I’ve never played a Smash game before and I’m wondering if Ultimate is worth a purchase if I’m mostly interested in the campaign and playing multiplayer with just my wife?

I’ve heard really good things about the singleplayer mode in this and I saw Ben’s tweet about recommending it just for the singleplayer but I wanted to get some other opinions from people who have played the game.

Also, does the game do a good job of explaining how the game works? And is Smash good for someone who doesn’t play fighting games at all?

Thank you so much.

Yes, yes to all of that. Smash has tons of single player content. It's a party fighting game so its easy to pick up hard to master. The adventure mode has 3 difficulties, the AI goes from 1 to 9. So yeah it's great stuff.

Ive been playing alone so far and having a blast, every character has their own custom "classic" mode, which equates to an arcade mode, plus the story mode, theres plenty here alone. No need to be an expert, the game is quite flexible difficulty wise.

Yes to all of your questions EXCEPT one. Unless there's a tutorial buried in the menus somewhere, the game doesn't do a damn thing to explain the basic mechanics. It's not the most complicated game to learn, but looking up the basics like recovery options and how to perform smash attacks vs. tilt attacks (flick the stick!) will probably help you get started.

Haven't looked into tutorials, but casually the game is incredibly simple. Here's a breakdown, I've bolded the stuff I think is most worth absorbing.

• A button for normals.Combining A with each direction gives a different normal, and in the air each direction combines with A for yet another normal.
• B button for specials. Again, direction+B gives different specials, though I don't know of any characters who have a different set of specials in the air.
• L or R to perform a grab. You can hold a grab, and you can hit people whilst you have them grabbed by mashing A or B. Inputting a direction whilst grabbing will throw in that direction. Some characters can walk whilst holding a grab.
• Up or X or Y to jump. Whilst in the air you get to do one double-jump. Most characters' up+B special serves as a triple-jump.
• Double-tap left or right to run. Pressing A whilst running gives yet more normals.
• ZL or ZR to shield. If your shield takes too much damage then you get stunned. Pressing a direction whilst shielding gets you a dash. Casual players basically never do this stuff, so don't worry about it.

You'd probably know more-or-less what you're doing at a casual level after an hour. Compared to the tens of hours of time investment I needed before I felt comfortable in games like Killer Instinct and Street Fighter V, it's easily orders of magnitude more accessible.

Lots of other people can comment on the single-player, I haven't touched it yet. The CPU player AI is fine for casual play, I'm having a pretty good time just fighting CPU players in standard matches and unlocking new characters.

@fnrslvr: All very good info! One thing I would add is tilt vs. smash attacks, because I can't think of many other games that use the analog stick this way. While on the ground, 'tilting' the stick in a direction and hitting A will get you a tilt attack, while a quick flick + A will get you a smash attack (which you can charge by holding the button). Smash attacks are one of the more reliable ways to finish off your opponent. Alternatively, you can use the right stick to do smash attacks.

Get it. You'll love it.

@fnrslvr: Thank you so much!

FWIW there's a bunch of info in the game but it's a bit buried.

Vault -> movies has a "how to play" video

Vault -> tips has a bunch of factoids (I'd say minutia)

In the ZR menu there is "help", which among other things has a move list and the basics of the controls (it's labeled "techniques"). That last one is what I'd say a beginner would want to know; shame it's a bit infodumpy in format.

As someone who rarely plays games online and don't really enjoy playing games with others, I am loving the single player. There is a ton of stuff to unlock and a lot to go through offline without extra help needed. Not having played a smash game since the Gamecube and not owned one since the N64 I am just in love with this game. With the amount of content I feel like $60 is cheap for the huge amount of value you get in this game.

I’ve played a few Smash games, including N64, Wii, 3DS, and WiiU.

I think they’re fun party games, but get zero pleasure out of playing solo or against the AI alone.

Subspace Emissary, or whatever it was on Wii, always seemed like garbage to me, too. I know I’m in the minority on this one, but it’s one more opinion to consider.

As for explaining itself, they’ve all had really straight-forward tutorials. And no, no need to be into fighting games. Fighting games are different beasts altogether.

Playing couch competitive or co-op is where it’s at. If you and your wife want to team up against some AI or fight against eachother, that’s a good way to play, for sure.

I spent most of the weekend playing by myself, with maybe 4 hours or so of multiplayer. I absolutely think it's a great value if you two are gonna play with each other and/or pass the controller on adventure mode.