Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

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

"SSBU" redirects here. For the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros. 4, see Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
North American box art.
Developer(s)	Bandai Namco Sora Ltd.
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) is a 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 both versions of Super Smash Bros. 4 are counted as two games). The game was released worldwide on December 7th, 2018.

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.

Fighters

Panoramic Artwork of all announced fighters as of June 11th, 2019.

All 63 characters (65 if counting the Pokémon Trainer as three fighters) from all previous Smash Bros. games return as playable characters. As well as the returning cast, the game also features 11 newcomers in the base game, with at least six characters (four known and two unknown) planned as downloadable content. In total, this ensures that at least 74 characters (76 if counting the Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon) are playable in the game at launch and 80 (82) characters are playable overall, the most for any Smash Bros. game. Each character is numbered in the order from when 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 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with all of the 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. 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 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. It has been confirmed that five more unique newcomers will be added as DLC by February of 2020. With the exception of Piranha Plant, all of the DLC characters can be bought together as part of the Fighter Pass. Persona's Joker is part of Challenger Pack 1, the Hero from Dragon Quest is part of Challenger Pack 2, and Banjo & Kazooie are part of Challenger Pack 3. As of E3 2019, the other two fighters and their Challenger Packs are currently 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 18: specifically, Alph as a palette swap of Olimar; each of the seven Koopalings as palette swaps of Bowser Jr.; Pokémon Trainer, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Robin, Corrin, Inkling, and Pikachu each have opposite gendered variants as palette swaps; and the Hero has three other protagonists from across the series as palette swaps. However, these characters are not treated as separate characters ingame.

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.

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 come from certain stages, which are Gaur Plain, Wily Castle, and Find Mii respectively.

Stages

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 (305 if counting Battlefield forms and Ω forms separately) at base game.

Five additional stages are being added to the game as part of the fighter pass DLC, which will bring the number of stages up to 108 (320 if counting Battlefield forms and Ω forms separately). Currently, three DLC stages are known, the first being Mementos which released alongside Joker, the second is Yggdrasil's Altar which released alongside Hero, and later Spiral Mountain will be releasing with Banjo & Kazooie. The other two stages are unknown as of E3 2019. 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 either single player-only stages and 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.

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

New Items

For the entire list of items, see Items page.

Item	Type	Heavy	Notes	Universe
Banana Gun	Shooting		Ejects the banana out of the peel and the player is left with the banana peel after using it.	Super Smash Bros.
Beastball	Throwing		Reappears near an opponent after being thrown and targets them, covered in flames.	Super Smash Bros.
Black Hole	Throwing		Creates a massive black hole, dragging all items and players nearby in. Throws the opposite side of user's orientation.	Super Smash Bros.
Bomber	Special		Explodes in the player's hand when used, which only affects enemies. Will also explode after a short amount of time or if it falls off a ledge, affecting everyone.	Kirby
Death's Scythe	Battering		Instantly KOs opponents at high percentages.	Castlevania
Fake Smash Ball	Special		Flies around the stage, similar to the Smash Ball. Characters can break it in order to activate. Once broken, it will explode.	Super Smash Bros.
Healing Field	Throwing/Recovery		Can be thrown on the ground. Once thrown, it will open up and will heal anyone standing on it.	Super Smash Bros.
Healing Sprout	Throwing/Recovery		Sticks to fighters and gradually heals them. Can be transferred on contact like the Gooey Bomb.	Super Smash Bros.
Killing Edge	Battering		Will occasionally glow, causing it to do more damage.	Fire Emblem
Rage Blaster	Shooting		Does more damage the higher the user's damage is.	Super Smash Bros.
Ramblin' Evil Mushroom	Shooting		Emits spores that, when they hit an opponent, cause a mushroom to grow on that opponent's head, reversing their controls.	EarthBound
Staff	Shooting		Fires a laser which deals increased damage the greater its distance from the user.	Kid Icarus
Super Launch Star	Throwing		Can be set in midair, where it will attract and launch any characters that get too close to it. The launch has the potential to KO fighters.	Mario

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 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 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, 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 as new playable characters, as well as the inclusion of DLC fighters - Piranha Plant appearing shortly after launch, followed by five other unannounced characters, which have been selected in advance by Nintendo as future additions, and have yet to be developed. 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 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 on April 17.

During Nintendo's E3 2019 presentation on June 11th, 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, 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. The presentation was hosted by Sakurai himself.

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.
• All stages now have a Battlefield form. Ω forms are also standardized to have the same underside shape akin to Final Destination, with none of them having vertical walls.
• 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.
• Alternate costumes are now shown at the bottom of the player's portrait, with at least 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).
• In timed matches, characters in the lead will occasionally flash with a gold sparkle.
• 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 onscreen whenever a stock is lost (except when its 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.
• The closer a fighter is to a blast zone, the smaller their "magnifying glass" camera becomes. It will start flashing when they are almost touching the blast line.
• 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, or Joker's Rebellion Gauge.
• 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.
• 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".
• Sound Test can be used to create music playlists, which can be played in handheld mode while the screen is off like a music player.
• 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.
• 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.
• The main text font from Melee, Brawl and SSB4 is no longer used.
• The user can set up control settings for players who don't enter a name.

