Q&A Smash Ultimate Q&A thread

[ChivalRuse]

Are there public character discords? If so, can someone please post a link.

 

[Parallelo]

I know that there's a lot of discussion on the input lag but a few friends and I have been having far more serious control issues.

When using joycons (in handheld or docked mode) i've noticed that the "c stick" will just not work 50% of the time. I'm not exaggerating, I've gone entire matches where it simply does not activate at all despite mashing it frequently.

On Pro controller we've noticed a similar issue although not as prevalent. GC controller we've had reversed directional inputs (attempting a left special and getting a right special) as well as smash attacks failing to register.

We've tried using all the different stick sensitivity settings and while High does help, the issue is still at the point where matches are more often than not coming down to a wiffed input being heavily punished and everyone feeling unsatisfied. Has anyone else had these issues or is it just a fluke thing for us?

 

[phi1ny3]

Can you "grab parry" tether grabs? If so, what's the timing? Do you use grab right when their grab latches to you, or when you get pulled close enough to be in your own grab range?

 

[Luigifan18]

Can you "grab parry" tether grabs? If so, what's the timing? Do you use grab right when their grab latches to you, or when you get pulled close enough to be in your own grab range?

Wait, is it possible to do anything while being pulled in by a tether grab?! If it is... well, that would be one reason for their claimed inherent suckiness...

 

[Deleted member]

I can deal with the bow/boomerang, but the bombs always seem to catch me offguard. They'll throw a bomb, then force me to approach by peppering me with arrows/boomerangs, and when I approach they always get me with the bomb. I try to jump over but that's risky so they end up swatting me out of the air, I try to shield the arrows/boomerang, they grab me/blow up the bomb while I'm in shield drop. I try to grab the bomb, they blow it up in my face. I try using my own projectiles and they block them and I can't rush them during shield drop because they'll blow up that goddamn bomb. Basically, approaching Links is hard for me. What's the best way to do so? I'm a Cloud/Lucina main for reference

I hope I don't sound too whiny by the way, it's just that compared to Smash 4 Link is a ****ing BEAST in this game and I'm having trouble learning the matchup as a whole lol

 

[4ntarianSP4CE]

Before I begin, I should preface this with the statement that "I don't own this game yet."

This more than anything is so I can quickly get up to speed once I get my hands on SSBU this Christmas. Nothing more, nothing less. Also, any questions regarding hitboxes and stuff are just relatively speaking. I don't need super precise answers, just a simple "better", "worse", "a lot", "not that much", etc. will suffice.

1. Is it true that you only have to hold the shield button now after getting hit in order to tech?
2. In preparing for this game prior to Christmas, would I be better off practicing in Melee, Sm4sh, or both?
3. By how much has Roy's sweet spot increased in size? From what I've seen, it looks like its larger.
4. By how much was Cloud's hit boxes tampered with? I just need to know if his sword still out-reaches Adult Link or not.
5. Is dash dancing as simple as Melee, or will I still need to practice? On top of that, can all characters dash dance?
6. How reliable is dash grabbing now, and is it more consistent to connect now for characters like Captain Falcon and Fox? My main reason for asking is because we're unable to run through opponents now if they aren't spot dodging.
7. Is Robin any better now (aside from the Roll Cancel Boost Grab technique that was just discovered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1If8eSLKwI )?
8. How does DI work is this iteration of Smash Bros, and is SDI going to matter more now instead of DI during the initial character launch?
9. Is aggro Marth viable now, or am I still going to need to play him somewhat passive? I just want Melee aggro Marths back man...
10. Is Piranha Plant good or bad? I haven't seen any gameplay of him yet in tournament, and i'm curious as to why.

 

[Amazing Ampharos]

Before I begin, I should preface this with the statement that "I don't own this game yet."

This more than anything is so I can quickly get up to speed once I get my hands on SSBU this Christmas. Nothing more, nothing less. Also, any questions regarding hitboxes and stuff are just relatively speaking. I don't need super precise answers, just a simple "better", "worse", "a lot", "not that much", etc. will suffice.

1. Is it true that you only have to hold the shield button now after getting hit in order to tech?
2. In preparing for this game prior to Christmas, would I be better off practicing in Melee, Sm4sh, or both?
3. By how much has Roy's sweet spot increased in size? From what I've seen, it looks like its larger.
4. By how much was Cloud's hit boxes tampered with? I just need to know if his sword still out-reaches Adult Link or not.
5. Is dash dancing as simple as Melee, or will I still need to practice? On top of that, can all characters dash dance?
6. How reliable is dash grabbing now, and is it more consistent to connect now for characters like Captain Falcon and Fox? My main reason for asking is because we're unable to run through opponents now if they aren't spot dodging.
7. Is Robin any better now (aside from the Roll Cancel Boost Grab technique that was just discovered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1If8eSLKwI )?
8. How does DI work is this iteration of Smash Bros, and is SDI going to matter more now instead of DI during the initial character launch?
9. Is aggro Marth viable now, or am I still going to need to play him somewhat passive? I just want Melee aggro Marths back man...
10. Is Piranha Plant good or bad? I haven't seen any gameplay of him yet in tournament, and i'm curious as to why.

1. That only applies to tumble state slamming the ground which is like... not useful, especially since if you hit shield after already in said state you'll airdodge. So yeah, there's a mechanic here, but it doesn't matter at all.
2. Smash 4.
3. Dunno, don't play the character, and most people playing online right now are picking Chrom for whom it doesn't matter.
4. Adult Link is really a ton different with a longer sword but a lot of changed around animations (like his jab swings in such a short way compared to before). Cloud is mostly very similar; his hitboxes are a little smaller but for most things that matter they work out about the same. I'll say the Link vs Cloud match-up that I played online trying to get 30 characters used for a challenge felt ridiculously hard for Link since while Link has more range on some things he doesn't really on the things that matter.
5. It's not really the same as Melee, but it's pretty easy. Running isn't committed like before so you should probably be rethinking your movement strats anyway.
6. It's pretty consistent. I've been grabbing fools all day.
7. I'm no Robin main and have hardly played him, but honestly, he feels a lot worse to me. The game rewards mobility so much more which is a problem because despite the rumors he didn't really get faster relative to the cast, and not starting with the Levin Sword really sucks a lot since now you're basically playing from behind the moment the match starts. Arcfire is a bit worse now too, and Arcthunder was gutted to the point you might as well go for Thoron. He does have some nice buffs (Levin nair, pretty sure usmash has a bigger hitbox, rapid jab is better and actually pretty good, much better recovery), but I don't think he seems promising overall.
8. DI is about the same as in other games. SDI is nerfed a lot. You're backwards; DI's relative importance compared to SDI has never been greater.
9. Marth can do a lot of safe stuff that he couldn't in 4, and being aggressive is better in general. You can go in with the character. I still wouldn't suggest playing Marth as aggressively as like Fox or something, but of course 100% aggro Marth was a terrible idea in Melee too...
10. Well he's not out yet. No one could play him if they wanted to.

---

I have my own question, and it's pretty important to me. So I have almost all of the music. People online say there are 876 tracks, and I have 875. The shop stopped selling me music, I have only one challenge left on the board which is for 200 quickplay matches which I suspect is not a piece of music (but maybe I'm wrong!), and I 100%'d World of Light so I'm baffled what I don't have. I can't find a list online of all of the music that goes in the same order as the sound test so I can double check manually. I'll list my count by series; could someone who has it all tell me which series I'm missing one from for a starting point?

Smash: 113
Mario: 91
Mario Kart: 15
DK: 27
Zelda: 45
Metroid: 25
Yoshi: 14
Kirby: 38
Star Fox: 18
Pokemon: 33
F-Zero: 26
EarthBound: 14
Fire Emblem: 41
G&W: 2
Kid Icarus: 13
Wario: 11
Pikmin: 14
Animal Crossing: 21
Wii Fit: 10
Punch-Out!!: 5
Xenoblade: 11
Splatoon: 26
Metal Gear: 11
Sonic: 20
Mega Man: 31
PAC-MAN: 11
Street Fighter: 38
Final Fantasy: 2
Bayonetta: 11
Castlevania: 34
Other: 104

I really want to have all of the music before going in and setting My Music in detail. I'd really like to get that done soon., but I can't until I figure out what I'm missing and then hunt down where I missed it.

 

[FINAL BOSS TAPP]

Does anyone know the current smash ultimate rules for game battles both single and doubles? I played the first match and the opposing player used items. Also what is the difference between standard stages and competitive stages? Sorry I am new to this but I've always wanted to get into it so now I am.
What I thought the rules were 3 stock, 6 minutes battlefield only stages and no items except smash ball? Although this is not the case as I found out lol. Thanks everyone please let me know.

 

[blackwasabi]

Ever since I played smash I always had a hard time trying to pick a main. When all dlc was released for smash 4, I wanted to main ryu and luigi at the same time(I tried to main him before dlc came out). the main issues that I had with these character is that I picked them only because they looked cool to play. I only realized this when started playng ultimate a lot more, because I noticed this when I saw how bad my defense, movement and recovery was. I still would like to get better with ryu and luigi, but I think I need to found a character to start over with to get a better understanding of the fundamentals of smash. Does anyone have an idea of what character to start over with?

