Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

“	Everyone is here!	”
—Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tagline

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
North American box art.
Developer(s)	Bandai Namco Sora Ltd. Nintendo
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Masahiro Sakurai
Released	December 7, 2018
Genre(s)	Fighting Platforming
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer, Online multiplayer
Ratings	CERO: A ESRB: E10+ OFLC: PG PEGI: 12 USK: 12
Platform(s)	Nintendo Switch
Media	ROM Cartridge Digital distribution (Nintendo eShop)
Input methods	Joy-Con, Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, GameCube controller (via adapter)

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ SPECIAL, Great Fray Smash Brothers Special), often shortened to "SSBU", "Smash Ultimate" or "Ultimate," is a crossover fighting game for the Nintendo Switch. It was first teased on March 8th, 2018 at the end of the Nintendo Direct released the same day, and fully revealed on June 12th at E3 2018. It is the fifth installment in the Super Smash Bros. series (sixth if the two versions of Super Smash Bros. 4 are counted as separate titles). The game was released worldwide on December 7th, 2018.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate received universal acclaim from both critics and players, with some critics calling it the best installment in the series. It received praise for its large amount of content and fine-tuning of existing Smash gameplay elements, although its online mode was widely criticized. As of March 31, 2020, Ultimate had sold over 18.84 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling Super Smash Bros. game and also the best-selling fighting game of all time, beating Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Street Fighter II, which previously held each title respectively. Its massive success has caused it to be nominated for, and win, multiple awards.

Opening movie

The opening movie of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is composed of the cutscenes from World of Light and gameplay footage from the game set to the tune of Lifelight, featuring all the characters in the game (not including DLC).

Characters

Panoramic artwork of all announced fighters as of January 16th, 2020.

All 63 characters (65 if counting the Pokémon Trainer as three fighters) from all previous Smash Bros. games return as playable fighters. As well as the returning cast, the game currently features 23 newcomers. 11 characters are available in the base game, with at least 12 characters (seven known and five unknown) planned as downloadable content. In total, 74 characters (76) are playable in the base game and 86 (88) characters will be playable overall, the most for any Smash Bros. game. Each character is numbered based on the order in which they first joined the series, with the exception of Echo Fighters (who share a number with the character they are based on) and Pokémon Trainer (whose Pokémon are numbered instead).

File:SSBU Character Select DLC.jpeg

The character selection screen in Ultimate with all characters unlocked and all current downloadable characters available.

Inkling, with various Girl and Boy designs from the original Splatoon, was the first character confirmed to appear in the game as a new playable fighter. Ridley, a central villain from the Metroid series, was confirmed to be playable during E3 2018, with Meta Ridley as an alternate costume. Simon of the Castlevania series was announced as the game's first third-party newcomer along with his echo Richter. King K. Rool, arch-enemy of Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong from the Donkey Kong series, was confirmed to be a playable newcomer as well, with his move-set drawing on his appearances as a boss in the Donkey Kong Country games onward. Isabelle from the Animal Crossing series, who previously appeared in Smash 4 as an Assist Trophy, makes her playable debut as the second Animal Crossing representative. Finally, in the November Nintendo Direct, Incineroar from Pokémon Sun & Moon was announced as the title's last base roster newcomer.

In addition, most full clones are now labelled as "Echo Fighters" and are marked with an epsilon (ε) next to their fighter numbers, which they share with the character they are based on. Returning characters Lucina and Dark Pit have been given this title (as they are Echo Fighters of Marth and Pit, respectively), while new characters Daisy, Richter, Chrom, Dark Samus, and Ken are Echo Fighters of Peach, Simon, Roy, Samus, and Ryu, respectively. Aside from an option allowing these characters to be displayed on the same slot as their counterpart on the character select screen exclusively during Vs. Mode, Tourney, Custom Smash, Super Sudden Death, and Quickplay, there is no special distinction between most of them in-game, and the name is used mostly for marketing purposes.

Piranha Plant from the Mario series touches new ground as the first mob character in Smash, and as an early purchase bonus DLC character, released on January 29, 2019. It was also confirmed that five more unique newcomers will be added as DLC by January of 2020. With the exception of Piranha Plant, all of these DLC characters can be bought together as part of the Fighters Pass. Persona's Joker is part of Challenger Pack 1 (announced on December 6, 2018; released on April 17, 2019), the Hero from Dragon Quest is part of Challenger Pack 2 (announced on June 11, 2019; released on July 30, 2019), Banjo & Kazooie from their namesake series Banjo-Kazooie are part of Challenger Pack 3 (announced on June 11, 2019; released on September 4, 2019), Fatal Fury’s Terry is part of Challenger Pack 4 (announced on September 4, 2019; released on November 6, 2019), and finally Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses as part of Challenger Pack 5 (announced on January 16, 2020; released on January 28, 2020), finishing Fighters Pass Vol. 1.

During the September 4, 2019 Nintendo Direct, after revealing Terry, it was announced that even more DLC Fighters beyond the five in the Fighters Pass Vol. 1 are in development, as Fighters Pass Vol. 2 will include 6 more playable characters. This number of newcomers was announced during the January 16, 2020 Presentation revealing Byleth. The first fighter will be a character from the ARMS franchise, which was revealed during the Nintendo Direct Mini on March 26, 2020. The character is unknown at the moment and will be released sometime in June 2020. All the rest of the characters from the Fighters Pass Vol. 2 remain unannounced and are set to have all been released by the end of 2021, though their specific release dates are unknown.

As was the case in Super Smash Bros. 4, further "characters" exist as alternate costumes for other preexisting characters. In this game, there are 19: Alph is accessible as a playable character via Olimar's palette swaps; the seven Koopalings are available as playable characters via Bowser Jr.'s palette swaps; Pikachu, Pokémon Trainer, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Robin, Corrin, Inkling, and Byleth each have opposite gendered variants as palette swaps; and the Hero has three other protagonists from across the Dragon Quest series as palette swaps. However, these characters are not treated as separate characters in-game.

Only the Original 8 characters from the first game are available from the start. Like in Smash 4, the Mii Fighters are also available from the start via customization, but are otherwise locked upon initial startup of the game. The rest of the cast must be unlocked; however, the unlocking process and conditions are much simpler than in past games. Fighters will challenge the player in ten minute intervals or by clearing Classic Mode with a prerequisite character, and can also be unlocked by being rescued in World of Light.

Fighters

Veterans (65)
Mario		Luigi		Peach		Bowser		Dr. Mario		Rosalina & Luma		Bowser Jr.		Yoshi
Donkey Kong		Diddy Kong		Link		Zelda		Sheik		Ganondorf		Young Link		Toon Link
Samus		Zero Suit Samus		Kirby		Meta Knight		King Dedede		Fox		Falco		Wolf
Pikachu		Jigglypuff		Mewtwo		Pichu		Pokémon Trainer (Squirtle, Ivysaur, Charizard)
Lucario		Greninja		Captain Falcon		Ness		Lucas		Ice Climbers		Marth		Roy
Ike		Robin		Lucinaε		Corrin		Mr. Game & Watch		Pit		Palutena		Dark Pitε
Wario		Olimar		R.O.B.		Villager		Wii Fit Trainer		Little Mac		Shulk		Duck Hunt
	Snake		Sonic		Mega Man		Pac-Man		Ryu		Cloud		Bayonetta
					Mii Brawler		Mii Swordfighter		Mii Gunner
Newcomers (24)
Daisyε		Piranha Plant (DLC)		King K. Rool		Ridley		Dark Samusε		Incineroar		Chromε		Byleth (DLC)
Isabelle		Pyra/Mythra (DLC)				Inkling		Min Min (DLC)		Kenε		Sephiroth (DLC)		Simon
Richterε		Joker (DLC)		Hero (DLC)		Banjo & Kazooie (DLC)		Terry (DLC)		Steve (DLC)		Kazuya (DLC)		Sora (DLC)

Bold denotes starter characters.
^"ε" denotes Echo Fighters.

