Current Events > Well, just did my second hour or so in Smash Ultimate. Hmmmm.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I must confess, I'm still struggling to understand / enjoy it.

I mean, I can see the sheer effort that's gone into it. All the content, the graphics, probably balancing the gameplay as well. But...I just haven't enjoyed it that much. I don't know.

The biggest problem is obvious to me. The game bills itself as this fighter with over 70 characters. You know, so much variety in the characters, lots of people to play as and fight against, all the characters you love from various franchises you've played. But, after 2 hours, I'm still stuck with the original 8 characters. I didn't expect to unlock something like 65 characters really quickly, but you would usually have unlocked a couple of new people by now. Nope. I've beaten Classic Mode with 3 different characters, and sure, I've unlocked some filler content, but no new characters. I've tried playing the Smash Mode, just random fights with characters, but nothing there, either (although I think I lost every match).

It's still too hard for me to beat enemy characters. They keep seeming to jump back onto the platforms. The gameplay feels (although I doubt this is really the case) random and chaotic, like it doesn't matter what you do or what buttons you press. When a match finishes, I sometimes have to wait for the game to tell me who won or lost, because I don't understand myself.

I tried playing the main adventure mode, but stopped playing partway through the first match, because I don't think I understood what I was doing.

It's not all bad, though. The graphics are excellent. I've seen some cool places from games I like, such as a level from Sunshine, a level from Sonic 1, and some Pikmin level(s). It's cool. I can see why longterm Nintendo fans enjoy it so much (although I am too).

Thoughts on all this? I've seen so many people over the years, on these very boards, praise the series a lot. People act like it's the GOAT series, beating out Mario, Zelda, COD, etc. I can't understand, though. I know people are going to take this OP very personally, raging about my "terrible opinions", and defending their beloved series, but that's just silly. I'm just saying what I think, from what I've played. Perhaps it is a really great series. Perhaps I just don't understand.

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Sunhawk posted...

But, after 2 hours, I'm still stuck with the original 8 characters.

Then you suck at the game.
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you have a really odd way of talking, you know that?
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Error1355 posted...

Sunhawk posted...

But, after 2 hours, I'm still stuck with the original 8 characters.

Then you suck at the game.

Perhaps. But the gameplay seems so fast and random, I'm not sure is skill is relevant anyway.

I should've known people would take my first post badly, though. As I tried to explain, perhaps I'm completely wrong about this game, but my first 2 hours really weren't that great. Of course, it might've been a waste of time getting a game like Smash anyway, since I rarely do multiplayer.

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You're doing something extremely wrong if you haven't unlocked any characters.
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Doom_Art posted...

you have a really odd way of talking, you know that?

In what way?

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GeneralKenobi85 posted...

You're doing something extremely wrong if you haven't unlocked any characters.

I beat Classic Mode 3 times. Apparently, this is one way to unlock characters. I even saw a character unlock chart, and according to it, I should have 3 new characters now. Why does this game hate me so much?

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You understand that after is says "challenger approaching," you need to win that fight to unlock the character, right?
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GeneralKenobi85 posted...

You're doing something extremely wrong if you haven't unlocked any characters.

Yeah... the challenger AI was notoriously difficult but they turned that down with a patch. Also the first few challengers are ridiculously easy to kill.

Who are you fighting them with Sunhawk?
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DarkChozoGhost posted...

You understand that after is says "challenger approaching," you need to win that fight to unlock the character, right?

No. I'm pretty sure I lost all these battles.

Well, now I know what I haven't unlocked any characters.

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Play adventure mode to unlock characters
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I played a standard stock/time battle and won like five of them, and had three challengers approach me and I unlocked them (Ness, Bowser, Zelda).

Sunhawk you are terrible

Alpha218 posted...

GeneralKenobi85 posted...

You're doing something extremely wrong if you haven't unlocked any characters.

Yeah... the challenger AI was notoriously difficult but they turned that down with a patch. Also the first few challengers are ridiculously easy to kill.

Who are you fighting them with Sunhawk?

I've beaten it with Mario, Link (I think), and DK (I think).

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Eventually a door appears in Games and More that lets you refight the challengers
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There should be some option in one of the menus that allows you to retry the character unlock matches if you lose them. No idea where since I don't have the game, but it's there somewhere.
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There is no way you should have the original eight for more than like... ten minutes.