 

[Wiziliz]

Is there anyway to save replays in Squad Strike? It's a great mode, but I haven't found a way to do this.

(EDIT: Had to add the start after my thread was merged to this.)

 

[YoboyAjax]

I can short short into immediate aerials just fine. But delayed aerials or empty hops or specials are so hard for me to do, even in training mode where there's no pressure. I feel like this game made using short hops so much more difficult than previous entries. I've been RARing short hopped specials in training mode but I'm not seeing much improvement. Is anyone else having trouble with this?

 

[Wiziliz]

Ever since I played smash I always had a hard time trying to pick a main. When all dlc was released for smash 4, I wanted to main ryu and luigi at the same time(I tried to main him before dlc came out). the main issues that I had with these character is that I picked them only because they looked cool to play. I only realized this when started playng ultimate a lot more, because I noticed this when I saw how bad my defense, movement and recovery was. I still would like to get better with ryu and luigi, but I think I need to found a character to start over with to get a better understanding of the fundamentals of smash. Does anyone have an idea of what character to start over with?

Chrom, Mega Man, King K. Rool and Pikachu could all be good picks? Just play everyone and choose who you like best though. I was expecting to main Ridley, Simon, Wario, Sheik or Ganondorf, and I'm mainly playing Ness, Young Link and Ridley.

 

[Kung Fu]

Everytime I try to RAR bair quickly it does a fair. Never had this problem in Smash4. Is it me or the game's new mechanics?

 

[DontSueMe]

Are 3d models of the characters available anywhere?

 

[ADAS20]

Is it better to Shorthop manually or use the buffered aerials?
In the sense of having more options out of a shorthop

 

[scoobymcsnack]

A while ago, they stated you could combine echoes with their original characters on the select screen. How do you do this?

 

[UltimateXsniper]

Go to options, smash, and you'll see where it says echo fighters.

 

[scoobymcsnack]

Go to options, smash, and you'll see where it says echo fighters.

Thank you!

 

[JiggyNinja]

Is it better to Shorthop manually or use the buffered aerials?
In the sense of having more options out of a shorthop

Depends on the timing you need. A lot of the overhead Fairs (like the Fire Emblem swordsmen and Olimar for example) can whiff over the opponent's head with the new input, so you need a bit of delay into the shorthop before you actually do the aerial so it can hit lower in the arc. In that case, you need to do it manually.

It's also pretty hard, and maybe impossible to do Bairs that way.

 

[BluePikmin11]

Is there a limit on the number of spirits you can hold? I am starting to notice that spirits I got earlier do not have the checkmark in the Spirits Board, even when I obtained the spirit several times (The Chorus Kids spirit comes to mind, and I still see that not check-marked). I currently have 950 spirits. And I rarely ever dismiss spirits in my first playthrough of World of Light, and I used the summon spirits sparingly. I am not sure if this is an issue in my end or if it is the game's fault. I fear that I might have reached the limit and that spirits are disappearing without notice. It irks me a bit as a collector.

 

[Imfrikinbad]

Anyone else having irregularities on how often characters pop up to be unlocked? Before it was about every 10 minutes, but I played for about 30 mins yesterday in a row and nothing.... Then the day before I had like 2 characters in a row pop up within a 5 min span. Is there not a standard for this or?

 

[Cyn]

Anyone else having irregularities on how often characters pop up to be unlocked? Before it was about every 10 minutes, but I played for about 30 mins yesterday in a row and nothing.... Then the day before I had like 2 characters in a row pop up within a 5 min span. Is there not a standard for this or?

Distance covered also plays a part. So if you are doing a quick unlock method, try doing normal matches to get your distance travelled increased.

 

[Madwario]

I am not sure if i should even say this but.

If you struggle with getting 100% in Adventure mode, the light palace to the left of the regular map is showing a star despite if you missed some fighters there. I think it is a bug.

 

[Imfrikinbad]

Distance covered also plays a part. So if you are doing a quick unlock method, try doing normal matches to get your distance travelled increased.

I just played regular Smash matches for an hour and no character unlocks. Am I doing something wrong? I don't know exactly what "distance covered" means.

 

[Luigifan18]

Hey, I’ve noticed that a lot of people are making threads to ask simple questions about controllers, and I don't think these single-question threads are healthy for Smashboards — they're cluttering up the place. I'm thinking we should have a singular thread for questions about controllers. Will this thread suffice, or should a new one be made? (I'm currently inviting moderators to a private conversation to discuss this issue in greater detail.)

