Yokta
That's Yoktastic!
With Smash Bros Ultimate setting out to polish up what works and fix what doesn't, I'd like to talk about a specific feature of the game that deserves attention: Profiles. In Smash Bros Brawl and onwards, you can create a custom nametag to wear over your fighter, and alter your control scheme to suit your needs. This is very useful, but I feel that profiles could be expanded upon in Smash Ultimate.
1. amiibo Figure Profiles
Some of you may baulk at the concept of adding even more features to one's Profile. After all, it already takes too long to set up your control scheme on another Wii U. Imagine having to configure even more settings in your profile, and during a tournament no less! That's why the first improvement I want to suggest is a way to cut down the time it takes to add your profile to a new Switch, from "some time" to "no time at all."
amiibo are a great way to transfer small amounts of data from one Switch system to another. It would be trivial to save a profile to an amiibo figure, or even a cheap, generic Smash Bros amiibo card. Then, when you want to use that profile, you could just press a button at the character selection screen and scan in the card as prompted. Just like that, you'd be playing with your profile, custom controls and all. If you use a Joy-Con (R) or a Switch Pro Controller, you wouldn't even need to press a button; just tap and go!
Not only would this method be simple and quick, it would work with everyone's copy of Smash Ultimate, regardless of the version number, even if you leave your Switch at home! It might cost a dollar or two, or mayhaps a few, but the setup time saved would surely be worth it.
2. Local Wireless Data Transfers
Another way to move your profile between Switches is to simply transmit your profile from one Switch to another through Local Wireless. While this method has its downsides (it takes longer, it can't be done without disconnecting from Wi-Fi, it requires the player to have their Switch with them, etc.) it's still faster than manually re-entering the Profile and all its associated data.
3. Character Quick Select
With over 68 characters to choose from in Smash Ultimate, it'll be harder than ever to find your favourites, let alone choose one to play as. A Quick Select menu would come in handy in this situation.
The Quick Select Menu would take the form of a 3x3 grid of character slots with no centre square, or a 2x4 grid in 8-Player Smash. By default, the grid would be filled out with random selections. In the Profile options menu, however, you could configure a Quick Select menu specific to your profile. You can put any fighter with any skin into the Quick Select slots, and they'll always be there when you use that profile.
At the character select screen, you can tap a button to bring up the Quick Select menu over your player slot. Navigate this menu much like you would the name entry screen, and choose between the game's recommendations or your own preselected platter of potential participants.
4. Random Character Switch
What if you're okay with playing as any character on the roster, except for a handful of outliers that just don't sit well with you? You can't just go Random, because you might end up controlling one of those awful oddballs. If only there was a way to toggle what characters you could get when playing Random, like the Random Stage Switch introduced in Brawl.
A Random Character Switch is unlikely to appear in the match settings, which affect everyone, but it would be a great feature to lump into the Profile settings.
Say you have a friend who only likes to play as Mario characters, and another friend who likes to play as everyone but them. They could take turns configuring the Random Character Switch in their Profile, so that they can tap the Random option with complete confidence that they'll get a character they enjoy.
Of course, you're not allowed to restrict your Random Character Switch to less than 2 characters, otherwise what's the point of going random?
5. Miis for the Mii Fighter
With the Mii Fighter returning to Smash Ultimate, presumably with a full suite of customisation options, it would be nice to have a few custom Mii fighters ready to fight with at a moment's notice.
In Smash Wii U, selecting the Mii Fighter required you to select a Mii from a list of up to 100 Mii fighters created and saved on the system. Your favourites could be buried beneath the Miis made by your friends and family. And if you wanted to use your Miis on another Wii U, you'd need a copy of Smash 3DS handy or be prepared to remake them.
Saving a selection of Mii Fighters to your profile's Quick Select menu ensures that they'll always be available to play in an instant, even if you copy your profile to another Switch.
6. Custom Taunt Messages
Every iteration of Smash Bros with online modes has the option to display custom messages when taunting during matches with friends. However, these messages are assigned to your Internet Profile. This means that two or three people playing on the same system will have the same taunt messages.
