Truly we’ve been blessed this holiday season. Not only for the plethora of great games that have come out in 2018, but because one of the best came out at the tail-end of the year—Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. There are few games that can live up to the momentous amount of hype that was built for Smash Ultimate, and despite the game only being out for a short while, it’s safe to say that hype was met.
More characters than ever before, so much content to keep players entertained for months, heck, years on end, and a revamped story mode that has shown to have so much love and attention poured into it. Yeah… it’s really that nuts and words can’t even do the game proper justice—director of the game, Masahiro Sakurai, pulled out all the stops for this one.
But with so much content jam-packed into this one, the game can become pretty overwhelming at times, especially when you’re staring down 103 stages and 74 characters on the respective select screens. Too much content is definitely a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless.
So lucky for you we’re here to navigate you through all the content and new modes for Ultimate—so hopefully you won’t feel as stressed out next time you’re freaking out because YOU JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND SPIRITS! Don’t sweat it, everything will be fine, well, that is, unless you’re like me and can’t stand how unfair “legendary” spirits are!
Well regardless of where you are, let’s talk about 25 things that many players still haven’t found in Smash Ultimate, and hopefully, you’ll understand the game a little more by the end.
25 Don’t Sleep On Stage Morphing
Now, it stunned me how many gamers aren’t aware of the stage morphing option in Smash Ultimate, especially because it’s pretty fantastic. For the unfamiliar, at any moment the stage you’re battling on will transform into any other stage of your choice.
You can find stage morph in the additional settings tab which you’ll find in the match settings—trust us, it’s worth your time.
Most times I just throw both my tokens on random and wait to see what kind of surprise I’m in for.
24 Smash Ultimate’s Most Underrated Aspect… The Music
The music in Smash Ultimate is easily one of the most overlooked aspects of the game. This time around, the developers have packed in over 850 tracks with about 700 being available from the very start. You can find the music in the “Vault” section of the menu, and it’s absolutely worth your time and attention to explore.
When you get there, make sure to adjust the frequency of the music that appears on each stage to the songs you enjoy the most—because who doesn’t want to jam out while you’re playing Smash?
23 But What Music Stands Out Amongst The Pack?
So with over 850 tracks in Smash Ultimate, it’s going to take a long, long, loooong time to explore the library and find what tracks truly stand out from the pack. Lucky for you, we just love the music so much that we’ve already gone through the grueling process.
Tracks to look out for: “Brinstar Depths (Melee)” from Metroid, “Fatal Blooms in Moonlight” from Kirby, WarioWare’s “Mike’s Song” and “Song of Storms” from Zelda are major standouts. A lot of these amazing tracks are buried deep in the music, but you’d be a fool to pass them by.
22 Let’s Talk About Spirits And All The Secrets That Come With Them
So you’ve bought Smash Ultimate and you’re likely either fuming because they took out trophies from the game, or perhaps like most of the community you’re a bit confused by the whole spirit system—don’t worry, it ain’t as hard as it looks.
Spirits range from one to four stars and you really need to focus on building up a collection that makes it easier to take out those frustrating-as-all-heck legendary four stars. In order to do that you’re gonna want to dismiss your cruddy one stars and level up your two and threes as much as possible.
21 Get Your Spirits Swole, At The Gym
So how else are you going to level up those spirits that you’re surely still confused about? Well, you’re gonna want to play Smash Ultimate’s new single player-based mode, World of Light.
Going through the World of Light is good for so many reasons—you’ll collect a ton of spirits and you’ll unlock activities for your spirits to participate in like “exploring” and the “gym.” Once you unlock the gym you’re gonna want to do the opposite of what you do in real life, and actually use it—so send those spirits straight there to gain some quick levels.
20 The Final Smash Meter Is Another Aspect That’s Slept On
Another option you’re going to want to give a little attention to in Smash Ultimate is the final smash meter. Once again located in the settings prior to entering a match, the final smash meter makes the ability feel a lot fairer.
While the floating smash ball was a good amount of fun, it sure did make the game feel unfair when you’re cheap-shotted by a broken final smash. The competitive community even gave some talks as to hosting some tournaments with the meter on, so it’s definitely worth some attention.
19 CHALLENGER APPROACHING! The Art Of Unlocking Characters
You’ve likely taken out a huge chunk out of the character selection screen by now, but even I still have a decent amount to go after pouring a great deal of time in the game.
If you want to unlock characters fast you’re going to want to Smash as much as possible (Insert Michael Scott joke here).
But you’re also going to want to mix it up by playing Classic Mode and World of Light as some characters will only pop up via those options—oh and if you lose make sure to head to “Games & More” for a rematch.
18 Hidden And Subtle Trivia Throughout
It’s a bummer to not see a Smash game packed with so much trivia this time around. But we really can’t write off the game too much because most of the in-game trivia is extremely subtle.
This includes spirit matches that are fine-tuned to reflect the history of the individual spirits—i.e. fighting a spirit like Arceus against Corrin on Spear Pillar. You’ll find most the callbacks to be extremely subtle this time around so we recommend watching something like Gamexplain’s What the Spirit?! segment.
