Smash Ultimate: A CRITICAL Retrospective 

Video sources, since there wasn't enough space for them in the description: Misc. - Nintendo Switch Announcement Trailer (via Gamespot): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iS-1tDfLxRQ.html Misc. - TGA 2018 Joker Reveal, Crowd Reaction (QuestionKid): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-P1Gb9rCgO1w.html Misc. - Sans Mii Costume Reveal, Nintendo NY Store Crowd Reaction (KirbyGCN17): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gmau-gRMr_U.html Super Smash Bros. (64) - Dino (Captain Falcon) vs. Combo Blaze (Donkey Kong) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-C0s4R3p3Rcc.html Super Smash Bros. (64) - Foca (Link) vs. Killer (Kirby) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-S1fmoxm5u-4.html Super Smash Bros. (64) - Isai (Pikachu) vs. SuperBoomFan (Kirby) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KXZq-uXBgPQ.html Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Vex Kasrani (Dedede) va. ADHD (Diddy Kong (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YYMc4KGnySs.html Super Smash Bros. for 3DS - Smash Run (Greenalink): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MZc0GTlZurY.html Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U - Bayonetta Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3Tv3w1V5_Mg.html Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U - Mega Man Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aX2KNyaoNV4.html Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U - Mii Fighters Reveal Trailer (via Eurogamer): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YdDYoCU2kv0.html Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U - Palutena Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xqTW13AYniY.html Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U - Ryu Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1kalsCPXfaQ.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Acola (Steve) vs. Riddles (Kazuya) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-e4yIvqQT10Y.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Anathema (R.O.B.) vs. Jahzz0 (Ken) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ybN3vBW8rEo.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Announcement Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-w3Gt42kVgCw.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - August 2018 Smash Direct (via Gamespot Trailers): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-l6eEZhYt1jg.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - “Available Now” Trailer (Nintendo of America): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hkTzHcHTcME.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Banjo & Kazooie Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qyJ4djjQOr0.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Byleth Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6fwAk1P8TLU.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Chrom Mini-Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-733o521fbdE.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - DDee (Steve) vs. ChunkyKong (Donkey Kong) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3nukHlUd64M.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Deathspade (Sora) vs. Riddles (Terry) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-smksuT23vT4.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Doramigi (Min Min) vs. Zomba (R.O.B.) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-44Dq2LdjrPo.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - E3 2018 Nintendo Direct Segment (Nintendo of America): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-L93H7YC-83o.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Esam (Pikachu) vs. Cosmos (Inkling) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XlCc_VXmh8I.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - “Everyone is Here” Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EXnbMp1yr1k.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Isabelle Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ijp5FeOE_Yw.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Joker Gameplay Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-W4PG9qx9x2s.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Joker “Take Your Heart” Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q7z1Ny1kc6g.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Ken & Incineroar Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cpuBNp27jVw.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - KEN (Sephiroth) vs. Abadango (Meta Knight) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3Je1o9O2snE.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - King K. Rool Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0-gfC1upmoA.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Min Min Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dKR_w6C5A5k.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Miya (Mr. Game & Watch) vs. Kurama (Mario) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hc3R9-ueh3k.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - MKLeo (Samus) vs. Sonix (Sonic) (MaisterGnW): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PdfCf7oM1g8.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - MKLeo vs. Sparg0 Squad Strike (Beyond the Summit - Smash): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-doM_AkwFmBk.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - November 2018 Smash Direct (Nintendo of America): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fccgHnBQ0YM.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Peli (Dedede) vs. SuperStriker (Sonic) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DN9GTZL6els.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Piranha Plant Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AEbRPCXGvh4.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Pyra & Mythra Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sdgdxaIkU5g.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Ridley Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-T-v88jEmkYM.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Sakurai Presents Kazuya (Nintendo of America): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iMy8Ah4eQ8g.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Sakurai Presents Steve (Nintendo of America): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_Sp5o1JJdDk.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Sephiroth Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JPxcE1dMqL8.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Shuton (Pyra & Mythra) vs. Bernie (Link) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-krh3d5Uip-g.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Simon & Richter Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3VrbkoWUyIg.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Skar (Cloud) vs. Ned (Sephiroth) (VGBootCamp): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sMSbhMyRsqQ.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Sora Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-82Q2XTJ8jWk.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Steve Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-90Jve_qWnpc.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Terry Reveal Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lvT-b5y9tsE.html Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Wolf Mini-Trailer (Smash Bros. Official Channel): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YLG2LGY95f4.html

I think Sakurai really just wanted to get everyone back. He said it was the dev team’s #1 goal. Whether you think it was necessary or not, it was something you can respect. This was his last thing for Iwata, his best friend. He earned the right to decide, along with his team, to bring everyone back. Did it affect other things in Ultimate? Sure. But they had a goal and they achieved it.

18:35 "wanting a character in smash to play as them has come second to wanting them in just to say they were on the roster" I'm very glad someone else sees this, as i've been saying this since smash wii u/3ds DLC. i swear 90% of character requests have always been followed by "because we're missing that representation" rather than "that character would have an awesome moveset"

“everyone is here” was Sakurai’s idea, not Nintendo

I disagree with the take about newer fighters being too complex. I don't think a newer player needs to know the ins and outs of a characters mechanics to have fun with them. Like the Sephiroth example u used. A casual doesn't have to know all that, they probably just have fun with him regardless. "Oh cool, he's stronger now."

I know for a fact it was Sakurai himself who pushed so hard for "Everyone Is Here!". He said as much on his YT channel, where he clarified that there were only 7 characters from older Smash games not in SSB4, so he just decided to go all the way. Also props for calling out Smash speculation. Don't expect them to learn though, no one on the internet learns anything

I don’t think the old characters not getting a new moveset wasn’t due to time. I think it’s due to Sakurai not wanting to change the movesets due to how fans have gotten adjusted to the moveset. I remember him stating in an interview that he didn’t want to change I believe it was Dr Mario said they kept him the same since he knew players preferred doctor Mario’s distinct moveset. So I think the reason most veterans don’t have new movesets is just cause Sakurai is afraid of alienating old fans

I don't really understand your "Newcomers are becoming too complex" argument, especially since we not only have enough simple characters in a huge roster, but also some of the "complex" characters aren't even difficult to pick up due to having a good baseline that follows the fundamentals of Smash's design well, with the exceptions being few and far between, possibly for the sake of variety in its roster.

The complexity of newcomers is overstated. The formula and buffs for Seph wing is not needed unless you are playing competitively. From a casual side: Joker: Fill Bar get strong Hero: Mana, sure it is complex but mana is a general gaming term so people should have a grasp of it Banjo: No gimmick, I guess you can only side-b 5 times Terry: Command Inputs, GO meter, and Back Special. I give this one to you because his GO moves can't be normal input. But his other inputs can just be obtained with normal directional specials. Byleth: No Gimmick Min Min: No Gimmick, just pushes design balance to its limit Steve: I elect not to comment this is the both the most complex and simple character in the game. Seph: Wing, you take damage and get a buff to all your stats, like limit. And a third jump, the conditions to lose it are not needed to understand the character. Agies: Character switch, which is just "hit down b" Kazuya: Terry but much worse Sora: A bit weird having three hit moves with optional continuations but otherwise is normal enough. The only "complex" characters are the FGC characters, and Steve.

