Day 42: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Let me tell you something, everyone, if we're in the top 10, then I must think highly of the following eight is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate of all games has only made #9.
Ever since this game's announcement in March 2018 and release that following December, the hype and adoration surrounding this game hasn't died down at all.
Let's get into the reasons why Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is, in my opinion, the quintessential fighting game.
First off: The roster! As you've heard many times before, and I'm sure many times after: Everyone is here! From staple characters, to characters that appeared only in one or two entries, to DLC characters from the franchise's previous installment, yeah I'd say everyone is here alright. As for the newbies, we have welcome additions in the form of the Inklings, Incineroar, Dark Samus, Isabelle, and Ken from Street Fighter, but then we get fighters that people have been asking for for years like Ridley, King K. Rool, and Simon Belmot. The vanilla version of this game had 74 characters alone, and we got six new DLC fighters since launch in the forms of Piranha Plant, Byleth, Hero from Dragon Quest series, Terry from Fatal Fury, Joker from Persona 5, and Banjo-Kazooie! And there's even more DLC on the way with a character from ARMS revealed to be the next fighter, and we have five more coming after that. (Here's to hoping it's Shantae, Sora, Bandana Waddle Dee, Rayman, and Travis Touchdown).
Another interesting thing about this roster is how they each have their own Classic modes, allowing you to take on different foes in different arenas, and the overall theme of your enemies usually match up with whatever franchise the playable character comes from. For example, if you choose Bayonetta as your fighter, then you'll be taking characters that can fly since she's all about hunting and killing angels. Furthermore, each Classic mode has its own story behind it. Yeah, over 80 stories are made, one for each individual character. That's amazing!
On top of Classic mode, there's also regular Smash where you can play with friends or by yourself and just have a smashing good time, Tourney which involves brawls in a tournament style game, Squad Strike where 3-5 of your characters face 3-5 other characters, Special Smash where you can compete in games like Smashdown and Sudden Death matches as well as create your own custom brawls, Mob Smash where you can either take on 100 enemies as fast as you can (With Cruel Smash maxing out the CPU level) or take on the entire roster to see how far you can get, Training mode, Spirit Boards to get more spirits to customize and power-up your character, and this game's Adventure Mode, World of Light: A story mode where you must save the world after Galeem basically Thanos snaps the entire bar Kirby roster out of existence, and you go toe to toe with an assortment of spirits and compete in some fun and interesting challenges.
And with the updates this game received, we got more classic modes like Home Run Contests, Stage Building, New stages and music tracks, and customization options for your Miis like the previously mentioned Cuphead and Sans.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate is not only an amazing crossover game, but a magnificent tribute to video game history, and with five other DLC fighters left to cover along with more updates to accompany them, this is game is definitely a gift that keeps on giving. Sakurai, if you're reading this…which you're probably not and won't, take a vacation after this game is done, man. You deserve it! Thank you for giving us the best Smash Bros. game to date.
