CPU Difficulty & Unlocking Characters: Too Hard?

[Justin Allen Goldschmidt]

I was too embarrassed to replay it (since after all I was using Doc).

I've found Doc to only be useful for World of Light, with skill tree buffs and spirits turning his tornado into a nuke.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

I've found Doc to only be useful for World of Light, with skill tree buffs and spirits turning his tornado into a nuke.

The skill tree in WoL becomes broken after a while. Boosting jab and tilt attacks as Kirby makes him a walking damage machine.

 

[Justin Allen Goldschmidt]

The skill tree in WoL becomes broken after a while. Boosting jab and tilt attacks as Kirby makes him a walking damage machine.

Does boosting tilts affect combo ability by increasing knockback, or just increase damage and make Kirby's up tilt totally broken?

 

[Mogisthelioma]

Does boosting tilts affect combo ability by increasing knockback, or just increase damage and make Kirby's up tilt totally broken?

I think it just boosts damage and not knockback, unless I'm mistaken.

 

[DarthEnderX]

Finally unlocked everyone. Towards the end, I was basically just cheesing everyone with Ike's side-B.

Not sure if this is true or false. I googled it and found a map (Grr, spoilers) and people pointing out there was more maps and everyone is in the mode, that some people are simply taking Map 1 as it, but that's not it.

Ahh, that's cool then. You're trading speed for difficulty with unlocks then by going that route.

 

[Cornstalk]

Back in melee if you did a wavedash in front of a lvl 9 CPU, 9 times out of 10 they would grab. The reason is they were reading your inputs and assuming you were shielding because the game wasn't built to understand a wavedash, but the button input is the shield. Smash Ultimate is no different.

When an AI fighter is in a neutral stance (no actions other then walking), they will typically react to your button presses appropriately. Shield and it will grab. Smash and it will do the fastest move it can to avoid it (jab interrupt, perfect shield, etc). The AI is also annoying good at cross-up (landing behind you when you think it will land in front of you). The AI also has an excellent sense of spacing, knowing when it can hit you but you can't hit it particularly if you do an attack that will definitely miss it. Basically, if you play very aggressive rush down it will counter almost everything you do. Characters with more reach, such as Swordsmen, Bowser's F-smash, Pichu's Skull Bash, etc, are particularly frustrating to deal with because of the AI's perfect timing/spacing with them.

The AI is actually really bad at handling attacks started slightly outside it's shield bubble and hit boxes that persist for an extended period. This is why character's like Ike are so easy to land a smash with, but character's like Pikachu feel almost impossible. Playing very campy works wonders, particularly on some of the awful stages like Peach's caste. Make the AI come to you, try to bait it to do an attack, and punish. If you play keep away, it has a tendency to randomly smash attack, leaving itself vulnerable. With every option being available out of dash, most characters should be fast enough to get in there and at least dash attack or grab.

The AI is also really bad about protecting itself through platforms (like on battlefield) so if you can hit through them, you are much more likely to get a hit without being punished.


BONUS TIP:
Using the 1 stock/reset to trick to unlock everyone?
If you exit the game before you lose the match. It doesn't save that you fought that challenger. They will show up again next time you complete a vs match.
This also works for the door rematches in the Games & More section.

 

[leejaybird]

Zelda Down B. You'll win every time. CPU doesn't dodge or shield it. I stopped using it against CPUs in vs because it's too easy to spam and win.

 

[ZeroJinKui]

i imagine they wanted there to atleast be SOME effort put into unlocking the characters, since it doesn't take that long to get them to challenge you.

it felt good to unlock some of them, cause it got to the point where they would curbstomp me in less than a minute, maybe only a few seconds, and my usual strategies would get countered, they'd break out of grabs and they really pushed me with some characters.

some of the fights literally came down to a battle of counters... it got pretty insane.

mewtwo was an especially tough challenge for me, he felt uncatchable.

wii fit trainer was also surprisingly brutal for me.

honestly, i could go on an on about some of the tougher fights...

 

[Coolboy]

not just challenges but in Classic mode you sometimes have a weird AI thing going on too..
when i went through it with Pikachu i had a difficult time against Incineroar, but then afterwards i had to go against Mewtwo in the boss battle before master hand, and i defeated Mewtwo without any effort o.o

same was for the Bayonetta route..a few matches were hard but the final battle against Palutena was a piece of cake,i knocked her out with ease o.o

and other times the first few battles seem hard but the battles close to the final boss seem very easy..this AI thing in Ultimate is veeeery confusing to me!

