What do you think of the new art style?

[KetchupKaffei]

Unless more info was shared that I'm not aware of, this is actually a misconception that's been floating around. At the end of the Nintendo Direct you can see all sorts of credits and company copyrights, and indeed you can see Unreal Engine 4 being credited... But these are the credits for the Nintendo Direct as a whole, not just for Smash alone (look a bit deeper and you'll find credits for Bethesda, From Software, Fortnite and all sorts of games completely unrelated to Smash).

It's funny 'cause the exact same thing happened after the first Super Mario Odyssey trailer. Unreal Engine was somewhere in the credits for the presentation and a ton of people assumed it meant Mario was using it.

I'm pretty sure that's the unreal engine though, to be honest.
The way it looks in such detail, feels of smooth movement, the lighting in various situations, and the texturing visuals. I bet my life it's running some sort of hybrid of it.
I guessed it was running UE4 during the presentation before the credits.

No confirmation, but I'm pretty darn sure it's unreal engine 4, I have been following up on the engine itself for quite awhile now, since it was first showcased. It's one of my favorite game engines.

 

[DeltaSceptile]

I like the new design personally. From a gameplay standpoint, it looks clean and runs at a good rate. Also, the effects for Wolf's attacks seen in action look great

 

[smashingDoug]

Too bright imo.

Smash 4 looks like a game on a newer console

 

[Lyndis_]

Too bright imo.

Smash 4 looks like a game on a newer console

I have to agree with this.

It's no argument that the assets in Smash Ultimate are objectively better, but the lighting just absolutely ruins them for me.

It's so bright and there's very little lighting on the characters compared to 4, making it look less colorful and overall more flat.

Spoiler: Dedede

There's no argument here, Dedede's newer model is better. It's higher poly, has better textures and the coat especially is much more noticeably fuzzy (albeit looks kinda weird up close, that's just how it is with these kinds of effects...)

but the color is completely gone. He looks so flat in comparison to the Wii U one, it's not even funny. There's some darker colors here and there, but it's nothing compared to how vibrant Dedede is in 4. The shadows themselves are also way way lower resolution than the Wii U versions, making everything look unnecessarily pixelated.

Same exact thing here, except with Charizard.

Spoiler: Charizard

Better model and textures, way worse colors and shaders that make the textures look worse than they should. Some characters like Ridley just look like a completely flat color with highlights. Ridley is supposed to be ugly, but not like clay.

It happens on some stages aswell, like Castle Siege for example. The stage is graphically much better, and some effects do legitimately look way better such as torches, but textures get completely washed out due to bad lighting and seem completely flat with no detail, like clay or mud.

Spoiler: Castle Siege

I'm sure the lower resolution image of the Wii U version isn't really helping my case, but if you are able to zoom in you can clearly see every brick on the walls and stairs, while in Ultimate everything except the floor is completely flat and ugly.


Is this just me? Am I a crazy person? It feels like almost no one ever mentions this, and when they do, they're met with "What? It looks way better!" and I understand that if you're just looking at stages themselves from a distance, or the high poly models/textures/renders, but I can't help but feel like everything except the assets themselves just looks gross, and with everything so bright it's a lot harder for me to tell what I'm looking at while watching gameplay than I could in Smash Wii U, or even the 3DS version...

 

[Good Guy Giygas]

I have to agree with this.

It's no argument that the assets in Smash Ultimate are objectively better, but the lighting just absolutely ruins them for me.

It's so bright and there's very little lighting on the characters compared to 4, making it look less colorful and overall more flat.

Spoiler: Dedede

There's no argument here, Dedede's newer model is better. It's higher poly, has better textures and the coat especially is much more noticeably fuzzy (albeit looks kinda weird up close, that's just how it is with these kinds of effects...)

but the color is completely gone. He looks so flat in comparison to the Wii U one, it's not even funny. There's some darker colors here and there, but it's nothing compared to how vibrant Dedede is in 4. The shadows themselves are also way way lower resolution than the Wii U versions, making everything look unnecessarily pixelated.

