stage (from
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) between
Ganondorf,
Link,
Mario and
Mega Man|alt=|left
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a
platform fighter for up to eight players in which characters from
Nintendo games and third-party franchises fight to knock each other out of an arena. Each player has a percentage meter that increases as they take damage, representing the amount of knockback they take from attacks; the higher a character's percent, the easier it is to launch them into the air and out of the arena. Standard battles use one of three victory conditions: Timed, where players aim to earn the most KOs within a time limit; Stock, where each player or team has a set number of lives and aims to be the last player standing; and Stamina, in which the percentage meter is replaced with a
measure of hit points that opponents try to reduce to zero to win. Players can adjust the rules to their liking and save them as presets for future matches. Players have the option to enable various items to spawn at random during battle, which can be picked up and used in various ways to grant them an advantage; for instance, Poké Balls and Assist Trophies respectively summon
Pokémon and other non-playable characters to assist the user in battle. In Timed matches, certain Assist Trophies can be attacked and defeated to earn points. Other tweaks include new icons and gauges for character-specific abilities, such as
Cloud's Limit gauge.
Spirits from the
Animal Crossing series.
Ultimate introduces the Spirits mechanic, replacing the collectible trophies from previous games. Each of these Spirits, based on characters from represented franchises, can be used to power up a fighter with unique abilities. Certain Spirits will also become an "enhanced" form upon reaching max level, but will return to level 1. Nintendo offers limited-timed Spirit events in cross-promotion with other games and franchises, with the Spirits featured only available to collect during the event. Eventually, these Spirits make their way into general rotation and can be found on the Spirit Board. The local multiplayer mode also allows for the option to use Spirits.
World of Light Ultimate features the return of Adventure Mode, which was absent in
3DS/Wii U. It is now integrated into the Spirits mode with a new story,
World of Light, which prominently uses the game's Spirit mechanics. The mode's narrative begins with an evil entity, Galeem, destroying the
Smash Bros. world, vaporizing almost all of the fighter characters and placing them under his imprisonment; only
Kirby, due to his Warp Star, evades this attack. Players explore the titular World of Light, a new world that Galeem created in the original world's place, to rescue captured fighters and Spirits -the remnants of other characters' physical forms- by completing marked Spirit Battles. Players can use regained allies and Spirits to overcome certain challenges on the map and defeat Galeem.
Additional features The game supports local multiplayer, local wireless with other systems, and online play via
Wi-Fi or
LAN connections. By defeating players online, players earn tags which can be traded for in-game currency to buy new Spirits, music, and
Mii Fighter costumes. The game is compatible with
Joy-Con controllers, the
Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, and
GameCube controllers via a USB adapter. Like the previous entry,
amiibo figurines can be used to create AI-controlled Figure Players, which can be trained to become stronger. Shortly after the game's release, a service for the Nintendo Switch Online mobile app, known as "Smash World", was launched, which allows players to check their game statistics and share images and videos captured from the game to social media.
Ultimate features over 900 music tracks, which can be played through the Switch's handheld mode while in standby mode. Version 3.0 of the game, released in April 2019, adds a Stage Builder, which allows players to create custom stages which can be shared or downloaded through the Switch Online service. The update also includes a replay editor, allowing players to edit stored replays, which can be shared online or downloaded to other devices. These replays are available within the Smash World app. An update in May 2019 provided limited support for the
virtual reality VR Kit of
Nintendo Labo, allowing players to view computer-only matches in VR or play in a 1-on-1 mode against the computer. An update in September 2019 added the Home-Run Contest mode from previous
Smash games.
Playable characters Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, like other games in the
Super Smash Bros. series, features a
crossover cast of fighters from several different Nintendo franchises, as well as fighters from series owned by
third-party developers. The base game features 74 playable fighters, consisting of all 63 previous fighters from past entries and 11 newcomers: the
Inklings from the
Splatoon series;
Princess Daisy from the
Mario series;
Ridley and Dark Samus from the
Metroid series;
Simon and Richter Belmont from the
Castlevania series;
Chrom from
Fire Emblem Awakening;
King K. Rool from the
Donkey Kong series;
Isabelle from the
Animal Crossing series;
Ken Masters from the
Street Fighter series; and
Incineroar from
Pokémon Sun and Moon. When starting the game, players only have access to the eight starter characters of the original
Super Smash Bros. and unlock the rest by completing the game's Classic mode, playing through World of Light, or fighting a certain number of battles. Several returning characters received updates to their appearances, such as
Mario having Cappy from
Super Mario Odyssey accompanying him and
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild incarnation of
Link replacing the one from
Twilight Princess. Additional fighters, each coming with a unique stage and related music, have been released both individually and as part of two Fighters Pass bundles. The first Fighters Pass consisted of five characters:
Joker from
Persona 5, released in April 2019;
Banjo & Kazooie from the
Banjo-Kazooie series, released in September 2019;
Terry Bogard from the
Fatal Fury series, released in November 2019; and
Byleth from
Fire Emblem: Three Houses, released in January 2020. The second Fighters Pass, titled Fighters Pass Volume 2, consisted of six additional fighters and was the final content planned for
Ultimate. The first character in this collection, Min Min from
ARMS, was released in June 2020.
Steve, the default player avatar from
Minecraft, was released in October 2020.
Sephiroth, the main antagonist of
Final Fantasy VII, was released in December 2020, with players able to unlock him a few days early by defeating him in a limited-time boss battle known as the "Sephiroth Challenge". Pyra and Mythra, a dual character from
Xenoblade Chronicles 2, were released in March 2021.
Kazuya Mishima from the
Tekken series was released in June 2021.
Sora from the
Kingdom Hearts series was the final fighter to be added in October 2021. ==Development==