Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character guide (part 14)

Welcome back to Episode 14 of our in-depth guide to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's stellar cast of playable characters

In this ours guide, we will devote ourselves to the many characters playable of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, starting with Mario up to the latest additions of the second Fighters Pass. In each episode we will describe about five or six fighters, however, dividing them according to the chapter of Smash in which they made their debut. Continue our journey to discover Ultimate Novices (concluding the base roster), but today we won't keep you busy for long: four out of five are Eco Characters. We will talk about Incineroar, Dark Samus, Daisy, Chrome e Ken. In the appendix, we will explain how to manage the characters from more problematic recoveries.

Quick Preamble

Before moving on to the characters, let's clarify the fulcrum of the guide: in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate the task of each player is to throw opponents off the screen, fighting in arenas that mix the genre of fighting with elements of platformer (X and Y allow you to jump). The A and B keys, used in combination with the various directions, give life to the most disparate moves, as well as the back keys to manage shields, dodges and holds. The game also implements tools that irremediably alter the fate of each encounter, but in this guide we will basically focus only and only on the characters themselves. Increasing the opponent's damage will make him lighter and, therefore, vulnerable.

Incineroar - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Guide

The first fighter we will see today, as well as the last of the base roster to be officially unveiled, is Incineroar. The Fire-type starter Pokémon from the Alola region is also the only one who is not an Echo character. Come to think of it, he is also the only character linked to fire who has very little to do with his primary element… but we'll get to that shortly.

• Franchise of origin: Pokémon
• Origins: Litten is the kitty with which you can start your own adventure in Pokémon Sun, Luna, UltraSole e UltraLuna. After the evolution into Torracat, the last stage - Incineroar - proposes a type of struggle rarely shown in such a direct way: the wrestling. In particular, Incineroar embodies one of the two personality types that distinguish the narrative circus of wrestling: the do what ("Face", wrestler loved by the public) and thevery ("Heel", the character that the public loves to hate). Incineroar is a heel, and for this reason between his two types - Fire and Dark - his range of moves is more reminiscent of the latter. The Dark type is more related to the dirty game (Bite, Feint, Pursuit) than the manipulation of the darkness itself. Masahiro Sakurai took the ball for finally introduce a wrestler in Smash.
• Gameplay: Slow, heavy and a lot, but very "ignorant". Incineroar can be summarized as follows. After each hit heavy move, if it doesn't move the character does it a pose for the public. Arm tension (B) is a spin on the spot. Throwing on the ropes (↔ + B) is a momentum that ends with a grab. The target is thrown on the ropes of a ring, at which point the move must be concluded by hitting him (A / B) when he returns. Crossover (↑ + B) makes a non-directional sprint upward, followed by a diagonal swoop forward (>). As an attack it is excellent, given the explosion generated with the landing, but in terms of recovery it is one of the worst in the game. Revenge (↓ + B) is a peculiar counterattack: it serves to take a blow to corroborate the next Incineroar attack.

Dark Samus - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Guide

The first of the Echo Characters we'll talk about in today's guide is Dark Samus, which only debuted in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate but can be found on the character selection screen next to Samus, which is at the top. The first character created by American designers to appear in Smash, Samus Oscura doesn't really have much to do with the original in terms of biology ... but that doesn't stop her from having exactly the same skills in Ultimate.

• Franchise of origin: Metroid
• Origins: Dark Samus is the main antagonist of the first person shooter trilogy Metroid Prime, developed by Nintendo's current Texas winger, Retro Studios. One of the Metroids, the "jellyfish" of the cosmos from which the series takes its name, has been corrupted by the substance Phazon until mutating into the eponymous Metroid Prime. The creature survived the first defeat to Samus by stealing one of his armor, giving birth to the Dark Samus we know today. Her mission - corrupting the universe with Phazon energy - led her to appear in Smash three times: in Brawl as a collectible trophy, in the fourth Smash as an Assistant (tool), and finally in Ultimate as a full-fledged fighter. .
• Gameplay: Beyond the most graceful movements and the most pyrotechnic attacks, Dark Samus is functionally almost indistinguishable to Samus. Shot reload (B) allows you to load a bullet exactly as in the case of Samus' move of the same name, although now we have reached a point sufficiently advanced to be able to describe an advanced technique. If you charge a shot like this, you can “pause” the charge by raising the shield. Even with the Missile (↔ + B) we can tell you a secret: if you use a left (<<) or right (>>) click to launch the attack, you will launch a more powerful missile. This type of input - the same one used to perform a Smash attack with A (otherwise simplified with the right analog stick) - is called "Smash input". We will also see it between two episodes. The screw attachment (↑ + B) as always makes an additional jump, damaging anyone who comes into contact with Dark Samus several times, and Bomb (↓ + B) closes the character in the Morphosphere to release small devices. The advanced techniques we have analyzed also apply to Samus.

Daisy - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Guide

After a "debut" in Melee as Peach's alternate costume, her orange counterpart Daisy climbs into the ring adding ... little and no to the base character. Unlike Dark Samus, we're not going to dwell on the techniques particularly.

