We discuss the roster quite a bit, but what new/returning features and modes are you hoping to see in Ultimate?

I thought that the coverage of modes and features was the most exciting part of the new Direct. Smashdown and the Team Battle mode look amazing. I'm sooo happy to have offline Tournaments back. And the Smash Meter, Stage Morph, and Stamina options are super cool. I only wonder whether memory limitations prevented Sakurai from morphing two stages.

But I still want more stuff!

First of all, I'd like a game speed slider with more granular control. And I want it to be part of the main menu. I believe Melee or Brawl had a slider, but the options in Smash Wii U were limited to half speed and double speed. I want more granularity!

I'd love to see a beefed-up, more Roguelike Smash Run mode with more random elements and map generation and the ability to interact with each other during the first phase a la City Trial. I hope that this is the blurred out option. Oh, and it should be available online! I want this way more than Campaign Mode.

A more robust stage editor would be awesome. It would be cool to make less generic stages, featuring some of the hazards and items used in other stages. With online level sharing. I hope the hacking scene doesn't impact the existence of the stage editor. That would suuuuck. (Those bastards have probably already cost us a YouTube app and a Web Browser.)

I've always wanted the ability to make certain players invulnerable. Like, imagine a mode where there's an AI Juggernaut going around attacking people, and you have to fight each other while avoiding it. It would be a nice option for kids, too. Speaking of which...

More handicapping options! I want character-specific stock settings. It would also be nice to have profile-specific handicaps, as in Brawl. Auto-handicapping is a nice feature, but if it starts from zero every time, weaker players often get completely demoralized by the time it normalizes. Saving the handicap in the profile a la Brawl would avoid this. It would also be neat to be able to customize the Smash charging rate per player.

A random Special Smash mode, perhaps?

The match setup profiles are great, but how about item switch profiles? Are they included in the match setup? Can we save our Laser Pistols at Dawn stamina battle setup? Ooo, or maybe even start the match with a particular item? Or be able to make items like bats and guns and horrible gust bellows permanent? And maybe have the players fight over them like the Golden Gun? C'mon, Sakuraiiii...

I could keep going, but I probably shouldn't. What features and modes would you folks like to see in Ultimate?

Agreed that random Special Smash would be great. Go crazy with it; randomize the rulesets, the mode, the characters, everything. Throw my friends and me into a situation we'd never choose for ourselves. There are so many possibilities with this game, I wanna sample them!

My main desire for this game, as with pretty much all competitive games, is for a single player campaign that teaches players advanced techniques. They talked about how Classic Mode will be unique for each character, which makes me optimistic. Help me understand what situations different fighters excel at!

Above all I just want good netcode, but I think that's kinda moot since, like with Smash 4, most people will be playing via WiFi. At that point the netcode matters a lot less than the latency between everyone's Switch and router. I guess as a whole I want a good online suite: instant invites to friends to play, a rudimentary chat system (even pre-set phrases is fine), matchmaking that actually connects you with evenly matched opponents, "With Anyone" options between the two polar opposites of Final Destination 2-Stock and Everything Explodes For Two Minutes, and a "reporting" system that can't be abused by the very griefers it's supposed to punish.

Other things that would be nice:

Classic Minigames return -- Break the Targets, Board the Platforms, and even Race to the Finish were a lot more fun than the minigames we've had since then (Trophy Rush, the Bomb one).

Unique character unlock fights -- I feel like they could jazz up the character unlocks by putting them in stages that echo their iconic appearances. Unlock Bowser by beating him in classic SMB fashion: fight your way past him to drop the bridge, then force him into it. Defeat Dedede in a boxing ring, where his minions throw helpful items to him from the stands. Unlock the Ice Climbers by beating them to the top of a mountain. That kind of thing, instead of just beating them in a one stock game.

