Elites Versus 24

Elites Versus 24 (Stylized as EVS 24) is the third and final installment of the Elites Versus series, releasing for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X and Steam, with a release for the next generation Nintendo console planned as well.
Instead of using 3D graphics like the second installment, the game returns to the pixel art style used in the first, although visually updated and with no re-used assets.
Defined by the developer as "the definitive Elites Versus experience", it's also confirmed to be the last entry in the series. The game will be released worldwide sometime in 2024.
DEVELOPMENT
Plans for a third installment of the series started in 2023, towards the end of the development of Elites Versus 2. Multiple ideas were explored in the beginning, ranging from a Definitive Edition of the first game to a game featuring every character from both installments. Development on an Elites Versus Definitive Edition actually began production in early 2024, but the number of changes the game director wanted to implement eventually turned the game into its own installment. Still, the game didn't quite feel like a third installment, but more like a reboot of the first game, according to the developer. For this reason, the name was changed to Elites Versus 24, as game director HammerSig explained "it's what Elites Versus would have been if it was released in 2024".
GAMEPLAY
Elites Versus 24 maintains the gameplay mechanics from its predecessors, being a platform fighting game where the goal is to weaken the opponents enough to launch them off the stage. Like in EVS2, all characters have 4 Light Attacks, 4 Heavy Attacks, and 4 Special Attacks (each now with aerial variations, including the Heavy Attacks). A pretty major departure from the previous 2 games is the removal of Revenge Attacks: when the Elite Status Bar (returning from the second game) is filled all the way to 5 slots, players can enter "Elite Status", a mode where the fighter's outline becomes purple and will leave a trail of purple flames behind, receiving a major buff to attack power and overall speed, including reduced attack frames.
Assist Cores also make a return, and while they work identical to how they did in the previous game, a new Core type has been introduced in the form of Support Cores: these grant players passive bonuses and skills, acting like successors to EVS2's Paraphernalias.
Controls
Below are the default controls of the game, although they can be freely customized to each player's liking. Controls presets can also be created and selected directly from the character selection screen.
Default controls for the Nintendo Switch version of the game:
 	Walk/Run
 	Jump/Double Jump/Glide
 	Light Attack
 	Heavy Attack
 	Special Attack
 	Throw
 	Activate Elite Status
 	Block
+ 	Parry
 	Assist Core
/ / /	Taunt
Damage System
While the damage system is the same as previous games (using numbers that go up from 0 to show how much a fighter has been damaged), EVS 24 drops the "Percent (%)" in favor of the "Damage (DMG)" suffix.
CHARACTERS
Elites Versus 24 has a base roster of 45 characters (21 of which have to be unlocked), composed of 25 EVS1 veterans, 13 EVS2 characters and 7 series newcomers. A lot of series veterans have seen minor to major changes, both design-wise and in terms of their movesets (partly due to the gameplay differences of the first game).While the goal of the second game was to prioritize newcomers at the cost of the original cast, Elites Versus 24 has the defined objective of including as many of the author's favorite characters and franchises as possible.
MARIO 	LINK 	SAMUS 	MACHAMP 	TYRANITAR
SACKBOY 	DRAKE 	JAK & DAXTER	PRINCESS PLUMP	JAKE
DOOM SLAYER 	DOVAHKIIN	MIRAAK 	COURIER SIX 	LEGATE LANIUS
EMILY 	ALEX 	STEVE 	YAGAMI 	RYU
FRANK 	CHUCK 	SIMON 	ALUCARD 	RICO
ISAAC 	DANTE 	KRIEG 	AMARA 	JESSE
NIKO 	ARTHUR 	V 	MAXWELL 	EZIO
KOR 	ORCANE 	CUPHEAD 	THE KNIGHT 	HORNET
THE BEHEADED	BATMAN 	RED HOOD 	SPIDER-MAN 	VENOM
Unlock Criterias
While the starting roster consists of 24 fighters, 21 more can be unlocked through various means.
Tyranitar 	Clear Machamp's Campaign.
Jake 	Reach Wave 20 in Endless Battle.
Miraak 	Clear Dovahkiin's Campaign.
Legate Lanius	Clear Courier Six's Campaign.
Steve 	Win a total of 64 battles (Elite Battle, Campaign Mode, Tournament, Ranked, Unranked)
Chuck 	Clear Frank's Campaign.
Alucard 	Clear Simon's Campaign.
Yagami 	Clear 10 Fighter Trials.
Rico 	Clear the "BOOM!" Mission with a 3-Stars Rank.
