used again. Original and creative idea. Tourney mode, pretty self explanatory. Special Smash is back too from Smash 4 and it works just like the last game. Pick your own settings, your own rules and have fun.

Conclusion

For the couple weeks that i've owned Smash Bros Ultimate, i've already played and done everything it has to offer. This is the biggest game in the series and I can't get enough of it. I do plan on making my own review of Ultimate in the future, but I want to make sure I experience every last bit of content there is for this game. I'm so glad that I was able to catch the same ride on the Hype Train with all of you as I was not able to with Smash 4. I can safely say that Smash Bros Ultimate is one of my all time favorite games if 2018.

(this is a hint to a big blog of mine)

Thank you Sakurai, thank you very much.

~Maximinium

SUTD Awards

written by sweetener

Hello everyone, it’s me Sweetener! This is my first time being a part of Switch Up To Date, so I hope I please you all. This past month of December 2018 has been pretty amazing. We’ve seen some really good blogs, polls, etc. and thankfully here in Switch Up To Date we get to reward those blogs for being the “best of the best.” I hope you can trust me with the winners of each category I chose.

Categories:

Blog Of The Month

Poll Of The Month

Art Post Of The Month

Quiz Of The Month

... and last but not least...

Member Of The Month

So now that we know these are the categories, let’s see who won! Please understand these are all based on my opinion, besides Member Of The Month (us staff do it as a whole). Here we go!

Blog Of The Month goes to...

Future Switch Games Prediction and Ideas

By ThatsAngelo

This blog was very good, it went in depth on his own predictions for 2019, and in result made a good read. Keep up the good work!

Poll Of The Month goes to...

The Smash Characters Championship

By ThatsAngelo

Another award! The award was not given for just that one poll, but rather for the series of polls you made. Smash was the most relevant game this month, and your poll really helped to add to that mood. It was well done, and for that you win this award. Congrats, again!

Art Post Of The Month goes to...

Smash Ultimate Poster

By Stanglass

Stanglass, you work is beautiful, and by far the best art this month. Keep up your beautiful work.

Quiz Of The Month goes to...

Super Smash Bros Ultimate Quiz

By Glorious_Cashew

The quiz was not only the biggest quiz of the month, but it was the most relevant due to it being on topic with Smash Ultimate. It is a really well put together quiz, keep up the hard work.

Member Of The Month goes to...

TheRayReviewer!

Ray has been a part of this community for a while now, and he makes wonderful content. As you can tell from his name, he loves to make reviews. He spends lots of time on them, going really in depth & making sure they are perfect. I’ve never seen anyone do reviews like him before. He s indie developers and gets review copies of games (some which aren’t even released yet) just so he can review them and put the reviews here. Not only is he an amazing reviewer, but he’s a great friend, as Obby highlights! He’s definitely deserving of this award.

Congratulations Ray!

Alright, that’s all for me. Hope you enjoyed my section!

~ sweetener

:up: NSA Update :up:

written by DG

Hey Guys, what's up? I have another NSA Update for you. First off though we did a Welcome Community and here the s apart of WC:

•Chibi

•R4z!31

•Juuliejan

•Octo

•Jacky

A Congratulations to them :clap: 🏻

a second thing I would like to add is please Do Not Use The Flagging System for joking around its not funny, we as staff take it very serious it should only used for when s break the Guidelines [wether its NSA's or TA's] so please keep that in mind.

- Have a Happy New Year's :fireworks: :sparkler: :confetti_ball: :tada:

~ ~ ~

And that about does it for this month’s issue of Switch Up To Date! Congratulations to Ray for Member Of The Month, and everyone else who got an award. Also, have a happy new year, hopefully 2019 will be great! That’s all for me, we’ll see you in the next issue! Goodbye :wave: