Unpopular Smash Ultimate Opinions! - Read the OP before Posting

[Justin Allen Goldschmidt]

So he uses a sword in OOT? Ganondorf? The Gerudo? No, no, he doesn't. He never swung a sword till the Tech Demo, which is not canon, and only his Wind Waker and Twilight Princess incarnations are actual swordsmen. He's obviously capable of it, but he is a Gerudo, and I highly doubt he didn't get some sword training.

It's Ganon who first canonically uses the Swords. Their forms are absolutely not interchangeable when it comes to abilities and weapons. They've been highly different from the start. They don't share anything other than brute strength and magical capability. Ganondorf didn't start off by fighting as weapons. His beast form however was a weapon fighter from the start in canon. Demise doesn't change the fact that Ganondorf never used anything more than magic and strength in his first boss fight in OOT. Demise using a sword only really does much to affect his beast form, Ganon, at best. Ganondorf doesn't even resemble Demise, at least compared to Ganon, his beast form, that generally does.

It's actually very lucky that Ganondorf even had a sword via the tech demo. Otherwise he wouldn't have it in Smash, artwork or otherwise. Not as his OOT form(which no matter how you slice it, he doesn't ever use a weapon in his human form. He does throw a punch in the official artwork, but that's it).

Dude, he uses the sword when he goes into "Ganon" phase, but it's still the same boss fight. Even not counting that, that's still *two-thirds* of his appearances, right? Come on.

 

[Idon]

Dude, he uses the sword when he goes into "Ganon" phase, but it's still the same boss fight. Even not counting that, that's still *two-thirds* of his appearances, right? Come on.

But none of them are the incarnation in Smash, so either way, it's not-canon.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Dude, he uses the sword when he goes into "Ganon" phase, but it's still the same boss fight. Even not counting that, that's still *two-thirds* of his appearances, right? Come on.

No, it's a different boss fight to begin with. You go through an entirely long segment between them. They're different fights. He doesn't even transform till you go through around 5 minutes of a long trek through his actual falling castle to fight his second form. It's not a simple boss fight where he transforms quickly or shifts between forms during it. They're highly separated and meant to show that Ganondorf is the magic user while Ganon is the weapon user.

Ganondorf never canonically used a sword till Wind Waker. He never once uses it in OOT(there's implications he was trained during it, but his only known weapon in his Gerudo form is a knife/dagger on his leg, which he doesn't use either). It's a non-canon weapon in Smash when using his OOT self. It's just a Tech Demo leftover. TP Ganondorf using the Sword in Brawl and 4 is actually canon(even posing with it still has meaning since he actually held it within a cutscene, and his only move using it during 4 is strictly canon). And it barely fits him to begin with, since his battle style is brute strength, not technique like Marth is. His long sword in TP and his two Katana in WW are his only actual canon swords he's ever used. In those forms. The sword he uses in Smash during Ultimate is just a call back to the tech demo to somewhat please some fans who want him to use a sword. The only similar sword to the one in the tech demo isn't even the one in OOT, which Ganon uses very different swords, that are much thinner and long. He doesn't use the actual sword from Ultimate outside of HW, a non-canon game. Though it has more merits than a Tech Demo, which can't even fit into an actual Zelda story, spin-off or otherwise.

There's no way around the hard fact it's not a canon move. It never was. Nor was it meant to be. He was always going to use non-canon moves anyway. Not that that's a problem, since the focus on Ganondorf is being a brutish murderous fighter. A sword doesn't make him like that(he actually fit it best in Brawl and 4, since his TP design perfectly fits who he is, despite how badly it affects him competitively. On the other hand, the Sage's Sword is not that kind of weapon. Using his non-canon broad sword at least fits his mold better... not that he needs it to win). He still at least uses his magic and Triforce of Power to better fit his character.

 

[Idon]

Like, if they wanted to add a canon weapon, Ganondorf (at least his phantom version)
has a trident

Spoiler

Honestly, I think it's just a misinterpretation of everyone saying "give Ganondorf a unique moveset with the sword" and Sakurai reading it as "Give Ganondorf a sword"
Whether you like it or not is up to you, but fact is, it's not canonical.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Like, if they wanted to add a canon weapon, Ganondorf (at least his phantom version)
has a trident

Spoiler

Honestly, I think it's just a misinterpretation of everyone saying "give Ganondorf a unique moveset with the sword" and Sakurai reading it as "Give Ganondorf a sword"
Whether you like it or not is up to you, but fact is, it's not canonical.

Funny thing is Ganondorf never uses a Trident either. That's a different person altogether, not simply a different character.

The tech demo Sword only does one thing; fit his characterization. It may not be canon, but it at least fits. It was going to be in Melee, so re-putting it in is still fine. But to pretend it's to make him more canon is ignoring the actual game's canon. It's just meant to make him more fun to play as. And it's arguable whether or not his moveset in Melee, Brawl/4, or Ultimate is more satisfying for how you like to play as.

 

[Calamitas]

>Blaziken, Grovyle and Mudkip
>Not Blaziken, Sceptile, and Swampert
>Not Combusken, Grovyle, and Marshtomp
>Not Torchic, Treecko, and Mudkip

.

Oh yeah, just like how Pokémon Trainer's current team consists of Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur! Or Charmeleon, Wartortle and Ivysaur! Or Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur!
How can you even miss the point of Pokémon Trainer this badly?

 

[Justin Allen Goldschmidt]

But none of them are the incarnation in Smash, so either way, it's not-canon.

But like... The Zelda incarnation in smash shouldn't have Phantoms. Link shouldn't have the kind of boomerang he's using. So on amd so forth. It's fine though. As for Legendary Spirit Tamer, that still makes two out of three times Ganondorf is fought to be swordfights. Not *that specific sword or that specific costume*, but swords. It's chill. If anything all he needs now is a weird projectile and louder evil laughing and grunts and he'll be the perfect amalgamation of Ganondorf sightings as far as I'm concerned. Technicalities aren't my cup of tea, so I'll leave it at that.

 

[FirestormNeos]

Oh yeah, just like how Pokémon Trainer's current team consists of Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur! Or Charmeleon, Wartortle and Ivysaur! Or Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur!
How can you even miss the point of Pokémon Trainer this badly?

I didn't "miss" the "point" at all; the point in question ("iT's To RePrEsEnT eVoLuTiOn") is stupid and not worth the inconsistency. Let Pokemon Trainer have a balanced team, damnit!

 

[KingBroly]

I think that because of the roster size they've gone beyond the means for properly balancing the roster and in-game content. I know Smash 4 had problems, but here it permeates everywhere. From unbalanced fights in WoL, the Spirit Board, Classic, Online, bizarre roster balancing, developing 74 characters in 2 years has kinda broke the game.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

But like... The Zelda incarnation in smash shouldn't have Phantoms. Link shouldn't have the kind of boomerang he's using. So on amd so forth. It's fine though. As for Legendary Spirit Tamer, that still makes two out of three times Ganondorf is fought to be swordfights. Not *that specific sword or that specific costume*, but swords. It's chill. If anything all he needs now is a weird projectile and louder evil laughing and grunts and he'll be the perfect amalgamation of Ganondorf sightings as far as I'm concerned. Technicalities aren't my cup of tea, so I'll leave it at that.

Which doesn't change any real facts that this actual version of Ganondorf is based upon a non-canon design anyway. The Tech Demo is just a non-canon version of his OOT self with a non-canon sword. He was like that in Melee too. And only because it fits Falcon's bodyshape better than his actual OOT model.

