Let me level with you guys for a minute. I suck at fighting games. I’m truly, diabolically awful at them. I always have been, and as I get older I think I’m actually getting worse. But when December 2018 rolled around, I just couldn’t help myself. I knew I would get beaten, broken and very likely emotionally and physically scarred. But I just had to pick up Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.
I popped the iddy-biddy cartridge into my Switch, hooked up an old Gamecube controller and jumped straight in. Within moments, I was blown away. Literally. Mario forward smashed me off of Final Destination so fast I got whiplash. But damn, I was hooked.
You see Smash isn’t just a fighting game – It’s an experience. An experience that literally anyone can jump into and leave feeling all warm and fuzzy. How someone managed to condense fighting games into what amounts to 2 attack buttons is beyond me. It opens up the gates to Joe-Casual and his best friend ToastyBaps and lets them have an absolute blast without having to really understand the intricacies of the system.
Then you start digging and you find out that there is some depth to the system. Then you dig some more, and you discover that there is a mind-boggling level of depth that allows the Hardcore grab hold and try and master its mechanics. Then you realise why Smash is a global event. Smash is for everyone.
Then you have the zillion characters, a mouth watering number of stages, a seemingly endless sound track, a quite possibly endless Adventure Mode and so many collectables to unlock that you might actually die of old age before you see everything the game has to offer. Then you need to step back and look at what Super Smash Brothers Ultimate has done to the games industry – ruined it.
You see, in my futile attempts to gather my thoughts and write a cohesive first impressions, I am left spoilt Whenever a new game comes out, especially a new fighting game, we as gamer’s will know that we could have had more. Because no other game is going to have the level of polish and sheer amount of content that Smash provides. In fact, Ultimate has so much, I can’t imagine the next Smash game being able to surpass it.
So here I am. A scrub divided. On the one hand, I have a game so good that it is damn near perfect. On the other, I have a game that will undoubtedly taint my impression of most other fighting games. The world has changed my fellow bagels.
Keep an eye-out for my full review on Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, it should be up shortly. In the mean time, let me know in the cooling rack below if you want any more Smash content.
Games With Toasty 