I have 33 fighters so far but it already feels like 100. Still missing a ton of my favourites (Luigi, Duck Hunt, Mega Man, Snake, Pac Man, etc) but I love slowly expanding the roster and using each character a little bit.
-It feels like there are even more characters when you consider some of the character pallete swaps and how they’re used in a lot of battles. There are 8 different Inklings, 8 different Animal Crossing Villagers, 8 (or is it 9?) different Koopa Kids! And I’m sure there are a couple others that aren’t springing to mind. Unlocking a Animal Crossing spirit had me fighting 8 different villagers plus Isabelle; Mario fights all 8 Koopa Kids in one classic mode battle. It just makes for so much visual variety, and as a fan of all those series it just sort of tricks my mind into thinking there are even more characters that there are.
-Love the inklings! Their move set is awesome, incorporating all the different Splatoon weapons and covering opponents in ink is so fun! It really is true about how all the fighters actually feel comparable to their real videogame counterparts, not just palette swaps in a fighting game.
-In the same line of thought, after having gotten used to the updated Link, I really like the remote bombs. They make for a great tactical item now to try and control your opponent as opposed to being the same bomb, at the same angle, on the same timer, every time. I feel like I’m playing BOTW when I throw a bomb at someone and detonate it at just the right time.
-World of Light is easily the best single player mode ever in Smash. The unique battles throughout and the overworld structure work perfectly for a fighting game.
-The classic mode campaigns are tremendous. They’re actually the better single player mode, but they don’t seem to be be what audiences want from a single player experience at all, so I guess they’re just the side dish I enjoy more than the main course.
-The spirits are lots of fun. To defeat the Excitebike spirit you fight and army of Warios but they only do their side special move, so the fight is just you battling 4 Warios riding back and forth on motorcycles. And there’s freaking hundreds of these adorable, lovingly crafted, dumb little scenarios!
-I’ve played 2 online matches, both 4 man free for all, one was laggy as all hell. One was actually pretty smooth. I doubt I’ll ever touch online much though anyway except for maybe an organized match with friends (like a tourney on this board).
-Trophies were never interesting. The spirits are way better. As are the challenge panels that are unlocked after meeting certain milestones.
This game delivers in every possible way. It is a definitive masterpiece. 10/10