Dante 	Clear 9 Campaigns on Infernal difficulty.
Krieg 	Clear Amara's Campaign.
Jesse 	Clear the "Dark Reflections" Mission with a 3-Stars Rank.
Niko 	Earn a total of 100.000 Elite Coins.
Arthur 	Earn a total of 200.000 Elite Coins.
V 	Collect 15 Music Tracks.
Maxwell 	Reach Wave 30 of Endless Battle with Sackboy.
Hornet 	Clear The Knight's Campaign.
Batman 	Clear the "I am the night" Mission with a 3-Stars Rank.
Red Hood 	Clear Batman's Campaign.
Spider-Man 	Clear the "Friendly neighborhood" Mission with a 3-Stars Rank.
Venom 	Clear Spider-Man's Campaign.
STAGES
Elites Versus 24 features a total of 39 stages between returning and brand new locations. In the stage previews below, solid ground is colored in DARK GRAY, soft plaftorms are colored in WHITE, while interactive elements such as destructible walls and platforms have a RED. 
MUSHROOM KINGDOMMario 	The stage is set in the famous Mushroom Kingdom, home of Mario and his allies. It features a flat main platform, two soft platforms near the top and two warp pipes on each side. These warp pipes are solid and have the peculiarity of acting as interconnected portals, so any player knocked into one pipe will come out of the other one with the same momentum, giving a big help in keeping combos going. If HAZARDS are turned off, the warp pipes will be moved into the background, completely disappearing from the playable layout and offering a more competitive arena.
SACRED GROUND RUINSThe Legend of Zelda	This straightforward stage is based on a location in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, although it varies slightly from it's appearance in that game as it's set on a tall stone structure, which closely resembles other walls seen in Breath of the Wild. It features a solid flat ground and two parallel soft platforms near the ledges, and thanks to it's hazardless nature, makes for an easy choice for competitive battles.
CRATERIAMetroid 	Based on the very first area of Crateria as seen in Super Metroid, this peculiar stage is set on top of Samus Aran's gunship, featuring only a very irregular, almost pyramid-shaped main platform. Due to it's small size and odd shape, it's not a popular pick among competitive players.
SLATEPORT BEACHPokémon 	This stage set on a beach of the Pokémon region of Hoenn, featured in the third generation games, has only two main platforms separated by a cliff, which acts as a regular pitfall despite the presence of water, which fighters will simply fall through. The huge Wailord in the background will occasionally emerge from the sea to look at the ongoing battle, but it's not the only Pokémon featured in the stage: many flying type Pokémons will be seen soaring through the sky, including the legendary duo Latios and Latias on very rare occasions.
THE GARDENSLittleBigPlanet 	Set in the very first world of LittleBigPlanet, this recognizable handcrafted garden features a solid ground with a large wall on the left side, a solid platform near the top and a soft platform on the right side. It's a big stage that lends itself perfectly to multiple-players battles, but is less ideal for 1 on 1 fights for that very reason.
RUB' AL-KHALI DESERTUncharted 	Based on one of the most recognizable set pieces of the Uncharted series, this flat, walk-off stage set in the Rub' Al-Khali sand desert features only two solid walls in the form of a crate on the right side and a truck on the left. While the crate is not interactive, the truck will eventually fall and explode if players are knocked in to it too many times, causing the left side of the stage to become wide open. If HAZARDS are turned off, the truck will simply lose it's interactive properties.
SANDOVER VILLAGEJak & Daxter 	A stage set in the first area of Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, featuring a solid platform on the left side with a long, soft platform attached to it which continues all the way to the right side, acting as a soft ground for most of the stage. A raised soft platform is also present over the solid ground. Due to the precarious nature of having to fight on a soft platform for most of the stage, Sandover Village is less appreciated in competitive environments, but often a delight in casual matches.
BLACK FOREST KEEPFat Princess 	Black Forest is one of the best known maps featured in Fat Princess, and the red castle serves as the main setting for this stage. It has a simple layout consisting of a thin solid ground and a wall on the left side. The right side features a small solid platform that acts as a trampoline, launching anyone who steps on it high into the air. If HAZARDS are turned off, the trampoline will disappear, turning Black Forest Keep into a mostly flat stage.
