Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

 Switch
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3870 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,334 out of 3870
  2. Mixed: 236 out of 3870
  3. Negative: 300 out of 3870
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. evildoomfoot
    Dec 7, 2018
    4
    a fantastic insane brawler. Its more realistically 8-9 for a score but as the way of things with metacritic, there is a need to offset the 0s from the fanboys with hurt feelings
  2. SameOldCJ
    Dec 7, 2018
    0
    Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is really disappointing. When it was first announced, I felt it would be one of the best 2018 games. However, when I saw it at the E3, it let me down.

    The new fighters, like Daisy, Isabelle and Chrom, are nothing interesting with the exception of King K. Rool, Inkling and Ridley. No new 3rd-party characters neither, which is why there's a huge fandom of this    Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is really disappointing. When it was first announced, I felt it would be one of the best 2018 games. However, when I saw it at the E3, it let me down.

    The new fighters, like Daisy, Isabelle and Chrom, are nothing interesting with the exception of King K. Rool, Inkling and Ridley. No new 3rd-party characters neither, which is why there's a huge fandom of this series and, anyway, their requests are not taken in account.

    My most disliked announcement was the new Assist Trophies. People felt disappointed when Waluigi was an AT once again. In my case, I really felt depressed when I saw Bomberman was one too. I mean, really? An Assist Trophy? Since the announcement of Super Bomberman R as a launch title for the Switch, both Smash and Bomberman fans determined it was time to include him as a playable fighter in the next Smash, not something else. Even notable personalities and brands agreed with it. There are a lot of reasons of why he deserves it much more than the current 3rd-party characters such as Wario Blast!, the series in every Nintendo platform, the Mario Party series developed by Hudson Soft, etc. Is this a joke? Even though both Bomberman and Hudson Soft had a long relationship with Nintendo, they just gave him mere respect.

    Going on with the Assist Trophies, this feature really ruined more 3rd-party characters. Later, they announced Ashley, Isaac, Knuckles, Krystal, Shadow, Shovel Knight, Starfy and Zero as AT's as well, despite being requested by fans too. What? Why the overuse of this Assist Trophy thing? I thought Smash accepted relevant characters like those as fighters but no, looks like in a very different way.

    The 3rd-party characters are disappointing too. Bayonetta is not a very notable series as others. So why is she here once again? She doesn't deserve to be in a crossover fighting game like this. Nobody requested her. Hideo Kojima, who I don't think is great, asked Nintendo to include Solid Snake to Brawl. He left Konami and wasn't included in 3DS/Wii U but is here again. And later, they announced the only new 3rd-party character: Simon Belmont. So why did Konami re-add a character whose latest game was hated by the Internet media and fans and one whose series is dead since 2014. Bomberman is the only current notable series owned by Konami thanks to the success of Super Bomberman R. Nonetheless, Bomberman is less important than Metal Gear and Castlevania? Just because they're overrated it doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to be playable. Bomberman is a more iconic and original video game character for both casual and hardcore gamers than Snake, Bayonetta, Ryu, Cloud and Simon. He is just like Mario, Sonic, Mega Man and Pac-Man. The problem is that Konami doesn't know how to treat him. He was much better with Hudson Soft instead.

    Even some of the 1st-party characters are disappointing. Daisy is just like Peach and could better fit as a skin for her and not as a separate character. The same with Dr. Mario: you still treat him as a different character apart from Mario even though he is a clone of him. That's absurd. He is just Mario wearing a doctor suit. Why didn't you add him as part of his interchangeable skins? Also, why are there a lot of Fire Emblem characters? Most of them are echo fighters or clones. Even Zelda and Kirby have more legacy and popularity than Fire Emblem and they don't get a new character at least. And Wario still has his boring WarioWare style instead of the more appreciated Wario Land one.

    The game doesn't have so interesting features. The new story mode, World of Light, is repetitive and nothing like the Subspace Emissary, whose removal was due to a pointless reason. How they made all of the Final Smashes automatic and the addition of more Echo Fighters and clones is worthless. All this make this game look like a Deluxe version of the 3DS/Wii U game rather than a new game.