Mario has a long history but he seems like he was designed to ONLY be a starter character, rather than, you know, a Mario character.

Still can't believe it's been 5 years now. Damn time flies... Five years since we'd finally gotten Ridley and King K. Rool. Slightly less then five years since Banjo. And two years since Sora. Arguably four of the most requested characters fans had demanded. It's still crazy to think this game actually exists.

The fact that Sonic STILL doesn’t have any new remixes since Brawl still bothers me to this day.

I completely agree with all the points here. The fact we don’t have a standard All Star or Boss Battles mode is absurd, and World of Light is just Spirit Board with extra steps. With the design of newcomer movesets, sometimes it feels like they come up with a gimmick to make a moveset around first rather than choosing the character to use. Having these super unique concepts makes the 64 and Melee veterans feel extremely archaic. I can still see people argue about what characters are worthy to join even though there’s no more dlc happening. Bandana Dee is a topic of violent arguments seemingly every other month, with people calling him a “goomba with a hat,” despite him being the Kirby series’ Luigi as of Forgotten Land and the fact that we have a generic Mario enemy on the roster already.

Just a note: I recall Sakurai himself saying on his channel that "Everyone is Here" is never going to happen again for the reasons listed here. Just thought that was worth pointing out.

My only complaint is that they don't put descriptions in the spirits just like they did with the trophies gallery from previous games. And I wish we got to see spirits of all the fighters' final smashes (example: King K. Rool's Blast-o-Matic where we see the laser beam and DK Island explosion)

I agree strongly about the toxicity in Smash speculation. In fact, I have a recent story on the subject: I’m subscribed to a fighting game RU-vidr who just a few days ago released a video that details a scenario of how he would cut half of Ultimate’s roster and replace all of them with newcomers. The only major rule was that new Nintendo characters, Echo Fighters, guest characters, and Echo guest characters can only be replacements for those categories. I usually respect this guy’s reasoning, but in this case I thought some of his choices on all ends were baffling. Keeping TEN of the eighteen guest characters, some of which were explicitly to keep their fans happy, but dropping several characters like Diddy Kong, Yoshi, and Olimar on the basis that they just aren’t as popular as characters, and several replacements that either felt like appeasing long-time requests (like Geno and Skull Kid) or didn’t into consideration the cuts he made (adding in Dixie Kong and the Pikmin Rescue Corp when he took out Diddy and Olimar). I don’t hold much contempt against him for his picks, since he said he considers the video a thought experiment more than actual speculation, but when I commented about the weirdness of the choices made, I got a handful of replies that I thought were evidently intoxicated with the hype factor. Stuff that downplayed the importance of some of the characters he cut, or attempted to justify adding more guest characters. These comments were met with pushback of course, but it’s evident that people are still expecting the next game to go bigger and better, which really doesn’t bode well for the future.

One thing that I feel also came with the "Everyone is here" objective and DLC overflowing with hype is a classic curse: Jumping the shark. Smash may perpetually be on everyone's radars, but it's impossible to make the next game as exciting as this one. The roster size is unsustainable, we already have a ton of the big picks in Ultimate, hype already spiraled to a point where the community began infighting, and the precedent Ultimate set for Smash as a series means that people are going to be upset if the next game has less instead of more. The next game needs to dial back, but doing so would damage the playerbase both directly and from the collateral of the upset hype beasts.

I think when it comes to hype and speculation, you can’t really expect Nintendo and Sakurai to ask people to lower their expectations. They want to surprise people. Even when they made specifics of what’s going to be presented from them, some people still overreact or speculate too much thinking that Nintendo and Sakurai would troll them. Sakurai likes to tease or make jokes, but he’s not one to intentionally mislead fans. In the end, it’s on us to hype responsibly. We should have some common sense.

I think the problem with more complex fighter design is less the mechanics themselves and more the mismatch. I think it’s ok for some fighters to be more complex than others, but there’s a certain point where the gap between someone like Hero vs DK is too much. We don’t need every fighter to have Command Menu-levels of complexity, but the Ultimate DLC in particular make it very obvious who’s been here since the N64 and Gamecube days. Also, of all examples of complex characters, you chose Sephiroth, who’s One-Winged mode is only slightly more complex than Lucario’s aura. The casual player doesn’t need to know every under the hood detail to enjoy it, they just need to know that Sephiroth sometimes gets stronger when he falls behind.

Okay, time to rant. That last bit at 14:35, RIGHT THERE. That's what left a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to Ultimate and Smash to an extent. The community and everyone in it were so hyper focused on wanting their characters, and ONLY their characters, that anyone they don't know or like gets lambasted to hell and back. They even have the nerve to gatekeep other people's characters saying they're "safe" or "predictable", when they beg for the same ones over and over again. As someone who supports 1st party picks, underdog choices, and lesser known stars, this hurts. I became reluctant to even share my wishlist to anyone that isn't a close friend of mine, because God forbid I share it with fanbase and not get expected to get chewed out with comments like "Where's X?" "Where's MY characters", when I'm not even interested in them in the first place. Also, "Who wanted this? Nobody asked for this!", like they represent the community as a whole; comments like these are the reason why it's considered spoiled in the first place. Don't even get me started with the fact they're never satisfied. Six of the characters were fan demanded, yet to THIS DAY they still lose it over at a handful they don't even play, much less like that take up a small fraction. Y'all know who I'm talking about, the Aegis and the FE reps. Gotten so nasty, the Smash community kept picking fights with the FE community, and eventually the Xenoblade community as well. Hell, I remember when before Byleth was ever revealed, Nintendo sent out a tweet promoting Three Houses. The comments were filled with Smash fans going berserk, screaming at Nintendo not to add Byleth in Smash. (So much for that.) Fast forward to now, it's at the point where they seemingly don't want Nintendo characters in the game anymore, with the exception of Waluigi, Geno, Bandana Dee, etc. Just strictly 3rd party picks. They want Smash to become a Mugen game. Long story short: The speculation scene really taken a toll on Smash Bros. The community slowly gotten greedy to the point it became unenjoyable. All the more reason why I'm dreading the next Smash game, no matter what form it takes. If you're reading this, lemme drop you a tip: You're allowed to ask for any character to be in Smash; just don't be an ass to anyone who wants someone different from you. I'll keeping repeating myself if I have to. OKAY!! Rant over!!! (Had a lot of pent up energy making this. Sorry about that.)

We're at the Old Married Couple phase.

