Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ Special, Great Fray Smash Brothers Special), often shortened as "SSBU", "Smash Ultimate" or "Ultimate", is the sixth installment (fifth if the two versions of the previous game are counted as one title) in the Super Smash Bros. series, and it was released worldwide for Nintendo Switch on December 7th, 2018.
Intro[]
Characters[]
The game consists of 89 characters. All 65 fighters from the previous five games have returned for this installment. In turn, the development team stated that there would not be many newcomers in the base game, with there being a total of 12 newcomers. Including the DLC characters, there is a total of 24 newcomers.
Seven characters (Dark Samus, Daisy, Lucina, Chrom, Dark Pit, Ken, and Richter) are not given their own numbers among the roster due to being Echo Fighters; they instead have the number of the fighter they are based off of along with an epsilon symbol (ε) or apostrophe ('). The Pokémon Trainer counts as three characters, but only occupies one roster spot, with the selection of the starting Pokémon coming after you select them.
Additionally, the game has 12 DLC characters, beginning with Piranha Plant (a generic enemy from the Super Mario series). The DLC characters continued with the release of Fighters Pass Volume 1, which contained Joker (the protagonist of Atlus' Persona 5), Hero (consisting of four protagonists from Square Enix's Dragon Quest series), Banjo & Kazooie (the two protagonists from Microsoft's eponymous series), Terry (the protagonist from SNK's Fatal Fury series and a major supporting fighter from The King of Fighters series), and Byleth (the protagonist of Fire Emblem: Three Houses).
The DLC characters concluded with the release of Fighters Pass Volume 2 which contained Min Min (a fighter from ARMS), Steve (the protagonist of Mojang Studios' Minecraft series), Sephiroth (the antagonist of Square Enix's Final Fantasy VII), Pyra/Mythra (the two deuteragonists of Monolith Soft's Xenoblade Chronicles 2), Kazuya (the main antagonist of Bandai Namco's Tekken series), and Sora (the main protagonist of Disney's and Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts series).
The starting roster consists of the original 8 characters from Super Smash Bros. with the rest of the characters being unlockable or downloadable via Nintendo eShop purchase.[1]
Veterans | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Mario |
2. Donkey Kong |
3. Link |
4. Samus |
5. Yoshi |
6. Kirby |
7. Fox |
8. Pikachu |
9. Luigi |
10. Ness |
11. Captain Falcon |
12. Jigglypuff |
13. Peach |
14. Bowser |
15. Ice Climbers |
16. Sheik |
17. Zelda |
18. Dr. Mario |
19. Pichu |
20. Falco |
21. Marth |
21ε. Lucina |
22. Young Link |
23. Ganondorf |
24. Mewtwo |
25. Roy |
26. Mr. Game & Watch |
27. Meta Knight |
28. Pit |
28ε. Dark Pit |
29. Zero Suit Samus |
30. Wario |
31. Snake |
32. Ike |
33-35. Pokémon Trainer |
36. Diddy Kong |
37. Lucas |
38. Sonic |
39. King Dedede |
40. Olimar |
41. Lucario |
42. R.O.B. |
43. Toon Link |
44. Wolf |
45. Villager |
46. Mega Man |
47. Wii Fit Trainer |
48. Rosalina & Luma |
49. Little Mac |
50. Greninja |
51-53. Mii Fighters |
54. Palutena |
55. Pac-Man |
56. Robin |
57. Shulk |
58. Bowser Jr. |
59. Duck Hunt |
60. Ryu |
61. Cloud |
62. Corrin |
63. Bayonetta |
Bold denotes starter characters
Newcomers | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
4ε. Dark Samus |
13ε. Daisy |
25ε. Chrom |
60ε. Ken |
64. Inkling |
65. Ridley |
66. Simon |
66ε. Richter |
67. King K. Rool |
68. Isabelle |
69. Incineroar |
DLC | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
70. Piranha Plant |
71. Joker |
72. Hero |
73. Banjo & Kazooie |
74. Terry |
75. Byleth |
76. Min Min |
77. Steve |
78. Sephiroth |
79-80. Pyra/Mythra |
81. Kazuya |
82. Sora |
Pallete Swap Characters | |||
---|---|---|---|
Alph |
Larry |
Roy |
Wendy |
Iggy |
Morton |
Lemmy |
Ludwig |
Hero (Dragon Quest III) |
Hero (Dragon Quest IV) |
Hero (Dragon Quest VIII) |
Alex |
Zombie |
Enderman |
World of Light only | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Master Hand |
- Number indicates the order of appearance in the series.
