@Hinph

How'd you change fighters against the same online people? In my matches, I'm stuck with the guy I picked (which isn't great because I like to "feel out" a player with certain characters, and then switch to my better or worse characters depending on how much I win or lose by).

@Zero

In alphabetical order:

Incineroar is someone I wasn't excited for at all. I've only gotten to play a single match with him, but he seems to have an interesting moveset with some satisfying hits. I also like how he has more personality than most of the playable Pokemon (who tend to either look blandly cute, or constantly scowl).

Inkling was a bit confusing at first, but once I got a feel of how her neutral-B worked, everything started coming together. She feels really technical and it's satisfying getting your opponents all inked up. Definitely intrigued!

Isabelle (what's with all the I names??) I was terrible with. Probably a side-effect of being very lousy with Villager. I'll have to give her more time for sure.

King K. Rool feels like controlling a big fat orb with claws. He's pretty fun! His moves have the right balance of power and goofiness that help him stand out from Bowser (which is good since his character design shares a few similarities). The gun feels a little janky to me at the moment, but maybe I just need more time with the big guy. His up-smash makes me laugh.

Simon is a real piece of work. His kit makes him feel nigh-unapprochable, between the wall of holy water, the arc of the (KO-worthy) axe, the beefy cross and that crazy whip. A totally satisfying character to play, with its series representation among the very best in the game! I can see him becoming one of my best characters for sure.

Ridley is faster than I expected, and while his moveset isn't quite as outlandish as some characters, it still feels flashy and punchy. A character I've been wanting since Melee, Ridley is very welcome here and I'm fully committed to this beast. The skewer move whiffs a lot but feels great to land--you actually have to be fairly close to the opponent. Looking forward to seeing more.

All in all, not a huge bunch of newcomers but I'd say they're a really strong lot as a whole. Curious how Piranha Plant and Joker will measure up.

@GameDadGrant

After all of these years, it seems you might be right. It's a shame because something like Doom or Tomb Raider is arguably just as important to the industry as some of Nintendo's series. Doom defined an entire genre and even Nintendo learned a thing or two about 3D game design from the original Tomb Raider.

@TriforceBun

I just choose random. I often get paired with a character I don't really know how to use (like Jigglypuff right now) but I'm going to lose anyway, so it's a good chance to learn some things. Haha.

Hinph said:

I really hope we get at least one big, important Western game series represented. You know, like a Doom Slayer, Lara Croft, Gordon Freeman type.

Well as I learned today from the following video, Sakurai is apparently a student of western gaming as well: in his columns on the original Japanese Smash Dojo blog, he apparently gave tips on how to play Goldeneye, haha.

@nate38

Wow. That's cool. Then there's hope!

Played this with friends today from 9am to about 10pm, with breaks to play board games and enjoying food and fellowship. We barely even played multiplayer, either. Mostly we played the Story/Whatever mode and just took turns, each taking one level and then passing the controller back and forth. Amazing fun, 10 stars, would do again.

Only complaint is I struggle to get the controls down, which I think is because it simply isn't a GCN controller. Will try tracking down an adapter, though, and finding some money somewhere in the budget to buy one, because I think that would make the game just about perfect.

Spirits Mode or World of Light or whatever it's called is amaaaaaazing. I can't stop playing!

It does such a good job of rewarding me for the small things while waving bigger things just out of my reach to keep me going, and it sometimes forces me to learn how to play as characters I might not be all that keen on otherwise. I love this mode.

@J.K. Riki

The adapter is pretty cheap. $20.

I just want a Monster Hunter representative so we get a monster hunter stage and (most importantly) music.

World of Light is awesome. I love the variety. And Classic Mode is soooo much better. It's also good to have some customizability back in the form of the Mii Fighters, too. This game rocks.

And Simon is perfect. That freaking axe, man.

@pokepal148

I also want a Monster Hunter. And I think that it could definitely happen. They're already halfway there! But Rad and Arthur won't... :(

@Ponderus
Joy Con are alright. They're basically a scaled down, less comfortable version of the Pro. But I played with the ol' Gamecube controller yesterday, and it felt pretty fucking GOOD. I'm always too lazy to use one, but I love that crazy thing. I might get used to it, but the Pro seems a little too spread out for Smash. Plus, that damned symmetrical diamond...

I might be the only person who was fond of the sideways Wiimote for Smash. Nice and compact.

Yeah, I'm really enjoying the single player Spirits stuff. I heard the complaints from reviews that it is too long and wears its welcome, but I don't think it was intended to be marathoned like reviewers were forced to do... that would get tired. No, this mode is best to whittle away at a little at a time over a longer stretch of time between doing other stuff.

@Hinph
I've been playing it aaaaaaaaaalllllll day today! Still can't get enough! I think I might have a problem handling my spirits.

@Hinph

Yeah, you took the words out of my mouth. It makes for a great side mode to chisel away at while bouncing between exhibition matches, online and Classic. I like World of Light well enough, but I typically am ready to switch gears after 30-60 minutes of it at a time.

Have you guys done the running trick yet to help unlock characters as fast as possible? It really works. The exercise is not meant to be tiresome but if you want to unlock 4-8 characters at a time (and therefore build up your character challenge mode in case you blow it) it’s a neat side project to do. I’ve unlocked over 35 characters in about 3hrs of play ( split between doing the running thing and playing other game modes in Smash. I suck at it though / the more characters you unlock, the tougher they are to keep unlocking them. Mac beat me three times before I was able to beat him.
click

Edit: the vid says the running thing is 20min at a time. - 10min is more then enough

@Smerd That sounds incredibly tedious though.

@Zero
What I did is set up two types of smash games and saved them. For the first one I did the 10 min time limit with all those special hazards and items turned off (running man part) The second one was 1 stock match with stages automatically chosen (suicide part). It’s a bit tedious to do your stock match, face off against a new character and then lose because the character won’t be seen again for a bit ..but even if u do win, you still have to reboot game, do new suicide stock match then face the next hidden character but this cycle can be completed relatively quickly.

Try it once and see - it’s not meant to dominate your play time as characters become available through your normal play anyways but this can speed up the process a bit.

@Anand

I also learned to really enjoy Wii-remote-sideways Smash Brothers! It just worked for me, dunno why.

@GameDadGrant

True, and since we already have two GCN controllers from days of old that would be decently economical. I have gotten a LITTLE used to the two-joycon setup now, but I still don't like not having a giant A button and the B and jump buttons in the "correct" place. :)

Plus I mean any excuse to use the prettiest controller ever made is a good excuse.

J.K. Riki said:

I also learned to really enjoy Wii-remote-sideways Smash Brothers! It just worked for me, dunno why.

Probably because it feels like playing an NES game?

This game is sooooooooooooooooooooooo good.

I can't get over the action, visuals, and music.

- there does seem to be controller lag, worse than any other Smash game confirmed

- no CPU when playing online? fuck is nintendo thinking here? it worked just fine in 4.
- menus are too clunky

- everything else is just as good as Smash 4 if not better

@carlosrox
Controller lag? Offline? I haven't noticed!