Tbf, you have to go online to learn literally ANY character, thats just how fighting games are, you need to use the collective knowledge of the community to learn the intricacies of whatever you want to main. Hell thats like, every game ever rn, idk if you can hold it against anything cause theres no real solution to it, you cant list every lil detail of the characters and their frame data and all that in the game itself. That would be worse it would confuse them more and its always subject to change every update

The hype cycle culture was so obnoxious and toxic 😭Not to mention people were far too ready to shit on other people for just being happy when their favourite characters got in. Fire Emblem and Xenoblade fans were fighting a war I tell you.

Ultimate spoiled us to an unhealthy degree. A game so hyped up that its marketing overshadowed the actual game. I remember around 2020/2021 it felt like you couldn't go anywhere without seeing someone talk about who next for snash. You'd see "X character for smash" in basically every gaming showcase, whether it was relivent to smash or not. Everyone hyping up the next smash reveal, hoping it will be bigger and hyper than the last one. The vocal voices of every characters fanbase constantly explaining why there character NEEDS to be in the game. How they would right some wrong of smash while downplaying other characters to prop their character up. Expectations blouted to such an unhealthy degree that if you dared to want something other than the top most wanted characters at the time, you were basically shamed by the loud minority. I honestly wonder how Ultimate will be seen in a decade. Will it still be seen with these rose tinted glasses because of the marketing. Or will it be seen more negatively as the same as the last few smash games. The series future is stuck between a rock and a hard place going forward. Speculation is in a limbo between wanting Ultimate to get updated forever, and everyone is here becoming the norm. (Which is unhealthy) Or the other extreme, which is breaking the series down and rebooting the roster. (Which some people take too far) Well, at least now people over the honeymoon faze and are more open about the flaws of Ultimate.

I agree with thinking the next Smash game should be a reboot of some kind (be it soft or otherwise). The constant "hype train" of Ultimate was exhausting, and I personally was let down by the focus of 3rd party characters in the DLC. (For a while I had hoped they would've done 1 last fighters pass with just exclusively 1st party, and was disappointed they never did.) However, I don't think Nintendo could really top the mass hysteria this game brought, so I ask why should they? Personally, instead of focusing on newcomers, I hope that a new entry will instead focus on revamping the moveset of older characters, especially those from 64 and Melee. Edit: And don't even get me started on the lack of content outside of basic battling, or trophies.

Ganondorf has bothered me in the more recent games. I only know who he is because of Smash (I wasn’t into Zelda at the time) so I always thought Warlock Punch was an ability he had in at least one of the Zelda titles.

While I agree with nearly all of your points, I would never by any stretch of the imagination say they went too far with the faithfulness and creativity of the later characters. The entire reason I and many others play the game is to play as vastly different characters from a multitude of series showing off what makes them and the series they come from unique. Movesets of certain characters alone have drawn me to their games and series, and their many quirks and touches keep me playing them in SSBU. While I definitely agree that the balance patches really should have been handled better as certain characters traits make them too powerful or frustrating to fight against, this game was designed to be a fun crossover platform fighter that draws people in with characters and series that they know. Having the characters feel as close to their source material as possible is why I want to see them in smash in the first place. Sonic and Ganondorf and miserable in this game because they hardly feel like the characters they're meant to be.

I'm still amazed they didn't add any new Kirby and TLOZ characters since Brawl

If Ultimate gets a Switch 2 Port, I want special orders to return with roguelike mechanics.

I'm still confused by the Grinch leak all these years later.

I mean... The only thing I'll say about the boss rush mode. They technically provided that with Sephiroths Classic mode

The Sephiroth wing is just a buffed rage mechanic, a mechanic tgat is purposefully obtuse so that casuals can do cool things without understanding it. If you want to play in competitions you have to learn all that stuff but for new players they'll just be stronger for a bit and probably not question it. I agree a lot of the newcomers are over complicated, but the example you chose doesn't make much sense.

It is a shame how Great Fray Smash Brothers Special ended up having so many problems by the end despite its OVERWHELMINGLY success both critically. Also disappointing how fast the game wrapped up its balance patches after Sora's official launch, and I mean EXTREMELY fast. Now, this is just me, but, personally, I don't think bringing back every pre-Special veteran fighter was inherently the issue why the game lacked so many side content at launch both new, and old, as well as having only a half-dozen non-clone newcomers at launch compared to Deluxe's 8 newcomers, and 8 clone newcomers, and balance patches being inconsistent, but rather, all of that was done in such an extremely short amount of time that Sakurai, and his team had hardly enough time to address any of these problems, and even then it still didn't help them much even over 3 years later after the final update. The infamous pandemic only compounded said problems even further. Had Special been revealed at E3 like before, and was released say around maybe Winter 2019, or even Q1 2020 (that, and the pandemic didn't happen), I think it could've given the Smash devs a LOT more time to focus on content that could be available at launch, along with more newcomers for the base roster, AND more opportunities to update veteran movesets that GREATLY need overhauls, not to mention more balance patches to try, and even out characters that have become either too buffed, or too nerfed. But, as is, the game's stuck in this very weird, unfocused, purgatory mess, and it'd be such a damn shame to just see all of the potential that Special could've had if things gone differently go to waste. And while I think a port of the game is unfortunately mostly impractical mainly for all the licensing agreements (looking at you, Square Enix, and your stinginess of licensing agreements), I do still hope it can still get a second chance of some kind before Smash 6/7 truly begins. Regardless of what Smash's future awaits, another solid video, Delzethin! 😄 Maybe you could actually make a future Smash video on how Special could be ported over to Nintendo's next gen console, or any other way the game could be given another opportunity to truly be something, well, SPECIAL, and not just for roster history! (Oh, yeah, and the Smash community had been SUPER toxic throughout Special's DLC, it was beyond absurd.)

I’m gonna be honest, I want a majority of the characters in ultimate to be cut for the next game, like over half, with minimal 3rd parties, so that the next smash game can focus on having good mechanics, great character design and balance, and making a game that people can love outside of the characters inside it.

As someone who hasn’t played a smash game or any real video games, seeing all these comments on this video almost feels like I popped a bubble that not a lot of people popped. From talking about the toxicity of the speculation to people wanting less 3rd party characters and more reworks on old ones it feels like I watching someone talk about why they don’t enjoy a toy as much as they used to. It almost feels like these people grown up from ultimate hype era and want improvements more so than 3rd party characters. That being said this is coming from someone who isn’t a big smash fan. I just wanted to give my perspective on the comments on this video. (Which I hope no one takes something I said from this comment the wrong way)

Lack of extra game modes killed the game early for me, my sister and I was big fans of boss rush and the All-Star Mode of 4, before that was Brawl gaving us a Adventure Mode that we enjoyed because it was a neat story mode involving all the characters interacting with each other, I also miss the smash 64's Race to the Finish, Target smash, and Board the Platforms during classic runs.

I'm glad the fandom was called out. When i called the Smash fandom toxic back then, they brushed me off like i was crazy. Look where we are now, threatening others or berating eachother because they wanted Waluigi or Bandana Dee.