This:
Secret_Tunnel said:

My main desire for this game, as with pretty much all competitive games, is for a single player campaign that teaches players advanced techniques. They talked about how Classic Mode will be unique for each character, which makes me optimistic. Help me understand what situations different fighters excel at!

Another Adventure Mode. A new Subspace Emissary-like adventure. My favorite thing about Smash is how it feels like a Nintendo museum, so anything that brings back the history of these games like trophies, stickers, etc. Remember in Brawl how you could play old NES games for a few minutes? Not sure what else they could do but more of that kind of stuff.

Mostly I just want to see a fully fledged online mode with all of the options you would expect.

Pretty much the way I want to play online is stock with the full courses, and I'd usually be playing with strangers. Pretty simple options there right? Totally will be in the game, right?!

Except you can't do this on Smash U / 3DS for some reason. You can only play stock with strangers in that weird final destination type mode. Because of this I pretty much never played those games online.

@Zero

Yeah, I mostly hope they get online right... options, options, options, and as little lag as possible. I sadly just don't see in person multiplayer being a big thing in my life much anymore. I only have one or two friends who are down for this sort of thing now, and that's hardly a party. I'm old.

If there's some sort of good new singleplayer mode, I'd be really happy too. I don't really know what they should do though. Subspace Emissary was pretty weak.

@DapperDave

This is what I really want as well. Something like SSE, but done better.

On a semi-related note, we were discussing at work yesterday about this very subject and decided that Nintendo should do a Nintendo Cinematic Universe. Kick it off with the Smash Ultimate story mode and start bringing 'em all together.

In actually, this is more of a stealth idea of bringing back some of Nintendo's less-popular series. When Captain Falcon rescues Link at the end of the next Zelda game by showing Ganon his moves, everybody will run out to buy the next F-Zero game to see what happens next. It's a genius plan! Genius!

I'd like to see some larger, long-term goals incorporated into the online mode. Something like a full alternate costume for each character that can be unlocked only by winning 50 or so online battles with that character. I want to be rewarded constantly for playing online!

A 100 player simultaneous battle royale mode. Not really.

I honestly don't know what I want. A great and rewarding sense of progression of some sort. Unlockables aplenty and stuff.

Above all, I want good online. Every multiplayer mode and option should be available for online play, at least with friends. Let me decide what's worth playing.

After that, many things listed above are things I'd like to see, plus some more stuff I won't get into. I'd also like to see a few more returning modes and options, such as Bonus Match from Melee.

r_hjort said:

A 100 player simultaneous battle royale mode. Not really.

Actually that sounds pretty neat to me...

Secret_Tunnel said:

Agreed that random Special Smash would be great. Go crazy with it; randomize the rulesets, the mode, the characters, everything. Throw my friends and me into a situation we'd never choose for ourselves. There are so many possibilities with this game, I wanna sample them!

Isn't that sort of what Smash Tour did?

Speaking for my 11–year-old son, here. He’d also love another SSE-style story mode.

@Mop it up
Sounds like a fan mod I would get a good laugh out watching on YouTube, but (because) it would be totally unplayable!

Mostly I just want a good co-op single player style adventure mode, like the days of old. SSE was fun to me, even if others didn't like it for some reason.

@DapperDave

Same. Give me a robust single player/co-op, please! Subspace was great.

@nate38

Yeah, having the solid minigames back would be a plus for me too. The recent ones have been dull and over-complicated. Break the Targets is simple and that's why it's so much fun!

@TriforceBun

Please no. I don't want to be forced into online play. Let online play be its own reward for the people who want it. I honestly doubt I'll play it online even once. No reason to here, the online in Smash Brothers is never good enough to warrant firing up anyway. Being forced to suffer through it sounds no bueno.

Ooo, you know what would be awesome? Mario Tennis Aces style online tournament brackets! Such a brilliant idea.

@nate38
I'd love to see the classic mini-games return.

I'd love to see Smash Run come back. That was a really fun mode but I suspect it will be stuck on 3DS.