Our GameCube controller adapter just came in at Best Buy, so headed to pick it up shortly! It will be amazing to have that (perfect) controller in my hands again after all these years...

TriforceBun said:

From what I've played against you NWers, I definitely think y'all can get your mains to hit this threshold.

Aw shucks, do you mean that? Do you really have faith that even little ol' me could ever hope to reach this threshold?

What do you guys think about the Spirit Laser? I admit that it can be kind of maddening to miss, but I'm still fairly fond of it! It's a nice arcadey touch, and it feels so good when you score. The whole game has a nice, tactile feeling, actually. HD Rumble, maybe?

Does anyone know what data it tracks for online battles? Under Vault -> Records -> Battle Data -> Online it says "View battle data from most online battles".

MOST? What does "most" actually mean? I'm definitely missing data from battles, it only has 22 total battles listed. I've played way more than that online! And it splits that between 5 characters with 0 battles for all of the rest, but I've done random selection a lot online so I've definitely played matches with way more than 5 characters.

In fact when I go into Smash tags it says I have 37 wins. Out of 22 battles?!

I think "barely any" might be more accurate?!

Also I forget if it was here or another forum I read this, but apparently even though there are like A BILLION SONGS in this game, the default song frequency (Options -> My Music) are set so that a single song is played most of the time for each stage. Which means you will barely ever / never hear a lot of the music. SO WEIRD.

But I'm not sure if there is an easy fix? The only way I can see to change that is to go into each stage individually, and change the frequencies for each of the many stages in the game one by one? This would take FOREVER.

@Zero

I think you're right...but I also kinda like this. I like that the win rate and such is hidden; it makes the focus more on the GSP, which I think is better. It feels more forgiving to me than a strict win/loss rate, and I like how I can experiment with other characters and not wreck my mains' online records.

@Zero

Once I unlock all the music, I'll go in and mess with My Music. It'll probably take forever initially, yeah. The issue with having lots of content, I suppose. In the meantime, you can press X to choose a song when you pick a stage, in case you want to hear something different right away.

After an evening using my beloved GameCube controller again I am having so much fun. I feel like all those skills I thought I lost are back. I can function again, ha ha. So good. Such a wonderful controller. Been playing some three and four star Spirit/Adventure Mode levels and enjoying the challenge. It has been a long time since a game challenged me and I had FUN. Usually these days I have zero patience for difficulty and so I give up and find a different game, but Smash Brothers has some magic to it that makes me feel like "I CAN DO THIS, DARN IT, JUST ONE MORE TRY."

One really odd thing? I miss the Home button when using the GCN pad. I never, ever would have expected that, but it just feels off without it! I guess I didn't realize how often I go back to the home screen, until it was no longer accessible.

@Anand

I haven't decided yet! I will say this, it is INTENSE. So much more intense than I ever expected just watching it in video form or watching someone else at the controls, lol. I don't exactly know WHY. Something about just the right speed of the circle rotating, plus maybe the color? I don't know, but the game-feel aspect of it is amazing.

I have finished World of Light (on Hard), 100% completion. It's definitely tedious to do all at once, so I can't recommend anyone else doing that, but it gets pretty cool at the end. I do still have two Challenges on the Adventure board to finish: one is defeat the final boss's final form without losing a stock, and the other is to complete the skill tree thingy.

Other than that I just have a few Spirit Board challenges left, a few hundred more Spirits to collect, and I'll be done with the single player content*! I don't know why, but I feel like I should get all that off my plate before I settle into playing online regularly. Maybe because so much of the single player content has Spirits integrated with it, and I don't want all those stat-boosting variables and abilities affecting how I play "for real" later on? I dunno.

*I'm ignoring Mob Smash other than the Challenges for it, which I've completed

@nate38

I don’t know if it’s bugged or what, but I went back and did the first challenge you mentioned and didn’t get credit. Maybe you have to do the whole thing in one stock, instead of just the last part. And I can’t use the hammer to unlock it and give me myself credit. Super frustrated about that.