 

[soviet prince]

They're...oddly challenging, I admit. But most of my failures against them have been my own fault (trying to style on CPU Chrom and then getting dragged to my death, trying to Ganoncide K. Rool only for the water to break our fall and have him survive, trying to style on Pichu but accidentally save him and then die at 70, etc.) but there was one time when I was unlocking Jigglypuff that the CPU made the slickest comeback ever. Drag down dair into Rest is devastating...

On top of that, I've been tricked offstage numerous times only to be dunked myself, team combo'd into kill setups, and generally getting outplayed by a machine. They're...getting smarter...almost...too smart...

The end times are upon us...

this beats them all, match starts I charge game and watch he uses the hammer gets a 9 and ko I lost

 

[Kori]

It's also hilarious watching your friend get thrashed by an unrelenting Pichu xD

 

[Coolboy]

ok right now i am really hating on Roy..his stage makes it to damn hard to do anything once it changes..each frigging time i swear..after 3 times i am done..he can remain locked for all i care not worth the frustration for a character i will probably never use anyway >.> unlocking a character is not suppose to be impossible, i get they wanna make it hard but this is just rediculous.

 

[What Ganon's Up To]

These last few ones ( left) are absolutely destroying me.

Feels like I'm having to rely on the AI's occasional dumb mistake to get anywhere, and me accidentally SDing several times with Roy whom I've only used for these unlock battles so far isn't helping.

 

[A-money2121]

I think this is what Elon Musk was referring to when he spoke about the dangers of AI. I'll never forget the time when the Ryu challenger CPU knocked me dead through a down-tilt, up-tilt, shoryuken combo, like it was some sort of stunt in an EVO tournament. *shudders*

 

[sixkami]

I didn't enjoy the grind for characters after like the first 10, mainly because I really just wanted Mega Man and I was denied that satisfaction for a few days until I finally looked up a list with the correct classic mode unlock order and was able to get him.

Unlocking 60+ characters in a fighting game? Probably something I would've enjoyed when I was like 10 years old playing DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi. But right now all that will ever be is insanely tedious. I don't have the patience I did as a kid playing anime games. Do kids today even have the attention spans to even bother unlocking everyone? Especially considering that the spirits board is hilariously boring and running back classic mode 50+ times is no fun. Also dropping challenge matches when they show up and having to WAIT FOR THEM TO COME BACK because I got cheesed by a level 9 CPU that performs pro player tech but also LITERALLY reads your inputs off your controller.

What a pain in the butt this entire thing was. Easily my worst experience at the start of a smash game.

 

[Trueshinobi]

I’m stuck at trying unlocking Roy...if there were a level 10 CPU, this would be it. He’s even harder than any human that I’ve ever played against. It’s ridiculous and the CPUs in this game have definitely been buffed up to an insane level.

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

People here focusing on unlocking characters at breakneck speeds, and I'm here instead just taking my time with Classic Mode, World of Light and local free for alls just unlocking them as they come. Still have like 3 characters left.
No wonder some of you are feeling frustrated.

I think this is what Elon Musk was referring to when he spoke about the dangers of AI. I'll never forget the time when the Ryu challenger CPU knocked me dead through a down-tilt, up-tilt, shoryuken combo, like it was some sort of stunt in an EVO tournament. *shudders*

Funny that you say that. When I faced Ryu the first time, he parried my attack at close range and then proceeded to KO me with a true Shoryuken. It reminded me of that legendary moment in Street Fighter 3rd Strike:

 

[soviet prince]

I had good results using lucario and his attack increase the more he is damaged ability, shooting that aura sphere is very helpful when you are to scared to get in close or risk a stage hazard death

 

[Deleted member]

I’m stuck at trying unlocking Roy...if there were a level 10 CPU, this would be it. He’s even harder than any human that I’ve ever played against. It’s ridiculous and the CPUs in this game have definitely been buffed up to an insane level.

This leads me to make the following theory: in response to watching the ever-expanding competitive scene of Smash, Sakurai saw it fit to improve the artificial intelligence even more from Smash 4. This could possibly be a reason most of y'all are having some trouble. This is coming from me, an elderly woman who does not even have the game yet (waiting for the other DLC to be announced before buying).