It's an imperfect version of Ganondorf that loosely has what some fans want. Which while understandable to some degree, was never meant as a legitimate attempt to make him more canon anyway(it's literally a non-canon model from a demo, not his actual OOT self, but a model based upon it to show off the capabilities of the GameCube. It only was used for Smash because it was the fastest option. The sword was only going to be used, the non-canon one, because it was part of the model's full animations and would be easier than suddenly doing one from scratch. It coincidentally made no sense to give him a sword when he never once used one in canon at that point(an implication he knows how to use one isn't the same thing. We at least see him physically attack and use his magic through official means via artwork of OOT and his own magical attacks in some way).

If Sakurai was caring about making him based upon his canon OOT self, the sword wouldn't be there. Also, Link was always updated to represent his current self, with only the Boomerang being slightly off at best. But unlike Ganondorf, his forms in 64 and Melee are more of an actual combination of different ones. He was never based strictly upon one version with all his moves. He'd have lost his Upthrust and Downthrust if that was the case. Ganondorf's kept moves are a leftover from originating as a Melee clone specifically. But they never changed around the few moves that show up in canon(including artwork) like his Forward Air. Besides, if having a canon idea of sword usage actually mattered in itself(it doesn't no matter how you slice it), why wouldn't he used a sword from at least a canon game? Or for that matter, an actual Zelda game. It's not even the ones from HW, it's from a non-game Tech Demo. That's as far from canon as you can get. No, the fact he uses swords way later in his life(that are completely different fighting styles that definitely don't show up in Smash, again, no matter how you slice it) doesn't make this appearance based remotely on canon either. For one thing, if you even want to believe somehow that Ganon using a sword means Ganondorf magically used a sword too in OOT(which is not the same thing), he still used two swords at once, not one. It's as far from canon as possible and still isn't there to help represent the canon design of Ganondorf at all. People clamor for a sword, as some kind of callback to canon. They got it in Brawl and 4 as an actual canon reference in some way. Ultimate just had fun with his non-canon weapon and called it a day. It's even arguable that the sword does nothing useful in Ultimate but change up his hitboxes and playstyle(yet doesn't increase his canon powers. If they wanted to make him more canon, they could use his actual OOT moves or at least his Kitanas or even give him the Trident that Phantom Ganon uses. He did create Phantom Ganon, after all. It's still more accurate and brings in his actual weapon from the series that his person uses, even if it's just someone he created. His Trident in Ganon form still at least has some canon aspect to it).

Basically, your argument boils down to; "It doesn't matter what sword he uses. It makes him feel more canon" which makes zero sense. Either he is using an actual weapon from the canon series or he isn't. Even if it's not literally his own, it's more canon that a Tech Demo that has no official game appearances whatsoever. Literally the closest the Tech Demo sword ever got used is something similar in a non-canon spin-off called Hyrule Warriors. He also has never been a combination of multiple game appearances(which Link and Zelda actually do) at any point in Smash. A consequence of being a clone, perhaps, but he pretty much is either a version based loosely upon OOT with non-canon elements or his TP self with more canon elements. There was never an inbetween causeeeeee... that's just not how he was ever designed.

 

[Guynamednelson]

I didn't "miss" the "point" at all; the point in question ("iT's To RePrEsEnT eVoLuTiOn") is stupid and not worth the inconsistency. Let Pokemon Trainer have a balanced team, damnit!

It has to do with gameplay variety as well. If they were all the same stage, they'd all be weak-but-fast or strong-but-slow.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

I respect your opinion and all, but aren't you literally supporting Master Chief, who has absolutely nothing to do with Nintendo?

Nintendo is trying to market Smash to a new audience. They want as many people as possible to play Smash. So they look to new characters that people recognize. It's why they reserved a spot for a Pokemon newcomer. Let's be honest, in terms of a Microsoft rep, more people recognize Master Chief than Banjo and Kazooie. He's really only topped by Steve (who I think would be ridiculous in Smash). Chief is probably more recognized than any Fire Emblem or Kid Icarus fighter in Smash currently. Halo is that popular.

A few years ago I went through a phase where I played strictly Halo and almost nothing else, so I do have a bit of a personal attachment to the character. The thing is, I want Chief in the game more because I like the idea of Nintendo and Microsoft working together again (like they did with Fortnite/Minecraft, **** you Sony) than I want him in on a personal level.