@J.K. Riki
It's the HD Rumble and screen shake! Along with that good ol' risk-reward of using an item vs. taking your chances.

Also, the more time I take before pulling the trigger, the worse I do. Too much pressure.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Why can't you use the hammer? Did Sakurai do that thing where hammers don't work on all the challenges?

@Anand

Maybe! Probably isn't as much the HD rumble for me because I'm using a GCN controller, ha ha. (Wow I forgot how good the rumble is in that thing, though. Not HD, but one of the best previously.)

@DrFinkelstein

He just said can't use it AND give himself credit. I took that to mean he refuses to cave and use a hammer. I agree! :)

Man all of my mains have WORSE online scores than the ones I don't play with now. I have no idea how the online scoring works (does it matter how good your opponents are?) but I must suck since my scores all dropped pretty low. I FEEL like I do ok but I guess not.

@J.K. Riki

In Brawl I think it was, they locked out the hardest challenges from hammers. That frustrated me because I had some left and I couldn't 100% it despite my best attempts at skill. Hoping that isn't the case here as I have 6 hammers and I'm holding off long on using them.

@DrFinkelstein

Yeah, those were the Boss Challenges. I didn't know Boss Challenges were back for Ultimate...? Anyway, I won't comment further on it since I'd rather it not be spoiled. Will let @Hero_Of_Hyrule clarify what he meant!

I was getting destroyed for the first like 10 rounds with Simon playing 1v1 quick play and I was about to write him off as a viable main but then he started to click for me and now I'm loving him.

After like 3 wins I had gone from 300k to about 900k to 1mil GSP. Then I hovered around 1.14mil to 1.15 when I would win/lose.

Still no Elite Smash. My Samuses are at 1.16mil I think and I'm still in Elite Smash. So is ROB and I haven't touched him since that first session :/

So I think your win streak/ratio plus the character you're using goes a long way

Anyways, Simon is sooooo fun to zone with. His Axe in particular is delicious. I love throwing the short angle one to hit almost right above me when someone's trying to land or flying in the air. It is so hard to guess where that axe is going.

Luvvvvvvv Simon. His standard whip attack is actually pretty good for recovering. And you and angle it diagonally too. The teach is surprisingly far. If you try to whip too early though you can really screw yourself over.

@carlosrox

He is a lot of fun. I'm having trouble with fast, short-hopping characters against him though (like Pichu). Simon's short-hop aerial is a little finicky since it goes over a lot of opponents' heads. You can angle it with the stick but it takes some finesse and split-second timing. I could use a little more practice with him.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule Unfortunately, yes, you have to complete the entire level in one go, not just the final part. Fortunately, you can use Easy for it.

@DrFinkelstein There are still some challenges which cannot be hammered. Kind of makes hammers pointless in my eyes.

@Mop it up

Agreed. If you're not using them on the ones that you just can't do, why bother having them. G'dammit Sakurai!

Jumped up around 800k in GSP today. I think it's a sign that more people are playing (I don't think I've gotten that much better in a week). The players around 400-500k that I was destroying today were not nearly as good as the dudes at 100k that were kicking my ass the other day, haha...the 8-0 run I had to start the day felt real good, though.

Oh yeah, I also turned off stick jumping after 19 years of playing that way, and I really am surprised at how quickly I've adapted. After a few days, I don't even think about it anymore. I think it's helped. I think the competition online was easier today, but I feel I'm playing better too.

Already have played more local couch multiplayer in SSBU than I did all of Smash 4. Had a bunch of my co-workers over last week and we probably unlocked 20 characters. It was a real blast. Hoping to make this a regular thing. It's something I've really missed since my Brawl college days.

Anyways, I added a bunch of y'all. For you east-coasters, I'll be on most M-F during my lunch breaks (Noon-to-1PM EST).