Built to Smash

The 3.0 update to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has landed, bringing with it a wealth of content. Among the goods was the highly anticipated Joker from Persona 5. I think most were looking forward to Joker more than anything. Having not touched Persona 5, even I got hyped for the character the day before he dropped. Joker isn't a character I'll main but he is a fun character and a fine addition to the Ultimate roster. My favorite thing about update 3.0 is the return of Stage Builder.

When news leaked that Stage Builder would return in Ultimate, I thought this was good for those that were missing the mode when the game launched back in December. Stage Builder has been a series staple since Brawl but it was never a feature I was really into. I think I may have tinkered with trying to build a stage in Brawl for five minutes before I gave up. I never even touched the feature in Smash 4. It was until Nintendo showed off what we would be able to do with Stage Builder that I began to take serious interest in this mode.

Daddy Sakurai and company have given us way more to work with this time around. We can make numerous shapes on multiple layers, giving stages a much more vibrant look than previous Stage Builder options. Even better, we can upload our creations for our fellow Ultimate players to see and battle on. Over the past week, I've been playing on exclusively custom built stages, checking out the shared content section on an hourly basis to see what new creations have been added.

Now when you give players any sort of creation tool, there are always going to be those that make inappropriate material. I've seen twerking anime characters, waifus with back breaking assets and I think I was fortunate enough to see only those things thus far. Yes, Stage Builder has made those with lewd minds shift into turbo, but for every stage that makes you wonder why someone would upload it, there are dozens of imaginative and just plain fun levels that you'll come across.

There are some very popular stages like the the excellent recreations of Bob-Omb Battlefield, Whomp's Fortress from Super Mario 64 and the desk from the original Super Smash Bros. and those are all fine stages. However, I highly recommend you use the search function to enter key words. I've come across a ton of awesome stages that haven't appeared in searching by popularity. There are so many recreations of the Highway intro stage from Mega Man X. One level even replicated the collapsing bridge after the mini boss fight.

I was a bit discouraged when trying to build a few stages using Stage Builder. The Highway from Mega Man X. A desktop screen with a moving mouse icon. The first half of Guts Mans Stage. Every single idea I had for a stage, someone had already done and came up with designs for them that I hadn't thought of. But then I realized that many of these stages all bring something unique to the table. One Mega Man X Highway stage is quite small with a single, large central platform to stand on. Another is a walk off but lets you jump onto the helicopter mini boss. Same deal  with the many Super Mario Odyssey Steam Garden stages. So many of them function differently that I felt it would be criminal to limit myself to downloading only one of them.

Some levels may look generic from a thumbnail point of view, but you've got to test a stage out before passing on it. There are some real gems lurking under those simplistic designs. As much as I love the details people have put into stages, Ultimate's Stage Builder is really helping me embrace the more minimalist look.

I wouldn't say Stage Builder for Ultimate is as in depth as something like Super Mario Maker, but it certainly is the best the mode has ever been and the ability to share stages adds even more replay value to a game that was already dripping with it. Even if you can't come up with a stage, you can still have endless fun playing other people's creations.