- ε or ' indicates Echo Fighters, fighters that share the same movesets and traits as another.
Stages[]
There are currently 115 stages, 103 of which are in the base game and available from the start, with the remaining 10 being released as DLC. 96 stages from previous installments have returned for this installment. Omega forms returned for all stages alongside a new Battlefield form. Alongside the base game's 103 stages there are currently 12 DLC stages, 9 of which come bundled with characters who are a part of the 2 Fighters Passes, with the twelth being added as a part of V13.0.1. Three more stages are currently in development as a part of Fighters Pass Volume 2, which will bring the total number of stages to 115.
Items[]
Bold denotes new item
Pokémon[]
Bold denotes new Pokémon
Assist Trophies[]
Bold denotes new trophy
New Features[]
Gameplay changes[]
- The rules and stage are now selected first before the characters. This is to prevent unfair stage advantages.
- Stage hazards can be toggled off.
- Custom Moves are now limited to Mii Fighters only. Any previous Smash Bros. amiibo with custom moves will now revert to the normal moves in Ultimate. Due to the absence of custom-move fighters, Equipment has been removed too.
- Sudden Death now has a new mechanic. In addition to raining Bob-ombs, all characters are teleported to their starting positions with their damage set to 300%, then the camera slowly zooms into the center while the blast zones gradually decrease until a very small portion of the stage remains. During this process, cosmetic flames cover the edges of the screen and the crowd in the background goes wild. In addition, Super Sudden Death has been separated from Special Smash.
- Stamina Mode is now a separate game mode and can be used for Adventure Mode, Online Mode, etc. It also has an option to have stocks.
- Grabs can now clash with each other if they connect on the same frame.
- Damage percentages can now contain decimal numbers (in tenths) (35.7%, 102.3%, etc.).
- Fully charged Smash Attacks can be held down for a couple of seconds before they are released.
- During timed matches, the fighter in the lead will sometimes flash brightly.
- Most Assist Trophies can now be attacked and KO'd, earning the player points in timed battles. The player who summoned it can also KO them once they've taken enough damage.
- More than one Assist Trophy can be on the screen and can attack each other if they are summoned by two different players/teams.
- Dark Pit and Lucina, who were previously considered clone characters in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, are now considered Echo Fighters. In addition, Chrom, Daisy, Dark Samus, Richter, and Ken appear as Echo Fighters of Roy, Peach, Samus, Simon, and Ryu respectively.
- A small map is shown on the screen when a character is knocked out of the field of view. The map's size can be made big or small or not appear at all.
- There is a damage increase in 1-on-1 matches as opposed to matches with more players to ensure faster matches.
- Smash Balls will sometimes roll on the ground instead of floating in the air.
- Mobility during air dodge has improved, functioning similarly to Super Smash Bros. Melee, being able to be used only once before landing but doesn't make the user helpless permanently. In addition, excessive dodging will increase dodge lag the more it is done (similar to Stale-Move Negation).
- A specific command input for short hop attacks has been added, making it easier to perform attacks during short hops.
- Perfect Shields happen when the player releases the shield at the same time an attack connects to the character's hitbox. This technique now comes with an increased risk.
- Final Smashes are "straight to the punch" i.e. each Final Smash is quick. Transformation Final Smashes have been removed and replaced with different types of Final Smashes.