THE BIG MACHINEDog's Life 	Based on the final level of Dog's Life, this stage takes place around The Big Machine, used by the Dog's Life antagonist Miss Peaches to turn dogs into cat food. The stage has a floating soft platform near the top, while the main ground below presents a unique trait: it's set on a conveyor belt that will carry opponents to the left, and with hazardous spikes on each side of it, makes for a very unsafe platform to battle on. Ironically enough, this highly non-competitive stage turns into a very simple and simmetric one once HAZARDS are turned off, as the conveyor belt won't move and the crushing spikes will disappear entirely, leaving only a flat main ground and the soft platform above to battle on.
HELL ON MARSDOOM 	Inspired by the 7th Mission of DOOM (2016), it presents a flat solid platform to fight on, with a symmetrical set of two soft platforms on top of each other near the ledges. What makes this stage unique is the presence of Cacodemons that, if HAZARDS are turned on, will occasionally fly across the stage, damaging and gobbling up fighters and spitting them out. Players can hit the Cacodemons to defeat them, which will have them drop either a Health Pack (which replenishes a bit of health) or an Armor Bonus (which grants a temporary defense buff).
WHITERUN HOLDThe Elder Scrolls 	A stage set in Skyrim, which closely mirrors the stage seen in the first Elites Versus game with the visual twist of being covered in snow. Once again, it seems to be inspired by the Western Watchtower area seen in Skyrim, and presents a main solid ground with three soft ones: one on the right edge, connected to the ground; the second one is a small and floating on the left side; the last one is wide and sits high above the main ground. This simple stage is free of hazards of any kind, so turning them off won't change the stage at all.
VAULT 24Fallout 	One of the most prominent aspects of the Fallout series are the Vaults, underground bunkers built by the Vault-Tec company to presumably keep citizens safe in case of nuclear disasters. While the Fallout series featured many Vaults ranging from 13 to 101 and more, Vault 24 is exclusive to this game (likely a pun due to the name "Elites Versus 24"). Nonetheless, this simple but asymmetrical stage features the distinctive underground metal doors of the Vaults in the background, and a series of suspended metallic platforms acting as the playable ground for fighters. Specifically, a thin but solid main platform in the middle and a soft platform on the left side. It features no hazards or interactive elements, but the Vault door will start to slide open when the battle is about to end (if fighters are on their final stock or if there's less than a minute left in timed matches).
ASSIST CORES
Assist Cores return from Elites Versus 2 in a pretty much unchanged fashion. Once again, Assist Cores can be activated by spending a portion of the Elite Status Bar, allowing fighters to briefly turn into a non-playable character and perform a unique special move. The cost of each Assist Core can be seen as a number near their icon, signifying how much bars are required to activate it. 
SUPPORT CORES
Support Cores are a new type of Cores introduced in Elites Versus 24, and much like Assist Cores, they are character-themed Cores that can be assigned in the character's selection screen in the modes that allow it. What sets these assists apart is that they offer passive bonuses, meaning they are always active and require no button binding. Support Cores are rated from Bronze to Silver to Gold, and players can fill up to three slots with Support Cores, where their rating indicates the number of slots they occupy (1 for Bronze, 2 for Silver and 3 for Gold).
OFFLINE MODES
Elite Battle
In Elite Battle, the classic versus mode makes its return, offering customizable rulesets including options for time limits, life counts, stock systems, and handicaps, among others. This mode accommodates up to four human players or CPU-controlled fighters alike. Below is the full list of options available:
TIME 	The match ends when the time reaches 0. Goes from 1 minute to 99, or it can be toggled off.
SCORE 	The match ends when a set amount of kills is reached by a player or a team. Goes from 1 to 99, or it can be toggled off.
STOCK 	Set the amount of lives every fighter gets. Goes from 1 to 99, or it can be toggled off.
TEAMS 	Switches to Team Battle.
FRIENDLY FIRE	Allows members of the same team to deal damage to each other.
HANDICAP 	Set a predetermined attack power and defense reduction to certain or all players.
ELITE STATUS 	Toggle Elite Status on or off.
CORES 	Enables the use of Cores, both Assist and Support.
PAUSING 	Toggle the ability to pause during the match on or off.
Campaign
A mode where players play through each character's story, fighting a series of battles against CPU opponents, events and Bosses. After defeating the final boss, the chosen character's ending plays out (in the form of two pixel-art scenes narrated by that character or someone else), after which the player enters a special minigame during the credits.
Tournament
Tournament mode returns, where players compete in a single-elimination bracket, with options to adjust settings like the number of competitors (ranging from 4 to 64) and the skill level of each CPU participant, should they be added.
Endless Battle
In Endless Battle, players engage in a continuous series of matches under changing conditions, each with a single stock. Players have the opportunity to heal a small percentage of damage every 5 matches, with damage carrying over between fights. Opponents progressively increase in difficulty with each match. Elite Coins used in the Shop are yielded every 5 victories.
