Post by nocturnal YL on Aug 14, 2018 14:44:49 GMT -5
(Post update as of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct on 8 August 2018.)
One thing that caught my attention with Smash Ultimate is that while it tries to be as big as it could be, it fell short in one area. Hard. And it's the new stages. All 4 of them.
Come to think of it, stages have been something I've been rather displeased with ever since Brawl. I'll skip the details, but I'll say most of my frustration is from my feeling, as a series fan, that both Kirby and Fire Emblem not getting a good reflection in terms of stages. Other series (like Animal Crossing) have issues with the stages too.
…Which brings me to Ultimate. For a game that pumps up the amount of everything, we sure are seeing a lot of improvements everywhere, on top of what the last games already did. Fighters, music count, modes. Everything, except the stages.
We see 4 new stages.
Four.
And these new stages are really only added because they have to, without the game looking too outdated or weird. "Most stages return" is just hiding the fact that we still aren't seeing stages based on the newer games — worse still, several of the Wii U stages didn't make it back, which makes some series' stages look even older.
They didn't address the problem of Kirby not getting stages from the later games, or how after the non-return of some stages, Star Fox and Donkey Kong feel like they're stuck in the last century. Smash Ultimate generally feels biased — yes, I'm using this word — towards the older games, as far as stages are concerned.
Or put it another way, disregarding the game origins of the stages: it's fine that they make all those old stages return, but if there's nothing new, what arenas can I look forward to play on?
And I'm complaning because the way the Direct is presented, it feels like the 103 stages are final. The Direct pointed out that it's a nice 3 special stages plus exactly 100 other stages. I certainly hope there will be more, and not just from adding "essential" stages arising from the introduction of new series, but it doesn't seem likely to me.
Everything in Smash Ultimate looks great so far. Except the stages. (And maybe the Assist Trophy lineup.)
One thing that caught my attention with Smash Ultimate is that while it tries to be as big as it could be, it fell short in one area. Hard. And it's the new stages. All 4 of them.
Come to think of it, stages have been something I've been rather displeased with ever since Brawl. I'll skip the details, but I'll say most of my frustration is from my feeling, as a series fan, that both Kirby and Fire Emblem not getting a good reflection in terms of stages. Other series (like Animal Crossing) have issues with the stages too.
…Which brings me to Ultimate. For a game that pumps up the amount of everything, we sure are seeing a lot of improvements everywhere, on top of what the last games already did. Fighters, music count, modes. Everything, except the stages.
We see 4 new stages.
Four.
And these new stages are really only added because they have to, without the game looking too outdated or weird. "Most stages return" is just hiding the fact that we still aren't seeing stages based on the newer games — worse still, several of the Wii U stages didn't make it back, which makes some series' stages look even older.
They didn't address the problem of Kirby not getting stages from the later games, or how after the non-return of some stages, Star Fox and Donkey Kong feel like they're stuck in the last century. Smash Ultimate generally feels biased — yes, I'm using this word — towards the older games, as far as stages are concerned.
Or put it another way, disregarding the game origins of the stages: it's fine that they make all those old stages return, but if there's nothing new, what arenas can I look forward to play on?
And I'm complaning because the way the Direct is presented, it feels like the 103 stages are final. The Direct pointed out that it's a nice 3 special stages plus exactly 100 other stages. I certainly hope there will be more, and not just from adding "essential" stages arising from the introduction of new series, but it doesn't seem likely to me.
Everything in Smash Ultimate looks great so far. Except the stages. (And maybe the Assist Trophy lineup.)