I can't be the only one who wishes Custom Moves were brought back and gets to used them to fight gamers around the world. Along with custom final smashes

Sakurai has a problem with nostalgia that he doesn't want to alienate the fans by changing the movesets of the characters that people has gotten used to it, but also unaware that repetitiveness is also alienating that most fans in general wants the old characters to be revamped like Ganondorf like his true source material in his games instead of a clone of Captain Falcon. It's better for his mind to take a sacrifice of that so the characters don't get stale over and over instead of being the same in a different coat of paint. The better question.. who are these fans who want to keep the old moveset? The competitive or casual fans? If your answer is both, which is worse than the other?

Nothing has damaged the perception of smash more than people viewing it as a "celebration of gaming history" which isnt even remotely true

People who say Ultimate cannot be topped clearly do not care about the critical quality in all aspects of the game.

Honestly I think the Spirits was a good idea… on paper.

I also got burnt out by Smash speculation. It was annoying seeing everyone insist on guest characters being the only ones that mattered. I was glad to see who I wanted get in, but I have a lot of bad memories from this community

Smash fans when a new popular character gets in and NOT some side character of a Mario Game that hasn’t been relevant in over 20 years. Jokes aside, even if they tried to be “realistic” the kinds of characters most of the bad Smash fans would speculate would still be somewhat insane to think. Some of the time it wouldn’t even be from a game they actually played, but GOD FORBID Byleth gets in despite the fact that Three Houses is widely regarded as one of the better Fire Emblem games in the franchise, and one of the better Strategy games to come out in recent years. But no, let’s add Geno, that side character from a Mario game that 50-70% of the people requesting for him have never even played. (I mean the original, because the remake came out when the DLC waves were over already.) I was still in High School when Byleth was revealed and I was still in the middle of the third playthrough (Silver Snow, after Verdant Wind, and Azure Moon respectively for my first two playthroughs) and all I got to see was MOST of my friends just trash on Fire Emblem as a whole (even though there’s a high chance Alear would be likely to join Smash, should they reveal a new game). It really sucked to see tbh. But I have noticed and am glad that MOST of them have mellowed out in the last year or so. Me, I just wanted 2B since NieR: Automata is one of my favorite games ever.

About the hype: At some point I became tired of smash reveals. I followed the hype cycle of Smash 4 and Ultimate both to the very end. The hype cycle of smash 4 ended with Bayonetta in December 2015, but then about a little more than 2 years later we got into the hype cycle for Smash Ultimate which only ended in 2021. Because of how close the hype cycles were, I eventually became tired of the reveals. I was looking forward to it ending. The last reveal I was hype for was Sephiroth, and it's honestly my favorite reveal. I'm a big fan of Xenoblade 2, Pyra is my favorite character from that game and I really like Mythra too yet their inclusion did not excite me. I was genuinely just out of it. I hope we don't get a new smash for a long time. Release it in like 2030

Oh my god, thank you for calling out the roster hype culture! I felt like I was going crazy seeing how toxic people were during Fighter Pass 2. People would constantly harp on about “deserving a spot” on the roster, and outright celebrate the (supposed) deconfirmation of popular characters that weren’t their personal favorites. Even after Sora’s reveal, the LAST character, it felt like the fans who were really happy with him were drowned out by those who just wanted to mock people whose favorites weren’t chosen. It was just tribalism for the sake of having someone to put down. I only hope that next time fans remember that characters are put in the game to be played with, not as a measure of who’s famous enough to be “worthy.”

In my personal opinion, both Smash and the Star Wars fan communities are to me the worst examples of fan communities I’ve ever seen. It’s like no matter what you show off to those fandoms even if it’s a good product, you will never satisfy them no matter what.

I wasn't there for the initial reveal of the DLC fighters for Byleth through to the end as I was off the internet for a time. It's so sad to hear that the fanbase allowed themselves to get so destructive.

People wanted Lycanroc in Smash? Where? Genuinely curious.

>Ryu had a novel gimmick >Ken is understandable, can actually have a SF2 match 1:1 >Terry was just right >Kazuya oversaturated the gimmick Funny how in only two games Sakurai ran the fighting game character gimmick into the ground but he never tried another Ice Climbers tag team. Kat & Ana, Plusle & Minun were perfect candidates during Brawl's development cycle. Also Sakurai never re-explored Diddy & Dixie partner mechanic and yes I’m aware of Rosalina & Luma and Duck Hunt in a sense.

I will agree that the Smash Community is pretty toxic when wanting new Characters & yea, Too Much Hype can lead to a massive disaster in begging for this and that or etc. Also I do agree that the lack of Game modes in ultimate are kinda disappointing :(. like Break The Target, Smash 64 Race, Smash Run, All Star Mode, Boss Rush, Subspace Emissary, & others. Thankfully tho I actually Manged to find a way to play Boss Rush in Ultimate without forcing to play as only sephiroth. (P.S) With Ultimate Possibly being the last smash game to have all of these characters here, I don’t feel like waiting to see & hope they make a Subspace Emissary 2. So I’m just writing my own big story. All the Brawl Veterans (Including Myself) Knows The Best Part of Brawl. But Overall This Video has some valid Points that completely Nails on the Issue with this game now & How a Soft Reboot for the next big smash game is needed for the fans to not be so overly Dramatic with all the reveals & characters in this game, Threatening others over a certain character that got in & etc.

It's true that there are characters I wanna see in smash that are still absent. But I'll be honest: I absolutely LOVE the hype train. Smash ultimate's reveal trailers are some of the best in the industry. And it's sick seeing how they're implemented in game (even though playing against them can be bs). Accepting before hand that I won't get everything I want is very helpful in letting me just enjoy what's there

Clean retrospective man. You adressed very important issues with the game, atleast from my perspective, the perspective of a viewer of both casual and competitive play. As someone who couldnt afford a switch, I was in the reveals just to discover who Nintendo decided to bring in, and to see how they played in smash, wishing I could one day get the console and game. I wouldnt say I was a part of the hype beasts, but damz they made it hard for people who geniuenly cared about their characters, as you said.

While most wanted the wildest 3rd party characters possible, I just wanted to play as Slyveon. Yes, seeing Sora get in was amazing, but that amazement died quickly. I don't understand the preference for hype characters, I prefer my favorites, and I don't care if others find them boring. And when I didn't get a cute Pokémon, I wasn't upset. I'm happy for fans of those series who got their dream DLC. I'm not one for speculation, there's no point for me. What happens, happens. I can only make it known what I want, I have little power outside of that. But that's okay.

Sucks that ultimate is the game with the coolest characters but like, the most unsatisfying gameplay out of all of them. When you look at online or tournament footage it looks like the players are fighting the game more than each other.

Wouldn't surprise me if Smash Bros has sort of a "NatDex" moment in the future, where the next game is gonna cut some fighters, and people who thought ultimate's "Everyone is Here" idea would be the new standard going forward are gonna be pretty upset.