Bosses

Template:SSBU boss table All Light Realm and Dark Realm bosses, except for Galeem and Dharkon, are also featured as Classic Mode bosses. The stage bosses listed above are found in Gaur Plain, Wily Castle, and Find Mii respectively.

Stages

The stage selection screen in Ultimate with all current downloadable stages available.

With the exception of the Super Smash Bros.-original stages, all stages are ordered in chronological appearance and for the first time ever, all stages are available immediately from the start. Additionally, all stages can be played with up to 8 players, rather than just a select few as in SSB4. All stages have both a Battlefield form and Ω form. Ultimate features 103 stages (306 if counting Battlefield forms and Ω forms separately) at base game.

96 stages from previous games have returned overall: 7 from Super Smash Bros., 19 from Super Smash Bros. Melee, 27 from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and 43 from Super Smash Bros. 4 (18 from the 3DS version, 17 from the Wii U version, 8 from both versions), adding 7 completely new stages. Five additional stages were added to the game as part of the Fighter Pass Vol. 1 DLC alongside the respective fighters, which brought the number of stages up to 108 (321 if counting Battlefield forms and Ω forms separately) with an additional six more to be released as part of Vol. 2 bringing the number up to 114 (339 if Battlefield and Ω forms were to be counted). The five DLC stages that have been released are Mementos, Yggdrasil's Altar, Spiral Mountain, King of Fighters Stadium, and Garreg Mach Monastery which released alongside Joker, Hero, Banjo & Kazooie, Terry and Byleth respectively. In update 3.0.0, Ultimate gained the option to create custom stages with the Stage Builder.

Only 15 stages featured in previous games are not available in Ultimate (not including single player-only stages or previous forms of Battlefield and Final Destination). These stages are: Planet Zebes and Sector Z from Super Smash Bros.; Icicle Mountain, Mushroom Kingdom, Poké Floats and Mute City from Super Smash Bros. Melee; Rumble Falls and PictoChat from Super Smash Bros. Brawl; Rainbow Road and Pac-Maze from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS; and Jungle Hijinxs, Pyrosphere, Woolly World, Orbital Gate Assault and Miiverse from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. While Flat Zone and Flat Zone 2 are also absent, Flat Zone X incorporates all elements of both of those stages. The World 1-2 version of Mushroomy Kingdom is also absent.

New stages (19)
Battlefield		Final Destination		Big Battlefield		Small Battlefield (8.1.0)		New Donk City Hall		Great Plateau Tower
Garreg Mach Monastery (DLC)		Cloud Sea of Alrest (DLC)		Moray Towers		Spring Stadium (DLC)		Northern Cave (DLC)		Dracula's Castle
		Mementos (DLC)		Yggdrasil's Altar (DLC)		Spiral Mountain (DLC)		King of Fighters Stadium (DLC)
			Minecraft World (DLC)		Mishima Dojo (DLC)		Hollow Bastion (DLC)
Returning stages (96)
Peach's Castle		Mushroom Kingdom		Princess Peach's Castle		Rainbow Cruise		Mushroom Kingdom II		Delfino Plaza
Mushroomy Kingdom		Figure-8 Circuit		Luigi's Mansion		Mario Bros.		3D Land		Golden Plains
Paper Mario		Mushroom Kingdom U		Mario Galaxy		Mario Circuit		Super Mario Maker		Super Happy Tree
Yoshi's Story		Yoshi's Island (Melee)		Yoshi's Island		Kongo Jungle		Kongo Falls		Jungle Japes
75m		Hyrule Castle		Great Bay		Temple		Bridge of Eldin		Pirate Ship
Gerudo Valley		Spirit Train		Skyloft		Brinstar		Brinstar Depths		Norfair
Frigate Orpheon		Dream Land		Fountain of Dreams		Green Greens		Halberd		Dream Land GB
The Great Cave Offensive		Corneria		Venom		Lylat Cruise		Saffron City		Pokémon Stadium
Pokémon Stadium 2		Spear Pillar		Unova Pokémon League		Prism Tower		Kalos Pokémon League		Big Blue
Port Town Aero Dive		Mute City SNES		Onett		Fourside		New Pork City		Magicant
Summit		Castle Siege		Arena Ferox		Coliseum		Flat Zone X		Skyworld
Reset Bomb Forest		Palutena's Temple		WarioWare, Inc.		Gamer		Distant Planet		Garden of Hope
Smashville		Tortimer Island		Town and City		Wii Fit Studio		Boxing Ring		Gaur Plain
Duck Hunt		Shadow Moses Island		Green Hill Zone		Windy Hill Zone		Wily Castle		Pac-Land
Suzaku Castle		Midgar		Umbra Clock Tower		Hanenbow		PictoChat 2		Balloon Fight
Living Room		Find Mii		Tomodachi Life		Wrecking Crew		Pilotwings		Wuhu Island

Development

Towards the end of Super Smash Bros. 4's post-launch development, Masahiro Sakurai announced that his next project had been decided and that he would be taking a small vacation following the end of development. Unlike previous Smash titles, which had their development studios built from the ground up, Bandai Namco returned to help game development. Prior to 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. 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. 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. When Sakurai had revealed to his development team that he intended to bring back every previously playable character, he was met with silence. The project plan was later finished by December 2015, and development officially began in February 2016, immediately after DLC wrapped up for SSB4. On November 12, 2017, Nintendo filed a number of trademarks, notably including a Japanese Super Smash Bros. logo.

A Super Smash Bros. title for the Nintendo Switch was later officially revealed on March 8, 2018 via a Nintendo Direct. Without explicitly confirming the playable status of any characters, the teaser trailer hinted the Inklings 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 confirmed in a tweet that he had been working on the game "in silence, day after day". On March 22, 2018, Nintendo announced the Super Smash Bros. Invitational 2018, a tournament taking place on June 12th where invited professional players will play the upcoming game. Later, in volume 542 of his Famitsu article, Sakurai revealed that his work schedule had been cut down significantly, citing strict regulations regarding work hours. On April 18, 2018, Nintendo again filed a number of trademarks for several game logos, including the Super Smash Bros. logo. Most of these game logos originate from games with some relationship to the Smash series, including Pikmin, Star Fox, and F-Zero. These trademarks were approved on May 14, 2018.

The first extended look at the game came at Nintendo's E3 2018 presentation. Masahiro Sakurai introduced the coverage, which kicked off with an extended video showing new incarnations for veteran characters. After confirming the return of several previously cut characters such as Ice Climbers and Snake, the tagline "Everyone Is Here" was introduced, and the video revealed that all playable characters from previous Smash Bros. titles would be returning to the new game, including the formerly cut Pichu and Young Link from Melee, as well as Pokémon Trainer and Wolf from Brawl. New information on the Ultimate incarnations of characters was revealed, including the presence of Cappy in Mario's taunts and other moves, that Zelda would be based on her A Link to the Past design, all the DLC fighters from Smash 4 would return as part of the launch roster, Ike would have his Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn designs from the two previous games and much more. The presentation introduced "Echo Fighters", which Lucina and Dark Pit are now marked as, while Daisy was revealed as a new Echo Fighter. The presentation also confirmed returning elements, items, and stages, which would receive revamped Ω forms and Battlefield forms. The trailer also confirmed the Inklings as the game's first newcomers, while concluding with a reveal of the game's final title: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The presentation officially concluded with a final trailer in which Ridley from the Metroid series - long requested by fans for inclusion in the series but rebuffed by Sakurai due to his large size - was confirmed as a playable character.

Following the end of the presentation, a Nintendo Treehouse event went live. During the Treehouse event, several matches were streamed and some new features were revealed and discussed. In addition to the Treehouse livestream, a playable demo of the game was opened to the public at E3 2018 and at the Nintendo Store in New York. Following the end of the Splatoon 2 World Championships, the Super Smash Bros. Invitational 2018 began. During the match pitting MkLeo as Bayonetta against Plup as Ridley, Masahiro Sakurai reportedly shook his head after MkLeo had performed a successful ladder combo on Plup. At the end of the invitational, the Nintendo Treehouse livestream resumed, further showcasing more gameplay elements and matches. In addition to this, the official Super Smash Bros. Ultimate website was published. This would serve as the primary source for new details about the game.

At the EVO 2018 fighting game tournament, Nintendo revealed that a new Ultimate-focused Nintendo Direct presentation would be released on August 8, 2018. The presentation opened with a trailer confirming the inclusion of content from Konami's Castlevania franchise for the first time in the series. The trailer revealed the presence of new fighters, Simon Belmont and his Echo Fighter, Richter Belmont; a new Assist Trophy, Alucard; a new stage called Dracula's Castle, and more. The Direct also covered two new Echo Fighters, Chrom and Dark Samus from Fire Emblem Awakening and the Metroid Prime series respectively, as well as new music, modes, stages, and items. The presentation concluded with a trailer introducing a new playable character: King K. Rool, leader of the Kremlings and nemesis of the Kong family from the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Country series.

In a Nintendo Direct presentation shown on September 13, 2018, a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Switch console bundle was unveiled, featuring a specially designed dock and Joy-Con controllers along with the download code for the game. Isabelle, from the Animal Crossing series was also revealed as a newcomer.

The final pre-release Ultimate-focused Nintendo Direct presentation aired on November 1, 2018. This revealed Ken and Incineroar from the Street Fighter and Pokémon series respectively as new playable characters, as well as the inclusion of DLC fighters - Piranha Plant from Super Mario appearing shortly after launch, followed by five other unannounced characters, which have been selected in advance by Nintendo as future additions. It also took a deeper look at the game's modes and online infrastructure, and revealed Spirits mode and Adventure Mode: World of Light, before finishing with the mode's opening cutscene and the reveal of the game's vocal theme, Lifelight.

On November 20, 2018, an overview trailer narrated by Xander Mobus (The Announcer) covered the game in further detail, showcasing all of the playable fighters, stages, items, Pokémon, Assist Trophies, Spirits, game modes and more.

At the 2018 Game Awards, the Phantom Thieves from Persona 5 interrupted the broadcast to announce that their leader, codenamed "Joker," would be joining the roster as the first DLC fighter of the Fighters Pass Vol. 1 in Ultimate.

During the Nintendo Direct on February 13, 2019, a spring update was announced alongside a sneak peek at Joker's model and a look at new amiibo.

In the "Nintendo Switch My Way" trailer, "Stage Builder" was leaked. It is yet to be confirmed if this was purposeful on Nintendo's behalf or if it was simply a marketing ploy.

On April 16, 2019, a video titled New Content Approaching was released. The video detailed Joker's moveset and confirmed that he would release the next day, April 17. The video also revealed Mementos, Stage Builder, new Mii Costumes, Video Editor, and Shared Content. Version 3.0.0 was launched on April 17.

During Nintendo's E3 2019 presentation on June 11th, the Hero from Dragon Quest and Banjo & Kazooie from their namesake series Banjo-Kazooie were confirmed as the second and third newcomers in the Fighters Pass Vol. 1, set to be released at some point in Summer and Fall of 2019 respectively. The former's gameplay would later be shown off in a dedicated video presentation on July 30th, the day of the character's release date, while the latter's was showcased in a special video following the September 4th Nintendo Direct. Both presentations were hosted by Sakurai himself.

During the September 4th Nintendo Direct, Terry from SNK's Fatal Fury series was announced to be the fourth newcomer in the Fighter Pass Vol. 1, set to be released sometime in November while the third Challenger Pack, Banjo & Kazooie was shadow-dropped after the Direct alongside the 5.0.0 update, the return of Home Run Contest, their stage: Spiral Mountain, 5 new Mii costumes and 10 new tracks. In addition, following Terry Bogard's reveal, it was also announced that several more individual DLC fighters beyond the Pass Vol. 1 was confirmed to be in development thanks to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's strong sales.

On January 16th, 2020, Nintendo released an "Mr. Sakurai Presents ???" livestream that revealed Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses as the final (and only first-party) member of the Fighters Pass Vol. 1, set for release on January 28th. The 7.0.0 update wasn't mentioned but it would include their stage: Garreg Mach Monastery, 11 new tracks added to all Fire Emblem stages and 5 more Mii costumes including Altaïr from Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed and indie star Cuphead, with a music track from his game, Floral Fury. It was also revealed that Ultimate would receive a second DLC pass called Fighters Pass Vol. 2 that will consist of six more playable newcomers instead of five like the first one. Said pass is expected to have all six fighters be released by December 31, 2021.

In a Nintendo Direct Mini held on March 26, 2020, a representative from ARMS was announced to be the first fighter in Fighters Pass Vol. 2. More information on the character’s identity and their release date will be announced in June 2020.

Changes from SSB4

Menu and UI changes

The stock counter in a one-on-one stock match.

• In Vs. mode, the stage selection screen now appears before the character selection menu, making players select a stage before selecting fighters.
  • The rule selection screen appears before the stage selection screen. Players can now save rulesets for quick access.
• 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 costumes 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).
• While a Smash Mode match is loading, an intense versus splash screen will appear, showing the combatants. Tips still appear regularly on loading screens in other modes, and can appear on the splash screen when loading takes long enough.
• The damage meter now displays tenths of a damage percentage (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).
• The character select screen is now similar in appearance to the original Super Smash Bros. menu when starting the game, with the other fighters unlocked later on.
  • 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.
• Like Little Mac's Power Meter in Smash 4, several characters now sport additional UI elements next to their damage meter, such as Villager's Pocketed item, Robin's durability counters, Inkling's Ink Tank gauge, Joker's Rebellion Gauge, Hero's MP Gauge, Terry's GO symbol, and Cloud's Limit Gauge.
• Some stages that once shared names now have been renamed. For example, the Smash 64 version of Yoshi's Island is now Super Happy Tree and the Brawl version of Mario Circuit is now Figure-8 Circuit.
• Echo Fighters can either be displayed in their own character slots or share their slot with the character they are based on, depending on user preference.
  • Mii Fighters share a similar display, with a difference of either being displayed in their own character slots, or merged together as three fighters in one slot like in Smash 4.
• The main menu, character selection screen, Milestones, Sound Test and many other UIs now use the new font, replacing the main text font from Melee, Brawl and SSB4. The font itself is FOT-RodinNTLG UB regular in the English version and FOT-RodinNTLG B regular in the Japanese version, both of which are identical to those used for Super Mario Odyssey's UIs.
• The user can set up control settings for players who don't enter a name.

