Super Smash Bros Ultimate

The other game I've been playing lately is Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Yep, I finally took the plunge and have upgraded from Smash U. It's just been so hard to hold out on the hype. And over the weekend there was even a tournament streaming on Nintendo's YT page, so I was really in the mood to get into this one.

I have to admit, the gigantic roster actually sort of intimidated me going in. It's that whole choice paralysis thing. Freedom from choice is what we want! But Nintendo was SUPER smart on this one. They start you off with just eight playable characters, and you slowly unlock new ones as you play. This is a great move as it makes decisions early on easier about who to experiment with.

For instance, in Smash U my go-to was usually Toon Link. But I don't have him here yet. So instead, I started out by just randomly trying whoever until I landed on Pikachu who I REALLY enjoy using. By limiting my choices early on, it made me find a character that I liked enough to learn some moves and now I'm having a blast.

I've unlocked Nes, Bowser, Wii Fit Trainer, Ice Climbers and Donky Kong so far. Maybe someone else? OH! But most importantly, I've unlocked Inkling which made me SOOOO happy as a Splatoon fan. Also, she's quite fun to play as.

So yeah, great game so far and I'm having fun seeing who I'll unlock next. Also, I'm not that great at the game, so it'll be a while before I even think about hopping online.

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This game is so great, and there's no shortage of things to do to keep it fresh. I've unlocked quite a few characters already, but it's still just a drop in the bucket. I ran through Pikachu's story more. I spectated an online match and bet on it (and won). I've poked around in the soundtrack music player...

And I love just how customizable everything is. I've set my matches to play more like the sort of tournaments I've seen on YT. Meaning, matches are played with 3 lives stocked, run for 6 minutes, have no items or environmental hazards. And man, just those tweaks have made the experience feel better suited for me.

So far, Pikachu is still my favorite. But like I said, I've just scratched the surface. I'm enjoying playing as Ryu as well right now. Great game. Just a great game.

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I am completely and totally hooked on Smash Ultimate. Not only does it feel like the ultimate Smash game, it feels to me like the pinnacle of fighting games. It's like, now that Smash has completely clicked with me, I almost don't know if I could go on and enjoy other fighting games quite as much as I used to.

There's just something so pure about the controls in this game - once they make sense and you've tweaked them as needed. For instance, I turn off the tap-up to jump option. And I make the A and B buttons jumps, while Y is attack and X is special.

Last night I unlocked several more fighters. Of utmost importance to me was Simon Belmont (YES!) and Zero Suit Samus (YES!). But my goodness, I feel like I'll just keep playing this game for a long time. And it'll definitely be something I'll continue to come back to between other games. It's just nice that now I totally GET Smash, whereas before I just thought it was pretty fun.

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I completely love this game. I'm still slowly unlocking characters. And I'm having so much fun. Characters I really enjoy, I'll run through the classic mode with. And I've been using any gold I acquire solely to unlock more music. My goodness, the music selection is incredible for video game historians/fans. I feel like this will be one of those games that I'll just play on and off forever.

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Well, it took me two weeks, but I finally unlocked all the playable (non-DLC) characters in Smash. It was a good run. And I have to admit that towards the end, I figured out the trick where if you exit the game completely and then restart it after each new challenger round, you'll pretty much be guaranteed a new challenger when you boot it back up, thus expediting the unlock process.

But yeah, this game rules hard and I'm glad I finally got into it. Now seems like a good spot to take a break from Smash and play something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT and then come back to it later with the intention of messing around online. Oh, and I'm pretty sure now that my favorite fighter to main is Ryu. I think he's overtaken Pikachu. And oddly, I don't even seem to click with Toon Link anymore who was my favorite in Smash U. Weird.