Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Difference between revisions

Unlike previous ''Smash'' titles, which had their development studios built from the ground up, [[Bandai Namco]] returned to help game development. Before starting development, the team had a choice between completely overhauling the game's system and feel or working off of what was established in the last game. The team ultimately went with the latter. Had the team gone with the former, the game would have likely only had a third of its characters.<ref name="special">{{cite web|url=https://sourcegaming.info/2018/07/02/smash_special_complete/|title="“Smash is Special” COMPLETE Translation" - Source Gaming}}</ref> Despite deciding to base the game off of the previous installment, Sakurai still increased the overall speed of the game, but only by an amount that wouldn't be too alienating to people unfamiliar with the series.<ref name="special" /> Sakurai notes that he had wanted to make these changes in previous titles, but was unable to because it was easy for one to lose track of their character's position on screen, especially on the [[Nintendo 3DS]].<ref name="special" /> When Sakurai had revealed to his development team that he intended to bring back every previously playable character, he was met with silence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/12/17453214/super-smash-bros-ultimate-nintendo-switch-masahiro-sakurai-e3|title="Why Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was such a daunting game for its creators to build" - The Verge}}</ref> The project plan was later finished by December 16, 2015,<ref>https://twitter.com/AllSourceGaming/status/1062725619270762496</ref><ref>https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1121079749550297088</ref> and development officially began in February 2016, immediately after DLC wrapped up for ''SSB4''.<ref>https://www.sourcegaming.info/2018/12/12/sakurai-tells-more-details-about-smash-ultimates-development/</ref> As Sakurai revealed in volume 542 of his Famitsu article, his work schedule had been cut down significantly, citing strict regulations regarding work hours.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sourcegaming.info/2018/05/02/compliance-and-labor-vol-542/|title="“Compliance and Labor” – Sakurai’s Famitsu Column, Vol. 542" - Source Gaming}}</ref>

''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' was later officially teased on March 8, 2018 via a [[Nintendo Direct]], albeit the name would not be revealed until [[E3]] of that year. Without explicitly confirming the playable status of any characters, the teaser trailer hinted that the [[Inkling]]s would be debuting in the game as newcomers, while also suggesting that [[Mario]], [[Link]], and several other series veterans would be returning. Shortly after the reveal, Sakurai explained in a tweet that he had been working on the game "in silence, day after day".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Sora_Sakurai/status/971885028245307392|title=Sakurai announces that he has been working on ''Smash for Switch''}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/AllSourceGaming/status/971901365826940928|title=Translation of Sakurai's ''Smash for Switch'' tweet}}</ref>

*On the character select screen, the number of player slots can be adjusted with the + and - buttons on the right side. [[8-Player Smash]] had been merged with Standard Vs. Mode, with matches having 2 to 8 slots, while other game modes have different limits.

*[[Alternate costume]]s are now shown at the bottom of the player's portrait, with eight small stock icons representing each palette swap. Additionally, each color is now listed with a name from the numbers 1-8 (e.g. Color 7).

*The [[damage meter]] now displays tenths of a damage [[percent]]age (e.g. 10.5%). Note that while all games since ''Melee'' have used decimal percentages, this is the first game to reveal that fact instead of simply rounding down for display.

*In one-on-one stock fights, the stock count of both fighters will be briefly displayed on-screen whenever a stock is lost (With the exception of the final stock).

**Instead of being roughly organized by series, the character select screen now organizes characters (with the exception of Echo Fighters and Mii Fighters) by when they were first officially announced for a ''Super Smash Bros.'' game.

*While a fighter is knocked off the stage, a minimap which shows the character locations, [[blast zone]], and camera zoom will appear on the corner of the screen.

*[[Shield platform drop]]s are no longer possible.

*Grabbing an [[edge]] consecutively without landing or getting hit now decreases the [[intangibility]] of subsequent [[edge recovery|edge options]], to the point of granting no intangibility at all from the fourth edge grab onward. Additionally, in a similar vein to [[Aether]] in previous games, characters can only grab edges up to six times under these conditions. This further decreases the effectiveness of [[planking]] strategies.

*The window to [[tech]] has increased from 8 frames to 11 frames, and teching, in general, has mostly been restored to its state in ''Brawl'' (but the added leniency while already making contact with a wall or ceiling is retained), removing all of the untechable situations from ''Smash 4''; however, sustaining too much knockback from a certain distance from a surface can prevent characters from teching, making stage spikes guaranteed at high enough percents. This threshold is indicated by the visual shockwave of a rebounding character turning red. The threshold is also much smaller for characters that hit the ground, making meteor smashes more effective on-stage on aerial opponents.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-ge7VRRWUo</ref>

**Opponents [[footstool]]ed in midair can now tech on the ground during the animation. However, footstools now also grant the user a few frames of intangibility upon leaping off the opponent.

**The announcer now calls Classic Mode's name when selecting the character in that mode, similar to ''Brawl''. Additionally, in the Japanese version, he now says "Survival Smash!" as opposed to "Classic!" in ''Brawl''.

**When a player [[Share stock|life steals]] in a team battle, the announcer now says "Restocked!", as opposed to "Stock player removed." in ''Melee'' or "Share (player) stock!" in ''Brawl'' and ''SSB4''.

***In ''Smash 64'', the announcer did say "(Team color) wins!", but this was changed in ''Melee''.

***However, the Spanish, French, Italian and German versions still say the winner's name at end like in ''Smash 4'', such as "¡La victoria es para... (character name/team color)!" in Spanish; this also extends to the Dutch version, newly recorded for this game, which says "De winnaar is... (character name/team color)!"

*Even more characters now face the screen regardless of the direction they turn towards, such as Donkey Kong and the Ice Climbers.

**In addition, some Assist Trophies and Poké Ball Pokémon face the screen regardless of the direction they turn towards.

**If the player enters a name, any Poké Ball Pokémon or Assist Trophy character summoned by the player will be indicated by the player's name. In some cases, this may be harder to notice in stages with brighter lighting due to the name bar lacking the bordered background.

*[[Reflection]] moves now display shining hexagon effects, similar to [[Fox]]'s and [[Falco]]'s [[Reflector]], upon reflecting projectiles.

*The [[flower]] effect's flower appearance was changed and now resembles the pink flowers seen on the title screen of ''{{b|Panel de Pon|universe}}''.

*As a fighter moves closer to the blast zone, their [[Magnifying-Glass Damage|magnifying glass]] shrinks. When a fighter is right next to the blast zone, the ring on their glass flashes yellow.

===Item changes===

**Be released in the same year it was announced since ''Melee''.

**Feature the same starting roster as a previous ''Smash'' game (being the same as the original ''Super Smash Bros.'').

**Have no characters cut from the previous game since ''Melee''.

**Not have an Event mode since ''Smash 64''.

**Feature Assist Trophies from third-party universes without playable characters, namely {{uv|Bomberman}}, {{uv|Shovel Knight}}, {{uv|Monster Hunter}}, and {{uv|Virtua Fighter}}.

**Have a lyricized [[Lifelight|theme song]] in both English and Japanese.

**Feature universes owned by a current console rival to Nintendo ({{uv|Banjo-Kazooie}} and {{uv|Minecraft}}, both owned by [[Microsoft]]).

***However, ''Banjo-Kazooie'' was originally a second-party Nintendo property prior to Rare's acquisition by Microsoft in 2002.