    Moreover, another disappointing thing was the new Spirits thing, which took off the possibility to even more characters like Rayman, Shantae and, once again, Bomberman. This new Spirits feature messed the crossover style of this game up a lot, together with the Assist Trophies.

    To end up, I totally dislike this game. I don't deny I had my hopes to it but I do say this game screwed itself. I learned you don't have to expect anything good about it like requesting your favourite characters to appear in it. If they do, they will most probably end up being and AT or a Spirit, but not playable. I will never play nor have interest in Super Smash Bros. ever again. This game is the major disappointment of 2018 and one of the main reasons why the Switch isn't as cool as it was in 2017. I would rather play with the characters I like in their respective franchises than in a crossover fighting game like this.

    Thank you, Nintendo. Just go and take care of your other IP's and make this entry the last one of its series. Super Mario Odyssey is way better than this.    … Expand
  3. dogles
    Sep 9, 2020
    0
    I am so dissapointed. Online play is garbage. Preferred rules are just that and if you're unlucky you end up having to play some ding dong who wants items on a terrible, terrible stage. Why? Also, game kinda sucks in my opinion since the hit boxes dont match the animation--its hard to learn what hits what and when. WAY too complicated, too many characters, hit boxes not matching animation,I am so dissapointed. Online play is garbage. Preferred rules are just that and if you're unlucky you end up having to play some ding dong who wants items on a terrible, terrible stage. Why? Also, game kinda sucks in my opinion since the hit boxes dont match the animation--its hard to learn what hits what and when. WAY too complicated, too many characters, hit boxes not matching animation, its not fun to play anymore. Mii characters with wonky move sets. I have no idea who I am fighting anymore. You'd have to play the game for thousands of hours to grow accustomed to each characters move set and hit boxes etc. Im shaking my head. Nintendo has lost me on this one. Back to the drawing board guys! Melee was great. In your pursuit to balance all your characters something weird happened...… Expand
  4. Riqyu112
    Aug 30, 2020
    3
    Super Smash Brothers Ultimate is bad game. Ranging from the lack of original content and the infamous online, you would be better of playing any of the previous Smash Bros. games.

    The "story" mode is nothing but walking from place to place on a map just to abuse one powerful spirit build for the entire game with no punishment. The only challenge comes from either purposefully raising    Super Smash Brothers Ultimate is bad game. Ranging from the lack of original content and the infamous online, you would be better of playing any of the previous Smash Bros. games.

    The "story" mode is nothing but walking from place to place on a map just to abuse one powerful spirit build for the entire game with no punishment. The only challenge comes from either purposefully raising the default difficulty so the spirits can avoid one more hit than usual or the bosses and the overpowered spirits that are harder than the true final boss fight, where you have three chances with your best characters as opposed to Pauline, where you have one chance to fend off three fighters who are better than you. Unlocking the other playable characters is an absolute joke when you've just fought a spirit that's offered you your own head on a silver platter.

    Classic mode isn't much better. While the references are fun to puzzle out, you might just be better off playing with friends since they won't be able to use frame perfect inputs on you.

    The online modes are notorious for their lack of balance, and I shouldn't even have to comment on how unbalanced the GSP gain/loss rates are. Characters are wildly unbalanced and unless you're willing to study game mechanics or throw away any shame you have, you'll be bullied by everyone else playing.

    The best parts about the game are the reveal trailers which are full of life and effort and tricked me into believing the full game would be as well.

    I would recommend anyone steer clear of this game and play Brawl or 64 instead. Hell, play Skullgirls if you want a good fighting game, fun characters and animations make it a better experience in my opinion. The dozen characters Skullgirls have are better than the 80+ Smash Ultimate has to work on.    … Expand
  5. Scrylon
    Jul 11, 2020
    2
    Boring adventure en worst online ever for a fighting game. Always input lag and hitboxes seems pretty buged. The only things that save this game is its huge roaster.
  6. CleanZodiac
    Apr 15, 2021
    4
    My previous review got deleted and my account got banned, even though I took 20 minutes writing a review of this game, so I will try to summarize it.