Same exact thing here, except with Charizard.

Spoiler: Charizard

Better model and textures, way worse colors and shaders that make the textures look worse than they should. Some characters like Ridley just look like a completely flat color with highlights. Ridley is supposed to be ugly, but not like clay.

It happens on some stages aswell, like Castle Siege for example. The stage is graphically much better, and some effects do legitimately look way better such as torches, but textures get completely washed out due to bad lighting and seem completely flat with no detail, like clay or mud.

Spoiler: Castle Siege

I'm sure the lower resolution image of the Wii U version isn't really helping my case, but if you are able to zoom in you can clearly see every brick on the walls and stairs, while in Ultimate everything except the floor is completely flat and ugly.


Is this just me? Am I a crazy person? It feels like almost no one ever mentions this, and when they do, they're met with "What? It looks way better!" and I understand that if you're just looking at stages themselves from a distance, or the high poly models/textures/renders, but I can't help but feel like everything except the assets themselves just looks gross, and with everything so bright it's a lot harder for me to tell what I'm looking at while watching gameplay than I could in Smash Wii U, or even the 3DS version...

No, you're definitely not the only one who feels this way. I've been concerned about this since I saw the first trailer for the game, but like you said, it did kinda feel like I was the only one who noticed it. Yes, the models are undoubtedly much higher quality than Smash 4's, but the lighting and lack of vibrance make a lot of things look dull and lifeless. In general, I think the lighting is very inconsistent. There are some examples where it looks really nice (can't think of any off the top of my head), but there are still a lot that don't. I was watching a Gamexplain video with before and after images of all the stages, and it's so weird to see how some look really great while others are just super overexposed, washed-out, etc. It's something that I really hope gets improved before release.

 

[lucasla]

I think that it will be a case of when you see these bright graphics on your big tv in movement, you will see why it looks so much better.
Even the smoke trail that I was't a fan until some weeks ago started to grow on me.

 

[Good Guy Giygas]

I think that it will be a case of when you see these bright graphics on your big tv in movement, you will see why it looks so much better.
Even the smoke trail that I was't a fan until some weeks ago started to grow on me.

Possibly, and it's not like I said it was bad or anything, I just think there's room for some improvement. It's not like I won't buy the game because of it or anything lol. I thought Smash 4 had a really nice "look" too it, with really vibrant colors that made everything pop, especially compared to Brawl's darker, more realistic approach. If they could somehow incorporate those brighter colors and lighting with Ultimate's new higher-res models, it would look perfect IMO.

 

[hposter]

honestly, i like it
yeah, the lighting can look a bit weird sometimes but the games still in development
i'm sure they'll fix it
but i don't really care how the game looks, as long as it's good and fun to play

 

[Astroworld]

Looks much better than 4. 4 was a bit too colorful and cartoony and it ended up looking odd on some of the more realistic characters. Link looks off and Ganon straight up looks terrible. Some pretty bad textures too obviously given it’s a 4 year old WiiU game

 

[lucasla]

Honestly, it's a bit too cartoony for me. I'll take it, but I did prefer Sm4sh's artstyle.

Especially the minimalist character icons? Meh...

I dont understand how Ultimate is more cartoony than 4.

 

[Lyndis_]

I've had some people say it's to make it easier to see or look nicer on handheld, and some say the same about TV. I've watched gameplay on both but I've always felt the opposite. The darker style of the 3DS was much easier to keep track of and the more vibrant look of the Wii U version just looks nicer on a TV to me.

The constant brightness has the opposite effect on visibility for me, it's very difficult for me to keep track of what's happening in Ultimate compared to both the 3DS and Wii U versions (although I will admit the 3DS version had the advantage of the outlines, I played mostly with them off.)

My only hope is that it's just a side effect of it being unfinished, and that the game doesn't look so washed out at launch.

