“Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” (SSBU) is very popular at Jesuit High School Sacramento, and for a good reason. Adherents have been seen playing this game during lunch, community periods, and even in the morning on days with a late school start. I, too, am a fan of the “Super Smash Bros” franchise and decided to delve deeper into the game’s history and give an overall rating and opinion.

The first game released was called “Super Smash Bros” and was released for the Nintendo 64 system on Jan 21, 1999. The game was new and unlike most other fighting games, in part, by requiring gamers to hit their opponent off the screen instead of reducing an opponent’s health to zero. Of course, expelling players from the screen wasn’t the only facet of the game that made it fun.

The second installment in the “Super Smash Bros” franchise, “Super Smash Bros. Melee,” was released on Nov. 1, 2001. This version was a massive success, selling more than 7 million copies at the time and attracting many new players. “Super Smash Bros. Melee” was mostly known for its inclusion in the videogame competition circuit due to its quick and fast-paced gameplay. Because many professional players played the game, its popularity increased.

After the competitive success of the second game, creator Masahiro Sakurai didn’t want the games to be as competitive, and wanted a casual audience as well. That’s when he released “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” for the Nintendo Wii systems. The game was a major flop due to its restrictive game mechanics, making gameplay difficult. The game was received poorly by fans and is viewed as the worst game by the community. Although I also think Super Smash Bros. Brawl was definitely unsuited for the series, I really enjoyed the campaign mode.

SSBU was first released on Dec. 7, 2018, for the Nintendo Switch system. This fighting game is the fifth installment of the “Super Smash Bros” series. The best smash game is SSBU because of the enjoyable features such as bonus game modes, new characters, new music, and all the different stages. SSBU contains 74 characters, plus 12 paid Downloadable Content (DLC) characters making the roster a total of 86 characters. I personally don’t have a favorite character, however, my most played character is King K. Rool. 

I thoroughly enjoy the smash series and think they’re very well-crafted and creative games. I give SSBU a 6.85/7.13 on the “Rucker Scale” and would recommend it to anyone that hasn’t yet gotten into the series.