- Dramatic slow-motion effects occur when strong attacks connect with other fighters during 1-on-1 fights, such as Captain Falcon's Falcon Punch or Little Mac's KO Uppercut. This applies to some stage hazards as well, such as the Klaptraps in Jungle Japes. There are a few instances where the slow-motion and zoom effect can occur in matches with 3 or more players, such as Hero's Whack and Thwack spells.
- The hit that would potentially take out the last player's last stock also has a dramatic slow-motion zoom in effect, which is more intense and has a red effect instead of blue.
- The animation for Star KOs is different than previous games and Screen KOs are much shorter than they were in the previous game. This is to prevent slower KOs from giving a doomed player extra time that could give them an advantage, especially if at the end of a Time game or if the other player is about to get KO'd as well.
- A traditional fighting game meter gaining-based mechanic known as the Final Smash Meter has been added. This allows the obtaining of Final Smashes to be more fair.
- Wily Castle now includes all stage hazards from both the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS version of Super Smash Bros..
- While Classic Mode will feature the usual 6-7 fights before a showdown with a final boss, each character has their own "route" meaning that each character will face a different set of opponents that all fit under one theme. For example, Jigglypuff's route is called "All Original, All 64", and involves characters from the original Smash Bros.[2]
- Master Hand and Crazy Hand will only be the final bosses for certain fighters in Classic Mode. Some fighters will have other final bosses such as Galleom and Giga Bowser.
- Some bosses can get "knocked out", similarly to fighters getting stunned.
- Collectible trophies (and to a lesser extent equipment) have been replaced with "spirits", which can be applied to fighters to make them stronger or give passive abilities.
Character-specific changes[]
- Pokémon Trainer can now change between Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard freely during battle. Stamina has been removed entirely, allowing players to not be forced to be dependent on other Pokémon. Type effectiveness has also been removed, meaning the Pokémon no longer take less or extra damage from element based attacks.
- Pokémon Change is faster, can be used mid-air, and can be used to dodge attacks.
- Marth's, Roy's, and Lucina's Dancing Blade attack is now faster.
- Sonic's, Pac-Man's, and Pikachu's Final Smashes are now faster and can no longer be manually controlled.
- Fox, Falco, and Wolf no longer use Landmaster as their Final Smash. Instead, they call upon the Star Fox team (the Star Wolf team in Wolf's case) to unleash a barrage of Arwing (or Wolfen) lasers.
- Wolf's moves have received a major overhaul.
- In 1-on-1 fights, Ryu will always face the opposing fighter, unless he's running or in mid-air. This allows him to input commands more effectively.
- Robin's spell and sword now have a usage meter that appears near his/her character icon. If the meter is depleted, he/she cannot use those moves again until they recharge. In the sword's case, it loses a great deal of power but is still usable.
- Cloud's Limit Charge now shows the amount of charge above his character icon. His limit will now completely deplete after 15 seconds if Cloud doesn't use it in the specified time.
- Any item that Villager Pockets now appears next to their character icon.
- Charging moves, such as Samus' Charge Shot can now be charged in midair. Canceling it in midair can leave the user vulnerable.
- Giga Bowser is no longer a controllable transformation. Instead, Giga Bowser will appear in the background of the stage and attack using his fist, which causes instant KOs or major damage if the victims have low damage.
- Shulk's Monado Arts can now be easily selected by holding down the B button (special attack) and selecting which art to use with the control stick.
- Ganondorf's Smash Attacks now use his sword. His Final Smash was also changed, in which he now transforms into Ganon, the Demon King instead of Beast Ganon.
- Pit's new Final Smash, The Lightning Chariot, has replaced Three Sacred Treasures.
- Zero Suit Samus' Final Smash has changed to her firing a powerful beam in her power suit on her gunship from the background.
- Wario's Final Smash, Wario-Man, has been overhauled. He no longer uses regular attacks, but instead unleashes a flurry of comical punches, finishing with a Wario Waft.
- Donkey Kong no longer uses his drums as a Final Smash, but instead uses rapid-fire punches, ending with a strong uppercut.
