Super Smash Bros Ultimate is one of the most hotly anticipated games for the Nintendo Switch if not for the year, especially for longtime fans. If this is your first Smash game, and you clicked on this article for a few pointers to help you smash like the champions, I’ll be happy to oblige. Here are nine Smash Bros Ultimate tips and tricks for beginners.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Beginner Tips
This Ain’t Your Dad’s Fighting Game
Since Super Smash Bros Ultimate is your first Smash Bros. game, you’re probably wondering what sets it apart from other fighting games. Well, Ultimate, and by extension the entire Smash franchise, is a hybrid of a fighting game and a platformer. It has dedicated attacks, throws, and special moves, but it also features jumping challenges and multiple lives.
More importantly, players can’t win a fight just by punching their opponents.
Most Super Smash Bros Ultimate matches are won and lost by knocking opponents or being knocked off the game’s stages. Players can always jump back, but there’s a limit to how far each character can jump. Eventually, someone’s going to be thrown so far they can’t recover, or worse, they fly directly into designated “blast zones” and lose a life.
Now, you may be wondering how to toss opponents into oblivion. Why, by punching of course. And kicking, skewering, biting, and literally every other kind of attack. The more damage a character takes, the farther he, she, or it flies. And the farther a character flies, the more likely they ain’t coming back.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Beginner Tips
Experiment with Characters and Controllers
Super Smash Bros Ultimate’s roster is absolutely massive. Fighting games rarely have more than 30 playable characters, but Super Smash Bros Ultimate has over 70 fighters, counting Echo Fighters and upcoming DLC characters. While the game only lets you start with eight characters (the same starting eight from the first Smash Bros. game), it will rapidly balloon out of control like a Jigglypuff’s Final Smash attack.
As Super Smash Bros Ultimate’s Roster grows in size, you will be tempted to try out new characters. By all means, go ahead and try out someone new. Go for what feels natural. Want a big bruiser who’s as slow as glacier and hits like an avalanche? Try the kings of evil Bowser and Ganondorf (and King Dedede). Feel like playing as a glass cannon mage-type character? Mewtwo and Ness are there for you.
Heck, don’t be afraid to experiment with characters you’d never consider touching. That’s how I fell in love with Charizard in Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U.
Of course, experimentation doesn’t just end with characters. You’ve got plenty of controller options, from the single Joy-Con controller to the classic Gamecube controller that has been a staple since Melee. Again, just pick whichever feels natural in your hands. There’s no wrong way to play Smash. Well, except for the Wii Remote and Nunchuck combo; motion controls in Smash Bros. just suck. Trust me.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Beginner Tips
Attack of the Not-Quite Clones
Now, you might have heard the term “Echo Fighter” thrown around to describe certain characters. As the term suggests, they’re clones of certain characters (Richter is a clone of Simon; Daisy is a clone of Peach, etc.), but like an actual echo, they aren’t 100% the same.
For the most part, Echo Fighters are almost identical to the original characters, but they always break the mold in some way. Sometimes the differences are only cosmetic; other times characters feel tangibly different. Their moves might look the same, but an Echo Fighter’s attack could knock back characters horizontally rather than diagonally. Or perhaps an Echo Fighter is a bit floatier than the original.
Don’t go into Super Smash Bros Ultimate thinking Echo Fighters play exactly like their counterparts. That’s like ordering ice cream and saying you don’t care if it’s vanilla or chocolate because they’re both nothing more than frozen, flavored milk fat.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Beginner Tips
To Up-B or Not to Up-B, That Is the Question
So, say you’ve been knocked off the stage, tried jumping back, and you barely missed the ledge. What do you do? Well, that depends on your character. Usually, all you can do is hold up on the control stick and press the B button, but not all Up-B moves are created equal. Some send characters soaring upwards; others can be angled for a modicum of control, while a scant few don’t do anything.
Sometimes, though, you don’t even need the Up-B move.
If you’re lucky enough to play as a character with wings or the ability to self-inflate, you get a few extra jumps for some much-needed boost in height. You might need an Up-B at the end to reach the ledge, but that’s unlikely. The same applies to reaching the stage with Side-B moves. Some are handy for getting back on stage; others are less than useless.
Again, whether or not you need to use Side-B depends on the character, especially since some characters can float as if their butts were filled with helium.
Now, here’s a little secret some players forget: characters who can grab enemies at a distance with a whip or chain can tether to the ledge of the stage. How do you know who can do that? Just press the grab button in midair and pray you don’t miss. But, again, not all characters can tether, so make sure you know your character has a Hookshot or something similar before trying this technique. It will either save your life or end it.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Beginner Tips
Duck, Dodge, Dip, Dive, and Dodge
Sometimes, the best way to avoid an attack is to press and hold the Guard button, but there’s always an Achilles’ Heel or two. Guards are powerless against grabs, and any guard will break if hit enough, which will stun a character (or instantly KO Jigglypuff) and leave them open to a fully-charged Smash attack. When guarding does more harm then good, it’s time to start dodging.
Dodges come in three flavors: rolling, sidestepping, and air dodging. Each offers a brief window of invincibility, and they have specific uses to boot. If you want to get behind your opponent for a quick backstab, you’re going to want to roll. Sidesteps, on the other hand, don’t give you a more advantageous position but also shine when opponents use large, single-hit attacks. Plus, sidestepping just looks cool.
