Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character guide (part 7)

Welcome back to the seventh installment 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. Our journey to discover the characters first seen in Super Smash Bros. Brawl continues. Today the protagonists will be Ike,Pokémon Trainer, Diddy kong, Lucas e Sonic. In the appendix, we will explain how to handle characters such as the Trainer and Sonic, which require one good memory by the player.

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.

Ike - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Guide

With Ike we have the striking example of one of the harsh realities of fighting games: from time to time, between one episode and another of a series, the characters fail. The strength of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is precisely to boast in its base roster all the fighters seen in the series so far, without any exclusion; with Ike, on the other hand, we had the first example of a replacement in the Smash saga, as this big boy took over from Roy.

• Franchise of origin: Fire Emblem
• Origins: “The Radiant Hero of Legend” Ike is the leader of the Greil Mercenaries, and wields the mighty sword Ragnell. Hero of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for Nintendo GameCube e Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn for Wii, Ike led his team after replacing his dying father and united the members during the "War of the Mad King". His two costumes are based on what he looked like in Path of Radiance (Brawl, above right) and - three years later - in Radiant Dawn (Smash 4, left).
• Gameplay: With a sword like Ragnell, you can well imagine that while replacing Roy, Ike's style of play is of the “slow and powerful” type: for an agile fighter with broadswords, you'll have to wait for Cloud. Eruption (B) is based on the same concept as Roy's Flaming Sword, without being as devastating. Quick shot (↔ + B) is a loadable lunge by holding down the button, great for getting back on the court. Ether (↑ + B) works similarly to Kirby's Blade: Ike throws Ragnell up, before grabbing her and diving down with a violent swoop. As a recovery move, it serves primarily for its vertical reach. Like many Fire Emblem characters, Ike enjoys a counterattack (↓+B).

Pokémon Trainer and Trainer (Squirtle, Ivysaur, Charizard) - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Guide

It took three games before, among the characters that we will see in the guide, there was a true representation of the player in the Pokémon games in Super Smash Bros .: thePokémon Trainer. This character is worth three, taking the three starter Pokémon from the Kanto region with him in as many evolutionary stages: Squirtle (water, base), Ivysaur (grass / poison, first stage) e Charizard (fire / flying, final evolution).

• Franchise of origin: Pokémon
• Origins: The Coach in question is based on the protagonist of the games set in Kanto, canonically known as Red, while the female costume takes up the female variant Leaf: Both appear as seen in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. Their alternative customs in turn reflect the coaches of other regions and other generations, such as Armonio (Oro HeartGold/Argento SoulSilver), Edge (Smeraldo), Lucas (Diamond / Pearl), Anita (White black), Calem (X / Y) e Selene (UltraSole / UltraLuna). In the fourth Smash, the trio of Pokémon gave way to only Charizard.
• Gameplay: The triple nature of the character consists of the mechanics of "tag team" with which swap between them Pokémon at will (↓ + B). We will have to go fast, starting from Squirtle. Water gun (B), unlike the Pokémon games, it does no damage but is based on the same concept as Mario's SPLAC 3000. In reverse, retreat (↔ + B) in Smash is a fast roll that deals damage. Cascata (↑ + B) is a third jump into the norm that deals damage. Let's move on to Ivysaur. With Semi-gun (B) Ivysaur inflicts repeated damage on himself. Blade sheets (↔ + B) works similarly to Link and Link Bambino's boomerangs. Whipping (↑ + B) deals upward damage, and is used to grab an edge from below (we'll talk about this in the sixteenth installment). Charizard closes the circle. Flamethrower (B) is directionable and exhaustible just like Bowser's fiery breath. Fire Charge (↔ + B) is a powerful forward charge, but it increases Charizard's damage regardless. He flew (↑ + B) is a swirling upward thrust.

Diddy Kong - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Guide

Donkey Kong's little friend introduced in Donkey Kong Country, Diddy kong, with Brawl made her entry into the crossover series, after Melee strangely kept quiet about her existence other than a sporadic mention in the collectible figurine of girlfriend Dixie Kong. The real primate of this primate, however, is to be the first Western-born character (thanks to the current wing of Microsoft, the British Rare) to make an appearance in Smash as a balanced fighter.