- Little Mac's Final Smash still transforms him into Giga Mac, but he now unleashes a devastating combination of punches ending with an uppercut, simmilarly to Donkey Kong.
- Mii Fighters now have fixed proportions, meaning the Mii's size and height no longer affect their speed, weight, or hitboxes.
- Palutena's side special has been changed to Explosive Flame. Her down special is now both a counter and a reflector.
- Mr. Game & Watch's Final Smash no longer causes damage on contact; instead, his tentacles will pick up fighters and carry them off the stage. The grabbed fighters can mash out of the tentacles.
- Oil Panic can now reflect non-energy based projectiles.
- Lucario's Final Smash has been reverted to Aura Storm, but still transforms into Mega Lucario and keeps the "Max Aura!" voice clip.
- Yoshi's Final Smash has been changed completely: anyone who is hit by his Final Smash will be launched to an area where a stampede of Yoshis charge and run over the opponents, which is a reference to the Super Smash Bros. Melee intro.
- Diddy Kong's Final Smash now has him flying with his rocket barrels at high speed, hitting any opponent in his way and crashing into the player that was hit most at the end.
- Dr. Mario's down air attack is now a meteor smash and has a new animation. His back throw and side special also have new animations.
- Kirby can inhale projectiles for healing a bit of damage. Moreover, he can also spit the projectile or item as a star to cause a bit of damage to an opponent.
- King Dedede can also inhale projectiles for healing a bit of damage but he will spit the projectile or item out as it is.
Aesthetic changes[]
- The game now has more dynamic shadows. Platforms and uneven stage structures will have shadows too. The same also applies to all items, assist trophies and Pokémon.
- All characters, items, and stages have a subdued color scheme, making the game look less saturated than Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
- All attack effects are cel-shaded to make the game look more cartoonish.
- All explosions now look more cartoonish than realistic.
- All knockback effects are now present as smoke trails.
- A lot of stages have been retextured. While the stages from Super Smash Bros. keep their classic models, the graphics have been updated.
- When a fighter uses their Final Smash, a closeup of their artwork briefly appears.
- Some characters have more expressive facial animations, more so than any other installment.
- Mario's hat can turn into Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey in his up special. He also appears in his new side taunt.
- Marth and Roy are now fully voiced in English.
- Ike's voice tone will be different depending on which costumes he is in between both of his younger Path of Radiance and older Radiant Dawn incarnations. He also has a new voice actor.
- A female Pokémon Trainer has been added, taking up half the Trainers palette swaps.
- Mr. Game & Watch's move-set closely resembles his original appearances from the Game and Watch series.
- Fox, Falco, and Wolf's designs are based on Star Fox Zero.
- Falco has green eyes unlike the previous Smash Bros games where he physically appears, where his eyes are blue.
- Kirby has a new appearance during his Stone, which resembles the Sheikah treasure chests from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
- Shulk's Final Smash now includes Fiora.
- Ganondorf's design is based on his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
- Mii Fighters now have 12 voice options to choose from, with the pitch being able to be set to low, normal, or high.
- When damaged, Olimar's helmet cracks, but repairs itself shortly afterward.
- Ness' Final Smash now calls upon the help of Paula and Poo.
- Likewise, Lucas' Final Smash now calls upon the help of Kumatora and Boney.
- Lucas' normal PSI is now cyan and yellow rather than pink and yellow like in the previous game, as to better resemble Lucas' signature attack in Mother 3, PK Love.
- Wii Fit Trainer's face has received a cosmetic update.
- Mega Man's Final Smash now includes Proto Man and Bass.
- R.O.B. has a new gauge on his chassis which shows how much fuel he has left for his hover ability.
- Link's design is based on his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
- Zelda's design is based on her appearance in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. This is due to Zelda being more interested in research than fighting in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
- Sheik's design is based on the Sheikah armor set in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
- A timer bar will appear while aiming Dragoon to show its time limit.