17 The Ins And Outs Of Ultimate’s Shop
Smash Ultimate’s shop is a place you’re going to want to be spending a ton of your time, especially if you’re a collecting junkie like me. Located in the bottom right of the “Vault” section, Smash Ultimate’s shop offers rare spirits, Mii outfits, and music you’ll have a hard time unlocking in the actual game.
For me personally, I check the store every 20 minutes just so I can pick up a new song to add to my collection, but this is another place you definitely don’t want to overlook.
16 Improve Your Main In Ultimate’s Tip Section
Yeah—yeah, I know, “Tips” seem about the lamest way to go about learning more about the characters in a Smash game, but this time around the tips are actually surprisingly useful.
Choose any character and you’ll learn their individual game origins, a brief history about the character and a detailed explanation of all their moves—told you Sakurai pulled out all the stops for this one. Plus you learn more about Smash Ultimate’s stages, items, and on top of that get an overview of spirits in this section as well.
15 The Ability To Create Playlists To Jam Out
There was one thing in particular that made me go nuts prior to the game’s release via one of the many Nintendo Directs. That was the ability to not only create playlists in Ultimate but also having the ability to now use your Switch as a music player.
That means being able to have Ultimate’s 850+ tracks at your disposal, and ready to be jammed out at any time.
Sure it might not get you jumping like it does for me, but it’s amazing for this to even be an option in a video game.
14 How To Rock Through The World Of Light Like A Champ
The World Of Light is absolutely brutal, and as someone who’s currently traversing the whole thing on hard, I can definitely say I’ve had my fair share of times when I wanted to fling my Switch straight into my tv.
But there’s a few tips and strategies that make the game SO much easier—and it all starts with finding out how to cheese. You’re gonna want to choose characters like Bowser and Villager (Cheesing pros) who can take out the strongest enemies with ease with their smash attacks—oh and don’t forget to use the right spirits.
13 Spirit Challenges Are Rolling Out, Don’t Sleep On Them
You should be living on the Spirit Board in Smash Ultimate, especially if you’re into the World of Light or really just spirits in general. But with the recent patch saw the introduction of spirit challenges.
This means you’ll get extra rewards for completing certain criteria when taking out spirits on the board. Right now the challenge is to take out spirits with glasses, and the rewards really do start to stack up when you make the challenge your focus.
12 Stats, Stats, And Guess What? More Stats
The stat section is a place I’ve always loved to visit in any Smash game that it’s been available, but once again the feature received a revamp for Ultimate. Head to the “Records” section inside the vault to take a look at all that stat goodness.
There you’ll find that there’s just so much to gush about—from how many spirits you currently own to how much time you’ve already no-lifed into the game. I’m especially a fan of the “Battle Data” section which shows your win rate with each fighter.
11 The Magic Of Smash Tags
Smash Tags are one of Ultimate’s greatest additions to its online component and are also located within the “Records” section. If you actually manage to get through a game lag-free, then you’ll want to try and collect as many Smash Tags as possible by beating your opponents.
It’s just so awesome having mementos of all the other players you’ve whooped in your time online. But after you collect a good amount of Smash Tags you’re going to want to sell them off for that sweet, sweet gold.
10 Easiest Way To Get Mii Outfits
I’m not the biggest fan of Mii fighters (probably like most of you) as they just come off as way too generic. That being said, however, some of the costumes that are available this time around are just way too good to pass up.
If you want to get Mii outfits as quickly as possible then you’re going to want to go back to the shop to pick the best ones up.
Rex from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Viridi from Kid Icarus stand out as some of the best costumes and ones you just can’t pass up.
9 So Where’s All-Star Mode And Cruel Smash?
A lot of modes got lumped into weird sections in Smash Ultimate, including All-Star Mode and Cruel Smash, which are now under the title of Mob Smash in the “Games & More” section.
All-Star mode is a lot different and instead of taking on a few characters at a time with a break in-between you’re now taking them all on at once.
And trust us, it seems a bit easy when you’re crushing your first few opponents, but when you remember how big the cast is this time around you’ll be sweating soon enough.
8 The Beauty Of Training Mode
The competitive Smash community has been absolutely begging for a viable training mode for years now, and Sakurai finally delivered in what is by far the best training mode.
Located once again in the “Games & More” section, training mode is the absolute best way to gain more familiarity with your character, and find out what combos work best against which characters.
Right now pro Smash players are essentially living in two places in the game and without a doubt that’s online and training mode.
7 A Tailor-Made Classic Mode For Each Character
So I haven’t had the chance to explore Classic Mode as much as I wanted (curse you, World of Light!) but from what I’ve seen, it’s unimaginably better than it’s ever been before. And that’s because there’s now a tailor-made route for each individual fighter.
That means taking on fighters that relate to the character you’re playing on stages that also pertain to the specific fighter you chose.
It’s incredibly awesome and ends with a boss fight each time that is sure to infuriate all of us at one point or another.
6 How To Finesse The Spirit Board
Well, guess it’s time to learn about the Spirit Board, or as I like to call it, the absolute best way to unlock spirits in the game. But the Spirit Board can prove to be one of the most frustrating parts of the game if you don’t know what you’re doing.
You’re going to want to start with “Novice” spirits, even if those three and four stars look so darn tempting, but trust us, it’s not even close to worth it for those at first. Once you start building up a formidable collection, then take on higher leveled spirits.
