Analytical rundown of Ultimate's Classic Mode.

[QrowinSP]

Here I will try to discern everything we know about this game's classic mode.

This tells us the following:

1. There are 8 stages in a single classic mode runthrough. The first 6 are a variety of standard fights (1 on 1, team battle, giant battle, etc.). There is an unknown special stage as the 7th, and a boss as the 8th. This is Kirby's second fight, against a giant Yoshi.
2. Each of these fights, which we know to be predetermined for each character, has an associated name. It is unknown whether some of these fights have special rules. What footage of the fight we see shows that only food based items are in the fight, which fits the name "Gourmet Clash". However, considering how we only see two items this may be a coincidence.

This is Donkey Kong's 5th battle, which makes it his penultimate regular battle. It is a team battle, where he teams up against Diddy to fight 2 inklings. The name gives the implication that the 6th battle will take place on the New Donk City stage, and also strongly indicates that the 6th battle is special, possibly along the lines of a rival battle. This makes sense considering how it is the last normal battle.

This is Roy's 6th battle, final regular battle. It is a free for all against 3 other Fire Emblem characters, which makes a lot of sense for a Fire Emblem character's "story".

The strange 7th stage continues to be a mystery. Its symbol is a chest, which might mean it is a sort of minigame to grab loot. Its place near the end, though, is rather curious.

The final battle is likely against Master Hand or Master Hand/Crazy Hand, and possibly an additional boss at high enough difficulty, like in Sm4sh. The new boss could be handled differently in this game, though.

Please point out anything I missed.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This looks like a basic 'story mode' for every character - they're even giving the fights individual names!

I am so interested to see how this plays out. At least there'll be some replayability to get all 67 + 6 characters through!

 

[QrowinSP]

This looks like a basic 'story mode' for every character - they're even giving the fights individual names!

I am so interested to see how this plays out. At least there'll be some replayability to get all 67 + 6 characters through!

I think it's gonna add a lot. I mean, in theory, it's not much different from random stuff. But in practice, I think there's something a lot more fun about Link facing Ganondorf on a zelda themed stage than any other random match especially when it's all built up to and given a name.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Really hoping that other bosses besides Master Hand make appearances. There's so many in the series now and I don't want them to just be limited to story mode.

 

[Nixon Corral]

This is a pretty good breakdown of what we saw in the Direct. I would imagine Classic mode might extend beyond just 8 levels if certain criteria are met or perhaps depending on difficulty. Obviously, that's just speculation. In any case, I've always enjoyed Classic mode as a nice throwback to the 64 days, as well as a fun way to try out the absolute basics of the new characters in a forgiving setting. Glad to have it back.

 

[soviet prince]

loving it so far

 

[MalcolmBelmont]

So glad they didn't go make to Smash 4 WiiU's Classic Mode

 

[jwillenn]

I just wanted to add to your DK/Diddy vs Inklings battle "Journey To New Donk City" that this probably uses Stage Morph (from Moray to New Donk, hence the "Journey").

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

I just wanted to add to your DK/Diddy vs Inklings battle "Journey To New Donk City" that this probably uses Stage Morph (from Moray to New Donk, hence the "Journey").

And for some reason, I'm feeling that each fighter's opponents are fixed; it will never change if you do another playthrough with the same fighter. As such, Donkey Kong's opponents in round 5 may always be the two Inklings.

 

[QrowinSP]

I just wanted to add to your DK/Diddy vs Inklings battle "Journey To New Donk City" that this probably uses Stage Morph (from Moray to New Donk, hence the "Journey").

I think it implies that the following stage will take place on New Donk City, which makes sense for the final standard stage of DK's campaign, but this could be correct too.

 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Eight battles is more than the seven in Smash 4's Classic mode. A longer classic mode has me worried since I assume beating classic mode with every character is necessary for completion and I don't want these sorts of modes to be too long. All Star is a mode that's really going to be in trouble if you need to knock out 73+opponents, increased damage or not.

The chest icon on the challenge list gives me hope that bonus stages will return such as Break the Targets. Unique Break the Targets stages is number two on my wishlist for this game.

 

[Chiroz]

Eight battles is more than the seven in Smash 4's Classic mode. A longer classic mode has me worried since I assume beating classic mode with every character is necessary for completion and I don't want these sorts of modes to be too long. All Star is a mode that's really going to be in trouble if you need to knock out 73+opponents, increased damage or not.

The chest icon on the challenge list gives me hope that bonus stages will return such as Break the Targets. Unique Break the Targets stages is number two on my wishlist for this game.

Well, even if it's 8 battles, it's probably not going to be 8 man FFAs where 6 out of 7 CPUs are only targeting you and not damaging each other except for stray hits. Which means that it will go by quicker for sure.