• Franchise of origin: Super Mario
• Origins: Daisy was literally born for the technological limitations of Game Boy. The black and white screen (or rather, light green and dark green) contributed to the many oddities of the former Super Mario Land, set in Sarasaland instead of the Mushroom Kingdom. The local princess, given the then primitive sprites, found herself with darker hair than the blonde hair that Peach has accustomed us to. Since then, Daisy has justified her existence only in spinoffs, and to give Luigi a companion with whom to reflect the relationship between Mario and Peach… whatever it is. On a character level, if nothing else, Daisy is distinguished by a more reckless attitude.
• Gameplay: Daisy has her own Toad (B) personal, different in color (blue, in this case) but not in the same use as a living counterattack. Vaulting (↔ + B) hurls Daisy forward with a powerful hip strike (if you can talk about a hip), dealing a lot of damage. In addition to the generous glide granted by the second jump, the parasol (↑ + B) hurls Daisy up and then enjoys a second glide with the umbrella (which deals damage on contact). As for aerial play, Daisy and Incineroar are at the antipodes: we will use them as an example to describe how to manage the most deficient recoveries. Vegetable (↓ + B) allows you to extract a turnip from the ground, and as with Peach, the chances of finding Mr. Saturn or a Bob-omb are very minimal. Even in Daisy's case, the damage done by vegetables varies according to their expression, but Daisy's hurt more.

Chrom - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Guide

Our third appointment today with the Eco Characters in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate guide is with Chrome. We have already presented it talking about Lucina and Daraen, and now the third representative of Fire emblem awakening offers us a carbon copy of Roy… but with two huge differences.

• Franchise of origin: Fire Emblem
• Origins: There isn't much to say about its origins in Fire Emblem Awakening, but it's in Smash that its story becomes special. With Greninja we talked about how much the trailers of the fourth Smash loved to tease us, but the video that confirmed the return of Captain Falcon and the arrival of Lucina and Daraen remains one of the most pronounced tripping fans. At the end of the video, Chrom lets out an exasperated "I think my turn will come another day", before showing in the gameplay that Chrom is actually the Final Smash in Daraen (Final duet). Later, the character appeared as a costume for the Mii Swordsmen, and the Temple of Palutena easter egg showed the character grappling with the cast of Kid Icarus Uprising as "a wasted roster slot." In Ultimate, his promotion to playable character led to the alteration of the secret dialogue, but the costume for the Mii Swordsmen and Daraen's Closing Duet remained.
• Gameplay: Chrom draws almost all of his moves from Roy, but like Lucina to Marth, he also boasts a sword devoid of more strengths than others. It belongs to Vampa (B) Charges by holding B, and at full charge releases a devastating blow that also increases Chrom's damage percentage. Also Double cut (↔ + B) works in the same way as seen with Roy: each press of B adds a hit of the combo. Flying Slash (↑ + B), on the other hand, refers to Ike: it is a vertical attack, followed by a swoop. Let's go back to the similarities with Roy (although it's the same for Ike, in fact) with the Counter move (↓ + B), which is a simple counterattack.

Ken - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Guide

Ken boasts the distinction of being the only one Eco character of the game to have received a trailer in computer graphics (if we do not count the aforementioned Lucina, although it is promotional material for another Smash). Introduced in the same Incineroar trailer, Ken shows as many similarities to Street Fighter's face - Ryu - as there are differences.

• Franchise of origin: Street Fighter
• Origins: Ken Masters was born as a pure aesthetic choice in the very first Street Fighter, to then differentiate more and more (although never radically) his moveset from that of Ryu. Scion of a wealthy American family, Ken has always trained with his lifelong friend Ryu without ever losing his unshakable joviality. After there was so much talk in the Street Fighter series about "going home and being the family man", Ken really did it: he has a wife, Eliza, who gave birth to her firstborn Mel.
• Gameplay: Many of the standard attacks (A) that Ryu throws as punches, Ken distributes them in the form of kicks instead. The bullet Hadoken (B) remains the same, with the visual addition of a hologram depicting Ken's gloves within it. The classic input, as for Ryu, is ↓, ↓ +>,> and A. The "tornado kick", Tatsumaki Senpukyaku (↔ + B), it can also be done with ↓, ↓ + <, <and A, and as for Ryu, Ken also uses it more as a recovery move. The Shoryuken Ken's (↑ + B) is always the same upright (also possible with>, ↓,> + ↓ and A), but in his case it boasts an additional fiery effect. Focus Attack (↓ + B) always allows you to take a hit and land your opponent, without any throwing power. Ken also has two different Final Smashes: at a distance he makes one Shinryuken from the (rarely useful) vertical reach, while in the melee it Shippu Jinraikyaku Unleash a combo of kicks with horizontal reach. In the direction of the edges of the arena, this combo boasts extraordinary KO potential.

Concluding details, fourteenth episode: limited, difficult, disastrous recoveries

The characters seen in this Super Smash Bros. Ultimate guide differ greatly in their options for the recovery, which - we remember - in our context alludes to returning to the field. Luigi, for example, can charge up a Green Missile (↔ + B) and kick off with a Super Jump Punch (↑ + B), but not everyone boasts his luck. Look at the abysmal difference between Daisy and Incineroar, above: Daisy can glide over the arena at ease, but the dive from Incineroar's Encounter is throwing him into the void. You must always be ready to opt for other strategies, if you want to overcome the limits of each character (perhaps with aerial dodging).

Yoshi, Ness, the separated Ice Climbers, Ike, Lucas, Olimar / Alph if weighted down, Little Mac, Ryu, Cloud, partly Bayonetta, Simon, Richter, Incineroar, Chrom, Ken and (as we'll see next time) Terry are the first that come to mind with this problem. You will need to know and make the most of their strengths if you want to avoid running into their weaknesses. With this appointment, however, our journey in the base roster ends: in episodes 15 and 16, instead, we will discover how to use the DLC characters, or those sold separately. The Piranha Plant, Joker, Hero, Banjo and Kazooie and Terry await us as the first extra fighters to analyze.

That's all for today: how are you finding yourselves so far? (You can find the summary here.) Please let us know by leaving us a comment below, and don't forget to stay on Holygamerz to not miss any news from the videogame world and beyond.