• Franchise of origin: Donkey Kong (spinoff di Mario)
• Origins: Without his true blood ties to Donkey Kong ever being fully explained, Diddy Kong entered the scene with the first Donkey Kong Country. The strange mechanics of Rare's monkey trilogy on Super Nintendo saw Donkey and Diddy act as additional life points for each other, at the expense of different skills. The sequel replaced Donkey Kong with the aforementioned Dixie, and Diddy himself suffered the same fate in the third game (in which the duo was made up of Dixie and the strong baby Kiddy Kong).
• Gameplay: There are several aces in Diddy's sleeve. Hazel-gun (B) has exactly the effect that the name suggests: it shoots peanuts according to the time you press the B button (we do not recommend exaggerating). Peanuts can be harvested (A) for healing. Capriola (↔ + B) throws Diddy forward and, based on B's pressure, the attack can end with a kick as well as an unusual grapple that causes continuous damage. Razzobarili (↑ + B) not only can it be directed, but it can also be loaded; as well as for the Hazel-gun, however, you will have to understand when it is appropriate to stop. As a recovery move, it requires a significant amount of practice. Banana peel (↓ + B) generates the instrument of the same name (image above), to which - with all due respect of the competitive scene - the controversial random mechanic of Brawl that made characters trip, thus making it a legitimate diversion, has been relegated.

Lucas - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Guide

Away the tooth, away the pain: the presence of Lucas among the characters in this guide to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the only way we will see MOTHER 3 in the west. The game in question, originally planned as “EarthBound 64”, had to start development from scratch and switch to the Game Boy Advance.

In addition, it is an unusual RPG even by MOTHER's abstruse standards. Between its environmentalist and anti-consumer message capable of making Oddworld seem relatively modest about it, the multiple progressive themes and the intricate skein that concerns the soundtrack, proposing the game in the West was almost impossible (but not too much, if you have nothing against patches). Smash shrugs and pays homage without any spoiler alert.

• Franchise of origin: MOTHER
• Origins: Lucas is the shy, introverted, awkward and initially cowardly protagonist of MOTHER 3. Unlike the other two, where the game logo showed mother Earth instead of the "O", here the aforementioned logo is dominated by the gray metal intent to devour nature. The game itself shares one of the main antagonists with its predecessor, who was not satisfied with the lesson given to him by Ness. Lucas will have to build courage and grow to overcome the trauma, leave the island of Nowhere and save a seemingly doomed world.
• Gameplay: All of Lucas' moves find a way to differ from what we saw with Ness. psychogiaccio (B) replaces PsychoFlash with a glacial effect capable of freezing opponents and throwing them in the opposite direction - as irritating as any to end the fight. Lucas's version of the PsychoFire (↔ + B) does not trap the opponent. His PsychoThunder (↑ + B) does not stop once a target is hit, unless it is Lucas himself. The MagnetePSI Lucas' (↓ + B) does not envelop him, but acts in front of him (in a manner not unlike Hawk's Reflector compared to Fox's).

Sonic - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Guide

Wednesday 10 October 2007: it was then that the arrival of Sonic in Smash, a forced choice after Snake's announcement, broke the internet in half. Everyone remembers it differently, and the writer was in the computer room in high school. In any case, as we anticipated when talking about Captain Falcon, Smash's splinter is him. With all the pros and cons that come with it!

• Franchise of origin: Sonic The Hedgehog
• Origins: Sonic's first appearance was (as we saw with Roy two episodes ago) in an unrelated cameo in the racing game Rad Racer. Sonic, as a mascot, had two purposes: to promote the super-fast technology - or supposedly so - of the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive (“Blast processing”), and to show a more rebellious character than a good-natured like Mario. The first Sonic was originally supposed to be very different: Dr. Eggman was wearing pajamas (recently seen in SEGA's parody of Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol) and Sonic had a human girlfriend named Madonna. From the first game onwards, the "blue trail" Sonic defends his world from the threat of Eggman, who aims to conquer it with the help of animals transformed into robots.
• Gameplay: All of Sonic's attacks, with some exceptions, see him crumble as tradition dictates. L'search attack (B) automatically hits the nearest enemy. With the Snap screwed (↔ + B) holding B hurls Sonic as far as possible, while allowing it to turn (↔). The Spring jump (↑ + B) generates the iconic trampolines of the character's origin series, and when used on the ground it also allows other fighters to take advantage of the spring. There Screwing charge (↓ + B), finally, replicates the same mechanics with which you load the spin dash in Sonic games: the more you press B repeatedly, the wider and faster the momentum will be.

Concluding details, seventh episode: the player's memory

In this seventh episode of our Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character guide, you may have noticed that the notions to memorize are definitely becoming a lot. The Pokémon Trainer with his triple moveset and Sonic with his attacks similar to each other have given us clear proof. Later we will discover characters with even more intricate mechanics (we will see in a few episodes the dammeters with special indicators), not to mention the Hero with whom there is really something to get your hands in your hair with. How to deal with the less immediate characters, then?

Our advice is clearly always to take your time to learn more about a particular character, but above all to experiment with the mode Training (present in the blue menu, "Games and more") to learn to dominate those with the steepest and most difficult learning curves (such as the recovery of Ness and Lucas). When each character offers completely different gameplay than most of the rest of the roster, it is advisable to know them by heart. Here we give you the basics, but you'll also need to be a little self-taught to excel.

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.