I mentioned earlier that 2-3 at most third party characters would be the best for Smash. Chief would be one of them, probably alongside PAC-MAN and either a Belmont or Mega Man.

 

[Calamitas]

It has to do with gameplay variety as well. If they were all the same stage, they'd all be weak-but-fast or strong-but-slow.

This exactly. A team consisting of only the same stages of evolution for each starter would all fit into the same kind of mold, i.e. small and quick for all first-stage evolutions. By having one for each stage of evolution, the Pokémon are far better balanced among each other.

 

[FirestormNeos]

It has to do with gameplay variety as well. If they were all the same stage, they'd all be weak-but-fast or strong-but-slow.

Only if you make Charizard horribly clunky and heavy like they wound up doing in Brawl and Smash 4. And yes, if I find out Ridley feels clunky and slow to play as too, I am going to be royally pissed off that Sakurai turned a character known for being able to fly quickly and easily into a slow-but-strong brute instead again.

Or alternatively, use the middle evolutions.

 

[KingBroly]

Nintendo is trying to market Smash to a new audience. They want as many people as possible to play Smash. So they look to new characters that people recognize. It's why they reserved a spot for a Pokemon newcomer. Let's be honest, in terms of a Microsoft rep, more people recognize Master Chief than Banjo and Kazooie. He's really only topped by Steve (who I think would be ridiculous in Smash). Chief is probably more recognized than any Fire Emblem or Kid Icarus fighter in Smash currently. Halo is that popular.

A few years ago I went through a phase where I played strictly Halo and almost nothing else, so I do have a bit of a personal attachment to the character. The thing is, I want Chief in the game more because I like the idea of Nintendo and Microsoft working together again (like they did with Fortnite/Minecraft, **** you Sony) than I want him in on a personal level.

I mentioned earlier that 2-3 at most third party characters would be the best for Smash. Chief would be one of them, probably alongside PAC-MAN and either a Belmont or Mega Man.

I feel like Steve would be REALLY expensive to license for Smash Bros. I also don't think Microsoft would want Steve to be put in a situation like Smash Bros. But perhaps I'm wrong.

Master Chief in Smash Bros. would melt brains, though.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time didn't use swords, but the fight against him wasn't much a physical one. He kinda avoided that, and just choose to attack you with his magic instead and keeping Link on a distance. The Gerudo do use swords however, and it's quite likely he would've owned one as well. I don't see why it's a bad thing, even if it's not exactly canon.

 

[osby]

World of Light is infinitely better than Melee's Adventure Mode at using pre-existing assets.

 

[Diddy Kong]

World of Light has grown on me, a little. I can accept it because gameplay is superb.

 

[Gallerian]

In my opinion, World of Light is the best Adventure Mode this series has ever gotten.

Subspace was super fun, but felt clunky with the platforming at times. Not to mention the story was only okay at best. And Melee's Adventure Mode was fun, but lacked any form of story.

World of Light feels like the Event Battles, but expanded upon in the best way. And I loved the Event Battles. Also, the story, while there, is light on content. And Smash was never a game that needed some expansive story. Just, something light, but still entertaining.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

World of Light is fun but some of the Spirit battles are bull**** hard (then again I'm playing on the hardest difficulty).

 

[scoobymcsnack]

Nintendo is trying to market Smash to a new audience. They want as many people as possible to play Smash. So they look to new characters that people recognize. It's why they reserved a spot for a Pokemon newcomer. Let's be honest, in terms of a Microsoft rep, more people recognize Master Chief than Banjo and Kazooie. He's really only topped by Steve (who I think would be ridiculous in Smash). Chief is probably more recognized than any Fire Emblem or Kid Icarus fighter in Smash currently. Halo is that popular.

