The pause-screen camera controls in Super Smash Ultimate are incredibly impressive,
providing more control and range than ever before.
You can zoom in and out surprisingly far and even swing the camera side to side to reveal
far more of the environment than you’d ever seen during normal gameplay.
And it’s often surprising how much more there is to see beyond the screen’s normal
boundaries.
Now while most of it isn’t terribly noteworthy, we did stumble some pretty neat details that
you wouldn’t ordinarily see why playing the game!
So here’s our list of the Top 10 secret off-screen details we found in Super Smash
Bros.
Ultimate, for stages both old and new!
Let’s start off with an oldie, but a goody being an Easter Egg hidden in the Mushroom
Kingdom stage.
And while the entire stage itself is an homage to Super Mario Bros, it does feature one rather
out-of-place element--but only if you know where to look.
Because if you rotate the camera to see what lies beyond either the left or right edge
of the screen, you’ll uncover a prohibition sign that marks the point of no return: the
blast zone.
It’s a warning to the fighters to stay away, although it’s of no use to you, the player,
as it’s something you’ll never see during actual gameplay!
Neat!
Now let’s take a Warp Pipe into the future, all the way to the...
Yep, the Mushroomy Kingdom, which is designed to look like the original World 1-1 from Super
Mario Bros, only now looking a little worse for the wear after having been abandoned for
decades.
And one of those changes includes the fact that none of the Warp Pipes here actually
work--even the ones that are supposed to.
And that’s for a good reason, because if you zoom in and tilt the camera, we can see
they’ve actually been sealed off, which is something that’s almost impossible to
see during gameplay, owing to the classic side-scrolling perspective.
But come on, Mario’s a plumber right--surely this isn’t enough to stop him!
Okay, so this one’s spoiled a bit by the stage selection screen, but the end result
is still impressive.
First up is something that’s nearly impossible to notice during actual gameplay, and that’s
if you rotate the camera, you’ll find that it reveals the characters are actually flat,
as if rendered on an LCD display.
Pretty neat!
But even more impressive is if you zoom the camera out, you’ll discover that the entire
stage takes place on an actual Game & Watch unit!
And the attention to detail is immaculate, down to the bezeled wide-screen display, the
3 Dimensional buttons, including the indented ones to the side.
Oh, and of course--this one’s the Super Smash Bros. model.
Now if only it actually existed!
It doesn’t take long to figure out that battles on the Figure 8 Circuit take place
during a live race, with the map in the background even display the real-time location of the
racers.
But when it comes to the gameplay itself, you only ever see a very small section of
the track during the match
However, if you pause the game and rotate the camera to either side, you’ll discover
that you can see actually nearly the entire course!
To the right is the top-half of the 8, complete with Nintendo cloud billboards that are entirely
off-screen, and to the left is the other half of an 8, where you’ll also find a garage
and an entire audience section that you would never ordinarily see.
Unfortunately, while you can’t fully see the entire back half of the 8, you can spot
most of it by zooming out as far as the camera allows.
Yep, we “ate” this one up!
The Bridge of Eldin is back and looking more beautiful than ever--even if the bridge itself
is incredibly simple, being a flat and mostly unremarkable.
However, if you rotate the camera all the way to either side, you’ll find that the
bridge is quite a bit more detailed than it might seem, featuring proper entrance ways
on both sides through which the King Bulblin actually uses to make his entrance and exit!
Talk about detail!
Yoshi’s Island is a lovely little stage that even changes seasons as you play.
But there’s one little detail that you’ll almost never see during actual gameplay--and
it’s out of this world.
Literally!
To see what we mean, just hit pause and look up toward the sky.
There you’ll find the moon that Yoshi battled Raphael The Raven on in the Yoshi’s Island
game itself, and it even features the two stumps that Yoshi needed to defeat him.
Pretty stellar, huh?
You’ve probably seen the Black van in Onett--perhaps even up close.
But what you probably haven’t seen is the billboard warning you about it, because it’s
hidden off-screen just beyond the stage’s normal boundary on the right which a quick
pan from the pause screen will reveal, complete with legible text.
And just beyond it is building even farther off-screen, which just so happens to be the
Arcade from Earthbound.
Finally if you tilt the camera even more, you’ll even spot the tunnel that the cars
emerge from--and this is true for both sides!
Yep, this town is packed full of details--both on and off screen!
The Great Bay might just be one of the most beautiful and most impressively updated levels
in Super Smash Bros.
Ultimate.
And as part of that update, it not only retains the off-screen secrets from the Melee, but
even features some entirely new ones too.
So if we hit pause and pan the camera left, we can first see some rocky ledges that could
also be seen in Melee, but this time, they now lead to an alcove containing an actual
Heart Piece, just like in Majora’s Mask.
Panning a little further left, we can see the Fishermen’s Island just where we’d
expect to find it from the original game, and left of that is the large gated entrance
into the Pirate’s Fortress.
But this time it’s received an impressive new design drawn on it... but it’s impossible
to see, unless, that is, we take the camera underwater to reveals it as a pair of crossed
swords.
Now if that isn’t attention to detail, I don’t know what it, as misplaced it may
be.
Alright, so we won’t just be looking at the returning stages, because the new ones
have some neat details too.
In Dracula's Castle, you’ve probably noticed the clocktower just outside.
And if you keep an eye out, you might just barely spot a gargoyle on top--but if you
pause the game and turn the camera, you’ll quickly find that there are actually two!
And you can get a much better look at them by zooming--and they’re pretty menacing
looking.
You can also take the time to check out the tower’s Spire, as well as another side to
the clock tower--both of which you’ll never see during an actual match.
Finally, we end with the Great Plateau Tower stage, which offers an amazing view of the
Hylian landscape--and yet for as expensive as it appears during a match, there is so
much more--which is fitting for a game as big as Breath of the Wild!
First up is the fact that if you zoom out and tilt the camera down, you can see that
the entire tower is actually rendered all the way to the ground level of the Great Plateau
itself--along with the Plateau’s walls and other nearby points of interest such as the
lake and Shrine here.
And if you move the camera all the to the side, you can just barely see the Shrine of
Resurrection, where Link originally emerged from, and if we rotate it to the other, we
can find the Twin Peaks!
It’s a big, big world--but I actually want to end on something a bit smaller.
So small, in fact that despite it lying in plain site, it’s nearly impossible to see
during gameplay--especially during a hectic Smash match!
Because do you see the podium in the middle?
Well if you zoom all the way in, you’ll find that there’s actually a Sheikah slate
resting in it!
Maybe it can play Smash Bros. too?
And there you have it.
The Top 10 secrets hidden off-screen that we could find in Super Smash Bros.
Ultimate.
But have you found any of your own?
Let us know by posting in the comments below.
And with that, thanks for watching.
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Ultimate and everything Nintendo.