To be honest, I have something legitimate to fear when I start playing but I am up to the challenge.

That said, after reading some of the other messages here I have made my choice; World of Light will be my choice to unlock characters. Yes, it is extremely time-consuming but considering I spend hours on end playing games by night it will not matter.

Sayonara

 

[Coolboy]

i got a update on Roy! i just feel like i had to share this since i was saying harsh things about Roy...

i am stubborn so i decided to fought him again for the 4th time, this time i picked Toon link to fight him since he is 1 of my mains
but i never choose him as 1 of my first picks..well to my disbelief Roy got bodied and knocked out in the first 20 seconds..i was really staring at the screen like ''who took my controller?!'' since Roy was fighting just as rough as he did in the other matches. but i admit..it feel so very satisfying :D

 

[Justin Allen Goldschmidt]

I get pissed off by it, but the new AI is really satisfying to me. Also like another poster said, taking my time with it makes it way more fun and kind of zen seeing new challenger screens from time to time. Just play the game and go with the flow instead of making everything a grind, and I promise those of you getting frustrated will have a better time.

 

[Senator Phillips]

Having not played Smash in years before picking Ultimate up, I've actually rather enjoyed the unlocking process, especially seeing if I can use one of my other newly unlocked characters to do the job. Most of my losses have come from ignorant mistakes, like lunging off a ledge. Worst comes to worst, I revert to Little Mac, Ridley, K. Rool or Simon on the return trip.

 

[The Slayer]

Think the only time I had trouble with is when I'm using a character I'm unfamiliar with or fall off the stage prematurely. When I went to fail-unlock Lucas as Ridley, he just conveniently Up-Smash me at the worst moment and was KO'd. Was pretty mad, but Ike calmed me down and went to have a talk with him.

 

[spoofrice11]

I'm pretty new to the game (played a little on the Wii).

I've just been doing some random battles and sometimes a random encounter will show up. Are they completely random?
I'm not very good, and have lost more than I have won.

- Wish this game had a tutorial so I'd know what buttons to press to do regular or special moves and stuff.

 

[The Slayer]

It's usually random from what I can tell. Someone did Samus on Classic Mode and got Dark Samus right off the bat. Meanwhile, I magically got Ness in the same manner. And even if you fail, there's occasionally a Challenger Appoarching mode in the Games & More menu.

 

[MrPowerfulJeans]

So now that I have all the characters, I think I'll answer this thread. Why not?

As a guy who doesn't play Smash competitively and more casually, I thought they were pretty challenging, which was a good change of pace. I found Smash 4 pretty easy to unlock (partially cause of the huge lack of unlockable fighters). But Ultimate was definitely more challenging. Which I found fun. It's not impossible, though. I only lost to two characters more than once, Pokemon Trainer & Dr. Mario. And all I did to compete was to switch characters to someone else. Although, I do not like how long it takes to rematch a character. It feels like an eternity. It should've just been available once you lost to the fighter, and not be put on a time limit.

Plus, I think you can unlock everyone in World of Light, and you can use Spirit Type Advantages to make the battle easier.

 

[Unisex]

That said, after reading some of the other messages here I have made my choice; World of Light will be my choice to unlock characters. Yes, it is extremely time-consuming but considering I spend hours on end playing games by night it will not matter.

Sayonara

Truthfully, its not that bad. When youre trying to unlock everyone quickly, or if your main eats you in 30seconds it feels like it takes forever. But instead of getting everyone in like 90mins like some videos claimed it took like a day. Well I mean, other than unlocking
Pequeño Diablo Maco.

I hadnt played smash in like 9years but by day 2 you start to get a better feel for the game, and its not too bad. . My friend took about 3days, and he never played smash before this one.

 

[Deleted member]

In previous games it took me three or more tries to get a character. I’m starting to get to this stage in Smash Ultimate, but I only have 8 characters left to unlock, so if anything I’d say it’s easier.

 

[Deleted member]

I too am also having a hard time unlocking the characters as I feel like they are a huge step in difficulty as compared to previous Smash games. It honestly frustrates me to no end because I feel so demoralized for losing against them.
It's getting to the point where I will just keep playing World of Light in order to unlock everyone, as I have been told they are less difficult to fight.