A few years ago I went through a phase where I played strictly Halo and almost nothing else, so I do have a bit of a personal attachment to the character. The thing is, I want Chief in the game more because I like the idea of Nintendo and Microsoft working together again (like they did with Fortnite/Minecraft, **** you Sony) than I want him in on a personal level.

I mentioned earlier that 2-3 at most third party characters would be the best for Smash. Chief would be one of them, probably alongside PAC-MAN and either a Belmont or Mega Man.

Ah okay, I can understand your reasoning. Thanks for clearing it up!

World of Light is fun but some of the Spirit battles are bull**** hard (then again I'm playing on the hardest difficulty).

Also this all the way. I'm not the best at Smash, but some of them are ridiculous.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

Also this all the way. I'm not the best at Smash, but some of them are ridiculous.

Ok so there's this one where it's Sakura (Fire Emblem) and you have to face versus Isabelle and Corrin on Reset Bomb Forest. Worst. Matchup. Ever. Corrin has a stun move and Isabelle has a command grab, so it's very hard to space the two apart, not to mention the both heal, and they're on the best map for camping people out.

 

[Diddy Kong]

World of Light and Subspace Emissary mixed with Smash Run elements would make the ideal 1 Player Smash game, possibly half mixed with more RPG elements.

That's all. I would really want such a game honestly.

 

[MinorLeagueJohn]

Isn't Ganon canonically always the same entity? If that's true, then wouldn't any combination of abilities/models would be canonically accurate as, no matter the game, we're still fighting the same Ganon? Sure, in OoT he never uses a sword but that doesn't preclude him from being ABLE to wield one. I'm pretty sure OoT Ganon never used diving kicks or exploding grabs either, why the fixation on his sword?

I'm sure this opinion has been expressed in the 60+ preceding pages but Spirit mode is fun! It's a great change of pace. With Online being in absolute shambles, the single player modes and unlocking fighters have been a main focus and I like this adventure more than Subspace.

 

[Al-kīmiyā']

OoT Ganondorf is TP Ganondorf. Unless you think he learned swordsmanship while waiting for arbitration or while he was wherever he was for most of TP, then he already knew how to use a sword about as well as he does in his TP boss battle. The bigger sword simply looks cooler.

 

[Robertman2]

Zelda lore is whack

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Isn't Ganon canonically always the same entity? If that's true, then wouldn't any combination of abilities/models would be canonically accurate as, no matter the game, we're still fighting the same Ganon? Sure, in OoT he never uses a sword but that doesn't preclude him from being ABLE to wield one. I'm pretty sure OoT Ganon never used diving kicks or exploding grabs either, why the fixation on his sword?

I'm sure this opinion has been expressed in the 60+ preceding pages but Spirit mode is fun! It's a great change of pace. With Online being in absolute shambles, the single player modes and unlocking fighters have been a main focus and I like this adventure more than Subspace.

No. He has no ability to create fire bats as Ganondorf. He doesn't use a Trident as Ganondorf either in a single canon game. What's strange is he doesn't even have one yet while Phantom Ganon gets one in OOT. This was likely an oversight in the intended lore and just to make the boss look cool. In the same way that Ganondorf got updated with his most popular sword, despite the lack of Canon, in Smash Ultimate. Trying to adhere to canon was clearly not the priority.

They're different forms with different abilities. He rarely physically attacks in Ganon form in the same way as his punching/kicking in Ganondorf form. They're not "the same entity" either. It's just the same soul with different bodily forms used in different ways. The forms actually share zero actual abilities in canon. They were always different.