 

[G-Guy]

Not sure about the hands being the boss of classic mode. The character specific paths kind of make me think that the respective bosses are super versions of their „rival characters“ or stage bosses (I.e. Simon fighting Dracula)

Maybe the hands appear AFTER the actual boss stage is completed, though

 

[QrowinSP]

Not sure about the hands being the boss of classic mode. The character specific paths kind of make me think that the respective bosses are super versions of their „rival characters“ or stage bosses (I.e. Simon fighting Dracula)

Maybe the hands appear AFTER the actual boss stage is completed, though

This idea sounds great, if it’s true. Giga bowser and then master hand for Mario? Sounds awesome.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

The drastic changes that Giga Bowser received pretty much makes it doubtful that he'd be returning as a boss. It pretty much comes down to Master Hand and Crazy Hand, and possibly Master Core. However, the newest Final Destination stage does contain objects that could get in the way of their attacks.

 

[SvartWolf]

I think unique break the targets are a possibility, yes.. that stuff was heavily requested and we have seen how this game theme seems to be "we listen".
That being said, doing +72 break the targets levels is not an easy feat...

IMO, the inclusion of AT's (and maybe regular enemies from whatever "spirits" ends beings) as both allies and extra enemies,individual break the targets, and different boss battles would make this mode beyond amazing!

 

[QrowinSP]

I think unique break the targets are a possibility, yes.. that stuff was heavily requested and we have seen how this game theme seems to be "we listen".
That being said, doing +72 break the targets levels is not an easy feat...

IMO, the inclusion of AT's (and maybe regular enemies from whatever "spirits" ends beings) as both allies and extra enemies,individual break the targets, and different boss battles would make this mode beyond amazing!

That’s probably asking fork too much. Part of the point of classic is to not rock the boat too much.

 

[epicgordan]

I'm probably going to go out on a limb here and say that the gold treasure chest in question may in fact contain an unlockable fighter that you will need to defeat in order to unlock them properly. For example, maybe immediately after Round, Roy must then go in and challenge his Echo Fighter, Chrom before you can properly unlock him.

I also have a theory that there will be several different ways to unlock each and every character revealed so far (minus the Mii Fighters, of course), with some methods being easier and faster than others. For example, you could just play thousands of Smash Battles to unlock everything. And while it would make unlocking certain characters like, say, Luigi, Ness, Captain Falcon or Jigglypuff easier and faster, it would also be detrimental to characters like, say, King K. Rool or Ridley.

So then you get things like Classic Mode, and have every playable fighter be able to unlock a different character.

This could then mean that Samus could unlock Ridley by playing Classic Mode, and Donkey Kong could unlock King K. Rool by doing the same thing. I would also wager that Luigi could unlock Simon if the trailers are any indication. The only question then becomes "who unlocks Inklings?" My guess is probably Mario.

The only issue I'd see is with the Echo Fighters. Perhaps they would be the exception to the rule when it comes to playing thousands of Smash Battles and require unlocking them via their original counterparts in some way, shape or form.

Sakurai did say that he was streamlining how we unlock every fighter to make it as fast and as seamless as possible. And perhaps giving each fighter multiple unlock conditions that could make it faster for some characters than others, so that we would be ready and willing to play as them quickly enough.

Perhaps the one exception to this would have to be the fighters we have yet to see. The box cover for the Smash Ultimate & Switch bundle seems to indicate that no new fighters are going to be added onto the long mural celebrating everyone being there. So maybe the remaining fighters will have incredibly difficult unlock conditions in order to overcome. Like, say, Geno requiring every single other Spirit obtained, or every other character completing a specific mode in the game.

So that's pretty much my two cents. I think that treasure chest is there to help unlock playable fighters--specifically the ones we already know about.

 

[Pit93]

I also have a theory that there will be several different ways to unlock each and every character revealed so far (minus the Mii Fighters, of course), with some methods being easier and faster than others.

That's exactley how it has been since Melee. Nothing new or speculative about that. I'd actually be shocked if this weren't the case in SSBU.

Sakurai did say that he was streamlining how we unlock every fighter to make it as fast and as seamless as possible.

No, he didn't say that. If he cared about making it "as fast as possible". Having almost all of them available from the start, like in SSB4 would be his best approach in that case (which I didn't like at all). What he did say, was that we would start with the N64-Roster and could expect to unlock additional characters in a way that feels like a "constant reward". While that does sound, like it won't take too much time to complete the roster, it's pretty different from "as fast as possible".
I regularly read the opinion that people want a Story-Mode like SSE back. I could get behind that if it wouldn't unlock you the entire roster after playing through it one time. It felt so unrewarding back when Brawl came out and after my first gaming-session on launch-day, I already had the entire roster unlocked and I wasn't even trying. :/

The box cover for the Smash Ultimate & Switch bundle seems to indicate that no new fighters are going to be added onto the long mural celebrating everyone being there. So maybe the remaining fighters will have incredibly difficult unlock conditions in order to overcome.