It would be nice if we could assign taunt messages on a per-profile basis, so that people playing on the same system can send different messages when using the same taunt.
I would also like to opt in to displaying taunt messages during every online mode, not just With Friends, but that's a topic for another thread.
1. amiibo Figure Profiles
Some of you may baulk at the concept of adding even more features to one's Profile. After all, it already takes too long to set up your control scheme on another Wii U. Imagine having to configure even more settings in your profile, and during a tournament no less! That's why the first improvement I want to suggest is a way to cut down the time it takes to add your profile to a new Switch, from "some time" to "no time at all."
amiibo are a great way to transfer small amounts of data from one Switch system to another. It would be trivial to save a profile to an amiibo figure, or even a cheap, generic Smash Bros amiibo card. Then, when you want to use that profile, you could just press a button at the character selection screen and scan in the card as prompted. Just like that, you'd be playing with your profile, custom controls and all. If you use a Joy-Con (R) or a Switch Pro Controller, you wouldn't even need to press a button; just tap and go!
Not only would this method be simple and quick, it would work with everyone's copy of Smash Ultimate, regardless of the version number, even if you leave your Switch at home! It might cost a dollar or two, or mayhaps a few, but the setup time saved would surely be worth it.
2. Local Wireless Data Transfers
Another way to move your profile between Switches is to simply transmit your profile from one Switch to another through Local Wireless. While this method has its downsides (it takes longer, it can't be done without disconnecting from Wi-Fi, it requires the player to have their Switch with them, etc.) it's still faster than manually re-entering the Profile and all its associated data.
3. Character Quick Select
With over 68 characters to choose from in Smash Ultimate, it'll be harder than ever to find your favourites, let alone choose one to play as. A Quick Select menu would come in handy in this situation.
The Quick Select Menu would take the form of a 3x3 grid of character slots with no centre square, or a 2x4 grid in 8-Player Smash. By default, the grid would be filled out with random selections. In the Profile options menu, however, you could configure a Quick Select menu specific to your profile. You can put any fighter with any skin into the Quick Select slots, and they'll always be there when you use that profile.
At the character select screen, you can tap a button to bring up the Quick Select menu over your player slot. Navigate this menu much like you would the name entry screen, and choose between the game's recommendations or your own preselected platter of potential participants.
4. Random Character Switch
What if you're okay with playing as any character on the roster, except for a handful of outliers that just don't sit well with you? You can't just go Random, because you might end up controlling one of those awful oddballs. If only there was a way to toggle what characters you could get when playing Random, like the Random Stage Switch introduced in Brawl.
A Random Character Switch is unlikely to appear in the match settings, which affect everyone, but it would be a great feature to lump into the Profile settings.
Say you have a friend who only likes to play as Mario characters, and another friend who likes to play as everyone but them. They could take turns configuring the Random Character Switch in their Profile, so that they can tap the Random option with complete confidence that they'll get a character they enjoy.
Of course, you're not allowed to restrict your Random Character Switch to less than 2 characters, otherwise what's the point of going random?
5. Miis for the Mii Fighter
With the Mii Fighter returning to Smash Ultimate, presumably with a full suite of customisation options, it would be nice to have a few custom Mii fighters ready to fight with at a moment's notice.
In Smash Wii U, selecting the Mii Fighter required you to select a Mii from a list of up to 100 Mii fighters created and saved on the system. Your favourites could be buried beneath the Miis made by your friends and family. And if you wanted to use your Miis on another Wii U, you'd need a copy of Smash 3DS handy or be prepared to remake them.
Saving a selection of Mii Fighters to your profile's Quick Select menu ensures that they'll always be available to play in an instant, even if you copy your profile to another Switch.
6. Custom Taunt Messages
Every iteration of Smash Bros with online modes has the option to display custom messages when taunting during matches with friends. However, these messages are assigned to your Internet Profile. This means that two or three people playing on the same system will have the same taunt messages.
It would be nice if we could assign taunt messages on a per-profile basis, so that people playing on the same system can send different messages when using the same taunt.
I would also like to opt in to displaying taunt messages during every online mode, not just With Friends, but that's a topic for another thread.