Super Smash Bros Ultimate is the fifth game in Nintendo’s beloved Super Smash Bros series. The game is simple. A bunch of Nintendo characters, plus a few guest fighters from other companies, beat each other up. Ultimate brings in several new fighters from Nintendo games, such as the Inklings from Splatoon, Ridley and Dark Samus from the Metroid series, King K. Rool from the Donkey Kong series, Isabelle from Animal Crossing, New Leaf, and Incineroar from Pokemon Sun and Moon. Three new guest fighters also join in the fight — Simon and Richter Belmont from Castlevania and Ken from Street Fighter. Everyone who was in a previous Smash game also returns. There are several new things added into this game. One of the most important are the introductions of spirits, various other video game characters that can give your fighter various effects during the match. The game also has a story mode, known as World of Light. In it, you rescue various fighters and spirits in order to stop Galeem, the lord of light.

As much as I don’t want to admit it, this game isn’t perfect. I do miss some of the transformation final smashes (each fighter’s ultimate attack), as it was a lot of fun control them when they were unstoppable. The removal of custom moves for every fight except the Miis was a bit of sore spot for me as well. The online is also a little choppy right now.

Insignificant nitpicks aside, this game is fantastic. Every fighter returning for another fight was a beautiful thing to see. All of the returning fighters are great to play. As soon as I unlocked Sonic, my personal favorite from the last two games, I was able to get right back into a rhythm with him. All of the newcomers are a lot of fun, with my personal favorites being the Inkings and Incineroar. I felt like the spirits were a great addition, as well as allowing us to see some popular requests for fighters in the game in some way. The story mode was a total blast to play through, with all of the crazy spirit battles. A final smash meter, a meter at the bottom of your character’s icon that gives them a final smash instead of having to break open a smash ball, was a really nice touch and can create a very chaotic match. A tourney mode being built into the main game instead of having to play online is also very helpful if you are having a bunch of friends over. Two more new party additions are also a lot of fun. Squad Strike occurs whenever someone is knocked out; someone else brings in a brand new fighter instead of someone just respawning. Smashdown occurs when, every time a fighter is used, they are blocked off until every character has been used.

If I went over every awesome new thing in this game, we would be here all day. I wasn’t kidding when I said this was one of Nintendo’s finest games. Plus, with new DLC fighters coming out, I don’t think this game is going to get stale any time soon.

Rating: 5/5