 

[popemanz]

yes the first two are dumb then they beat zero

 

[leejaybird]

Yes WoL is much easier since you are able to use Spirits. But don't forget that while playing WoL, you can exit every once in a while and that will trigger a challenger match. Just remember that if you do this, you will have to face the challenger with whatever fighter you had selected in WoL. So before you exit, make sure you're using a fighter you are good with. Best of luck.

 

[Eisal]

I enjoyed the challenge, though I can understand it's frustrating for some.

 

[StaticXY]

I personally enjoy the increased difficulty, because it makes unlocking the challenger far more rewarding, and differentiates filling out your roster from a tedious grind into a fulfilling challenge.

I'm not sure if the rematches bump down the difficulty, but from anecdotal evidence I'd say they do. Regardless, one can still unlock the fighters through WoL so it's not as if it's impossible.

 

[zeldasmash]

After unlocking all the characters, these 8 were the ones that kicked my ***:

: I suck as King K. Rool and Simon took major advantage of that. I retried as Link and I got him.

: I was Little Mac against Ike and he basically was saying "everything you throw out I will out-prioritize and outrange and you can't do anything". I retried as Simon and I got him.

: This little guy decided to go Ultra Instinct upon reaching KO percentage, refused to die and came all the way back when I was Daisy. I retried as Simon and the little guy was quite the pain but I got him.

: I was Falcon against him and he for some reason was extremely difficult to hit while he hit me like a truck. Retried as Simon and I got him.

: The kid just kept running away all over New Pork City (I hate this stage) and every time I came up close, he beat the crap out of me shielding everything, dodging everything and Up Smashing his way to victory. I retried as Snake and I got him.

: Refused. To. Die. I retried as Simon and I got him.

: Dodged everything, was hitting me from every corner with his projectiles, refused to die when I did get the jump on him, was an overall pain. I retried as Link and I got him and was the only AI my Ganondorf ever lost to.

: Everything about this fight was an absolute nightmare. Take Duck Hunt and a bit of Lucas running away in Palutena's Temple and you have a recipe of an angry Scorpion going "GET THE **** OVER HERE". Retried as Ganondorf and I got her and was the only AI my Link ever lost to. Was the final character I unlocked.

 

[grizby2]

I consider myself pretty good at smash, (Elite smash unlocked~) but THESE CPUS man.. I wont lie. they do whatever they feel like doing.
even level 3 cpu can do some unbelievably crazy ****. one minute they're just walking slowly, then seconds later they string 5 hits on me and meteor smash me, only to take a fully charged fsmash seconds later. like ..what?!

I had a lvl 5 Zelda short hop like MAD dodging all my jabs on a PLATFORM XD.

my advice is pick a character that's easy to cheese with. simons holy water + Fsmash works pretty gud

 

[REZERO]

I killed all of them with Marth using side b and tippers. For some reason the CPU are bad at recognizing the frames certain attacks take up so I just abused the range advantage I had and spammed those attacks.

 

[Coolboy]

: Everything about this fight was an absolute nightmare. Take Duck Hunt and a bit of Lucas running away in Palutena's Temple and you have a recipe of an angry Scorpion going "GET THE **** OVER HERE". Retried as Ganondorf and I got her and was the only AI my Link ever lost to. Was the final character I unlocked.

Palutena was suprisingly easy and she was being kinda dumb in my match, i fought her yesterday as Peach,
i went all above on the highest platform and cause Palutena cannot reach it with jumping she kept using her recovery and each time she did and reached the platform i was on, i would hit her multiple times before she went away and repeated this alot of times,
once she had alot of damage i went back to another spot on the stage and knocked her out.. i must say i was suprised since i heard so many stories about Palutena being a very difficult AI

 

[Coccinelle]

Not sure about one thing, although the answer may be obvious for you guys: when you unlock a new challenger, what CPU level is he? I am unsure but I feel like challengers level is unvariable, whatever the CPU level that was set for the previous smash battle.
For example, if I play a Smash game against a lev3 CPU and then a new challenger comes, it seems significantly stronger than the lev3 CPU that I just fought (feels may be like lev5 I would say). But raising the CPU level to 5-7 in a Smash game does not seem to make the next challenger harder to defeat (may be still lev5?). Am I wrong?
And what about CPU levels for challengers unlocked in classic mode and WOL?