Super Smash Brothers Ultimate is a video game released on the Nintendo Switch in early Dec. 2018. It is a fighting game featuring many characters from various gaming franchises. It is the fifth game in its series, with the original being released on the Nintendo 64 in 1999.

Throughout the years, the Smash Brothers game series has been a pop-culture phenomenon. Whatever the reason may be, young adults throughout the nation have been obsessed with fighting their friends in this game. A popular phrase became prevalent throughout Smash Brothers’ marketing, which was, “Settle it in Smash.” This was encouraging the popular trend to settle disagreements about who would win in a brawl between two popular gaming icons. A popular example of this is Mario from the Super Mario Brothers game series fighting Sonic the Hedgehog from the Sonic the Hedgehog game series. Both characters are playable as fighters in Smash Ultimate so the question who would win in a fight can finally be answered.

Smash Ultimate is incredibly innovative when compared to its predecessors. Throughout most of its history, Smash Brothers games, in general, have been outstanding multi-player experiences, but rather lackluster when one does not have friends around. Smash Ultimate obliterates this issue with the introduction of its “World of Light” mode. This mode serves as a miniature role-playing game tucked away within the menus of the game as a whole. Eron Morrow said, “World of Light is incredible. The gameplay opportunities are numerous and expansive. It adds a whole new layer of depth to such a fantastic game itself.”

Morrow details exactly what makes this new entry into the series so special. The game is very dedicated to offering the player more options, not less. This is also evident when the game’s roster of fighters is examined. Smash Ultimate’s tagline during marketing was “Everyone is Here” because, well, everyone was there. Every single fighter from each of the previous Smash Brothers games was also represented in Smash Ultimate. It just goes to show how much they care about the player base having as many options as possible. With over 100 stages and over 70 fighters to choose from, it is certain that players do not lack options to express their creativity.

Smash Ultimate also has an incredibly in-depth competitive scene. Every Smash Brothers game that has been released has had its crowd of competitive gamers looking to optimize their skills in tournaments. This is no different for Smash Ultimate. Even though the game is in its relative infancy, it still is bringing home monstrous results in terms of its tournament attendance. A tournament that took place less than 24 hours after the game released, Dec. 8, 2018, had an attendance of over 200 players. Numbers for attendance have been steadily increasing as well. A tournament that took place Dec. 16, 2018, (just eight days after the aforementioned tournament) in Tokyo Japan, had an attendance of over 700 players. Saint Louis High School alumni Gavin Keon said, “Competitive Smash (brothers) is so incredibly complex. The level of strategy and reflex mastery that is required to compete at a high level is applaudable. It also adds to the longevity of relevance for such a masterpiece as Smash Ultimate.”

Keon speaks on an important factor that the competitive scene brings to the game. It will continue to be relevant for many, many years to come as people compete at high levels of play. One could look at the fact that the original Smash Brothers game released on the Nintendo 64 is still being played competitively and feel comfortable with investing in Smash Ultimate. The game offers near limitless opportunities for creativity when it comes to fighters and stages. It has an expansive single-player experience. It’ll also be relevant for many years to come thanks to its competitive scene.