Smash Impressions

[volbound1700]

After playing through most the game and unlocking the entire roster, here are my thoughts.

Roster: The newcomers are disappointing compared to past game. There were some HUGE hype characters such as Simon Belmont and King K Rool. However, returning the entire roster was a HUGE plus and makes up for the small amount of newcomers. As I have cited in the past, some of the newcomer selections have me puzzled. One character that I can’t understand why he isn’t in the game is Rayman. Ubisoft has supported Nintendo heavily and Rayman has had appearances in past games. His cartoony feel works well with Mario, Link, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Pikachu, Fox, Sonic, Megaman, Pacman, and a lot of the other characters in the game. His lack of appearance has me puzzled, perhaps in DLC. It would also have been nice to get the 3rd-party Mii costumes back. I think most of the roster weakness will be addressed in DLC. Overall, the roster is good but it lacks the Hype seen in the Brawl or Smash 4 (at least pre-DLC).

Classic Mode: I feel this mode is close to perfect. The unique boss for some of the characters is great. I wish it could have been implemented with more of the characters.

Adventure Mode: This mode is a classic example of a great idea with a lot of potential that is not done well. It is moderately fun but it gets very repetitive (moreso than the SSE in Brawl). I know that Smash is about the battle mode but it is clear that a lot of time, effort, and resources went into Spirits. Here is my idea to improve it.

• Spirit Battle/Design – I think there is a lot of opportunity here. In my opinion, there should be quality over quantity. It would be nice to have renders the actual spirits over the smash characters. This would take work but they could cut the spirit roster down 75% to make this happen.
• Another cool feature was the Street Fighter themed area of the mode. They should have setup themes based on series and put the characters in the related theme.

Overall, the Adventure mode will entertain and it was clear that a lot of work went into it but it isn’t great by any means.

Battle Modes: This is where the game really shines. The new modes and tons of levels make this game great. From a general gameplay perspective, the game plays a little like a mix between the original Smash and Smash Melee. My favorite mode is the Tournament Mode. The ability to customize the brackets and also add Amiibos is a great change.

Online: This area is still a pain. Lag is a major issue and the rule limitations hurt. The limitations in settings, notably with friend’s options, hurts this area as well. This mode appears mediocre like any Nintendo online experience. It is something the company really lags behind its competition on.

Overall Score: I give this game an A. With DLC, it could be an A+. The weaker adventure mode, weak online, and odd choices in roster selection are really the only downside. It would be nice to have stage editor. It is a great game but it isn’t quite Ultimate (at least not yet, I have faith in the DLC).


What are your thoughts?

 

[RepStar]

Im just gonna say i liked brawl better. I skipped smash 4 because i knew i wouldnt like it. i know ultimate is more of a port of 4 than a new game and, i skipped smash 4 for reasons of why i dont like ultimate as much. Ultimates *objectively* not a bad game. Just sucks that their will never be a true spiritual successor to brawl and, no continuation of subspace. I know im not the only of the many few that liked brawl the most, were just a silent bunch that isnt nearly as vocal as melee fanboys.

Brawl in general had the most intriguing single player content and best overall. Brawls online was more fun, even if it was just a simple two modes of FFA or Team battle (and im not talking about those bs taunt parties). Playing this game feels very superficial, this isnt a passion project like brawl was contrary to what many infatuated ppl say ultimate is. Brawl took 4 years to make. This took, what, a year?

 

[volbound1700]

Im just gonna say i liked brawl better. I skipped smash 4 because i knew i wouldnt like it. i know ultimate is more of a port of 4 than a new game and, i skipped smash 4 for reasons of why i dont like ultimate as much. Ultimates *objectively* not a bad game. Just sucks that their will never be a true spiritual successor to brawl and, no continuation of subspace. I know im not the only of the many few that liked brawl the most, were just a silent bunch that isnt nearly as vocal as melee fanboys.

Brawl in general had the most intriguing single player content and best overall. Brawls online was more fun, even if it was just a simple two modes of FFA or Team battle (and im not talking about those bs taunt parties). Playing this game feels very superficial, this isnt a passion project like brawl was contrary to what many infatuated ppl say ultimate is. Brawl took 4 years to make. This took, what, a year?

It didn't take the leap that Brawl did from Melee. Brawl had so much content in it. This one definitely has more single player content than Brawl but Spirits have been a letdown. I would rather have an SSE sequel.

 

[Arymle Roseanne]

It didn't take the leap that Brawl did from Melee. Brawl had so much content in it. This one definitely has more single player content than Brawl but Spirits have been a letdown. I would rather have an SSE sequel.

You do realize that something like Subspace emissary would be very difficult to do with like seventy something characters right?

 

[volbound1700]

You do realize that something like Subspace emissary would be very difficult to do with like seventy something characters right?