As for an air dodge, they’re the easiest to pull off and are key to getting back on stage when opponents don’t just wait for you to fall.
Of course, each type of dodge has its own set of weaknesses. Rolling leaves you open to large, sweeping attacks; sidestepping is useless against multi-hit moves, and air dodging is also the easiest to screw up and leave you defenseless. More importantly, spamming any dodge exponentially decreases the window of invulnerability, and talented players can predict dodges and punish them to horrendous results. Remember, this ain’t Dark Souls.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Beginner Tips
There’s More Than One Way To Climb a Ledge
If you ever find yourself hanging off the edge for dear life, you might be tempted to immediately climb up, but that’s not always the best option.
Each character can crawl back onto stage in one of four ways. There’s clawing (literally for some characters) your way up with an attack, quickly rolling up, jumping up, and simply climbing up, and they each have their uses. If your opponent is charging up an attack, pressing the A button will knock them out of it with one of your own, but if you want to get all disrespectful, you can press the dodge button to roll behind them for a counterattack.
Meanwhile, the jump button lets you jump over your opponent’s head for a different kind of a sneak attack. Finally, if your opponent has their guard up, just press the control stick in the direction of the stage to climb up without any extra fluff. But, whatever you do, do it quickly.
Hanging off the ledge gives a limited window of invulnerability, but if for any reason you let go and grab the ledge again before you stand on solid ground, you won’t be invincible. Even worse, talented players can predict how you’ll get back on stage, so never, under any circumstances, roll onto stage if you see a character charging a Smash attack while facing away from the ledge. As always, your instinct is your friend. Trust it.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Beginner Tips
Bewear of Items
Most Smash matches feature an item of some variety. Items like the Smoke Ball can be safely ignored, while others such as the Smash Ball and Golden Hammer put the game on hold while everyone tries to get their hands on these intentionally overpowered weapons. Usually, it’s a good idea to grab an item first, but sometimes, just sometimes, your greed will backfire.
Say, for example, a Lightning Bolt spawns and slowly descends like a literal gift from the heavens. Normally, this item shrinks your opponent, but it has been known to backfire and shrink its user instead, and it’s not the only item that can troll players. Poke Balls run the risk of summoning the ever-splashing Goldeen; a Hammer’s head might fly off and leave players with a useless stick, and the Poison Mushrooms that shrink players are designed to look like beneficial Super Mushrooms.
Every item is a roll of the dice. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve attacked an opponent and a Bob-omb poofed in front of my face to blow me to kingdom come. While you can always play Smash without items, just remember: when you play a match with items on, skill goes out the window, and fights are won by sheer dumb luck.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Beginner Tips
The Greater the Risk, the Greater the Reward
Say you are down to your last life. Your opponent just knocked you off stage and is pursuing you. What do you do? You air dodge their attack, leap off them like a footstool, and get back on stage for a surprise victory. That’s just one example of how to turn a match around.
Super Smash Bros. is all about making risky moves, and if done correctly, they pay off like Las Vegas jackpots. Take any character with a counter move. Hitting them when they use their counter is like getting hit by the physical manifestation of the “I am rubber and you are glue” taunt, and some players love to spam the move.
But, if you get your timing down, you can hit these players without activating the counter, which is all you need to make them eat a can of humble pie-flavored whoop ass. Then again, if you mistime the attack, you only have yourself to blame for your fate. But you can play it safe and just grab them.
Of course, risks don’t end with countering counter-spammers. When you try to get back on stage, and your opponent flies in for the kill, proper retaliation will save you and turn the odds in your favor. Some characters have special moves that let them drag opponents into the abyss for a kamikaze KO. Grab your opponent and wipe the board clean, but miss, and you only doom yourself. And the same applies when your opponent tries to jump back: you can always dash their dreams apart with a midair attack, but you have to make sure you don’t get caught in your own trap.
And pray you can jump back to the stage. As always, not every tactic works for every character, but everyone has one or two moves that are a coin flip between victory and self-inflicted defeat.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate Beginner Tips
Keep an Eye on Your Internet Speed
You might think this is obvious since everything from our phones to our toilets are connected to the Internet, but you would not believe how many players don’t understand that poor Internet speeds can ruin an online match. Technically, you don’t need to worry about Internet speed if you only play single-player modes, but Super Smash Bros. isn’t the kind of game you buy for the single-player experience.
When Internet speeds drop in Super Smash Bros., matches encounter all manner of weirdness. Sometimes, matches slow to a crawl with framerates that make the Nintendo Switch version of WWE 2K18 look playable. Other times, controller inputs are delayed by as many as several seconds.
Granted, these issues plagued Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U, and we don’t know if Ultimate will suffer from the same problems, but better safe than sorry.
You have plenty of options when it comes to guaranteeing a fast connection. Don’t connect too many devices to your local WiFi, or at the very least make sure they aren’t downloading anything. Move your WiFi router closer to the Nintendo Switch. Heck, go buy a wired LAN adapter. The last thing you want is to be the cause of a match that has all the speed of a potato.
That should help you get started in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For more guides on the game, visit our ever-growing wiki.
It’s filled with guides on how to unlock all characters, what the install size is, how to play as new characters such as Ridley, Incineroar, and Inkling, as well as how to get spirit points, how to level up spirits and how many spirits there are.
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