Missions
Missions is a new mode, similar to the Unique Requests given by Vulgrim in the first Elites Versus and the Rift Challenges featured in Endless Dread in Elites Versus 2. Missions are a series of 100 battle scenarios with predetermined rules and conditions that once cleared will award players with a rank from 1 to 3 stars, based on certain criterias such as completion time, score etc. Clearing each Mission with any rank awards players Elite Coins, but if one manages to clear all of them with a 3 Star Rating, a special reward is unlocked...
Cores Party
A timed mode where up to four players compete to destroy spheres containing Support Cores to absorb and equip them. These Cores fall from the sky at random intervals and have the peculiarity of being equippable without limit: when a player is knocked out, their Cores are assigned to the one who defeated them.
Emporium
Players can use the Emporium to purchase things like characters' colors and their costume, Photo Studio options and objects, concept arts and music tracks using Elite Coins earned in the other modes.
Photo Studio
The Photo Studio allows players to freely position and scale characters, objects and various other sprites in a backdrop, to then take a picture of the scene and save it on their console/device or in the Museum to share online. Players have a maximum of 5 slots where they can save Photos before they have to replace or delete them to make new ones.
Gym
in this mode, players have the chance to either access Training or Fighter Trials: Training lets players test characters against a CPU dummy with a variety of specific training options, while Fighters Trials are sets of 10 lessons for each fighter to help players understand each character's abilities and potential.
Museum
the Museum returns from the first game in the form of a menu where players can see things like characters' artworks, their bio and things like the music tracks and concept arts they bought in the Emporium. Replays and Photo Studio snaps are also stored here.
Bosses
Bosses are special opponents encountered through the Campaign, in some Missions and in special rounds of Endless Battle. They are fought in their own stage, and have a long healthbar instead of a Damage level, as they are often very large in size. To defeat them, players are required to learn their various attack patterns and general strategies. Below is the full list of all the bosses in the game:
The DisturbanceElites Versus
"It travels across dimensions, consuming everything in it's path while looking for a physical host. After the fall of Kiindred, it has set eye on it's next herald: you."The Disturbance is the final and most powerful boss of the game. It was first mentioned in the first Elites Versus, where Kiindred was believed to be the cause of the chaos affecting the multiverse. In Elites Versus II, during the events of Endless Dread, players learned that Kiindred was simply being controlled by an outside force. In this game, while a story is not explicitly estabilished, it can be assumed that The Disturbance has returned and (according to the in-game description) is looking for another physical host after the defeat of Kiindred in the player character.
Attacks and Strategies
Volcanic Bolt: the most commonly used attack by The Disturbance is a bolt of energy that erupts into a pillar of energy upon hitting the ground. When it's health drops below halfway, it can shoot multiple bolts at once.
Erasure: from the background, The Disturbance fires a continuous stream of energy from it's mouth, going from left to right and homing towards the player's current height. It's highly damaging and difficult to avoid, as it requires an almost perfect dodge due to it's homing trajectory.
Mindless Ram: from the background, The Disturbance rears back and rams at full speed towards the player, destroying the portion of stage they were standing on. The stage section will grow back within 15 seconds.
Fog of Ruin: fires a stream of smoke from it's mouth which covers 50% of the stage. Standing where the smoke is applies a huge speed debuff.
Shards of Chaos: The Disturbance bites the ground with force, with his teeth erupting from beneath the player at regular intervals.
Dimensional Waste: The Disturbance petrifies, creating a colossal smoke duplicate in the far background which charges an instant-KO attack. Players have about 7 seconds to hit the petrified head left behind as many times as they can to interrupt the attack.
GanondorfThe Legend of Zelda
"The incarnation of evil and darkness, constant adversary of Link and threat to Hyrule."Ganondorf returns in Elites Versus 24 in the form of a boss, once again sporting an original design which closely resembles the one he had in Elites Versus II. In battle, he behaves similarly to a regular fighter, albeit much taller and more imposing than the playable characters. He's also immune to grabs (including command grabs) and sports a constant Super Armor, making him a dangerous opponent to tackle from up close.
Attacks and Strategies
Great Swords: Ganondorf mainly wields two large Great Swords for his attacks. He swings them wide and slowly, dealing important amounts of damage, though they can be parried with the right timing. He usually does a two hits combo in the first stages of the match, adding a third hit when his health drops below half.