Game mode changes

• Sound Test can be used to create music playlists. The option where the music plays in handheld mode while the screen is off like a music player from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS also returns.
• Two new battle modes are present:
  • Squad Strike has players battle with a squad of 3 or 5 fighters. Multiple formats of Squad Strike are available, including one where the entire team of fighters is used in a single continuous battle, similar to the final battle of Smash Tour in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
  • Smashdown renders the fighters selected in a given battle unavailable for use in following battles, forcing players to select a different fighter with every match they play.
• Classic Mode is loosely a combination of the versions seen in Brawl and for 3DS, but now each fighter has a set series of opponents to face; many routes feature bosses other than Master Hand and Crazy Hand, and some feature a fight against a boss outside of the boss fight, or even the boss fight does not feature a designated boss, instead fighting characters who are otherwise playable.
• Multi-Man Smash and its 100-Man Smash mode is now referred to as "Mob Smash" and "Century", respectively; All-Star Mode has been merged with Endless mode as "All-Star Smash". It also lacks 10-Man Smash and 3-Minute Smash, making Mob Smash themselves harder.
• There is no longer a Stadium menu; Mob Smash and Home-Run Contest (as of version 5.0.0) are now placed directly in the "Games & More" menu.
• Super Sudden Death is now a separated battle mode, akin to Melee.
  • Furthermore, Special Smash from Brawl and SSB4 is now referred to as "Custom Smash"; the term "Special Smash" is instead used for a sub-menu which contains Super Sudden Death, Smashdown and Custom Smash, akin to the Special Melee mode in Melee.
• Training Mode is now compatible with amiibo fighters, and can now be played on an exclusive stage, which allows the player to measure distances such as knockback range and jump height.
• Spirits are introduced as a new feature with the merger of Trophies and Equipment; additionally, Spirit Battles also replace Event matches from the previous games.

Gameplay changes

• All stages now have a Battlefield form. Additionally, all stages (including Battlefield and Ω forms) can now be played with up to eight players, as opposed to having different limits between stages.
• All Battlefield/Ω form stages now reshape the main platform and blast lines to be identical to those in Battlefield/Final Destination, making some Battlefield/Ω forms such as those of Golden Plains, Wily Castle, and Kalos Pokémon League having more large, proper bottom blast lines.
  • However, stages where Z-axis is flattened (e.g. Hanenbow, Dream Land GB, Flat Zone X, Duck Hunt) now affect them even in Battlefield/Ω form, which alters the characters' hitboxes function.
• Stage hazards can be turned off for the first time in the series, allowing players to remove intrusive elements, such as environment changes or enemy appearances from gameplay.
• The new Stage Morph option allows two stages to be selected at once; the two stages will transition into one another either at random or on specified time intervals.
• Tracks in My Music are now organized by series rather than by stage, such that all music from a given series will be available across the stages corresponding to that series.
  • Additionally, many remixes from 64 and Melee have had their names updated to reflect the source music title, rather than the stage they were present on, such as "Poké Floats" becoming "Pokémon Red/Pokémon Blue Medley".
  • The "Nintendo" music category, now named "Others" to reflect the inclusion of third-party content, encompasses the Ice Climber and Duck Hunt universes (represented through the Summit and Duck Hunt stages, respectively) as well as the non-playable universes (represented through the Hanenbow, PictoChat 2, Balloon Fight, Living Room, Find Mii, Tomodachi Life, Wrecking Crew, Pilotwings, and Wuhu Island stages).
• To increase gameplay speed, all damage taken in one-on-one fights with no items is multiplied by 1.2×.
• Smash Attacks can be charged significantly longer. Once the fighter stops moving, the damage output will cease scaling. However, knockback will continue to increase until the charge is completed.
• Buffering has been strengthened, as actions can now be buffered by inputting them at any point during a previous action and holding the inputs until they are possible. The 10-frame buffer from Brawl and Smash 4 is still present in case the inputs are not held.
• Short hop aerial attacks now have a damage multiplier of 0.85×. This applies until the player lands or uses a midair jump.
• Buried opponents no longer take less knockback from attacks.
• Opponents no longer take more knockback when hit while charging a smash attack.
• The physics of launch movement has been overall sped up, with characters receiving knockback having a much higher initial speed and deceleration, resulting in being launched at higher speeds yet slowing down to nothing quickly. This does not affect moves with fixed knockback.
  • If a character is struck with enough knockback by a meteor smash, they will be KO'd as soon as they are off-screen, rather than reaching the bottom blast line. This makes sacrificial KOs that rely on meteor smashes more reliable.
  • Hitstun increases at a slower rate for knockback that causes tumbling, decreasing it at higher percents compared to Smash 4. However, this is compensated by characters being faster overall as described by the mobility changes below, still allowing for more combo opportunities below high percents.
• Fall speeds and gravity are now temporarily homogenized during hitstun from knockback which launches at angles 70-110 degrees. This prevents fast fallers from being disproportionately susceptible to ladder combos but also prevents them from having improved vertical survivability.
• The base amount of freeze frames has been increased. However, there is an additional freeze frames multiplier that is lower the more players are participating in a match, with a maximum of 1× for two players (effectively standardizing freeze frames in one-on-one matches) and a minimum of 0.75× for eight players.
• Rage has had its knockback increase reduced to a maximum 10% boost, down from 15%. Additionally, it no longer applies to hits that use set knockback, preventing linking moves with high set knockback from KOing at disproportionately early percentages.
• Stale-move negation uses higher damage reduction values, with a fully stale move dealing 0.4695× of its original damage (down from 0.5294×). Additionally, moves now stale when hitting a shield.
• Shields deplete faster when held, now even surpassing Melee's shield depletion.
• When holding a special move button or multiple shield buttons while shielding, moving the control stick allows for shield angling without triggering rolls, sidesteps, or jumps (with tap jump on), making it easier to perform.
• Perfect shields are performed in reverse: instead of pressing the shield button a few frames before an attack connects, players have to release the shield button when an attack connects on their shield instead. The window for the technique is also larger, lasting 5 frames instead of 3. A successful perfect shield causes the screen to pause briefly, with the fighter's eyes flashing yellow (similar to Final Smash standby) to signify a perfect shield, and no shield damage being taken as a result. This updated mechanic makes perfect shielding a riskier tactic, and less likely to be performed unintentionally, but allows fighters to retaliate much faster against attacks when successful.
• Shield dropping incurs 11 frames of lag, up from 7 in SSB4, making the game less defense-focused. However, the minimum time the shield must be held for before it can be dropped has been reduced from 11 frames to 3, assisting in the new perfect shield mechanic.
• Shield platform drops are no longer possible.
• Grabbing an edge consecutively without landing or getting hit now decreases the intangibility of subsequent 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.
• Edge sweet spots have become smaller, and recovery moves take longer to snap on ledges in general. This makes recovering more difficult.
• 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.
  • Opponents footstooled 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.
  • Meteor smash attacks can no longer be teched when grounded, regardless of their properties, making them more reliable for starting combos.
• Locks can only be performed twice in a row, and no longer force the target to perform a standing getup, removing their guaranteed setups into powerful moves such as charged smash attacks. However, they can still be used to combo into faster attacks before the target can get up from the lock.
• Characters that originally cannot swim or have a weakness to water in their home series now take slow, constant damage while swimming. The fighters affected include Charizard, Incineroar, Inkling and Sonic.
• If a character lands in deep water while using a move with high downwards velocity (e.g. Stone, Aether, Bowser Bomb and Super Dedede Jump), they will keep most of their movement speed when diving. This now causes those moves to become self-destructs at certain heights.
• Characters can no longer run through other characters and instead push them backward, preventing cross-ups or mixups revolving around moving through an opponent. This also seems to affect several momentum-based moves, which now stop on shield (such as Fox Illusion and Heel Slide). However, there are still a handful of moves that are still capable of crossing up, such as Simon and Richter's dash attack.
• Screen KOs are much faster, making them once again faster than Star KOs. Additionally, the blast KO effect has been added at the end of animation.
• Waiting on a revival platform now gradually decreases the invincibility period of a character after they get off it, lasting only one second instead of two if they stay on it for the maximum duration.
• Shield breaking does not grant the victim any intangibility if it happens during the last five seconds of a match.
• Sudden Death consists of the screen slowly zooming in, making the blast zones gradually shrink. It also appears to have a fixed camera angle, and the screen progressively gets covered in aesthetic flames, starting with the corners. This is presumably to balance the gameplay speed of Sudden Death across all stages, especially with large (such as Temple or New Pork City), autoscrolling (such as Mushroomy Kingdom), or Stage Builder stages. Raining Bob-ombs from Melee, Brawl and SSB4 is still present if the screen has finished zooming in and no one is KO'd.
• All characters participating in Sudden Death are ranked based on what time they are KO'd rather all KO'd characters being automatically ranked 2nd, much like in previous Smash Bros. titles minus Smash 4.
• The length of a Timed Battle can be adjusted in 30-second increments between one and three minutes.
• Stamina battles are now part of the basic rule selection, allowing for combinations such as stamina with stocks.
• The Final Smash Meter is a new Rules option that enables fighters to charge up their Final Smash over time for use without a Smash Ball. When this option is turned on, a gauge will appear under each fighter's damage display. The more damage the player deals or receives, the more the meter is filled. When it is filled, the player can use a weaker version of their Final Smash.
• The new Custom Balance menu allows assigning handicaps to individual characters. Intended for leveling the field between players of different skill levels, each character can be assigned a Custom Balance value between -3 and +3, with negative numbers reducing damage dealt, and positive numbers increasing damage dealt. These values are only applied when the Custom Balance rule option is enabled, which is not available in multi-console wireless or online play.
• Self-destructing in online matches with stocks can take away two stocks instead of one (unless it's one on one)
• All Smash Taunts now share some consistencies:
  • Subtitles now use the aforementioned main text font, rather than matching those of their respective home series.
  • Codec Conversations are disabled in the Ω form of Shadow Moses Island, as with Smash Taunts in SSB4; this also applies to all Battlefield forms as well.
  • In the Japanese version, furigana has been added to all Palutena's Guidance (as well as re-added to all Star Fox Smash Taunts), similar to Smash Taunts in Brawl.