Point 2 is one I think not enough people make. Recent characters started to not feel like smash characters anymore. It started with 4’s DLC. Every character became a gimmick character. It became unfun to play against them. Edit: oh, and with the fighting game characters, it made it feel like when playing as or against them, you weren’t playing smash. You were playing street fighter, or king of fighters, or tekken. It’s a self-destroying design choice, in my opinion

There's a lot to be said about Ultimate's Pros. But in recent years, there's more to be said about it's Cons. And I don't think there were a lot of things I disagreed with you on in this 'Essay', Del. Smash holds a special place in my heart, and I truly enjoyed the ride that it was. Sure, I didn't get Shovel Knight, but at least I got Byleth, Sephiroth, and the Aegis. (The first three I may or may not have overreacted). But, at the core of it, I'm more of a bystander when it comes to Smash and its hype-cycles. I could dream up the 'Truly Perfect/Truly Ultimate' experience all I want, but no single Smash game will ever be perfect. Maybe the next game, whatever that looks like (Refer to my comment on Del's previous video on that subject for my thoughts on that), will do more to keep expectations subverted if possible, whilst still being a satisfying experience for fans of all types.

I really love Ultimate, even if I don't play it too often nowadays. It's truly an achievement for the ages and has a lot of fun stuff going for it. However, it's not immune to flaws and I definitely think all these years later, another year in the oven wouldn't have hurt. The single player feels lacking, the online is Nintendo online and there are a lot of little pet peeves all over the place. Honestly, it also just kinda felt like a numbers and size game at some point. We need these big names and anyone else, even Nintendo characters in the Nintendo game are off limits. Like I'll only semi defend Byleth since another Fighters Pass was already announced but still not a smart move to end a 3rd party centric Pass with a first party character. But lambasting Min Min and Pythra purely because they're Nintendo characters is pretty dumb to me. I feel like the idea of "Video Game Hall of Fame" is somewhat accurate but at it's core I feel like it's also just these wacky characters bashing their heads together to see who wins. As long the character isn't some literal nobody like Tatanga from Mario Land 1, they should get a fair shot especially if they have cool and unique moveset potential cause past all the hype, the moves are everything. Just my thoughts.

You hit the nail on the head with part 3. I think the two things that hurt Smash speculation the most were the community at large focusing on the “need” to be surprising and players (and eventually Sakurai) touting the game as the ultimate celebration of gaming. On the surprises front, major characters from long-running Nintendo series were deemed as “boring” picks in comparison to those who would be “shocking” even if they felt out of place. Which is fun in the moment, but a surprising pick does not a better roster make. Like, suppose tmrw Nintendo announced one true final DLC character for Ultimate, and it was, idk, Goku or something. Like, wow, that’d be pretty surprising, it breaks the one major assumed “rule” in Smash speculation, which is exciting in its own way. But five years from tomorrow, would the roster really be better, compared to other characters who would make it feel more complete first? While I hold this opinion on quite a few of Ultimate’s DLC picks, I’m explicitly not naming names to avoid causing the kinds of arguments we should leave behind in that era. As for the celebration in gaming part, it made people look at a character or series being added to Smash as this “great honor that MY favorite series gets, therefore validating MY tastes in gaming!” Or at least, that’s a trap I personally fell into for a bit, admittedly. But like, for a “celebration of gaming,” there is a very noticeable lack of Western-developed representation, as well as non-Japanese Eastern countries, despite many popular genres being born or codified in those regions. Not to mention there being barely anything from the indie scene despite that being where a lot of modern gaming’s remaining goodwill and creativity comes from. And even if it was a (more) complete celebration of gaming, your favorite series not being part of it doesn’t make it any less valuable (though again this point may just be me talking to myself here)

god i hate the hype obsession this game brought

One thing you don't mention is how in all past games Sakurai worked himself to the bone to make sure the games were full of content and optimized. This was the first game where he let the team behind him build the game mostly. That within itself could explain a lot of what you're talking about here.

The hype cycle around smash ultimate was really toxic , not just for competitive but mostly for speculation, and consider, not just for competitive but mostly for speculation, and considering that I've been around since smash the speculation era for ultimate, Let me tell you it really gets on my nerves and something I really wish never happens again

If a deluxe version of Smash Bros Ultimate comes to the Switch 2, i hope Smash Run returns! In my opinion Smash Run was the best mini-game in Smash 4! And lastly, i also really hope custom moves returns ( and not just the base fighter roster but also the DLC fighters too! )

Can confirm that being a fan of discomfirmed/unlikely characters was pretty awful during the whole figher pass thing.

Hot Take - Assist Trophies not getting promoted in the same game is a huge missed opportunity altogether, I'd rather not have them at all they’re glorified items which not everybody likes to play with. Not to mention they made half a moveset for Zero, Krystal and Knuckles just to make them glorified items smh, while half assed movesets like Isabelle's got to see the light of the day. Same with Daisy, Dark Samus and Richter being lazy echoes. Also Min Min and Pythra being former Base Game PNGs and getting the Promotion.

Really enjoyed the video and I agree with most of it, especially the discussion about the community and the speculation about DLC! One point I disagree with though is the "problem" of casual players not being able to understand the new characters mechanics with your example of Sephiroth. I would argue that casual players don't need to understand the exact mechanics of when Sephiroth's wing activates, thats not why they play the game. I do understand it with characters like Kazuya and Terry with their inputs to an extent, but even then casuals can still mess around with those characters and have fun with them, especially Kazuya who has a lot of strong smash attacks. So I don't personally think that the more complex DLC characters would exclude casual players from enjoying them.

This is the most mature critic video on smash ultimate i have ever watched, as Extreme passion fan myself for this game, you have done wonderful job 😊😊

I am noticing more people pointing out the lack of modes in Ultimate. Upon picking it up in 2019, I saw how there isn't much to do beyond basic fighting. Your theory of "Everyone is Here" taking a toll on the content is viable. I'd like to see the return of Trophies, Smash Run, and Event Matches in the next game. The character movesets is an interesting topic. On my end, I don't see the older fighters as washed-up or archaic; I find it rather amusing how there were liberties taken to stylize them for Smash. With Ultimate's newcomers, though, a good chunk of the DLC have bizarre mechanics and higher skill ceilings; Steve in particular is hard for me to enjoy. Not a deal breaker, however. As for the toxicity of the fandom? Yes, I concur. Speculation for who would join the battle became less fun as time passed. Granted, Smash 4 -- my favorite game -- had some rocky moments near the end of its DLC, but the community didn't get overwhelmingly toxic. These days, there are endless arguments from folks about "stolen roster spots" or too much JRPG reps. It's no fun. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is by no means a bad game. I have sunk numerous hours into it and even still have loads of fun playing it. I just wish that it offered a little more meat on the bone with side modes and toned down a bit with the hype marketing. Still, it is my second favorite game in the series. Nice coverage.

