The Love and Hate Around Super Smash Bros Ultimate

[Bassmanvoh]

I first off wanted to state that I just got myself a switch (my girlfriend bought me one for Christmas and Christmas came early) so I am very new to everything about it. However, I have played smashed in the past and really enjoyed my times with it. I never owned more than the DS and 3DS from Nintendo though so my time with Smash was based around my friends house and that was about it.

Now over the past week or so I have seen both positive and negative response to Smash on all media forms, twitter, reddit, youtube. The biggest complaint I hear is that "this is a port or a old games with more fighters added into it" which in my opinion it isn't. The other complaint I saw in the subreddit was that the fighter unlock is annoying due to the fact that you pay for a full price game and have to unlock it fighters.

The questions I ask is this: Do you guys agree or disagree that this is a ported game with more fighters? Do you think that it is unfair to have fighters locked if you're paying full price for the game?

My opinion son this so people can relate and or argue is this: The graphics look better than ever, all the maps and heroes have been re-done, some better and some worse than previous games. As far as the fighters having to be unlocked, I LOVE THIS! Finally a game where I have to play the story and different modes to unlock things in the game! Not to mention I DON'T HAVE TO PAY REAL MONEY IN ADDITION TO THE GAME TO GET THIS! Now I do understand that there is DLC coming, but those fighters don't have to be in the game to enjoy it or for you to find a fighter that you enjoy or you are good at playing!

I hope to have some good debate on this topic, this is my first post here and can't wait to see what more the sight has to offer!

[RevolverGirl]

This is my stance on DLC, I like it when it INHANCES the original *already complete* game. For example the octo expansion in Splatoon 2 is practically a new game in itself. And Splatoon 2 already had a neat Story mode with free weapon updates.
Things like new characters and stages is fine to me.

[Bassmanvoh]

Spect3r Yeah I'm weird... I tried my chances with trying to make a game before. It's obnoxious and time consuming, so I appreciate the work of games. I'm a musician and if people bought my music to support me even if they didn't like it my day would be made every time that happened, So I do my best to try and give that feeling to others when possible!

[fenrif]

You don't have to pay real money to unlock things? So they did away with the amiibo-exclusive stuff then? That's good.

[Hard Carved Winter]

Also, dont you understand irony?
Of course Nintendo would never do it, much less for $50 per caracther lol

If players bought the unlock for $50 a character and also thanked Nintendo for the opportunity that, perhaps, would be ironic and sadly plausible. Doubly so if Nintendo made extreme profits from the measure and still perpetuated their simplistic online approach.

[Spect3r]

Bassmanvoh You buy games that you have no interest just to support the company?
Ah ok then, good for you... i think? Not sure actually.

If i like the game i buy if i dont like it i dont buy, i honestly dont think there is a single company in the world that deserves my money just "because".

[Bassmanvoh]

I buy games to support the company. For the same reason I don't buy a game because I am unhappy with the company. Example: Battlefield 5 and Battlefront 2.
I purchased Stardew Valley on switch and I have Starbound on PC and I have played maybe a half hour of Starbound and havent even touch Stardew, but i bought them to support the company behind them. Chucklefish gets just as much support from me as nintendo does.
I do get the irony though, just wanted to debate about it

[Spect3r]

It has everything to do with what you said? Adding a option like that instantly puts flags up for those players who will cry "pay to win" and flags up for players that will cry "micro transactions". Nintendo put a IGC option for a reason. It might not "change the game for MOST players" because those who would buy it would just have all the fighters and play online in competitive. But it would change for the players that purchased the game to support companies that don't require micro transactions to get fighters or options in the game. My point is that it would cause a public out cry, I get that it wouldnt change the game in it's entirety.

No one buys a game "to support companies", people buy a game because they want to play it.
If the company has good practices or not is sucjective and quite honestly something most people do not care about.

Also, dont you understand irony?
Of course Nintendo would never do it, much less for $50 per caracther lol

[Bassmanvoh]

And what does that has to do with what i said?
The game wouldnt change for most of the players, just for the cry babies that want everything unlocked with out effort.