Gameplay changes

• To increase gameplay speed, all damage taken in one-on-one fights with no items is multiplied by 1.2×.
• 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.
• The physics of launch movement have 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 disproportionally 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 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, they will keep most of their movement speed when diving. This now causes moves such as Stone, Aether, Bowser Bomb or Super Dedede Jump to become self-destructs at certain heights.
• Characters can no longer run through other characters and instead push them backwards, 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.
• 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. If the screen has finished zooming in, Bob-ombs will start falling after a while.
• 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)

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.
• 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, leaving them more vulnerable.
  • 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 wavelanding. 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.
• 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 in variance, 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 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 instantly turn around to input any grounded attack in the other direction.
• Short hop aerial attacks can be performed by pressing the jump and attack buttons at the same time. However, this makes full hop aerial attacks more difficult to perform.
  • As a further aid, several ground attacks can now be canceled by jumping during their very first startup frames (with a maximum of three for most), in which case they will automatically transition into a short hop aerial attack.
• The linking hits of all neutral attacks have had their angles and knockback altered to drag opponents close to the user, in addition to not lifting them off if they are on the ground. 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.
  • Neutral infinites have all been reduced in damage, but do far more hits in the same amount of time and inflict less freeze frames, making them harder to escape. Their pushback from hitting opponents can also no longer drop the user off edges.
• The function of the 0° launch angle has been changed, now raising to 30° at greater knockback values, similarly to the Sakurai angle, 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 two 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, instead forcing the character to hold their shield for 4 extra frames beforehand.
• Pummels have been universally sped up, 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 have been buffed, dealing 9% damage on average (up from 7%), and now granting intangibility until the hitboxes cease rather than until 2 frames before the hitboxes come out, allowing them to beat out opposing attacks.
• Chargeable, storable special moves 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.
• Taunts can be interrupted much quicker, with most of them having faster animations. 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.
• 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, or returning Final Smashes with altered functionalities, such as Landmaster being replaced by an Arwing cutscene, and Octopus dragging opponents offstage immediately after transforming.

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 and more subdued colors than in Smash 4.
  • However, hair and fur detail has been toned down, resulting in a generally flatter appearance.
• 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.
• The rattling effect during hitlag 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.
• 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.
• 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 to 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 mashing out of an inactionable 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, 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.
• Final Smashes now cause a segment of the screen to show the upper 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.
• 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 timepoint during their animations.
  • In Smash 64, the announcer did say "(Team color) wins!", but this was changed in Melee.
• Even more characters now face the screen regardless of 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.

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, if the Boss Galaga Star KOs a character, it can now be seen with the character in the distance. The star also becomes larger.
• 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.
• The Warp Star's descent can now be stalled 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

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. As of March 2019, Ultimate has sold 13.81 million copies, which is greater than the total number of sales for the Wii U. Since then, the game has sold 14.73 million units as of June 30, 2019, 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).

Metacritic gave the game a 93/100, tying it with Brawl as the highest-rated game in the series on the website, while GameRankings gave it a 92.17% .

Gallery

Miscellaneous

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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 the Hedgehog.

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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 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 The Hero.

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  Splash art of Banjo & Kazooie.

Trivia

• This is the first Super Smash Bros. game to:
  • Not be announced alongside new hardware since the original Super Smash Bros.. 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. Moreover, unlike the latter two games, this is the first time since Super Smash Bros. Melee that a Smash Bros. game is not announced years in advance, as Super Smash Bros. Brawl was announced in 2005 and revealed a year later, and Super Smash Bros. 4 was announced in 2011 and revealed two years later.
  • 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.
  • Have no veteran characters cut since Melee.
  • Have a simultaneous worldwide release.
  • Have the announcer's English voice actor unchanged, with Xander Mobus reprising his role from Super Smash Bros. 4.
  • Allow a boss to be playable without hacks or glitches.
  • Have all of its veterans announced prior to launch and at the same time.
  • Feature more unlockable characters than starter characters.
  • 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.
  • Have more returning stages than new stages.
  • Have no unlockable stages.
  • Feature Assist Trophies from third-party universes without playable characters (Bomberman, Shovel Knight, Monster Hunter, and Virtua Fighter).
  • Have a lyricized theme song in both English and Japanese.
  • Have all characters share the same amount of alternate costumes.
  • Introduce more new third-party universes with playable characters than first-party universes.
  • Feature a universe owned by a current console rival to Nintendo (Banjo-Kazooie, owned 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.
  • Not feature a new remix of the Super Mario Bros. ground theme, Jungle Hijinxs from Donkey Kong Country, or The Legend of Zelda main theme (if one does not count the Termina Field remix).
• Because of the size of the USK icon on the game's box art, the German version has a slightly different variation of 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).
• This is the third Super Smash Bros. game to have an Adventure Mode, the first being Super Smash Bros. Melee and the second being Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
• This is the second Super Smash Bros. game where characters can be unlocked without battling them first, the first being Super Smash Bros. Brawl; in both cases, characters can be unlocked directly through Adventure Mode.
• This is the second Super Smash Bros. game to feature hand-drawn artwork on the box art, 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 with (Ice Climber, Fire Emblem, and Game & Watch).
    • Counting DLC, though, Ultimate introduces the third-highest amount of newcomers at 17 (beaten out by Smash 4's 21 and Brawl's 18), the second lowest amount of new stages at 12 and is currently ahead of Melee in terms of new character-based universes introduced by 3 (with Persona, Dragon Quest, and Banjo-Kazooie being added as DLC).
• This game marks the only appearances of King K. Rool, Zero Suit Samus, Ridley, Dark Samus, Greninja, Incineroar, Ness, Lucas, Roy, Ike, Dark Pit, Olimar, R.O.B., Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Duck Hunt, Richter, and Banjo & Kazooie on the Nintendo Switch as of 2019.
  • It also marks the first, but not the last appearances of Samus, Pichu, Pit, Palutena, 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