The ULTIMATE problem is that we still never got playable Nintendogs. I cried when Sora showed up in the final announcement trailer instead of a cute little puppy.

I am also hoping for a low key smash 6, one that focuses on improving the movements of older characters, learning from the issues of ult and ideally toning down how many comeback mechanics there are. My mains are probably safe, but I'm not particularly attached to any specific character, as long as they make them fun to me, I'll give them a shot, it just sucks how many of the newer fighters feel a bit overdesigned in a sense

The Echo Fighter concept is a cool idea in my opinion that I wish was explored more. I thought of this idea for a new fighter type: Bond Fighter (classified by ρ, letter of correlation). Hailing from the same game as their base fighter rather than just the same series, newcomers or veterans that are linked to said base fighter by some means (enemy, friend, ally, etc.) qualify as Bond Fighters. (eg. Skull Kid as 22ρ, Ranulf as 32ρ, etc.) Doesn't apply towards everyone, as characters like Fox or Falco can have their own bond fighters despite Falco being a semi-clone. Since Bond Fighters are diverse in playstyle for the most part, characters like Lucina and Chrom can qualify too by being re-worked with a moveset designed from Awakening, thus 56ρ. Simon and Richter would work too, amaligated into one and allowing a new Bond Fighter; Alucard as 66ρ (who was planned initially to be playable). More room for fighters without cutting the roster too much.

This is just my take, personally, but I think Spirits as a whole were at best a harmless time waster, and at worst a case of the Smash development team tripling down on a concept that not many people were fond of from the beginning. Ever since Brawl, the idea of adjusting a character's attributes was an interesting one, but it's just not one that was ever anything more than a curiosity that screamed 'this is for casual players'. They tried it again in Smash 4, and while there were some neat ideas at play like custom specials, it still felt like something that wasn't ever going to be part of the core experience. Seeing it crop up for the third time, and seeing how it's now tied to what is basically the only single-player content of note, makes me feel that this is a gimmick that has long overstayed its welcome, because that's exactly what Spirits and its predecessors are: a gimmick, and one that just hasn't stuck the landing.

Still really weird how Porky got completely ignored despite him being a BIG villain in the Earthbound series. Like his city is in the game, hes kinda in one of those stages but barely, but he doesn't have a spirit or any acknowledgement. I always here people say the Capsule is why but I feel its a weak excuse considering the crafting recipe doesn't include any references to the villain and even now we don't have a spirit for the character. He's one of the most notable characters I'd argue smash forgot. I still remember thinking he'd be a fighter cause of it but nope.

Very strong points. I was especially hoping Nintendo would roll out a balance patch with these new spirit events but sadly not. Also reminds me of the Post-Byleth reveal fiasco and how cancerous it was trying to be on social media for a good while till Min Min, even now I see people complaining. Hopefully Smash 6 handles these issues better, I need some moveset revamps bad

The situations that you have addressed hit the nail in the coffin. Too much hype results in untold destruction! Which is why the smash franchise needs to reboot!

I do agree with all the problems listed here. While i like ultimate, it's problems were definitely major because of trying to have everyone is here. Even agree with people hyping up dlc characters to such an extreme degree. I was actually shock with how negative the reaction to pyra and mythra were given, since i thought most people wanted a 2nd, or i guess in this case 2nd and 3rd, xenoblade rep.

I'm extremely excited for this. Thank you.

The fans hyping up to a toxic level is so true, really as a fire emblem fan one of the biggest enemies of the fandom (besides another FE Fan) is a Smash fan, because a lot of them hate FE in a very toxic way, treu the game representation is very limited but they overact a lot

One thing I was always disappointed with were Spirits. Im fine with the fact they're all PNG's, but the effects is what I found disappointing. The effects they grant are either temporary or barely noticable. Its cool some will let you start giant or metal, but those effects dont last long. if you want those effects permanent, you go to Special mode but it has the same stuff from the last game; it doesnt let you mix and match any of the spirits effects. On top of that, Spirits have attack and Defense values which is good for SPIRIT Battles, but not casual play with friends as some of just objectively better. I would've loved to have goofy fights of one player being GIANT and METAL, vs a player thats tiny but with Metal/giant slayer. But nope. The ATK/DEF values actually prevent that from happening. Its extra disappointing if you played Halo 3 back in the day where people made some super fun game modes just using custom maps and rulesets. Sure, the Stage builder has a ton of creative stages, but it could've been even crazier if the spirit effects were allowed to be crazier; if even in a different mode. Instead, spirits seem intended to only be used in Spirit battles which basically wastes all that potential imo. I agree bout the high expectations of smash being a big problem though. I absolutely hate when people say X or Y character "deserved" to be in smash and these people often dont understand how hard it is to get guests to begin with. Its not just Nintendo paying 500 bajillion dollars and getting Banjo but People acted like Smash was a legitimate HALL OF FAME for games. The owners of these characters still need to trust those characters would be handled well and Sakurai has alot of respect across the Game development scene. They trust him SPECIFICALLY to treat their characters well; often because he knew or met alot of these people personally. Nintendo cant just get Crash Bandicoot for the next game because he's a big request. It also doesnt help that im one of the few people who didnt get "their character" in Smash. Granted, I had pretty high standards. I wanted either an Indie character fully playable (not realistic and no, I dont count Steve), or a Fire Emblem that didnt use a sword. Instead I got one that has the weapon circle glued on their kit just so they can say "They dont JUST use a sword so cant be mad~" when it doesnt even represent Byleth's character IMO. I genuinely dont hate Swordies; all the other Swordie/Anime JRPG DLC characters were great, but I would genuinely love a knight-like Spear user or Edelgard in Smash. Now people act like Byleth using a lance for 3 moves is "good enough" and its still frustrating to see people make wishlists for Smash 6 and go "yeah, we'll bring Byleth back cause they represent the wheel."

