Written by Khalil Pheonix

Welcome to one of the best, if not the best fighter game to ever grace our presence: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. One of Nintendo’s flagship titles and an opening to many PG-13 jokes, it’s time to Smash. This is the 5^th installment in the Smash Bros. series since 1999 and the best one to date. I have a Nintendo Switch for many reasons, but THIS is definitely in the top two. I’ve had this game pre-ordered and paid off in full for the last two months. The hype for Smash is unreal. My timeline, starting at 12:01 AM, was filled with nothing but people picking up Smash or already playing it.

This game has the biggest roster in ANY fighting game to date: over 74 playable characters from a mixture of many different Nintendo and 3^rd party games. Want to throw hands with Ken and Ryu from Street Fighter? No problem. Want to spray ink all over your opponent with Inkling Boy and Inkling Girl from Splatoon? Go for it. There’s Snake from Metal Gear, Samus Aran from Metroid, and one of my favorites, Ike from Fire Emblem. We’re even given Isabelle from Animal Crossing! There is literally a character for everyone — from child to full adult — and, just like the game itself, these hands are rated “E” for Everyone.

On the off chance you didn’t see the trailer, there’s also a story mode in this game called, Kirby Saves the World. In this mode, the villains all came together to form Galeem, and managed to wipe out the entire roster of Smash characters. Our inflating friend must go around defeating “Shadows” — or puppets of the roster that are being controlled. Once defeated, you can free the character and unlock them. With 3 difficulty modes ranging from Easy to Hard, even if you aren’t the best at fighting games, you can still enjoy this story. At the time of this writing, I’m roughly about 2 hours deep, and I’ve unlocked various spirits to help me fight, as well as two extra main characters. Each battle will be different, of course. Some are 1 vs. 1, while others are 5 vs. 1, so the difficulty within the matches themselves will also vary. Here’s a semi-spoiler for you: at one point, I got jumped by 5 Warios…GOOD TIMES.

The story is straight-forward: go around defeating foes, save your friends, and save the world. It’s great that this is so engrossing, because I can’t stop playing it.

So, in my opinion, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is definitely a Game of the Year contender. If you have a Nintendo Switch, this game is a must play. Similarly, if you like fighting games, this game is a must play. If you love doling out “L”‘s to your friends with various characters from a multitude of video game titles, this one is a must play. There is a reason that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the most pre-ordered game in the history of the Nintendo Switch — not to mention the entire history of the Smash Bros. franchise.

I’m giving Super Smash Bros. Ultimate a full 5 out of 5 Final Smashes. With over 70 characters, 100 stages, and the inclusion of 8-player functionality, the fun never stops; and no 2 matches will ever be the same. So, gather up your friends, family, and loved ones (and maybe even some enemies) into a room with your Nintendo Switch, because IT’S TIME TO SMASH!