Super Smash Bros. Ultimate lets up to eight players square off in action-packed battles that are all about smashing beloved video game characters off the screen.

Nintendo has never been ones to conform to rules. They'll always go out of their way to make their games a little different to everyone else. Super Smash Bros. has for years now been their take on the fighting genre – you either get it or you don't.

Adventure mode will last you a long time; A soundtrack so good you can buy the game just for that; The spirits inject a whole new strategic element; 74 fighters and over 100 stages to fight in

Home-run contest is gone; Hopefully online mode won't be as broken as other Smash games

(In the spirit of the multiplayer crossover, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be evaluated by not just one GT critic, but a triumvirate of Smash enthusiasts. This critique will be split across the game's core pillars, each tackled by a different voice: In order of appearance, Sean Anthony , Elisha...

An enormous roster with diverse movesets and personalities; Returning modes are back and have been fleshed out; World of Light is a fun story mode for single-player content; Wealth of fanservice in the form of spirits; soundtracks; and other references

Some spirit battles may be unfairly difficult; Some minor flaws of with online multiplayer that can be fixed in future updates

A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage.

lives up to its name, offering the most comprehensive game in the series to date. It has an absurd amount to play, fight, and unlock – though that can be to its detriment at times. While the World of Light adventure mode isn't reason alone to get Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros is a franchise pretty much everyone gets hype over. During the week since it released, it seems like everywhere I go I overhear bits of conversation about the latest in the series, Super Smash Bros Ultimate . It's no big surprise.

Contains almost every character and stage ever included in a Smash game; New Spirit Mode makes for a great single-player experience; and adds light RPG elements to the game; Same great couch co-op experience

AI can be ditzy when it comes to vertical stage changes; Tags

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate takes characters we've played for decades and remasters them into a robust, fantastically enjoyable package

Incredibly tight mechanics for a fighter with more than 70 characters, A complete overload of fantastic single player content, The most amount of polish a Super Smash Bros; game has ever seen

Minor changes to the presentation feel out of place; Could use more variety in content

Anyone you know who enjoys video games is likely to find at least one Smash Ultimate character that appeals to them. It takes everything that made Smash 4 on the Wii U so compelling and expands on it-with the added Switch benefit of handheld mode. All this makes Super Smash Bros.

The biggest roster yet; Loads of content, spanning dozens of video game series; Polished, satisfying gameplay with lots of variety

Lacks proper online ranking tiers; No online tournament mode; Collectible spirits lack context and detail

Conventional logic says that a game as enormous as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate should be collapsing under its own weight like a dying star. It feels like the Mr. Creosote of video games, a title almost disgustingly distended with content.

Sometimes I feel bad for Masahiro Sakurai. As the creator of Super Smash Bros., he has poured his heart and soul into the series for more than 20 years now. And yet, one way or another, Smash Bros. has seemingly struggled to escape the long shadow cast by Smash Bros.