First and foremost, I want to talk about the Hype Cycle and now it affected me. Waluigi used to be my most wanted character and my favorite Mario character. I had my reasons beyond memes, namely him fitting a goofy villain aesthetic that I absolutely adore from other characters like Team Rocket in the anime or Dr. Doofenshmirtz of Phineas and Ferb. Add on to that me just seeing potential there for Waluigi to be used alongside Wario in a meaningful way, and I had a lot of love for the guy. Sure, I did also find the memes funny, but I wasn’t a meme obsessed gremlin. But then Waluigi was deconfirmed and note how I said everything positive about Waluigi in the past tense, and that should paint a picture where I am now. I basically was bullied for liking a character because some people reacted so poorly to the point I just can’t bring myself to like him anymore. Heck, I get genuinely anxious if anyone talks about disliking the character because the hate on him just got to be too much. All for my former most wanted and for who is now just a character I’m neutral on on a good day. And in general, the hype cycle got too tiresome for me and I basically don’t enjoy Smash speculation at all anymore. All the arguing of who was worthy and all the pointing to third party hype that ignored… you know, Nintendo’s actual characters they owned… made it so the fanbase absolutely lost the plot. I mean, any third party can be in any fighting game if the parent companies want it. But Smash is the only real outlet for Nintendo’s roster since they don’t really dole out their characters for other platforms, mobile games aside. So it very much feels like people forgot this was the Nintendo crossover to focus on just the crossover. And that’s just a bummer, honestly. Like, I don’t want to focus on just the doom and gloom of the roster hype cycle. Ridley was high up for me as a wanted fighter because of how many people told me he couldn’t happen. King K. Rool became my most wanted because Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze made DKC my favorite franchise, and I wanted a Smash reveal to bring K. Rool back in the limelight to potentially set him up for future appearances. Jury’s still out on if Nintendo are planning anything with him (since jury’s still out if DK’s getting a solo adventure any time soon…), but K. Rool is still my favorite newcomer for a lot of reasons. Then there’s Incineroar, as I was one of the few hopefuls for the big wrestle cat, and I was super excited for Incineroar. Incineroar was my starter of choice in Sun and Moon and I just grew very attached to him, as he’s just got a really cool design. I wouldn’t have been too upset if other, more popular picks got chosen over Incineroar, but this one was a “this one is just for me” pick. Piranha Plant wasn’t Waluigi, but he’s funny. Simple as that. In spite of my earlier story, I still have a little hope for Waluigi, for a similar reason to Ridley- people say it can’t or won’t happen, so I’m hard coded to root for the underdog. But Piranha Plant is a damn good pick for being funny. And then, for the last real big hype pick for me- Banjo-Kazooie. I remember hearing all the same arguments that they just couldn’t happen because of the borders between Nintendo and Microsoft. And even if they aren’t a mechanically crazy fighter, they’re just fun to play casually and I’m happy to have them in. Helps their trailer played around with the K. Rool trailer, which made me very happy. I also was happy for Byleth, Pyra/Mythra, and Min Min despite not having played *any* of those franchises. Largely because, quite honestly… I was happy for Nintendo representation, as I mentioned above the DLC cycle made the denial of any first party picks got old FAST. I’m a casual player, so it should come as no surprise my biggest grievances were with fan reactions this time around. I can certainly point to gameplay problems I had like All Star being butchered to the point of not being ANY fun or how I can only do a fraction of what a dedicated Steve main could do with him or any other super faithful fighter, so I’m definitely not getting the most out of many DLC fighters. But, at the end of the day, I still think of Ultimate as my favorite Smash game since the cool stuff it has going is REALLY cool. It’s still a very flawed game in some respects and I can agree with a lot of the critique here, or acknowledge the parts I may just simply not have a personal issue with. But the over all experience is a real solid one that I think did well enough with what it set out to and can hopefully better the next entry by learning what worked and what didn’t.

My absolutely BIGGEST problem with ult has to be the outdated characters. A lot of my favorite characters like Kirby, and Sonic do a very bad job at representing their franchise. Kirby ESPECIALLY hurts considering how much potential his moveset could have but there is a severe lack of representation of abilities in his moveset, most of it being based on fighter. No Sword, no Beam, no Ice, no Wheel, no Yoyo or Jet, no newer abilities like Water, Leaf, Spider, Beetle etc. I really really hope alot of veterans get new move sets for smash 6 and we get more Nintendo reps! The Kirby nerd in me is showing but I'd love Bandanna Dee or Magolor as newcomers!! Bandanna Dee has such a unique weapon and fighting style smash kinda lacks and we're lacking on villain representation in Kirby and Magolor could be super wacky and unique with his magic and dream friend moveset! There I go again talking about Kirby oops hehe!

This was a pretty reasonable video, I agree with the points presented here. One of my greatest critiques of Ultimate that you didn't mention is how it eviscerated Final Smashes. They're almost all the same, 6-second long cutscenes now, instead of the wild and creative finishers we used to see in past games. They were made "to the point" at their detriment, and I know that it was done for FS meter to work, but FS meter itself is a fundamentally flawed concept. I hope it gets removed next game and we go back to having wild finishers like in Brawl, because old-style Final Smashes were one of my favorite parts of the series.

Ultimate was exciting, but I REALLY hope the next game adds more unique looking and fighting style characters like Waddle Dee, Shantae, Crash etc. I know people liked the dlc fighters, I liked 2-3, but groups of them felt too similar to previous fighters for me to care. Though maybe that's because I didnt play the games some of those characters came from so...

I love Smash, been playing it for 23 years now. I just want Sakurai to be proud of the game he made, and eventually when he retires, is able to send it off with a smile (or get a pupil to train to keep it going). I've liked some titles more than others, but I've enjoyed them all and my time with them. I do obviously want some changes, and my own characters to get in, but I don't try to get negative over anything. I remember Mega Man's reveal trailer like it was yesterday, and I nearly cried over it. Sadly toxic fandoms are nearly impossible to fully get rid of. But I think there is hope for Smash's future, and the community as well.

I miss the alternate game modes: Boss battles, Events (seriously if any mode could have been utilized with "everyone is here" it's this), Target Test (64/Melee style), etc. "Spirits" is cool but doesn't feel very rewarding; same with World of Light (which to this day should have been co-op, but i digress...) : p

My biggest peeves with this game are 1) some final smashes being lackluster eg Young Link should have turned into fierce deity link 2) the world of light story didnt have a cohesive flow and satisfying ending. For eg all the characters especially the OG Smash 8 should have come together and defeat the villians 3) missed opportunities re bosses eg Hades from Kid Icarus Uprising should have been a boss 4) some echo fighters could have been more unique such as Dark Samus 5)Piranha Plant should have been Paper Mario, Waluigi or Geno

Yeah it was pretty toxic i remember how everyone wanted steve dante doomguy heavy crash waluigi fans were insane basically trashing everyones choices if you dare mention characters that were in one game or first party or not what they like they would chew you out for it