Not really. Basically you take WOL and just add in platforming stages instead of spirits which is what people really wanted in the first place.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Not really. Basically you take WOL and just add in platforming stages instead of spirits which is what people really wanted in the first place.

I think you're underestimating things. Sakurai said that Subspace was a burden on Brawl's development.

 

[Luigifan18]

Not really. Basically you take WOL and just add in platforming stages instead of spirits which is what people really wanted in the first place.

Some platforming stages mixed in with the Spirits would be nice, but replacing them? Ha ha no, the Spirit battles are genius and having a big adventure mode full of platforming stages would be a ridiculous amount of work.

 

[T-Donor66]

Im just gonna say i liked brawl better. I skipped smash 4 because i knew i wouldnt like it. i know ultimate is more of a port of 4 than a new game and, i skipped smash 4 for reasons of why i dont like ultimate as much. Ultimates *objectively* not a bad game. Just sucks that their will never be a true spiritual successor to brawl and, no continuation of subspace. I know im not the only of the many few that liked brawl the most, were just a silent bunch that isnt nearly as vocal as melee fanboys.

Brawl in general had the most intriguing single player content and best overall. Brawls online was more fun, even if it was just a simple two modes of FFA or Team battle (and im not talking about those bs taunt parties). Playing this game feels very superficial, this isnt a passion project like brawl was contrary to what many infatuated ppl say ultimate is. Brawl took 4 years to make. This took, what, a year?

You arent very bright, Im sorry. Development for this game began on December 2015, and Brawl started in 2005. Both took 3 years ago, Ultimate is a new game. Period. People like you who call it a port are laughed at this point. Its a meme. Almost every character has brand new animations and attack properties, but you wouldn’t know that would you? because you skipped smash 4. Nothing wrong with skipping it, but I hate when people talk so adamantly about stuff they know so little about. Why would they throw away completely good character models? What for? “Muh big leap”?

 

[RepStar]

You arent very bright, Im sorry. Development for this game began on December 2015, and Brawl started in 2005. Both took 3 years ago, Ultimate is a new game. Period. People like you who call it a port are laughed at this point. Its a meme. Almost every character has brand new animations and attack properties, but you wouldn’t know that would you? because you skipped smash 4. Nothing wrong with skipping it, but I hate when people talk so adamantly about stuff they know so little about. Why would they throw away completely good character models? What for? “Muh big leap”?

Well damn when every smash looked different from each other until this point u shouldnt be suprised at ppl referencing as a port. You sound like an fanboy.

 

[T-Donor66]

Well damn when every smash looked different from each other until this point u shouldnt be suprised at ppl referencing as a port. You sound like an fanboy.

Again, you are not very bright. What the hell do you want? Do you want them to make every character dark brown and grey again? Why change what is already good? Brawl looked disgusting and lifeless. Smash 4 and Ultimate capture Nintendo charm wayyy better, except Ultmate looks even better due to dynamic lighting. You sound like a nostalgia blinded fool. Enjoy the mute!

 

[RepStar]

Again, you are not very bright. What the hell do you want? Do you want them to make every character dark brown and grey again? Why change what is already good? Brawl looked disgusting and lifeless. Smash 4 and Ultimate capture Nintendo charm wayyy better, except Ultmate looks even better due to dynamic lighting. You sound like a nostalgia blinded fool. Enjoy the mute!

So im muted all because you mostly had an issue with my opinion after insulting me like 4 times. You got problems.

 

[Frost Ace]

i know ultimate is more of a port of 4 than a new game

I gotta ask, how do you still believe that? When it was first announced of being in development I probably would have agreed with you due to how new 4 was at the time.

 

[soviet prince]

So im muted all because you mostly had an issue with my opinion after insulting me like 4 times. You got problems.

it not being s port i not an opinion it is a fact, most things were built from the ground up

 

[UltimateXsniper]

Im just gonna say i liked brawl better. I skipped smash 4 because i knew i wouldnt like it. i know ultimate is more of a port of 4 than a new game and, i skipped smash 4 for reasons of why i dont like ultimate as much. Ultimates *objectively* not a bad game. Just sucks that their will never be a true spiritual successor to brawl and, no continuation of subspace. I know im not the only of the many few that liked brawl the most, were just a silent bunch that isnt nearly as vocal as melee fanboys.

Brawl in general had the most intriguing single player content and best overall. Brawls online was more fun, even if it was just a simple two modes of FFA or Team battle (and im not talking about those bs taunt parties). Playing this game feels very superficial, this isnt a passion project like brawl was contrary to what many infatuated ppl say ultimate is. Brawl took 4 years to make. This took, what, a year?