Mobility changes

• In update 2.0.0, the ability to consistently perform a short hop by simultaneously pressing two jump buttons was added.
• The jumpsquat timing of every character has been standardized to 3 frames. This is most easily noticeable with Bowser and Snake, as both characters used to have highest jumpsquat frames in Smash 4 and Brawl respectively.
• Run speeds have been increased by about 10% for a majority of the cast, with some having larger increases, while walk speeds have had a similar 5% increase.
• Air speeds have been increased by about 5% for a majority of the cast, with some having larger increases.
• Traction has been significantly increased across the cast.
• The initial frames of full hops from the ground are sped up for all characters. Oddly, this can be bypassed by using a jump just before walking or running over the ledge.
• Landing lag for aerials has been reduced by 40% for most of the cast, and landing lag from helplessness has been significantly reduced overall. For some moves, the landing lag is even less than in Melee with L-canceling.
• Perfect pivoting can no longer be performed, as characters no longer enter their standing animation when turning around out of their initial dash.
• Rolling and spot dodging repeatedly now penalizes the user with increased lag and less intangibility frames, in a similar vein to Deep Breathing, leaving them more open to punishments.
  • Backward rolls have more ending lag overall, hindering their utility further for retreating safely, and making them practically different from forward rolls again.
  • Spot dodges can be canceled earlier than usual (by 5 frames if fresh) into any grounded attack other than grabs and dash attacks, making them more effective for retaliation after dodging opposing attacks.
• Air dodges now contain elements from all previous incarnations of the technique: players can either perform a neutral air dodge by keeping the control stick in a neutral position (akin to a neutral aerial), which functions like Brawl and Smash 4's air dodges, or a directional air dodge by holding in a direction, which grants characters a quick momentum boost towards much like Melee's air dodges, but without making them helpless.
  • Characters can only air dodge once before landing, grabbing an edge or getting hit, and both types of air dodges have much more ending lag, with directional ones lasting more than a full second. However, both have less landing lag than air dodges in Smash 4 (10 frames in the case of neutral air dodges, down from 21), and unlike air dodges in Melee, directional air dodges allow characters to grab edges during their ending lag. This significantly weakens defensive play by making air dodges more restricted and punishable but increases their effectiveness for escaping juggles and recovering if used opportunely.
  • Wavedashing has made a return from Melee, alongside techniques associated with it like wave landing. However, it is significantly weaker due to the new mechanics added to directional air dodges, compounded further by their higher landing lag, as well as the cast's increased traction. Futuremore, the universal buffs to dashing in general eliminates the need of this technique.
• Initial dashes have been lengthened, allowing some aspects of dash-dancing to return. They have also been significantly increased across the cast and have much less range invariance, with the slowest being slightly above Mario's in SSB4 and the highest being slightly above Fox's.
  • As a result, some characters now have initial dash speeds that outpace their running speeds, allowing fox-trotting to alleviate their low mobility; examples include Ganondorf and Incineroar.
• Being sent into hitstun by any attack from behind (except vertical hitstun) will preserve the direction the character is facing, like with Back Slash in Smash 4, having the effect of preserving the positions of their forward and back aerials.
  • As a result, all characters now have unique hitstun animations for taking hits from behind.