Development[]
- The game was first revealed on March 8th, 2018, at the end of a Nintendo Direct with no word from Masahiro Sakurai or anybody else linked to the Super Smash Bros. series.[3]
- The teaser trailer released during the Nintendo Direct introduced the Inklings and showed Mario and Link's renders in the shadowy flares, along with a group of several other unidentified characters.
- On March 8th, 2018, Masahiro Sakurai tweeted that he was working on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate silently every day and that more info would be released soon.[5]
- On June 12th, 2018, during E3 2018, Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct that included more information on the game.[6]
- In addition, a Super Smash Bros. Invitational tournament for this game was held on the same day, following the Splatoon 2 World Championship finals.[7]
- On August 8th, 2018, Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct that included more information on the game.
- On September 13th, 2018, at the end of a Nintendo Direct, a new character was revealed.[8]
- On November 1st, 2018, Nintendo held the last Nintendo Direct related to the game before its release. It was hosted by Masahiro Sakurai and included more information on the game as well as the final fighter reveals.[9]
- Towards the end of November 2018, copies of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate were sold early from a Mexican retailer. People that bought the game began uploading content including music and cutscenes to YouTube. This caused Nintendo to take action by claiming copyrights on all related properties and some YouTubers had their videos taken down and their accounts terminated.[10]
- On December 7th, 2018, the game was released and the second DLC character was revealed.
- On January 29th, 2019, the first DLC character was released.
- On April 17th, 2019, in a new update, the second DLC character was released.
- On June 11th, 2019, during E3 2019, Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct that included the reveals of the third and fourth DLC characters.[11]
- On July 30th, 2019, in a new update, the third DLC character was released.
- On September 4th, 2019, Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct that included the reveal of the fifth DLC character.[12] That same day, the fourth DLC character was released.
- On November 6th, 2019, in a new update, the fifth DLC character was released.
- On January 16th, 2020, the sixth DLC character was revealed.
- On January 28th, 2020, in a new update, the sixth DLC character was released.
- On June 22th, 2020, the seventh DLC character was revealed.
- On June 29th, 2020, in a new update, the seventh DLC character was released.
- On October 1st, 2020, the eighth DLC character was revealed.
- On October 13th, 2020, in a new update, the eighth DLC character was released.
- On December 10th, 2020, during The Game Awards 2020, the ninth DLC character was revealed.
- On December 22nd, 2020, in a new update, the ninth DLC character was released.
- On February 17th, 2021, Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct that included the reveal of the tenth DLC character.[13]
- On March 4th, 2021, in a new update, the tenth DLC character was released.
- On June 15th, 2021, during E3 2021, Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct that included the reveal of the eleventh DLC character.[14]
- On June 29th, 2021, in a new update, the eleventh DLC character was released.
- On October 5th, 2021, the twelfth and final DLC character was revealed.[15]
- On October 18th, 2021, in a new update, the twelfth and final DLC character was released.
Trailers[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the second game in the Super Smash Bros. (series) to not receive any character cuts from a previous installment, with Super Smash Bros. Melee being the first.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the third game in the Super Smash Bros. series to have an Adventure Mode, with Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl being the first two respectively.
- However, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the first Super Smash Bros. game with an Adventure Mode to have voice-overs for characters in both English and Japanese.
- This is the first Super Smash Bros. game to not feature the involvement of Satoru Iwata, as he passed away in July 2015.
- Certain characters previously referred to as clones by fans have received the official title of "Echo Fighters". Dark Pit, Lucina, Daisy, Richter, Chrom, Dark Samus, and Ken are regarded as such.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has the largest roster of any game in the Super Smash Bros. series with a total of 89 playable characters (82 if excluding Echo Fighters).
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has the largest selection of music of any game in the Super Smash Bros. series with over 900 tracks which is more than 28 hours worth of music.
- As Super Smash Bros. Ultimate focused more on bringing back all of the fighters from the previous Smash Bros. games, this game did not bring back all of the stages from the previous Smash Bros. games.
