At long last, after huge hopes and plenty of character speculation, Nintendo finally gave us a character list and a fresh new game! Released on the 7th of December, it's been an early Christmas gift for many Smash fans. Competitive and casual players worldwide have been playing the game for countless hours, learning each of the many matchups in the game. With more content to be released, Ultimate is looking to be a hot new trend for months to come!

We asked Joey "Lucky" Aldama and Hugo "HugS" Gonzalez for their initial thoughts on the game and which aspects of the game entertain them the most!

After a long wait, some exciting Nintendo Directs and an invitational, it's finally arrived! Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been released! What are your thoughts on the finished product?

HugS: It's a ton of fun! I'm actually pretty surprised by the amount I'm playing. While I don't have enough experience to say how long I will enjoy it for, I'm definitely enjoying digging into the competitive aspects.

Lucky: I agree 100%, I assumed it would be fun, but I didn't think I would be this invested in the game. At this point, I can honestly say I am disappointed that I haven't spent more time playing.





Social media has been buzzing with talks on character selection. Many have simply picked the characters they have loved or mained in previous games. Do you have a main or are you still playing around with some characters? Who are your favourites?

Lucky: I wouldn't say I have a main yet, but King K Rool was a character I wanted to play right off the bat with his announcement. Gameplay-wise though, most of the sword characters in the game feel very responsive and familiar in terms of control. So I think that I will be playing with them a decent amount.

HugS: My mains are currently the Belmonts. I don't have a specific Belmont because apparently they're both exactly the same. From a purely aesthetic view, Richter looks cooler, so I'm picking him! I enjoy the way they play and have a lot of similarities to my style in Melee, so they felt like a great fit from the get-go.





With so many characters announced and more to come, there will be some strong characters to battle against. Have you found a character that you struggle to play against?

HugS: I struggle against a lot of characters now because there are so many, and thus, it's easy to struggle due to unfamiliarity rather than an inherent disadvantage in a matchup. However, if I can pinpoint one type of character that will give Richter and I problems, it's probably the small characters. They're much harder to hit with my moveset than I anticipated.

Lucky: With the removal of shielding out of your dash animation, projectile characters have given me a lot of trouble for now.

Where do you stand on the stage legality discussion for competitive play: Should TOs only run stages with hazards off or are you hoping for mixed lists? Are there any stages you enjoy in particular that would like to see included?

HugS: I believe Ultimate tournaments should be ran with a similar aim as prior game tournaments: to showcase skillsets we value in competitive play, such as spacing, comboing, mechanical mastery, and others. I believe rules that allow excess stage hazards or items promote a different set of skills that are more valuable to a casual audience rather than for the viewers and players of an esport. I think the stagelist that 2GG came up with recently is the right start.

Lucky: I think when it comes to fighting games, you want to limit as many RNG aspects of a game as possible. As a spectator, I want to see two opponents outplay each other with the tools that HugS mentioned and not have a hazard tilt the scales by chance.





Have you worked out how to combo in the game? If so, what is your favourite combo to execute?

Lucky: Chrom's fair in to up-b combos look absolutely ridiculous. I haven't actually tried them yet, but I absolutely can't wait to go try it out after this.

HugS: Comboing to me is a more natural process that develops after I get a feel for my character's moveset. It's still early so I don't have the greatest combos, but I'll be able to get back to you guys on this one in the near future!





There have been discussions about how this game feels and which mechanics were installed into the final version of the game. Do you have a mechanic that you think is an impressive addition to the game?

HugS: I love the new parry mechanic. It's different from anything we've had in a Smash game prior. It's also decently challenging to pull off, and the risk/reward aspect seems balanced. It's going to allow for both great defensive countering, and even aggressive approaches with an option to stuff pre-emptive keepaway moves.

Lucky: Fox trotting is probably my favorite mechanic added to the game so far. It's the closest thing we have had to dash dancing in a Smash game since Melee and it gives the game the best movement since Melee as well.

Are there mechanics in the game that you dislike and would like to see improved?

HugS: I do not enjoy the ledge mechanic of forced switches between opponents. I'm okay with being pushed off the ledge if someone recovers to it right after you, but I don't like how if you trap someone into up-Bing early, and they're free-falling into the ledge, they're still able to push you off to grab it. It'll still take some getting used to.

Lucky: As a Melee player, I absolutely love movement and the new air-dodge almost lets you wavedash. I really don't think it would ever happen, but if they ever fixed the airdodge so that we could wavedash, the game would probably feel ridiculously smooth.





If you could add any Melee mechanic in, what would you pick and why?

HugS: Shield dropping, easy. I still think platform movement options are abysmal and would love to see the game add shield-dropping mechanics so that you're not stuck on platforms jumping around all day until you're down.

Lucky: Shield dropping would be great, but wavedashing out of shield would get me off of a platform pretty quickly! So I'm going to say wavedashing for sure.





There's been a new addition to the roster recently; we'll be seeing Joker from Persona 5 join the battle soon! If you could have any extra characters added into the game, who would you pick?

HugS: The only childhood favorite that I think I'm missing is Bomberman. Aside from him, I would love to see more modern characters like Sans, The Drifter from Hyper Light Drifter, and Dhalsim. I would also freak out at a Ninja Turtle.

Lucky: Megaman characters like Bass, Protoman or Zero make the most sense to me. Personally though, I'd love to have Snorlax be a playable character.

You can follow Lucky on Twitter and Twitch to follow all his ventures in his Smash career; both in Melee and Ultimate! You can also follow HugS on Twitter and Twitch where you can follow his daily updates on Ultimate and Melee too!