Thursday, April 18, 2019

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Stage Builder Released!

Finally, one of my favorite features in the Super Smash Bros. series has returned to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: the Stage Builder.


It looked quite amazing with yesterday's Smash Direct, but the actual release was a little more disillusioning. The main reason for this are the backgrounds. Being able to choose from all the normal stages' backgrounds is probably the most wanted request for the Stage Builder and always has been. And in the Direct it looked like you can do exactly that, where all the Omega and Battlefield variants of stages could have been used as a resource.

But it turned out that you can only choose from between twelve backgrounds, which are static versions of some of the normal stages in the game. And that's super disappointing.

Well, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth and overall it feels like an improvement over what we had in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. In fact it seems to be an enhancement of said editor, where they've added multiple layers, simple shapes and for drawing and the ability to move and rotate objects during the game.

There are also a series of new interactive objects: Portals, Bumpers, Ladders, Bomb and Explosive Blocks, as well as Windy Areas. Springs and Cannons return from Smash 4, but it doesn't seem like you can create their large counterparts anymore. You can also freely draw with lava and ice now and there is a "bouncy rubber" texture, but it doesn't seem to have any effect.

Talking about textures, those don't seem to be as nice as the ones in Smash 4 and they leave a lot to desire, just like the backgrounds. But maybe they'll add more of both in the future.

Also, only the ladders and ice floors returned from the Stage Builder in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, sadly, but that editor still had many more interesting features like drop blocks, spikes or conveyor belts. The pre-defined structures were also pretty nice...

Well, I've only been able to test the new Stage Builder a little bit and it's certainly nice to have for a free feature, but I still wish that they would consider some more options for the sake of creativity.


PS: I've also tried Joker and he's alright. The real highlight of the DLC seems to be his stage, though. Mementos is super stylish and Ann in the background is a real eyecatcher. I wish I could place her in the background of my own stages. :D (It's also perfect how her Spirit is represented by a red Zero Suit Samus.)

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