Attack changes

• Characters can now perform any ground attack out of a run, including their neutral attack, tilt attacks, and all smash attacks. In previous games, only dash attacks, up smashes and special moves could be performed out of a run. Characters can also cancel a run turn in the same way to input any grounded attack in the other direction, which was previously only possible with forward tilts, forward smashes and side specials.
• Short hop aerial attacks can be performed by pressing the jump and attack buttons at the same time. However, full hop aerial attacks are more difficult to perform as a result, and can no longer be performed on the first frame of a jump.
  • As a further aid, several ground attacks can now be canceled by jumping during their very first startup frames (with a maximum of 3 for most), in which case they will automatically transition into a short hop aerial attack.
• The linking hits of all neutral attacks have been altered, using the Sakurai angle and a 180° angle alongside low knockback values so that opponents stay on the ground and are dragged close to the user. This allows for neutral attacks to connect much more reliably than before, and gives all of them the ability to jab lock (with the exception of Ganondorf, Meta Knight, Roy and Chrom). However, this removes guaranteed jab cancel setups for most characters.
  • Neutral infinites have been reduced in damage (with the exception of Mewtwo's), but are faster and inflict less freeze frames, allowing them to land far more hits in the same amount of time, and making them harder to escape in combination with the aforementioned changes. Their pushback from hitting opponents can also no longer drop the user off edges.
  • Neutral attacks also have decreased range across the cast. Characters no longer lunge to attack and the hitboxes were adjusted to match whatever limb or weapon each character uses almost perfectly.
• The function of the 0° launch angle has been changed, now becoming 32° at knockback values greater than or equal to 120 units, similar to the Sakurai angle in SSB, but occurring later than said angle.
• Down tilts can be reversed by holding the control stick diagonally down and back, allowing characters to quickly use them in the opposite direction without the need to stand up from crouching and turn around.
• Smash attacks can be delayed for 2 additional seconds after reaching full charge. This is indicated by characters freezing in the last frame of their charging animation until the smash attack is released.
• Up smashes and up specials can be used out of shield without jumping.
• Aerial attacks can be performed while hanging onto a ladder, a property known officially as a "ladder attack".
• Frame canceling has been removed.
• All variations of regular grabs have more ending lag, making them easier to punish if missed. Conversely, extended grabs have less ending lag, no longer leaving characters as vulnerable compared to regular grabs.
• If two grabs collide, both characters take minimal damage and act as if grab released. This event is known as "grab parrying" by the in-game tips and removes the effect of port priority in determining who gets the grab.
• Shield grabs can no longer be used immediately after shieldstun from an attack ends, now forcing the character to hold their shield for 4 extra frames beforehand.
• The speed and damage of pummels has been standardized, differing only by a few frames between characters, and generally dealing from 1% to 1.6% damage. As a result, characters such as Ness and Samus have slower pummels, but they deal more damage, while most other characters' pummels are faster, but deal less damage.
• Weight dependency for throws has been removed: all throws now execute at their usual speed against the entire cast, much like in SSB.
• Edge attacks deal 9% on average (up from 7%) and now grant intangibility until their hitboxes cease, instead of until 2 frames before their hitboxes come out, allowing them to beat out opposing attacks.
• Chargeable special moves that can be stored for later use, such as Samus' Charge Shot and Donkey Kong's Giant Punch, can now be canceled by jumping. These moves can also be executed with the attack button while charging.
  • Most chargeable neutral specials that can't be stored are now reversible, whether for the duration of the charge or right before they are unleashed.
• Many taunts have been sped up or shortened, with some longer taunts, such as Mario and Zelda's up taunts, have been replaced with entirely new ones altogether, allowing characters to act out of them much quicker, with universal interruptibility on frame 50. However, this does not apply to damaging taunts, such as Luigi's down taunt.
• The effectiveness of every tether recovery has been nerfed, as they can no longer be performed at any point during air dodges, nor can they skip the lag incurred upon grabbing an edge.
• Custom special moves have been removed (with exception of Mii Fighters).
• All RCO lags on special moves have been removed.
• Final Smashes are quicker, with versions granting a controllable transformation being removed, so players can return to fighting quickly. As a result, many fighters have either new Final Smashes altogether (such as the Landmaster being replaced by an Arwing cutscene) or returning Final Smashes with altered functionalities (such as Octopus dragging opponents offstage immediately after being activated).

Aesthetic changes

• The particle effects of the game are significantly more cartoony, with a solid-color or cel-shaded aesthetic. Compared to Smash 4, hits are signified by spark-like blows instead of colorful stars, while attack effects appear visually longer-lasting or possess far larger particle effects.
• Continuing a trend from Melee and Brawl, most returning fighters feature greater model detail than in Smash 4. Character models also react to lighting more realistically, resulting in a soft white "glow" around their edges. Additionally, humanoid characters overall have slightly tanner skin tones.
  • However, hair and fur textures tend to use less complex shading and modeling techniques, resulting in a flatter appearance similar to Brawl and for 3DS.
• The characters' design styles are once again unified: cartoony franchises such as the Mario and Kirby series have slightly more realistic and subdued color schemes, while those from more realistic-looking franchises such as The Legend of Zelda and Metroid series have more vibrant color schemes. As a result, the overall color palette is slightly more subdued and less saturated than in Smash 4, but still brighter than in Melee and Brawl.
• Time slows down substantially and the camera zooms in with a colorful blue background at significant moments during a match, such as when landing a highly damaging special move (such as a fully charged Giant Punch) or when breaking a shield. The camera also does this for potential final hits of a match, dramatically pausing gameplay with intense sound effects and red lightning/background, while zooming in. These are referred to as "Special Zoom" and "Finish Zoom" by Masahiro Sakurai and the development team.
  • Special zoom is signified by a sound similar to landing a KO Uppercut or Finishing Touch, and finish zoom has SFX somewhat akin to the ping sound.
  • The slowdown and zoom do not take place when there are three or more characters on screen, though the blue background will still appear.
• In timed matches, characters in the lead will occasionally flash with gold sparkles.
• Stock icons given a simplified, 2D appearance, now appears to be akin to those in Smash 64, and usually lacking eyes (with the exception of Kirby, Meta Knight, Sonic and R.O.B.). However, most humanoid characters' stock icons are still depicted with eyebrows, accessories, as well as some facial features (e.g. Mario, Luigi, Dr. Mario and Wario's mustache, Ness and the Ice Climbers' bangs, Bayonetta's glasses). Additionally, depictions of accessories in default stock icons no longer appears to be inconsistent with their actual colors; for example, Peach's crown now given its usual golden color instead of pink like in previous games, the latter of which matched the color of her dress.
• The rattling effect during hit lag is now more exaggerated, and a crescent-shaped angle indicator now appears when the victim SDIs.
• Knockback dealt by strong attacks will show a bright blue angle indicator, which visualizes the effect of directional influence along the character's final trajectory. This can be difficult to notice due to the effect being very brief, although moves with high hitstun or paralysis effects allow it to be seen for a decent timeframe.
• After using up their midair jump(s), characters leave behind a subtle, transparent trail when moving through the air and until they regain their jumps. This aesthetic effect is difficult to notice unless the camera is zoomed onto a character or the scenery behind them is particularly bright.
• Punching and kicking SFX on hit are different and sound harder-hitting compared to the previous game, with even weaker attacks playing loud "punch" effects.
• If two fighter's bladed weapons clash, they now produce a "clanging" noise, reminiscent of a similar effect in Melee. The sound depends on the type of blades that clash; metal blades and energy-based swords both produce different sound effects.
• Characters stunned after breaking their shield will have their voice clip play constantly instead of only once, much like in Smash 64 and Melee. This was exclusive to Roy in Smash 4.
• Fighters sent flying now leave a colorful, lingering trail of solid-colored smoke behind them. If dealt enough knockback, they will also play a whistling sound while flying, akin to a jet plane, rather than the lower-pitched wind rushing sound from Smash 4.
• Characters flash yellow when they are close to breaking out of a grab, as well as during their grab immunity period after being released.
• When button mashing out of an unactionable state such as being grabbed or stunned, characters display wind blade-like particles around them that increase in quantity depending on how fast they mash.
• Blast KOs cause a burst of confetti on the screen alongside the standard colorful blast.
• Star KO'd characters now use a tumbling animation similar to Brawl's Screen KOs (except for several characters), rolling away from the screen as they fly away.
• Phantom footstools now play the footstool sound effect to indicate one being performed, and a yellow jump circle appears.
• Similar to Lightning Kick and Knee Smash from previous games, as well as most of Mega Man and Wii Fit Trainer's movesets in Smash 4, even more non-special moves received nicknames, which can be seen on Tips.
• Final Smashes now cause a segment of the screen to show the upper right portion of the summoner's face (in Mr. Game & Watch's case, the close up is of where his eyes would be; in Piranha Plant's case, the close up of its teeth), which is taken entirely from the summoner's official artwork, before the move begins, similar to Chrom's appearance in Pair Up.
• Compared to Brawl and Smash 4, several fighter animations have been made significantly more dramatic and tailored to look better from the camera's perspective. Examples of this are Mario's Up Tilt, Bowser's Flying Slam, and Donkey Kong's Giant Punch.
• Fighters are much more expressive than they were in Smash 4; most characters now sport a shocked/surprised expression when missing a grab and will scowl or frown when putting up their shield.
• Any characters standing too close to a Final Smash will visibly react to it by displaying a shocked facial expression.
• While on Final Smash standby, the character's damage gauge will constantly spark with aqua-colored electricity. Upon use, one of the eyes on the fighter's character portrait will flash.
• When a character has more than 120% damage, smoke will constantly come out of their damage meter.
• Many Assist Trophies and Final Smashes now affect the background of the stage.
• Announcer-related changes:
  • When selecting characters in a time or stock match, the announcer now says "Timed battle!" and "Stock battle!" respectively, rather than "Free-for-all!/Battle royale!" and "Survival!"
    • In Brawl, the announcer did say "Timed battle" for Spanish and Italian, but it was changed in Smash 4.
  • 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 life steal 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.
  • On the results screen, the announcer now says "(Character name/Team color) wins!" ("(Character name/Team color) win!" in the Japanese version), instead of saying "The winner is... (character name/team color)!" (Brawl/Smash 4) or "This game's winner is... (character name/team color)!" (Smash 64/Melee). Additionally, after Team Battles, all teammates will perform their complete victory animation instead of only the player with the highest score/stock count, much like the first three installments. As a result, all victory poses now "freeze" at the same time point during their animations.
    • 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.
• Names now override some instances of character names, such as underneath the damage meter.
  • 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.
• Counterattacks that retaliate against sufficiently strong attacks will now cause the user to let out a large, bright yellow flash.
• The flower effect's flower appearance was changed and now resembles the pink flowers seen on the title screen of Panel de Pon.
• As a fighter moves closer to the blast zone, their hoop shrinks. When a fighter is right next to the blast zone, the ring on their hoop flashes yellow.