The reality is while Ganondorf absolutely knows how to use a sword, he simply isn't using an actual canon one in Smash Ultimate. There's no reason to doubt he has the capability of it. It just wasn't a thing till WW and TP, where he officially wielded one. Besides, Smash has each character separately playable(Link, Young Link, Toon Link, Zelda, Sheik, etc. The idea that them being the same person was never relevant to Smash itself. At best it might be the reason they started as transformation characters, but it doesn't mean jack-all for how they're represented with movesets beyond a Down B at best).. Anything Ganon does is specific to that playable character where applicable. Same with Ganondorf. Ganon is not playable, of course. But he doesn't act like Ganondorf does. They have different strengths, weaknesses, and battle styles in Smash itself. And even then, Ganon and Ganondorf share literally one thing; a weakness to holy weapons. At best. It should be noted that Ganon, his bestial form, has nowhere near the same IQ in how he acts. He's significantly more rage-filled and doesn't show a lot of ambition in the same way. He rarely talks as is, and one of the few times he did was before Ganondorf even existed among the series, and also when they started putting major dialogue in the Zelda series(being ALTTP).

 

[Dan]

WoL is a steaming pile of soulless trash, which is somehow actually fun (in small doses).

Edit: Also, revealing all of the characters from the start was a bad idea. It makes unlocking stuff not feel very exciting. To be honest, they should've kept the echoes a secret that you'd unlock as a bonus surprise.

They had to reveal everything pre-launch cause everything gets leaked nowadays, and even since Smash 64 I've known the characters before unlocking them cause of guidebooks and stuff; I've never been surprised.

Sakurai is an overpraised and overrated developer. His ego is larger than anyone wants to admit and it's exactly why he continues to make the games despite saying he doesn't want to make another time and time again. Not because he wants the glory but because he doesn't want to share it. God knows Nintendo will continue to pump out smash games with or without him and he can't stand the idea of someone else doing it

How every YouTube comment is "Sakurai deserves a vacation" or "Smash fans are so ungrateful" makes me sick to my stomach; no one is making this guy make himself physically and mentally sick over working on a child's game. He's a control freak and can't let it go. I wish the best for every human physically and mentally, but the worship this guy gets is cringe.

World of Light is infinitely better than Melee's Adventure Mode at using pre-existing assets.

What does this even mean? When did Melee try to use pre-existing assets?

 

[Diddy Kong]

I was a huge advocate for Zelda getting a newcomer after all this time, and that newcomer had to be Impa in my eyes. And while I still want Impa, that Ganon boss battle for the Links, and Young Link being back plus all the revamps for the existant Zelda roster except Sheik makes me accept that Impa isn't there. Zelda has been shown proper love. I just didn't see this coming, that's all.

 

[Idon]

Smash Ultimate's roster is pretty good and its gameplay, is also pretty damn good. I think we can all agree on at least that, if not for some critiques here and there.


But personally... everything else Ultimate offers is subpar if not outright bad. Both singleplayer and multiplayer modes are both gimped to the point where I have to question the logic behind the designers of this system.

 

[staindgrey]

How every YouTube comment is "Sakurai deserves a vacation" or "Smash fans are so ungrateful" makes me sick to my stomach; no one is making this guy make himself physically and mentally sick over working on a child's game. He's a control freak and can't let it go. I wish the best for every human physically and mentally, but the worship this guy gets is cringe.

Speaking as someone with a similar personality in terms of being a control freak, it's not quite that simple.

When I took over as the manager for our furniture store, a lot was asked of me by the owner. And when I'm given a task, I'm going to make sure that it's done correctly, even if I have to do it entirely myself. I briefly tried to delegate tasks like updating our website, organizing the warehouse, running social media, merchandising the floor, etc., but with every task, they simply weren't doing it right. I took pride in our store and didn't want anything to be less than perfect, and in the end I was putting in 60-70hr weeks doing four different jobs.

Now, the owner probably should have realized this wasn't sustainable and hired an additional employee for one of those specific tasks, but instead I eventually burnt out and took a demotion to run only our warehouse and website. But for nearly three years I stretched myself to the limit because I'm a perfectionist and the store owner liked the results. Should I have spoken up sooner? Yeah. Should I put more faith in other people? Maybe. But as long as I'm asked to do something by my employer, I'm going to make sure it's done right. It's weird, but I just don't feel right when anything I attach my name to isn't perfect, so if something is my responsibility, anything less than perfect isn't an option.

