Best Thing About SSB (And Why Spirits Break It) Scott's Thoughts: 16 Days to Smash Ultimate

Super Smash Bros. is an extremely ambitious proposition; a game which takes a massively popular and diverse array of characters and combines them seamlessly into one fighting game. This is impressive for a number of reasons:

✅ Taking all of Nintendo’s cute characters and making them believable in battle
✅ Navigating all the different IP, studios, directors, and legal rights to make this happen (including 3rd parties)
✅ Doing it successfully where all other companies’ attempts have failed

But the most impressive thing about Super Smash Bros. is it does it all in a cohesive graphic style. Smash Bros. just wouldn’t be the same without the incredibly talented work of the designers who make Mario look good standing next to a witch twice his height, or who make a regal swordfighter match the graphic style of a water-shooting-squirrel-turtle.

Super Smash Bros. wouldn’t work without the unifying art style. It would just be too jarring.

And that’s why I hate the look of Spirits. They are disembodied key art, floating around in a rainbow aura. Oftentimes, this is lifted straight from art that shipped on boxes, posters, or was otherwise used in online marketing for Nintendo’s games.

It’s disconcerting to see in-game, especially when some of it is hand-drawn, some is 3D-modeled, others are cell-shaded…

I know Sakurai said that “trophies are a lot of work,” but I’m really going to miss them! I’ll remain open-minded about Spirits, but it’s going to take some work to convince me.


How about you? Are you on board with Spirits?

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Scott

Scott is an author and a lifelong fan of video games. Conqueror of punishing platformers such as Celeste, Super Meat Boy, N+, The Impossible Game, and Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels. You can find him constantly changing his main character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, stuck inside a VR headset, or helplessly addicted to Fortnite.

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