still worth jumping into Smash Ultimate?

Hey everybody!

So I've been thinking about picking up Smash Ultimate for a while. I'll be honest, the last time I played Smash was the original on 64 back when it came out.

The idea of going through World of Light and unlocking the characters/spirits sounds like a decent amount of fun to me. I recently went through all of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and did something similar racing alone to get all the carts/wheels, etc.

I don't really have anyone to play against in the game, so I'd be mostly going alone with this thing. Is it still worth jumping in if competitive play isn't really an option?

Thanks for any advice/opinions you may have!

Still definitely fun. There's a lot of content to explore and different challenge modes and things. And it's smash so even just messing around in free for all's against AI is fun to a degree. The online is meh though, so don't expect a highly competitive online experience, but sounds like you're more interested in solo content anyway.

@mezza: Good to hear. Hoping maybe I can convince my wife to give the game a shot. She's not a huge "gamer" but she does like Mario Kart and Super Mario Bros. in general.

I'm going to give the very unsatisfying answer of "it depends."

There's a lot of solo content in Smash Ultimate, not just including World of Light (which I think is just kind of so-so but is at least quite long) but also arcade ladders for each of the dozens of characters and various other modes and custom battles. So if you like single player fighting games especially in Smash's style then there's a ton there for you.

On the other hand there's no strong solo story like in a Netherrealm game, and the customization stuff is much weaker than in something like the Namco games (which also has better story stuff) so it really comes down to whether you enjoy the wacky fighting with tons of stages, weapons, and rule variations.

Personally I enjoy Smash and I played it almost exclusively solo when it came out and got about 40 hours out of it, so I wouldn't discourage you. But the Smash gameplay doesn't gel with everyone, and the stuff around the gameplay that a lot of fighting games have added (better stories, great character cutomization, etc...) just isn't there.

World of Light is essentially just a series of reasonably fun challenges against various opponents and formats, with a few boss battles thrown in. It's nothing like Subspace Emisary. But if the idea of playing a whole lot of single player Smash appeals to you then there's a ton to do in the game, it's polished, fun, has literally the best soundtrack in gaming with all the music that's in there from various games, and still manages to surprise and delight from time to time.

@bigsocrates: Thank you for the response. Definitely appreciate it. There's something about just checking off things to unlock that just clicks with me, which I'm thinking might be enough to keep playing through WoL and whatever other single player content there is.

I'm also kind of curious about the challenge modes too. Sounds like a neat diversion at times.

@mightyduck: I think if you go into it with a similar mindset of how you've been playing Mario Kart, you can definitely have a good time. I play Smash predominantly solo, and love it. The World of Light stuff is a fun (long winded) breather for sure (especially if you've been around video games for a while since there are a million references throughout). But I enjoy trying to beat the arcade modes with different characters more than that.

I will also add, my girlfriend has played every Smash with me for the last 14 years, but she thinks Ultimate is a little too overwhelming at times. She feels that there are just too many characters with different moves and that she feels like she needs to know all of them in order to properly fight against them. This caused Smash to fall out of our rotation much earlier than it usually does while we still pick up and play mk8 despite having played it since its wii u days.

Yes. It's good! Personally I feel it's a little too chaotic with all the items on, but if you turn items off it's a very fun fighter. Also don't be afraid to go online. Lag is still a problem but it's still playable and very fun, even if you're like me and not especially good.

@mightyduck I could see that perspective from your gf - the sheer number off things in this game can be overwhelming. But I wouldn't say you have to know the ins and outs of all the characters to have a good time. I had a good time just trying out a few characters and then mostly sticking to the handful of ones that I like, and switching it up when I get bored. Sure, if you want to be very competitive you have to know them, but the game is still quite fun at an amateur level.

Yeah, World of Light is a solid 15-25 hours. It's pretty meaty with cool references to other games. There's also a robust online community so its easy to find games that way if you want. Not as fun as with friends in the same room, but its decent for what it is.

I picked it up recently. Also a solo player, and not into competitive Smash at all. I don't regret the buy. I think World of Light is really cool most of the time, and unlocking stuff there is a lot of fun. There are a massive amount of characters, and the controls make it pretty easy to pick up any one of them. I've even had fun running a few NPC only matches and watching them rip each other up (check out Dan Ryckert's Smashy Bet on Twitch, if that idea appeals to you).

I do think the game kind of suffers in places because the competitive crowd has demanded such a degree of micromanagement. There are a lot of places where it feels like it's trying meticulously to be challenging and balanced, and not really trying to be goofy or fun. Like watching a boxing match instead of a kung fu movie. That stuff is a bummer because I think the strengths of the game are the over-the-top goofy moments, and those seem more rare than in the older Smash games.

I actually got a metric-fuck-ton of mileage out of not just World of Light, but also the Spirit Board. I love a fighting game that endlessly feeds me randomized AI opponents to fight, and that is precisely what the Spirit Board does. If the simple act of playing Smash Bros is appealing to you then Ultimate does a great job at prodding you along into doing so. I haven't even touched the online mode of the game (okay, I do have one friend who I'll play online against) and I have gotten more than my money's worth out of Ultimate as a primarily single player experience.

Smash has always had a great amount of enjoyable and challenging single player content since Melee. Ultimate is no different. World of Light has some genuinely insane and creative moments that make it worth a playthrough.

Has great fighting for a party game. 🤷‍♂️

I got it to play w a couple friends and was bummed when we found out we can’t team up against CPUs online. You can only fight each other which tantamount to me getting my ass kicked by my friend who is much better than me at the game.

Definitely, you should get into that.

Me too. I had fun doing a few matches with just AI and seeing them tear each other apart. This is a great experience that gives you the opportunity to grow. I watched Dan Ryckert's Smashy Bet on Twitch at your suggestion. Very good. I'm following the player's world rankings here https://dashfight.com/ssbu/rankings and I am glad that MKLEO is in the first place. I love to watch his streams.