 

[Ajani]

Does anyone practice against Level 9 CPUs? They are nutty in this game but maybe to nuts? I cant seem to get a combo off on them

 

[Garolymar]

Hey, does anyone know how to make Amiibo fighters fight with each other? Smash mode doesn't seem to actually read the Amiibo and I can't add multiple Amiibo to the Amiibo training mode. Did they take the functionality out of the game or am I doing something wrong?

 

[Imfrikinbad]

Does anyone practice against Level 9 CPUs? They are nutty in this game but maybe to nuts? I cant seem to get a combo off on them

They are definitely a lot better than other games, but I don't think "too nutty". Honestly I've learned a bit about the mechanics of some characters from CPU's.

 

[GdspdUblkprzdnt]

So I have housemates to play with but they're not particularly good at the game or invested so I've deemed that I'll get more mileage just labbing and practicing tech. I think I should still spar on occassion with them. Anyone have any advice on how to make the most of not-the-best friendlies? Should I make my own win conditions like not lose any stocks etc?

 

[Imfrikinbad]

I just played regular Smash matches for an hour and no character unlocks. Am I doing something wrong? I don't know exactly what "distance covered" means.

Now I know something is wrong and glitching with my game. I just played through 2 Classic Modes and did not get a prompt to fight a new character. Can someone please help?? Anyone else experiencing this??

 

[JiggyNinja]

Now I know something is wrong and glitching with my game. I just played through 2 Classic Modes and did not get a prompt to fight a new character. Can someone please help?? Anyone else experiencing this??

Have you unlocked characters through other methods? I think the Classic mode unlocks are fixed, so you might have already unlocked the character associated with that Classic Mode.

 

[Imfrikinbad]

Have you unlocked characters through other methods? I think the Classic mode unlocks are fixed, so you might have already unlocked the character associated with that Classic Mode.

I have, but no new character unlocks in going on around 4 hours of gameplay now. I've played Spirits Mode, Smash and Classic Modes with characters I haven't beat it with yet, and still, nothing.

 

[JiggyNinja]

I wonder if the patch changed or glitched things out then. I had no problem unlocking all the characters with the "Vs battle then restart" method.

Did you lose any of the unlock fights? If you did then they won't reproc normally, you have to go to the rematch icon. It looks like a door and I believe it's next to the Amiibo option in the Games menu.

 

[Imfrikinbad]

I wonder if the patch changed or glitched things out then. I had no problem unlocking all the characters with the "Vs battle then restart" method.

Did you lose any of the unlock fights? If you did then they won't reproc normally, you have to go to the rematch icon. It looks like a door and I believe it's next to the Amiibo option in the Games menu.

I lost one, but went back and beat it already.

 

[Niminim]

Hi. I want to play with my son local coop against the CPU (2 vs 2). How do I do it.?

Thanks

Nimi

 

[MalanoMan]

Ok so I think you have to create a ruleset to do 2 v 2. When you click "smash" it should bring you to the ruleset screen. From there you should be able to set it to a team battle. Then set whatever other settings as you wish, select a stage, and go to the character screen. On the bottom right side of the screen, there will be plus and minus icons. Press the plus twice to add two players. Set the first two character slots to 1p and 2p and the final two slots to cpu and cpu. Then you should be able to change your team colors as needed.

If the 2 v 2 option is not a separate ruleset, it should be available from the character select screen. There may be an option to just change "team colors" (not costume colors) from there.

 

[Imfrikinbad]

So just FYI: I unlocked all the characters today finally.... I had to restart my Switch completely and then the next Smash matches I played, I was prompted to battle a challenger after every 3 stock match until I unlocked the rest. It's like post-update they all got stuck in a queue somehow until I reset everything. If you have the issue I had, try that to resolve.

 

[Niminim]

Thanks. I'll try it

 

[peertopeersucks]

What GSP is elite smash?

Ive seen people say it is once you reach the top 10% of the current playerbase, (number always changing because playerbase always growing) i seen a guy say he was 950k gsp when he got access to elite smash, i am now 1.9 mil gsp and still no elite smash. Can someone with elite right now tell me their GSP? Also is elite smash only battleground stages 1v1 stock no items? Sick of getting ADHD maps with every item.

 

[Garolymar]

I'm at 1.6 mil with Olimar and I somehow got in. Maybe it is character specific and the more popular the character you play the higher your GSP has to be? I'm not really sure.