Item changes

• Certain types of items, such as Banana Peels, can now be picked up by tilt attacks.
• There can now be more than one Assist Trophy active at any given time. Additionally, some characters summoned by an Assist Trophy can be KO'd, granting a point to whoever KO'd said character. The summoner can also KO their own assist trophy to prevent the loss of a point. If multiple players summon an Assist Trophy each, they will proceed to fight one another if close enough.
• Smash Balls now have a chance of spawning with Soccer Ball physics, rolling around the stage and respawning once they drop offstage. They despawn after a set time. This property is similarly present in Fake Smash Balls.
• The Boss Galaga causes a black background to cover the screen when it catches an opponent, complete with pixel stars. Additionally, the Boss Galaga now always causes a trapped character to be Star KO'd, which can be seen with the character in the distance. The star also becomes larger.
• The Beetle now forces a Screen KO on characters taken past the upper blast line. Additionally, it can be seen attached behind the character throughout the animation.
• The Hammer and Golden Hammer have a unique 8-bit-styled hit particle, resembling the particle effect used when Mario destroys a barrel or a fireball in the original Donkey Kong. The corresponding sound effect is also taken from the original game. Additionally, the former's music is now taken directly from the arcade version of the game.
• The Warp Star's descent can now be either stalled or hastened by the user.
• The Timer now creates a dark warping background alongside its usual slowdown effect.
• Blast Boxes now explode after some time if hit. This is signified by a dull orange flash around the box that slowly gets brighter.
• The Beam Sword now creates an aesthetic trail from its blade when thrown or dropped.
• Sandbag will now show a happy expression if left idle for long enough.
• Shrinking and growing animations have been reverted to their Melee versions. As such, they are much faster and are no longer unique to each character.
• Explosive items directly thrown at opponents no longer harm the thrower.
• Characters can perform a midair jump while firing a Super Scope, Fire Flower, Gust Bellows, and Ramblin' Evil Mushroom and holding a completed Daybreak.
  • However, they can no longer dash forward while holding them.

Reception

Ultimate reviews
Publication	Score
Edge Magazine	9 of 10
Electronic Gaming Monthly	5 of 5
Famitsu	38 of 40
Game Revolution	4.5 of 5
GameInformer	9.5 of 10
GameSpot	9 of 10
IGN	9.4 of 10
Compilations of multiple reviews
Metacritic	93% (99 reviews)
Awards
Game of the Year
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award Japanese Product Global Award Best Sales Award Award for Excellence Grand Award
Game of the Year

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate received universal critical acclaim from both critics and the audience, with several critics calling it the best installment in the series. They praised its large amount of content and fine-tuning of existing Smash gameplay elements, although its online mode received criticism. It was estimated that the game sold over 5 million copies worldwide within three days of release, making it the fastest selling Switch game.

The game has sold 12.08 million units as of December 31st, 2018, marking it as the fastest-selling Nintendo game in history. In March 2019, that number reached 13.81 million, surpassing the total number of sales for the Wii U console in just 4 months. Since then, that number has reached 18.84 million units as of March 31st, 2020, making it the best selling game in the series, and also making it the best selling fighting game of all time (previously held by Super Smash Bros. Brawl with 13.30 million copies).

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate currently holds an aggregate review score of 93% on Metacritic, tying it with Brawl as the highest-rated game in the series on the website, and held a score of 92.17% on GameRankings prior to its shutdown.

At The Game Awards 2019, Ultimate was nominated for Best Fighting Game, Best Family Game, and Game of the Year. It won Best Fighting Game, though it lost to Luigi's Mansion 3 and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, respectively, in the other two categories. In a first for the awards show, a separate, tournament-style nomination called Player's Voice allowed fans to vote on certain games that they deemed their favorite; Ultimate successfully made its way to the final round of voting, though it lost to Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Gallery

Logos

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  Promotional Box art

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  Digital box art

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  Key Artwork

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  English logo

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  Japanese logo

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  Traditional Chinese logo

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  Simplified Chinese logo

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  Korean logo

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  English title screen

Characters

Artwork

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  Official illustration of Inkling.

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  Official animation of Mario.

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  Official illustration of Mario and Rathalos.

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  Official illustration of Simon and Richter.

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  Official illustration of Villager and Isabelle.

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  Official image of Pac-Man and Mr. Game & Watch.

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  Official illustration of Link, Kirby, Mario, and Cloud.

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  Official image of Bomberman.

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  Official image of Kirby.

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  Official illustration of Sonic.

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  Official image of all playable Pokémon characters, and the many Poké Ball Pokémon.

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  Official illustration of the playable Zelda cast.

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  Official illustration of all playable Fire Emblem characters and Assist Trophies.

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  Official image of all playable Fire Emblem characters on Arena Ferox.

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  Official illustration of Bayonetta, Rodin, and Madama Butterfly.

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  Official image of Snake.

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  Official image of Pit.

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  Official illustration of Mega Man.

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  Official illustration of Inkling.

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  Official illustration of Joker.

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  Official illustration of Terry.

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  Official illustration of all of the base game fighters.

Splash Art

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  Splash art of Ridley.

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  Splash art of Simon.

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  Splash art of Richter.

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  Splash art of Chrom.

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  Splash art of Dark Samus.