Calamity Strike: Ganondorf occasionally charges up his fist and slams it into the ground, creating a poisonous puddle that also prevents jumping. The puddle disappears after 10 seconds.
Dead Man's Volley: a traditional attack used by Ganondorf in most of his boss fights in The Legend of Zelda. Similarly to his origin, Dead Man's Volley is a projectile that needs to be reflected (either by parrying or by using a move with reflective properties) back to Ganondorf, which he will also reflect back a couple of times, starting a parrying contest of sorts. After reflecting the Volley three times, Ganondorf will eventually be struck by it, leaving him stunned and open to attacks.
Teleport: Ganondorf occasionally uses teleportation to close in distances or before using Dead Man's Volley.
DeoxysPokémon
"A mysterious legendary Pokémon, said to be a virus born in outer space."The legendary third-generation Pokémon Deoxys is fought on a satellite in space. For this reason, this fight is affected by low gravity, granting reduced fall speed and increased jump height. Another unique attribute of this fight is Deoxys ability to change into it's various Formes: Attack (which increases it's damage and allows it to break through blocks), Defense (which reduces incoming damage and makes it invulnerable to projectiles) and Speed (which increases the speed of it's attacks and lets it use two different moves in a row).
Attacks and Strategies
Forme Change: Deoxys takes a second to change into one of it's Formes. When in Attack Forme, favor dodging instead of blocking as it's attacks deal massive damage to blocks. In it's Defense Form, it becomes immune to projectiles and raises it's defense, so capitalize on his opening with up-close Heavy Attacks. In Speed Forme, it's openings have a much shorter window and will often use two moves in a row, so prepare accordingly.
Expanding Force: a psychic shockwave that hits all around Deoxys. Usually used by it to create distance to use ranged attacks.
Horizontal Hyper Beam: flies to the edge of the screen and fires a Hyper Beam that travels across the entire screen. If it's health drops below half, it will shoot a second beam at a different height. If fired low to the ground, it is possible for smaller fighters to crouch under it.
Vertical Hyper Beam: essentially the same attack as before, but done from the top of the screen instead.
Confusion: Deoxys applies an unavoidable random effect between inverted controls or flipping the screen upside down for 5 seconds.
Gravity: Deoxys spawns a black hole towards the center of the screen that drags fighters into it. It lasts for 5 seconds.
Telekinesis: Deoxys lifts three metal debris with telekinesis, and launches them in a homing trajectory one after the other.
Psyblade: Deoxys creates a psychic blade on his arms and slashes repeatedly across the screen.
ONLINE MODES
Ranked Mode
Ranked Mode allows players to battle others online, winning or losing Elite Points (EPs) with each fight. The amount of a player's EPs will award them the corresponding Rank.
Ranked Doubles
Essentially the same as Ranked Mode but fought in teams of two. Player's Ranks are shared with the regular Ranked Mode however.
Unranked
A mode where players join battles without anything at stake and non-competitive rulesets (no stage selection/banning, stage hazards on)
Online Tournament
Players are queued up in an online single-elimination bracket. By default, this option sees a max of 32 players, but can go as low as 4 if more players aren't found within a time limit.
Lobbies
Players can create public or private rooms with custom rulesets for others to join and queue up in.
Custom Cores
A special mode where players can create and share custom battles. Users can choose the battle's name, add a short description and customize a wide variety of options: the opponent's Cores, their Skin, size, damage output, preferred moves and behavior and many more. Players can browse user-generated battles and filter them by keywords and tags, and even leave a rating.
VOICE CAST
Unlike Elites Versus 2 (which used pre-existing audio recordings for the character's voices), EVS 24 features voice lines recorded specifically for it. Almost all characters use their original (or best known) voice actors, though there are some exceptions.
Kevin Afghani: Mario.
Patricia Summerset: Zelda.
Zehra Fazal: Samus.
Nolan North: Drake, Machamp.
Josh Keaton: Jak.
Max Casella: Daxter.
Tara Strong: Princess Plump.
TRIVIA AND CREDITS
GENERAL
The name Elites Versus 24 references both the year of its release and game director HammerSig lucky number, 24.
While the game is clearly inspired by the Super Smash Bros. series, HammerSig cited Brawlhalla and Rivals of Aether as more direct sources of inspiration.
CHARACTERS
This is the only Elites Versus game to feature unlockable characters.
CREDITS
Huge thanks to IncarnateParanoia for invaluable help in the page coding.
The beautiful palette used for the game's artworks and some of this page is called Apollo, and was made by the talented Adam C. Younis.
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