Im just not sure why youre having such a difficult time grasping the basic concepts. Its pretty pick-up-and-play. My wife got the gist in like two minutes.
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Sunhawk posted...

But, after 2 hours, I'm still stuck with the original 8 characters.

you're doing something really wrong. you should get a new unlock every ~10 minutes

Sunhawk posted...

It's still too hard for me to beat enemy characters. They keep seeming to jump back onto the platforms.

yeah that's like, the point of the game. use your smash attacks (direction + attack) when the enemy has high damage and you'll send 'em flying
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Mr_Biscuit posted...

There is no way you should have the original eight for more than like... ten minutes.

Im just not sure why youre having such a difficult time grasping the basic concepts. Its pretty pick-up-and-play. My wife got the gist in like two minutes.

A girl is better at a video game than me? D:

It's just so hard to beat the opponents without dying at least once. You know them off a ledge, they do an air jump to come back up. Wtf. I mean, I'm reasonably good at fighters, and excellent at platformers, so I shouldn't be too bad at this game. But I am.

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I would choose a fighter with a good side smash attack. In the OG 8 I'd say that's Fox, though he is quite slippery to control at first.

If you don't know, a smash attack is smashing the control stick in a direction (for this case left or right) and pushing the normal attack button at the same time. Hold the attack button to charge that attack for more damage and launch potential.

Hey Sunhawk, did you understand the controls I posted in your last topic? Its okay if you dont feel comfortable offstage yet. Just focus on trying to kill the enemies with Smash attacks for now, then when you feel more confident you can try to learn offstage and ledge game.

Remember also that your up-B is usually your recovery move (not for Yoshi though, he has none)
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Sunhawk posted...

A girl is better at a video game than me? D:

Really?
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Kajagogo posted...

Sunhawk posted...

A girl is better at a video game than me? D:

Really?

I see you are not fully familiar with Sunhawk lol
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The goal isn't really to throw them off and let them fall, the goal is to hit them hard and knock them into the blast zones to the sides or top of the stage.
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for a NEET who plays video games all day long, you are very bad at video games lol
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Sunhawk posted...

I'm reasonably good at fighters, and excellent at platformers

Sunhawk posted...

But the gameplay seems so fast and random, I'm not sure is skill is relevant anyway

Have you ever played anything that isn't simply button mashing? lol

Romulox28 posted...

for a NEET who plays video games all day long, you are very bad at video games lol

Take it easy on him man, thats not true

He also reads Wikipedia and watches documentaries about Germany
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Alpha218 posted...

Hey Sunhawk, did you understand the controls I posted in your last topic? Its okay if you dont feel comfortable offstage yet. Just focus on trying to kill the enemies with Smash attacks for now, then when you feel more confident you can try to learn offstage and ledge game.

Remember also that your up-B is usually your recovery move (not for Yoshi though, he has none)

Offstage? Aren't you dead by the time you're offstage?

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Romulox28 posted...

for a NEET who plays video games all day long, you are very bad at video games lol

I'm an extremely good gamer, but clearly Smash Ultimate isn't one of the games I'm great at.

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Sunhawk posted...

Error1355 posted...

Sunhawk posted...

But, after 2 hours, I'm still stuck with the original 8 characters.

Then you suck at the game.

Perhaps. But the gameplay seems so fast and random, I'm not sure is skill is relevant anyway.

I should've known people would take my first post badly, though. As I tried to explain, perhaps I'm completely wrong about this game, but my first 2 hours really weren't that great. Of course, it might've been a waste of time getting a game like Smash anyway, since I rarely do multiplayer.

No like you really suck badly because you unlock a new character every 10 minutes. That's the built in timer for unlocking characters.
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Sunhawk posted...

Alpha218 posted...

Hey Sunhawk, did you understand the controls I posted in your last topic? Its okay if you dont feel comfortable offstage yet. Just focus on trying to kill the enemies with Smash attacks for now, then when you feel more confident you can try to learn offstage and ledge game.

Remember also that your up-B is usually your recovery move (not for Yoshi though, he has none)

Offstage? Aren't you dead by the time you're offstage?

No? I said offstage, not off screen (those are the blast zones). You said you knocked the enemies off the level and they got back on the platforms.

Honestly, go into the vault tab and watch the How to Play video under movies. It will show the basic mechanics better than we can with just words.
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Tyranthraxus posted...

Sunhawk posted...