It has everything to do with what you said? Adding a option like that instantly puts flags up for those players who will cry "pay to win" and flags up for players that will cry "micro transactions". Nintendo put a IGC option for a reason. It might not "change the game for MOST players" because those who would buy it would just have all the fighters and play online in competitive. But it would change for the players that purchased the game to support companies that don't require micro transactions to get fighters or options in the game. My point is that it would cause a public out cry, I get that it wouldnt change the game in it's entirety.

[Spect3r]

This would set the world on fire. Nintendo, IMO, has been the only company as of late that keeps a steady flow of games that consumers love to play and look forward to. I buy every pokemon game and have never been disappointed, aside from the silly design ideas they have been using lately.

And what does that has to do with what i said?
The game wouldnt change for most of the players, just for the cry babies that want everything unlocked with out effort.

[Hard Carved Winter]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is decidedly not a port. It is a genuinely retooled and refined entry in the Smash Bros. canon. A port consists of a title that remains largely unchanged from one version to another aside from graphical and quality of life improvements afforded by its new platform. Ports rarely include new or exclusive content. They definitely do not present new adventure modes, collectables, and game physics and/or mechanical overhauls.

I haven't seen any credible source make the argument that Ultimate is merely a port. That seems like a misnomer at best and a gross mischaracterization of the title at worst.

Aside from that, the game asks of its players a certain degree of patience and persistence. Those two qualities are in scarce supply amidst a broad swath of today's game playing public. The main strike against a locked roster is that people interested in playing launch-date or launch-week organized events have to choose between marathon unlock sessions or playing with an abbreviated roster of characters. I'm rarely a proponent of paid-for content unlocks, but this may be the rare case where a laughably nominal fee of say, $0.99, would unlock the entire roster and stage selection on day 1. I suspect most players would choose to just play casually and discover content at a regular pace while competitive players and tournament organizers would happily pay a pittance to save the time of all that grinding. Competitive fans get what they want immediately while Nintendo makes a small profit.

The next question would be: how might they use that small profit to improve the online experience of Smash Ultimate?

[Zues]

It honestly isn't anything unusual for the genera, or out of line with how Smash usually works.
The troubling thing is that these complaints seem to show that younger gamers are beginning to get used to pay to play.
Somehow the thought of unlocking things through talent or dedication to a game have become bad taste.
For the younger gamers out there, especially the ones who have only ever had a console before, accomplishments have a price tag.
In the past you could unlock new characters, costumes, even stages or advanced moves through mastery, but nowadays
Now when it comes to whether this game just being a report, the last smash came out what, 4 years ago for the Wii U?
Either people are overly sensitive after getting screwed by other companies, or they don't realize that people don't want to have to dig out their old console when guests come over for game night.

[Scott Knightley]

The game absolutely isn't a port and I feel like unlocking characters is part of the fun although it might be a bit much in this game. Since I'm mostly interested in playing the game with friends I feel like I had to spend way too much time unlocking all characters and the small amount of characters you can choose from in the beginning was a bit of a letdown when we dove right into multiplayer.

[Flipendo101]

I have been pretty active in the buzz around the smash ultimate news and hype and I have seen all the people saying "its just a port of smash 4" but, what is a port? Well we can look to mario kart 8 for that. A game originally released on the Wii U, ported over to the switch with the deluxe subtitle. Whats the difference? Mario Kart 8 deluxe has all dlc included with the base game purchase, and maybe slightly better graphics thanks to the hardware upgrade. So, does smash meet that requirement? It includes all DLC characters from past smash titles, includes fan favorite characters that were only around for a game or two like Snake and Ice Climbers, and multiple newcomers. It has almost every singe stage from previous smash games including some new ones as well. Upgraded graphics, sounds, more music, all new modes like world of light, smash attack (I think that's what the modes called), reworked combat mechanics to make the game more fast paced, the return of directional air dodges from melee, reworking and re balancing of old characters. Where I see the argument for smash ultimate being a port, i can't agree with it because it does more than enough to separate itself from the other smash games, and does more to celebrate smash brothers and nintendo than any previous title.

[Bassmanvoh]

If i was Nintendo i would release an update where you can now buy every fighter for the low, low price of $50 each.
This way they can have their "instant gratification" and everyone else can just play the game the way it was thought out to be.

This would set the world on fire. Nintendo, IMO, has been the only company as of late that keeps a steady flow of games that consumers love to play and look forward to. I buy every pokemon game and have never been disappointed, aside from the silly design ideas they have been using lately.