    First of all, the game is pretty fun if you play with items and/or don't take it seriously since it tries to aim to become a less complex and competitive fighting game, by lowering down the skill requirement for the player to actually be    My previous review got deleted and my account got banned, even though I took 20 minutes writing a review of this game, so I will try to summarize it.

    First of all, the game is pretty fun if you play with items and/or don't take it seriously since it tries to aim to become a less complex and competitive fighting game, by lowering down the skill requirement for the player to actually be decent at the game by making allot of moves safe and spammable, letting players mash out of combos easily since almost every character has fast aerials and because they reduced the hitstun making it very hard to punish people who mash out of combos. Many players just spot dodge after they miss a strong attack like a smash attack and you have to mostly respect their misses since the game leaves almost no time to punish, the game should follow the high risk high reward and not just low risk high reward since so many people throw out moves but you have to respect so many moves or risk getting punished whenever you try to punish them after they whiff. The online is just terrible, people can rage quit and you gain no gsp even though they left, there is allot of lag and players who abuse it, you cant mute winning taunts which some people use to be toxic whenever they win and sometimes when a player loses connection you get banned for supposedly disconnecting from the match. Allot of characters have gimmicky moves like Luigi for example: his whole play style revolves around him spamming his tether grab that you have to dodge almost instantly or else you will probably get 0 to death by a decent Luigi and the balancing is not as bad as the other smash games but its below decent since some characters clearly dominate over other like Pikachu and some are just terrible characters with awful design like Little Mac. Honestly if you want to buy this game for fun then go ahead but if you actually want to get good and play it competitively, then I would not recommend. I wanted to add this review again because first of all, deleting and banning a person for giving a bad review to an overrated game is just unprofessional and because I liked playing smash 4, brawl and melee but I personally believe that ultimate is just allot more frustrating and just a competitively worse game (except brawl, but at least that game was personally more fun than ultimate).    … Expand
  7. Smashbrosistras
    Sep 9, 2020
    0
    Half of the characters are reused from other ones and the cpus are either way to easy or **** stupid. Like a lvl 9 cpu will wait at the edge and constantly hit you and make you stay in the air. I’ve lost matches when we’re each at 1 stock I’m at 0% and their at 100% because I get stuck in the air. Also incenaroar is the most broken character, like from 0 he can get you to 50% instantly andHalf of the characters are reused from other ones and the cpus are either way to easy or **** stupid. Like a lvl 9 cpu will wait at the edge and constantly hit you and make you stay in the air. I’ve lost matches when we’re each at 1 stock I’m at 0% and their at 100% because I get stuck in the air. Also incenaroar is the most broken character, like from 0 he can get you to 50% instantly and it’s so broken. And link, someone who I think is really fun to play, IS HORESE **** his long ranged attacks do jack **** damage and his remote bombs kill me more than the enemies. Also there’s three links, normal young and toon. Their all just re skins except with slightly better ability’s than normal links. There’s so many balancing issues and a ton of other **** wrong with this game. If you want to have fun do not buy this game… Expand
  8. Whatever129
    Nov 5, 2020
    0
    This game online really is an insult. It's so bad, but so bad that Nintendo, Bandai and every single responsible for this should be ashamed.
  9. IkOzael
    Mar 28, 2021
    2
    Straight-up, I've had more fun in any past Smash Bros. game compared to this one, including Brawl.

    On a casual level, it's likely the same thing you've played before, but repackaged with more on the roster, so that audience is instantly dealt with. On a competitive level though, gameplay revolves around the same defensive crap as before. On the other hand, offense can be ridiculous,    Straight-up, I've had more fun in any past Smash Bros. game compared to this one, including Brawl.

    On a casual level, it's likely the same thing you've played before, but repackaged with more on the roster, so that audience is instantly dealt with. On a competitive level though, gameplay revolves around the same defensive crap as before. On the other hand, offense can be ridiculous, especially with characters that're already fast, which forces you to camp like hell to even do good against 'em. The whole dodge penalty doesn't do ****. Lag in general is nonexistent, therefore it's usually impossible to punish anything. Grabs (except tethers) have been castrated. Character playstyles can be described in a short sentence or less. Calling this game balanced is like saying Americans have a healthy diet. This game is more anti-competitive than Brawl and just 'cause everything is "faster" ain't gonna change that.