I feel like better shading on the characters (more subtle natural shading instead of big shadows on clay looking characters) would help it look much better, more like the Wii U version and the renders (which for some reason look much more like the Wii U version than they do Ultimate.)

 

[Mgl]

I actually really like Smash Ultimate's Style, it looks far more cohesive than Wii u witch was kind of a jumbled mess at times.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I dont understand how Ultimate is more cartoony than 4.

A lot of the effects are opaque and cel-shaded in Ultimate, versus more particle-based in Sm4sh.

Also knockback trails

 

[Beautifully Butterfully]

I have to agree with this.

It's no argument that the assets in Smash Ultimate are objectively better, but the lighting just absolutely ruins them for me.

It's so bright and there's very little lighting on the characters compared to 4, making it look less colorful and overall more flat.

Spoiler: Dedede

There's no argument here, Dedede's newer model is better. It's higher poly, has better textures and the coat especially is much more noticeably fuzzy (albeit looks kinda weird up close, that's just how it is with these kinds of effects...)

but the color is completely gone. He looks so flat in comparison to the Wii U one, it's not even funny. There's some darker colors here and there, but it's nothing compared to how vibrant Dedede is in 4. The shadows themselves are also way way lower resolution than the Wii U versions, making everything look unnecessarily pixelated.

Same exact thing here, except with Charizard.

Spoiler: Charizard

Better model and textures, way worse colors and shaders that make the textures look worse than they should. Some characters like Ridley just look like a completely flat color with highlights. Ridley is supposed to be ugly, but not like clay.

It happens on some stages aswell, like Castle Siege for example. The stage is graphically much better, and some effects do legitimately look way better such as torches, but textures get completely washed out due to bad lighting and seem completely flat with no detail, like clay or mud.

Spoiler: Castle Siege

I'm sure the lower resolution image of the Wii U version isn't really helping my case, but if you are able to zoom in you can clearly see every brick on the walls and stairs, while in Ultimate everything except the floor is completely flat and ugly.


Is this just me? Am I a crazy person? It feels like almost no one ever mentions this, and when they do, they're met with "What? It looks way better!" and I understand that if you're just looking at stages themselves from a distance, or the high poly models/textures/renders, but I can't help but feel like everything except the assets themselves just looks gross, and with everything so bright it's a lot harder for me to tell what I'm looking at while watching gameplay than I could in Smash Wii U, or even the 3DS version...

And I thought I was the only one who saw this but I guess I'm not alone on that one. The character models reminded me of the Pokemon series jump into 3D with X and Y, the models are smooth with a high poly count but the colours are washed out, extremely noticeable on older gen Pokemon and Smash Bros Charizard gave me flashbacks of that with those images.
I do think Ultimate is lacking clarity because of the colour and lighting. But it might not be the final build, who knows.

 

[lucasla]

A lot of the effects are opaque and cel-shaded in Ultimate, versus more particle-based in Sm4sh.

The scenarios and characters follows the same style Smash4 design, but I agree with you about the effects, they are more cartoonish. While I must say that I wasn't into these new colored smoke trails effects (and other particles effects), after watch so many gameplay videos, I think I really like them now.

 

[Crainy]

After seeing more gameplay videos (and there seems to have been more visual improvements since the announcement), Ultimate really does look alot better now than Smash 4 did. The lighting is so much more beautiful alot of the time, the shaders look alot better and its a joy to see everything in motion. Not even to mention stuff like much improved model and texture quality.

 

[hposter]

After seeing more gameplay videos (and there seems to have been more visual improvements since the announcement), Ultimate really does look alot better now than Smash 4 did. The lighting is so much more beautiful alot of the time, the shaders look alot better and its a joy to see everything in motion. Not even to mention stuff like much improved model and texture quality.

yeah
if you look at photos from pages of new fighters like richter's or chrom's, the game looks a lot better