The points you make in this video are valid, but I question if you're making them in good faith. I wouldn't see a reason for Nintendo or Sakurai to reconsider Smash's direction if Ultimate sold over 30 million copies, and is the best-selling entry in the series. If anything, they'd (probably) do Ultimate Deluxe if they have a chance to. We don't have to like it. We can be irritated by the fanbase and bad series direction. There'd have to be a compromise on the scale of Ultimate’s scope for Nintendo to shift directions, and I don't think revamped movesets or new game modes are enough since those can be included in an Ultimate Deluxe. We'd have to think more outside the box, and I don't have a single clue on how to answer that. In terms of contention within the community: I don't think it's fair to assume the people with rude or unusual behavior don't play the game. It ruins an otherwise valid argument. It's true that parasitic content creators and online users leech off of Smash's hype, but that's not a Smash-specific problem nor should that be a hill to die on. I believe you and your perception. I really do. But this is different. I believe the majority are casual players who play a few matches with their friends, then drop the game until a new update or character comes out. These people want their favorite video game character, or characters that could be cool to see. Using myself as an example, I didn't care for Byleth or Pyra's inclusions in Ultimate. I like playing as them. Bringing back the transformation mechanic with Pyra was cool. Three Houses has some really good music. But I wasn't gonna play Fire Emblem or Xenoblade because I'm not interested in those games (I say this as someone who mains Roy in multiple Smash games). I don't care to see who they include from those games, and I'd care more about characters from series' I like, Nintendo-owned or not. If you like those games and want those characters in Smash, you're the expert. (Point being) that isn't a jab at you or the games you like, I just have more to say about the characters I like. Overall, I have to disagree with Everyone is Here and character speculation bogging down the experience that was Smash Ultimate. Nintendo knew how to market Smash as a big crossover event, which has always been a core appeal of the series. Whether characters get cut in a new game or not, the popular requests now would still be demanded. And I doubt antagonizing people who get excited about Smash was the right call to make for this video. Instead, we should focus on the appeal of having characters and ideas you'd like to see. I'm skeptical about characters like Alear for Smash because there's a chance they wouldn't represent their characteristics from Engage, and instead give them basic sword attacks with the ability to summon other FE characters to "stand out." Byleth didn't have Divine Pulse or his brawling techniques I've seen pitched in fan movesets. Byleth's moveset in Ultimate was made up to address fan backlash. I'm indifferent to that fact, but I can understand why some people can be annoyed with the team needing to justify Fire Emblem inclusions. I would want Alear's inclusion to best represent their character, but if they don't do that, why would I think about it from an outside perspective if I don't play Fire Emblem? I'd rather trust your insight. I don't think it's a bad thing to want characters for the sake of having them in the context of a crossover game. There could be merit in the idea, even if I don't play those games or care about its characters. At the same time, it goes both ways. I can talk about how cool it’d be to see the characters I want, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t assume I’m somebody I’m not based on the fact we want different things. I hope I’m making sense. (Reposted it to clean up formatting)

Personally, I'll never not be pissed that Ultimate included nothing from Xenoblade Chronicles X except for five spirits that were shoved to the side somewhere and didn't even show up in Word of Light. All While Xenoblade 2 got a relative ton of content even before getting dedicated DLC characters. Is it petty of me to still have a soured opinion of the game as a whole, just because it didn't properly represent one game? Probably, but on the one hand this is a game that I have been hyperfixated on for years. And on the other hand, it is illustrative of the point mentioned in the video about first party characters being just shoved to the side, all for the sake of Everyone's Here, and third-party characters.

pretty accurate video, i left a like

21:25 I legit thought this was like a DLC for Xenoblade 2 admittedly lol. I remember wanting Shantae in the game really badly because of how fun it would be to play as her, my friend wanted Dante from DMC. While I do wish they would've went with Decidueye instead of Incineroar I'm not too butt hurt about it.

I’ll have to ask delzethin Despite these flaws. Do you still think Smash Ultimate is a great game that you can highly recommend or give it a hard pass?

It was... Fine... When it was my only Switch game. But yeah. There was barely that much to do and kinda suffered that fix it later approach.

Completely agree, and also, speaking of Smash 6 If it were to be possible, they can simply renegotiate all the Parties to have it pull a Mario Kart 8 on Ultimate

my thing is the hype cycle was definetly a factor for the weird amount of hate jrpgs have in the gaming community,plus world of light was such a disappointment like i know sakarai said right before the trailer that it was more about adventure than story but why come up with an entire plotline with infinity war levels of hype and potinetal only to not use an any interesting way, and considering they bothered making cutscenes and having some voice actors plus even using the world of light plotline in some dlc reveal trailers its obvious the devs wanted to do something with it. And this honestly goes back the my biggest problem with smash and that being it doesn't feel like a crossover, when u do a crossover the point is to see the characters interact not beat each other up for no reason than just because. i don't need a whole 40 plus hour storyline with dialouge i just want to see shulk and lucina complament each others skills i wanna see cloud and sora dread being around sep again i wanna see ken and terry talk shit to each other, brawl proved you dont even need them to speck im fine with text with no voice acting just give them a reason to fight or work together or be in this place at all other than just because.

My two wanted character was added in the base roster, Inkling and Daisy. Everything else was an added bonus as I do not care about smash honestly. I just wanted to play the new story mode and I was disappointed in it, as that was the main reason why I purchased Ultimate. Plus I did not purchase any of the DLC / Paid content, except Seth as he had an in game challenge event that was enjoyable.

The Ultimate problem for is that we so close at getting a fully evolved grass starter with Decidueye to join smash bros ultimate but Sakurai picked Incinaroar road due to him looking for a wrestler for smash, I was hoping that Rillaboom would joined for fighter pass dlc to make up for Decidueye but unfortunately he didn’t make it in as part of dlc just like pyra/mythra, byleth, and min min not even making fighter pass vol 3 then he would’ve made it in. Now I’am rooting for Meowscarada, the new fully evolved grass starter from gen 9 scarlet and violet or possibly fully evolved grass starter of Gen 10 to join next smash game/possibly smash ultimate deluxe so that we can get a fully evolved grass in smash bros as a fighter for once. By the time next smash game/possible smash ultimate deluxe port arrives gen 10 will be the current generation for the franchise and also the 30th anniversary for the Pokémon franchise as well.

So glad you said, “head a$$”. Thought only people around where I grew up said that 😂😂

It baffles me that this fanbase can collectivly unite against Nintendo when they cease and desisted the Etika joy-con sales, and the Big House for using Slippi, and then have Nintendo sweep it all under the rug and get unanimous praise from 99% of the internet because Sephiroth was revealed. To this day I still don't understand how they got away with it. I know the internet is where we all unite to act stupid (or like a smartass) most of the time, but it's just so disappointing. I also have some serious issues with Ult's balancing as you mentioned some smash move sets aging poorly which I think is tragically 85% of the roster pre-Smash 4 like Captain Falcon, Meta Knight, along with some movesets that are so basic they don't actually make sense like Sonic (I know he's a top tier but I think it's problematic that over 70% of his moveset involves spindashing and has had little to no change since his inital Brawl appearance when he has so much more than that to offer like the Werehog). It's why I've always stuck with Melee since I discovered it. I can at least say with assurance that despite all of it's problems and jank everything offers something and the learning curve of characters is something that doesn't even need to be inspected to such a degree unless you want to be a pro and we get to just say Melee is sick and we all know Fox is the most sick with no sign of any of the problems Ult is now experiencing as a more complex and solved meta. If I'm being honest I don't think I have ever really cared about Ult since the start, I've played it for 100s of hours and seen all the reveals but it was all for the spectacle and fanfare of seeing Steve in ult and being able to play almost everyone I want, you could say it was because of the hype and out of obligation in some weird way.