    The balancing is a whole other thing. I'd understand balancing ~100 characters is too much, but that's Sakurai's fault. It doesn't help that a lot of 'em are annoying as all hell with the newcomers being prime examples. There's an easy solution I call "Roster Rotation". Basically, cut the roster to ~40, add in the latest predictably popular characters during a Smash Bros. game's development, maybe some old forgotten ones, and make changes to veterans based on their recent games (or their home series material if you're creative).

    Anyway, hitstun is worse than Brawl and the knockback doesn't help. It turns a match into a game of hit-and-run unless you play some obnoxious **** which there're a lot of in that game. Also, the controls are terrible and the retarded hold buffer just adds insult to injury.

    Now, allow me to rip Spirits apart. Spirits is the biggest piece of **** outta ANY mode in Smash Bros. history. People have **** on Smash Tour (including me) for whatever reason, but I've reevaluated my thoughts on it and think it could've been fun if it was developed more than it was.

    World of Light, is a tedious Events mode essentially featuring Brawl's Stickers. Spirits have no downsides other than power and type, so you just pick the strongest ones you got. Most Spirits are weaker than the high-ranked ones and are just there to waste space in the game's files. You even get the best Spirits in the game after beating World of Light although they have one of many useless traits. Until then, you just run around a JPEG map with chores scattered around it. Y'know, when you do look at those JPEG maps, they actually look interesting as stages akin to The Great Maze in SSE. The Mysterious Dimension is my favorite one. I'd take a few long, interesting, well-designed levels over the **** they actually made.

    Anyway, spare me the bull**** about "But this mode lets us fight characters that we'd never see in Smash Bros. in a million years!". At the end o' the day, your still fighting Mario, Link, or whoever's in the game. Everything else is barely related to the Spirit in question. "This one loves [neutral/up/side/down] specials!", "The floor is [lava/electrical/frozen/sleep-inducing]!", "This one has no reason to exist other than to waste your time!", etc. And you can miss me like Neo from The Matrix with calling it a story. You can literally sum that **** up with "Gotta free the Spirits! Oh, and balance the light and dark stuff!". The retards calling it a story are the same people who would be callin' Steven Universe a flawless diamond. There's, like, 5 cutscenes compared to Subspace Emissary's +101. The first cutscene is what most people have their mouth agape over. The bosses are the only redeeming thing, but **** you if you thought there was a Boss Battles mode anywhere to be found. Thank god this wasn't what Sakurai went with in Brawl.

    I could go on about this mode specifically, but this review is already long. I tried to have some kinda fun with 'em before, but that wears out very quickly with how broken they are on top of the gameplay and characters. At least with Smash Bros. 4's Character Customization, it had custom moves and the Equipment was way more balanced compared to Spirits.

    The other modes ain't worth bringin' up 'cause they're the same stuff you already played and got bored with.

    One more thing is online. With everything I said about the gameplay in mind, imagine how that would go down on an asswipe of a "service". I don't give a damn if it was a nickel, this **** should've been free 'cause that's it's true value if even that. Nintendo loves to put on the facade of caring, but they couldn't care less. Yet, their zombie fanbase will be mindless martyrs for 'em, so they'll be alright, won't they? To sum up Ultimate's online (and offline): A breeding ground for toxic jackasses which the game's mechanics promote.