Those Box-Pictures are usually computer generated. After the next Character-Reveal they're either just gonna update the cover or they just won't care at all because nobody cares anyway. The final product that we'll be able to buy will then have the final version.
Also, Sakurai said in the 08/08-Direct that the entire roster will be revealed before launch, so there won't be any secret characters (that is IF we can actually trust Sakurai on that XD ).

 

[QrowinSP]

I'm probably going to go out on a limb here and say that the gold treasure chest in question may in fact contain an unlockable fighter that you will need to defeat in order to unlock them properly. For example, maybe immediately after Round, Roy must then go in and challenge his Echo Fighter, Chrom before you can properly unlock him.

I also have a theory that there will be several different ways to unlock each and every character revealed so far (minus the Mii Fighters, of course), with some methods being easier and faster than others. For example, you could just play thousands of Smash Battles to unlock everything. And while it would make unlocking certain characters like, say, Luigi, Ness, Captain Falcon or Jigglypuff easier and faster, it would also be detrimental to characters like, say, King K. Rool or Ridley.

So then you get things like Classic Mode, and have every playable fighter be able to unlock a different character.

This could then mean that Samus could unlock Ridley by playing Classic Mode, and Donkey Kong could unlock King K. Rool by doing the same thing. I would also wager that Luigi could unlock Simon if the trailers are any indication. The only question then becomes "who unlocks Inklings?" My guess is probably Mario.

The only issue I'd see is with the Echo Fighters. Perhaps they would be the exception to the rule when it comes to playing thousands of Smash Battles and require unlocking them via their original counterparts in some way, shape or form.

Sakurai did say that he was streamlining how we unlock every fighter to make it as fast and as seamless as possible. And perhaps giving each fighter multiple unlock conditions that could make it faster for some characters than others, so that we would be ready and willing to play as them quickly enough.

Perhaps the one exception to this would have to be the fighters we have yet to see. The box cover for the Smash Ultimate & Switch bundle seems to indicate that no new fighters are going to be added onto the long mural celebrating everyone being there. So maybe the remaining fighters will have incredibly difficult unlock conditions in order to overcome. Like, say, Geno requiring every single other Spirit obtained, or every other character completing a specific mode in the game.

So that's pretty much my two cents. I think that treasure chest is there to help unlock playable fighters--specifically the ones we already know about.

I highly disagree. The first problem is that this ceases to be any different from the matches before it once you unlock the character. If you've unlocked Roy then now you're just fighting Roy in the 7th round. Second is that it's impossible to match an unlockable character to every character because the total number of characters is, by definition, a larger group than the total number of unlockable characters.

I'd rather they put in something like a well fleshed out race to the finish.

 

[Yuya-Noboru]

The "chest" stage is obviously a "bonus stage" like in all previous iterations of Super Smash Bros. (except Sm4sh). The main question is to know which modes will be available.

 

[QrowinSP]

The "chest" stage is obviously a "bonus stage" like in all previous iterations of Super Smash Bros. (except Sm4sh). The main question is to know which modes will be available.

My personal hope is that it's a nice and expansive race to the finish, like in Melee.

My fear is that it's a horde battle on battlefield.

 

[meleebrawler]

Will Classic allow you to fight characters you haven't unlocked yet, that is the question. No other Classic mode allowed this. The only exceptions in Melee's Adventure and Event modes (Luigi & Ganondorf) were when they doubled as unlock methods.

 

[Arthur97]

Will Classic allow you to fight characters you haven't unlocked yet, that is the question. No other Classic mode allowed this. The only exceptions in Melee's Adventure and Event modes (Luigi & Ganondorf) were when they doubled as unlock methods.

The original always had you fight the Mario Brothers whether Luigi was unlocked or not.

 

[soviet prince]

Will Classic allow you to fight characters you haven't unlocked yet, that is the question. No other Classic mode allowed this. The only exceptions in Melee's Adventure and Event modes (Luigi & Ganondorf) were when they doubled as unlock methods.

the stages are fixed so I am confident you do fight characters yet to be unlocked

 

[BronzeGreekGod]

I really hope that in between some fights, or somewhere along the way there are break the targets and board the platforms challenges.

 

[RouffWestie]

This mode is looking sick! I love how it looks so far. It may even be my favorite classic mode in the whole franchise.
Way better than Spirits mode thankfully.