Master Hand (SSBU)

Master Hand returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, playing a role in and Adventure Mode: World of Light.

Master Hand's voice clips from Super Smash Bros. 4, where he is voiced by, who also serves as the game's announcer, were repurposed for Ultimate.

In Classic Mode
Master Hand appears as a boss in Classic Mode. For the first time since the original Super Smash Bros., Master Hand has the ability to face in either direction (left or right), which he combines with snapping his fingers to teleport around. Also for the first time in the series since Brawl's Boss Battles, Master Hand no longer has a stamina HP indicator, instead having a health bar akin to bosses from Subspace Emissary or World of Light. This results in having a separate health bar as well, meaning that they no longer share the same pool of HP as they did in Smash 4. However, he can now be stunned, which renders him immobile on the ground for about 8 seconds.

Unlike other installments, not every fighter battles with Master Hand at the end of their Classic Mode route. Mario, Link, Yoshi, Kirby, Luigi, Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, Bowser, Zelda, Marth, Young Link, Dark Pit, Snake, R.O.B, Toon Link, Wolf, Mega Man, Rosalina & Luma, Pac-Man, Duck Hunt, Bayonetta, Inkling, Simon, Richter, King K. Rool, Piranha Plant, Hero, Terry, Min Min, Steve and Kazuya all face someone other than Master Hand at the end of their route. Falco and Ken only fight Crazy Hand, with Master Hand appearing alongside him only if the intensity is 7.0 or above. Pikachu and Pokémon Trainer first fight Mewtwo before facing Master Hand in the same round. All the fighters who fight Master Hand, except for Pikachu and Pokémon Trainer, fight both Master Hand and Crazy Hand if the intensity is 7.0 or above. Ice Climbers, Mewtwo, Chrom, Meta Knight, Pit, Diddy Kong, Ryu, Incineroar, Banjo & Kazooie, Byleth, Sephiroth, Pyra/Mythra, and Sora always fight both of the Hands.

Changes from SSB4 to Ultimate
Master Hand lost some moves from the transition from SSB4 to Ultimate. Listed here, the moves he lost were Finger Walk, Fireball Blitz, Icy Wind, Platform Dealer, Sleeper Grab, and Snapper. Along with those, some of his combo attacks with Crazy Hand have also been removed. These include the Duel Sweep and Juggling Act.

Moveset
Master Hand has received the greatest overhaul of any incarnation, gaining a significantly larger moveset overall. Moves that can be used while Master Hand is playable in World of Light are marked based on their input.

Role in World of Light
In the mode's introductory cinematic, an army of many Master Hands is seen attacking the fighters alongside new foe Galeem. The Master Hands transform into glowing, energy-like forms which are absorbed by Galeem before it unleashes a blast of light that destroys the fighters except for.

Master Hand can also be seen on the mode's overworld map, interfering with the player's path by creating force fields and destroying bridges. One is confronted before the player fights Galeem. After Galeem's initial defeat, Dharkon appears with his army who begins to eradicate the Master Hands. When Galeem returns after the players initially defeat Dharkon, two more Master Hands are fought.

Once the player manages to get the true ending's requirements, Master Hand and Crazy Hand are freed and they help the player by using their Electric Shock joint technique to create a giant rift in the map, which Master Hand enters, leading to the penultimate level where Master Hand himself is made into a playable character, engaging in a Mob Smash against 50 light and dark puppet fighters. The only puppet fighters used in this battle are, , , , , , , and.

Master Hand's freedom suggests that, like the fighters, he was captured by Galeem before the events of World of Light and then replicated for his army.

Spirit
Master Hand’s spirit can be obtained after beating them in World of Light.

Trivia

 * Master Hand's theme is mostly composed of the second and third verses of Lifelight, the main theme of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This is also shared with Galeem's theme.
 * Master Hand, in the sole instance where he is playable, has 700 HP. This is the most HP he has in the series thus far, since he had merely 360 HP at maximum difficulty in Melee and Brawl.
 * In the opening cinematic of Adventure Mode, Marth estimates that each fighter will need to take down about ten Master Hands. This implies that there are at least 770 Master Hands in Galeem's army (74 fighters in the base game, plus Inkling Girl and Inkling Boy as well as each of the Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon being treated as separate characters in the context of the cutscene, with other character swaps such as Villager unconfirmed).
 * Master Hand's Reflective Satellite Cannon attack looks and acts very similarly to one of the attacks of the second form of, the final boss from , making this the second time his attacks takes inspiration from the Kirby series. Coincidentally, Master Hand appears in said game both as a miniboss and a boss alongside Crazy Hand.
 * ,, , , , /, and are the only characters who fight Master Hand (with or without Crazy Hand in Joker's case), with a music track outside of said boss' universe playing in the background.
 * The battle with Master Hand can be softlocked by defeating him on the exact frame he is rendered invulnerable, causing him to be immortal and confuse the game to be in a fighting and victory state. Since blast zones are disabled, the player is able to fall indefinitely. Eventually, the player's character's y-axis position goes so high, it is rendered as negative, in which it distorts some of Master Hand's attacks such as the Paint Ball being thrown upwards, the bullets from his Finger Gun angling downwards, homing attacks missing entirely, and his grab being performed immediately and also missing. Even more effects can occur, one of them being the Radar and Magnifying Glass showing inconsistencies of where the character is.
 * Another softlock can occur when stunning Master Hand after countering his Energy Shots.
 * When playing as Master Hand in the World of Light, there is a chance for a glitch to occur causing his portrait to not show up on his damage counter.
 * Ultimate is the only game in which Master Hand can be fought on stages other than Final Destination without glitches or hacking, being fought on New Donk City Hall, Mementos, and Northern Cave in certain Classic Mode routes.
 * Ultimate is also the only game where Master Hand is directly playable without glitches or hacking. However, Master Hand is only playable during the penultimate battle in World of Light.