Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is out now, and it’s a massive game. There are dozens of characters, over a hundred stages, and a whole lot of modes and items in the game, as well as rule sets, variations, music tracks, and more. It can get positively overwhelming trying to keep track of it all. That’s where we come in with our guide.

CLASSIC MODE CHARACTER UNLOCK PATHS

Classic Mode is back in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and this time it’s actually really great. There are unique character paths for everyone, which makes it worth playing through it multiple times. However, there’s also another reason to do that—you see, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s classic mode is a great way to unlock all the characters. There are multiple character unlock “paths” you can follow, by playing through Classic Mode in a specific sequence of characters. The Smash community has already determined what these paths are. You can check it out here: Link to image.

ALL ASSIST TROPHIES AND POKEBALLS:

There’s a whole lot of chaos going on in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to begin with, but it can get even more chaotic when you throw in Pokeballs, and Assist Trophies in the mix. You can check them out below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpOSTj1e4-4

One of the primary new additions to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is Spirits. Spirits are an interesting new concept: they are sort of like assists, adding buffs and perks to your primary character, and representing a character who is not a full fighter along the way.

Spirits form the basis of two entire modes in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: World of Light (the Adventure Mode), and Spirits Board. You can also battle with them in any other mode in the game. Suffice it to say they are an important part of the game. This guide helps you learn more about them.

SPIRITS

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Spirits come in two primary forms:

• Primary Spirits
• Support Spirits

Primary Spirits are what your fighter character “equips”. They can be leveled up, and have direct combat power that influences your fighter’s performance in the game. Support Spirits, on the other hand, are like Spirits for your Spirits—you can equip it to your Primary Spirit (as long as your Primary Spirit has enough free slots), and modify the perks and benefits you get from it as a result.

Spirits also have four different power tiers:

• Novice – 1 Star, low power spirits
• Advanced – 2 Star, stronger spirits
• Ace – 3 Star, even more powerful spirits
• Legend – 4 Star, most powerful spirits

Primary Spirits also have one of three attributes:

• Attack
• Grab
• Shield

These form a “weapon triangle”: attack beats grab, grab beats shield, shield beats attack.

LEVELING SPIRITS

Your Primary Spirits automatically level up after battles, as long as you have them equipped. Spirits gain more combat power when they level up, and sometimes even “evolve” into more powerful Spirits, offering enhanced stats and benefits. If you are not using a Spirit, but want to evolve it, you can either feed it Snacks, or train it at the Dojo.

SPIRIT BATTLES

Spirit Battles are a brand new mode in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, that can offer some of the hardest challenges in the game. Essentially, a Spirit Match involves you fighting with your fighter, equipped with whatever Spirits you wants to equip them with, against a different character, equipped with a Spirit that you get to claim if you win the battle.

Spirit Battles involve “conditions”—usually tied to the gimmick of the Spirit you are trying to win. They can lead to the deck being stacked against you, so make sure your Spirit loadout is top notch, and that you are in peak fighting form as a player.

There are over 1,200 Spirits in Smash Ultimate. Here is a video that shows you every single one of them, but do bear in mind that this is, obviously, rife with spoilers. If you choose to view it, you do so at your own discretion.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is now out. Nintendo’s Crossover fighter has 84 characters, over a hundred stages, over 900 tracks of music, and hundreds of items and character based assists and supports. This is without getting into a 25 hour long RPG like story mode thrown in on top, as well as the countless hours of fun that the multiplayer in the game will provide.

What I am trying to say is that there is a lot in this game—there’s no shame if you need help wrapping your head around it all. That’s where we come in with this guide.

BASIC TIPS AND TRICKS

If you’re new to Smash Bros., you need to pick a character with which you will learn the ropes. Pick Kirby. There is a reason Kirby is a popular character in Smash circles around newcomers, and the reason is he’s perfectly suited to people unfamiliar with the game’s mechanics. He gets a lot of aerial moves, which allows for recoveries, and his attacks hit hard. He’s a bit slow relative to some other characters in the game, but he’s perfect for starting out.

Do not get overwhelmed by the options. Sakurai is a madman, and this game is filled with a whole lot of options. Not just in terms of character and stages, but even in terms of setting your game up. Don’t get overwhelmed by it, don’t let it daunt you. If you’re starting out, stick to playing with Stock, and choose Battlefield as your stage. I also advise not turning items off, but setting their frequency to Low, which will reduce the madness a bit.

Work your way up against the CPU. You can start playing against random CPU opponents, but start setting them at CPU Level 1, and then bump the difficulty up a bit each time you win a game against them convincingly. This will help you get better at the game, and be better prepared for taking on human players.

Mess around. There are a lot of modes in the game—try Classic Mode, it’s like an Arcade Mode which is great to learn the ropes. World of Light is a 25 hour long adventure mode if you crave single player content. There’s a whole lot hiding here, poke around and don’t be afraid to experiment.

HOW TO UNLOCK CHARACTERS FASTER

There are 74 characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but you only start out with 8 of them. These 8 are the original 8 characters in Super Smash Bros. On the Nintendo 64, and while they’re really varied and well balanced, they’re no good if you want to unlock your favorite character and play with them.

Unlocking 74 characters can take a while, so let’s talk about how you can speed this process up:

• The most basic way to do this is to play World of Light. World of Light is the game’s story mode, and it’s 25 hours long. Over the course of this mode, you unlock all characters in the game. Characters unlocked via World of Light are then available in every mode—but on the flip side, as noted already, this can take a while.
• Character unlocks occur once every 10 minutes if you just play the game. 
• You can manipulate this setting, however. There’s an easy way, just make sure to follow the steps below:
  1. Play a 10 minute game with an AI opponent. It does not matter whether you win or lose, but the game should be 10 minutes (it is recommended to make this a Timed game).
  2. A character unlock is initiated. Fight them. Again, whether or not you win is irrelevant (though if you do, congrats, you unlocked them)
  3. Quit the game, and restart it.
  4. Begin a new Versus Match with a second controller with 1 Stock. Use Player 2’s controller to immediately self destruct and end the game.
  5. A character unlock is initiated right away.
  6. Repeat the process