Super Smash Brothers is one of the most iconic video game series in history and Nintendo has really placed a lot of confidence in this game.  So much that they call this the Ultimate Smash Brothers. We get your usual chaotic brawling but is this game really better than any of the others.  Not only is it better, but it truly lives up to its name and here is a explanation of just how it does that.

First I want to talk about changes to combat.  Everything is made towards faster matches which at first was tough to get used to but it actually really helps because there is so much fighting to do in this game to unlock all the content.  Smash attacks are also different because all of them function as cut scene like events that show the attacker damaging victims, so smash attacks like Fox’s landmaster are removed.  While I loved the landmaster I actually like this decision as the final smashes that gave characters control of the action tended to be a bit overpowered in comparison to some of the others.

The modes in this game are also amazing.  Classic mode has made some cool improvements.  Instead of random matches all of the characters have specific sets of matches which makes things more interesting because the matches picked have a nice way of paying subtle tributes to the characters.  For Robin who has fire and thunder powers you go up against characters also equipped with those elements.  For Marth who kills a dragon in his game, all of the characters are dragon like such as Charizard and Yoshi.  The fact that all star mode is also unlocked from the start is a nice benefit.  In previous game this mode is only unlocked when you beat classic mode with every character.  In this game that’s 70 rounds of classic to unlock one mode.  While I still want to play classic mode with everyone I can take a break and play all star mode in the process and I love that.

As for the spirits, they replace the trophies in the game and you can actually use the spirits for combat to boost your power and provide other benefits that fit the character the spirit is based off of.  For example, Protoman from the Megaman series is a blade user and his spirit improves the power of all sword attacks.  It really wasn’t that hard to figure out how spirits work.  You have primary and secondary spirits.  Primary spirits may or may not have an effect but all provide a power boost to your character.  Secondary spirits all have effects that can be equipped to slots on primary spirits for effects.  This becomes vital for the World of Light mode.

World of Light is a nice new world that makes you start off with Kirby to rescue all the other Super Smash Brothers characters. You travel through a world unlocking the map and rescuing spirits as you make your way to the villain Galeem.  Along the way you unlock characters by finding them and freeing them from Galeem’s control.  This mode is a very massive adventure mode that takes over 20 hours to complete and it is a lot of fighting with each fight containing a different set of circumstances.  This is where the spirits really come in handy.  If your fight has heavy winds, use a spirit with heavy wind resistance.  Overall this new mode is so much fun to play and offers more content than adventure modes in previous games.

The final thing I want to bring up is the roster.  It is overwhelming and that’s a good thing.  It takes awhile to unlock the characters using World of Light but it’s not nearly as long if you go via classic mode but each method is a fun way to unlock all the fighters. Having all the characters from previous games makes for very interesting combinations of fighters and the new fighters make great new additions to the roster.  Simon from Castlevania plays very different than any other character and Incinaroar is so fast paced and very unique in comparison to the other Pokemon.  Not only is the roster great but it keeps getting better since Joker from Persona 5 is the first DLC character.

Overall this game really does take the title of ultimate.  The spirits are fun to collect and fun to use.  The fighters are all amazing and there’s so many of them to play as for endless hours of fun.  World of Light is a massive adventure mode that’s long, has a lot of fighting and it was very addicting.  The thing that really makes this game great is how it pays homage to Nintendo as a whole.  Classic mode with specific fighters to pay tribute to the character you are playing as.  Spirits all over the place from all Nintendo games makes for an almost Pokemon like gotta catch em all syndrome.