Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

[Moonface]

I don't think any character could ever be the perfect final choice for this game given the sheer scale of those shoes to fill. However, I think this is one of the closest choices you can get to perfection as a final send off when it's been the one character requested more than any other for the last six years. Others could have potentially been just as close to perfect for a final choice, but even as someone not a fan of Kingdom Hearts this reveal was impressive for me because as has been said, it was obvious and even safe (especially when so many people asked for this one) but this clearly wasn't easy to pull off. The poll was six years ago and the top result took until now to pull off because it's Disney of all companies that Sakurai had to deal with.

I also don't know how it did it given that I have zero attachment to Sora or Kingdom Hearts but that trailer gave me goosebumps. Maybe it was the music but whatever it was I find it nuts that this trailer is the one for a new character that hit me more than any others, including characters I actually liked or were more surprising. This didn't hit me as a holy shit surprise type of reveal but it was the one that made me feel something more than just hype alone.

At the end of the day, Sakurai could work on this until we all die and the roster would still be lacking someone. Whether you think it could've been better, worse, or that it's just perfect as it is, no one can deny the love Sakurai has given this game and series. No one would ever believe this game would exist if you went back even five years and detailed every single thing this game has to offer. You can't please everyone, but fuck me if the man didn't do a damn good job.

[Moonface]

So I just got back into playing this recently and somehow @ShiraNoMai and I never noticed there's a Classic Mode in this game despite putting hundreds of hours into it. I always thought the only notable single player mode (that isn't just Smash) was World of Light.

I also didn't know that characters had certain abilities, such as Lucario being able to deal more damage with aura moves based on how much damage he has taken.

And for anyone who wants to see a neat challenge for this game and maybe even try it themselves, I recommend this video:

This is also the video I started watching that got me to boot the game up again. I stopped when I suddenly discovered that I was not as close to the end of World of Light as I thought I was. XD

[Mr EliteL]

Neither of you noticed there was Classic Mode, and you have not beaten World of Light yet? WAT R U DOIN.

I remember watching Nairo beat WoL with no spirits and such, and yeah that is quite a challenge. Although I'd rather not have to start resorting to cheap tactics or spamming moves over and over to win, so I'll keep away from that.

I need to play again too, barely played when Sora came out and haven't touched SSBU since.

[Moonface]

If we did notice it we didn't think it had tailored routes for every character nor that it unlocked things. We also hadn't played the game since January 2019 so I started doubting if Classic Mode was in the game at launch. I also thought the game didn't offer a stage builder this entire time too.

[Mr EliteL]

Yeah Classic has been there since launch. I haven't actually completed all of Classic Mode, as I know I haven't done the characters from the DLC Pack 2 yet, possibly all if not most from Pack 1, might have done Joker's.

The stage builder I'm not fond of, I prefer Brawl's version really. I like what some people have done in the Share part online but it's mainly them drawing characters with the tools in there.

[Moonface]

Neither do I, it'll be very difficult to get all the characters to return again as it was for Sakurai to get them in for Ultimate, that and the roster will likely reach 100(+) if somehow all 84 (Pk trainer + Squirtle =1, 86 with Ivysaur/Charizard + 89 with each Mii Fighter) do get back in. It's because I've already seen, not watched, videos speculating what a new Smash game will be like including who could be cut, who could be added, if there'll be a reboot (sigh) so if there will be one then may as well think of it as a possibility. I'm not getting my hopes up though.

Ultimate has indeed raised the bar phenomenally so I do agree if a lot of things don't manage to return the next game will be a downgrade. Even if one of the original 12 get removed it'll instantly lose some appeal, any third party that has been in more than one game will probably hit hard too, though Bayonetta might be the only one to be exempt from that after what happened late Smash 4 for being considered the best/broken character. I also have no idea what could balance out what could be missing.

Bringing this here since I get the feeling this is going to become a large enough conversation.

So I had to refresh my memory on the roster for Ultimate, and I thought there was a lot more third party characters in the game than there is. If I didn't miscount there's 15 of those (I didn't count Sonic because out of anyone he's the third party character that would never get cut), and if they were all cut from a future Smash game that still leaves 66 fighters that are Nintendo properties + a spot for Sonic. Conveniently, the Smash Ultimate website lets you sort characters by series to see how many are from each one, and Fire Emblem and Pokémon are the two that could and should absolutely see cuts for a future game. Even if those two series were cut in half though, that only removes another 8 characters to get the number to 58, which is almost the roster size of Smash 4.

Thinking on it as I was typing, I think this series might have run into the same problem a lot of fighting games do, which is the roster size grows every game and eventually starts to get out of hand. I remember looking at the roster sizes for Tekken games recently which is when I first started thinking on whether fighters haven't figured out how to stop their rosters getting out of hand without it being received negatively by the players.