- Even so, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has the largest selection of stages of any game in the series with 113 stages.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has 59 assist trophies which outnumber the number of Pokémon.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the first game in the Super Smash Bros. series where all of the newcomers are either unlockable or available as DLC.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the first game in the Super Smash Bros. series where every non-DLC stage is available from the start.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the first game in the Super Smash Bros. series to introduce playable characters originating from non-Japanese franchises (Banjo & Kazooie and Steve).
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the second game in the Super Smash Bros. series to introduce playable characters originating from other fighting games (Terry, Min Min, and Kazuya), with Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U being the first as Ryu debuted in that game.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has broken many records:
- On November 23rd, 2018, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate became the top pre-selling title on the Nintendo Switch as well as the top pre-selling game in the Super Smash Bros. franchise.[16]
- Over its three-day launch period in Japan, it became the best selling release in the Super Smash Bros. franchise, the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game of all time[17], and the first non-Pokémon Nintendo title to ever surpass 1 million units sold at launch.[18]
- Over its three-day launch period in Europe, it became the fastest-selling game in the Super Smash Bros. franchise and the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game of all time.[19]
- On December 18th, 2018, it became the fastest-selling Nintendo home console game of all time in Europe.[20]
- On that same day, it became the fastest-selling game in the Super Smash Bros. franchise and for the Nintendo Switch in America.[21]
- It became the best performing game in its first month on the market than any other platform-exclusive in video game history in America.[22]
- After 5 weeks, it became the best selling game in the Super Smash Bros. franchise in Japan.[23]
- In less than 2 months, it became Nintendo's fastest-selling game of all time in America.[24]
- Decidueye was almost chosen for the new Pokémon spot on the roster before being replaced by Incineroar.[25]
References[]
- ↑ Sakurai stating the starter characters
- ↑ Sakurai Elaborates On Smash Ultimate's Singleplayer Modes At Nintendo Live 2018
- ↑ Nintendo Direct 3.8.2018
- ↑ A clearer look at the silhouettes from the Smash Bros. Switch trailer
- ↑ Masahiro Sakurai On Twitter
- ↑ Nintendo Direct - 06.12.2018
- ↑ Nintendo hosts Super Smash Bros. Invitational 2018, Splatoon 2 World Championship tournaments
- ↑ Nintendo Direct - 09.13.2018
- ↑ Nintendo Direct - 11.01.2018
- ↑ Nintendo Gets Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Pirates Banned from YouTube
- ↑ Nintendo Direct - 06.11.2019
- ↑ Nintendo Direct - 09.04.2019
- ↑ Nintendo Direct - 02.17.2021
- ↑ Nintendo Direct 06.15.2021
- ↑ Super Smash Bros.™ Ultimate – Battling with Sora – Nintendo Switch
- ↑ 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate' Top Pre-Selling Title on Switch and in Franchise History
- ↑ Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sells over 1.2 million copies in Japan in only three days smashing the record for series sales and Switch launches
- ↑ 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate' Smashes Sales Records in Japan
- ↑ UK Charts: Super Smash Bros Ultimate is the fastest-selling Smash Bros of all time
- ↑ Thank you for making Super #SmashBrosUltimate the fastest-selling Nintendo home console game of all time in Europe!
- ↑ Thanks to all the fans for making #NintendoSwitch the fastest-selling video game system of this hardware generation! You've also made #SmashBrosUltimate the fastest-selling Super Smash Bros. game in the series & for the system to date! It's a great time to own Nintendo Switch!
- ↑ Smash Ultimate Just Broke HALO's Sales Record From 2010
- ↑ Smash Bros. Ultimate Has Already Outsold Smash 3DS In Japan After Just Five Weeks
- ↑ 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate' is now the fastest-selling Nintendo game of all time, with 12 million copies sold in less than 2 months
- ↑ Sakurai confirms in an interview: Decidueye was almost chosen for the new Pokémon spot
External Links[]
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