I imagine that Sakurai-- based on what little I know, of course-- has a similar view in that, as long as Nintendo asks him to make Smash, he's going to make the hell out of every Smash he's put in charge of. Whether or not he wants to isn't the concern.

To be clear, I'm not saying he's a martyr or that he's any more or less deserving of praise than any other game director. I'm simply saying that I see parallels in his work ethic and mindset, and that those traits are commonly abused by employers because they produce more or less guaranteed results.

 

[rat.jpg]

World of Light is how you do an adventure mode right

 

[Dan]

Speaking as someone with a similar personality in terms of being a control freak, it's not quite that simple.

When I took over as the manager for our furniture store, a lot was asked of me by the owner. And when I'm given a task, I'm going to make sure that it's done correctly, even if I have to do it entirely myself. I briefly tried to delegate tasks like updating our website, organizing the warehouse, running social media, merchandising the floor, etc., but with every task, they simply weren't doing it right. I took pride in our store and didn't want anything to be less than perfect, and in the end I was putting in 60-70hr weeks doing four different jobs.

Now, the owner probably should have realized this wasn't sustainable and hired an additional employee for one of those specific tasks, but instead I eventually burnt out and took a demotion to run only our warehouse and website. But for nearly three years I stretched myself to the limit because I'm a perfectionist and the store owner liked the results. Should I have spoken up sooner? Yeah. Should I put more faith in other people? Maybe. But as long as I'm asked to do something by my employer, I'm going to make sure it's done right. It's weird, but I just don't feel right when anything I attach my name to isn't perfect, so if something is my responsibility, anything less than perfect isn't an option.

I imagine that Sakurai-- based on what little I know, of course-- has a similar view in that, as long as Nintendo asks him to make Smash, he's going to make the hell out of every Smash he's put in charge of. Whether or not he wants to isn't the concern.

To be clear, I'm not saying he's a martyr or that he's any more or less deserving of praise than any other game director. I'm simply saying that I see parallels in his work ethic and mindset, and that those traits are commonly abused by employers because they produce more or less guaranteed results.

That's fair, but I feel like creating a game is a little different because there's no right or wrong way of doing it, but I know what you're saying.

 

[Justin Allen Goldschmidt]

Smash Ultimate's roster is pretty good and its gameplay, is also pretty damn good. I think we can all agree on at least that, if not for some critiques here and there.


But personally... everything else Ultimate offers is subpar if not outright bad. Both singleplayer and multiplayer modes are both gimped to the point where I have to question the logic behind the designers of this system.

I respectfully disagree. Especially the multiplayer modes. Squad Strike at the very least is the best new mode ever added, in my opinion.

 

[Robertman2]

All the stuff lost from previous games was absolutely worth it. Trophies were pointless, HRC will be back sooner or later, Smash Tour was a dumpster fire, Brawl's Adventure mode (along with the minute to minute gameplay) was poorly designed.

 

[Idon]

I respectfully disagree. Especially the multiplayer modes. Squad Strike at the very least is the best new mode ever added, in my opinion.

Squad Strike's actually pretty neat, I forgot.

Still, everyone else, really sucks.
Especially the basic 1v1

 

[Justin Allen Goldschmidt]

Squad Strike's actually pretty neat, I forgot.

Still, everyone else, really sucks.
Especially the basic 1v1

What parts bother you most? I don't think it's perfect, for sure.

 

[Dan]

Ultimate feels empty. I like the game-play, but the lack of single player content is making the game hard to enjoy. Personally, I would've preffered stuff like a better stage builder, home run contest, a better arcade mode (the new one isn't bad, but re-running it is repetitive since it's guranteed to always be the same), and a better story mode (WoL isn't that fun, and there isn't much of story there outside of the basic premise) over some of the stuff we currently have. This is including things like characters, and stages. I can live without the likes of Pichu, Young Link, etc.... Heck, I wouldn't even mind if they removed fan favorites like Roy, Falco, and Lucas if it meant that the single player content was better.