I'll respect your opinion with Brawl and I'll admit I do enjoy subspace myself, but I don't think it's right to claim ultimate as a port. Given that the stages has doubled, we have over 70 characters, we got an adventure mode, return of an tournament mode along with new modes, a fresh take on classic mode, and how the gameplay feels different from smash 4 is far from what I would call a port. Only things that were "ported" over were the Wii U stages and characters, and even then they touched on those to look even better. Also, Ultimate took 3 years to make. That's a little silly to think they started working on this the same year they've shown gameplay early within 2018.

 

[lucasla]

The game is not a port... it has double the stages all of them with battlefield and omega variations, the new characters quantity should add the ones that were not on the WiiU game since they had to be done again from basically zero, this means 7 (original) + 5 (returning from previous games) + 7 echo fighters + 5 that are coming in the next year. Then it has the visual upgrade, that might not be so big in comparisson to other games because we are talking here about a sequel from a game of a previous system that has some similar, yet a bit more powerful, configuration. Then we have all the new music. Many characters animations and details added. The Final Smash of many characters were changed. Then we have perfect shield and air dodge, two new moves that needed a rework of all characters with new animations. It has new itens, pokemons and assist trophies. It has reformulated menus and many new options of gameplay. For better or worse the online system was entirely changed. It has reformulated Classic Mode and a new Adventure Mode. So many things...

I think people get used to the fact that the past Smash games had more visual differences, and it was easier to see they were new games, but that was because they were in entirely different systems of different generations. The changes that happened from Smash4 to Ultimate happened on these areas too, but it was on gameplay and content the must affected features.

If you argue that they could just add the stages and characters as DLC in Smash4 you may be right about this content, but not about the reformulated gameplay with the new moves, perfect shield, air dodge, final smashes, the visual upgrade, and many things that required entire reworks, and the addition of the new singleplayer content that makes it basically a new game. If you are not yet satisfied, look at any fighting game that had a sequel or more in the same generation and check how different they are for you be so hard about Smash not "looking" like a sequel enough. This is just a superficial look.

 

[RepStar]

It isnt a port , i was wrong. It just seems like it.

Edit: Question for you all- Do you consider Street Fighter 4 (2009) to Super Street Fighter 4 (2010) a port? Even though SSF4 had the same changes compared to ultimate?

 

[lucasla]

I dont think you are wrong in assume they really used Smash4 as a basis, first converting the game to the new system and then building Ultimate above it. But the changes they did and all the content totally justifies the game being a new entry.
I can't say too much about SF, cause I had not played these games.

 

[RepStar]

I gotta ask, how do you still believe that? When it was first announced of being in development I probably would have agreed with you due to how new 4 was at the time.

Because only the gameplay changed but everything else looks super identical to wii u. It reminds me of SF4 to SSF4. And not a big change like SF4 to SF5. Ultimate could of honestly been re-released as a ultimate edition of smash 4 imo.

 

[xzx]

It's not a port, but it feels very similar to Smash 4 gameplay wise, unfortunately.

 

[RepStar]

It's not a port, but it feels very similar to Smash 4 gameplay wise, unfortunately.

I dont mean port literally but, the amount of things they reused

 

[Imfrikinbad]

Melee is still the best, but I think this game is second. It's really good and feels better than 4 in a lot of ways. (Auto L-Cancel is awesome and dash dancing is SORT OF back!) Man, I'd love a new Melee with the same mechanics, but just prettier oh well.

 

[volbound1700]

Smash Ultimate is a good game as my review stated but it is also a game with a lot of broken potential. The issues that I have is not the amount of items in the game but rather the choices on what Nintendo and the team choose to include versus not include and the manner it was included.

Spirits was a HORRIBLE choice. I just up a Spirit to level 99 (easy to do) and keep using it with the same character throughout. Even if I get other spirits, it is easy to max level them even without using food. Their concept is weak yet A LOT of wasted work went into them that could have been used to make more bosses, unique renders of the spirits, or even platforming stages which people would have preferred. Could Spirit battles have been more organized by series in certain areas instead of a miss-mash all over the place that gave little meaning (there were some exceptions like the Street Fighter section of WOL which was very cool).

The roster is the same situation. I don't have issues with the final character count but rather the selections. Why Isabella and Incineroar when we could have had better characters? Why Ken and Richter over a second Megaman or Sonic rep which are far better franchises? Why does Nintendo hate Rayman and Ubisoft so much?

Already they are also off to a bad start with the DLC. Joker as another SEGA rep? Joker isn't iconic. Wouldn't Tails or Shadow have been a better choice? Or if you are going with another franchise, there are a lot of better SEGA franchises out there that fit better with Smash.

The game Ultimately doesn't feel Ultimate to me. Is it a better overall game than Smash 4. Perhaps. Yet I will still go back to Smash 4 to get the Knuckles and Tails costume as it made no sense why the Mii Costumes got cut.

Perhaps this wasn't Nintendo's fault at all but still it presents glaring weaknesses to the game.