Error1355 posted...

Sunhawk posted...

But, after 2 hours, I'm still stuck with the original 8 characters.

Then you suck at the game.

Perhaps. But the gameplay seems so fast and random, I'm not sure is skill is relevant anyway.

I should've known people would take my first post badly, though. As I tried to explain, perhaps I'm completely wrong about this game, but my first 2 hours really weren't that great. Of course, it might've been a waste of time getting a game like Smash anyway, since I rarely do multiplayer.

No like you really suck badly because you unlock a new character every 10 minutes. That's the built in timer for unlocking characters.

There's no timer. If there was, I would have about 10 new characters by now.

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The timer is for new challenger fights to appear Sunhawk.
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Sunhawk posted...

Romulox28 posted...

for a NEET who plays video games all day long, you are very bad at video games lol

I'm an extremely good gamer, but clearly Smash Ultimate isn't one of the games I'm great at.

There's a huge difference between being great and sucking so bad that you haven't beaten any challengers.
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Oh. Well, the way the person said it, it made it sound like it would definitely happen every 10 minutes. It would be better to say there's an OPPORTUNITY to unlock a character every 10 minutes.

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"A new challenger appears" will trigger every 10 minutes but only after you've backed out to a menu. this will happen naturally after every regular "smash" battle. if you're doing something like classic mode you'll only hit the menu after you've finished. when doing spirit/adventure mode you need to manually back out to the menu.

it's pretty simple.
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The way it happened, I thought it was being caused by me beating Classic Mode, because it was usually after I finished the boss fight. You can see how I thought that, right?

But yeah, I didn't beat any of them. I don't know if I was trying that hard, though, because I thought it was some mostly meaningless bonus mode or bonus fight.

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This would be like buying a basketball with no goal and then saying basketball is a terrible sport.
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Sunhawk posted...

But yeah, I didn't beat any of them.

as others have said, the challengers will reappear after a set time (idk what it is). go to the "other modes" menu and in the bottom-right corner will be a door.
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How did you win your classic mode matches Sunhawk? Just do the same thing...

And please, please watch the How to Play video.
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What bothers me about SSBU is that it just feels like the same damn thing again. I owned every single Smash up to this point and it was getting old with SSB4, and SSBU just feels like another very minor iteration of the game.

Honestly just skipping it because I'm tired of playing the game over and over.
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Sunhawk posted...

Perhaps. But the gameplay seems so fast and random, I'm not sure is skill is relevant anyway.

I always laugh when people say that a game is random and doesn't take skill when they're bad at it.

Like why would you be in a place to judge that if you don't understand what you're doing? You're gauging it off of yourself just doing random actions and sometimes succeeding.
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Anteaterking posted...

Sunhawk posted...

Perhaps. But the gameplay seems so fast and random, I'm not sure is skill is relevant anyway.

I always laugh when people say that a game is random and doesn't take skill when they're bad at it.

Like why would you be in a place to judge that if you don't understand what you're doing? You're gauging it off of yourself just doing random actions and sometimes succeeding.

This
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IIRC Hes made this same type of topic about Dark Souls before giving up immediately in Undead Asylum and calling it a shit game.

Classic Sunhawk topic
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Lol he sucks
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Doom_Art posted...

you have a really odd way of talking, you know that?

Because he takes the time to explain himself? I find his vocabulary refreshing, especially on an online platform like this.

Anyway, I kind of agree with TC's original assessment. . My husband came home with the game yesterday and I can't make sense of it. I even tried it for a few minutes myself but it was too much of a chaotic cluster-you-know-what and I simply didn't know what I was supposed to be looking at, so I just mashed buttons and hoped for the best. Shrug.
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lmao imagine
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Also, you really didnt realize that the screen with CHALLENGER APPROACHING, a siren sound and a character silhouette meant you had to win a fight to unlock them?
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PsychicHippo posted...

Doom_Art posted...

you have a really odd way of talking, you know that?

Because he takes the time to explain himself? I find his vocabulary refreshing, especially on an online platform like this.

Anyway, I kind of agree with TC's original assessment. . My husband came home with the game yesterday and I can't make sense of it. I even tried it for a few minutes myself but it was too much of a chaotic cluster-you-know-what and I simply didn't know what I was supposed to be looking at, so I just mashed buttons and hoped for the best. Shrug.

Have you tried looking at the How to Play section?
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