I hope that all of the DLC characters are third-parties. Nothing that Nintendo has left is really interesting, and third-parties bring new fans to Smash that otherwise wouldn't interested in the series (like me). That's why I love Joker's inclusion. I never even played Persona, but the fact that he got in gives me hope that a few of the other third-parties I want in could make it.

The music in Ultimate is just... OK. To man remixes of the same songs, and some of the tracks are just rips. Others are just really bad.

Assist trophies are a waste of development time. One, or even two of those ATs probably could've been actual characters if Sakurai, and crew didn't waste time basically making what essentially amounts to incomplete characters (and mean seeriously, some of these ATs even have dodge animations).

Edit: Also, revealing all of the characters from the start was a bad idea. It makes unlocking stuff not feel very exciting. To be honest, they should've kept the echoes a secret that you'd unlock as a bonus surprise.

I want to quote you again to say you absolutely nailed it in that first part; the game is great, but it definitely feels rushed/something is missing. A part of its soul is missing. World of Light is a pointless excuse for an adventure mode, and this is supposed to be the "Ultimate" game: they added K. Rool and Ridley, but left some other fan favorites still on the table like Geno and Isaac (which is odd), but part of me feels like we would've been better off without Spirits and World of Light if they added like two more characters instead. The clear intent was to try to appease everyone, which is commendable, but I'm struggling to put my finger on what is missing; like they tried to appease the competitive base but stopped halfway. I would honestly rather have something like Brawl or Melee, where they just do what they want and it turns out a happy accident a la Melee, or a different kind of experience, like Brawl.

But yeah; I don't feel like this game has an identity other than trying to cram everything under the sun under its roof. It doesn't seem like it was an entirely joyous process to make. Not because I hate Sakurai, but for those reasons I kind of look forward to the day Smash is developed by fresh blood; it'll probably be worse, but it's necessary.

 

[Justin Allen Goldschmidt]

I'm actually quite enjoying World of Light, even when it makes me pull my hair out in rage

 

[KingBroly]

Ultimate feels empty. I like the game-play, but the lack of single player content is making the game hard to enjoy. Personally, I would've preffered stuff like a better stage builder, home run contest, a better arcade mode (the new one isn't bad, but re-running it is repetitive since it's guranteed to always be the same), and a better story mode (WoL isn't that fun, and there isn't much of story there outside of the basic premise) over some of the stuff we currently have. This is including things like characters, and stages. I can live without the likes of Pichu, Young Link, etc.... Heck, I wouldn't even mind if they removed fan favorites like Roy, Falco, and Lucas if it meant that the single player content was better.

I hope that all of the DLC characters are third-parties. Nothing that Nintendo has left is really interesting, and third-parties bring new fans to Smash that otherwise wouldn't interested in the series (like me). That's why I love Joker's inclusion. I never even played Persona, but the fact that he got in gives me hope that a few of the other third-parties I want in could make it.

The music in Ultimate is just... OK. To man remixes of the same songs, and some of the tracks are just rips. Others are just really bad.

Assist trophies are a waste of development time. One, or even two of those ATs probably could've been actual characters if Sakurai, and crew didn't waste time basically making what essentially amounts to incomplete characters (and mean seeriously, some of these ATs even have dodge animations).

Edit: Also, revealing all of the characters from the start was a bad idea. It makes unlocking stuff not feel very exciting. To be honest, they should've kept the echoes a secret that you'd unlock as a bonus surprise.

They revealed the entire roster beforehand because of the ESRB leak. Don't like it? Blame those people who wanted to be famous by leaking the images and videos for Smash 3DS.

While the amount of newcomers is small, I'm guessing the Ballot showed them that people wanted returning veterans to return moreso than anything.

Personally, I feel like doing this hampered everything else, from the lack of trophies (even for fighters), the lack of descriptions for certain characters/items on Spirits, the weird balancing issues as well as other things. That was the priority. The roster. Because of that, we see the seams coming undone unfortunately.