    There really ain't much goin' for this one. I'd easily go back to any other Smash Bros. game over Ultimate any day.    … Expand
  10. Desmanxx
    Aug 4, 2020
    0
    This game is unplayable due to the awful input lag, if you want to get frustrated over awful game design you can bet this is the right choice.
  11. DiscordOrb
    Aug 28, 2020
    0
    **** unplayable the offline is annoying **** and you have to pay extra for nintendo's garbage online to play multi with all the **** sweats in the world and when you are not playing with a no life tryhard nintendo's **** online causes huge lag or just straight up ends the match. Every new character and stage is dlc so if you wan't new content and wanna play online you have to pay for both**** unplayable the offline is annoying **** and you have to pay extra for nintendo's garbage online to play multi with all the **** sweats in the world and when you are not playing with a no life tryhard nintendo's **** online causes huge lag or just straight up ends the match. Every new character and stage is dlc so if you wan't new content and wanna play online you have to pay for both separately in a game that is already costs 70 euros in the eshop. Also if you don't have a pro controller or a game cube controller then don't even bother playing this "game" with joycons it feels like you are making out with a wood chipper or even worse.… Expand
  12. MiddleDark
    Jul 8, 2020
    4
    Super Smash Bros Ultimate is a collection of all the characters from past previous titles and then some new faces that have joined along the way with DLC. But the game is a broken mess of characters that will force you to play certain characters to just compete with others or at least stand a chance. That is a problem as you'll find yourself having to stop playing your favorite charactersSuper Smash Bros Ultimate is a collection of all the characters from past previous titles and then some new faces that have joined along the way with DLC. But the game is a broken mess of characters that will force you to play certain characters to just compete with others or at least stand a chance. That is a problem as you'll find yourself having to stop playing your favorite characters just so you can compete for what is the "meta" in fighting games. From personally experience the community is in denial about the state of the game. The single player experience is well worth it though, with hours of fun and tuns of ways you can change it up.… Expand
  13. enzo-pannacotta
    Jul 3, 2020
    4
    unlocking characters is a boring grind, if you only play online multiplayer, you will never unlock any. online is a **** lag fest, because you can't afford servers in 2020 for a paid online service, thanks nintendo!

    playing the game with a friend, when it doesn't lag for once, is great though
  14. Dankness99
    Dec 21, 2020
    0
    Used to seem fun. They keep adding terrible/spam riddled characters to the dlc. Online is not only laggy as heck but it has a very toxic community. I could have bought a nice noose for myself instead of buying this.
  15. DingerDonger
    Jun 28, 2020
    2
    The good is that the game is constantly being updated with new DLC and even balance changes. There's also some okay-ish single player content if that's your thing. The game falls flat on its biggest draw, however: online play. The servers are so bad that the game is virtually unplayable in the majority of matches you'll manage to get into. Sometimes you'll even be temp banned because theThe good is that the game is constantly being updated with new DLC and even balance changes. There's also some okay-ish single player content if that's your thing. The game falls flat on its biggest draw, however: online play. The servers are so bad that the game is virtually unplayable in the majority of matches you'll manage to get into. Sometimes you'll even be temp banned because the game thinks you left even though the server just dropped both you and your opponent.

    Now let's talk about the gameplay itself. They STILL haven't removed the buffer, which is the worst thing added to the game since tripping. The buffer makes this game unbearable to play coming from Melee. While the gameplay has been improved overall since smash4, it's still nowhere near the level that melee is. The devs have done everything in their power to limit certain styles of gameplay by making things like throws and edgeguarding far less effective than in past installments. Wavedashing was finally put back into the game but was made so useless it may as well be left out. The ignorance of the developers is pretty astonishing, honestly; Melee continues to be insanely popular with competitive crowds yet they push this floaty campy garbage gameplay in every game following it. And I don't even mind floaties or camping within the game itself, but when every matchup devolves into a snoozefest (and/or a lagfest) you know you have a turd of a game on your hands.

