The motto is “Everyone is Here!” That’s the banner that the Smash Bros. development team has been rallying under as they seek to bring us the Ultimate crossover fighter to Switch.
But you know what? That isn’t what makes Smash 5 “Ultimate” to me. This game is going to be the ultimate entry in the franchise because Sakurai and co. are finally paying attention to all the little things.
- Stage selection before Character selection. This is how serious players use the game, and casuals won’t even notice the difference.
- Save your own rule presets. Tears of joy are streaming down my face as I type this! You don’t have to change it to Stock every time! You don’t have to remember to turn Team Attack on! You can just set it and forget it. Oh bless you, Sakurai-san.
- Color Selectors. All characters have 8 different color schemes, and you don’t have to just cycle through them anymore, they can all be viewed at once and picked from.
- Quick Menu. A slide-out menu is now mapped to a shoulder button, just a press away from adjusting anything that needs adjusted and checking anything that needs to be checked!
- Play while you wait. When queuing up for an online match, use that time to get some practice in or knock out a few challenges.
- Stage hazard toggle. Smash has always shipped with a lot more stages than are worth playing on, thanks to some crazy RNG factors. Now there’s a handy switch to shut that nonsense off.
It’s evident that lot of time was put into bringing many quality-of-life enhancements to Smash Bros., which will severely cut down on my frustrations with booting up the game and getting into a match. It’s the Ultimate fighter inside the arena and out in the menus.
The following two tabs change content below.
Scott
Scott is an author and a lifelong fan of video games.
Conqueror of punishing platformers such as Celeste, Super Meat Boy, N+, The Impossible Game, and Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels.
You can find him constantly changing his main character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, stuck inside a VR headset, or helplessly addicted to Fortnite.
Latest posts by Scott (see all)
- TBC 033: Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2 - 08/24/2022
- TBC 032: Pokémon Legends: Arceus - 05/21/2022
- TBC 031: Metroid: Dread - 11/26/2021
