mário duking it out against Final
Fantasy sevens cloud on a battlefield
for Metal Gear Solid is a weird
wonderful site that only the smash bros
series can deliver and super smash bros
ultimate is undoubtedly smash bros done
right and done bigger than ever before
with a staggering 74 fighters 108 stages
1,300 spirit characters to collect and
an epic adventure mode that took me over
20 hours to beat ultimate is the sequel
I've been waiting years for with matches
of up to 8 players this is one of the
best party games out
[Music]
smash broz has always been a series that
successfully has it both ways allowing
highly skilled competitive fights to
coexist with chaotic button-mashing
brawls full of items and exciting final
smash finishers combine that with
recognizable characters from all over
gaming and Smash Bros stands out as a
perfect digital action figure toy box it
has a rare accessibility thanks to the
series of signature damage system which
replaces a traditional health bar with a
damage percentage that indicates how
vulnerable you are to being launched off
the stage that alleviates that
oppressive feeling of being low on
health that can make losing matches feel
so unfun in other fighting games this
simplified move inputs also make it
easier for anyone to pick up and
immediately enjoy Smash Bros while
dodges shields and a veritable ballet of
midair strategy provide a deep well of
technical nuance to those interested up
in their game no matter your preference
both styles of play are well-loved and
thriving in Smash Bros and Ultimates new
customizable rule sets make it even
easier if a little clunky to switch
between them
[Music]
ultimate earns its name by ambitiously
including every single fighter in the
almost 20 year history of smash bros
along with 11 totally new ones that are
creative additions to the roster the
diverse cast of characters from all
corners of gaming offers real choice and
variety with a small character like
Pikachu feeling wildly different from
heavier one like Bowser none of the new
fighters reinvent the Smash Bros wheel
but Simon Belmont and King K rules
abilities stand out to me as being full
of flavor and extremely fun to fight
with watching my collection of
characters fill up as I unlock them with
friends was genuinely exciting and that
does take a while since you only start
with eight in general Ultimates fighters
feel slightly faster and a lot harder
hitting than in previous Smash Bros
games there's often less ambiguity about
whether or not a hit will turn into a ko
and an optional radar will even show you
where you are when you're off screen if
only two fighters remain an epic new
freeze frame effect triggers when you
land a KO hit making those big smash
attacks even more satisfying
these aren't massive tweets from the
last smash broz but they make Altima to
feel punchy er overall a great new
addition is the optional stage morph
feature which transitions you from one
level to another mid-fight it's a
fantastic way to see more of Ultimates
immense pool of stages which feels
comprehensive and vast there are so many
it can actually be hard to find one
you're looking for since there's no way
to sort them it's too bad only four of
them are brand new especially when bad
stages like pack land make a return but
melee levels like corneria and foresight
have new visuals that look amazing
[Music]
a new system called spirits makes up the
bulk of Ultimates consistently amusing
single-player adventure mode world of
light it's surprisingly long with
hundreds of spirits to collect each
based on a unique character from another
game with a cleverly crafted fight
themed around them some are funny like
Snorlax being a giant gray K rool who
doesn't move an inch
others are extremely challenging like
Pauline being a red princess peach
protected by a hammer wielding Mario and
a giant Donkey Kong on his classic stage
all these spirits are scattered around a
lovely 2d world map and can be leveled
up and equipped to buff your fighters
seeing what a spirit fight had in store
never stopped being novel but I had
enough strong spirits and skills to beat
most of them about 10 hours into world
of light making my strategy stagnant for
the following 14 it got say me fast with
the exception being some truly exciting
dungeon style areas including an awesome
one modeled after a street fighter world
tour it's a shame it's such a slog to
reach the end because world of likes
last hour is an epic finale that makes
the grind worth it I haven't even had a
chance to gush about the amazing music
selection where classic modes new
side-scrolling platformer challenge
where all the tiny but you pack fill
tweaks - final smashes
ultimate is filled to the absolute brim
with stuff to play fight and unlock and
you can read my full thoughts on all
those things and more in our written
review over at ign.com but the short
version is that super smash bros
ultimate lives up to its name
offering the biggest and most
comprehensive game in the series to date
it's overwhelming amount of content
might have benefitted from separating
the wheat from the chaff to be more
consistently good but between the
hundreds of spirits have yet to see and
the thousands of multiplayer matches I'm
surely going to fight I'll be playing
Super Smash Bros ultimate for a long
time to come for more on Super Smash
Bros watch our video of every final
smash in ultimate or our list of the top
25 characters from the previous games
and for everything else keep it right
here on IGN
you