So far in its lifespan, Nintendo Switch has gone a long way towards righting the wrongs of its predecessor, the ill-fated Wii U. For on🦩e thing, Switch has been amply supported by third-party developers (there’s ro꧂om for improvement in that area still, granted, but by and large), and for another… well, people are actually buying the darn thing.

It’s not been an easy ride, thou🅰gh. Since its release in March 2017, the system has been characterized by having huge, barnstorming releases with long, qꦕuiet gaps in between them (one of those gaps being most of freaking 2018 up to this point, for instance).

Sales success is one thing (it’s a huge deal, too, of course), but maintaining that momentum is a different matter entirely. What Nintendo needs to do is finish out this year on as great a high as possible. Which is where Super Smash Bros. Ultimate comes in.

Alongside Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee, there’s no doubt that this is the biggest Switch game of the year. As we speak, players ♔are battling to unlock characters and Smash their way to victory online in their millions, all around the world.

Smash Bros. Ultimate was hyped beyond belief prior to release, as I’m sure you’ve all noticed. The big question is, does it live up to all that?🐷 It’s not infallible, after all, as no game ever can be. Let’s take the rough witꦏh the smooth, then, and dive into some of the very best and very worst things about Nintendo’s latest blockbuster.

30 WORST: It’s Not My Fault, It’s The Lag

Ah, yes. Of course, this little gripe was going to come up. If you’ve had any experience with the Nintendo Switch Online service, you’ll know that it leaves a lot to be desired. There were fears that Ultimate, a super fast-paced title that relies on a smooth connection, wouldn’t function too well online (as with previous Smash entries).

Sure enough, many players have been co🉐mplaining of janky, stalling matches. It’s early days still, and there’s certainly༺ time for things to improve in that area, but it’s very, very frustrating.

29 BEST: There Are *How* Many Characters?

Now, you can question the game’s ‘Ultimate’ moniker (spoiler: I’m going to, later in this rundown). One thing you can’t deny is that this is one incredible ambitious cast of fighters: over 75 of them. While some of these are distinctly odd choices for some (you cannot please every🃏body), this is a huge achievement, and an exciting prospect for players.

Maybe you’ll discover a new favorite S𓄧masher as you give the cast a try?

28 WORST: Wait, A Piranha Plant!?

You’ve got to admire Sakurai’s chutzpah here. With all the fan-clamoring on the internet, all t♏he Waluigi memes, the rampant speculation, and demands for such-and-such a character, who does he go and ahead and announce? Pi⛎ranha Plant, that’s who. Not an actually relatively well-known and popular one like Petey, either, but Generic Piranha Plant No. 78942.

It was a move that reeks of an April fool’s joke, but it totally happened. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:As we reported last month, Sakurai has offered his reasoning for picking such a quirky character (too many typical heroes and heroine🀅s makes things boring, he stated), and it certainly does look like a whole heckola of a lot of fun to play as, but that’s no excuse.

27 BEST: My, Grandma, What A Big World of Light You Have

Now, the Smash Bros. franchise’s tenuous status as a fighting game has been debated for years. Sure, you’re technically fighting, but thౠere’s a manic party game sort of sense to proceedings too (just set all items to ‘high’ and watch the💖 absurd pandemonium unfold). It’s a grey area, for certain.

Generally, as with most fighters, we’re not leaping into Smash for its single-player content. Regardless, we wan♛t something substantial to play while we’re going it alone.

That’s where the loving-present⛦ed and quite substantial World of Light comes in, essentially the game’s campaign mode.

26 WORST: The World Of Light’s A Little… Light

Having🐟 enthused about the World of Light mode and the campaign experience ꦯit offers, I’m now sadly going to have to take a super soaker to those hype-tastic flames. Just a little bit.

The fact is, as hard as Sakurai and the team tried to make the experience seem big and expa🅠nsive (and there’s a good amount of skills and spirits to♏ unlock, customization to mess with, branching paths to take, excellent cutscenes to enjoy and so forth), it still largely boils down to a series of battles.

The hook is that each encounter has a set of specific conditions attached to it (perhaps the opponent will ha💙ve permanent super armor, increased defense or speed or such), but some are far more memorable than others.

25 BEST: Come On, Get Into The Spirit

While I’m a huge fan of the Smash Bros. series, I could never quite get fully invested in the trophy/sticker aspect of it all. They🦋 were neat, sure, and I enjoyed reading the little snippets of information and learning a little 🌼more about Nintendo’s rich history, but this was the only purpose they served.

Ultimate introduced Spirits, and this system I find much more engaging. These items are still neat little nods to a huge range of characters (from the famous to the most obscure) from gaming’s past, but they also serve a practical in-game purpose. They serve as equipment, giving your fighter various bonuses (passive and active), and can be used in more than just the campaign mode itself (dependi💙ng on the settings you prefer).

24 WORST: Dude, Where’s My For Glory?

Now, this one’s going to be a great big steaming gripe for lots of Ultimate players. When it comes to Smash Bros., of course, there tend to be two distinct ways 🎀to play: it🍰ems everywhere pandemonium, and Fox only, final destination competitiveness.

The last entry in the series ⛦catered very well to this, with the For Glory and For Fun modes. It was a very simple, definitive solution, and both camps were happy. Sadly, there’s no For Glory mode this time around, which may harm the game competitively if it isn’t implemented later. Not that there aren’t ways to play 1-on-1s online, though, as we’ll see.

23 BEST: It’s Darn Pretty

Now, we all know that Nint🐻endo Switch isn’t the big boy on the block, tech specs-wise. That’s never really been a focus of Nintendo’s, and while the Switch continues that trend, it does an admirable job at making games look super slick. It does provide a true home console experience on the go, and that’s not something to sniff at.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, for my money, is the best-looking game on the system.

Comparing some of those familiar environments to their counterparts in the Wii U edition, as well as admiring all-new fighters and stages in their first 3D HD outing, reall𝄹y shows what this machine is capable of.

22 WORST: Grinding Me Down

So, yesܫ. One of the game’s major selling points is its incredible list of characters. 7ꦗ5+ combatants represents a real labor of love for Sakurai and the team, there’s no doubt about that. You’re sure to find somebody you like among them. Heck, maybe veteran Smashers will find a new favorite Main among them all.

The thing is, though, the team took a unique approach with them all that has divided fans. When you first boot up the game, you only have a small selection (it’s a throwback to the original Super Smash Bros.). the rest must be unlocked. New characters pop up very frequently, depending 🃏on the mode you’re playing, but it’s quite a grind.

21 BEST: Clones? What Clones?

Speaking of long-time fans of the Smash Bros. titles, there’s something else that has become deeply entr🍌enched in t🔯he series: the idea of clones. While the sheer number of different selectable characters has increased and increased with each outing, the fact remains that some of them are very similar. With regards to special moves and such, they’re more like palette swaps of each other.

Ultimate, however, changed things up a little here. We now have Echo Fighters, the official term the game uses for these characters (Daisy is Peach’s Echo Fighter, for instance, while Dark Samus is Samus’). th🤪e idea was to make them very similar, as before, but still a little more distinct.