    If you're just a casual who likes seeing your favorite game characters duke it out with items and whatever else, sure this game is a decent buy. Don't waste your time with Ultimate if you're looking for a good competitive experience, however. Play Melee or even Rivals of Aether.    … Expand
  16. Jeremymaxwell
    Jul 16, 2020
    0
    Used to be a good game, but recently I've been noticing more and more that it's becoming a more RNG based game. Moves that used to consistently do the same thing (have super armor, launch in a particular direction, etc) are now pretty much random. The online system is completely ruined as well, as anyone in the smash community will confirm.
  17. Daniel_Smash_10
    Jul 31, 2020
    2
    I Feel Like This Is Just The "Mortal Kombat Trilogy" of The Smash Bros. Series, Only Combines All Characters From Previous Smash Games (Plus Some New Ones), And Just Like In Smash 4, It Doesn't Add Anything New To The Franchise (I Know That There Is a Single Player Mode, But It Sucks). If The Series Goes On This Way, It Will Convert In a One Trick Pony, Only Adding Characters and StagesI Feel Like This Is Just The "Mortal Kombat Trilogy" of The Smash Bros. Series, Only Combines All Characters From Previous Smash Games (Plus Some New Ones), And Just Like In Smash 4, It Doesn't Add Anything New To The Franchise (I Know That There Is a Single Player Mode, But It Sucks). If The Series Goes On This Way, It Will Convert In a One Trick Pony, Only Adding Characters and Stages With Nothing Special.… Expand
  18. MistaMista
    Oct 14, 2020
    0
    Toxic community that's hyper competitive. Kills the game for anyone looking to just have some casual fun with a game series they once loved. The competitive scene is killing this franchise with its toxicity. Want to play a game for some light fun? Look else where.
  19. Buttlikker
    Nov 22, 2020
    1
    Got boring fast
    Online is really messy
    Not much to do playing single player
  20. Padepad
    Dec 11, 2020
    0
    The online mode barely works and the controls feel unresponsive. Ganondorf is one of the weakest characters and never got buffed once. Pikachu is one of the best characters and never got nerfed. The story mode is repetitive. Some characters barely differ from one another like Marth and Lucina or Peach and Daisy.
  21. Doughkey
    Jun 17, 2019
    1
    Unplayable online and a company unwilling to listen to their fans while pretending to do so.
  22. Youngmetro
    Aug 4, 2020
    0
    very good game but the lack of good story brings it down for me. Along with the horrible optimization for joy cons it leaves a bit up for improvement
  23. Nay14822
    Apr 30, 2019
    4
    Fix the damn server!!!! i will change the score

    it a nice fun game, but if you want to online it a nightmare!!!

    Just fix it!!
  24. GenkiYokota
    Jan 27, 2022
    0
    At first glance they may seem like a good game, but they have a brutal content cut behind them.
    There are no more trophies, only flat PNG's taken from Google, and a completely decaffeinated story mode compared to Brawl.
  25. ojimenez0902
    Jul 28, 2019
    1
    This game is **** trash. There's no necessity for it to be game of the year when it's actually not.
  26. Blarg101
    Sep 15, 2019
    1
    Devs insist heavies must be trash tier. Fighter Pass 1 was garbage all around
  27. Shutshsh
    Nov 29, 2019
    1
    None of the dodges work, terrible online, broken characters toxic fanbase. And a terrible story mode.
  28. esyir
    Mar 3, 2020
    2
    Poor netplay on a multiplayer game cripples an otherwise good game. Considering that most players will play online, having consistently poor connections, and no way to handle this is unforgivable.
  29. xMizukage
    Jun 13, 2020
    3
    Playing online is horrible. There aren't permanent 1v1 tournaments, most of the time you're forced to play "smash tournaments" which aren't fun at all. The online connection is horrible, I ran into 6 laggy connections in a row, unplayable matches. Online multiplayer is just super trash, but Nintendo doesn't do anything about it.
  30. Zero2death
    May 7, 2020
    1
    Core mechanics is awesome, but online is the most trash i ever met in fighting games, you cannot even repick your hero to get matchup better, inputlags, gamelags etc. I do not recommend you to buy this game
    #FixUltimateOnline
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best Switch Game of 2018
1
#1 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2018
23
#23 Most Shared Switch Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
93

Universal acclaim - based on 99 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 98 out of 99
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 99
  3. Negative: 0 out of 99
  1. CD-Action
    Mar 25, 2019
    95
    It’s not just a great fighting game and a perfect party title, uncommonly enjoyable and absurdly rich in content that should suffice for literally years of fun. It’s also an amazing homage to the history of video games. [02/2019, p.60]
  2. PLAY! Zine
    Mar 5, 2019
    95
    Super Smash Bros. Ultimate escalates everything the series was known for, and delivers it flawlessly. Biggest fighter rooster ever, more dynamic gameplay, loads and loads of gameplay modes, stages, weapons, music, stuff! If there is a smash that deserves your cash, this is the one!
    Read full review
  3. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Feb 26, 2019
    100
    This is the ultimate Smash Bros. How will they ever top it? [Issue #37 – January/February 2019, p. 65]
See all critic reviews »