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  Splash art of King K. Rool.

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  Splash art of Isabelle.

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  Splash art of Ken.

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  Splash art of Incineroar.

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  Splash art of Piranha Plant.

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  Splash art of Joker.

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  Splash art of Hero.

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  Splash art of Banjo & Kazooie.

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  Splash art of Terry.

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  Splash art of male Byleth.

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  Splash art of female Byleth.

Trivia

• This is the first and only Super Smash Bros. game to:
  • Not feature the involvement of Satoru Iwata, as he passed away on July 11, 2015.
  • Be released in the same year it was announced since Melee.
  • Feature the same starting roster as another Smash game (being the same as the original Super Smash Bros.).
  • Have no veteran characters cut since Melee.
  • Have a simultaneous worldwide release.
  • Have both the English announcer and voice actor of Master Hand and Crazy Hand unchanged, with Xander Mobus reprising his role from Super Smash Bros. 4, as well as having the announcer use recycled voice clips from the previous game.
  • Include a character voiced by the English voice actor for the announcer, Master Hand, and Crazy Hand (albeit, via DLC), via Joker.
  • Feature native Dutch and Russian announcers for those translations.
  • Allow a boss to be playable without hacks or glitches.
  • Upgrade a boss to be a playable character (excluding Giga Bowser's limited playability from Brawl onwards as Bowser's Final Smash).
  • Have the enemy team remain unchanged from the previous game, with the Fighting Mii Team reprising their role from Smash 4.
  • Directly reference the enemy team from a previous game, with the Fighting Alloy Team from Brawl appearing as a spirit.
  • Have all of its veterans announced prior to launch and at the same time.
  • Feature more unlockable characters than starter characters.
  • Not feature newcomers as starter characters.
  • Have no unique unlocking criteria for unlockable characters, with any method for unlocking them being able to unlock all of them.
  • Feature third-party universes with more than one character.
  • Feature a third-party universe with more than one stage in the same game (counting both versions of Smash 4 as separate).
  • Feature third-party universes with more than one Assist Trophy.
  • Feature a boss as an Assist Trophy.
  • Feature a character as both a background character and an easter egg character in two different stages within the same game (counting both versions of Smash 4 as separate).
  • Upgrade stage background characters to be Assist Trophies, namely Knuckles, Moon, and Kapp'n, who appear on Green Hill Zone, Great Bay, and Smashville, respectively.
  • Have more returning stages than new stages.
  • Have no unlockable stages.
  • Not have a minigame featuring targets, such as Target Smash! and Target Blast.
  • Not allow all playable characters to be used in all game modes (barring online multiplayer), as Mii Fighters are disallowed in Smashdown and Classic Mode.
  • Have Marth, Roy, and Zelda receive English voice acting, albeit the lattermost only in the World of Light intro cutscene.
  • Not introduce new stages from the Pokémon and Kirby universes.
    • This also applies to Donkey Kong, Metroid, Yoshi and Star Fox if both versions of Super Smash Bros. 4 are counted as the same game.
      • Counting both versions of SSB4 as one game, this is also the first game since the original to not introduce a new stage from the EarthBound and F-Zero universes.
  • Feature Assist Trophies from third-party universes without playable characters, namely Bomberman, Shovel Knight, Monster Hunter, and Virtua Fighter.
  • Have a lyricized theme song in both English and Japanese.
  • Introduce more new third-party universes with playable characters than first-party universes (5 third-parties vs. 2 first-parties).
  • Feature a universe owned by a current console rival to Nintendo (Banjo-Kazooie, owned by Microsoft).
    • However, Banjo-Kazooie was originally a second-party Nintendo property prior to Rare's acquisition by Microsoft.
      • As Rare is located in the United Kingdom and Microsoft is located in the United States, this also makes Ultimate the first game in the series to contain a major universe which is not created nor owned by a Japanese company.
  • Have the entire base roster revealed before launch.
  • Have more DLC newcomers than base-game newcomers.
  • Have more Assist Trophies than Poké Ball Pokémon.
  • Announce a newcomer without revealing their identity, only the series they represent.
  • Feature unlockable Donkey Kong, Metroid, and Kirby characters.
• This is the second Super Smash Bros. game to:
  • Not be announced alongside new hardware, the first being the original Super Smash Bros. (counting both versions of Super Smash Bros. 4 as the same game). Super Smash Bros. Melee was revealed alongside the final retail version of the Nintendo GameCube at E3 2001; Super Smash Bros. Brawl was announced alongside the Wii itself, then-codenamed Revolution at E3 2005; and Super Smash Bros. 4 was announced alongside the Wii U at E3 2011.
  • Feature lyrics in its main theme, with Super Smash Bros. Brawl being the first.
  • Have characters able to be unlocked without battling them in their regular unlocking battle first, the first being Super Smash Bros. Brawl; in both cases, characters can be unlocked directly through Adventure Mode.
  • Have 2D hand-drawn artwork on the box art, the first being the original Super Smash Bros.
  • Have the announcer featuring unique, translated voice clips in the Korean version (the character calls for the Ice Climbers, Young Link, Villager, Rosalina & Luma, Greninja, Isabelle, and Incineroar), the first being Super Smash Bros. Brawl; although the announcer is voiced by Xander Mobus rather than a native Korean voice actor, unlike in Brawl and like in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
  • Upgrade Assist Trophies and a summonable character to be playable characters, with Little Mac and Palutena in SSB4 being the first.
  • Not feature trophies, with the first being the original Super Smash Bros.
• When not including DLC, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has the lowest number of:
  • Newcomers at 11, beating Smash 64's original 12.
  • New stages at 7, beating Smash 64's 9.
  • New character-based universes introduced, with only two (Splatoon and Castlevania), beating Melee's three (Ice Climber, Fire Emblem, and Game & Watch).
    • Counting DLC, though, it currently has the second-highest amount of new character-based universes introduced, at seven (with Persona, Dragon Quest, Banjo-Kazooie, Fatal Fury, and ARMS being added as DLC), surpassing Brawl's six and tied with Smash 4's base game, and has the second-lowest amount of new stages added, currently at 12.
• Because of the size of the USK icon on the game's box art, the German version has a slightly different variation of the said box art: Pikachu is moved upwards, Yoshi is completely missing, and the logo is off-centered.
• Ultimate's release date falls one day after the late Satoru Iwata's birthday, December 6 (which was also the release date of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U in Japan).
• Discounting ports of older games, this game marks the only appearances of King K. Rool, Zero Suit Samus, Ridley, Dark Samus, Ness, Lucas, Ice Climbers, Roy, Ike, Pit, Palutena, Dark Pit, Olimar, R.O.B., Wii Fit Trainer, Duck Hunt, Richter Belmont, and Banjo & Kazooie on the Nintendo Switch as of 2020.
  • Of these characters, Ridley, Ice Climbers, Pit, Palutena, and Little Mac all appear in ports via the Nintendo Entertainment System: Nintendo Switch Online software. Little Mac also makes a cameo appearance in Luigi's Mansion 3 in a framed poster of him in his victory pose with Doc Louis and Mr. Sandman in the background.
  • It also marks the first, but not last, appearances of Samus, Pichu, Greninja, Incineroar, Joker, and Hero on the Nintendo Switch.
• This game marks the 100th performance credit of Charles Martinet as the voice of Mario, a landmark for which he received a Guinness World Record for the most video game voice-over performances of a single character.

External links

• Official Super Smash Bros. Ultimate website